So, what is it like to have Christmas in Africa? We aren’t quite there yet, but can tell you what it has been like as we have worked up to it. Let me back up to Thanksgiving first though.
Obviously Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Cameroon. We spent the day with the Diederichs and some other Navigator friends. It was a very non-traditional meal, for sure. We had a spiral sliced ham! Most of the “fixin’s” were traditional: sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, rolls, pecan, pumpkin and lemon meringue pies and salads. No cranberry sauce…no turkey…bummer! But, we really had a nice and relaxing day…oh yeah, no football either. Our family spent the week before Thanksgiving remembering why we celebrate that holiday and exploring some of the history of it. They kids are enjoying it more and more as they get older.
Tradition in the Naine/Withers home is that on the Friday after Thanksgiving we get our Christmas tree. Where is the nearest “cut your own” tree farm???? Nope, don’t have those here. Believe it or not they do have cypress trees that they use for Christmas trees but they come already cut and don’t arrive until the week before Christmas…entirely too late for us! So, this year (first time in my 35 years of life) we have two small artificial trees. It has been a hard pill to swallow but we are doing just fine. We got out all our decorations that day after Thanksgiving and have strung lights everywhere we could with the transformers we have. We have some upstairs and Gilles even hung them on our four poster bed!!! I love to read at night to the Christmas lights.
We went to a Christmas Bazaar at the American School of Yaounde (ASOY) the first weekend in December. It was complete with a train ride and a visit from Santa Claus. The kids each gave him their wishes. He came in with white tennis shoes and his brown hair hanging out under the beard and hat. A far cry from the Miller & Rhodes Santa that I grew up with.
We have done a steady stream of entertaining in December too…after all, isn’t Christmas about relationship and less about presents. We actually have not missed to cultural baggage that goes with Christmas in the US. We miss not being able to run over to Target to pick up a quick stocking stuffer, but not all the emphasis on the selfishness of this season. We plan to have a Cameroonian Nav couple over (newlyweds) for dinner on the 25th with us and then will spend the afternoon and evening of the 26th with our good friends the Chokote family. We want to introduce them to the white elephant gift game and just enjoy eating and fellowshipping together.
Christmas here is quite a puzzle, too. Though it is the celebration of Christ’s birth, many Christians don’t recognize or celebrate it in the Cameroonian community. I think it is their way of escaping all the traditional trappings that come with it. Instead of redeeming the Godly aspects, they are throwing the baby out with the bath water. Our desire in spending this season is to help them see that it doesn’t have to be one or the other, but that we can celebrate a Christ centered Christmas.
The children have a closing program today at FES with lots of Christmas songs (in 4 different languages). We will surely take lots of pictures and video. They enjoy those times of schooling with other children and yet are ready for the hustle to be over and return to school in the Naine Family schoolroom when FES wraps up.
Merry Christmas from far away. We send you tons of warmth this holiday and are also posting some pictures of the flowers we get to enjoy in December while you enjoy snow and cold.
24 December 2005
21 November 2005
Autumn in Cameroon
While life back in the US is cooling off and the leaves are falling, here we heat up and the leaves are thriving. The trees and grass are a lush green after the rainy season and the cool weather is gone until March.
Since September, life for us has clipped right along. It is so hard for us to believe that it is already November and we are soon to be celebrating our 1 year anniversary in Cameroon. We will be the first to admit though that thinking of the upcoming holidays makes us miss friends and family in the States. Several special people have sent us short videos and e-cards with lots of fall leaves on them and it has been so great to enjoy the colors of the season, from 5,000 miles away.
August brought us celebrating the National Independence Day for Switzerland with the children. We had a fondue and did a parade for Smokey with our candle “lampions.” You should be able to see a picture of the kids and their Swiss garb.
Then in September our good buddy Hazel welcomed her fiancé here and we got to visit around Yaounde with him. We have also included a picture to show what happened to us after having been here for almost 10 months. Be forewarned that we are pretty crazy in that picture. Also in September, we did an “archaeological dig” for school. The picture shows the kids ready to launch in and each find 3 treasures hidden in their respective dig sites. They had lots of fun with that. The Youth Ministry officially launched also in September and Gilles has been busy meeting lots of folks. They are working hard on building relationships with the high school kids where they work so that after the first of the year they may be able to schedule some outside activities for these youth. We have included a picture of the team as it is for now and each person is bringing so much diversity and insight to this budding ministry.
October brought lots of rain and as a result we had many hours without power. We now have a full array of candles in empty wine bottles ready at a moments notice to move throughout the house. The kids became quite adept at taking a bath by candlelight. Gaby and I spent several evenings doing cross-stitch by candlelight and felt a bit like Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House on the Prairie ladies. It was quite fun. This month we did some deep study on Jericho and the kids made the walled city out of Duplos (see photo). It was also a busy month for Lego Creations and we took lots of pics of what the kids created. You can see some of their favorites. Sam turned 5 on the 2nd and we had a small party with some dear neighbor friends. You can see the picture of the 5 of them with their Ninja Turtle coloring pages proudly displayed.
We are all healthy, by the grace of God and doing pretty well. We think of you so often and are grateful to give you a window to the continent of Africa. Keep loving us and praying for us please! We miss you and love you.
Since September, life for us has clipped right along. It is so hard for us to believe that it is already November and we are soon to be celebrating our 1 year anniversary in Cameroon. We will be the first to admit though that thinking of the upcoming holidays makes us miss friends and family in the States. Several special people have sent us short videos and e-cards with lots of fall leaves on them and it has been so great to enjoy the colors of the season, from 5,000 miles away.
August brought us celebrating the National Independence Day for Switzerland with the children. We had a fondue and did a parade for Smokey with our candle “lampions.” You should be able to see a picture of the kids and their Swiss garb.
Then in September our good buddy Hazel welcomed her fiancé here and we got to visit around Yaounde with him. We have also included a picture to show what happened to us after having been here for almost 10 months. Be forewarned that we are pretty crazy in that picture. Also in September, we did an “archaeological dig” for school. The picture shows the kids ready to launch in and each find 3 treasures hidden in their respective dig sites. They had lots of fun with that. The Youth Ministry officially launched also in September and Gilles has been busy meeting lots of folks. They are working hard on building relationships with the high school kids where they work so that after the first of the year they may be able to schedule some outside activities for these youth. We have included a picture of the team as it is for now and each person is bringing so much diversity and insight to this budding ministry.
October brought lots of rain and as a result we had many hours without power. We now have a full array of candles in empty wine bottles ready at a moments notice to move throughout the house. The kids became quite adept at taking a bath by candlelight. Gaby and I spent several evenings doing cross-stitch by candlelight and felt a bit like Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House on the Prairie ladies. It was quite fun. This month we did some deep study on Jericho and the kids made the walled city out of Duplos (see photo). It was also a busy month for Lego Creations and we took lots of pics of what the kids created. You can see some of their favorites. Sam turned 5 on the 2nd and we had a small party with some dear neighbor friends. You can see the picture of the 5 of them with their Ninja Turtle coloring pages proudly displayed.
We are all healthy, by the grace of God and doing pretty well. We think of you so often and are grateful to give you a window to the continent of Africa. Keep loving us and praying for us please! We miss you and love you.
21 September 2005
Update #10 - Cameroon in Spring
Winter has come and gone in Yaounde and now we are entering into Spring time here. That is so wild for me. Our “winter” is nothing like you may experience in Virginia or Maryland, but we sure did appreciate it. The months of June-August brought cooler temperatures (we wore long pants and the kids even came down in their fleece in the morning) and occasional showers. I remember when Gilles came to visit the Diederichs two years ago to explore Cameroon (in August), he said they slept under their comforters and he was sweating profusely under his mosquito net. I know it is hard to imagine “cool” temps in Cameroon Africa, but I think our bodies have really adjusted and our blood has thinned out. We aren’t complaining. So, what does “spring” look like for us? September 15th (our tenth wedding anniversary, actually J) is hailed as the date marking the beginning of “rainy season.” For us that means rain daily, not all day long, but a good downpour everyday. We have recognized a pattern…we usually wake up to overcast skies and misty conditions. Usually by mid morning the mist has burned off and we get about 5 hours of hot sun. Then towards the end of the afternoon we get a good thunder boomer and a hard downpour and the skies usually stay gray and a bit windy for the rest of the day. To us who live in the culture this means do laundry early and get it hung for those 5 hot hours to dry. If not, we have to use the dryer and that is too expensive to do daily. The rainy season is supposed to last from mid-September through November and then we enter the hottest period of the year in December. Should be weird to experience Christmas sweating…we will let you know all about it!
For two weeks (8/25-9/8) we had the incredible joy to have Sue Sue and Paw Paw (my parents and the kids’ grandparents) here to visit. What a great visit!!! It was refreshing to see Cameroon and more specifically Yaounde through rookie eyes. We admit that we have grown numb to the trash, poor living conditions, filth and dust, and pot-hole-y roads. Not that we have numbed so much as not to feel for the Cameroonians living like that, be we don’t get shocked anymore. It was fun and refreshing to hear Mom and Dad’s reactions. We were amazingly proud of them for taking the risks to come to a Third World country and they did great. The pictures that follow are of our time together. We picked them up Thursday night at the airport and they were welcomed with their first blackout in the airport. We greeted them with lots of tears of joy! God moved through the whole two weeks to give us great weather and to allow that Gilles was permitted to go through to baggage claim to help them through customs. And then the customs official just waved them through and didn’t even ask a question…amazing. Lots of prayers went up for that customs person and He answered. He kept us safe as we traveled to Kribi beach (about 3 hours from Yaounde). We had fabulous weather for 5 days…blue skies, gentle ocean, good food (check out the barracuda we ate in the photos) and fun game times. As Dad said time and again, we would have wished time to stop during those moments at the beach. Then we came back to Yaounde and visited around Yaounde for the rest of our time. With built in babysitters, Gilles and I got away for a night at the Hilton Hotel here in Yaounde to celebrate our anniversary. We found some great restaurants that we hope to go back to as a family, too. They have now blasted off and had another blackout as we saw them off at the airport. Ah, life in Cameroon!
We are into school full fledged now…and really are loving it. Gilles is jumping into his “job” too and has held the first meeting with about 10 potential youth team workers. The picture of that “team” is to come. The meeting went great and Gilles is now trying to meet with each of them individually to evaluate their interest and commitment to this ministry in its infancy. A very exciting time for us and the ministry of The Navigators here in Cameroon. Stay tuned!
