Ghana

I spent this past week in Ghana at a Christian Economic Development Institute facilitated by the Chalmers Center. It was a privilege for me to see my professor, Dr. Brian Fikkert and meet Christian African leaders from Kenya, Brundi, Rwanda, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda, and other African countries. It was a reminder to me of God's presence in Africa and the history of the church. In this picture I am sitting in between a Togolese Pastor and Ghanian Pastor who were at the conference and are involved with our mission's theological education program. We stayed at Salvation Army hostel that had the bare minimum but that worked fine for a week.

Back in Senegal

After taking a nap, re-arranging my apartment, having a good night sleep, talking to my neighbors, getting some work done and going for a swim, I feel better being back in Senegal. it is warmer and more humid than when I left, and with the heat brings more frequent electricity outages. I have to remember I'm in Africa and if you don't have the luxury of a generator and air conditioning you just have to take it a little slower.

Return from vacation

Welcome back to Senegal! I was greeted by the smell of polluted air as I stepped off the plane and made my way to the baggage claim to be told one of my suitcases had not arrived. After bartering with a handful of taxi drivers, I was on my way to my apartment to discover an electricity outage. Since I didn't sleep on the plane I headed for bed with the distance prayer calls of the morning...

Yesterday, I was fine coming back to Senegal, but I think this morning I'm realizing it may be more of an adjustment back than I realized - and that's okay. I loved getting to see many of you and appreciated your support and encouragement to me.

Cotton Weaving

This women cultivates cotton and spins it into thread, and then has someone come and weave it into a beautiful blanket. They use the blankets for many ceremonies, the girl in the picture is demonstrating how they wear it for weddings in their village.

Blood work and bad food

I woke up today and took Samba to get blood work. It sounds simple enough and we had gone to a clinic yesterday that said come back in the morning at 8 before she has anything to eat or drink to get blood work done. We arrive, wait in line to pay and then as we are walking over to the lab a patient says that they ran out of syringes and may not have any tomorrow either. Right, how does a lab run out of syringes? So I decide to go to the downtown hospital and the taxi drops us off in front of the lab building and we go in and grab a number, #351, and they are in the low 300s. After waiting for an hour or so, our number comes up and I go to give them the information and the lady tells me I need to pay first. Oh. I should have known that there was some other building like at the other clinic but it just was not that clear to me. She says I can go and pay and then come right back. I go to the other building and find out that the blood work will cost almost four times as much as the previous clinic and I don't have that amount with me and their credit machine does not work. I go get Samba and we end up going to a private clinic right near my house, that my team leader had mentioned to me when were waiting in line. They are a little cheaper and let me go home to get the money while Samba waits.

In the afternoon, Rhadijah, my neighbor girl below me comes up to help me water my garden and stays the afternoon to keep Samba company. She helps Samba communicate with me and explains things like she doesn't like how I cook eggs, etc. I'm finding it challenging knowing what to find for her to eat and have decided tonight to give up on trying to make things for her. A friend is coming tomorrow morning and is going to prepare food with Samba that she likes and let me know what to buy. It's a challenge taking care of someone from a different culture, who is not able to fully communicate with you. She is very sweet but I don't feel like I know how to love her and take care of her as I would like to. She likes writing, copying paragraphs out of books so I wrote out Psalm 23 for her to copy in French and then showed her other passages in the Bible. She wants to learn more about the Bible and I need to spend more time helping her learn. I realize I am used to people who have a basic grasp of the Bible and the stories. What does it mean to show someone the Bible and explain it to them for the first time? I feel ill prepared. Maybe tomorrow we will look at Genesis and creation.

I'm tired and want my freedom back, just to work without taking care of someone else. I thought she might be able to stay with family for the weekend, but they will be out of town. I know she is suppose to be with me. I need God's grace to get me through.

Samba

Today marks the third day in a row that I have gone to the doctor. No, I am not sick, I am perfectly healthy. Last month I was introduced to Sambatew in one of the villages I work in and learned her story and saw the open sores on her left leg. They have been there for three years and have become serious enough that she can longer go to school (She is 17 and stopped going after 5th grade). The doctor this morning told me that she has lost her circulation in left leg. Her x-rays show that the infection has reached her bone. She has been staying with me the past few days and I have learned just how independent I am and how it's hard looking after someone. It's been a humbling experience for me and I pray that God would give the wisdom and love to serve Him through this time. I would appreciate your prayers for Samba to heal from her infection and for her life to be complete in Christ. She does not know much at all about the Bible, but is very open and I think would like to know more.

