A trip to Pirang

     First of all I want to apologize for not writing in a month! I don't know where the time went! We were without internet for a week and a half and then time seemed to just get away from us. A quick update before I get into this blog post, we finished our Kiriol studies last month and we have now started Mandinka studies which we will only be doing for this month and then we will be done with formal language study for the rest of our time here, but as we know the learning will never stop throughout our time here. As I have posted before, Mandinka is the more popular local language for the part of the country that we are living in so it will be very useful for us when going to the market, communicating with local people and the people in Pirang and even with the youth of the church, especially with those that don't speak Kiriol. And while most people do speak english they definitely appreciate it when you try and speak their local language and for those with limited or no english it allows us to fill in the language gaps. We will continue to let you all know how these studies go as we learn more.
      Now onto our trip to Pirang. On Saturday morning I climbed out of bed at around 8 ready to get an earlier than normal start on laundry so we could leave at a decent time for the village of Pirang (where Gary, Denise and Lori live). I strolled into the kitchen picked up the teapot to fill it with water for some oatmeal, went to the sink, turned on the tap and....nothing. Now it is not unusual for our water to be turned off occasionally, especially in the morning, so that the water tower can be filled. The water is not usually off for long so I figured that I would still have time to do laundry when it came back on. Well this morning it was a bit longer than normal and as 10 rolled around with still no water I began to realize that we were not going to get laundry done before going to Pirang. Now let me explain, it takes us at least 2 hours to do our laundry which would have taken us to about 12, then it takes about an hour to get from our house to Pirang by public transport which brings us to 1 o'clock. This still isn't terribly late, but one of our reasons for wanting to go was to visit another missionary from England who was going to be there and to get there early enough to visit with the women of "My Sister's Company" which finishes between 1:00-2:00.
      So, going against the grain of our usual weekly routine, we left for Pirang with dirty clothes still in the hamper (and of course the water came on just as we were leaving). We arrived at MEHDA around 11:00-11:30 and found the center to be quite busy. Nichola (the missionary from England) was there, along with the women from "My Sister's Company" and a group of "tubobs" (white people) that were there bird watching.
      There were only 4 women from the company working that day, all dressed in their new uniforms and hard at work canning tomato juice. One of the things that Denise and Lori have been teaching the women in addition to sewing, tie and die and jewelry making is how to can. They have canned mangos in the past which are then sold to grocery stores in Serekunda or hotels. This was the first time canning tomato juice and it seemed to go quite well. The tomatoes were ground up squeezing out all the juice through a hand cranked press, the juice was then boiled so it would thicken, then it was spooned into hot used jars from items such as jelly, pickles, mayonnaise (basically anything glass) and placed into an amish canner, from Lehman's hardware, on hot charcoal until sealed and finished. The hope is that these jars can be sold but also used by the local women in their cooking.

pressing the tomatoes

adding salt to the sauce before it is boiled

      After the canning was finished we enjoyed a hot lunch of soup and solar oven baked biscuits with Gary, Denise, Lori, Nicola, our language study teacher Raymond and one of the youth from the Medina fellowship, Zang. After cleaning many many dishes and chatting for awhile, Nicola gave us a ride home in her car with air conditioning!

        In effort to keep this post from being too long I do want to wrap up by informing everyone of a prayer request. Yesterday the local carpenter in Pirang that lives in Gary and Denise's compound had a spell while in the shower. His wife came to Gary and Denise and informed them that his speech was slurred and he wasn't able to use his right hand or foot very well. The Williamson's then took Amidu (the carpenter) to a non-Gambian doctor in Serekunda who confirmed that he had had a mild stroke. She said his blood pressure was very high when she examined him. She was not able to give him any medicine that we have in the States to prevent further damage so she said that he needed to rest to get the bleeding on the brain to stop and to get his blood pressure down. She, being a Christian, also advised us to pray for a full recovery. Since Amidu is a carpenter he needs both of his hands. He only uses hand tools since there is no electricity in Pirang and carpentry is his livelihood. He is only 46 years old so he is still quite young and had a family to support. Please join us in prayer for our friend and brother that he will recover fully and quickly so that he can continue on with the work that supports he and his family. 

