NaBloPoMa

I haven't posted to my blog since June and I just found out that this is NaBloPoMa: National Blog Posting Month, when we are supposed to post daily.

Now doesn't that sound a little like NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month (which has been around since, like, forever)? And what a coincidence, they are both being held in November. I guess there are just so many Na....Mo's out there, and so few months, that the organizers couldn't find another month to squeeze NaBloPoMa in!

So even tho I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, I've decided to boycott NaBloPoMa in protest of their lack of originality. Not that it means much since, like I said, I haven't posted for five months anyway! But I just had to get my 2 cents in here.

I call on would-be novelists and lukewarm bloggers to unite!

HOW LOCAL IS LOCAL?

I just finished Barbara Kingsolver’s fascinating book on her family’s year of eating locally, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I was happy to be challenged about the food choices I make, based on how much fuel and energy are expended to get my food to market.  There is also the issue of supporting local farmers, instead of those in another region or another country.

Initially, I was patting myself on the back, because most of the produce we buy is local. We can even eat bananas till they come out the whazoo (a food Ms. Kingsolver’s family must pass on since it comes from the tropics). But then I remembered those Moroccan apples in my fridge. Morocco is on the African continent, but it’s two countries away from here. Oops.

There’s also a section of our market here which sells produce trucked in from the Malian Region of Sikasso.  Is that local? It’s in Mali, but it’s about as far from where we live as you can go without entering Côte d’Ivoire.  It’s about 1000km from here – that’s 600 miles. Now Ms. Kingsolver suggests a standard of 100 miles for those living in fertile areas, such as southern California, or in her case, Virginia. But she used to live in Tuscon – a very Mali-like climate – and in that case she suggests 250 miles.  So even by that standard, I should avoid the Sikasso section of the market.  Hm.  On the other hand, a lot of the vendors in the local section buy their goods in bulk in the Sikasso Market, so I may end up buying them anyway, but paying more.  (I also just calculated the distance my apples had to travel: almost ten times the generous limit for Mali or Arizona!).

But, really, fresh produce is not the issue here. We are strangers in a strange land, and as such we like to splurge on imported goods so we can eat like back home. It’s not even much of a splurge (except for cheese). Cans of veggies, jars of jam, containers of applesauce can all be found in my pantry, most from the European Union, and fairly reasonably priced.  How about coffee: at least our instant coffee comes from the neighboring coffee-producing country of Côte d’Ivoire, but our “real” coffee is shipped from there to be processed in France, and then back here.  Double jeopardy on hydrocarbons!  (To be fair, you can buy ground Ivoirian coffee here, but as my daughter, Danielle, says, it tastes like ground peanuts. The Ivoirian instant actually tastes better than the Ivoirian ground coffee).

Still, I have not even touched on the biggest food import problem in West Africa.  What if the local people wanted to eat locally? They are pretty much good to go as far as produce is concerned, and few are rich enough to buy imported canned goods and cheese anyway, so they don't miss them.  Even the sheep and cattle butchered here are all local (we see the cows being led to the slaughterhouse every night on foot). But the center of the Malian diet is RICE. Where does that come from? Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the USA…   Definitely NOT local.

How did people become so dependent on a food they do not produce?  First of all, some rice is produced in Mali (Sikasso again, where it is more tropical than savannah, and has a greater rainfall), but it costs more than imported rice, and there is not enough of it for everyone if the whole population decided to start eating it. 

Are there alternatives? There are several, the primary being millet.  The problem is that all of the alternatives are more labor intensive than rice. Rice is Fast Food! All you gotta do is pick over it a bit, wash it and cook it.  Millet needs to have the husk pounded off, then winnowed, and then it needs to be milled. It’s a lot of work. Malian women already work much harder than Western women in food preparation. Who can blame them for wanting to simplify their lives a bit with the convenience of rice? Furthermore, although rice is more expensive than millet, it goes farther. Say you can get 2 cups of cooked rice from a pound (pulling numbers out of the air here). A pound of millet only yields 1½ cups cooked. So not only do you have to work harder, you have to prepare more of it. At certain times of year, the price becomes almost equivalent. And finally, most people like the taste of rice better.

