It's Monday in Meskine

My first waking thought was how full today would be, and that there was no time to waste. Danny had already been up a couple of hours, and was getting ready to go to devotionals at the hospital. After a bowl of granola and a banana, I got dressed and ready for our church-planting team’s prayer meeting at our house at 7:30. I wanted to be ready early because I had forgotten to remind DamDam our guest house cook to prepare breakfast at 7am for a young family leaving this morning for their work in Chad. She didn’t come to get the key at 7, so I headed to the guest house to do the job myself, hoping to be back when the team showed up for prayer. As I neared the kitchen, I heard her warm laughter ring out. She had come without my reminder! I ran in and gave her a grateful hug as she was flipping one of her delicious crepes. Thank you, Lord! The morning just got less complicated.

Our prayer meeting was focused, uplifting, and the best-used 30 minutes of the day. After goodbyes, I ran off to the guest house to settle up accounts with and say goodbye to the now well-fed missionary family. While there, Eli the construction foreman found me and asked me what type of paint I wanted on the studio apartment being remodeled nearby. I headed back to my house to make a list of repairs at various residences and to work on the maintenance calendar to make sure we’ll be finished before rainy season begins in June. After reviewing the list with Eli’s assistant Yaouba, I checked on the progress of the studio. Yes, the ceiling was varnished, the last coat of paint was being applied to the exterior, and the carpenter was starting on the cabinets.

I planned to visit with Ruth who ministers to our Chadian patients because today she was down with a bad back. On the way there, I noticed our Fulfulde tutor working with Andy, which reminded me of my lesson in five minutes! Ruth would have to wait. I trotted off with purpose to our house to put my books, oscillating fan and cold drinking water out on the porch. Right on time, Adamou rolled up on his bike, and we were all class nouns and agreement of adjectives for the next hour.

As the lesson ended, Yaouba and Dieudonne arrived to check out my oven which recently had belched out flames from the oven control knob. Yep, this is an oven with a history, and they were eager to tell it. Repairs will be tomorrow morning, hopefully before I need it again. I checked in on Ruth, whose voice answered my customary greeting,”Assalaamu aleekum” with a weak “ Aleekum ussalaam.” She walked slowly and stiffly to meet me at her door, and as we visited, I showed her the exercises Jason Greene taught me just before we left the US in November. She’s the second team member to benefit from them, not including myself! I zipped by the guest house again to ask DamDam to bring Ruth’s lunch to her today.

Danny wasn’t eating lunch today, so our house helper Daada Dorcas and I lunched and chatted on the porch. Next was a 2:00 meeting with Daada S, one of our MBBs, at her house. Discipling her is one of my highlights of the week as “God shows up” and enriches our fellowship every time. Today I went on the guest house bike which is fine except for the lack of brakes. So there I was wearing a blouse and long skirt with a billowing third drape tucked around the shoulders, my head covering, and my bag strapped on the back of the bike with a strip of black rubber. Despite yards of fabric, the wind still kept me clutching at my skirt to make sure all stayed decent, this while avoiding the many pedestrians entering the hospital gate or the motorcycle taxi drivers outside hoping to snag the next potential customer. I successfully exited without increasing our patient load, passed by the market selling daily necessities, and headed down the road to Daada S. After our meeting, I biked to our old neighborhood to meet another woman interested in learning more about Jesus, but didn’t find her home.

So I returned home in the blazing sunshine at 3:30, drank a gallon of water, and dried off in front of the fan before finally getting time alone with the Lord in His Word. At 6pm I met with a dear friend using training I received at the Chapel. Edie Mitchell walked me through the same principles when we returned to the US from the field in 2002. How precious to help others know how to draw upon the life of Jesus within to live abundantly right now! Next was a Pilate’s exercise time with Kari at 8 at the guest house. I grabbed my mat, put exercise clothes on under my skirt, and made my last trip of the day to the guest house by flashlight. No matter that we couldn’t get the DVD player to work. We would tighten abs another night! Once home, Danny reminded me that I had a couple of e-mails that I might like to see. Well, that led to a wonderful chat on gmail with Brooke, my sister-daughter-friend and former office-mate at the Chapel. Could the day get any better than this? Yes! Tyler popped in for a chat, too. Ahhhh, sweet! And before I logged off, I saw that Kim was on my facebook page with a faithful reminder that we needed to feed our blog.

