Thursday was going to be a long day. We were going to go to two villages. After the length of time it took at one village, I was curious to see how this was going to play out.
I was feeling much more at ease and prepared to go today. I had spent sometime in prayer and my goals were simple: Share stories of Christ, love on some kiddos.
We drove out over the bridge again but this time, we had to wait on the bridge for about 20 minutes while Morey finished up work. We got stop crossing because a huge truck came across from the other side while we were going across. It had to back up so we could get by. This is where having people direct traffic would have been nice!
We rode out to the first village and when we arrived, we were again surrounded. It was wild. This village ended up being my absolute favorite. It was smaller and they were so friendly and open to us being there. After we got out, they sent us to the soccer field down the road. They wanted us to go because the group from our church who had come the previous June had brought them soccer balls. We walked and saw about 20 young men playing soccer. They all had matching jersey that they had bought in the market. Their footwear was interesting. Many were barefoot, some had cleat type shoes but the most common was a sandal made of “jelly” material. Imagine jelly shoes in a buckle type sandal.
We watched them play for about 10 minutes and then they came and greeted us. This village was obviously prepared for us and it was obvious in how they planned for us. We walked back and then circled up to meet with the cheif and the elders. We were under an amazing tree, which is a precious commodity in Africa because of the shade it offers!
We went through the whole greeting process, that I referred to before and it again takes so long! They were very open to us and they also had musicians that could play for us. When the group broke up, the women immediately came up to D and I and started talking. They were so friendly. My most interesting experience was this woman who kept smacking me in the “chest” area. She would talk and then hit me in the chest area. Evidently, this is a way of asking if you have children. The “chest” is considered life giving and very powerful in the African culture. Trust me, we saw a lot of “chest” usually with children attached to it, but not always! I am all for breatfeeding and their is no attempt to hide what the good Lord gave you when nursing in Africa! I kept praying that I wouldn’t stop in mid-sentence or get wide eyes or let my mouth drop. I was playing it cool or at least hoping I didn’t look like an adolescent boy looking at a National Geographic! And, hello, I have nursed 3 children and been in the presence of many of my friends as they have nursed, but we are usually well covered even then! I was looking at video the other day and as it was panning a crowd, there was a woman nursing and I thought, probably shouldn’t put that one on the ol blog!
Anyways, it was cool how being a mom gave me the ability to connect with this woman. That was what she wanted to know about me- if I had babies back at home. They were quick to tell me I should bring them back with me next time! I loved this! A mommy is a mommy no matter where she lives, what gear she has, or how big a house she has. That was a big common denominator for me with the ladies in this village. At this point, I was missing my kids. We had not had any conversations with them since we had left Smyrna. We had only been on the internet one time since arriving in KanKan. Later that day, I told Jason that I needed to know my kids were okay. It wasn’t about writing a blog or twitter update, I needed to feel connected to them. Most of the time, I honestly did not worry about them or even think about them a great deal. I had prayed that God would allow me to serve and experience Africa and pour me out like a drink offerring. I was also so busy processing everything else and emotionally whipped that I didn’t have the brain capacity to think about much else!
D and I walked with a lady who was very friendly and went to her courtyard. While in her courtyard, we did a little work and helped grind some kind of powder! Not totally sure what it was but it was for seasoning. We met her family and her sister wife. Multiple wives is fairly common. Penda, our translator, is actually the third of four wives. Her parent refuse to let her divorce him even though he has refused to feed her child and take care of him. She currently lives with her parents because he refused to let her go to university, so she left because that had been apart of thier marriage contract that she could attend. Our first day out with her, she asked Jason if I was his only wife. Can you imagine? He told her that I was and one was enough! He told her that the Bible tells us to have only one wife and he has found the Bible to be trustworthy in teaching us how to live. She said to us, “One wife, one problem; two wives, two problems; three wives, three problems; four wives, four problems.” Not a great view of marriage, but it was interesting that when I asked if her father had more than one wife, she got a look of horror on her face. She said no, only her mom. This was a great reminder that God’s Word not only provides for our salvation, but also teaches us the way to live that brings us peace.
We met a young man in the courtyard that was very interested in us. He brought out several literature pieces, including Luke and Genesis, that he had been given before by the missionaries we work with in KanKan. They were in Maninka and he was learning to read. The materials we bring are a great motivator for many villagers because they want to learn to read, practice reading or want to read about the stories of Jesus. He wanted as much as we could give him. Their language aslo has a script type alphabet and we gave him those translations as well. We were able to share several stories and they shared a potato type dish with us. I took one bite which is all we really needed to take! It was a great time.
We then gathered back again and listened to their drummers and saw their musicians. It was a much more relaxed, laid back atmosphere. It was kind of a free dance where any villagers could come in the circle to dance. I hoping to add some video, but I am proving to be challenged on WordPress!
After this, the chief took us to his village. They had prepared us a meal and it was rice and chicken. I managed to eat a few bites of rice but no chicken. I did better today!
The chief then shared with us the things he had learned from listening to the Genesis tapes and how it is important to forgive your brother. We later learned that in the Muslim faith, they believe there is an angel writing down all your good deeds and your bad deeds. They record these at your funeral where people stand and can say how they feel about you, good, bad or ugly. To them, forgiveness from God is a given, but forgiveness from your friend plays a huge role in your eternal life.
P shared the whole creation to Christ story with him and he informed us that this village is muslim, always have been, always will be and you can’t be both. We all still since that God is at work in this village based on everyone’s experience at this village.
I loved this village. It was easily my favorite. I was able to spend some time with some little ones taking their picture and loving on them. I needed that so much more than they did!
I would love to share my pictures with you, but our camera was stolen out of our locked, checked baggage on the way home. We had not downloaded the last two days. Our video camera was taken as well. I guess there is one wealthy African in the capital city because of our camera!