Christmas wherever you are is all about what you make of it. Take, for
example, Christmas in Gamboula. How do you make a four hour Christmas day
church service a little more interesting to sit through. The answer is, you
form a choir of all the missionaries and get them to sing a medley of
Christmas songs including Jingle Bells, in front of 300 plus people. That
is good for a few laughs I guarantee, especially since no one has a clue
what we are singing. You could also get your ladies bible study together,
teach them a song in Sango and English and then sing that in front of the
church on Christmas morning.
As for Christmas dinner, ours wasn't a very exciting tropical dinner with
snake and monkey on the menu. In fact, ours was rather traditional in the
American sense. We had roast duck, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, sweet
potato, scalloped potatoes and salad. We stuffed ourselves with cookies and
lemon bars and yes, even Nanaimo bars for dessert. This was very exciting
for Darren and I; a) because it is a truly West Coast Canadian food, b) it
wouldn't be Christmas without Nanaimo bars and c). we actually managed to
fabricate all the ingredients necessary to make them and they tasted as
delicious and fattening as the ones my dad makes. Thanks goes to the
Lebanese merchant in Berberati for stocking vanilla custard powder in his
store. The only thing I have ever used the stuff for was to make Nanaimo
bars but I suppose one could actually make custard out of it.
Despite the holidays we are both very busy in our respective roles here,
especially since we keep picking up new ones. I am currently trying to
organize the agri office to help it be more efficient and accurate in its
record keeping and accounting. It is much the same as my job at ECHO trying
to keep my old boss organized. Lots and lots of fun. No, seriously, it is
a lot of fun. Seriously fun. Anyway...
2006 is sure to hold a lot of excitement and busyness for us. Besides
trying to complete an agroforestry manual, the agroforestry centre has 15
seminars scheduled for which the nursery will have to provide over 5,000
trees; we are planning on at least 4 months solid with the Aka pygmies in
Bayanga; Darren is working on producing a couple thousand banana plants for
distribution and I just got word of a good source of funding for a large
women's project for 2006 in which I would be completely responsible. Hmmm,
more fun. Actually, I thrive off stress and Darren thrives on picking up
the pieces of Angela as she thrives on stress.
After having spent one year here we are pretty much hooked and although we
will be going home a year from now, we have set our hearts on returning for
a longer time in the future. We are talking supplementary educated before
returning. Darren in the field of computer science (so he can be a real
expert) and me, most recently, in the field of community health
nursing/work. Does anyone know of a good program for this, preferably
focussed on the tropics? Any info would be helpful as we are
internet-handicapped out here in the wilderness. Thanks y'all.
