Want some rice?

We have some very creative children.  They have brought their creativity with them to Guinea Bissau and are now teaching the local children to use their creativity.  Our children absolutely loved to play house in America. When we first moved to Pennsylvania, five years ago, Jada was six years old, Lydia was five, Josiah was 3, Micah was almost 2 and little Zaney was just a newborn.  God blessed me with a mother's helper that came over once a week and played with the kids so I could do whatever I needed to without interruptions of the children.  This was a huge blessing to me at that stage of my life, and this amazing young lady taught my children to play house.  This was almost five years ago, and they still absolutely love to play house.  In fact, they love to play house so much, that they were frustrated that none of the kids here knew how to play house with them.  Well, after about 8 weeks of being here, our little missionaries got the children to play house with them.  The best way to explain this to you is through pictures.  

First, the kids went to the blanya (rice field) to cut the aros (rice). They were actually sitting in our path to our house.  The green things that they are pretending is rice are leaves from the tree that is giving them shade in the picture.  Jada and some of her friends climbed the tree and dropped the leaves down to the kids.  The kids then pulled the leaflets off and it became rice. That is what the girls in the blanya are doing.  

After the rice has been cut, they bring it home and start pounding it.  Pounding can be heard all throughout the village from morning till night these days. There are usually two or three women that pound rice in a rhythmic motion, sometimes there is even a fourth woman.  These girls had the rhythm and it sounded very real to the actual pounding sound.   

While they are pounding, they also pour it into a flat basket type bowl and shake it in a way to make all the shells come out so that only rice is left.  They then lay out the shells to dry. This is used as chicken food (I think).   This is Luciano (Josiah's closest friend here, he is also 8 years old), he has taken his shirt off so that the 'rice shells' could dry in the sun.  

Now they are pounding it more to break the remaining shells off the rice.  They often take breaks, so Lydia and Ramatoulli are now pounding so the other girls could rest.  Pounding is quite tiring and if your hands aren't calloused, you get blisters on your hands. It is really interesting to watch the women pound rice.  Sometimes (I believe to show off, or just have fun), when the stick is high in the air, they toss it up and clap and grab it again and pound down. 

Now the girls are starting their fire to start cooking their rice.  This is actually how the women here cook.  They have three large rocks that the pot will sit on, and they form the sticks in the middle of the rocks.  The sticks are their firewood and they push them in as the ends burn.  

Here is a better picture of the sticks.  This is actually what their moms do to start the fire.  

They are now cooking the rice (in the same pot they pounded in...that's not what the women do but the kids were being resourceful). 

Luciano is preparing the seasoning for the rice.  The women will pound garlic, onions, seasonings and many other things together for the seasoning they cook the rice in.  Micah was also adding 'salt' (sand) to the rice for seasoning.  

Isaiah is overseeing the cooking process, waiting anxiously to be a taste tester.  Micah's hand is seen here adding the 'salt' to the bianda (rice dish).  I got to 'taste' it and it was quite delicious.  

I was so blessed to see the kids playing this in our yard.  The kids were so happy throughout their playing.  Kids are not typically allowed to play like kids do.  They have learned and are continuing to learn that our compound is a safe place to play.  When I jumped in and was 'tasting' their food, they were so happy and it only encouraged them to play even more.  This was one of my favorite play activities to watch the kids do.  It blessed me just as much as it blessed our children.  

I would like to thank every person (kid, teenager, young adult and adult) that has come to our house and played house with our kids. You taught our kids to use their imaginations and today they are teaching other kids, that are constantly told to stop and be quiet, to use their imaginations.  Our children are able to be a blessing because of so many that have blessed us.  Thank you! 

Kids will be Kids

Kids are kids no matter where you live.  If one of our kids gets a cracker, the other four will come and ask for one.  If one kid gets a sucker, the other four want one, one gets to go somewhere, the other four will ask.  Today, we gave each of the Mane kids that were at our house a boneku (stuffed animal).  They all ran home filled with happiness to show off their bonekus.  Soon, a few returned with a child that didn’t get one.  They went home and then more returned with another child that didn’t get one.  They wanted to make sure that everyone got a boneku.  The same thing happens when they play at our house and one child asks for a drink.  The next thing we know, all of the children are at our door asking for a drink of water.  “N misti bibi yagu.” was one of the first phrases we learned here.  It means “I want a drink of water.”.  

