Here Today... Gone to Mali

NaBloPoMa

2011-11-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

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?

2011-06-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-24T03:40:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

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.

YET ANOTHER TRAVEL TALE

2010-09-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Dakar! Our journey started Friday the 3rd, when we were deposited at the airport at 3pm by Tim Haley of Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, MD: thanks for the ride, Tim!

We didn't have a long wait and boarded well before 5pm (departure time was 5.40), but then... we waited. We were informed that the computer which controls the fuel gauge and fuel distribution on the plane was malfunctioning and would have to be fixed. They had already moved out from the terminal and eventually had to taxi back in to another bay. They rebooted the computer involved, then all the computers, then they "rebooted" the whole airplane, i.e., they turned off everything for about 10 minutes. While we waited we found our friend Julie Adamson (whom we had somehow missed in the departure lounge) and enjoyed chatting with her. The a/c was running onboard, so we were not uncomfortable, but we had nothing to eat or drink except water during the 6 hour wait. For some reason, they did not activate the entertainment system either. Finally, around the time they got it fixed (or "came up with a fix" I should say, b/c they never did fix that computer and actually did a work-around), they decided to serve us dinner while refueling at 10.30pm, so we took off after 11. Then all went well and we arrived as scheduled in exactly 8 hours. Hurricane Earl presented no problems whatsoever, although they flew due south a bit further than usual before heading across the Atlantic, just in case.

One thing I want to mention is that the passengers were all very gracious while waiting. We were all frustrated, but no one got nasty or mean or gave the crew a hard time.

It's more humid here than even in Baltimore, but the temperature is about the same. We'll live. We are enjoying the hospitality of Alex & Amet DaSylvio-Fall. It was great to worship at Dakar Academy today with Danielle, Susanna, and many other friends. Lord willing, we will head to Kayes on Wednesday or Thursday in our own car.

Thanks for your prayers and good thoughts as we travel!

Puppy Love

2010-06-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

I’ve come to understand why they take pets to visit people in nursing homes, and why people who own pets live longer than those who don’t. Yes, I’ve been struck by Puppy Love.

We’ve always had cats around the house and in general I still prefer cats. They take care of themselves, they are very clean and they don’t slobber. I do hate the litter box, but that’s a small thing. The one thing I could wish is that they were more affectionate. We’ve had the occasional friendly cat, but for the most part ours have been typically aloof. I’ve heard all the suggestions and claims that the earlier a cat is handled, the friendlier it will be and can tell you scientifically and empirically: it ain’t so! We have had some mother cats who had twice or even thrice annual litters, and with four children in the house, you better believe they were handled almost from Day One. But our percentage of affectionate felines is no higher, and perhaps much lower, than anyone else’s. Sigh.

I’m pretty picky about dogs, on the other hand. For me to like a dog, it has to be small to medium sized (no miniatures, please), short-haired, and clean around the mouth so it doesn’t have spittle on its chops all the time! I would prefer a breed which gets along with cats (not a hunter) and is quiet.

We got Chester, a 3y.o. dachshund, from homegoing missionaries about a year and a half ago. He is small, short-haired, and does not drool (check, check, check). But dachshunds are hunting dogs, so he has chased off all our cats. And he does bark a lot.

But I can live with that because he is so affectionate and cuddly and cute! He came into our Empty Nest and filled my mother’s heart with joy. Corny, I know, but besides being away at boarding school, college and work most of the time, my children are at an age when they don’t like to hug much. It’s just not their Love Language… but it’s mine and I miss it terribly! So Chester is filling that hole in my heart. He’s poorly trained and disobedient, and before we had him neutered he ran off all the time, but he has calmed down a lot since then, and will do almost anything for a cookie.

Quote of the Week... about LOST

2010-05-24T03:55:00.000-07:00

A funny summary from the "815 Sentences About LOST" blog by a critic who has never watched the show:

“As both “Lost” the series as well as 815 Sentences About Lost draws to a close, it may seem blasphemous that someone who has never seen a single, solitary episode of “Lost” would write an entry attempting to briefly summarize the plot of “Lost” for this website, but that is exactly what I intend to do. Following a plane crash, a bunch of strangers find themselves stranded on a mysterious desert island. Among the stranded are Matthew Fox, some dude named “Sawyer,” that serial killer guy who stalked Lindsay Dole on “The Practice,” that Asian guy who played the Wolfram and Hart lawyer on “Angel” who eventually got turned into a zombie and Gunn chopped his head off (spoiler alert!), that other guy who sold Larry David pot one time on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and a bunch of other people. Pretty soon the castaways discover that they’re not alone on the island, which is also inhabited by another mysterious group of people called “The Others” as well as a monster. So the plot turns into something along the lines of “Lord of the Flies,” only with grown up people instead of psychotic children and, of course, the monster. There is also some conspiracy of how all the castaways ended up on the island, which is mostly revealed via flashbacks filled with really obscure and annoying clues and number references which “Lost” fans can discuss with other “Lost” fans on internet message boards. I don’t know, it all sounds like something of a headache if you ask me, although I’m sure I’ll probably watch the whole thing on DVD some day. Anyway, if you asked me to predict what’s going to happen on the series finale of “Lost,” my guess is that it all turns out to be an intricately wound sequence of events which takes place in some autistic kid’s snow globe. The end.”

