bacon bits with legs...

This is the continuing story of bobo's.
This past week we have had bobo's arrive on our porch twice. We haven't had
the desire to go out at midnight to collect them and it seems that only one
villager has had the courage to return to our veranda to collect them.
Sunday, during one of my almost daily visits to Clarisse's house, she came
out with a bowlful of toasty roasted bobo's (otherwise known as termites).
She had roasted them with a little bit of dongo (hot pepper) and they tasted
a lot like bacon bits with legs.

It would have been rude of me to have kept them all for myself so I politely
asked her if I could take a few home with me for Darren and BJ to try.
Having bought lettuce that morning I thought it was fitting to make a big
salad for lunch with bobo bits as one of the topping choices. After a bit
of discussion, Darren and BJ both sprinkled a handful on their salads, said
a little prayer and enjoyed a hearty meal, with only a few jokes about
flossing and finding legs between your teeth. I think it was cheating a bit
to hide them in amongst the salad but they each did eat a few on their own.
As for me, once I got them home and on the table I had less of a desire to
eat them than I did when I was sitting at Clarisse's, surrounded by a gaggle
of small children, all wondering if this white lady was really going to eat
termites. She did, in fact, and she went back for seconds, thirds and
fourths. They don't taste bad and the only creepy thing is the legs. After
Darren and BJ had their fill I brought some over to the neighbours house for
the school teacher's parents to try. They are visiting from the US for two
weeks. They both tried one and I even heard that her mom went back for
seconds.

When it comes down to it, what kind of bug lady would I be if I wasn't
willing to eat bugs as well as study and collect them? I am glad that they
only come around once a year though. Next month is caterpillar season.
This will be a little more challenging, especially the fresh ones. They are
significantly bigger than a termite and have all that squishy stuff inside.
I guess a little prayer goes a long way on that way.

In other news, I experienced my first snake bite victim last night. As I
was about to leave my friends house we heard that a lady had been brought to
the hospital with a snake bite on her foot. We went to the hospital to
check on the lady and to see the snake that bit her. We arrived too late to
see the snake as it was already bought and in someone's stew pot and the
lady was being treated. However, when our cook arrived this morning he
informed me that the lady died an hour later. I am not sure I have come so
close to death before, and now I am absolutely sure of why I wear boots or
shoes when I go to people's gardens. No flip-flop hiking for me. It seems
the lady was actually trying to dig for the snake to kill it for supper when
in fact she had chased it out another hole and it came around and bit her in
the foot. So, to answer everyone's question, yes snakes are here, yes they
are bad, yes they can kill, but no, it doesn't happen very often and yes, I
am careful.

This week we bid a fond Bon Voyage to the Doctor and his family as they
return to the US for a year of furlough. As well, the school teacher for
the neighbours family returns for the States after being here about a year.
We too are leaving this week to go to Bayanga to help out with agroforestry
work there. We will be returning after a month in order for me to catch a
plane bound for Canada. Yes, Canada. My loving husband has been sneaking
around finding a good flight and arranging things for me to return for my
sisters wedding. We all knew he was a great husband! I will be there for a
month and will return the first of September. I am not looking forward to
the separation or leaving Darren here by himself, but I am glad for the
chance to go home and to witness her marriage. I am truly blessed in life
with a great husband, wonderful parents and an understanding sister.

I am looking forward to writing in depth about our observations and our work
in Bayanga and will make every effort to change the names of people and
places as I have done in my previous reports. This is a beautiful country
with beautiful people but it is hard to reach and hard to hear news of so I
will do my best to give all the sights and sounds and smells that I can. If
you think of it, please pray for our travel this Friday. It is a long way
(300+ km) on bad roads in the dry season. After a rain the roads are as
slick as ice. We are bringing Constant with us for the drive and he will
stay with us for a week. He is the head agri guy and can fix a truck or get
it unstuck like a pro. He is our back up since neither of us have much
experience when it comes to African roads. Mind you, all that back-country
camping we used to do on logging roads has come in handy as far as
manoeuvring around pot holes is concerned. Thanks Dads for introducing to
back road travel. It is invaluable experience out here.
Na peko ma,
Ange
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Henry and the Golden Egg

Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote on the state of life here. We
have been very busy and we will finally take a break on Wednesday when we
take a couple days off and go to Berberati, 'the big city'. Actually, we
just heard that an internet cafe opened up there and an hour is only $2.
What a deal as far as I am concerned. I am looking forward to checking on
the state of the world. We will also have a chance just to wander around
and see what is there. Supposedly you can buy lettuce and cabbage and
garden vegetables in the market there. They may even have a few tourist
things like postcards or something.

I have been busy training a new assistant manager in the nursery at
Gamboula. I am training him in all things related to propagation, insect
and disease control, grafting and other stuff. He is a very good grafter
and very keen. He is planning on starting his own nursery at his house and
grafting his own trees for sale. I am trying to encourage him in this regard
as very few people here show much entrepreneurial initiative. Saturday, I
gave a second women's agroforestry seminar and, thanks to a recent donation,
was able to buy notebooks and pens for all the ladies to write notes (this
was their request).

We also bought a chicken Saturday and we named her Henrietta. We had her
tied up on our veranda until today. She kind of reminded me of our pet
chickens hen I was a kid. We gave her a box to hide in from the sun and
this morning when we brought her down to Leonard to kill her we found an egg
in the box. We kind of figured it was her last ditch attempt to avoid
death. We think she was thinking that if we saw her worth as an egg
producer we might not want to eat her after all. Darren said if we found 3
eggs it would be worth keeping her but one just didn't cut it. I guess he
was right. Anyway, I told Leonard we would eat her tomorrow after the
memory of Henry had faded in mind some. He just laughed. We do a lot of
laughing around here. It is like having your favourite uncle as your cook!
Today I was so tired and exhausted from a busy couple of weeks and poor
sleep that I just started laughing this morning. I couldn't get any words
out at all. He just laughed at me and I know he thinks I am just a little
crazier than anyone else out here. Oh well, people were bound to find out
sooner than later.

Today I am starting a series of workshops on grafting for the agroforestry
guys. We are going to teach them grafting 2 at a time over the course of
the week. This way there won't be knives flying all over the place and I
can have some control over the matter.

My other project right now is a going-away video for Sarah, a short-term
missionary whose time is up at the end of the month. She really does not
want to leave so I am going around filming all the missionaries and cooks
and people she knows here. I also arranged with her choir to film a
mini-concert. All of this and she doesn't know a thing. Her choir
assembled at the river yesterday, 3 km from the mission and we drove their
speakers and robes down there for them. They stood in the hot sun and sung
their hearts out and I got it all on tape. She is going to be so surprised
when she sees it. I am planning on giving it to her next week when her
parents are here and then show it to her choir. It is a fun project and
will bless her socks off I hope.

Well, better go prepare for the seminar and for bible study tonight. It is
my turn to give the lesson and I need to find a few words in Sango. Until
next time,
Angela

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Flight of the Bobo

It was the thrill of the hunt that took them.  Or was it the very fact that if they missed tonight's hunt they would be forced to wait an entire year before the chase could resume itself once more.  If the pressure of the crowd ever came into play, it did last night, during this, the flight of the Bobo.  What, you may ask, is a bobo after all?  A bobo is a generic term for flying termites, but on this particular night in question, (last night), bobo refers to the biggest of the flying termites, seen only once per year.  If you miss the flight of the bobo you have to wait again until next year and contrary to popular belief, people here aren't too keen on waiting. 

