School started this week and it is a joy to see our students again as well as being able to get back into the routine of teaching.  We will be tutoring in the evening M-Th.  Around the 1^st of September, there was some massive flooding here in Ouagadougou.  We received 12 inches of rain in 10 hours and a dam broke resulting entire sections of the city being demolished.  150,000 people are homeless and the threat of malaria and cholera outbreaks from the standing water, lack of clean water and medical care is very real.  The Main hospital was flooded and many people lost everything they own.  Children are being turned away by the doctors even though they are really ill because they can’t pay.  The sheer numbers are daunting.  This is the worst disaster since the early 1900’s.  Over half the capital is affected and water is reportedly being pumped in from the next biggest city.  Personally, we are doing well and other than the periodic losses of electricity and the loss of water pressure we have not been directly affected.  Please pray for this situation.  This week, we will find out which of our students have been affected.

Natalie Rizvi
Teacher, English Language Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso