As I mentioned in my last posting, I am staying with Kate Royal, not far from Mary Hendershott's place where I stayed a year ago. Both houses have a similar layout, and were, as I understand it, once intended as housing for government employees. They are 3-bedroom, two-bathroom houses with dark wood cabinets built-into the bedroom walls, high ceilings with ceiling fans, and heavy metal functional shutters on the doors and windows. Most rooms are lit by bare fluorescent tube lights attached to the walls just under the ceiling.
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| Dining room |
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| Front door |
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| Kate's garden |
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| flower detail |
Yesterday's excitement in the library included a bird that flew in through the open door. I had several of the windows open to allow for a cross-breeze, but as they were screened, I had to shut them all and draw the curtains so the poor thing wouldn't fly into them thinking it could escape that way. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the dove-like bird, known as a "laughing dove" left in the same manner it has originally come...
Speaking of birds, I had a couple of birding enthusiasts, a visiting Canadian professor and his wife (from the Université Laval in Québec), come visit the library later in the afternoon, and found them a book on West African birds. They had visited the Parc Urbain Bangr-Weoogo mentioned by me in earlier posts, and were interested in identifying what they had seen. It's always nice to be able to help people find what they are looking for!
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| "laughing dove" |
Today's excitement, however, I would prefer not to think about. Kate's house was broken into during the wee hours of the morning by two of the very boys she works with--one was serving as her night guard. How they got a key to the front door remains a mystery. Only money and Kate's telephone were stolen, but because she knows one of the young men, it is very disheartening. I was there in a spare bedroom, which was not disturbed, and slept through the whole thing. Obviously the locks are now changed, and two sets of police have been notified. On the other hand, I now have managed to find housing arrangements on the SIL Center for the rest of my stay here.
Meanwhile, I have gotten to know a couple of the SIL literacy coordinators at the workshop they are having here at the SIL Center, so if all goes well, we are planning a visit to the FAVL headquarters in Ouagadougou tomorrow. We'll see...
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