Omar, the Weaver

Day 2 in the village

Omar the weaver and his family are good friends of Sharyn.  Omar came to say hello on our first day and to bring woven blankets.  Next day we went to see how it is done! 

We discovered that in Burkina village life there are 3 classes of people, which they are born into.  The farmers, the weavers and the blacksmiths.   The weavers are artisans and therefore also do the music for traditional funerals and weddings.  Because of that they become involved in spiritual rituals.  So when weavers become Christians, they lose most of their income.  Although Omar is well-known as one of the best weavers around, he finds it hard to make enough money to feed his family.  His weaving is beautiful and we placed an order!  $30.00 will pay for a woven blanket!  Anyone want to place an order to support this devout man?  He is trusting God to provide.  It’s fun to hear him punctuate his Buamu conversation with “Hallelujah!” 

After visiting in the shade for awhile, Omar showed us how his loom works.  He had a project underway and he even let us try out how to weave!  His whole family was quite amused at our efforts.   We had to coordinate our foot movements with the hand motions. 

Meanwhile the women were cooking up a dinner for us.  We were served TOH and sauce with fish.

After dinner his wife showed us how she spins cotton by hand.  What a delicate and painstaking job! 

On their yard they have a banana palm – which is a low palm tree.  It had 2 large bunches of bananas.   Their well is extremely deep and provides good water.   While we there someone was delivering freshly carved bricks to rebuild the shower wall.