Eskola ten? (We have school?)

What is school to you? Something you dread? Something you look forward to after a long summer of the kids running around the house making messes all day? School in Catel, Guinea Bissau is optional.  Not everyone attends school here, but even if you did, there is no guarantee your teacher would show up for school. There are days that the teachers just don't show up, but then there are also days when school is canceled because of a funeral in the village. School has been canceled for an entire week because of a funeral.

Micah and Isaiah just finished their year of preschool. The preschool is something that was started on my first short term trip in February of 2011 to Catel.  When we first started, we were in the church and we used two benches to form a table and a bench.  The kids crammed together on the bench and sat while the teacher taught them, hitting each other the entire time.  I came a second time in November 2011 and worked along side a kindergarten teacher to train the teachers even more.  Since then God led a worker to come here that advanced the preschool so much it was moved over to where the school is and transformed into a preschool classroom.  

Preschool in 2012 when it was first established. 

Original teachers, Gibby and Mario using newly learned techniques for teaching. 

The preschool room as it is today. Former CHE missionary serving in Catel alongside us helped transform the preschool from what it was (in above pictures) to what is in today. 

This is the attendance board.  The kids present are on the left and absent are on the right.  Upon the children's arrival, they find their name and put it under the present side.  This was a good way for them to learn to recognize their names.  

The preschool is much different from regular school here.  The preschool teacher is fabulous and dedicated, this past year she did not miss a single day.  Bilgusa (I am not good at spelling their names...so apologies for misspellings), has an incredible amount of patience and worked wonderfully with Micah and Isaiah to help them to learn Creole as well as teaching all the kids their letters, numbers and many other things.  

Micah and her friend, Delfina, writing their name. 

Bilgusa helping a student learn to write his name.

The other day was the preschool's last day of school and the kids and their parents were present. There was a short program where the children sang two songs and Bilgusa handed out the children's school book they worked in all year and all their papers from the year.  There was also an impromptu meeting. This meeting opened our eyes to a big problem in the village. The parents were complaining about the primary school.  They didn't want their kids to go on to the first year because they don't really learn anything.  The discussion changed into whether or not their children could repeat preschool. The preschool is such a blessing to this village and to the families involved. We also learned that kids shouldn't enter the primary school until they are seven years old, which most kids are five or just turned six when they finish preschool.  We encouraged the parents to allow their children to repeat preschool.  Bilgusa does a wonderful job at teaching each child at his or her own level so we agreed this would work.  

Micah and Isaiah with their teacher.

This preschool is a way to reach many people that would never enter the church.  Bilgusa teaches them stories from the Bible and prays with them daily.  In order for this preschool to continue we need some additional funds.  The students tuition can cover their materials, but it can not cover the salary and transportation of Bilgusa.  If you are interested in supporting this ministry go here to learn more and/or to donate online. 

Thank you for prayers and support to keep this preschool going to help a community in need.  

Malnutrition or Moringa

When we first came to Guinea Bissau, our family faced many trials.  One of those trials was the new foods in our diet.  We became vegetarians over night, have no refrigerator or freezer, and we are limited on what kinds of fruits, veggies and other foods we can buy.  Our entire family struggled to feel full or to desire to eat.  Eventually we adjusted and with the help of friends in America, I got recipes and spices and was able to start making some delicious meals for my family.  

However, we still had a problem, our kids were losing weight.  I was worried about their nutrition and their little bodies growing properly.  We were blessed to be serving with a couple long term missionaries, Andrew and Lia. Lia worked with CHE, Community Health Evangelism, and one of the things she did was to teach women in West Africa how to feed their children nutritional filled foods. She introduced me to two trees that we have growing plentiful in our yard and in the orchard behind our house called Moringa and Chaya. I tried Chaya first and the kids did not enjoy it at all.  I then tried Moringa and got a more positive response from our kids. Moringa is more time consuming to prepare because of the size of the leaves and picking them from their plant, so Andrew introduced me to Moringa powder.  This excited me because I could sneak it into almost anything I cooked and as anyone that cooks for children knows, sometimes you just have to hide the nutritious stuff.  