- Despite never having seen a single episode of “Lost,” Stacey Nosek fancies herself a pop culture writer. She spends her days in West Philadelphia and writes for Pajiba and Litelysalted.

Quote of the Week

2010-05-18T02:59:00.000-07:00

We are violently propelled into the world with blood and pain and few of us will die with the dignity for which we hope and for which some pray. Whether we choose to think of life as an impending happiness broken only by inevitable grief and disappointments, or as the proverbial vale of tears with brief interludes of joy, the pain will come, except to those few whose deadened sensibilities made them apparently impervious to either joy or sorrow.

PD James, The Private Patient

What do you think?

Hard questions...

2010-05-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

[Faith ‘n’ Begorrah, Part 2]

When I wrote previously about the faith healer who came to our town in March, I promised to follow-up with a post on the theology of faith healing. What was I thinking??? Certainly I have not figured out “how it works,” at least from my perspective.

I need to say up front that I tend to be a cessationist. This is the name given to those who believe that the Sign gifts of the New Testament (tongues, miracles, healing, prophecy) ceased after the completion of the canon, the Scriptures. Therefore, theologically I am outside the Pentecostal or charismatic camp.

However, as in so many things, there are degrees of cessationist. For example, Harold Camping of Family Radio believes that all charismatics and Pentecostals are deceived by Satan and not saved at all! Happily, he represents the farthest extreme of cessationism and few share his viewpoint (however, his influence through his radio stations is frightening).

Some would accuse cessationists of not believing that God answers prayer, but that is a misrepresentation of the viewpoint. I, for one, believe that God still heals and performs miracles today, but that he does so in answer to prayer and not through the power of a gift transmitted through a specific person.

Unlike many cessationists, I have come to believe that God may still speak to unbelievers through dreams and visions to draw them to Jesus Christ. Admittedly this is based more on experience than on systematic theology (although Joel 2.28-29 certainly talks about dreams and visions in the End Times). It seems as though God will speak to a person through a dream who does not have access to the Word of God. The testimonies of those who have experienced this is usually of seeing Jesus and being told to seek out and believe the Bible. This is how many Muslims come to Christ.

When I wrote previously [see http://jenniferabowers.blogspot.com/2010/03/faith-n-begorrah.html], I talked about the West African acceptance of the supernatural as a normal part of everyday life. Therefore in the churches it is quite natural to accept that God still works miracles today. Believers, even pastors, are not theologically sophisticated for the most part, to question whether this should happen through the agency of a person. If God has anointed someone to do such a work, why not? When some of my Christian lady friends were telling me about what they saw in the meetings, my face must have expressed some skepticism because one of them said, “Jeneba (my Malian name), what do you think of all this?”

Oh, my. Did I want to really get into this with them? I finally answered them honestly. The women I was talking to were pastors’ wives. Two of them have chronic illnesses for which they have prayed for relief for many years. One has a handicapped child they have prayed for God to heal for over a decade. So I said, “I’m not saying God doesn’t heal through Pastor Michel. I really don’t know. But I look at you, devout Christians married to servants of God. For many years you have prayed for healing while serving him faithfully. Now, if Michel came along and God healed you through his intercession, I would have to ask myself, Why? What was wrong with your prayers?” They nodded and acknowledged the sense of what I said.

Then one of them told us a story: “I went to my mother’s village recently to help with the harvest. The first evening when I was settling in, someone said, ‘There’s a mat over there and water, so you can do your salat (ritual Muslim prayers). I told them, ‘Oh, I don’t do salat. I’m a Christian.’ The response was immediate and surprising. ‘Really?’ they said, ‘Tell us what that means! We don’t know what a Christian is and we want to know.’ It seems that a sick woman from a nearby village had traveled to see Pastor Michel, and returned healed. All they knew was that Michel was a Christian and healed with the power of Jesus, but they didn’t know who Jesus was. Word got around that there was a Christian woman in the village and several evenings after work in the fields was done, they gathered round to ask me all about Christianity. Once or twice they kept me up until 3am!

‘Then they told me about a crazy woman in the village. She hardly ever slept. She would get up in the middle of the night and wander off in the bush. So her people were exhausted, either from searching for her out in the bush, or from sitting up late to make sure she didn’t wander off. They asked me, ‘What can be done?’ so I told them, ‘I don’t claim to be a healer like Pastor Michel, but I can pray in the same name as he does, in the strong name of Jesus.’ So I did. She had been put to bed, so I stood in her doorway and prayed for her. When I got up in the morning I went to the latrine to wash, and I could hear people outside saying, ‘Where’s that Christian woman?’ I came out and said, ‘Here I am.’ They said, ‘Look, the crazy one, she’s still asleep! She hasn’t slept through the night in ages!’ It got to be 9am and they said, ‘She’s still sleeping!’ I told them she was probably exhausted from not sleeping for so long, so they should let her be, and she slept until noon. Now they want someone to come to their village to preach the Gospel.”

Praise the Lord! If Pastor Michel’s ministry made people curious about Jesus Christ, then it is properly bringing glory to God. However, not everyone perceives that what he does is in the power of Jesus. He proclaims it clearly, but in the excitement of what is taking place, some people miss that and just focus on him and the events.