It is already the wee hours of Tuesday, and in 5 ½ hours, we’ll start it again, same main events—different details—new mercies!

Note: we do not necessarily endorse the ads that appear on this blog site and apologize if the content is questionable. We have no control over this feature.

The Joys of Language Learning

Some of our friends have asked us about the task of learning another language so we thought we’d share with you one of the challenges that we face in learning Fulfulde. In English we can often use one adverb to modify several, if not most adjectives. If one wants to say something is very or really a certain way, we can usually just add very or really before the adjective. For example:

It’s very hot (temperature)
It’s very cold today.
It’s very early.

You get the picture of how easy it is in English to modify the meaning. Well, in Fulfulde there are specific adverbs for most adjectives and they’re not the same. In the following examples in Fulfulde, the adverb always follows the adjective (below in italics) and is given a strong vocal emphasis that would merit an exclamation point in English. In English the adverb always comes before the adjective. Here is a short list of the most common examples:

Very white is daneejum tal
Very black is baleejum kurum
Very red is bodeejum coy
Very hot is guldum jaw
Very cold is peewdum delem
Very hard is cattudum kolon
Very stinky is kaaddum rok
Very full is hebbingo tel
Very early is fajiri cub
Very straight is arni cir

So then, in addition to having to learn the basic vocabulary of colors, temperatures, time, etc., if one wants to intensify the meaning, there is a whole separate list of adverbs to learn as well as making sure to apply the correct adjective.

Oh the joys of language learning! Hey, if a child can do it, why can’t we?

Danny and our language helper Adamou.

Souley

The car was full of the scent of freshly-baked baguettes as we made our way from the bakery to our last stop of the day. Heading into the indigenous grain market, we were looking for wheat for making whole wheat flour. Danny stood by the parked car while teammate Kari Downer and I crossed the street to ask. We were sent to several boutiques before we met a young man who signaled us to follow him into a nearby boutique. We went in the front door, then out the back door into another world.

The market here was shaded and uncrowded. Our guide led us to an older man who had displayed bags of grain on his table. This man spoke to our guide, and they both led us deeper in to this strange, “unsafe” market. Kari and I exchanged glances that asked, “Where are they leading us?” “Not too sure about this…” We passed by neat boutiques with similar products as the “tame” market, but more organized and with more variety. I had just bought a coin purse at Nziko, and was passing much nicer looking ones in this aisle.

It was peaceful and cool as we walked through, and there weren’t any puddles. As we walked deeper in, concerned that Danny may be worried by our disappearance, and after stopping at several places to no avail, I told our guide that we would have to come back another day. Actually, I wasn’t confident these guys were honest. He smiled and said, “We’ll find what you’re looking for.”

Finally, we stopped at the table of an old woman who had grain to sell. Her wares were a mélange of grains, only a few of which I recognized. Only then were we asked how much we wanted. When we each said we wanted a few small bowls only, our guides looked at each other and laughed. The older man could have given us what we needed, but thought we wanted a large quantity.

It was fun to witness the friendly banter between the old lady, our guides, and the neighboring vendors as they advised her that the currency I gave her was still good even though worn. Accepting their verdict, she smiled at me as if I were her friend now, too, and of course, tried to interest me in her other products. Then we returned to the older guide’s stall for Kari to buy her wheat. That way, they both earned a little. In a fatherly tone, he counseled me to be sure to tip the younger guide, (customary tip—20 cents), who led us back through the maze to the door of his boutique again.

He crossed the street with us and greeted a relieved Danny with a handshake. I asked him his name, and he told me that he would be happy to help me any time I need something at the market. I’ll be seeing Souley again, and am grateful for his hospitality as we visited his turf.


Note: we do not necessarily endorse the ads that appear on this blog site and apologize if the content is questionable. We have no control over this feature.