Moringa is an amazing plant that is packed full of vitamins and nutrients. (Check out this website to read more about it's nutrients.) Within a week of cooking with Moringa and Moringa powder, our kids faces started to fill out.  After a couple weeks, their clothes started to fit them again and they began growing normally. They have now grown so much that they are out growing some of their clothes we brought over with us.   

Because of this experience and seeing what Moringa did for my family, I want others to know what Moringa can do for them.  When a friend of mines son got sick with vomitting and diarrhea. he wasn't eating and wasn't able to keep anything down that he ate. I decided I would make him mashed potatoes and put Moringa in the potatoes.  He hungrily devoured the mashed potatoes and he did not get sick from eating them, so his mom asked if I could make more.  For two days I made mashed potatoes, which they call papa, and brought it over for this boy.  He quickly got better and was back to his normal healthy self.  

When we returned from our vacation, our laundry lady's daughter, Rebekah, was sick with diarrhea.  She had lost one kilo in weight and was not eating or drinking much. She is only a little over a year, so to lose a whole kilo was a little worrisome to me, although I am not a nurse, so I don't know medical things. I quickly made up some papa for her with Moringa and with the help of Jada and Lydia, we fed it to her. We continued to make it for her for a couple days and she also quickly recovered and was back to her normal busy activities of a one year old.   

  

This is Rebeka eating mashed potatoes with Moringa.

I would say she enjoyed this very much so. 

Guinea Bissau may be a poverty stricken country, but God has planted the very nutrients they need in their land.  God cares about all his children, no matter the country or economic status they are in.  

I am so thankful for Lia and Andrew who helped me to learn about Moringa and encouraged me to keep feeding it to our kids. I am also thankful for those that sent me recipes, spices and other yummy additions to add to our diet.  Our children are now growing like weeds and as healthy as they always have been.  Our God is a good God. 

Terrible Two Crew

Guinea Bissau is in no short supply of children. In fact, there are days when we feel like all the children in Guinea Bissau are in our yard. That of course cannot be true, but there are typically a lot of children that hang out in our yard all day.  One group of children that might think they live at our house would be a group of two and three year olds from our neighbors house.  They are cute and adorable…but so are puppies.

Could you imagine having a two or three year old and then leaving them at home alone all day while you go do your work? That is what happens to the kids that hang out in our yard, their family goes to work in the cashew orchard while they are left to themselves, so naturally, they come to our yard. Our kids lovingly named them the Terrible Two Crew. They act just like any two or three year old would that never gets disciplined and is left to his own accord.

Often, we offer lunch to our little friends. It is difficult to eat our lunch with little hungry eyes watching and so eager to join. They are always happy with whatever we give them.  They enjoy my "American" cooking as well.  (I added quotation marks because it's not truly American cooking without the American ingredients…it's just as close as I can make it for my family)

Michael is adding a fence in our yard to block off the back of the house to visitors.  He was putting in fence post and had two little helpers come along and help pack the dirt around the post.  Michael enjoyed these two helpers. 

Since the kids are at our house all day we invite them to join us and our children in our daily chores.  In this picture they are helping us to carry our bath water. They were so happy we got little cups for them to use to carry water. 

One day while we were drawing our shower water (this takes a significant amount of time to draw for a family of seven), Michael decided to dump a bucket on the kids that had gathered around the well waiting for empty buckets.  The joy on Sana Mane's face is priceless.  It wasn't shortly after this picture that all the kids stripped their clothes off (well those adorable white kids kept their shorts on) and were begging for more water.  

I just couldn't not add this picture into this blog.  This is the old fashioned water sprinkler.  On a hot day, it's worth the work of drawing a bucket just to dump it a group of excited children.  

As cashew season is coming to an end, our terrible two crew is starting to get smaller.  We said goodbye to one of Micah's best friends, Sally, the other day.  She went to be with her mother (she did not live with her mother, but her grandparents), but some day she will be coming back. 

...and he rested...

We have spent our last two weeks on vacation in the Gambia and I want to share some pictures with you.  It has been so much fun these past two weeks just being a family and relaxing together.  We have done shopping, eating out, going to the beach and a monkey park and we have watched several movies. I think the best day was the day that included the monkey park and the beach.  The water was amazing and the kids had so much fun jumping over and diving into waves.  