For two weeks (8/25-9/8) we had the incredible joy to have Sue Sue and Paw Paw (my parents and the kids’ grandparents) here to visit. What a great visit!!! It was refreshing to see Cameroon and more specifically Yaounde through rookie eyes. We admit that we have grown numb to the trash, poor living conditions, filth and dust, and pot-hole-y roads. Not that we have numbed so much as not to feel for the Cameroonians living like that, be we don’t get shocked anymore. It was fun and refreshing to hear Mom and Dad’s reactions. We were amazingly proud of them for taking the risks to come to a Third World country and they did great. The pictures that follow are of our time together. We picked them up Thursday night at the airport and they were welcomed with their first blackout in the airport. We greeted them with lots of tears of joy! God moved through the whole two weeks to give us great weather and to allow that Gilles was permitted to go through to baggage claim to help them through customs. And then the customs official just waved them through and didn’t even ask a question…amazing. Lots of prayers went up for that customs person and He answered. He kept us safe as we traveled to Kribi beach (about 3 hours from Yaounde). We had fabulous weather for 5 days…blue skies, gentle ocean, good food (check out the barracuda we ate in the photos) and fun game times. As Dad said time and again, we would have wished time to stop during those moments at the beach. Then we came back to Yaounde and visited around Yaounde for the rest of our time. With built in babysitters, Gilles and I got away for a night at the Hilton Hotel here in Yaounde to celebrate our anniversary. We found some great restaurants that we hope to go back to as a family, too. They have now blasted off and had another blackout as we saw them off at the airport. Ah, life in Cameroon!
We are into school full fledged now…and really are loving it. Gilles is jumping into his “job” too and has held the first meeting with about 10 potential youth team workers. The picture of that “team” is to come. The meeting went great and Gilles is now trying to meet with each of them individually to evaluate their interest and commitment to this ministry in its infancy. A very exciting time for us and the ministry of The Navigators here in Cameroon. Stay tuned!
27 July 2005
Update #9…photo journal
The long awaited digital camera has arrived and so in this update we want to give you a photo journal to enjoy. We are continuing to settle in our house and love the home God has provided for us. The weather here is cooler and we are heading into the rainy season. It makes for less sweaty bodies (hence, less BO) and more enjoyable times outside. The children are healthy and we are continuing on with school through the “summer” as our last 6 months have been so wacko with lots of change and not much stability. They are champs and are doing great…Josh and Sam both have real minds for math and Gaby reads and reads. We have found a potential piano teacher at the cost of $8 per hour…can you believe that? The cost differences are amazing here. It cost only eight dollars an hour for a piano lesson, but almost $30 for a box of laundry detergent. Amazing huh? On the other hand, we can buy 6 pineapple-sized avocados for less than $2! We can get tons of fantastic fruits and veggies and are really enjoying those.
I want to give you a little glimpse into my kitchen. As you know, I love to cook…and still do here, but things are a bit different. If I want to whip up a batch of pancakes here, it is not as easy as opening a box of Hungry Jack and mixing. First of all we need to make sure we have milk made up. Here we use full fat milk powder that actually comes from Ireland. We love this milk and it is reminiscent of Switzerland for Gilles. Once the milk is made up, we need to make sure we have flour that has been sifted. We need to sift our flour because of all the “flour bugs” that like to get inside. Once we buy the 100 lb. bag, we sift it into a large holding container and then we stay bug-free. We also need to crack our eggs one at a time into a separate bowl to make sure that they are not bad. Then one at a time add them to the mix. It is not uncommon to come upon several bad eggs per tray and it would be a shame to have to throw out all the dough if we don’t check them separately. So, as we are mixing all this, we also need to “sift” our baking powder and soda. This is not for bugs, but rather because it is so humid here and it clumps. We have unfortunately learned this the hard way. The kids are not too keen on a big bite of unblended baking powder in their waffles. We have to use either vanilla-flavored “essence” or vanilla sugar, as vanilla is not found here, either. The rest of the ingredients are pretty much “trouble” free, except making sure the sugar is sealed super tightly. We have these miniscule ants that can get in the tiniest places known to man!! Once we get them all mixed up (oh, and make our own maple “syrup” too), we can put them away with the best of them. They sure do taste good, but it isn’t one of those suppers that you can throw together in no time, anymore. I am not complaining (not really, anyway) but want to help you understand why my friend Julia says, “It just takes time to live here.” Ain’t that the truth!!!
Enjoy the pictures of our house, kiddos and our dog, Smokey. We love you and are so blessed to have you on our “home team.” Your cheers and prayers keep us going.
I want to give you a little glimpse into my kitchen. As you know, I love to cook…and still do here, but things are a bit different. If I want to whip up a batch of pancakes here, it is not as easy as opening a box of Hungry Jack and mixing. First of all we need to make sure we have milk made up. Here we use full fat milk powder that actually comes from Ireland. We love this milk and it is reminiscent of Switzerland for Gilles. Once the milk is made up, we need to make sure we have flour that has been sifted. We need to sift our flour because of all the “flour bugs” that like to get inside. Once we buy the 100 lb. bag, we sift it into a large holding container and then we stay bug-free. We also need to crack our eggs one at a time into a separate bowl to make sure that they are not bad. Then one at a time add them to the mix. It is not uncommon to come upon several bad eggs per tray and it would be a shame to have to throw out all the dough if we don’t check them separately. So, as we are mixing all this, we also need to “sift” our baking powder and soda. This is not for bugs, but rather because it is so humid here and it clumps. We have unfortunately learned this the hard way. The kids are not too keen on a big bite of unblended baking powder in their waffles. We have to use either vanilla-flavored “essence” or vanilla sugar, as vanilla is not found here, either. The rest of the ingredients are pretty much “trouble” free, except making sure the sugar is sealed super tightly. We have these miniscule ants that can get in the tiniest places known to man!! Once we get them all mixed up (oh, and make our own maple “syrup” too), we can put them away with the best of them. They sure do taste good, but it isn’t one of those suppers that you can throw together in no time, anymore. I am not complaining (not really, anyway) but want to help you understand why my friend Julia says, “It just takes time to live here.” Ain’t that the truth!!!
Enjoy the pictures of our house, kiddos and our dog, Smokey. We love you and are so blessed to have you on our “home team.” Your cheers and prayers keep us going.