I was in a store the week after the crusade and the clerk said to me, “I believe in Michel. You do, too, don’t you? My back was hurting when I went there and now it feels better.” I was quite uncomfortable with the terminology “believe in Michel” and was caught off guard, so my response was not very clear. Knowing that we leave soon for four months, I wanted to go back and leave him with a tract or something. So on Saturday I gave him a Gospel of John. I said, “You told me you believe in Michel. Well, all that he did was in the name of Jesus, and this will tell you about Jesus.” His response surprised me; he had not gotten the Christian connection at all! He said, “Michel did all that in the power of Jesus? He was a Christian?” I assured him that was the case, and he said, “Well, then Jesus must be pretty powerful! I’m definitely going to read this.”

Then he asked a hard question, “Well, if Michel believes in Jesus, and you believe in Jesus, why can’t you pray for people and they get healed?” Gulp. Good question. I replied, “I do pray for people to be healed. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t. But sometimes God gives someone a special gift like that to bring glory to himself. He wants Jesus to be glorified, so he gives someone like Michel the power to heal in his name. It’s all about Jesus.”

So, maybe that’s my theology of faith healing! Like many people, I still confess a certain skepticism about the healing of potentially psychosomatic illnesses (like this guy’s back, in fact). But if Jesus is lifted up and it draws some to him, I can live with my doubts.

You know it's Hot Season in Mali when...

2010-04-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

Recently my friend, Sharon, in Bamako started a discussion thread on Facebook by posting as her status: “You know it’s hot season in Mali when…” I think you’ll find the responses enlightening:
…you don't need a towel, you air-dry in less than a minute.
…you take showers with your clothes on so you can have the illusion of cooling as your clothes dry.
…your ankles sweat.
…even the Malians say, “Boy, it’s hot.”
…you are showering your kids and they scream, "No, it's too hot. Turn on the cold water." You reply, "This IS the cold water!"
…you can bend candles into any fancy shape you want.
…you wear a wet towel as a shawl.
…you refer to a day where it doesn’t hit 115F as “cool.”
…your clothes feel like they've been freshly ironed when you put them on.
h/t Sharon Goertz

We often hear the question, “How do you stand that heat?” especially when people hear that we live in one of the three hottest cities in the world, only 50 miles from the edge of the Sahara, where the temperature-in-the-shade can top 125F/51C. We want to cry, “We DON’T stand it. We complain a lot. We leave for the whole month of May. We do crazy stuff (see above) and it still doesn’t help!”

Nevertheless, I thought you might be interested in hearing about some of our coping strategies.

WATERBEDS: When waterbeds became popular in the 70s and 80s, someone decided they were the solution to a missionary’s problems in hot climates. I remember people telling us we HAD to get one. After all, if you can get a good night’s sleep, it goes a long way toward helping one cope with the strains of the day (which is true). So we got one. How do you say ***raspberry***!?!

I have since become convinced that this waterbed promotion was a conspiracy by waterbed manufacturers to advance sales. All their soon-to-be-dissatisfied customers were moving overseas, so they had nothing to lose.

The problem is that water tries to equalize itself with the air temperature. For a large body of water, like an ocean, the difference remains significant, so you can still have a cool dip in hot weather. But a relatively small body of water, like a mattress, quickly approaches the ambient temperature. Even if the room cools off at night, the warm water is contained in a huge rubber “bottle” which releases heat slowly – a month or more after the end of hot season, but certainly not in a few hours!

We’ve heard funny stories about people trying to cool down their waterbeds. One family bought blocks of ice at the local ice house, siphoned out some of the hot water, and refilled it with the ice water. A time consuming, temporary, and ultimately futile effort at best. They had to choose either to H.ave a Life, or play with the waterbed.

We used to soak towels, and lay on top of them, with other wet towels on top of us, wearing as few clothes as possible, with fans pointing at us. This worked for about 20 minutes at a time before the towels dried out (our humidity is less than 20% most of the time, so the air just sucks up that water!), and it made the bedroom smell mildewy much of the time.

Ironically, in cool season (Dec.-Jan.), the water would become so chilly that we shivered and were in danger of hypothermia (which is why waterbeds are sold with heaters in the States – who knew we would need one here?).

Finally we bought an inch-thick foam mattress for the waterbed. On top of that, we place a sheet, then a bedspread, then another sheet. This makes the bed sleepable in all seasons but defeats the original purpose!

SHOWERS: Did you notice how many people in the responses at the beginning referred to showers? Don’t be surprised if you come to my house and I answer the door dripping wet – if it’s not sweat, then I’ve just taken a shower fully clothed. It’s even more effective if I can sit in front of a fan afterwards.

SLEEPING OUTSIDE: We might have avoided the waterbed fiasco altogether if we had investigated how the local people tolerate the heat. Quite simply, they move outside to sleep at night. It’s even better for those whose houses have a flat, concrete roof to sleep on.

We have a locally made bamboo bed frame on our back veranda, with a thick foam mattress, and a mosquito net suspended on wires above -- although in the very hottest time we don’t even need the net because it’s so dry there are no insects. When it’s really hot we also bring a fan outside and go to bed in wet clothes.

FANS, SWAMP COOLERS, AND AIR CONDITIONERS: We have lots of fans, but when it gets really hot they just blow hot air. However, they aren’t too bad if your clothes are wet.