It was just another day in the Maroua Market...

We live in Meskine, a small village in the Far North province of Cameroon. We can buy many of the things we need for food right here every Wednesday. Other small items are available every day right outside the walls of our hospital where a small market has sprung up. (That’s a blog entry for another day!) But, if we want produce and canned goods resembling what we get in the US, we have to travel 15 minutes to the provincial capital Maroua.

We shop in the “tame” market that is more expatriate-friendly where there are aisles of little “boutiques”, and I mean little. The smallest bedroom in your house would be larger than most. In these boutiques are fabric, electronics, groceries, housewares, fresh veggies and fruit, clothing—you name it. If you imagine a flea market with lots of small stalls for vendors, you will only begin to get the picture. This is not a place for a claustrophobic as the smaller aisles are no more than 4 feet wide, and often full of shoppers, beggars, vendors, and products being pushed, pulled, or carried (often on the head) to nearby stalls. A metal roof way up overhead lets sunlight and rain in depending on the season. And for some reason, possibly to minimize the dust, the dirt floors are full of puddles. So there are a number of obstacles to maneuver around.

The market is definitely a social event/place/party/job/necessity—kind of like the mall…..with puddles. Usually though, I’m focused on my list, my bag of purchases, my wallet (no plastic here—all cash!) and my surroundings because of pickpockets. In any given trip, I’ll visit four or five veggie and fruit stands, Mahdi’s (the Maroua Walmart, 10’X10’ with products up to the ceiling) or Ibrahim’s (a luxurious 20’ x 30’ with rolling carts!) for more Western products, the bakery for bread, Nziko for office supplies, a vendor on the street that sells small, roasted chickens (dubbed “parakeets” because of similar size), and occasionally a visit to a fabric store to buy material to give to a tailor for a new dress.

No trip is complete without a visit to the indigenous market which is more open and a little more risky as a result. Here we pass tables piled with slabs of freshly butchered beef, goat, and lamb meat with the ever-present fly population buzzing around them. The first stop is usually for meat to get the best selection and the least-visited by flies. A little deeper in the market we find fresh veggies like eggplant, zucchini, peppers, cabbage, mint, fresh ginger, and sometimes even apples--things that are sold in the “tame” market, but with lower prices here. As I was buying a pineapple, I was speaking Fulfulde to my vendor. Not having heard me, a fellow next to him asked him why he was speaking Fulfulde to me, a white person. When I stared at him with my laser beam look, he sheepishly asked, “ Oh, do you understand Fulfulde? Heh, heh.” Although I have much to learn about shopping in Fulfulde, it is a wonderful bridge-builder to friendly shopping here. and maybe even better prices.

This is usually as far as I have ever gone into the indigenous market because of the “unsafe” reputation other expatriates have given it. So how did I later find myself deep in the heart of this place against my better judgment?

Meet me here tomorrow and I’ll finish the story!

Note: we do not necessarily endorse the ads that appear on this blog site and apologize if the content is questionable. We have no control over this feature.

HOW MUCH DAMAGE.....?

How much damage can one thorn do? Well, I guess it all depends on how long one ignores it, or how long one receives poor treatment or no treatment at all. A woman from Chad, our neighboring country to the east, was recently in the hospital. Danny met her, her husband and young child in the prosthetic department where she was being fitted for a new prosthetic limb that would attach above the knee.

While we don’t have all the details, it seems that TEN YEARS AGO a thorn entered her foot. Obviously, the treatment was inappropriate and after suffering chronic pain and infection for many years, they decided to seek help in our hospital. Apparently, they waited until the foot and leg below the knee were too infected to be saved. While this is a sad story indeed, and one that most in the west cannot fathom coming to pass in their own lives, there are some bright points in it. To begin with, she received competent, compassionate medical care by the OR team who were able to remove the lower portion of her leg successfully, thereby saving her life. Not only was she spared the chronic pain and risk of further complications, she was able to be fitted with a very well-made artificial limb which will allow her to continue her daily routine and life with dignity.