 

Common knowledge has it that these bobo's come out the day after a rain and a subsequent day of hot sunshine.  They have come out twice already.  The morning after the first flight we saw little kids picking them up bright and early as the sun rose.  Last night however, they were prepared.  At about midnight last night the frenzy began.  It seems as though the termites are attracted to light sources such as the security lights surrounding our porch.  At midnight we heard our veranda gate open (just happens it is right beside our bedroom window).  Then we heard all kinds of talking and walking around the veranda.  Upon first hearing all these voices I thought at once that we had thieves trying to get into our house.  Common sense prevailed and Darren got up to check on matters.  The sound of him unlocking the door sent the would-be bobo thieves fleeing for cover down our back stairs.  They did however, leave their shoes behind, which they so thoughtfully left on the bottom of the stairs.  While Darren was out chasing people I was on the radio hailing the sentinel to come and chase them away.  When I went outside I was shocked to see 20 people, adults and kids, on every door step collecting these giant, flying termites, with no regard for who they might be waking up, or whose house they were trespassing at.  Normally respectful people were rendered temporarily insane by the prospect of gathering a bowlful of these little critters.  We went back to bed thinking we had dutifully taken care of the situation until half and hour later we heard people on our veranda again.  Darren once again got up only to find that the sentinels, those sworn, and paid, to protect the houses of the missionaries and our sleep, had let them come back to our corner of the mission and they themselves were also picking termites.  All sense had left this place. 

 

There is a large security fence around our part of the mission but the top part of our houses are above the fence and so we hear everything that is going on in the village around us.  There is a round-point not far from our house as the bird flies, and it has a light on it.  This happened to be the gathering spot for a large bobo-party last night that we heard going on until 3:30 am.  I was almost tempted into joining the fray since I wasn't finding any sleep.  However, I figured I may be subjected to consuming a quantity of bobo's so I opted for my bed and ear-plugs.  This morning at report the ag guys assured us that the bobo's would not be coming out tonight so we could sleep well. 

 

This morning our anger and tiredness quickly turned to mush as we realized that for a people whom meat is hard to find and too expensive to buy on a regular basis, these termites are a wonderful source of protein.  And, we would rather hear a party over termites, then a brawl over elections or other such things.  In a place where North American forms of entertainment do not exist, we are forced to create our own forms of entertainment, like, the flight of the Bobo.

One of many firsts

Saturday was my best day yet! Work is so fulfilling when it is the work
your heart longs to do. Anyone who knows me from ECHO knows that I love to
give seminars, training days, talks at plant sales, etc. When you move to a
country where simple conversations are a challenge you are required to wait
until such a time as your language skills catch up with your heart.
Saturday everything finally came together for me.

While there have been agroforestry seminars given in Gamboula in the past
there is a strong tendency for only men to attend. I have been asking women
why this is since they all tell me that they want to learn about fruit
trees. The standard answers are that the three day seminars are too long,
they can't be absent from their gardens and their kids for that long, and
that they have kids to look after. This to me in understandable. So I have
been asked my a few ladies to give them a seminar on planting and caring for
fruit trees. This Saturday we all huddled under the shade of the nutrition
centre house and I taught a 3 hour seminar to 10 ladies. I have never felt
so alive here as that morning. I was nervous of my sango but it just kind
of came out. In cases where it came out not to clear Clarisse translated
into Gbaya (the local tribal language). After an hour and half of theory
and a discussion about nutrition and a compost demonstration we all walked
over to the garden of Eden for an official tour. We made our way out the
far end of Eden and into Paulien's family garden where 2 weeks previously we
had planted about 14 fruit trees. I showed them all how to plant a
jackfruit and then we looked at the advantages of mulching around fruit
trees. Since planting trees in Paulien's garden it hadn't rained but she
had been diligently watering the trees and had put compost around all of
them. I couldn't have asked for a better demonstration. When I lifted up
the compost the soil was nice and moist under it and only an inch away it
was bone dry and crusty. It was a striking example that I imagine won't
leave the women's minds. I was also able to dispel the myth that throwing
waste water on trees was bad for them! On the contrary, what a way to have
healthy trees--pour the bath and wash water on the trees. Sweep the goat
poo from around the yard around the trees rather than in a heap someplace
else. We finished just before the sun really beat down.