A swamp cooler is an evaporative cooler or humidifier, common in the American southwest, that blows air through water. We have a portable one which is helpful at siesta time. Some of our friends have mega-units which cool big rooms or even the whole house, but we haven’t made such an investment yet.

We don’t have a/c either, but Jim dreams of eventually getting a split for the bedroom. We do have it in our car though, which is nice when it works.

SWIMMING: There’s a great swimming spot on the river about 10 miles out of town and we enjoy going out there, especially when our kids are home. Not far from there is a rocky area with swimming holes and waterfalls which stay quite cool even in hot season, and we love to explore there as well. During Spring Break we sat on a flat rock under a waterfall which was a fabulous experience.

For years we dreamed of having a pool in Kayes, and finally a big hotel installed one. That has been a great relief as well, although it potentially has the same problem as the waterbed. It’s a relatively small body of water which absorbs heat. Last year the pool got to 98F/36C in hot season! This year, however, they drained it to make repairs before it got hot, so it was refilled relatively recently and has not achieved ambient air temperature yet.

VACATION: This is the ultimate solution to Beating the Heat: leave town. We save up all our vacation time and head west to the coast of Senegal for the month of May. Interior Senegal is just as hot as Mali, but the coast is quite pleasant (besides the obvious benefit of being close to our children). And in just 15 days from now, that’s what we’ll be doing.

But until then, I’m here today, gone to Mali…

PS As I was finishing this, yet another friend here, Tim, posted his Top Ten Reasons to Love Hot Season in Mali:

10. Working late at the office takes on a whole new significance - Free AC.
9. The Malians finally agree with you when you say it is hot.
8. If you have problems deciding what shirt to wear, no problem. You'll be wearing at least 3 today.
7. A chance to practice your Fahrenheit-Celsius conversion with big numbers like 41 or 46C (106F or 114F).
6. For those of us who have no hot water heaters, we can finally take a hot shower!
5. It's a great time of the year to do swamp cooler maintenance.
4. Everyday household tasks become an extreme sport.
3. Clothes have that wonderful "fresh out of the dryer" feel when you take them out of the closet.
2. The oven is automatically "pre-heated", and hey - most food is already pre-cooked.
1. A daily occasion to regale your facebook friends with complaints about how hot it is (just as they are expressing joy that it is finally getting up to 70F!)
h/t Tim Tillinghast

There's no place like home... but where is it???

2010-04-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

My son asked me recently if after 25 years in Mali, I’m more comfortable here than in the U.S. He was surprised to hear that America is still my comfort zone, for he feels the opposite.

I’ve been thinking about what factors contribute to both our feelings.

For me, the amount of time spent in Mali comprises half my life, but the formative half was spent elsewhere. By the time I moved to Africa, my personality, habits, and worldview were firmly established. Furthermore, it’s not as if I moved to Mali and stayed here. My missionary career has been punctuated by frequent visits back home which has maintained my attachment there and probably compromised my bond with my adopted homeland.

Also, I have lived as an American in West Africa. Although I have contact with Malians every day, I don’t live like they do. If you came into my house, it would be very familiar to you, with running water, flush toilet and the usual kitchen appliances. We have TV and our kids have a Game Cube. We only got regular electricity 11 years ago, but before that we had solar panels and batteries. Should I feel guilty for that? I don’t because in my case it has been the key to my longevity here. I don’t know long I could have stood “roughing it” in a Malian lifestyle. One friend compared this to running a marathon vs. a sprint. The sprinter puts in his all for a short distance and then quits, because he is finished. The long-distance runner must conserve his resources in order to arrive at the Finish Line. Short term workers may “go native” and immerse themselves totally in the culture. It’s harder for career missionaries to do so if they want to last. (I want to note here that I know career missionaries who are much more immersed in the local culture than I am, and I have the utmost admiration for them. I am simply stating my personal limitations.)

For these reasons, I am still much more American than Malian and look forward to retiring in the USA.

Benjamin, on the other hand, says he is much more comfortable in Mali. There are good reasons for this as well: his formative years have been spent here. The USA is a place to visit. Even though he has lived there a year or more at a time, we have rarely returned to the same home and he never attended the same school a second time until he went to Dakar Academy. No wonder three of my four children have declared their intention to live and work overseas as adults. This is typical of Third Culture Kids.

However, I have to add, with all due respect to Benjamin, that the Mali he relates to is no more the Mali of the Malian people than mine is. He is a true Third Culture Kid, with elements of both American and Malian cultures in his make-up. He is probably more comfortable than I am in a village and he tolerates the heat better, but he grew up in an American home and enjoys all the trappings of our culture as well.

Having said all that, I haven’t even gone into the whole thing of how MKs can never answer the question, “Where do you come from?” Should they give their passport country or the place they grew up; Mom’s hometown, or Dad’s? Because they have spent so many years at boarding school, my kids aren’t always sure whether to say Mali or Senegal.

Wednesday without Words... a day late

2010-04-01T03:14:00.000-07:00

Living in the Third World does not necessarily mean doing without.

Wednesday without Words

2010-03-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

The rare coat hanger tree.

