Arbollé village

We drove to a little village named Arbollé, which sits an hour outside of Ouagadougou, just a couple days before Christmas. It's in this little village that the Ambassador's "Self Help" program has invested in a small business that will employ 173 women in an effort to provide them with meaningful work that will enrich their lives and that of their families. For every one of these small businesses that the Ambassador funds, he asks for volunteers to "adopt" or sponsor that specific program and go and visit the site and usher in pride and encouragement for their success in starting something that will hopefully change their lives.

So we went. As did almost the entirety of this little village. They came and gathered and watched.

They played music and sang.

The dedication ceremony lasted about two hours with lots of talking and thank-you's and music pieces where the women would come up and dance.

They danced and danced in celebration of their success. Oh how African's love to dance.

The small business that these women now run is a Shea butter soap making business. 

1st. They take the Shea nuts and roast them in this little oven. The nuts are placed inside the cylindrical device sitting inside the top of the oven and the women take turns cranking the cylinder by that handle, turning and turning and turning the nuts. Sticks are lit and a little fire starts on the ground on the bottom inside the "oven".

The roasted shea nuts are then collected, put into bowls are brought inside this little building...

...where the women sit and crush the nuts....

Marvelly and Sydaleigh had a go at pounding the nuts for a while. They had a blast but after five minutes they were tired and let the ladies finish up.

The nuts are then put into a bowl and poured into the press. This press is what the Ambassador specifically funded. As these presses are quite expensive, around $6,000, it would have taken a lifetime for them to save the money needed to purchase this on their own. But now, through this machine, the women of this village are able to earn a reliable income.

Once the nuts are placed in the machine the women take turns cranking this handle up and down until this chocolately looking oil is extracted from the nuts. 

We all had a go at the press.

The girls had fun with it.

After they extract the oil they boil it and then do something else....to make it look like the stuff in the first bin. After it looks like that they remove the chunky stuff (I'm so technical, I know) and put it in the third basin. There are a couple more steps involved after that in order to make it into soap. It's a very long, multi-stepped process, but these ladies have it down to the science and know exactly what to do.

While we were inside touring the process they offered us these, things. It is some kind, of thingy. It's made from a tree. A really funky almost dead looking tree. It's very sweet. And it doesn't exactly taste bad...just different. I wouldn't even be able to describe it better than this, just something you have to taste to know.

After the ceremony and tour we drove to another building a block or so away where they fed us lunch, chicken and potatoes, and presented me with this gift.....

a panaya (pahn-yuh), which is basically a piece of fabric that you can use to tie around your waste and use for a skirt, or bring to a tailor and make into a shirt. This, of course, was to be tied around my waste for skirt wearing purposes.

You'd think it would be easy, to wrap a piece of fabric around you and make a skirt. I mean, that's all they do. It's not complicated. Unless you're me. Then wrapping a piece of fabric around your waste so it doesn't fall down is all of a sudden like trying to figure out the complexities behind rocket science. Denise had to help me. I'm surprised I learned how to feed myself, this is even easier than that.

Very Burkinabé of me.

Now I just need to ride on a bicycle with a baby wrapped to my back, while balancing a gigantic metal bowl on my head, with massive bags hanging from each handle bar, all the while I'm peddling through near death traffic in 100 degree heat for 20 miles.

No problem. I can totally manage that. Just as soon as I figure out how they keep those dang skirts from falling down....

It was a wonderful afternoon. We felt so blessed and welcomed. It was so moving to sit and watch these women dance with such joy and enthusiasm. They could not be held back. They could not stay sitting. The music would start and they are just compelled to stand and respond to the music. They would be betraying the way they were created if they did not dance. The music is in their blood. They can not be separated from it. It is a part of who they are.

And it was such a thrill to come and celebrate along side them their accomplishments.

And share in their joy.

And I just love Africa so. The colors. My gosh, the colors, they are everywhere. Everything is in color here. The weird metal finger instruments that they play. The dancing. The endearing and enthusiastic way that they dance and kick up dirt, and close their eyes to feel the music. I just love it all. The eagerness to shake your hand and say hello. Their desire to teach you and welcome you into their world. The pride they have in their way of life.

Everything we do and the more that we learn about the people here and their culture...we grow more and more in love with this place.

*we totally ended up being in the local paper from our day here! There was an article about the women's business and then a picture of Isaak at the press as they discussed the Embassy's involvement in this initiative. They called us the "Murvelly family".

Like I said...totally love this crazy place.