Ouagadougou is pronounced – wa ga doo goo, a really fun name to say and the capital of Burkina Faso. The last week of October, which was the All Saints holiday in France, we went to this West African country with a team of 13. Only five of us were Campus Crusade staff members.

I have a notorious fear of the unknown which God has been slowly working on through the years. On the plane flying over an ocean of desert I was anxious. Anxious about how different the culture would be, potential illnesses, malaria carrying mosquitoes, the inevitable heat… There was so much I didn’t know.

We were told to hold on to our luggage as we left the airport, because there are usually people who will try to carry them for you hoping to get some change in return. We warned Silas and Efrem to hold on to their bags and stay close to us.