I don’t know what the solution is for my Malian friends.  They are all addicted to green tea from China, and there’s no way they are going to give that up.  I don’t even have a good solution for myself! I am going to ask for Malian rice at the market from now on, because I can afford to pay the higher price.  There are also some Malian produced jams, which although expensive, I will try to buy to support the local industry.  I could also make more jams myself.  But what about my applesauce and cheese and coffee and canned corn and Moroccan apples and powdered milk? That’s a hard one!  I guess the important thing is to be as conscientious as possible, making every effort to buy locally, even if it’s not practical to do so 100%.  Wish me luck! (And read the book – I highly recommend it!)

Quote of the Week

As much or more than any theological concern, biblical teaching on end times should be approached with humility.
Matthew Dickerson
Christianity Today online
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/june/whogetsleftbehind.html

An Open Letter to Dove World Outreach Center

Dear Pastors Jones and Sapp,

Congratulations on the headlines you have created around the world this week. Not only did you burn a Koran but your actions led to the death of UN workers in Afghanistan, many of whom were not even Americans. May I ask what this has accomplished: has the Gospel been advanced amongst Muslims because there is one less Koran in the world? Are the Muslims of Gainesville beating down your door to know how they can be saved? It seems your actions were worse than futile, they were damaging to the work of the Gospel and to the lives of God’s servants. 

I am not denying the responsibility of the Taliban and Islamists who actually perpetrated the recent acts of murder and terror. There is no doubt that they will answer to God for this, and let’s hope they will also be held accountable by the legal authorities of their nation (if they can catch them).

But there is no doubt that your actions instigated this new wave of violence against Westerners in Central Asia. There is no doubt that you have placed at risk every American working in any capacity in the Muslim world. Worse, you have compromised the Gospel witness of thousands of Christian workers seeking to share the Love of Christ all over the Islamic World.

What right do you have before the Living God to jeopardize the work HE has called Christian men and women to do in HIS name for HIS glory? They may have chosen to risk their lives for the Gospel, but it is not your place to exacerbate that risk.

How can you justify putting such lives in peril in the name of Freedom of Speech, while God’s real servants and true believers put their lives on the line for the Gospel, and while your nation’s military serves in Harm’s Way in the Muslim World to protect that freedom?

Missionaries have enough work to do responding to the theological arguments of those who deny the deity of Christ, who believe the Bible has been changed, who do not believe Jesus died on the cross, and who argue for the superiority of Mohamed. But those conversations eventually lead to meaningful conversations on spiritual things and a sharing of the Gospel. Now, however, Christian workers have to waste time explaining why a church which supposedly believes what they do would commit such an egregious act, and convince people that they would never do the same. It takes a long time to build trust with a Muslim and you may have cancelled the work of years for some missionaries.

I examined your church’s website to see the extent of your missions outreach, especially your outreach to Muslims. And I found nothing. How can a church which has the name “World Outreach” in its name have no world missionary program? How can “an apostolic church with a world vision” which is so concerned about the evils of Islam be doing nothing about that evil in the manner prescribed by Jesus: “Go ye and make disciples of all nations”???

On the home front, what is Dove World Outreach Center doing to reach the 1,500 Muslim residents of Gainesville? Is there any campus outreach to the 600 Muslim students at UF? Have your members been trained to reach out to their Muslim neighbors in ways that are respectful, culturally appropriate and pleasing to the Lord, not alienating?

