Ouaga Week-end

What a week-end!  Off to Ouagadougou to say farewell to Jessie who is going home because she brought an unexpected tiny guest with her when she arrived – who is now 18 weeks old and growing.  Back to Belgium for tests and to sort out the rest of her life as a parent!  Good luck, Jessie!

 

And I am glad that I decided to visit to say goodbye, because Dominique who was planning a 2-week visit to Canada will be staying there longer, maybe until October,  to manage family affairs which have gone critical….. oh dear!  My Westerners’ social circle is disappearing.  I shall have to nail Thenain and Isabelle to the floor …

We went on Sunday to the birthday celebration of the most formidable woman, Madame Lucie Kaboré/Traoré, who is 93!  She was left widowed with 8 children, and when her in-laws arrived to annex all the matrimonial assets – customary practice – she decided to fight back and has been a notable African feminist campaigner ever since.  She still runs a Foundation for Widows and Orphans, a medical centre for widows and orphans, a holiday camp for widows and orphans etc.  and on Sunday she danced for us – several times.  What a force of nature!

 She is in the centre, surrounded by great-grand-children and the local evangelical choir who came round to sing for her – it was also la Fête des Mères and who better to fete than Mme Lucie?

And finally, because I know how the bus journeys entertain me, my latest photograph of Burkina Faso on wheels … room for two more below?