As we have watched family life here, we have discovered that family life is similar no matter where you live.  There are differences such as money, things you own, where you live, and what your house looks like, but people are people no matter where you are.  Children in America want the latest and greatest toy, here, children want the latest and greatest piece of trash to play with.  The children look out for each other, they defend the small ones, the little girls want to be moms and boys want to be just like their fathers just as children do in America.  

So in the end we have learned kids are kids no matter where you live.

A Trip to the Well

Everyday in Catel brings something new.  Daily things are the same, such as drawing water, sweeping our yard (yes, I said sweeping our yard), cooking, sweeping the house, caring for our children as well as many of the village children, schooling our kids, and some of the village kids, our journey to the deep well for drinking water...I could go on, but lets talk more about the deep well.  Michael usually goes to the deep well on the bike with one child and a bucket strapped to the back of the seat.  Women usually go to the well to get their water and it is usually in the morning and in the evening. When Michael first started going, the women were upset that I (Karen) wasn’t going and Michael was.  They eventually accepted him getting the water, understanding that I was busy at home with the children. They now tell him he is a good man. The well is also usually quite busy in the morning and the evening and there is usually a long wait for your turn to pump water.  When Michael goes, he never knows what he will encounter.  On a recent trip, he came upon an argument. They were fighting who would go first to pump their water. The argument escalated into a fist fight which escalated into the women ripping each others clothes off and all out wrestling.   Michael tried to break up the fight along with all the other women at the well.  Their eyes were filled with rage, and no one was successful in breaking them up.  Michael decided to start pumping their water.  He figured this way, when they were done fighting, they would have water, which was what the fight was all about. He pumped six huge buckets of water before he filled his own and came home.  All the while, the fight carried on.   

One day, Michael was wearing his “I love my wife” shirt.  He went to the well to get our drinking water and there was a woman that could read english there.  She read his shirt, and asked Michael why he loved his wife.  He explained to her that he loves his wife because Christ first loved us. He continued the conversation by explaining that he truly loves and cares for me.  Here, there isn’t much love.  Wives are a necessity because they do all the work around the compound (house) and in the field, they produce children which equals money and status. Having a wife here is like owning property.  There is not a lot of love or trust, in fact, most men have multiple wives. The woman Michael was talking to could not believe that he actually loved me.  

On another trip, there was a dudu minjer (crazy lady) at the well.  Michael missed the most exciting time of her being there, but it was still exciting for him and Jada (who had joined Michael for the trip). The lady came up and was talking in all kinds of different languages, trying to take children, Jada included, and telling people they couldn’t get water.  Michael and Jada were already finished getting their water when she came, so they left.  Earlier though, this lady was guarding the well and not allowing anyone to get water.  One man came to get water (the women were all afraid of her, so they weren’t going to the well) and when he pumped his big bucket full, she told him he had to drink the entire thing right there. She also was naked until someone in the village gave her clothes to put on.  The story we were told later was that her and her husband made a deal with a demon to get rich, and they missed a payment, so she went crazy, or we believe is now demon possessed.  This is a common practice here, to make deals with demons.  They know this is a way to get rich, to curse people, have health, have a better life or to get anything they may want. 

