Timbuktu

We are now in Timbuktu. We arrived here on friday afternoon. The drive was nice, a bit bumby and dusty,but at least I enjoyed it a lot. It was only 6 hours which included an hour break for changing the tire and crossing the river. Katya had her birthday on the same day so we celebrated it on the way . We have been getting to know the town and the places here.. Some of us whent to Church this morning ang Jocob went to the local dentist yesterday. AUTS
Hanna and Annika where sick the first night but now we are all fine.
So Young is still in Bamako she couldn't come earlier because sho had gotten sick..

The last night in Douentza was emotional. It was hard to leave the kids. The smaller kids were playing around and being hyper as normally, but you could see that the bigger ones where more quiet and sad that we were leaving.. some of them said that they wanted to come with us.. hopefully we'll see them on our way back..

Thanks for all your prayers:!! GOd bless

Last days in Douentza 31.1.08

[Last time I tried to update the blog before we left from Douentza, but electricity went off from the whole town for the day. So here is the update from the last days in Douentza.]

We are soon leaving for Timbuktu. Here is some up dates what we have been up to the last days.

Sunday Church day

On Sunday we went to a local “assemblies of God” church with the team. We had some program there. We wanted to encourage the local Christians with a drama, songs, some more songs and Hanne preached a powerful message of forgiveness. I really liked the church, even though it is really small around 8 members. I hope they got as blessed as we did. and after the service the pastor wished us all good husbands (a wife for Jakob) and a lot of children. ;)

On Monday the Norwegian missionaries came to visit us. In Dounentza area there is two families and two other ladies from Norway. It was nice to meet them and talk to them about their experience here.
Yesterday an outreach team from Switzerland came to visit us. It was a nice surprise.

Our last days here have otherwise been “quite normal” as normal as they can be here. :p (we have learned that Africa is full of surprises, you never know what is going to happen and when..) We have tried to be as much as we can with the kids. And the thought that we have to leave them soon is somehow really sad and scary.. We see most of the kids 3 times a day and some of them would just like to be here all the time. Jakob is the big hero for many of the boys. They are just love when a man gives them full interest and attention. :D (they don’t get that so much here) And Jakob is great with the boys. :D

We have learned some random Fulani words from the kids… and we have taught them some English, Finnish whatever language words.. (they must be confused)
Yesterday we had some program for them. Some funny skits, dances, games ect. We didn’t have any translation but they are smart kids they understand a lot normally and at least they had a lot of fun.

Today we are planning on washing the kids and their clothes again one last time before we leave. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a busy day also packing and preparing for Timbuktu. We are planning on leaving there tomorrow morning.

We are also expecting our 11th team member to arrive today. She is a Korean girl called So Young. She did her DTS in Borgen just before us. We are looking forward to meet her.
We are sad to leave Douentza but also excited to move on to Timbuktu. And see what God has prepared for us there. :D

more sun, more sand and still in our mosquitonets

We are almost getting used to the live here in Mali….every evening around 20.00 the last garibout kids leave, we do the last dishes, and I must say, by that time I am quite excited to go to my net. But then it still needs some routines before we can enjoy our nets and mats. Brushing our teeth is an experience in itself. Since it is already dark, beside our toothbrush and toothpaste, we need our head torches. Because everything is going into the big hole in the bathroom, but by that time it can happen that there are more creatures that enjoy being in that area. It just makes brushing your teeth a bit more exciting!!! After all we can all enter our nets (mosquito nets) and then it is time to try to get all the dust and sand out between….well….sand and dust is just everywhere!!! You should see us….every evening Hanna thinks she got a tan, until she washes herself and finds out it was all dust!! Haha….but Hanna…you are getting a tan!
But yes…we go to mat around 20.00. By then we have had a long and warm day (I hope that is enough of an excuse to be allowed to go to bed by that time).