10 June 2005
Update #8 Missionaries living in what??
This has been an amazing month! We have had every emotion possible from elation to absolute despair and anger. Our flesh is still so very present, but we are praying for more and more of God to take over. Let me fill you in on what has been going on.
At the last writing, we were in a temporary apartment waiting for our house to be finished. The apartment turned into a real blessing for us as we were able to start to be a single family again after 4 months of community living. As we were told for the house, it would take two weeks. Well, that two turned into 8 weeks…at which point we were tired and really wondering what God was up to. We finally were sharing with some friends, Jeanne Marthe and Nic, and they encouraged us to try to meet the owner of the house face to face. We were able to find out who she was and to locate her work place. During this whole process, we learn that there is another house available and that the owner is the brother of a pastor friend to jeanne Marthe and Nic. Gilles went off to try to meet the lady that owns the house we are waiting for and had to leave a note for her as she was not there…another frustration. BUT, God had something else in store for us. We were able to see this other house that was available and we were floored!!!! It is across the street from our good friends, in the same neighborhood we were looking at, and the owner is a customs inspector and came down half price. We call it our castle…there is a tower and the dining room and master bedroom are both in the shape of a circle. The yard is three times bigger than the other one and it is already finished. We prayed, sought counsel and decided to move forward, totally marveled!!
About this same time we learned that our shipment was in and that the longer it sat in the port past the 11 day grace period, the more expensive it would become. So, we quickly made arrangements to go to Douala as a family to work on getting the shipment released. We stayed in the Baptist Guest House in Douala and that was such an enormous blessing for us. They have a good sized pool and the kids and I hung out there while Gilles once again “slayed the bureaucratic dragons.” We were able to meet the owner of the “castle” and that was a real blessing. He is a wonderful man and even offered to help Gilles however he could with the releasing of the container. We also signed the contract on the house and lived the rest of the week there in shock as to what God had provided. The owner was able to help us immensely! He helped save us about $2000 in duty fees. I tell you what…on Friday morning when all five of us saw the container being opened and loaded onto a transport truck…we were one happy crew! We got back to Yaounde with no problems at all at the routine road checks (another miracle) and unloaded all our stuff into our NEW house…unbelievable!
Let me just give you an overview of how awesome God is and in retrospect how much He moved in this for us…if we had gotten the other house, it would have been smaller, next to a vacant lot (haven for shifty people with mysterious plans) and across the street from a soccer field used almost every minute of daylight with balls coming across your wall all the time. In addition, the yard was much smaller…a challenge for kids and our dog, Smokey. So, that is just the house. Then, if we had gotten the other house, we would have gone a lot earlier to get our container and would have probably had to pay much higher customs fees and wouldn’t have had that relationship…remember how we told you that in Africa it is all about relationship?? Also, we are across the street from our good friends and live next door to a government official…read “good security.” And we are so humbled…the house is one that would only normally house ambassadors or embassy people…and we are just that aren’t we? Isn’t that amazing of the Lord?
I could literally go on and on, but I guess you will just have to come visit, won’t you? We have five bedrooms now, so plenty of room to have you!!! :)
At the last writing, we were in a temporary apartment waiting for our house to be finished. The apartment turned into a real blessing for us as we were able to start to be a single family again after 4 months of community living. As we were told for the house, it would take two weeks. Well, that two turned into 8 weeks…at which point we were tired and really wondering what God was up to. We finally were sharing with some friends, Jeanne Marthe and Nic, and they encouraged us to try to meet the owner of the house face to face. We were able to find out who she was and to locate her work place. During this whole process, we learn that there is another house available and that the owner is the brother of a pastor friend to jeanne Marthe and Nic. Gilles went off to try to meet the lady that owns the house we are waiting for and had to leave a note for her as she was not there…another frustration. BUT, God had something else in store for us. We were able to see this other house that was available and we were floored!!!! It is across the street from our good friends, in the same neighborhood we were looking at, and the owner is a customs inspector and came down half price. We call it our castle…there is a tower and the dining room and master bedroom are both in the shape of a circle. The yard is three times bigger than the other one and it is already finished. We prayed, sought counsel and decided to move forward, totally marveled!!
About this same time we learned that our shipment was in and that the longer it sat in the port past the 11 day grace period, the more expensive it would become. So, we quickly made arrangements to go to Douala as a family to work on getting the shipment released. We stayed in the Baptist Guest House in Douala and that was such an enormous blessing for us. They have a good sized pool and the kids and I hung out there while Gilles once again “slayed the bureaucratic dragons.” We were able to meet the owner of the “castle” and that was a real blessing. He is a wonderful man and even offered to help Gilles however he could with the releasing of the container. We also signed the contract on the house and lived the rest of the week there in shock as to what God had provided. The owner was able to help us immensely! He helped save us about $2000 in duty fees. I tell you what…on Friday morning when all five of us saw the container being opened and loaded onto a transport truck…we were one happy crew! We got back to Yaounde with no problems at all at the routine road checks (another miracle) and unloaded all our stuff into our NEW house…unbelievable!
Let me just give you an overview of how awesome God is and in retrospect how much He moved in this for us…if we had gotten the other house, it would have been smaller, next to a vacant lot (haven for shifty people with mysterious plans) and across the street from a soccer field used almost every minute of daylight with balls coming across your wall all the time. In addition, the yard was much smaller…a challenge for kids and our dog, Smokey. So, that is just the house. Then, if we had gotten the other house, we would have gone a lot earlier to get our container and would have probably had to pay much higher customs fees and wouldn’t have had that relationship…remember how we told you that in Africa it is all about relationship?? Also, we are across the street from our good friends and live next door to a government official…read “good security.” And we are so humbled…the house is one that would only normally house ambassadors or embassy people…and we are just that aren’t we? Isn’t that amazing of the Lord?