My agreement with the women was that I would give them each 16 trees to
start and I offered to go to their gardens with them to help them place the
trees in a good spot. They all looked over to Paulien and Clarisse when I
said that to see if they really heard what I said and to see if I really
could walk that far without dying. They both said, "yeah, she has already
been to our gardens a bunch of times." There is no better way to relate to
people than to be interested and involved in the things that shape and
define their lives. I also told them I wouldn't give them their trees until
they had prepared the holes before hand and, if they were planting them near
their house, they had to have cut sticks to make goat protection first. I
also told them to wait to plant until the day after we had rain. No one
demanded their trees right away, they were all quite agreeable. Wouldn't
you just know it that it rained the next day and 6:30 Monday morning I had a
lady at my door ready to plant her trees. She was so excited that I was
excited. I will be going to take pictures soon.

My next seminar will be in the church with a women's group that meets every
Thursday. They have anywhere from 50 -100 women show up--Yikes! The crazy
thing about all this is that we don't have any money for trees or pens and
notebooks. I am basically scraping it all together as people demand the
knowledge. Since we aren't able to be in Bayanga all the time with the
pygmies, I am engaging in ministry here as well. God however is big, and he
already knew that this was going to happen here so that means he has a plan
for it all. Very reassuring. I am the first female agronome here or that
Roy has ever heard of in these parts or in his work in Congo. In this
culture it is easier for women to be taught by a woman.

In other news, our well is finished and the village is starting to use it.
The water is quite clear and we have enough funds left over from the
official donation to build another one. There is a never a shortage in
demand for water, especially good clean drinking water.

To top off an already great Saturday, someone arrived from Berberati with
mail-yes, mail! Our dear friend Leanne mailed us three packages a month ago
and they arrived. A similar package mailed in February has yet to arrive
but that is Africa for you. We were completely overwhelmed when we opened
it up to find a 6 month supply of Kool-aid and Crystal Light. Her church,
which hardly knows us, sent us a stack of recipe cards on which individuals
in the church wrote encouraging notes and scripture. We are reading one a
day at lunch until we are through, and then we will start from the beginning
again. Talk about being blessed. At noon today we will hear the official
proclamation of who won the presidential elections 2 weeks ago. Continue to
pray for peace in the coming months. In church Sunday the pastor admonished
us saying that both candidates were Central Africans so no matter who wins
they are one of us, so we are not to go crazy and protest and lose the
peace. Hopefully everyone heard well.

If you have sent mail, be encouraged, it will get here and we will relay the
election results in the next e-mail. Darren by the way is doing well and is
starting to really bust out the Sango. He is keeping us organized
financially and is enjoying work in Eden. He filmed parts of my seminar
that we will be showing around when we get back.

Until next time, Ange
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The view from my window

Someone wrote and asked me what it looked like out here, what it smelled
like, what it sounded like. All hard things to describe with only black
words on a white screen but I will make an attempt. The soil here is a
deep, iron-red and the roads are all earth roads. The mission itself is
covered in grass that gets mowed and all the houses have flower beds and
pretty borders thanks to the work of Roy and his green thumb. When I look
out the window I see green everywhere, the remnants of the forest that was
once here before people took over this place. Immediately around the
mission is an area called the carre-foure, which is divided up into cartiers
or neighbourhoods. This is still considered Gamboula but we are about 3
kilometres from 'downtown'. There are huge mango and avocado trees in
peoples' yards and maybe some thorn bushes, but that is all for
greenery--the goats have eaten everything else. Behind the houses a way are
gardens and remnants of forest, the earth rising and falling slightly, just
enough so that you can't see too far away at one look. The river is about 2
kilometres from here and at some points on the mission you can look down at
the river valley which is just dense with green. Vines are prolific here so
even the tree trunks are green.