Quote of the Week

2010-03-22T02:31:00.000-07:00

"Until I went to the dorm, I didn't know that pancakes and waffles were breakfast food."

Benjamin Bowers, MK from Mali who grew up eating them for supper.

FAITH 'n' BEGORRAH...!

2010-03-15T04:52:00.000-07:00

We had a faith healer in town last week. A very interesting phenomenon which has raised a lot of questions for me, both culturally and theologically.

He was here for three nights and on the second evening the stadium was Standing Room Only. It was such a mob that they basically had to cancel the meeting due to crowd control issues. Now, there are no more than 250 Protestant Christians in Kayes (pop. >100,000); perhaps a few more Catholics, but this was definitely a Protestant event. Everyone else is either animistic Muslim or Islamic animist (however you prefer to express it). So how did a meeting of a minority religion draw so many, especially since getting people to attend a Bible study or visit a church is like pulling teeth?

It's all about POWER. This preacher, Pastor Michel, has a successful healing ministry. That means he has power from Somewhere, and frankly, people don't care if it's from God or the Devil or something else, if they can get close to it or get a piece of it. This may seem strange to the western mindset, especially if you are not familiar with the Flaw of the Excluded Middle (a term coined from but not to be confused with the Law of the Excluded Middle in logic). The Flaw of the Excluded Middle posits that the Western world view has a blind spot that makes it difficult for many Western missionaries to understand, let alone answer, problems related to spirits, ancestors and astrology. The Western two-tiered view of the universe typically leaves out an entire dimension seen quite readily by people of non-Western cultures. We acknowledge the material universe, and those who are some kind of believer usually accept the existence of a high supernatural plane including God, angels, the Devil, and perhaps demons. For many non-Western cultures, however, there is a middle, unseen plane which exists in this world which may include spirits and ancestors, as mentioned above, as well as genies and powers which can (perhaps) be appeased by charms, spells and fetishes.
(For more information on The Flaw of the Excluded Middle see http://www.strategicnetwork.org/index.php?loc=kb&view=v&id=3263&fto=970& .)

Here in Mali the Excluded Middle is a vital part of life. We see it in the charms people wear and attach to their babies, or hang in their gardens. One of my friends has cowrie shells braided into her hair. You would probably think they were pretty ornaments, but I know they are jiginiu, "little hopes," designed to ward off evil spirits. She also uses cowrie shells to tell fortunes, which people take very seriously.

A few years ago the police in Senegal busted up a gang of burglars who had perpetrated a chain of house invasions against expatriates (including us) and rich Africans. The leader of the gang had over 50 fetishes attached to his body (some said to be effective at warding off bullets!) and the police were careful to cut off and burn every last one lest they help him to escape.

Some years ago a plane crashed in Timbuktu. Of 50 passengers and crew there was one survivor. She was taken to the capital to be hospitalized, where they had to put her in a private room (instead of a ward, which is all most people can afford) with a guard at the door. Why? Because if she was the only survivor, there must be something different about her, she must have access to some power or medicine, and if one could only touch her... So to avoid her being mobbed, she was sequestered. Another time people here in Kayes were hurrying to see a man who never went to the bathroom. Yes, I know that sounds funny, but supposedly he never needed to urinate or defecate, and since that meant he was privy to some supernatural power, people wanted to touch him or sit in the circle of his influence. (I told my informant that I was sure he was sneaking off to the latrine late at night, but she just laughed at me).

Certain people have powers as well, depending on their caste in society. The wives of blacksmiths are said to be able to do certain kinds of spells. Griots, the "town criers" for want of a better word, are also powerful. Even though pure Islam discourages such meddling with the occult, there are marabouts, who are basically Muslim shamans. (By the way, I recently learned the former president of Mali, Moussa Traoré, overthrown in the coup d'état of 1990, is not only out of prison and pardoned, but is pursuing a second career as a Big Time Marabout in Bamako!)

Pastor Michel is also in danger of being mobbed wherever he goes. Therefore, the Malian chief of state, President Amadou Toumani Touré (popularly known as ATT, just as we have called certain American presidents colloquially by their initials, such as FDR & LBJ) called the local authorities to arrange a place for him to stay and a security contingent of national guardsmen to surround and protect him. (Can you imagine Pres. Obama personally calling out the Guard for a Benny Hinn crusade?!?)

So even though Pastor Michel may indeed have power from God to heal, people do not come to him because they believe in his God or have any intention of converting to his Christian faith. They want to get close to POWER. And so they came in droves, most bringing their sick loved ones, but many attending just to be there and to see a miracle. I was told that mentally ill people were brought in from all the surrounding villages. Whenever he prayed for them, white birds rose up from the crowd, into the sky. Were their demons being released this way? Don't ask me (I told you I haven't figured out the theology yet)!

I don't yet know the statistics on how many people were healed and of what illnesses. I am told that a few people prayed to receive Christ. I hope it's true and I will be asking in a few months if any of them come to church.

Lest I sound too hard-hearted or cynical, I want to say that I have a great sympathy for the Malian people in this area. Most Malians are sick all the time. They have a poor diet and live in a dirty environment and can't afford medical care, so they often wait until their health becomes a crisis before dealing with illness. We had a conference in Kayes once, with pastors and their families coming from outlying villages. Every one of them sought medical care while they were here in the city; they were all dealing with chronic complaints to some degree. This was quite an eye-opener to me. So I can empathize with people's desperation to find a solution of some kind, even if it's one I do not understand or agree with.

