August 2012 - under construction
September 2010
I had the awesome opportunity to travel to West Africa in September 2010. If you had told me one year ago that I would be going on this trip I would have said you were crazy. If you had told me I would be dancing with Africans and eating sheep I would have said you were even crazier.
I had a heart to go but didn't really think God would open the doors for it to happen, but He had other plans. We have been praying for our people group for a year and a half and to actually go and meet them was amazing. They are a very peaceful and affectionate people and their hospitality towards us was very humbling.
They captured my heart and while I was ready to come home after 10 days it was very hard to say goodbye.
It has been a month since I got home and "re-entry" was much harder than I thought it would be. So many emotions to process and work through...
We've Arrived
After 15 hours in the air we arrived in East Africa...we changed planes and culture shock set in as soon as we walked into the airport. The smells, the people, the smoke, the military with their weapons keeping watch were pretty intimidating. It was obvious we were "tourists."
We had planned to change our clothes on the plane and get into our traditional dress but the bathrooms were very small and not too clean so we decided to wait. We were definitely treated differently I think. The plane ride was very different too. The domestic flights were not near as nice as the international flights. Six hours later we arrived at our destination.
It was raining and we were happy to be on land. Satan tried to get us pretty much as soon as we landed. We went through the first checkpoint and one team member didn't have her immunization card. The rest of us had our cards but only by chance. Since the immunization card was required to get our Visas we couldn't understand why the card itself was required but it was. (Note to self - tell the next team to bring their immunization card). So she told the guard she didn't have it. Of course there was a ton of people behind us waiting to get through and not too happy about being held up by Americans.
He held onto to her passport and started checking other people in. An African came through the line and did not have his immunization card either. When the guard detained him he got very irate. There was lots of screaming. Who knows what they were saying..we certainly had no idea. We weren't sure what we were going to do. A few minutes went by...it seemed like a lot longer. I was not taking my eyes off her passport. Another airport worker could see that something was going on so he came over to help. He was able to get her passport from the guard while he was arguing with the African and he was able to get her through the security checkpoints. Praise God! We knew He didn't bring us this far to get stopped right in our tracks 15 minutes after landing.
The irate man made his way to the next checkpoint right in front of me. I just stood there trying to look dumb but it was getting more tense. I kept trying to hand the guard my passport but he and the African kept up with their arguing. Finally my very smart team member got my attention and motioned me to another line. The guard took my passport and said "Americano?" I said yes. He then wanted to know where I was going. I told him to visit friends. He looked at me for a few seconds and then he stamped my passport. Whew...we were all in!!
Of course our luggage didn't make it with us, but we were in Africa!!!
Our flight landed at around 1:15 pm and our friend that met us at the airport had scheduled us to meet our family at 3 pm. Needless to say we were late after waiting a long time in the airport only to find that our luggage didn't make it with us. We went to the guesthouse and freshened up and changed our clothes...what little we had but the women needed to wear long skirts and we needed to cover our heads. It took us a couple of days to get used to having our heads covered but pretty soon we could wrap without a mirror.
This is our "teamaker." He was the only one who made the tea. They pulled out a laptop and played their music for us. The girls in the family danced and before you knew it we were dancing with them. We couldn't understand a word that they said but they were teaching us their traditional dance. We were in awe.
We were exhausted but they invited us to attend a tuar3g festival that evening. We were arrived in Africa at the end of Ramadan so there were celebrations still going on. We thought twice about attending but it was a once a year event and if we didn't go we would have missed the experience.
So we had to wear traditional dress which meant full covering for the women...talk about feeling uncomfortable.
We weren't sure what to expect but when we arrived we knew we were in a foreign country. It resembled a bar more than a festival. Very few of the local women were wearing head covering. In the city alot of the women don't wear them but as foreigners we wanted to show respect for their traditions. Some of the men had their heads covered which made me uncomfortable. There was more dancing and live tuar3g music.
By the time we left the festival we had been awake about 40 hours. We knew we would sleep well that night. And we decided to pay for air conditioning in the guesthouse. It was well worth the $1 per hour to not sweat while we slept.
Grocery shopping, church under a tree and more...
It is taking me a really long time to blog about my trip to Africa. So I am going to try to wrap this up before New Years. There is so much to share and this highlights some of the God moments that were so evident during our entire trip.
Saturday – September 11th
We slept in until 10 am (we definitely needed the rest) and then headed to the grocery store. It was quite comical I am sure to see us trying to figure out what everything cost and doing the exchange in our heads. Tina wanted to have manicures & pedicures with our girls and you should have seen me trying to communicate with the store clerk (me speaking no French and her speaking no English) try to find fingernail polish. After lots of smiles and sign language we were good to go with nail polish and groceries.
As we were leaving the grocery store there were lots of African boys with their metal coffee cans asking for money. They were very poor and followed us to the car. They opened up the door for us and then stood with their little faces right up against the window until we left. Rita told us not to give them any money because everything they collect goes to the Im@m. They don’t get any of it nor do their families. It was very hard to look at them and not want to give them something, anything.