      We have many other things that we could write about, but we will try and update the blog more quickly this time so that we can have shorter posts about a variety of happenings. 

Praises:

-Our Kiriol studies went well and we are able to go out to different Balanta compounds and converse with them in one of their heart languages

-Jess, Denise and Lori are able to have a women's retreat this weekend giving them a time of rest and reconnection with the Lord while Elias and Gary are able to have some reflective time for themselves as well

-We continue to meet new friends, especially those that also live in Brikama and Methodist Mission

Prayer Requests:
-For our brother Amidu as he rests and recovers
-For our Mandinka studies, that we will learn enough to get around the market and public transport efficiently
-For our brothers San Pierre, Raymond and Zang that are taking a pastoring course worth 12 credits that will grant them a diploma and teach them how to better pastor their churches (I will write more about this later)

Eyes on the prize

As we cross the street a sort of organized chaos ensues, we have now entered the Brikama market. We quickly maneuver through the crowded entrance being careful to avoid wheelbarrows, bicycles and the occasional motorbike ignoring the calls of "toobob" (white person). We are on a mission and we know what we came here to buy. We continue on through the crowded, narrow alleyways where I eye the numerous tables selling most of the same vegetables to see what is freshest and to scout out new items from the gardens.  As we walk, careful to avoid running into women carrying bowls, vegetables, rice or some other item on their heads, our noses are filled with the poignant scent of raw fish sitting out on the tables waiting to be sold for lunch or dinner. As I smell the familiar, yet still unpleasant smell of the fish I realize that we are almost to our first destination.  We arrive to a larger stand where we buy a stack of three potatoes, a stack of 3 onions and 7 eggs (just enough to fill up the egg holders in our fridge). We quickly thank the man and then we begin to backtrack the same way that we came. I pick up a small lemon and contemplate the green peppers, but they are not what we are here for so we continue on. Lastly we come upon our final destination, the prize, the final touch to our dinner that I will make tonight and the real reason for coming to the market at all. We have arrived at the chicken section! As soon as the ladies realize what we are there for, they all begin pulling the "hard" (frozen) chicken out of their coolers to show off what they have. We buy two half pieces and then, happy with our purchases we make our way back to the road where we entered. We have been successful once again!
      The longer we live here in Brikama the more things I discover I can buy in the market. Two months ago the market looked big, scary and extremely unorganized, but now it's not so big and as I stated in the beginning of the post it's a sort of organized chaos. Everything has it's place or it's section it's just a matter of figuring out where the section is and how to get there each time we enter the market. I like to buy as many things locally as I can while still making meals that help remind us of home. It may not be wal-mart or the local farmers market, but it's what we have here and I'm learning to appreciate it more and more as people begin to recognize us and welcome us with smiles and greetings.

Blessings from the Gambia!

Prayer requests:
-For health as our stomachs have been off
-Against spiritual attacks which we have been feeling, especially when we want to go out into the villages
-For language study, as we get better at Kiriol we are thinking about beginning some Mandinka study
-For breakthroughs with the Muslims that we are in contact with every day

Praises:
-We are getting more comfortable in our new home
-Language is continuing to progress
-We continue to learn more about ourselves and what we believe as individuals and as a couple