The roads here are terrible, even by foot as they are often split in two,
with large chasms running the length or width of them made by the heavy
rains during the wet season. Bridges are rickety and sometimes you take
your chances. The government is not at all concerned with fixing our roads
so sometimes the logging companies come and fix the roads themselves if it
serves their own purposes. Our road into town isn't used by the logging
company so it will remain bad for a while yet, or until some government
official has to use the hospital but can't get here by car because of the
road. Motorbikes don't have a problem unless it has rained heavily, in
which case they risk the chance of slipping off the road into a large
pothole. When it rains the roads feel as slick as ice.

There are a few stalls right outside the hospital gates where you can buy
dried fish, vegetables, various powders, sugar and oil. I don't recommend
the meat! The houses are mostly built out of un-fired mud brick that
eventually wash away with the rain and thatched roofs. A few houses are
made from scrap wood, some with cement block and some with sticks and
leaves. When you get closer to town the houses are pretty much the same.
Many people take woven mats called saragani and put this around their yards
in town as a privacy fence, especially the Fulani people. Town has a few
shops which are essentially wooden shacks with a few shelves that the basics
are displayed on. There are a few stalls where you can buy meat kebobs,
fresh off the barbecue (oil drum). There is a central market place where
you can buy meat and produce and there are a few shops selling toiletries,
flip-flops and fabric for bringing to the tailor to have clothes made. Every
town has a round-a-bout that you must go around. One road leads north, one
leads east to Berberati and one leads west to Cameroon. If you go to
Cameroon and you had your eyes closed the whole way you would know you were
there by the feel of the roads. Cameroon actually fixes their roads so they
are much better for driving.

It sounds like a busy neighbourhood. We are surrounded by houses and there
is the constant laughter and chatter of children-from early in the morning
to late at night. You can also here a lot of birds and bugs doing what they
do. At night and in the morning you hear wood being chopped with machetes
and you can smell the cooking fires by the dozen around you. Some of the
people with jobs here have managed to save enough to buy TV's, VCD players
and generators and they set up little movie houses in their homes, charging
20 cents a movie. At least they are showing initiative. There are no
banks, no electricity (except at the mission itself), no telephones and very
few cars. There are a lot of motorcycle taxis and a few grinders for
grinding dried cassava into flour (they sound just like lawnmowers starting
up). There are prayer services every morning and the church bell is rung
right about the same time as our alarm clock--handy in case our battery ever
dies. Of course there is always the sound of chickens and roosters and
goats to remind you aren't in the big city.

It smells just like the tropics here, a little musty, a little rotten and a
little sweet, all mixed together. Kind of like southern Florida.

Tomorrow and Thursday we will accompany Roy and Constant on a trip up North
to deliver some 1500 fruit trees to coops that were started last year. Each
coop member will receive 25 fruit trees to plant in their gardens. It will
be exciting to see this take place, to learn about peoples perceptions about
fruit trees and to see the process in action. This also means we will have
a lot of work to do in the nursery to make up for all these trees that are
going out. In total this week we will have sent out 3500 fruit trees.
Incredible really. Even if only half survive, that is a big food potential.

If there is anything you want to know, please drop us a line and we would be
happy to answer you as soon as we can.
Angela bossbugs@yahoo.ca

Fete de Travailler

Sunday was Labour Day here, as in many parts of the world. For us it was a
special day with a parade planned for Sunday morning in town. Clarisse's
daughter was supposed to be in the parade along with the kids from the
private school. Clarisse and us walked downtown Sunday morning, (3km) and
when we arrived Clarisse told us to wait a minute. She promptly went to the
director of the festivities and told them that we white people had arrived.
Well, that did it and before we could say anything we found ourselves
standing in line along the edge of the road flanked by 30 other important
people of the village and surrounding area, including the police and
military. Some important lady came down the line and shook hands with all
of us and then the military troop of 8 paraded in front of us with their big
guns to raise the flag and we all sung the national anthem. I didn't quite
know what was going on but even though I felt quite out of place I know
Clarisse put us there because she felt it showed us respect. All I could do
was thank her, after all she feels as though she is my older sister and
therefore responsible for me. After standing in the line we were invited to
sit up in this grandstand thing with 4 others, including the important lady,
to watch the parade. Only thing was, there was no parade. The military
paraded back and forth like a bunch of ducks, not quite knowing where they
were going. When they finally marched off the scene there was a bit of
confusion and then it was finally announced that in fact, there was no
parade. It was all very disorganized, not really all that surprising
really.