As to the theological questions raised by this ministry, this has become very long and that will be the subject of a future post.

Interestingly, on the weekend after Michel's crusade, I visited a friend in the very neighborhood where the meetings were held. Yet I was greeted at the door of her compound by some middle school-aged boys who said to me, "Christians aren't welcome here. Christians are bad." So after the excitement passes, life returns to normal, and I'm here today, gone to Mali...

Quote of the Week

2010-03-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

CICERO: No man can be brave who thinks pain is the highest evil,
nor temperate who considers pleasure the highest good.

What do you think?

The Trials and Tribulations of Travel in West Africa, Part I

2010-03-03T03:59:00.000-08:00

I have a love/hate relationship with traveling anywhere in the world, but especially here in Africa. On this side of “the pond” it weighs out a bit heavier on the “hate” side of things because it involves a lot of waiting, not one of my strong points; e.g.

Waiting to leave. (Bush taxis don’t leave until they are full; this is only 7 passengers, but it may involve a wait of many hours or overnight to get that last passenger. Sometimes I’ll buy the last ticket to move things along, but if there are two or more empty places, I usually can’t afford to buy more than one.)

Waiting for officials at roadside police posts to inspect ID cards or merchandise so they can extort bribes. (They don’t bother Americans, but in spite of international agreements allowing free travel between African countries, local officials will find a pretext to charge a fine to each traveler from a different country.)

Waiting for repairs. (From a flat tire to a broken chassis, we’ve seen it all!)

Waiting to arrive at my destination. (The 500 mile trip to visit my children, for example, is an all day voyage; we have spent as few as 11 hours and as many as 45 [!] depending on road conditions. Currently, I am happy to say, most of the road is in good repair or at least being worked on.)

The “love” part of such trips is finally getting where I am going, especially if it’s a visit to see my kids. And you’ve never enjoyed a shower as much as the one that comes at the end of a long day on a dusty road. Or if Jim & I are traveling together, it means having a whole day to ourselves with nothing to do but talk or fall asleep on each other’s shoulders. Plus, the vehicles are pretty tightly packed, so we end up snuggling as we haven’t done since the early days of our romance (but on the “hate” side again, if I’m traveling alone, that means the same close quarters with a stranger, possibly a man).

Another thing that’s really fun about these trips is shopping enroute, but that’s another post for another day. Until then I’m here today, gone to Mali…

Quote of the Week... on Childhood

2010-02-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults and they enter society, one of the politer names of hell. That is why we dread children; even if we love them, they show us the state of our decay.

-Brian W. Aldiss

What do you think?

Short Term Pros and Cons: An Epistle

2010-02-26T04:35:00.000-08:00

My cousin, Drew, who is also in what he calls a “do-gooder” profession ;-) sent me this link to an article called The End of Service Trips? by Tim Ogden:
http://www.philanthropyaction.com/articles/the_end_of_service_trips/

The author challenges the value of overseas service trips (such as missions trips) in terms of value for dollar. He says, “My epiphany on the pointlessness of such trips came while spending a month volunteering at an international NGO’s famine-relief operation in Ethiopia. Despite my good intentions it was abundantly clear that I had no useful skills for the situation.”

He also sites an op-ed from the Wall Street Journal, The 'Great Commission' or Glorified Sightseeing? by Evan Sparks. Sparks, who has himself taken numerous short-term missions trips, is even more critical: “The billion-dollar question, however, is whether they're worth the cost. Are short-term missions the best way to achieve the goals of Christians? Critics argue that sightseeing often takes up too much of the itinerary, leading some to call short-termers ‘vacationaries.’”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122359398873721053.html?mod=djemITP

My husband maintains that the value of such trips is the exposure of Americans to how “the other half” lives. He feels that every American church member should make such a trip to the Third World. Andy Crouch, executive producer of Round Trip, a documentary film-based curriculum designed to improve church service trips, echoes this sentiment: “To experience the absolute poverty in parts of the developing world, to see people who couldn’t possibly be doing anything more to escape poverty, can be a transformative experience. It begins raising systemic questions that don’t necessarily get raised when you see the relative poverty in the United States. It’s very important for people in the rich world to be exposed to absolute poverty and I don’t know how you do it without an encounter with a real person.“

But Ogden responds, “Evidence suggests that these trips have no lasting impact on the participants, however.” Sparks cites Calvin College sociologist Kurt Ver Beek, who surveyed U.S. [short-term] missionaries who built homes in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. “After coming down from a post-trip ‘high,’ the short-termers did not evince much change in their lives. Only 16% reported ‘significant positive impact,’ including in prayer, friendships and financial giving.”

Sparks says further, “Indeed, if you were to ask an economist about short-term missions, many of which involve such manual-labor projects, he would have a simple answer: Ditch the traveling team members and send a check. A career missionary knows better what manual labor needs to be done on-site, and he can hire local laborers for much less money than what flying in unskilled Americans requires. Using local labor contributes to the local economy and avoids perpetuating a culture of dependency and powerlessness. A career missionary is also fluent in the local language and culturally aware, so he can be more effective at evangelism, discipleship and social-justice ministries.”