Cooking in the Gambia

     Since being here in the Gambia, cooking has taken on a whole new meaning. When we were still living in Pirang with Gary, Denise and Lori I cooked about twice a week, one vegetarian meal and one meal using either chicken or ground beef. Cooking a combination of vegetarian and meals with meat has been something I have wanted to implement in the way I cook ever since we got married, but once I began work and school it never really happened. But now, without the convenience of pre-packaged processed foods, McDonalds or restaurants in general I have had to become a bit more creative in my cooking.
    We usually venture into Serekunda once a week to go grocery shopping for more American style groceries at some of the bigger supermarkets, but even with the convenience of these supermarkets we still have limitations as to what they carry, which in turn leads to even more creativity when trying to follow a recipe. For example, we can't get things sour cream and taco seasoning so we buy plain yogurt and have taco seasoning mailed over in packages. Also, now that Elias and I are in Brikama our refrigerator is the size of a dorm fridge so our freezer has limited space which means no quick and easy chicken nuggets that I loved so much in the States. Instead I buy my chicken in the market here in Brikama, and I make sure I get the frozen chicken. Spaghetti is usually meatless, cheese is rationed and I have even begun cooking with fish! If you know me very well, you know that I'm not a big fish fan, but they have some really good local fish here such as butter fish and lady fish. I usually buy the butter fish because it's cheaper, but still has very little, if any, fish flavor.
    In Pirang we enjoyed using MCC's "More with Less" cookbook, but since I left mine at home I have found creative ways to alter some of the recipes in my  Lowville Mennonite cookbook to make them work here. I have also found recipes online to be very helpful even though most of them have ingredients that I can't get here. I did find a chickpea sandwich  recipe the other day that I really enjoyed and would have never used in the States since it would have taken "too much" time to make. Which leads me to another point, everything takes longer to make here! I decided to make "10-minute taco salad", which would have been ten minutes if I didn't have to shred the cheese, make the tortillas and bleach the vegetables. However, even though things take longer and are a bit inconvenient at time, I have really enjoyed trying out new ideas and finding ways to cook without meat and without other items along with trying recipes that Lori and Denise have used such as lentil burgers which aren't too bad.
     I will admit, I do get cravings for a big mac or American pizza every now and then, but it's not the end of the world and it's certainly much healthier not having those options. Instead I can go to the bitiko (small shop) and get fresh baked bread or to the small restaurant at the end or the road and get a plate of Gambian rice and fish for 15 dalasi (less than $1) or even to the market for some fresh bananas or papayas.  Of course at times a big mac sounds much more appetizing at times, but without that option I'm learning to once again step out of my box and hopefully by the end of my time here I will enjoy a plate of rice and fish (I'll write about Gambian cooking later).

Home sweet home, a conference and an eco-retreat

     Hello again! We know it has been awhile since our last post, but here we are again. Since we last wrote we are happy to say that we are officially moved into our house! It was a long process but we were able to finally receive the keys on January 6th and move in officially on Saturday the 9th. Between that time and yesterday we didn't have internet and we weren't home for most of it so this is our first real opportunity to provide an update. As I said, we received the keys January 6th and that is the day we also began language study. We are currently learning Portuguese-Kiriol which is not a real common language here, but it is spoken by the Balantas which comprise the majority of the fellowships we will be working with. The Balantas here in Gambia come from Guinea Bissau where Kiriol is one of the main languages if not the main language. We will continue with language study for about three months along with going out to the fellowships to develop relationships and to practice what we are learning.
      As for our house, we are living at a Methodist Mission in Brikama which is the hub of transportation, enabling us to go out to the different fellowships. With living in Brikama comes the blessing of electricity and running water! Keep in mind it is still cold and we still have to hand wash clothing, but life is just a little simpler with a few less stresses. Here are some pictures, mind you there is a flash on the camera so the green is not as bright as it appears:

The front of the house from the neighbors property, the open door is ours but the house is a duplex so the concrete block that juts out is where our side ends

This is the kitchen as you walk in the front door, the sink is to the right, sideways picture is of the stove, fridge and counter that the refrigerator holds up, and the last picture is of our cupboard and water filter

The dining room plus the extra bed that was here when we moved in, the kitchen is just through doorway off to the left

our buffet

the living room

the back door

our bedroom

sink (that doesn't work), shower and flushing toilet!

     This is most of our house and it is actually quite big. We have some neighbor puppies that like to wander through every now and then along with many birds and even some monkeys (I'll post those pictures later).

     Now onto the conference. On Tuesday the 12th we left for a conference in Senegal with all of the EMM workers in West Africa (Gambia and Guinea Bissau) along with leaders from West Africa and Claire Good (EMM's area representative to Africa). We stayed at an old school there and had many sessions on leadership led by John and Loice Byler. We stayed at the conference until Friday morning when we left for our retreat. The conference went well and I think that there was a lot of material that was very beneficial for the West African leaders and those of us that are helping lead here in West Africa.