Asking questions

When my return bus arrived this morning in the village it was packed full of people with only standing room left. The driver said they would get off at the main road several kilometers away so climb in. We drove down the road and every time the bus driver saw another person he waved for them to get in too. I really did not think there was room when I got in considering there was already a couple of people standing on the stairs going into the bus. I was given a makeshift seat next to the driver, but really there was no room, even the aisles had an extra seat built in and with all the kids on laps there could have been a hundred people at least over fifty. I tried not to think what would happen if there was an accident. One of our stops was at a market and one man got off dangling a lamb by its neck, and then I noticed other men dragging tied up sheep from the roof of the bus --- market day for the shepherds. Never boring going back to the city...

I went to the mission/national church leaders meeting on Thursday and then went with one of the pastor's to visit his two church plants. It was encouraging and disheartening. The pastor has been working with these churches for four years and three years ago started savings and loan groups with each of the churches which have been running successfully. The fund is for the development of the church but they said it is still too small for them to use it in any significant ways. They divide it up and then loan it to each member to generate interest. Two years ago, both of the churches had a joint week long business training seminar to examine potential income generating activities, but have still yet to receive any finances for projects. They opened an account at a credit mutual but after saving money for a few months were told there was no money for them to have a loan, so they withdrew their funds. The pastor explained to me that the church has suffered greatly because they have been promised a well or other funding but nothing has come about. For the one village the closest well is one and half kilometers away and they can spend hours just to fetch water.

I visited the second church in the evening and saw the progress of their church building being constructed and talked to church members. At the end of our visit after they shared with me all of their needs and desires for their church group, the deacon shared with the pastor that the masons working on the building needed food to have energy to finish up the church. They have nothing left to eat and the food from their harvest was finished in December. If they could have money for rice and oil for ten days then they could finish the work of the church.

Tonight my heart is heavy with their suffering, I question what is the best way to help. Would it just be better for the advancement and development of the churches, if I leave them the rest of my support money and return home? I'm not sure, and I have more to learn about all the churches before I can come to a conclusion. Until I know, I will continue asking questions and pray that God would make it clear.

Samba and Sas

Unpacking and repacking has been a theme of mine the past few weeks and will continue. I just returned this afternoon from a village where I met a girl name Samba Anis who is seventeen years old and has had an infection on her leg for the past two years and because of this can no longer attend school. The pastor who I was staying with wanted me to visit her so I could take a picture of her wound---they said it looked better today because she had cleaned it but yesterday puss streamed out when she unwrapped her skirt. Three main sores which look like holes to me are scattered around her upper leg. I took the pictures and then we prayed for her healing. She has refused to see a Muslim Marabout and perform sacrifices to spirits, but has not yet been taken to the hospital for treatment. It hard to image sores like this go untreated for so long when you are used to going to the doctor for minor ills if they last more than a couple of days much less a couple of years.

I went out on Thursday to start a learning conversation group with a village 2 km from the pastor's house. We started with a lesson on household budgets and examining the income and expenses of their community. We had the session under a neem tree beside a group of huts and a tree where villagers perform sacrifices and offerings to spirits. As we discussed the expenses, we brought up the ones that may need to be cut back such as appeasing spirits. For every phrase I said the pastor spoke for five minutes explaining the concept into Seereer. He told animated stories to explain ideas and it was a beautiful picture of a Western learning tool adapted to a village context. Hopeful these learning conversations will continue to be a great way for the pastor and the village to better understand their financial limits and constraints and discover ways to improve them.

Weekend Village Trip

Under a thatched roof in a mud brick house with flashlights and a kerosene candle sat a handful of members of the community --- Muslims and Christians who live in a small village a few hours southeast of the capital city. When I asked them what they liked about their community they said relationships and the unity. Is that the first thing people in the States would say?

Many different organizations have worked in this area and come to them asking them if they would like funding for projects and they said they are not interested in forming a savings group or receiving credit. When they have received loans in the past they said that is hard to pay them back in the time allowed and end up losing out in the long run because they end up having to sell an asset to pay back the loan. However, they are interested in training --- learning how to manage their finances and understanding what to do with their money. They said they have never received training, only finances.