Later that afternoon there was a soccer match in town that ended up being
between downtown and a team from around the mission. Darren didn't play as
he was still getting his strength back after having been sick all week. We
went down and watched Roy and BJ play. Neither team scored so we are having
a rematch in 2 weeks. Monday we had a match on the mission's field between
the hospital and agroforestry. The hospital team won with two goals and
they were good. I think our agro team only had 4 actual agro guys on it.
Was lots of fun to watch though. A couple creative kids walked up and down
the side lines carry pieces of wood that they pretended were video cameras,
filming the match. Now where did they see that before? Made for good
entertainment anyway. We also discovered that there is a definite lack of
soccer balls around here and we may have to help rectify the situation.

So, even though there was no parade, it was a nice adventure and now the
heads of all the military and government people know who we are. Oh yeah,
the important lady ended up being the secretary of the sous-prefet, the
governor or premier depending on where you are from. The real guy himself
went to a much bigger party in Berberati. I guess our party wasn't quite
big enough for his liking!

Sunday is the second presidential election and is run-off between the top
two candidates, including the big man himself. The results usually take a
week or two to come in so we would appreciate pray as the country votes and
waits, peacefully we hope, for the results. We can't predict who will win
but we are praying for change in the country no matter what.

fete de travailler

Sunday was Labour Day here, as in many parts of the world.  For us it was a special day with a parade planned for Sunday morning in town.  Clarisse's daughter was supposed to be in the parade along with the kids from the private school.  Clarisse and us walked downtown Sunday morning, (3km) and when we arrived Clarisse told us to wait a minute.  She promptly went to the director of the festivities and told them that we white people had arrived. Well, that did it and before we could say anything we found ourselves standing in line along the edge of the road flanked by 30 other important people of the village and surrounding area, including the police and military.  Some important lady came down the line and shook hands with all of us and then the military troop of 8 paraded in front of us with their big guns to raise the flag and we all sung the national anthem.  I didn't quite know what was going on but even though I felt quite out of place I know Clarisse put us there because she felt it showed us respect.  All I could do was thank her, after all she feels as though she is my older sister and therefore responsible for me.  After standing in the line we were invited to sit up in this grandstand thing with 4 others, including the important lady, to watch the parade.  Only thing was, there was no parade.  The military paraded back and forth like a bunch of ducks, not quite knowing where they were going.  When they finally marched off the scene there was a bit of confusion and then it was finally announced that in fact, there was no parade.  It was all very disorganized, not really all that surprising really.

Later that afternoon there was a soccer match in town that ended up being between downtown and a team from around the mission.  Darren didn't play as he was still getting his strength back after having been sick all week.  We went down and watched Roy and BJ play.  Neither team scored so we are having a rematch in 2 weeks.  Monday we had a match on the mission's field between the hospital and agroforestry.  The hospital team won with two goals and they were good.  I think our agro team only had 4 actual agro guys on it. Was lots of fun to watch though.  A couple creative kids walked up and down the side lines carry pieces of wood that they pretended were video cameras, filming the match.  Now where did they see that before?  Made for good entertainment anyway.  We also discovered that there is a definite lack of soccer balls around here and we may have to help rectify the situation.

So, even though there was no parade, it was a nice adventure and now the heads of all the military and government people know who we are.  Oh yeah, the important lady ended up being the secretary of the sous-prefet, the governor or premier depending on where you are from.  The real guy himself went to a much bigger party in Berberati.  I guess our party wasn't quite big enough for his liking!

Sunday is the second presidential election and is run-off between the top two candidates, including the big man himself.  The results usually take a week or two to come in so we would appreciate pray as the country votes and waits, peacefully we hope, for the results.  We can't predict who will win but we are praying for change in the country no matter what.