BURK IN A FASO
- the Burk Family newsletter.

The Burks work for God among the Dagara of Burkina Faso, West Africa & are supported by the |Homewood Church of Christ| in Birmingham, Alabama.

". . . teach a man to fish . . ."

Let me begin by thanking you all for the great outpouring of sympathy that we received after the latest entry in the Dagara Digest. From heartfelt email responses to phone calls and even promises of care packages on the way, we were feeling the love all the way over here in Burkina Faso. We are still eagerly expecting the arrival of our child in October of this year and we will be coming to the States for the delivery and our furlough in August.

My Dad always told me, "give a man a fish and feed him for a day - teach a man to fish and feed him for life." We've lived in Burkina now for more than three years trying to teach the Dagara to rely on God and to become fishers of men. We've given to people physically here and there although it has not been a primary part of our ministry, but I always hoped we could do more. It's a constant struggle to know how to show the compassion of Christ without at the same time perpetuating dependancy and thus also perpetuating the poverty. We also know that making "rice Christians" would render all our other efforts futile.

This week we had an amazing opportunity to figuratively teach some Dagara to fish, so that they could have more food. We had a seminar recently in which three teachers from the development branch of the CMA (Christian Missionary Alliance) came and taught all of us, both the Dagara Christians and we missionaries about some measures that the Dagara can take to shore themselves up against famine. Over one hundred Christians representing 7 different churches came to learn.

The speakers (Robert Sanou, Norbert Zerbo, and Tim Albright), taught us many things. Robert talked about the importance of knowing that famine often comes in cycles and that if we do something to prepare ourselves for it we can keep from falling to the same problems over and over. One major problem that our friends here face is the fact that there is only one 3 to 4 month rainy season each year. So they have basically three months to cultivate all the food they will eat the entire year. This is basically impossible, so by the beginning of the next rainy season they are hoping to find someone who can pay them so that they can work in their fields. They take what little money they can earn this way and buy food in the market. However the market prices are super-inflated because the supply is very low and the demand is desperate. One solution to this problem would be to garden during the dry season, but there is not enough water to do this effectively . . . until now.

Norbert demonstrated for everyone a drip irrigation kit specifically designed for areas with very little water. When the Dagara try to plant a dry season garden, they usually plant about 10 plants which they water with about 12 gallons in the morning and 12 at night. With these kits they can water 98 plants with less than half the amount of water (5 gallons in the morning and 5 at night). Because these kits deliver water only to where it is needed, they eliminate the need for weeding. Also the water that they provide is of a higher quality, because the kits use a filter. In many cases people have seen not just equal but better production per plant with these kits.

Lastly, Tim talked to us about overcoming some of the internal factors (for example - fatalism) that perpetuate poverty. When Moses was in the Lord's presence at the burning bush, the Lord asked him what he had in his hand. Moses just had a staff, but with that staff God used him and delivered a nation from slavery. Tim used this story to motivate the Dagara and inform them about what is in their hands. None of us were aware of the benefits of the moringa tree, but to the excitement and surprise of us all moringa trees could also change the fate of the Dagara people. The leaves of a moringa (per gram) have more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, more potassium than bananas, more beta carotene than carrots. In tests that Tim has been a part of in Ouagadougou, they have seen dramatic results by adding moringa leaves to the diet of severely malnourished children. These children often become this way because their mothers aren't even getting enough sustenance to produce milk. This problem has also been alleviated by getting breast-feeding mothers to add moringa leaves to their diet. Another problem facing the Dagara is the unavailability of a clean water supply. Mature moringa trees produce seed pods. The Dagara can take muddy river water and mix powder from ground moringa seeds in it. This powder is positively charged toward impurities in the water which stick to the powder. When the powder descends in the water what is left on the top is water about as clear as the water you pour out of your faucet every day. There are many other benefits to the moringa tree. These are just some of the benefits that Tim talked to us about. For more information about moringa, click here or just simply search for "moringa tree" on any search engine and you will get plenty of information.

Two moringa trees at a family's home would provide enough vitamin suplements for that family forever. There are pharmaceutical companies from the U.S. that have come to Burkina to plant moringa orchards for producing vitamins in the United States, and yet many of the people at this conference had moringa trees on their land and didn't even know of their benefits.

On Tuesday, Donatien, Bayuo, and I went to Mou to continue our evangelism out there. We had a small crowd because there were six funerals in that area! This time of year is usually difficult for Dagara families because they are running out of food. I couldn't help but wonder if, perhaps, some of those that died might have survived if their families could have known what we now know. Donatien, very excited about these new discoveries, harvested a moringa tree while we were there. We saw a woman with a severely malnourished child. We told her to use the moringa leaves in her and her baby's food. We pray that she takes this advice seriously and the baby survives.

On a different note, we've also seen the benefits of teaching the Dagara to fish spiritually recently. For many weeks, there has been only one convert out in Nyikpier. When I went out to visit Nyikpier for their Sunday morning worship, I didn't really know what to expect, because it has been primarily my teammate Andy and the Mebar church involved in the Nyikpier evangelism. I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd of 30 or so who gathered to sing and pray together. In conversation before we started worship, a few people voiced interest in being baptized. After they were done singing and praying, I shared a little bit with them about the meaning and siginificance of baptism, and although they weren't originally planning on it that morning many were excited to go ahead and be baptized. Little did I know what that would involve. Because there is no river that still has water in it at this time, we all went to the part of the river bed were somebody had dug a well. Then Ziera, the older man who was the only convert for several weeks, brought a 50 gallon barrel and placed it next to the well. They started filling it with water, but the barrel had a pretty bad leak, so they patched up the leak by packing mud into the bottom of the barrel. Once the barrel was full, we all rejoiced as we watched 10 new souls profess their faith in Christ and receive him in the waters of baptism. I have no doubt about the influence that Ziera must have had in bringing these folks to the point where they were willing to make this decision. Please pray for the Dagara as God continues to amaze us all in calling forth fishers of men from among them.

May the Lord bless you and keep you all,

Aaron, Andrea, and Daniel Burk
B.P. 15 Dano
Burkina Faso
011 226 90 80 44
aburk@dagara.org

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