 

This is the Gambian beach where we swam and played. 

This monkey is nursing her baby. That was pretty cool to watch. Seriously how cool is it that we got to watch it happen in the wild!?! 

 

This monkey 'led' us down a path until eventually he ran up a tree. 

Taking a snooze in a tree.  Looks relaxing. 







We are all ready to return to the village and continue to serve God in Catel. For me personally, I am most sad to leave running hot water and an indoor toilet.  That was really a blessing to have and to enjoy. While we have been here I have thought about what we live without, like running water, a refrigerator, indoor bathrooms, but in the end, I am truly at peace with living the way we live because it is God's will for our lives.  We believe that when you live in God's will you have total peace in your life, no matter how hard or difficult your living situation is. 

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.  Genesis 2:2

Provisions

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.  John 14:13  How true those words are.  Before I had left for Gambia with the little girl that was to have surgery, we had prayed that I would have a supernatural ability to speak and understand Creole, and God gave me that.  Since I have returned, I have still been able to speak and understand Creole, just not as well as I did in the hospital. We had prayed for Ramatulai to have this surgery and for God to give her a smooth and quick recovery, and God granted that to us.  Ramatulai had her surgery and recovered nicely.  She still cannot speak smoothly, but truly, she needs speech therapy to relearn how to form her words.  However, reading that verse from John, I know that God could make her speak clearly.  God was walking with me every step while I was in Gambia with Ramatulai and her family and He continues to walk with me every step today.  God is always with us.  It is when we stop seeking Him that we think he left us, when in reality, it is us that left Him. 

Here are some photos to show how God has provided this past month. 

Ramatulai just days after her surgery.  The reason she has white tape on her face is because she had a feeding tube. Today she can eat rice! 

We started an addition onto our house. We thank God for this blessing and for all the materials, the funds and the people to get this job done. 

One night while I was cooking supper, my gas ran out for my stove.  We had no more to replace the tank, so I finished our supper over fire.  I am so thankful for how God provided many opportunities for me to learn from the women here how to cook over fire. 

God continues to provide us delicious food. There is also always enough for us to share, even when I think there is not enough.

God also provides us opportunities to rest and enjoy a little comfort food. 

We are currently on vacation and enjoying rest and relaxation.  God has provided people along the way to make our time even more enjoyable.  

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33  

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. James 4:8a

Challenges and Blessings

You know when you think life is going good and then all of a sudden there are challenges? What do you do in those challenges? The right answer is 'turn to God', but that isn't the truth for everyone. Many people ask, "Why God?"  We have been finding blessings within all of our challenges. Right now our two long term missionaries have left the field because their terms ended, Michael is in our village with all of our kids alone right now because I am with a little girl that is about to face a challenge. While Michael and I could dwell on the challenges of being apart, him being home with the kids alone, and struggling our way through the language, we are seeing Gods hand in all of this. Our God has a big plan for us, and if we dwell on the challenges, we miss His blessings. 

I left on Wednesday with a husband and wife from our village and their daughter to go to The Gambia. Their daughter, Ramatouli, has cleft palate, and an opportunity has come up for her to have it repaired. You see, I'm not a nurse, I can barely speak the language, I've only lived here for six months and I definitely don't know The Gambia, but God had it planned for me to be here. Our nurse in the village had to go home with her husband because his mom died. Michael couldn't come because he doesn't have his Senegalese visa, so that left me. The morning we were to leave, I didn't even know the hospital name or the doctors name we were meeting.  All I knew was that there is a group from the Mercy Ship (learn more about the Mercy Ship here or to read about where Ramatouoli will be, click here) at the hospital. I was to meet the family at 10:00 but at 10:00 I decided to check our email one more time. It miraculously worked and there was an email from the doctor. I learned what time to be there and where to go. That was a relief and a blessing from God. We arrived in Gambia after a very long day of traveling and stayed with a friend for the night. That is when I started to see a miracle. Truly it was supernatural, I was able to speak and understand creole! It was a blessing. The next day we went to the hospital, and God went before us making our travels smooth and we found the place easily. We were early, so we got a sandwich for breakfast and waited. Once the doctors arrived, they right away knew who we were from email contacts and Ramatouli was the first child to be examined and admitted. They saw her mouth and said it would be an easy repair (this doctor has done 100's of these repairs) and because we came from so far Ramatouli would be one of the first surgeries. This was a blessing. God works in good times and difficult times. Even in our challenges we can see blessings. 

