I know this entry is going to come across a little strange to all of you but
some things just need to be said. A month ago our neighbours surprised us
with a new pet. A bush baby, a really little one. A bush baby is in the
monkey family and kind of looks like a lemur more than a monkey. We named
him Pip, after Pip Squeak and he has been bringing us happiness since we got
him. He has free reign of the house and he is small enough to curl up in
the palm of your hand. We had been feeding him milk from a syringe, bits of
bread, banana, papaya and termites since the bobos starting coming out two
nights ago. Well, this morning when we woke it was thundering and raining
and Pip came straight to the bed to greet us and all was normal. I lay on
the couch with Pip curled up in my shirt while reading this morning and then
maybe an hour later I went looking for him to hold him for a bit and I found
him dead curled up amongst my hats in the bedroom. I am feeling quite sad
at the moment and homesick all at once. It has been raining since early
this morning and has that grey cast to the sky and slight rain-cooled chill
to the air, just like at home in the winter but 15 degrees warmer. Pip's
death and the rainy day have me thinking of home and feeling rather pensive.
We have had a challenging couple of weeks in February that has tired us out
with no time to rest. February 11 we held an "agroforestry recyclage". We
invited one member from each of the 25 cooperatives to come to Gamboula for
four days of teaching and hands-on learning at the agroforestry center. We
had over 40 participants as a contingent of 7 Aka pygmies from Bayanga came
up with Raul, the American missionary there, as well as all of the ag center
staff. I played a big role in helping organize things and in teaching.
Darren taught on the banana technique he learned in Cameroon, Bruno and I
taught on grafting and we also did an afternoon on vegetable gardening. We
also spent one full afternoon talking about cooperatives and their
importance in development. It was an excellent week despite the fact that
during day 2 our energy generating turbine went on the blink and is still
broken nearly two weeks later.
Now I know what you are thinking, 'big deal, the power went out. Don't you
live in Africa?'. And yes, we do live in Africa but our houses are set up
with full reliance on the turbine and so is our hospital. We do have an
emergency generator which is too big for its purpose here and drinks 15
litres of fuel per hour! We have been running the generator for six hours a
day in order to give us a chance to cook, for the fridges and deep-freezers
to stay cool and to pump water. Hundreds of people rely on the mission for
water and our pumps need electricity. The unfortunate part of the set-up is
that our house is the last in line to get water so right now we are only
getting water for maybe an hour a day. We have been showering in agri's
outdoor shower or at Roy's house and storing up water in buckets for use in
the kitchen and to flush our toilet. The part for the turbine has to come
from Spain so we will be without for most likely the rest of this week. It
is not that being without power and water is the end of life, as this is how
most everyone else around here lives, it just means that it takes up much of
your time to do really basic things and this is something that while I knew
it I didn't fully understand it in a practical sense. We surely are a
spoiled bunch in North America that is for sure. I am just really grateful
for our back-up as is the hospital. It is really hard to do surgery without
power.
Our lack of power may also help to explain my failure to write in the past
month. Since the recyclage we have been planning for this season's work
including 6 big seminars that will be happening in large towns starting
March 6. The day after the training here in Gamboula Darren and I took off
for Berberati with Roy, Aleta and BJ to go and help fix a missionary house
there. Actually it is the house of Roy's son who recently came out with his
wife for a 2 year term. They came down here this past weekend and we had a
good chance to dream about what our futures in CAR would look like. We are
all talking about starting a model/research farm in Berberati connected with
a new development NGO in CAR. Anyway, for us this would be a few years off
but we are glad to be included in the development stage.
I feel as though my thoughts are very scattered today so I won't say much
more. The next few months will be taken up with travelling to seminars,
grafting, and more travel as we have said that any cooperatives that want
extra teaching on grafting, banana multiplication or that want women
specific seminars, that we will travel to them and do the training on-site.
There could be a big demand for this. Come summer we are hoping to be down
in Bayanga for a few months. Our mission director is planning a visit in
September/October which will be good to share our dreams with him as well.
We are planning on returning to Canada in late December in time to celebrate
Darren's Granny's 90th birthday. A second recyclage is planned for the
beginning of December and the guys insist that we be here for it!
As for next year this time, plans are evolving and it looks as if we may
find ourselves back at ECHO for a few years while I work in the nursery and
Darren attends FGCU. Please be praying for our 2006 seminar and follow-up
program, for continued safety on the roads and for change on the lives of
those we work with. These are exciting times for us and we know that there
are battles being fought all around us in the spiritual realm.
Ange