I could literally go on and on, but I guess you will just have to come visit, won’t you? We have five bedrooms now, so plenty of room to have you!!! :)
22 April 2005
Bansobi Part 2 and Beyond!!!
Well, I confess that it is longer than “next week”, isn’t it? I am sorry that this update is later than I had planned. As this update unfolds, I think you will see why there was the delay before I could write this out.
To wrap up Bansobi and our village experience…hey, for almost 3 weeks, we were “Village People”…the value on relationship that we were introduced to there has marked us so much as we have returned to “civilization” and all that the big city has for us. We are grateful that we learned this relationship thing, only slightly though, while amongst some very gracious and gentle people. They took us, warts and all, and loved our family and taught us to slow down. We knew that coming to Africa would mean a major pace of life shift for us and it came to a screeching halt in Bansobi. That was surely the extreme, but we really needed that. I don’t think that in Yaoundé we realized the importance of that slower pace as much as we got slammed into it in Bansobi. As that village phase page has turned, we will surely have the opportunity to visit these new friends again. The Navs has one youth ministry already functioning in Wum, a village on the other side of the “Ring Road.” So, surely Gilles will be back there at least once before the year is out and we will be able to continue this new relationship. All said and done, we survived and even enjoyed some high points of this huge culture difference. Isn’t God amazing??
And on that note we returned to AOC in Yaoundé and 10 days left in this training program. The end of AOC was seasoned with a wacky fun night with lots of games and laughs, an inspirational “pep talk” as we had our closing ceremonies and very tearful good-byes (once again). I don’t know what God was thinking sometimes…I really hate good-byes and He has placed us in a vocation that dictates lots of new friends and lots of transitions…ugh!! In reflecting on the end of AOC, I realized that even though the most heart wrenching good-byes are to our family and closest friends we know that we will see them again (hopefully) before too long. With these newest friends, however, the parting was pretty tough because we really don’t know if we will meet again on this side of heaven.
Reality came in like a huge wildfire very quickly after the end of AOC…we had 9 days left on our visa and had not yet applied for our residency permit. The Navs helped us, as quickly as possible, to get the documents together for the application and went with us to turn in everything. That was on a Wednesday (d minus 4 days) and there the drama begins. One day turned into two, turned into 5 and eventually into 8!!! One thing after another was not satisfactory on the applications, or the Navs wasn’t listed correctly as the receiving agency, or the office had closed two minutes before, or they didn’t like my hairstyle. I joke about it now, but lest you think this was all fun and games, I was quite HOT!!! After going together on the first day and being told outright that we were refused residency and even the visa extension and that the lady was going to cancel any other Navigator permits, Gilles continued the pilgrimage and daily treks without me. I carried on with the kids and even a Spiritual Retreat and let him slay the bureaucratic dragons for us. I cannot adequately put into words the marvel that our God worked on our behalf in order to get the papers through. (We do have them, by the way, so the story finishes well.) I mentioned before in sharing about Bansobi the whole value on relationships theme here in Cameroon. Well, in this process for the residency papers, we saw this one hundred fold…and then some. It was like each Nav person would try their “heavy hitter” to see if they had enough pull to get these papers moved through. There is a proverb in Cameroon that says “The right hand washes the left hand.” We had to end up applying for an extension on our three month visas and were dreading the tax that would be. Finally we struck gold (last Thursday the 14th)….We were walked into the commissioner’s office and he approved the papers and they moved on to the next official. Within 2 hours, we walked away with our laminated temporary resident cards. The irony in this whole thing is that the lady that refused us so adamantly on day #1 was the very lady that had the final approval on the application. As God would have it, before Gilles could go to her, a large piece of furniture fell in her office which practically blocked the whole doorway. There was just a small opening for the Nav helper to slip through and place the papers before her. She approved everything and didn’t even bat an eyelid about the whole thing. Had her door been wide open and had Gilles had to go in…I am sure she would have remembered him and who knows what would have happened. The following day we applied for our driver’s permits and picked them up on Monday. Absolutely miraculous and to the praise of our God and many of your prayers given on our behalf as we battled this one out. Thank you!!!
We moved just two days ago to the apartment at the Nav office in town. We are hoping to be here only 2 weeks (questionable, but hopeful). The highlight of this move is that Smokey, our new puppy, has joined us. He is so fun!!! The kids spent the day (and mom and dad too) playing with him, loving on him and just learning to bond with him. Our house helper, Auntie Florence, started working for us today. She did our market shopping…you know it’s fresh when the chicken she brought us was still warm in the bag…eewwww!!!
We apologize for the lack of photos this time…our digital camera got sat upon and jammed and took a trip to the trash can. We have ordered a new one, but don’t expect to see it before June as it is coming with a short term team arriving then. I will try to include a couple of pics though from some others at AOC.
Blessings and much love! Thank you for loving us, for praying for us and for all that you have done to make this ministry possible. Hugs to you…
To wrap up Bansobi and our village experience…hey, for almost 3 weeks, we were “Village People”…the value on relationship that we were introduced to there has marked us so much as we have returned to “civilization” and all that the big city has for us. We are grateful that we learned this relationship thing, only slightly though, while amongst some very gracious and gentle people. They took us, warts and all, and loved our family and taught us to slow down. We knew that coming to Africa would mean a major pace of life shift for us and it came to a screeching halt in Bansobi. That was surely the extreme, but we really needed that. I don’t think that in Yaoundé we realized the importance of that slower pace as much as we got slammed into it in Bansobi. As that village phase page has turned, we will surely have the opportunity to visit these new friends again. The Navs has one youth ministry already functioning in Wum, a village on the other side of the “Ring Road.” So, surely Gilles will be back there at least once before the year is out and we will be able to continue this new relationship. All said and done, we survived and even enjoyed some high points of this huge culture difference. Isn’t God amazing??