Ramatouli will be having her surgery on Monday. We would appreciate prayers on her behalf and for her mom and dad. This will be a challenging time, but my  prayer is they all see the blessing in it. Please pray for the doctors for they will be doing many surgeries starting Monday. Also pray that this family will be strengthened in their faith. 

Everyone Needs Compassion

We are not in short supply of interesting people that are living here in Catel. We have had a lady that lives next door to us that yells all night long pacing the path in front of our house and hers.  Her family has now sent her on to extended family in another village.   We have a man that is known to roam the village talking to himself.  One story we heard about him was that he is talking to a spirit.  He started coming to our compound selling lemons.  He would sell us an entire bucket incredibly cheaply.  Then he started coming every day.  We wondered where he was getting these lemons from.  The story we heard did not encourage us, we heard he was stealing them.  When we told him we didn’t want anymore lemons, he came with pumpkins.  Michael’s heart was filled with compassion and he kept on buying from him even when we were overly full of lemons and pumpkins.  One day, I (Karen) was hanging out at a neighbor’s house when she asked me if I bought lemons from this man.  I told her I did and asked her if she knew where he got them from.  She said his family has a lot of lemon trees and grows pumpkins.  This was encouraging as we no longer were thinking that we were buying stolen goods, but now we knew they were legitimately his to sell. Michael continued to buy lemons from this man and then he started buying pumpkins from him.  At one point, we had 10 pumpkins in our kitchen. Here is an example of Michael’s compassion for this man. Michael continued buying even when we really didn’t need more. 

Michael's compassion in the form of lemons

The kids have enjoyed the lemonade they make out of all the lemons!

Our village has another lady that roams around, but she just yells and ‘plays games‘ with people.  She is either not right in her head or possessed by a demon, we aren’t sure, but that is what we have heard from others in the village. She does some pretty outrageous things, like guard the well that everyone gets their drinking water from and tells everyone they can’t get water. She would actually chase people away in order to make sure no one gets water.  Her first time of doing this, a man filled a bucket with water and she started yelling at him and telling him he had to drink the entire bucket right then. He just walked away with his bucket. Another day, I was taking Micah and Isaiah to school when she decided it was a school only for white people and she sent all the other kids home, Micah and Isaiah are the only two white kids in the school. She picked up a stick and would try to hit any kids that tried to go to school. Kids are fearful of her.  She also says some of the most outrageous things too.  She says that I am her child, my children are actually her children, some other missionaries we serve with our her parents, and every day a different man is her husband.  One day she decided that another missionary we serve with was her husband and he owed her 8,000,000 CFA’s for her cows that he would pay to have her as his wife.  He happened to leave the next day to visit a neighboring country and this lady, got incredibly upset with him.  She demanded Michael, my husband, to pay her the money and then I could marry the other missionary.  She just says the most outrageous things. Her most recent ‘game’ is that our house is hers and she comes over to sweep the yard in the morning.  The problem with this is then she gets upset when it gets dirty from the kids playing.  She has started chasing children out of our yard and has hit some of the children. 

Her family has brought her to the witchdoctors house here in our village for treatment.        The witchdoctor put a log on her foot to keep her from roaming the village.  When she roams at night, she just walks the road and yells all night long. For Christmas, he removed the log but within a week she was trying to get hit by cars in the road, so the log went back on. It is heartbreaking to see her with this log on her leg, but sometimes it’s a relief because you know she won’t be terrorizing people any longer or endangering her own life.  Today she is log free and roaming everywhere. 

This is the lady with a log on her leg.  

However crazy she may be, she needs prayer. There are people everywhere that are disturbed either by mental illness or demons. Remember to be in prayer for these people and the people that are around you.  Maybe they don't act as obvious as people in our village may act, but you never know what goes on in others minds and souls.