Most of the work we are doing here is around the work that Lorna is doing with the garibout kids here. It is so much fun to hang out with them. They are all so….they all have something special…..oh…can I just mention some of them?
ALLOU is a little one, but when he is there, you know it! He knows exactly what he wants and shows quite clear that he doesn’t like everyone….but he is simply stuck to Jakob (literally as well, since he loves to be on Jakobs shoulders). It is great to see those two together!!!
SOLOMON… When you say “Solomon rocks”, he replies with “Becus rocks” (he and Bex have something special and he is having trouble with saying x. Bex taught him to count in English…totally serious is he sitting there and counting…. “one, two, three, four, five, sicus, seven….”).
And then we have OMAR…he is not part of the group anymore since he broke the rules, but he had spent enough time with us to steal Annika’s heart….but he has just such a beautiful smile…with dimples in his cheeks (smile holes…for the none English speakers among us). Even though that he isn’t part of the group we still see him around in the village.
And ALI…..he was the one that broke the rules together with Omar, so he is not part of the group anymore either. Katja and Annika went to look for him after not haven’t seen him for a while. Annika and Katja met 3 other gariboutkids who took them all the way through the village (the gariboutkids that are part of the group all come from different marabouts all over the place) to find Ali. They just took their hand and took them there!
Well, these are only 4 out of 20…Suley, Boucarie, Alley… I could write so much more…

When the kids leave after they got their breakfast, we often have worship and intercession time, and teamtime. After lunch we go out hanging out with the kids that live around, most of the time playing football…Milka and Jakob, you guys are doing a great job!!!! Talking about football….yesterday we were invited for a meeting at a sort of junior high school. They had asked us to do some sports with them for about 2 hours. We had prepared different things, but after about half an hour of playing we found out that they wanted us (DTS team) to play football against their girls football team….hahaha!!!! So they came up in their blue football shirts.. and we were standing there in our brown team shirts (thank you Wilmer….you did a great job designing them!!!)…anyway…we tried to explain that we didn’t play football that well…but no problem….and soon we found out, why it wasn’t that much of a problem….hahaha….suddenly I didn’t feel to stupid anymore….it was an interesting experience!!! And Hanne…your football skills were better than I thought…but your cheerleading skills!!! You are great!!!!

Most of the time the garibout boys come to our place when they have time off as well…they enjoy spending time with us drawing, writing, playing games…like ‘Snap’, but then with their rules….don’t ask me what they are…we also call it cheating sometime….but they are having so much fun, they don’t mind at all. Then we have dinner at 17.30 and after 18.00 all the garibout boys come again for their dinner. By that time it is already dark. Some of the kids have been working at building a mosque here (the boys are so little and skinny, but so strong, it is sad to think about how they got that strong), others have been hanging around begging for money and food. Sometimes they are really tired and they come to sit with us and just relax, for others it seems they never get out of energy….they just keep running, tickling, climbing…hahaha…they are great…we will miss them so much!!!!

Well….there is so much more I could tell you!!!! But, I will keep it like this for now
Thank you guys so much for supporting and praying for us, that is a huge blessing for us!
Well…you will hear from us again!!!

Douentza

We have now been in Douentza almost a week. We arrived here last Sunday after a long and hot bus ride. We were expecting to drive for 8 hours, but we ended up having a nearly 14 hour trip. I guess it is just the African style of traveling. We stopped many times for eating, praying and police... ect.

We are staying at a home of a Canadian lady Lorna. She is working with the Garibou kids among other things around this area. The weather here is nice. It is not hot season yet, but hot enough for us sometimes. Mornings are cold, but in the afternoon the temperature goes up to 30c.

Dust and sand can be found everywhere.. even in my ears, nose, eyes, mouth.. ;)

THE GARIBOU BOYS

Parents send their children away to a marabou to study the Koran. Some are as young as 4 years old. They are sent from the marabou to peg their food and their have to survive on their own with out parents or anyone who really takes care of them. These children are really smart, but they are not going to a normal school, so they don’t get any other kind of other teaching (except the Koran witch is in Arabic and they don’t understand what is says they just repeat). The Kids are sent to the streets to peg their food and everything... rough life reality hits them too early..

Lorna gives daily food to the kids, washes them and tries to teach them some basic things.. manners ect. The kids are great. It is always the same group of kids who come 14 kids from 3 different marabous. So we have learned to know them quite well already. J

Our days start early around 6am (the sun is up at 6:30am). The Garibou kids arrive for breakfast around 7am. They came back in the afternoon and in the evening for dinner. But on the last days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) they have been here all day long because they don’t have to study on those days. In addition to that we have been playing with the kids from the village… and there is a never ending number of them around... It is so amazing how much you can actually communicate without understanding the language.