So where do I stand on this issue? Firmly straddling the fence! The above statement is correct about providing employment to and empowering locals. Yet we want short-term teams to come here, to see what our lives are like, and to meet the people in whom we have invested ourselves. We believe that long-term missionaries are often called through such an experience (though I have no empirical statistics to back my claim).

As for the advice above for people to stay at home and send a check, things just don’t work that way. I remember a time when we were building a church, and a builder’s team came from the States. The local pastor commented, “With all the money these people are spending on travel, we would have more than enough to finish the building.”

What we told him was that if those people had not come, they would not have sent us their money instead. If they paid for the trip themselves, they would have simply spent it on another trip. If the members of their church contributed to help them, it was because of the participation of people they knew. Contributors get more excited about the involvement of a person they know than about a building project. If they can’t go themselves, they feel good about enabling someone else to do so. There’s not as much vicarious satisfaction in buying a brick.

Crouch suggests, “The trips only make sense if they are part of a comprehensive program of changing peoples attitudes and behaviors. Evidence is shockingly clear that a single trip has no impact. No matter how well you do a trip, especially when you’re talking about teenagers, they are at such a high-velocity developmental stage that I don’t think any single experience is going to have an ‘impact.‘...If you want to see any lasting change you can’t have the trip end when people get back, or even after that one meeting where everyone shares their pictures. The organizations that have thought about this the most and are doing the best job are making these trips part of a much longer engagement with the issues. For instance, there’s one organization that requires a year-long commitment and the trip occurs in the middle—they meet just as often after the trip as they do preparing for it. What we need to do is go out and have our world rocked and then come back and in a sustained way make some real commitments to change and be held accountable for enough time for those changes to sink in. The grooves in our culture are too deep for us to escape from without that level of commitment.“

We have been impressed by a program of the Cooperative Missions Network of the African Dispersion (COMINAD), called Adopt-A-Village. http://cominad.com/

Adopt-A-People has been a popular concept in missions circles for the past decade or longer. This means “that a church, congregation or fellowship group makes a serious commitment to do all they can to reach their adopted people group by working in partnership with the mission agency of their choice.” http://www.adopt-a-people.org/ One criticism of this approach, however, is that it is too big. It’s hard for people to feel intimately involved with a whole tribe of people.

So COMINAD (and others) came up with the idea of allying a single church with a single village. In the COMINAD model, members of the American church visit the village annually, or more often, so they are returning to the same place over and over again. Pictures are taken of each villager, and each member of the US church commits to pray for one of the villagers. The villagers also receive pictures of their prayer partners. The American church also agrees to support a church-planter to live in the village. He will build relationships with the local people, and work or farm alongside them. There may be development projects eventually, but the focus is not on financial benefits, but rather on relationship.

As an African-American organization, the focus of COMINAD is on reconciliation: reconciliation with the descendants of their African brethren who sold them into slavery centuries ago, and reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. They say to the Africans, “We all know that our ancestors could not have been captured as slaves without the participation of the local people. [Here the villagers nod their heads and/or avert their eyes.] But what they intended for evil, God intended for good (Gen. 50.20). When our ancestors went to the United States, they learned about the Gospel of Jesus Christ so we can bring that back to you.”

This more focused approach on a smaller group of people, with repeated contact, has proven fruitful for COMINAD and other organizations.

Finally, our daughter, Ruthanne, and son, Benjamin, both went on overseas summer trips with Teen Missions International. We are very impressed with this organization as well. For the same amount of money that a young woman in our church was paying to go help missionaries in Costa Rica for two weeks, our kids had two weeks of “Boot Camp” training in Florida, then a month or more of work in their country, followed by a week of follow-up debriefing. We would recommend TMI highly and would love to get one of their groups to come here as well! www.teenmissions.org

If after all this, I have not discouraged you about short-term missions, here are a few helpful links!

Reconciliation Ministries International:
http://www.RMNI.org
Christ for Humanity:
http://www.christforhumanity.org/
Teen Missions International:
www.teenmissions.org
The Alliance for Excellence in Short Term Mission:
http://www.aestm.org/
Christianity Today’s ST mission site:
http://www.roundtripmissions.com/
Short Term missions database/search engine:
http://www.shorttermmissions.com/?STM=0a041825abfa34c137309bced555bb09
United World Mission’s short term opportunities (note: these are for one-to-two year terms, as recommended in the Ogden article):
http://uwm.org/ex237/
And oh, yeah, don't forget about us:
malibowers@gmail.com

Further reading on this issue:
Churches Retool Mission Trips: Work Abroad Criticized for High Cost and Lack of Value By Jacqueline L. Salmon
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/04/AR2008070402233_pf.html

Quote of the Week

2010-02-25T06:15:00.000-08:00

"People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading." Logan Pearsall Smith

What do you think?

Wednesday without Words

2010-02-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

I couldn't figure out how to attach these photos to my previous post, so here are some samples of Malian "uniforms."

Cloth Heaven

2010-02-10T08:45:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I’m going to a wedding, and with any luck, I’ll be wearing the same dress as most of the other women there (and it’s not because I’m a bridesmaid)!