I spent the weekend in a neighboring, larger village with a presbyterian pastor and his family. They started a church last April and have a consistent attendance of fifty people each Sunday who meet under a white tent in front of his house. The stories of God's work in the lives of members of his church are amazing testimonies of God's grace--- I met the mother of a member who had tried to have her daughter killed for becoming a Christian and now herself has come to faith in Jesus.

I had other meetings over the weekend to discuss how I could serve the ladies in the church and encourage them through economic development training. We discussed different options of starting a group to save money, studying basic financial principals and looking into livelihood training such as dying fabric or sewing classes. Some of the ladies have never received formal education and are eager to learn how to better use their resources.

Pray for these ladies that they may be encouraged in their faith and through learning what it means to be stewards of God's creation. Please ask God to give me wisdom and direction as I plan and serve this church and community. It means I will be traveling more and need discernment in knowing how to be a good resource of my time and energy. May God be glorified through this project.

Thanks for all of your faithful support!

Highlights

After having my parents with me all the time for ten days, I feel a little lost without them tonight in my quiet apartment listening to the baahing of the neighborhood sheep. Their visit was a great opportunity for me to take a break from my work and spend time showing them all the different aspects of my life in West Africa.

Parents in Town

My dad and mom arrived Saturday night to visit me for the week, and so far we have had two days packed full of activities---attending a Seereer Bible dedication ceremony, visiting our national churches' training center, eating ceeb u jen (national dish of fish and rice), stopping in on a literacy class and learning how to pound millet. Actually, all the new sights made them forget my birthday yesterday but at least I had a couple of friends send me a Happy Birthday text message. oh well...

Weekend Reflections

On Friday most Muslims celebrated Tabaski by killing a sheep in commemoration of the sacrifice of Abraham --- I say most because some performed the sacrifice on Thursday based on the sighting of the new moon. This was my first time to watch a sheep be sacrificed and it was interesting to watch how submissive it acted before its death. The father of the house performs the act with the assistance of his sons while the women and younger children prepare the onion sauce and grill the fresh meat. I have never seen as much meat as I saw on Friday, even a street lady I passed by had a large metal bowl full of meat others had given to her. The family below me killed two large sheep and spent a few hours skinning and chopping up the meat. I hadn't thought about how much work is involved, it's actually not a very restful day. A couple of my neighbors gave me meat and one piece of meat still had sheep hair on it. I decided to put the meat in my freezer for later...wish I appreciated fresh meat more...

Later in the day after the main meal, children get all dressed up in new clothes and visit neighbors. (My camera is broken so I don't have pics right now, but will have some later from my 35mm.) Not just neighbor kids asked me for money but random kids on the street. In some ways it is no different from any other day, just more accepted on Tabaski and they are dressed up. One of my friends told me she walked by two ladies with tied scarves stretched across a walkway and as she was about to walk past the ladies tightened the scarves for her to have to step over. They wanted her to pay a toll for walking by, but she didn't know and kept walking. I'm not sure the origin of this but it's common on Tabaski.

I spent the rest of Friday and a good portion of Saturday at a sleep over with girls, around my age, from the evangelical church near my house. More than anything it brought to the surface my personal and cultural disposition, such as not loving sleep overs the way I use to when I was younger. I wasn't anticipating the event to go until 2 in the afternoon on Saturday and was ready to leave soon after I woke up. I get restless easily if I have to stay in the same place for a while and don't feel like I can leave. Partly, I was not always interested in what was happening, for example when we had a discussion time on Proverbs 31 and focused primarily on the importance of keeping a house orderly when we get married. I'm going to try to continue to be involved at some level with this group and hopeful learn ways I can connect with these girls...

I've been reflecting lately on how much I miss the holiday season and how it's hard for me to get into the joy of the season here. Here, it is more a day event, than a whole month. It's interesting because even Muslims celebrate it by doing something special with their family. It's depressing though because the Christmas that has been imported is of a jolie Père Noël and his winter wonderland which has no connection to the local context of the Sahel. I hope this Christmas season has been special for you with it centered on the celebration of the birth of Jesus, our Savior. Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël!

Immanuel - God with us.