WORKING WITH THE KIDS

On Wednesday we had a “big washing day”. We washed the kids, did their laundry, fixed their clothes and gave out new shirts. Some kids were first little embarrassed that white girls wanted to wash their clothes, but after a while they all got excited and were really enjoying and happy about it..

Some boys and Jakob before "their treatment"

Hanna and Lenneke washing clothes... those clothes are extremely dirty...

fixing clothes...

Some boys with their new and shiny clothes

We have a night guard Josei, who rescues us from all the nasty and evil mousses, scorpions, snakes, cockroaches and kills them for us. :) He rescued our outreach leader one day from a group of little bit too excited village kids, who were surrounding her and not letting go … Our heroic guard came running to the scene and saved the day.

So we are well protected in many ways. For so far no one has been really sick and we are doing just great.
… :D

Life in Bamako

"Tubabu,Tubabu" That's what we hear a lot from the kids everywhere we go. It basically mean a white person. :D The kids also love to be in photos. :)

We have been here in Bamako know for 4 days. We have already learned a lot of this culture. But I know that we have a lot ahead of us and this is just a first taste. :)
On Friday John took us to the down town Bamako where we got a bit closer look of the life of the malians. We went with public transportation squeesing in small mini vans with a big group. (Those green mini vans in the picture below). Friday is the prayer day for Muslims and we got there lucily in the worst rush hour. ;) So it was crasy. But not too bad. :) We did a prayerwalk around the biggest moskei in Bamako.

From street markets. On the streets we met some of the Garibou boys. We are planning on doing some ministy for them. Garibou boys are young boys who are studying koran. They are sent by their church to beg on the streets. We were told not to give money to them, because they are not allowed to keep any of the money theirself. But instead we gave a little bread to eat..


After this John took us to a nice european style restaurant where we got to eat nice.
picture below. John is in the middle

Tomorrow morning we are going to take a bus to Douensa and we are leaving Bamako.

One huge prayer answer is that an african man Paul is accompaning us to Douensa. He just happened to come to Bamako from Timbuktu to pick up some stuff and just happened to go back at the same time. :) This is really good for us, because he knows what he is going and he can speak french. Thanks God.!!! I believe that God sees our lack of knowledge, experience and language skills. and He just provides for us, sometimes without us having to do a thing.

We are safely in the protection and guidance of our Lord God.

8.1. Arrival in Bamako, Mali!!

On front of the Bamako YWAM base. The Picture is missing some team members.. But they are also still alive and well.. :p

After an extremely early wake up at the morning and long day traveling, we arrived 11pm local time at Bamako airport. Two men (John and Issouf) from the Bamako YWAM base were picking us up and giving us a warm welcome. We were happy and tired and ready to crawl under our mosquito nets. :D
We are staying now at the Bamako YWAM base for somedays to adjust to the culture.
We are so blessed to have an American man John and other people form the base to introduce us the culture, local habits, showing places ect. They have given us a lot of practical tips and advise.
This first day has been relaxed, but at the same time we have been busy learning practical things and getting to see the neighborhood ect..

The weather is warm and sunny around 25C with a gentle breeze. The local people think it is a cold, but for us coming from the cold and dark Norway it is just perfect. We have been really positively surprised of many of the things they have here.
Mali is a safe place compared to many other African countries. Walking on the streets is safe for even girls here in Bamako J. Mali is really peaceful and politically stable country. But the poverty is big and it can be seen everywhere.

We can taste life of celebrities as we walk down the streets. The children get excited when they see white weird looking people. ;)
The lifestyle here is really different. The local people are very friendly. People are relaxed and willing to welcome strangers even in their homes…

We are all excited of what God is going to do through us here and that we can bless these wonderful people.. :D

WELCOME!

Hello everyone and welcome to our brand new outreach blog! In this blog we, the Borgen outreach team, will share our experiences and adventures in Mali with you guys. We try to update this blog as often as possible, depending on Internet access of course. We hope you enjoy our stories and post and please, feel free to drop a comment every now and then so we know someone is reading this :) We will take off 8.1.2008. so from that on you can come and check if we have any interesting posts to read! Hilla from Finland will be the main person to update this blog so she will be the one posting greetings from the whole group.
Be blessed.