Have either of you, Pastor Sapp or Pastor Jones, ever had a normal conversation with a Muslim? Guess what: they are people like you and me, with many of the same concerns: how to make ends meet, raising their children to be men and women of faith and morality, whether their team will make it to the Series. Evangelical Christians often have more common ground with observant Muslims than with our American neighbors, who may be only nominal Christians or practice no religion at all. Instead of a hostile approach focusing on differences, why not try to “love your neighbor,” and extend hospitality and friendship to them? Through such relationships, you will eventually have the opportunity to discuss your religious differences in an atmosphere of trust.

There is no way to undo this pointless, egregious act. But you can move forward by first repenting before the Lord Jesus Christ for your damage to the work of the Gospel, and then apologizing and seeking forgiveness of those whom you offended, making it clear that the Lord whom you claim to serve would never have acted in such a manner. Finally, you can focus the efforts of your church from now on to reaching your neighbors and the world with the Gospel of our Loving Lord and Savior, who gave his life for sinners, of whom you and I are chief.

Sincerely yours,

Jennifer A. Bowers

2010 by the Numbers

What we did in 2010: by the numbers

Our organization has had various ways of keeping track of how we spend our time, and this year we were asked for "metrics," which they will presumably publish somewhere to show everyone how effective UWM is. We were slow to gather these numbers, but when finished, we were pretty impressed (I'll try not to break my arm patting myself on the back!).

Some of the items below we did not send to the Mission (I think you'll figure out which ones), but I hope you enjoy the list overall: 

1: woman of the Soninké tribe discipled through weekly Bible studies and baptism preparation. (Jennifer)
1: Christian FM-radio station launched by a Malian Christian NGO with help from UWM (we have provided facilities and electricity, and helped them to find equipment); they currently broadcast about 18 hrs/day.
1: semester served on board of Dakar Academy. (Jennifer)
1: son graduated from Dakar Academy, with honors, and launched into the World. (Benjamin)

2: graduate classes completed for education degree. (Jennifer)
2: new missionaries recruited for MALI, in a seconding agreement with WEC, to reach the Moors. (Andrew & Mary)
2: evangelism and medical teams to the Moors (about 15 participants all told, to 8 villages altogether).

5: meetings of the Malian Assoc. of Evangelicals attended by Jim, where he is serving on the Committee of Reconciliation to head off a split in the organization.

6: men taught in Bambara language Bible school (in partnership with Norwegian Lutheran Mission).

10: meetings with the local Christian school committee.
10: ESL teachers observed and trained in Bamako during 2 weeks in January. (Jennifer)
15: meetings in churches last summer (where  we were featured at the Missions Night of the annual conference of the Church of Christ (Holiness), in St. Louis.) 

22: visits to disciple new Fulani believer in Kayes (who came to Christ through the "Common Ground" method of evangelism). (Jim)

26.5: years of service in Mali.
27: women trained in leadership seminars (in partnership with Marcie Harris). (Jennifer)
28: years married to same spouse!

35: Christian Fulani leaders hosted in JCMWA* annual conference in Kayes for one week
30: visits to Fulani villages for outreach and supervision of the well project in Duduya. (Jim)
40: meetings with the Kayes Pastors' Cooperative for prayer and planning of joint evangelistic events. (Jim)
49: shows of original Star Trek watched!

52: beggars helped on our front porch by prayer, food, Bible reading, cash, work, clothing, loans, empathy, medicine, counsel, etc.
75: friendship evangelism visits among mostly Fulani friends, often playing Bible story cassettes or mp3 players like the Megavoice, and drinking lots of strong, sweet green tea. (Jim)

150: radio broadcasts in the Fulani & Moor languages (on 2 different stations).

168: cards & letters sent by Snail mail, not counting Christmas cards. (mostly Jennifer)

175: dollars paid to the MVA of MD as a fine over an insurance disagreement about our car (they wanted over $3000 and this was the compromise we reached!!!)

12,000: miles traveled June-August in the USA & Canada to facilitate partnerships, raise funds, promote ministry, and keep in touch with supporters including many visits with churches and dear friends.

*JCMWA: Joint Christian Ministry in West Africa, a network of ministries to the Fulani to which we belong.