The Konkoran Visits

Thursday, October 10

Today was a day filled with cultural experiences.  Let me start from the beginning.  It is 6:30 a.m. and the kids are waking up.  Adrienne is already in the kitchen making our morning coffee.  Micah ventures outside and other kids follow suit.  We hear a ‘yiyiyi’ yelp and clanging, Adrienne quickly tells the kids to get inside.  The konkoran has arrived.  The konkoran is a man dressed in a red suit that covers him from head to toe.  He sorta looks like Snuffy from Sesame Street, but the size of a man.  He comes out during celebrations and roams the village clanging together two machetes and yelping ‘yiyiyi’. People in the village (unbelievers) believe he is demon possessed.  In fact, if they believe someone is out to get your child, they can call on the Konkoran to come and scare the person that is out to get your child. This time in the morning, the Konkoran only passed by our house and went on to other houses in the village.  We have a gate, so he doesn’t enter our compound.  Our children were upset, but they quickly got into the groove of breakfast and school for the morning.  Around noon Michael went over to the clinic to see Gibby.  There Michael found out that Gibby and his family (the Mane’s) were having a festa today and we were all invited.  Our kids have become quite close with the Mane’s.  Everyday they play together and the Mane kids usually hang outside our door as we do school anxiously waiting for them to get done. Michael and I have also become friends with the Mane’s, so we were all excited to go and be a part of their festa, or party. We arrived there shortly after noon and Michael joined the men under a tree sitting, talking, drinking juice and eating cucumber salad.  I (Karen) joined the women in the kitchen (see a previous blog to read about a description of their kitchens).  The women were all laughing and chatting about the Konkoran.  They instantly wanted to know if I saw the Konkoran and if I had an experience with him.  I hadn’t so they proceeded to imitate him and laugh about as they jumped around and danced.  One of the women took a rice sack, shoved it in her wrap skirt and started whooping and dancing about making large gestures with her hands laughing hysterically, making us laugh with her.  Later, another woman grabbed two cups and started clanging them together and running at another lady.  They kept looking for the Konkoran, saying he was coming, and telling me that we would all need to run in the house when he comes.  That is what women and children do when the Konkoran comes around.  They run inside, shut the doors and be as silent as possible, all while the Konkoran scrapes his machetes against the door. Eventually the Konkoran will leave and the women and children will come back out.  The men don’t react too much to the Konkoran, well as far as we have seen.  The way we understand the Konkoran is that older men know who he is and are not afraid of him.  We were at the festa all afternoon and the Konkoran did not come visit us.  We all continued to visit, men under a tree, children running about and playing, and the women going between a shady area and the kitchen.  Aminata was cooking the rice dish for the party.  She was cooking in the biggest pot I have ever seen.  When she was done, they dished out the rice dish into 21 large bowls.  The men were served first, and they all had spoons to eat with, then the children were served, Micah had the only spoon, then the women were served, we ate with our right hands.  The food was delicious, it was rice with fish and onions. Sounds simple, but it was so good.  I left with Micah shortly after we ate because she wasn’t feeling well.  After I left, Michael and the other kids had quite the experience.  Someone saw a man all in red and the women and children started yelling and running for the houses.  Our kids were pulled and dragged inside and they were all crouching in the corner of a room.  Michael got up with the other men to go and look and what they saw made them laugh.  A man was up the path visiting at another house and he was wearing a red shirt and red shorts.  The women and children came out and everyone started going home, including Michael and the kids. Our children were a little worked up over this false alarm, but we did our best to calm them down and carry on with making dinner.  In the meantime, Micah got sick to her stomach, Lydia found out yet another friend was leaving Catel for school so she was pretty upset and wanting me to go to her house to take a picture, supper was burning and the other kids were clinging to our side worried the Konkoran was coming.  We were working at supper when Lydia comes running into the house urgently pleading with me to get my camera and go with her to our neighbors to take a picture of her and Fatima.  Lydia quickly explains that Fatima is leaving at 7:00 p.m., I look at the clock and it is 6:58.  I turn the stove off, grab my camera and run with Lydia to take the picture.  I was thinking this would be a two minute side track...what I forgot was nothing takes two minutes in Guinea Bissau.  I easily took the picture of Fatima and Lydia, snapped a few cute pictures of some children and turned to leave, however, I couldn’t leave.  The Konkoran was coming! I knew I would be stuck at their compound until the Konkoran passed by.  The Konkoran can stay for a few seconds or a few hours, it all depends on how long he wants to stay and scare people.  The women and children ran inside grabbing Lydia and Josiah, who had come with me, and all the children (excluding Lydia and Josiah) were screaming and crying.  I stayed out on the veranda watching the Konkoran.  He stood at the gate and clanked his machetes, but did not come in.  I had my camera hanging around my neck, so I snapped a few pictures without him knowing. He only stayed for a few minutes and then went on his way up the path, already having passed our house.  At this point we had to calm the children down and Lydia and Josiah were pretty worked up as well.  We helped get the little ones quieted down and then we came home. As soon as we got out of the gate, Josiah took off running, with his arms flailing, as fast as he could to get to our house. Lydia hugged Fatima, who was delayed in leaving because of the Konkoran, and we all came home.  Jada had joined us at some point during the chaos and she said about walking back to our house, “My knees are knocking!”. Michael was oblivious to everything that had happened because he was out back helping Micah.  By the time I got into the house, Michael was confused.  All he knew was Josiah came rushing into the house exclaiming with tears about our experience. I had Lydia and Jada with me, so they were excitedly sharing their view of the story as well.  We were trying to calm everyone down and explain to them that we have nothing to fear because we have Christ in us and God is bigger than the Konkoran. We changed the words of the song “God is Bigger than the Boogie Man” from Veggie Tales.  Our new version goes like this: God is bigger than the Konkoran, he’s bigger than red costumes and the people who believe. God is bigger than the Konkoran and he’s watching out for you and me.  We sang this many times last night. However, even with our song, the kids that saw the Konkoran were pretty worked up and still worried he would come back. Then enters Zane, hunched over, yipping as though he is the Konkoran.  This brings the other kids fleeing to Michael and my legs which soon turned into all of us filled with laughter as Zane pretends to be the Konkoran. Zane ends up laughing hysterically as well. I wish I could say the rest of our night was uneventful...well I guess it was compared to everything else, but it took a lot to keep the kids calmed down.  We ended up shutting up the entire house, praying with the kids, reading them a few chapters of Stuart Little and putting them to bed.  Oh and in case you wonder how Micah faired through the night, she slept all night with no problems. (I technically wrote this Friday morning...ha!)

