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Trip Start Mar 01, 2009 Previous
Entry Trip End Ongoing

  Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Monday, December 28, 2009

Hey Peeps,

Well, Ghana was great ...the people .........like everywhere in africa are really open, genuine .....and friendly ........
No ,not just another generic complement ......they really are!
I dont think Shyness even exists in this country...........they all appear to me as one big happy family
Its becoming harder harder to find anybody that is not nice!!!

As it turned out Ghana would be where we would be spending Christmas 2009
We had been shooting up to the north of the country fairly fast in order to male it into Mali with enough time to organize the Festival
So Come the big crimbo day we found ourselves quite randomly in the town of TAMALE, although a population mainly consisting of Mulims
We found enough excitable Christians to celebrate with .
The start of the day hadnt been very Christmassy at all .....another shitty hotel room to wake up too.........an unusually above average breakfast
and a walk into town .........had proved to be like any other day .......no sign of little baby Jesus's birthday celebrations anywhere!!
It was all a little disappointing......really .....the point of being in a different continent for crimbo day is to see and experience how these other people celebrate..........and they didnt ,by the looks of things.

However that was all about to change
The weather was by now getting hotter ........from the cool breezy Coastal temperature in the south we were now rapidly heading towards dusty and arid Burkina Faso.........(and further past that ....the Sahara Desert of Mali!)  It wasnt gonna get any cooler for a long time (que daydream of white crimbo in Ireland tucked up by the fire with 5th Hot Toddy in Hand Mmmmmmm)

As we headed away from our hotel , our luck changed due to some good christian folk
In good faith they invited Myself and Jens to the local church for some good old fashioned worshipping African Style
Super eager to trigger of some Christmas nostalgia ,we jumped at the chance ...........

Approaching the Church.............we soon found ourselves surrounded by laughter and beaming smiling faces, we mingled with the locals and suddenyl realised just how under dressed we were ..........Mother ,Fathers, Kids and babies , all decked out in their Christmas best ..........Us in our slightly dusty and travelworn threads trying hard not to look like imposters
We joined some kind of Que heading into the church ; Beautuflly coloured fabrics and stunning African patterns blended as the swarms of people gathered around the entrance ....one que going in and one que coming out .............
By now nearing the entrance we could hear the music.........Drumkit; Keyboards, Djembe Drums and Guitar beating out an effortless African Rythmn designed for the hot weather.
The people in our que by were by now starting to dance in eager anticipation, as people passed us on their way out they danced , some with eyes closed.....some clapping in the air........all wore huge beaming satisfied smiles 
Random screams of joy rang out from various parts of the church as we entered
I looked around .........around 80percent of the people were up out of their seats dancing clapping and singing.
The Joy was contagious , My head was the first to start moving ........then my arms , swifly followed by my legs. before i knew it i was busting moves that the big JC himself would have been proud of!
Although sticking out like big White sore thumbs, we would have felt more selfconcious had we been still and static; such was the ,ass Rythmn and Movement in the building.
we soon managed to bump and grind our way to some seats on the second row. the song finished and everyone sat . The priest addressed the recovering crowd and events suddenly took on a more familiar theme. Church how i remmember it!

No sooner had that thought entered my head whn a lady 5 feet away from me suddenly exchanged her baby for a Djembe Drum and started to thump out a beat , from around her percussion seemed to appear from nowhere . Shakers, Clave and a wooden Xylaphone amongst others joined in to complete the Rythmn..............Several other women now rose to sing the melody. 
 As we again danced along with everyone else, this time in our seats.......Jen leaned over to me and whispered "No wonder so many people go to church , its like being at a gig!"
The song finished and it was communion time, followed by some prayers, some more standing when everybody else stood and some more kneeling when everybody knelt.

The Musicians and singers appeared to be planted throughout the crowd as from our Right hand side this time 5 girls and 5 boys stood, swaying from side to side either clapping or playing percussion they blasted out a very Rythmic and African "Once in royal davids city" ......all the time you and others around are free to yelp whoops of joy , stand and dance or close your eyes and contemplate........Be free in Africa is a common saying here.......even the occasional crotch grab is accepted in this house of god.
After the service we met the priest outside and genuinely thanked him............feeling freshed , rejuvernated and spiritually cleansedwe set off on our next mission, to find a christmas roast!

Well that part of the day didnt go quite as well as the church service so we had to settle for Salad (with cold baked beanson the top??) and Spaghetti Bolognese.
Didnt quite beat a good roast..........with far too much stuffing and drowning in gravey .............but you cant have everything

Have to go ....all the buttons on this keyboard are in crazy positions and its sending me completely crazy!!!!!!!!!!
ive suddenly got the typing speed of my mother!! 

We hope that you all had a great christmas wherever you were,

Enjoy NY too!!!! (We will be in Mali for that one)

Cant wait to see you all

Love Nicholas and Jennifer xxxxxxxxxxx        

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