With only two days until we begin our journey, excitement is mounting. Although our group of seventeen is spread across Canada from Calgary to Quebec and most of us have yet to meet face-to-face, we have been getting to know each other by email. Some of us have done a great deal of travelling, while others have never set foot off of the continent before. Some are young adults, others are seniors, and a couple of us fall somewhere in the middle.
Reasons for embarking on this adventure vary. Some of the participants have strong connections to Burkina through the Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers their congregations support in Burkina – Jeff and Tany Warkentin, our hosts in Ouagadougou; Anne Garber Kompaore (with her husband Daniel Kompaore); and Norm and Lillian Nicolson. Others are preparing for involvement in Canadian Mennonite University’s Outtatown program which will begin in Burkina at a later date. And others are looking for an adventure that will help them experience the world in a new and different way.
Here’s what some of us have to say as we prepare for the trip:
I hope that I will really take everything I can out of this experience, in such a way that I will be able to share it with people here when I return. I'm also thinking a lot about the warm weather. And also I'm very curious about, and looking forward to the cultural differences we will encounter. ~Stephanie
I am looking forward to an inspiring cross-cultural experience and meeting many wonderful people! ~Jennifer
I've always enjoyed travelling and I thought it would be a great experience to travel in a group like this….I am also very much interested in visiting the people of Burkina and learning from them in a very different way than I learn in the classroom. ~Natasha
As departure date approaches, I think about how reports place Burkina Faso as one of the poorest countries in the world. I have a feeling this will be different from other travel. Then I’ve read recently that the name Burkina Faso itself means “dignity-nobility-integrity” or “Land of the Honourable”. How friends who have been there speak to how the majority of Burkinabe live up to this great name, and are among the most humble and sincere they’ve met in Africa. I sense a sort of grateful anticipation to meet good people along dusty roads, and I think towards how my own life and others might be changed through this experience. ~Steve
I thought that foreign travel was a past item for me but when I saw this tour publicized, I was drawn to it. It will definitely be the only time that I can go on such a mission tour study as my age is not in my favour. I could be the oldest person on the tour or at least one of the oldest. I am 76 years old. ~Ken
Stay tuned for blogposts from Burkina Faso Learning Tour participants as our journey unfolds.