And on that note we returned to AOC in Yaoundé and 10 days left in this training program. The end of AOC was seasoned with a wacky fun night with lots of games and laughs, an inspirational “pep talk” as we had our closing ceremonies and very tearful good-byes (once again). I don’t know what God was thinking sometimes…I really hate good-byes and He has placed us in a vocation that dictates lots of new friends and lots of transitions…ugh!! In reflecting on the end of AOC, I realized that even though the most heart wrenching good-byes are to our family and closest friends we know that we will see them again (hopefully) before too long. With these newest friends, however, the parting was pretty tough because we really don’t know if we will meet again on this side of heaven.
Reality came in like a huge wildfire very quickly after the end of AOC…we had 9 days left on our visa and had not yet applied for our residency permit. The Navs helped us, as quickly as possible, to get the documents together for the application and went with us to turn in everything. That was on a Wednesday (d minus 4 days) and there the drama begins. One day turned into two, turned into 5 and eventually into 8!!! One thing after another was not satisfactory on the applications, or the Navs wasn’t listed correctly as the receiving agency, or the office had closed two minutes before, or they didn’t like my hairstyle. I joke about it now, but lest you think this was all fun and games, I was quite HOT!!! After going together on the first day and being told outright that we were refused residency and even the visa extension and that the lady was going to cancel any other Navigator permits, Gilles continued the pilgrimage and daily treks without me. I carried on with the kids and even a Spiritual Retreat and let him slay the bureaucratic dragons for us. I cannot adequately put into words the marvel that our God worked on our behalf in order to get the papers through. (We do have them, by the way, so the story finishes well.) I mentioned before in sharing about Bansobi the whole value on relationships theme here in Cameroon. Well, in this process for the residency papers, we saw this one hundred fold…and then some. It was like each Nav person would try their “heavy hitter” to see if they had enough pull to get these papers moved through. There is a proverb in Cameroon that says “The right hand washes the left hand.” We had to end up applying for an extension on our three month visas and were dreading the tax that would be. Finally we struck gold (last Thursday the 14th)….We were walked into the commissioner’s office and he approved the papers and they moved on to the next official. Within 2 hours, we walked away with our laminated temporary resident cards. The irony in this whole thing is that the lady that refused us so adamantly on day #1 was the very lady that had the final approval on the application. As God would have it, before Gilles could go to her, a large piece of furniture fell in her office which practically blocked the whole doorway. There was just a small opening for the Nav helper to slip through and place the papers before her. She approved everything and didn’t even bat an eyelid about the whole thing. Had her door been wide open and had Gilles had to go in…I am sure she would have remembered him and who knows what would have happened. The following day we applied for our driver’s permits and picked them up on Monday. Absolutely miraculous and to the praise of our God and many of your prayers given on our behalf as we battled this one out. Thank you!!!
We moved just two days ago to the apartment at the Nav office in town. We are hoping to be here only 2 weeks (questionable, but hopeful). The highlight of this move is that Smokey, our new puppy, has joined us. He is so fun!!! The kids spent the day (and mom and dad too) playing with him, loving on him and just learning to bond with him. Our house helper, Auntie Florence, started working for us today. She did our market shopping…you know it’s fresh when the chicken she brought us was still warm in the bag…eewwww!!!
We apologize for the lack of photos this time…our digital camera got sat upon and jammed and took a trip to the trash can. We have ordered a new one, but don’t expect to see it before June as it is coming with a short term team arriving then. I will try to include a couple of pics though from some others at AOC.
Blessings and much love! Thank you for loving us, for praying for us and for all that you have done to make this ministry possible. Hugs to you…
22 March 2005
Bansobi: Rich Relationships mixed with Suffering – Volume 1
Bansobi is a village in the Northwest province of Cameroon located in the Misaje plain. Bansobi is about 12 hours away from Yaoundé and a large portion of the driving is done on unpaved, dirt roads. The village itself is about 6 kilometers from Nkambe, the next largest town, graced with electricity and running water. Upon leaving the town limits of Nkambe, however, the road is back to dirt, no electricity and no running water (read: no BATHROOMS!!)
The travel to the NW province was truly covered in God’s amazing grace. The children did well through the two days of travel though we had a few bouts of motion sickness (and vomiting) our spirits were not dampened much at all. We stayed overnight in Kumbo the first night and had a warm shower and flush toilets, the last we would see for 17 days. We arrived in Misaje the following day around 3pm and met with our hosts and the mayor of for a short welcome. Gilles and I learned our first of many lessons in patience and flexibility right from the start. Though we were planning to stay with Mr. Nji Morisse’s family, we found that we would have a different host. For various reasons, we would be hosted by Mr. Lawrence. As the stay went along we were able to see more and more how faithful God was in changing our home stay. We would be at a bit higher elevation (meaning more breezes and less dust), a more open compound and a much larger sleeping and living area for our family. We actually had the whole “home” to ourselves…a humongous blessing.
