MORE VACATIONS............................................

Besides the Burkina missionaries, people came fram far and wide for the Spring vacation time at the Guinguette.  The name for this vacation spot was given by the French military when they were stationed in the city of Bobo.  The French military were stationed in Bobo when we arrived on the field in 1959, but left the country shortly thereafter, when Upper Volta (named for the Volta River) became independant, and the new government changed our country's name to BURKINA FASO. (This name was a combination of two of the major languages in our country of more than seventy people group languages, meaning "fatherland of upright people". The people were called Burkinabe, after a Fula expression, another major language.)  And thus those names has remained.

Guinguette meant something like "little drinking place" in French and the soldiers named this little haven in the forest near Bobo for the bar they built there. There was a round cement dance floor, very small, and beside it was a thatched open building for the bar. French families would go there on weekends and drink and dance. There was even a string of colored lights strung up in the trees, which they operated by battery.  When the French military left Burkina Faso, the bar fell into ruins but the round cement dance floor remained.

In the midst of a very dry country, this little oasis was a natural phenomenon.  A stream ran down through a forested  area half an hour outside the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. The river was chin deep in places, the water was clear and flowed gently; there were huge trees making an arc over the swimming pool we called the Guinguette.  A gentle slope went from the flat camping land where we pitched our tents, and ended in the stream - there was no beach. Along about March - when the boarding school had a short vacation and you kids came home - the missionary community of Burkina, Mali and sometimes Côte d'Ivoire gathered at the river for vacation. 

The woods were alive with the noise of light generators and a whole tent city - tents of all colors.  Many of us took along our house help as the living was very primitive, water had to be hauled from a distance - and the workers had fun gathering around the campfire at night. You kids often joined them and enjoyed all the comments made! The man who worked for Uncle Dave and Aunt Margot was not happy because his patron's tent was an ugly khaki color, and so many other people had beautiful colored tents. Since his patron was the field director, he thought he should have the nicest tent!  Each year we also dug an outside toilet hole, with a wooden box and seat inside and straw mats to form a wall around the outside.  All the comforts of home!


Guinguette season fell during the time of year when Maranatha Bible Institute was in session, and I always had morning classes. So most mornings I would drive into the city, teach my classes and then return at noon in time for lunch and a fun afternoon. I did not have time to shop, so usually someone from camp would also drive in and take bread and fresh vegtable orders for people.  So we had a pretty modern setup.  Filtered water had to be set up also. 

The river and its banks rang with the laughter and American voices, and I am sure many local people who took that particular path on their way home from town, wondered what all these tubabus were celebrating out there in their forest!  The water was clear, and we did occasionally see a long croc swim through our swimming area at night. No one was allowed in the water after dark.  But you kids liked to watch the night life in the water with your bright flashlights.

(A parenthesis here:  we would go to the Guinguette occasionally for a day off during the year and apart from vacation time. One day when you girls were small, Martin from Santidougou was with us and we were all in the central pool swimming there in the river. Suddenlym Martin shouted, "Duro! Duro! (Hippo! Hippo!)  and sure enough we all got out and pulled you girls out just in time for a big Mama hippo to go swiming upstream fast - right through the area where we had just been swimming!  That was the only time we were chased out of the river!)

Occasionally we would have a potluck supper together, with everyone contributing something and all eating together.  Do you girls remember the day you decided to make raised doughnuts for the crowd?  You had this huge bowl full of dough and were kneading it first in the bowl and then with your hands in the air - and the dough fell down on the ground among the leaves and dust!   No problem, you just brushed off or cut off the dirty spots, rekneaded the dough and everyone enjoyed the delicious raised doughnuts! 

So going to the Guinguette was a lot of work - but also a lot of fun! And we all looked forward to it every year for a few years there.  The one sad memory for me was that it was at the Guinguette that I saw my sister, Aunt Donna, as a well adult for the last time. It was not long after that vacation that she came down with the disease that eventually killed her.  More about that later....

We also went to San Pedro a couple of times during those years, after the Ivory Coast Alliance Mission had established a guest house there. It was a beautiful spot up on a high hill above the ocean, with housekeeping apartments available.  One year Jason Foster went there with us to be company for you, Mark. It was too far to go home for him. And we have great memories of that time together.  Never realizing at the time that in the future we would be stationed there at San Pedro  after we retired from Burkina Faso, to work with the church and run the Mission guest quarters.