Sunday, September 12th
We were up early this morning. Rita took us to “church” in a small village outside of Bamako. Church was under a tree with wooden benches surrounded by lots of children and men and women of all ages. We sang songs and hymns in Bambara for at least 30 minutes. Everyone sang including the children. They clapped their hands and were dancing in their worship to God. The pastor shared with them that we had come all the way from America to share Jesus and so they should go and share Jesus with their neighbors. We took pictures and said our goodbyes. It was an experience I will never forget.
Lunch today was on the side of the road at a rice table. It really was nothing more than a table with benches. There were so many flies I was afraid I was going to inhale them every time I took a bite.
We spent the afternoon with our family, sharing pictures of our families with them and looking at their photo albums. Chris was teaching the boys some English and they tried to teach him French and Tamasheq. We were able to tell some of our stories. The teamaker only spoke Tamasheq so our translator translated from English to French and then a man God provided translated from French to Tamasheq. We had not met him before but he told everyone the stories we shared were true. He had heard them as a small boy.
One of the young ladies we met today is staying with her “father” who speaks English. We set up an appointment to meet him on Tuesday. We also asked them if they would serve us a traditional Id@k meal. We would provide everything if they would cook it for us. It was set. We were to have our festival on Wednesday.
We had fried chicken for dinner from a fast food restaurant. I think he had to go and kill the chicken it took so long. The term “fast food” in Africa is definitely not the same as fast food in America.
Still no luggage and I am really beginning to dislike the skirt I have been wearing for 3 days now.
More fast food and shopping...
Monday, September 13th
We didn’t visit our family today. We visited Rita’s office and sat in on a translation class. We were so blessed by the stories we heard and the stories we shared. They asked so many questions. We told them we had more stories to tell if they wanted to hear them so we decided to return and visit with them later in the week.
We ventured off to the airport. Hallelujah our luggage arrived. We were like 3 kids on Christmas morning. They were definitely a sight for sore eyes.
For lunch we ate at Clemendines. I had a steak and cheese sandwich and fries. We were definitely eating well and not at all as we expected. We joked about what we were going to share with our friends at home about our meals.
Then we ventured out shopping. This was definitely an experience. In Africa they use a barter system and it is nothing but haggling. I did not enjoy it at all. You don’t ask the price or even touch anything unless you are serious about buying it. Then once they tell you the price you cut it by a third and barter up twice. Whew…this is too much work for me. In most cases I would have paid the original price no questions asked but this would have been an insult in their culture.
We ate dinner (fajitas, go figure) and headed back to the guesthouse. We rested for the evening.
Tuesday, September 14th
Today is my 19th wedding anniversary and it was difficult to be away from George but we did get to talk by phone. Skype has been hit or miss so we haven’t been able to “see” each other much.
Culture shock had worn off for the most part and Tina and I ventured out by ourselves with no translator and without Rita. We learned quickly that a smile goes a long way and “aneeche” (sp??) usually brought a friendly response from the locals. We were very proud of ourselves. We didn’t get lost and we didn’t get hit by a car or motorcycle.
We met with the Id@k man we had setup an appointment with. He and his family were very hospitable. We learned that he is a very educated man and speaks very good English. He told us that we were the first Americans he had ever met. He was in Bamako on sabbatical and would return to the dessert. He gave us our Id@k names that day and told us about the history of his people. We are now Id@k he told us. We learned so much during our visit and God continued to open up door after door. He told us he would be at our festival the next day.
The Festival
Wednesday, September 15th
The day had arrived for our festival or fete as they called it. We arrived at our family’s home around 9:30 am. The sheep had already been slaughtered and was laying out for all to see (along with the thousand or so flies that were all over it.)
There were more people there that we had not seen before. It seems that word had gotten out that the Americans were there and curiosity was bringing them to check us out. I felt completely safe with most of them. There were one or two men who I wasn’t sure about and I made a point to have no eye contact with them. The Id@k man and his wife were there as well.
For the appetizer we had ribs, the heart and liver. It actually wasn’t too bad. We sat outside most of the day while Chris cooked. In our people’s culture the men do most of the work. The women just relax…some of the women did help cook the rice. For lunch we had rice soaked in a butter sauce along with the sheep meat. The women ate inside and the men ate outside. We ate with our hands from a community platter and tried our best not to make a mess. The rice was hot and burned my fingers. We washed our hands with a bucket of water that was passed around and drank what tasted like koolaid or some sort of fruit juice.
We were entertained by the men who played electric guitars and drums made out of plastic containers. There was more dancing. We think the guitar player was from the band we heard at the Tuar3g festival from Friday night.
