Burkina
Faso |
Burkina Faso
 |
|
|
|
| www.ufm.org.uk | |
Alan & Pauline - January 2010 |
|
Email: alnpaul2002@yahoo.co.uk |
|
Background |
|
As missionaries with UFM Worldwide we have spent seven years in West |
|
| Africa. | |
| We have been privileged and enjoyed immensely working along side the | |
| Christian churches. | |
| For four years we were in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) followed by three years in | |
| Burkina Faso (which borders CI to the north-east and was formally known as | |
| Upper Volta). | |
Churches (UK) |
|
| During and subsequent to our training at Birmingham Bible Institute we have | |
| Birmingham a number of churches and individuals who have faithfully | |
supported the work through prayer and finance. These include churches in and |
|
| around Birmingham, here where we live in South Wales as well as the Swindon | |
| area and other dear friends around the country. We were attending St. Michaels, | |
| Highworth at the time of our call to overseas mission (1991) and our friends in | |
| the churches of Highworth have continued to be with us ever since and St. | |
Michaels is our official 'sending church'. |
|
Overseas Ministry |
|
| Our ministry includes formal Bible Teaching at the Bible Schools as well as | |
helping small groups in their Bible Study. Alan preaches at a number of the |
|
local churches and we are actively involved in projecting Christian films in the |
|
| villages as and when invited by the church. We have also been part of a | |
| teaching staff involved in teaching ESL (English as a Second Language). | |
This has proved to be very much in demand and there are currently |
|
| upwards of 80 students in 6 classes with a significant waiting list. | |
| Along with our specific ministry some of our time has been spent involved in | |
| practical projects. These include helping with Street Kids projects and a project | |
| for equipping a local school with sports facilities (involving a work team from | |
| St. Michaels) and also helping with a team that digs and repairs wells around | |
| Burkina. | |
The People |
|
| One thing that makes us so much enjoy West Africa is the kindness and | |
| sincerity of the people. Whether its those in authority such as officials, our | |
| teachers (amazing patience) at our language school in Burkina, our friends and | |
| national colleagues or those we meet in the streets of the capital and those in | |
| the villages. Everyone has time to give others, to listen and to build up. The | |
| down side to this is dubious time keeping - up to two hours late for a meeting. | |
| Well you can't have both - time to listen to someone at a chance meeting on the | |
| way and be on time for the meeting. | |
Watch this Space! |
|
| We are very much looking forward to reporting back after our next visit when | |
| our main ministry will be in Burkina but when we hope to also visit Ivory Coast. | |
| Please pray for both countries. Ivory Coast was a relatively wealthy country to | |
West African standards prior to the civil war that broke out in 2002. This split |
|
| the country in two with the north controlled by the rebels and the south by the | |
| government. It has come a long way in the last couple of years but still awaits | |
| the time when it will be able to hold the official elections. Burkina Faso is one of | |
| the poorest countries in the world and apart from the very south has a very hot, | |
| dry climate and is very sandy (bordering the Sahara Desert). Although only | |
| having rainfall for just over two months of the year, the recent flooding has left | |
| thousands homeless and badly affected the capital, Ouagadougou. | |
Every Blessing, Alan & Pauline (ASHMORE) |
|
|
|
Send mail to Postmaster@stmichaelshighworth.co.uk with questions or comments about this web site, or fill in the feedback form with your comments.