Dry season is officially here complete with a big dip in the humidity and
ashes scattered on the porch each morning. Dry season is the time when
people start clearing new fields for planting by burning the weeds and
trees on new patches of land. I can understand why this is such an
attractive practice as the fields are quite large and doing it by hand with
the help of burning is already a long an arduous process in itself. I also
know it is dry season because I am finding myself drinking 2 litres of water
in a morning without having to go the bathroom!
As for the tree side of things, we are getting ready for a three day visit
from the head of the Food Resource Bank and Covenant World Relief, both
major donors towards Roy's program here. They have also helped us with
funds for the pygmy program. We are getting everything looking spic and
span and it seems fitting to do it this time of year as we would be have
been doing the same thing right about now at ECHO getting ready for the
annual conference. Along with FRB's visit we are hoping to hear what they
think about future work here and that will help set the tone for our
programs in the coming year. We are hoping to have funding to do a grafting
and tree propagation seminar in each village with an active agroforestry
cooperative starting in January. This would take up much of my time and
would be welcome as I love any opportunity to teach.
Darren and I are well though we are both trying to shake the tail end of
colds off. We are at the end of squash season and so we have been eating a
lot of it lately. If you know any great recipes please let me know. BJ
loves squash so I haven't had any menu complaints as of yet. Our cook,
Leonard is gone for the week at a regional church conference so I am in
charge of the house this week. I suppose I should be relishing my new found
womanhood but quite honestly I would much rather be in the garden working on
all the many things that need to be done. Besides, bending over a stove
when it is already 35 Celsius outside isn't too appealing here.
Last week was productive yet full of sadness at the same time. Living in
such a small place there are hardly things that are kept secret for too
long, including stuff you don't want to know about. While there are many
Christians here there are also a lot of people still involved in what we
would generally term black magic. While on the outset some of it seems
harmless, other practices are far too terrible to say out loud. After
hearing some of the goings on around here I needed an escape from the
reality that we live in. Us three ladies used drastic measures to escape
and we watched the first two movies in the Anne of Green Gables series. It
was wonderful, so wonderful that you hardly want the movie to be over. Jan
is away this week so we are waiting for her return before watching the last
one.
Last week's events weighed heavy on my heart; come Monday morning and as I
was by myself, watering trees in the nursery, it gave me pause to think
about my own village back home. It made me think that when it comes down to
it there isn't any difference between the two worlds we live in. We are all
humans, we all sin and we all fall short of God's glory. The things that
seem so nasty here aren't any nastier that the abuses and sins that are
committed in our towns back home. The only difference about home is that we
aren't likely to meet any of the victims or know any of the perpetrators in
our sheltered lives. I now feel more compelled to not only pray for
Gamboula but for my own home town. How funny that living here has served to
expose the inadequacies of where we come from.
Saturday I spent the morning planting manioc with Mama Paulien. It was a
lot of fun and not particularly hard work unless you are prone to a sore
back (which I am not). However, word spread quickly about the white lady
out planting manioc on a warm Saturday morning. Seems this is the first
time this has happened in these parts and I am sure I was the topic of many
dinner conversations. I guess this is to be expected. They all thought I
wanted to learn how so that I could go back home and make a big garden for
myself. Unfortunately we don't at all have the right climate for it.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends. Know that we are truly
thankful for each of you.
Ange