We left later that afternoon for a break and returned for dinner. Dinner consisted of the sheep head…oh boy, God was really testing us now. There was a juice around the head and they served bread. I thought ok, I will just take the bread in really small pieces and just soak up the juice and no one will know any different. Was I wrong…our host took her fingers and pulled out the eyeball and tried to give it to Rita but she quickly offered it to Tina. Whew…I was safe, NOT. She then took her fingers and dug out the mucus from the eye and the brain and slabbed it on my piece of bread. Great. All I could do was shut my eyes and get it down as quickly as I could.
One of the highlights of the day was meeting Fatima. She cooked our meal for us and was so nice and pleasant to be around. She asked us to come and visit her at her house before we left on Saturday.
Another highlight was meeting Al Mahmoud. He is 24 years old and is in the city finishing up his schooling but will return to the desert to be with his bride of 7 months. He spoke excellent English and he and Chris quickly developed a relationship. We found out that he knows the one Chr1st1an among the Id@ks and had actually helped him with translating the B1Ble in their heart language. Another contact provided by God, another door opened. We really wanted to ask him to translate some recordings we had found on the internet that we believe were in their heart language but the night was drawing to a close and we were really exhausted so it would have to wait for another day.
Winding Down...
Thursday, September 16th
Today we went back to the Translator class and shared more stories. They shared stories with us and we were so blessed by this time. We video’d some of the class and they were really impressed by the Flip videos. We passed them around and they had a great time with them. We took pictures and said our goodbyes. Goodbyes are getting harder and harder. Even though I was so ready to get home it was going to be tough to leave.
I started to feel rough today like I was getting sick. We went shopping and Rita made us ride using public transportation. What an adventure that was. It was a mini bus with seats outlining the inside. The motto is “there is always room for one more” and I believe it. We were crammed in tight.
We made it to the Artisan which is a big flea market. We had been told to be very careful. There were lots of pick pockets and to keep our belongings secured. The sellers could see us coming a mile away and wanted to show us everything they had, each inviting us into their shop “just to look.” They are very persistent and at one time they swarmed all around us as Tina was buying scarves. They came from everywhere it seemed when they realized the Americans were shopping.
We finally made it back to the guesthouse and I was not feeling well at all. So we stayed in for the rest of the evening.
Friday, September 17th
One of the things we really wanted to do while we were in Bamako was to visit the Chr1st1an academy. We had a tour of the school and had the privilege of leading the chapel service for the middle school. They are mainly MKs and we really enjoyed getting to worship with them.
For lunch Rita took us to an encampment way on the outskirts of town towards the mountains. It seemed like it took forever to get there and I am guessing we were at least 3-4 miles off the main road. It was a resort and she said that many Europeans come there for vacation. It had a pool and a high dollar gift shop. The restaurant was really cool and they had wi-fi service. I couldn’t believe it. I posted on Facebook that I can’t get DSL in my neighborhood at home! The grounds were like a botanical garden. I had a beef shish-ka-bob and fries which was excellent. While we were eating a rain storm came in and it was absolutely beautiful. It was breathtaking and so like God to give us that special time.
Later that afternoon we went to visit our family to say our goodbyes but first we went to Fatima’s house like we promised we would. She was excited to see us. She really touched my heart and I fell in love with her instantly. We sat in her tiny home until it got dark. They had no electricity so we moved to the roof. She served us dinner. I don’t know what it was but we ate it and we enjoyed it. In their culture the guests and adults eat first and then the children get the scraps. It was heartbreaking to watch the babies eat our scraps and I felt ashamed for how wasteful we Americans are and how much we take for granted. We learned that Al Mahmoud lived with Fatima…another God ordained moment. We thought this would be a good time to ask him to translate the recordings we had. Rita pulled out her Ipod and speakers and began playing the recordings. His eyes lit up and he asked us where we got the audio clips. We told him we found them on the internet but we think he recognized the voice. For a half hour or so he translated the audio from their heart language to English for us. We found out that he is a teacher of English to the boys in the desert. He is working on a dictionary of their heart language to English and we feel like God sent him our way. Our prayer is to work with him in the future to help with translation.
Well it was time to say goodbye and the tears just flowed. I really became attached to Fatima and it was like leaving family. We knew right then that we are family and that we will see them again.
We made our way back to our family’s home. Most of them were there and we talked and laughed and they had gifts for us. We were humbled by the gifts they brought us. We took lots of pictures and cried some more. It was very hard to say goodbye. They had touched our hearts and we would never be the same.
Saturday, September 18th
We left for the airport bright and early to start our 22 hour journey home. Excited to see our families at home but sad to leave Rita and our new families.
So what’s next…?
I am not sure what God has is in store for me in the future. I am sure it includes a return trip. It has taken me quite a while to process all that God showed me over those 10 days and what He continues to show me even now. I am forever changed and I see the world a little different now. The journey is not over…it has just begun. I am so thankful for the opportunity that God has given me and for my wonderful family for allowing me to be away for those 10 days, especially since it was the first week of school. I think my next trip will be in the summer although I will wait to see what God has planned.