Perhaps more importantly, and our prayer, is that the family would have experienced something of the love and compassion of Christ during their stay here. Many from Chad are watching the Jesus film in their language, and our prayer is that they will comprehend the truth and the gift that Christ offers. They are very thankful when we pray with them in Jesus’ name and welcome it.

We want to thank many of you who support this work with your prayers and giving. These stories of hope are possible because people are willing to pray and give.

The obvious question that many of you are probably asking is “why did she wait so long to seek medical treatment?” The answer is probably a combination of factors. Perhaps there is not a medical facility close to where she lives making it difficult to get competent treatment in a timely manner. She may have sought treatment from a traditional healer using traditional medicine, often complicating the problem. Or, perhaps they postponed treatment simply hoping for the best. Many here do not understand God’s sovereignty although they use the expression, “whatever God wills.” Instead of understanding that God is one of love and compassion, they view Him as rather indifferent and their view is a fatalistic one. This presents us with challenges when trying to share that He genuinely does care about them and all areas of their life. While they have many (99) names for God, love is not one of them.

Note: we do not necessarily endorse the ads that appear on this blog site and apologize if the content is questionable. We have no control over this feature.

What did they tell them?

When we first arrived in November, our long term team went away to another village for a week long retreat and strategy session. We stayed at a mission station in a small village in the mountains about an hour’s drive from here that has had a presence there for many years and even runs a medical clinic. This means that the locals there have had a fair amount of exposure to the nasaras (white people) for quite some time.

We’d driven by these mountains many times before in years past, and from the highway it always looked like they were uninhabited. We were surprised to see this one full of people. Late one afternoon we took a walk through the village and several small children began walking with us chattering and playing along the way. Eventually, all but two of them (two girls ages 6 and 7) stopped walking with us. These two reminded me of Chip and Dale the cartoon chipmunks and kept speaking to us in French, laughing, and holding my hand, one on each side. This went on for quite some distance, but then as we walked past one girl’s hut, one of the adults said something in their local language that caused the girls’ laughter to cease. They let go of my hands and dashed in the direction from which we had just come.

We laughed among ourselves as we wondered what they were told that made them suddenly change their demeanor and direction. We figured it was something like, “the white people are taking you home to eat you for supper”. We got a chuckle out of it, but we honestly have heard parents in our village (where we can understand the language) say things like this. Hmm, sounds sort of like the stories my dad told me about the captain coming to put me off the boat if I slurped my soup at the table….

Longtermers at retreat in the village of Godigong

Harmatan

The staple food source in this area is the dry season millet known as yellow millet. If all the conditions are right, then the usual result is a strong harvest that will provide most folks with plenty of food that will last most of a year.

However, sometimes conditions are not always as they should be. For example, if the rains are insufficient to moisten the ground enough, then the harvest will be diminished. Another condition that must exist is cooler whether and a lot of relief from the blazing sun. In early December the ideal condition is a heavy “fog” called Harmatan and the accompanying cooler temperatures. Harmatan has the appearance of thick fog and is usually accompanied by much cooler temperatures. Harmatan is formed as the cold north winds blow across the Sahara Desert stirring up and picking up very fine dust particles and blowing them our way. The pictures here are intended to give you some idea of the difference. Both pictures were taken facing the same direction towards the mountains.

This was taken in November before Harmatan began. The mountains are clearly visible.

This was taken after a brief period of Harmatan. Where did the mountains go?

Unfortunately, this year it has been quite hot and we’ve seen very little of this “protective” fog. This condition has almost ruined the current millet crop. Most are expecting a very low yield, if any at all. Grain is already expensive and a failed crop in February 2009 would only intensify the situation. In addition, many farmers have gone into debt to have the money to plant their crop. The current situation is a stark reminder of how vulnerable the average person is to things beyond their control, such as weather patterns, etc. and they have no savings account or emergency fund to help cope with this sort of basic need. Given such vulnerabilities, some turn to the “magic” arts for relief from their fears. Our prayer is that they would instead turn to the Lord of creation who desires to be their sustenance.

“Find rest, O my soul in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” Ps 62:5-6