Our compound in Bansobi proper was about 2km off of the road which meant lots of walking and some good exercise. We were greeted by a huge entourage all saying, “Budgeum bwehnee.” This means good morning in the Sari language. Let me explain about a “compound” lest you think we were incarcerated. A compound is simply a group of houses belonging to a family or family group. There is a group of houses because they have their sleeping home and then a separate “cook house” where they make all the meals. This cook house is really an enigma. It has a thatch roof, one door and one window and the inside is literally black with smoke residue. I must admit that cooking in there is a most unpleasant experience and it gave me a new desire to pray for these people and their lungs, they must be black and so damaged. I only had a chance to cook a couple of times and make popcorn for them as well as a huge pan of vegetable stir-fry with the veggies delivered by our director the second week we were there. Those veggies (carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, green pepper, onions and green beans) never tasted so good. Even our children ate about 3 plates full and never complained a bit about the cabbage and onions. You will see in one picture, I was in the cookhouse making popcorn. I think you can even see the smoky haze enveloping me!
The Bansobi people love relationship and it is valued high above anything else. We enjoyed rich times of discussion, meals shared with our host, Lawrence, and lots of visitors by both the adults and children. The children were marveled at our kids’ white skin and long, soft hair. They loved to touch it and wipe their skin, in hopes that they could rub it onto their own. Because Bansobi is such a rural and remote village, most of these children had never before seen a white person and most have no hope of ever seeing one again. That is a thought that absolutely baffles my western thinking. We struggled at times with the whole thought process of what they would think when they would stare at us without end. They could stand and watch us, staring very intimidatingly, for literally hours, if not interrupted with something else more pressing. Our kids found that a challenge and we continue to wonder what the natives would think when just staring at us. One of those marvels that we will surely not have the answer to.
As I stated in the last blog, the Bansobi people make a living (if you can call it that) on farming. Lawrence’s family farms maize (corn), groundnuts (peanuts), coffee (though they have never drunk it nor have no clue what to do with it), red and black beans, coco yams and regular yams. We lived among them in a very stressful farming season. They were all very busy trying to prepare the fields to plant, when the heavy rains would come. Let me clarify the “they” that I write about. In the Bansobi culture (and much of rural African culture in general) the women do the farming and the men get firewood and any other job that they can (i.e. Teacher in the government school). Now, I can tell you that these women work their tails off!!! Their duties include, making breakfast, lunch to leave with the men at the compound, supper, laundry (all by hand in a nearby stream), hauling water (again from that nearby stream), farming (back-breaking hoeing of the ground and weeding, planting, maintaining, harvesting, “trekking” to the market to sell the goods, etc.) and any other odd job needing attention. WOAH!!! What a load these women have on them. They continued to tell me what a suffering they have to go through to live and provide for the family. All of this labor may only provide about $10 a month for them to live on!
Our home was modest with a tin roof, no ceiling and packed dirt floors. It was a challenge for me (Wendy) but God truly gave me eyes to see beyond the dust and dirt. We also had some little critters that shared the home with us. It could have been tons worse, but we did have mice, rats, cockroaches, bats and lizards. There were lots of chickens on the compound and they enjoyed coming in to explore during the daytime. One even came into the children’s room and got scared into the rafters. We had to lure her down with breadcrumbs. The three kids shared a room with one window and two double beds. Sam and Josh shared one and Gaby had her own little Princess bed. Gilles and I had an extra large twin bed in the parlor that we slept on. Yes, I did say extra large twin bed…that is a bit wider than a normal twin, but not as large as a double…close encounters…Gilles didn’t mind. (Me neither, really) We have included some pictures for you to envision where we were. Our “bathroom” was a blue chamber pot for the most part. They did have a long drop latrine (no seat) up the hill, but depending on the urgency, it was not possible to make it. That was also a tough thing for the children to get their aim correct in the latrine since you have to stand (even for #2) so we enjoyed the chamber pot – isn’t that sick that we can say we “enjoyed” the chamber pot?? Our “shower” was just out our back door and it consisted of a huge green bucket, a cup and a bamboo “mat”…yup, bucket washing for 17 days. Needless to say, we were super pumped to have a shower last Sunday night.
Let me make sure you understand that we were truly blessed, even in the meager accommodations. These people gave sacrificially and totally selflessly to make sure that our stay among them was positive. All that I describe above can sound troublesome and awful. And to some it would be awful! But God so went ahead of us to set this up that we were able to see His hand in daily portions. We left Bansobi on Sunday morning the 20th, we more than we came in with. That in itself is a marvel, because we bought used clothes to leave with the villagers. So, what did we come away with? Lawrence’s youngest brother, N’Voeh, made Gilles, Sam and Josh each a “killer” slingshot. They are so cool and so much better than we could ever buy. Lawrence’s other younger brother took a whole day to make Gilles an authentic Bansobi spear. It is awesome! About 5 families brought us gifts of groundnuts probably totaling about 10 pounds. We were also blessed with about 15 not quite ripe “pears” (avocados to you and me), about 35 plantains and 3 pounds of cocoyam. There were other material gifts as well, but those are the least of what we left with. These people got all inside of us and it was tough to leave. We find great peace and hope that we will see them again because will be staying in Yaoundé and Gilles will travel often to the NW.
Check Gaby’s Gazette for a couple of creative writing pieces she did in the village on Bansobi children and the differences between bananas and plantains. Please return next week for the continuation and termination in volume 2 of our village life. Blessings to all!
The travel to the NW province was truly covered in God’s amazing grace. The children did well through the two days of travel though we had a few bouts of motion sickness (and vomiting) our spirits were not dampened much at all. We stayed overnight in Kumbo the first night and had a warm shower and flush toilets, the last we would see for 17 days. We arrived in Misaje the following day around 3pm and met with our hosts and the mayor of for a short welcome. Gilles and I learned our first of many lessons in patience and flexibility right from the start. Though we were planning to stay with Mr. Nji Morisse’s family, we found that we would have a different host. For various reasons, we would be hosted by Mr. Lawrence. As the stay went along we were able to see more and more how faithful God was in changing our home stay. We would be at a bit higher elevation (meaning more breezes and less dust), a more open compound and a much larger sleeping and living area for our family. We actually had the whole “home” to ourselves…a humongous blessing.