The first picture is of John teaching and the second is of John and Loice (on the right) chatting during a break

      Lastly this takes us to the EMM workers retreat where John and Loice also taught. We were privileged to go to a beautiful eco-retreat on the ocean from Friday until Monday morning. This was only for the EMM workers in West Africa joined by Claire Good and John and Loice. This was a time for a much needed rest for many with some time for play and time for learning. We were able to swim in the ocean, play cards, read, have a bonfire on the beach two of the nights an even catch crabs to roast on the fire at night if you were Elias or some of the YESers from Guinea Bissau. It was a very secluded and quiet area where we had the beach almost entirely to ourselves with the exception of a couple people here and there. It was just a nice time of no work, hot showers, compost toilets to be eco-friendly and comfortable beds. Here are some pictures, but they certainly don't do justice to the beauty of the location:

Our (Elias and I) lodge

Cows free roaming on the beach, something you don't see everyday

 

having fun in front of beautiful sunsets

The Guinea Bissau workers (YES team and long term workers)

      So that about wraps up our adventures throughout the past few weeks. If you've bared with us this long you are doing really well and we thank you. Please feel free to leave comments or questions about anything that we wrote here. Blessings to all of you and thank you for your continued support!

Prayer requests:

-That we will learn the language well

-For bonding with those around us

-For continued health

-For Claire Good and a young man named Onan who will be traveling back to the States tomorrow evening

Praises:

-We had a wonderful time of rest and time with God

-We are back home in our own house!

-We will now have more time to study language and visit those in the fellowships

Christmas and Kampant

       Since our last post we have celebrated Christmas and attended a youth camp called Kampant. Christmas was different as it was around 100 degrees and of course the obvious being that we are in Gambia. We began the day early to head over to Gary and Denise's house for a white elephant gift exchange and breakfast casserole. Then Elias, Gary, a friend Hayden that spent Christmas with us and I headed to church which was filled with much singing and dancing.

Our table of 50 Dalasi (roughly $2) gifts

Opening gifts

          After church we had a delicious, yet very expensive meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy. The turkey was about 9 pounds and cost about 19 american dollars! But it was worth it considering Gary and Denise haven't had turkey in five years. Then we finished out the day by skyping home to both families.

          The next day we left for a youth camp called Kampant. I'm not sure how many youth we took from the mennonite fellowships, but we had 34 registered which is a really good number. The camp had about 100-150 youth show up and went from Saturday to Thursday. As you can see, I'm writing this on Wednesday which means we came home early. Elias was sick before we left and since the camp was out in the bush there was an excessive amount of dust and it was starting to take a toll on him so we decided to come home yesterday after breakfast. However, we are very happy that we had the opportunity to go and see what the youth are so excited about. They had wonderful speakers and each night they had a different activity after dinner. Sunday night we had a prayer time, Monday was praise and worship, Tuesday was a debate on 1 and 2 Timothy and Wednesday is a talent show. I am disappointed that we couldn't be there for the debate and talent show, but I'm excited to hear all about it. Gambians love to sing and dance, so even though we sing the same songs over and over they are always sung with passion and praise for the Lord.

Sing and dancing, and yes all of those spots that look like water are dust

Some of the girls that Elias and I will be working with, most of them are from the Pirang youth and it was cold hence the warm clothes, we could see our breath in the morning and I had trouble staying warm at night with a sheet, towel and skirt covering me while I was sleeping in pants and long sleeves!

Playing futbol in the early morning sun before breakfast

The camp looking in from the road

Praises:

-A very different but very special Christmas and the chance to reconnect with home

-We had a wonderful time at Kampant and made new friends

-Elias is feeling better now that we are away from the dust

Prayer requests:

-We are still having difficulties getting a house

-We will finally be beginning language study

-Relationships with the youth of the different fellowships

Pace of life

   As in most relationship oriented cultures, pace of life is much slower than that of business oriented cultures such as the States and Europe. Another way that these cultures are referred to is "warm climate" and "cold climate". This can be, and has been, a source of frustration for cold climate missionaries serving in a warm climate culture. We tend to think that things could get done much more quickly if there wasn't so much time "wasted", and in some ways we are right, a lot more could get done, but for those of the warm climate culture that comes at the expense of relationship.
    Here in Gambia to walk anywhere it is important to make sure that additional time is made because it is very important to greet everyone that you pass, and of course the obvious reason that it is very hot and easier to walk slowly. Some will greet us and keep walking, but others want to stop and shake our hand, ask our first and last name and then usually ask a few questions that leave us with blank stares and laughter. Some will even try and teach us what they are saying and how we should respond creating more smiles and laughter, but pleasure in the fact that we were trying to communicate with then and respecting their culture where greetings are important.
      This is only one example of how pace of life slows down, but we have also seen it in one of the churches where they have been making bricks to rebuild two rooms that collapsed during the rainy season and act as part of the house for the family living there. Once these rooms are built then the sanctuary can be blocked off from the rest of the house and the family will no longer have to use it as their sitting room. While in the states the bricks would be made and the rooms would be completed very quickly, it takes more time and it is difficult to get people to show up. We could easily go in and set up a time, but we really want the church to take the initiative themselves. Here a few pictures of the brick-making:

     As you can see, this process is not easy as you have to dig the mud out of a hole, then form the bricks and let them dry before the building can be done. All of this is done the hot sun. Yet it can still be frustrating as we think, "if we just worked two Saturdays they would be done!" We have also found frustration with the gentleman we need to contact about the house we are looking at renting. Due to the indirect communication used here, we usually hear, " I will call you tomorrow" without hearing anything until we call him, at which point we are told we will hear back from him in several days. My final example is one that some of you may be able identify with somewhat...laundry. All laundry here is done by hand, you do first wash, second wash, first rinse, second rinse. I have done laundry by hand before, but never a week's worth for two people. We try not to wear many clothes to cut down on the amount to do, but it still takes between 2-2 1/2 hours and yesterday the sun was so strong (it reached about 100 F the other day) that by the time I hung the last load and was worried about running out of clothes pins, my problem was solved when I realized that my first load that I had hung was already dry! Unlike most men in Gambia, Elias helps me, so you can only imagine how many hours women spend doing laundry each week here, especially those with babies. Here are a couple of pictures of doing laundry:

     I will try and post more pictures later. Blessings to all of you!

Praises:
-We are beginning to get to know the youth better.
-We are still healthy!

Prayer requests:
-That everything will work out with our house
-Kampant- a youth convention from the 26th-30th of December that Elias and will be attending, please pray for the both us and the youth
-For language learning even though we have not starting formal language study

We have arrived!

     We have officially been in the Gambia for a week today. Last Thursday evening (Gambian time which is 5 hours ahead) we arrived at the airport in Banjul, The Gambia with the Guinea Bissau YES team. Our travel was quite uneventful, which is a good thing. We left Albany at about 10:00 a.m. and arrived in D.C. about an hour and a half later. We then waited in the Dulles airport for about 6 hours where we met up with the Guinea Bissau team and then we were on our way to Brussels. The flight was about 7 1/2 hours to Brussels and then we had a 3 hour layover. Then our last leg of the stretch was about 8 hours with including a transit in Dakar, Senegal and then we finally landed in the Gambia. We were shuttled to customs then waited for awhile for our bags to arrive. We were greeted by Gary Williamson, one of our outreach directors, and Beryl Forester, the Guinea Bissau outreach director. They took us back to MEHDA, where Elias and I are currently staying, where Denise (Gary's wife) and Lori Doll a 2 year long termer had beef stroganoff ready for us.
     The first night we slept very well considering sleeping on a plane is never easy, but then the next couple nights we noticed the 5 hour time difference and it took some adjusting.
     In this past week we have learned how to use public transportation, met most of the youth groups we will be working with, have begun to learned our way around the market, eaten Gambian food (rice and fish), which Elias likes, but I (Jess) will need some time to adjust to, hand washed clothes, been out to the gardens, and went grocery shopping with a quick swim trip included.
      Elias and I are unsure how long we will be staying here at MEHDA, but we currently have no electricity and only cold running water, however running water is a blessing either way. At our house that we will be living at for the remainder of the time we will have both electricity and running water so we are very excited about that even though we have learned that living without electricity isn't that bad.
     Ok, well I don't want this blog to be too long, so while there are many other things I could write about, I will stop there and hopefully have some pictures next time. We love you and miss you all! Blessings!

Praises:
-We Made it!
-We have not gotten sick yet
-We are adjusting

Prayer requests:
-That we will remain healthy
-For the Lord to provide vision as to what our role will look like with the youth
-Language learning