A Day in our Life in G.B.

Here is a look into our days here in G.B. from the eyes of Karen. 
We wake up about 6:30 every morning and get out of our rooms by 7.
Adrienne is usually in the kitchen by 6:40 or 7 making coffee so our
kids venture out of their rooms by then as well.  The house is small
with the girls door way to their room in the kitchen and a small hall
way to the right of the kitchen that has our bedroom and the boys
bedroom.  We get up and I start breakfast right away and Michael goes to get drinking water on the bike and then
he goes to the store for bread.  We buy bread every day but Sunday, sometimes Saturday we don't buy if they don't have any. One of the girls goes
and draws cooking water for me while I am cooking.  Our options for
breakfast is oatmeal, eggs (which are very very
expensive…we pay $6 for 30 eggs or 2 1/2 dozen), potatoes (which again
are very expensive and we run out of them quickly) or bread.  Today
the kids had toasted bread, we toasted it on the stove with peanut
butter.  After breakfast, the kids clean up the table and brush their
teeth.  Then we start on dishes and sweeping.  We sweep out the entire
house, then the breezeway, then the veranda, then the yard. 
By the time we get done with sweeping, if it's a mopping day, we mop,
if not then we relax a bit.  Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday,
Mai comes to wash our laundry.  Monday, Thursday is clothes, Wednesday
is towels, and Saturday is sheets.  She likes Wednesday's because it
is an easy day. We recently discovered that Jada is allergic to
the laundry detergent, so now her laundry is being done separately as
well.  Laundry takes several hours, which is why we pay someone to do
it.  I think I could keep up with it right now, but once we start
school, there would be no way I could keep up.  It takes Mai about 4
hours to wash our clothes on Mondays and Thursdays, about 2 hours for
towels and 3 hours for sheets.  We eat lunch around 1 every day 
so I start cooking that around noon.  In
the afternoon, I try to work on language a bit or rest and then Monday
through Friday we have language lessons at 3 for an hour and a half.
After language lessons, recently Gibby has been having Michael and I
and whatever kids follow go to his compound to jumbai (hangout).  I
usually work with the ladies while Michael sits around with the guys
talking.  One time when we went over the ladies were pounding
rice.  It was the rice from the field that I helped weed, so that was
neat.  Gibby came back and video
taped us doing it, then he came back
saying he didn't save it so we did it again. I cook
Sunday nights, Monday nights because it's our family night, all the
other missionaries go to Dave and Delores's house to eat and Tuesday
night I cook for all of us at the house.  This past Monday, I made
pancakes.  It was delicious and easy.  Usually we have rice or
noodles.  Every meal actually includes rice, noodles or bread. 

I hope this helps give you a glimpse of life here each day.

Ants In My Pants!