Our compound in Bansobi proper was about 2km off of the road which meant lots of walking and some good exercise. We were greeted by a huge entourage all saying, “Budgeum bwehnee.” This means good morning in the Sari language. Let me explain about a “compound” lest you think we were incarcerated. A compound is simply a group of houses belonging to a family or family group. There is a group of houses because they have their sleeping home and then a separate “cook house” where they make all the meals. This cook house is really an enigma. It has a thatch roof, one door and one window and the inside is literally black with smoke residue. I must admit that cooking in there is a most unpleasant experience and it gave me a new desire to pray for these people and their lungs, they must be black and so damaged. I only had a chance to cook a couple of times and make popcorn for them as well as a huge pan of vegetable stir-fry with the veggies delivered by our director the second week we were there. Those veggies (carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, green pepper, onions and green beans) never tasted so good. Even our children ate about 3 plates full and never complained a bit about the cabbage and onions. You will see in one picture, I was in the cookhouse making popcorn. I think you can even see the smoky haze enveloping me!
The Bansobi people love relationship and it is valued high above anything else. We enjoyed rich times of discussion, meals shared with our host, Lawrence, and lots of visitors by both the adults and children. The children were marveled at our kids’ white skin and long, soft hair. They loved to touch it and wipe their skin, in hopes that they could rub it onto their own. Because Bansobi is such a rural and remote village, most of these children had never before seen a white person and most have no hope of ever seeing one again. That is a thought that absolutely baffles my western thinking. We struggled at times with the whole thought process of what they would think when they would stare at us without end. They could stand and watch us, staring very intimidatingly, for literally hours, if not interrupted with something else more pressing. Our kids found that a challenge and we continue to wonder what the natives would think when just staring at us. One of those marvels that we will surely not have the answer to.
As I stated in the last blog, the Bansobi people make a living (if you can call it that) on farming. Lawrence’s family farms maize (corn), groundnuts (peanuts), coffee (though they have never drunk it nor have no clue what to do with it), red and black beans, coco yams and regular yams. We lived among them in a very stressful farming season. They were all very busy trying to prepare the fields to plant, when the heavy rains would come. Let me clarify the “they” that I write about. In the Bansobi culture (and much of rural African culture in general) the women do the farming and the men get firewood and any other job that they can (i.e. Teacher in the government school). Now, I can tell you that these women work their tails off!!! Their duties include, making breakfast, lunch to leave with the men at the compound, supper, laundry (all by hand in a nearby stream), hauling water (again from that nearby stream), farming (back-breaking hoeing of the ground and weeding, planting, maintaining, harvesting, “trekking” to the market to sell the goods, etc.) and any other odd job needing attention. WOAH!!! What a load these women have on them. They continued to tell me what a suffering they have to go through to live and provide for the family. All of this labor may only provide about $10 a month for them to live on!
Our home was modest with a tin roof, no ceiling and packed dirt floors. It was a challenge for me (Wendy) but God truly gave me eyes to see beyond the dust and dirt. We also had some little critters that shared the home with us. It could have been tons worse, but we did have mice, rats, cockroaches, bats and lizards. There were lots of chickens on the compound and they enjoyed coming in to explore during the daytime. One even came into the children’s room and got scared into the rafters. We had to lure her down with breadcrumbs. The three kids shared a room with one window and two double beds. Sam and Josh shared one and Gaby had her own little Princess bed. Gilles and I had an extra large twin bed in the parlor that we slept on. Yes, I did say extra large twin bed…that is a bit wider than a normal twin, but not as large as a double…close encounters…Gilles didn’t mind. (Me neither, really) We have included some pictures for you to envision where we were. Our “bathroom” was a blue chamber pot for the most part. They did have a long drop latrine (no seat) up the hill, but depending on the urgency, it was not possible to make it. That was also a tough thing for the children to get their aim correct in the latrine since you have to stand (even for #2) so we enjoyed the chamber pot – isn’t that sick that we can say we “enjoyed” the chamber pot?? Our “shower” was just out our back door and it consisted of a huge green bucket, a cup and a bamboo “mat”…yup, bucket washing for 17 days. Needless to say, we were super pumped to have a shower last Sunday night.
Let me make sure you understand that we were truly blessed, even in the meager accommodations. These people gave sacrificially and totally selflessly to make sure that our stay among them was positive. All that I describe above can sound troublesome and awful. And to some it would be awful! But God so went ahead of us to set this up that we were able to see His hand in daily portions. We left Bansobi on Sunday morning the 20th, we more than we came in with. That in itself is a marvel, because we bought used clothes to leave with the villagers. So, what did we come away with? Lawrence’s youngest brother, N’Voeh, made Gilles, Sam and Josh each a “killer” slingshot. They are so cool and so much better than we could ever buy. Lawrence’s other younger brother took a whole day to make Gilles an authentic Bansobi spear. It is awesome! About 5 families brought us gifts of groundnuts probably totaling about 10 pounds. We were also blessed with about 15 not quite ripe “pears” (avocados to you and me), about 35 plantains and 3 pounds of cocoyam. There were other material gifts as well, but those are the least of what we left with. These people got all inside of us and it was tough to leave. We find great peace and hope that we will see them again because will be staying in Yaoundé and Gilles will travel often to the NW.
Check Gaby’s Gazette for a couple of creative writing pieces she did in the village on Bansobi children and the differences between bananas and plantains. Please return next week for the continuation and termination in volume 2 of our village life. Blessings to all!
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