I had a Christmas party tonight with a few of my friends on the street; it turned out to be a true celebration of God's work in our lives. Despite language barriers, I read them the story of Matthew's account of Jesus' birth in Wolof (I didn't really understand what I was reading but they helped me with the pronunciation) and thankfully a couple of them were familiar with the story. After we talked about God giving His Son to live among men, Aissatou said to me that God brought me here to be friends with them. She said that it gave pleasure to God that we were friends and then she broke out in a song about God giving us each other as friends. It was a beautiful expression of her gratitude and reminder for me that is at work among us.

Christmas Cookies and Photo Booth

Are you serious?

More than once this week, I posed the question, Are you serious? Certain social encounters really throw me off like when you meet a friend for lunch and, as soon as you sit down, a man you do not know tells you to scoot over so he can sit at the same table. No, neither you nor your friend invited him to sit down much less know him. As you're trying to talk he interrupts to ask if you could speak French, because he cannot understand what you are saying. He tells you it as if you were speaking Chinese... When this happens the day after two guys expect you to pick up their tap after going out for a drink with a group of friends, even though they were the ones who invited themselves to come along, it begins to wear on you. And then your French teacher asks to end class early so he can go to the grocery store, even though it will still be open after class... sometimes it's just hard to understand. From others, you experience generosity and kindness that makes you feel a part of a family and gives you a sense of belonging such as cooking lunch with a friend, receiving a beautiful necklace from a beggar, and laughing with neighbors as they teach you a foot game.

December - strike, package bureaucracy, and Tabaski

This morning I walked past my sixteen-year-old neighbor sitting in a plastic chair on the sidewalk talking to a friend and stopped to ask why he was not in school. He informed me, with a smile, that the students decided to go on strict so they could get out of school earlier for Tabaski. Now starting today, instead of Tuesday, their school is on break until after the first of the year.

Small packages are the way to go because if you receive a large package you have to pick it up from the package office. I went to the package post office with a friend to pick up her package and we had to go through ten steps to get her package. First we gave the man in front her package slip, then we walked back to an office and had a man give us another slip, then another man stamped the slip, followed by someone else taking us to the package room who then found and opened the box up for us. He decided how much the box was worth and gave a price for the fee which was then negotiated. After my friend went and paid the fee and then took the slip to another who stamped it verifying she paid and then she received a slip to pay another small tax. Finally, when this was all done the man at the front who we originally talked to went and brought the package from the back to hand to us. It was a good thing we were the only ones there at the time.

The streets near my house resemble a barn, filled with sheep and hay, in preparation for the Muslim holiday next week (either the 20th or 21st depending on the moon). Besides the winter wonderland of Santa decorations at the near by bakery, an occasional street vendor with a Christmas tree or santa toy, and a few stores carrying Christmas decorations, life continues with not much attention to the festivity of the Christmas season. Despite this, you can pray that God would give opportunities for me to share with others the reason for Christmas and why it is significant.

Beautiful Days

Over the weekend the heat subdued and now the days are beautiful with temperatures in the 70's and 80's with a cool ocean breeze. I understand now why everyone leaves during the hot season, because the cool season is very pleasant. Not really any exciting news to share today but am happy to be in West Africa and thankful for God's amazing love in my life. The pics are from this past weekend along the coast near my house.

Riots

Yesterday the buses stopped, the downtown stores closed and the vendors protested against the actions of the government to stop their informal market. In the late afternoon, as I rode through the streets of downtown, I saw the remains of the riots --- the piles of ashes from the burning of tires and the trucks of the gendarmerie standing guard on the corners. Today again the manifestation continued, the people restless with the lack of opportunity to survive as the cost of living continues to augment. The government announced today the reopening of certain street areas to appease the rioters.

Sudden Changes

Part of what makes an African city, Africa, is all of the street vendors selling you everything from perfume to shoes to kleenexes. These income generating activities are not registered with the government but make up a large percentage of the income in West Africa. Wednesday night the President abruptly stopped these informal livelihoods and sent the police and army to clear the streets of the capital. No longer can the women in my neighborhood camp out and beg on the street and no longer can my friend sell bags of juice and yogurt outside the gate of the high-school. Why did this happen? I am not sure there is a good answer to explain ridding citizens of their hope to scrap by in life.

chicken feet, second wife...

You realize you are an American when it's bizare to...

buy a chicken and find two feet (nails included) carefully tucked inside

or

eat lunch at your neighbor's house and have the husband kindly tell you in front of his wife that he would be happy to take you as his second wife. He explains that it's not good for you to be single at 23 and that you should already be having kids. (Don't worry I'm holding out...)