There are so many new things we are having to get used to.  Some more common things are drawing water for drinking, washing, cooking, pretty much anything you would need water, having not a lot of electricity, being dirty and hot all the time.  What I didn't think about having to deal with is ants in our pants.  I grew up with that saying meaning you couldn't sit still.  Here, it literally means ants are in your pants and biting you! Several of us have encountered this, and there is definitely some dancing around that goes on.  Isaiah got ants in his pants and he starts dancing around and screaming and of course all the children that had been playing in our yard with the kids come running.  I realize that he has ants in his pants and the local children start motioning for us to take his clothes off...so off with his clothes.  Somebody then throws water on him and all the ants are gone.  Isaiah is then left with about 20 bits all over his bottom and waste.  Thinking back to it now, I am laughing with how hilarious it was, but in the moment I was not seeing the humor in the situation.  We have named the ants, killer ants.

Something else that I never thought I would see is my husband walking hand in hand with another man.  We were walking to someone's compound (house) for lunch when I looked back and there was Michael walking with his friend, hand in hand, fingers interlocked.  In this culture, that is how you walk with your friend, it's a show of friendship.

Since it is the rainy season right now, there are bugs everywhere.  We like to get everyone showered before it gets dark because once its dark, the bugs come out in massive numbers.  I was showering, which involves pouring water on your head from a bucket, when all of a sudden there was something munching on my back.  I started yelping and of course that is heard throughout the 'neighborhood'.  Our kids started yelling, mommy mommy are you okay?! Michael comes to the door and I'm begging him to get it off of me.  Michael laughs hysterically and tells me there is nothing on my back.  I, however, was convinced it was still having supper on my back.  It left me with just a tiny little red spot.

There are so many different experiences we are having, some good and some not so good, but we are so thankful that we get to have this experience.  I will leave you with what blessed us yesterday.

We were coming to Ziguinchor, Senegal and needed to pick up transport in a little city named Sao Domingos.  What we didn't think about is that it was market day, which means transports are constantly going and they get filled quite quickly.  We wanted a specific transport that is called a sept plas, it is a car that holds seven people plus the driver.  We had to wait quite a long time and the kids were getting so hungry.  It was after 11, we left our house at 9, and we, being the wonderful parents we are (sarcasm), forgot to bring food.  Isaiah was asking for food and then all the kids started asking.  There was a lady sitting behind Micah eating a sandwich and the kids noticed this yummy looking sandwich and were asking us in English if we had any food.  She must've understood and broke off half of her sandwich and gave it to Isaiah to eat.  He naturally shared with all of his siblings and they hungrily devoured it.  She got so much joy out of watching them eat it.  Micah just kept smiling at her and the lady ripped off a little piece and gave it to her.  Isaiah walked over and asked Micah for a bite and the lady laughing, waved her finger and said no no no.  Then, when she had just a little bit left she ripped off a tiny piece and gave it to Isaiah.  The kids were all so thankful for her.  We called her our angel sent from God.  She allowed our wait to be more bearable.  I also believe that she found joy out of our kids.

A week in review

We arrived at our house on Wednesday and we’ve already made friends and are having
a lot of fun. We sleep under mosquito nets and have to spray them with bug spray
every once in a while to keep bugs away. I think Africa can be hot or cold. In the rainy
season somedays it’s cold and somedays it’s hot. In the dry season it is very very hot
and it’s very dry. Africa has two seasons the dry season and the rainy season. You have
to sweep your house every day or else it will get very very dirty which isn’t that good.
When we wash our clothes we have to hand wash them by hand and we have to draw
our water to wash our clothes. Once we have washed our clothes we have to hang it on
the clothesline to let it dry. There is no electricity unless you have a solar panel that
gives you electricity. I like Africa so far. To go to the bathroom you go into an outhouse
and check for snakes, especially at night, shut the door and you have to take a concrete
block off of the squatty potty and you have to squat down and go. Every day we take a
quiet time to stay in our rooms and do something quietly by ourselves. Learning kirol
isn’t as hard as you think, it is pretty easy. I am glad we are here. Es sta bon. (It is
good). Bon tardi! (Good afternoon) ~Lydia

My mommy is making food. I had a great day. Jada is helping make dinner too. My
brothers are playing soccer with their friends. My daddy took a nap today. I helped my
mom make lunch today and I took quiet time. Yesterday, I played with my friends. My
daddy is silly. My brothers and sisters are silly. Andrew and Jada are making rice. It’s
almost time to eat. I played today. I played with my doll in the water. ~Micah