One thing that is very different here from back home: In the U.S. if a woman walked into church or the office wearing the same dress as another, the reaction would be great chagrin. Not here! Fabrics come and go in popularity, and everyone will buy the same print to have an outfit made, so you often meet people wearing the same thing. Additionally, for events like weddings or holidays, groups go out of their way to buy the same material and wear it together. It’s called a “uniform.” In fact, every year the Malian Association of Evangelicals puts out a Christmas design so that we all go to church on Dec. 25 wearing the same thing.

The textiles are one of the most fun and interesting aspects of Malian life. Brilliant colors and designs guarantee that life in this often-brown (due to the dust) country is never dull. Interestingly, many of the best-quality fabrics are manufactured in the U.K. and Holland, where they have textile industries entirely for export to Africa consisting of loud cotton prints which no European woman would be caught dead in.

Ready-made clothing is rare here. You buy the fabric you like and take it to a tailor. Unlike in North America and Europe, a trip to the tailor is not an expensive luxury. It’s an everyday necessity and quite affordable, and a common profession among men.

Some of the patterns I’ve seen over the years in church, in shops, or on the street:

Lots of florals and geometric designs.
Numbers and letters.
Soccer balls.
Disembodied fingers.
Chickens (one of the first uniforms I ever had had chickens, roosters, and chicks on it, with lines of eggs all around. UG-LEE).
A hand holding a spray can, with a triangle of spray being squirted.
Eyes.
Insects.
Leaves.
Matches.
Badminton raquets & birdies.
Neckties.
The backs of ladies’ heads showing hairstyles.
One Sunday in church, I saw a shirt covered in laptop computers.
I also saw a lady with a large safety pin design on her dress, where the tailor had rather unfortunately located a pin across her buttocks so that it looked like she needed it to keep the seam together!
Images of people, such as the president of Mali, the First Lady, or perhaps a popular imam (Muslim preacher) and of course, Barack Hussein Obama! One of my Peace Corps friends boasts two different BHO outfits.

If you want to see a sample of African Obama fabric, check out #6 in this gallery:

http://wonderwall.msn.com/tv/Emmys-Undressed-The-Worst-4285.gallery?GT1=28151&photoId=14266#m=sNZM_QbGmxs

Quote(s) of the Week... on Friendship

2010-02-08T00:54:00.000-08:00

Next Sunday is Friendship Day in Honduras, so we missionary ladies celebrated yesterday. In case you think that's strange, we only meet for prayer once a month, so since it was within a week, one of our Honduran colleagues suggested we honor our friendships this time.

We all brought a little gift to exchange and some of us brought quotations or thoughts related to friendship. Here's a sampling:

"A friend is someone who dares to ask the hard questions." (Marian H., SIL)

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You, too? Thought I was the only one.'" (C. S. Lewis, author)

"Only God can be a perfect friend, for he has promised, 'Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.'" (Rose L., ReachAcross)

"I've discovered a way to stay friends forever --
There's really nothing to it.
I simply tell you what to do
And you do it!" (Shel Silverstein, author of The Giving Tree)

Humbled by Respect

2010-02-05T22:52:00.001-08:00

Marcie Harris & I are doing a women's leadership seminar this weekend in Bambara. We have invited all the pastors' wives from our town, plus at least one women's leader from each church. Last night was the opening meeting and there were 9 women; we will continue all day today and are hoping to get a few more.

I was thinking what a humbling experience this is. If I were invited to a seminar by a foreigner speaking heavily accented, broken English, purporting to be an expert on some subject, would I attend? I'm not sure I would. Yet these women come willingly. Why?

1. Because I'm a missionary. Most of them, or their parents, came to faith through missionaries, so there is an inherent respect for us.

2. Because there is a dearth of good Bible teachers in this land. In America we don't need foreigners to preach to us because there are so many fine 'native' Bible scholars. Here one takes whatever one can get, and with gratitude!

3. Because I'm white. Yeah, not very PC, huh? But the fact is that despite Malian resentment of colonialism, they accord to us a lot more respect than they do each other.

So may I not take this for granted, nor waste this opportunity. May I respect and honor them as they do me.

Quote(s) of the Week

2010-01-31T08:46:00.000-08:00

[I've been away with limited Internet access for two weeks, but now I'm trying to get back on track with my "blog schedule."]

"Over the years, slowly but surely, we have painted ourselves into a corner on a whole range of issues, where we can no longer say or do what makes the most sense to us, but only what is considered to be politically correct."
-Thomas Sowell

"Our founders understood that the ability to express our differences publicly was democracy’s substitute for violence."
-DeMint & Woodward in 'Why We Whisper'

"We must learn to welcome and not to fear the voices of dissent. We must dare to think about 'unthinkable things' because when things become unthinkable, thinking stops and action becomes mindless."
Sen. J. William Fulbright

What do you think? Comments welcomed.

11+ Charities Collecting Donations for Haiti

2010-01-14T03:51:00.000-08:00

FROM THE DESIRING GOD BLOG:

11 Charities Collecting Donations for Haiti
January 13, 2010 | By: Abraham Piper | Category: Recommendations

If you're looking for an organization to channel your money through for Haiti—and you probably should be—here are some options.

1. Compassion International
2. Feed My Starving Children
3. Food for the Hungry
4. World Vision
5. World Relief
6. Samaritan's Purse
7. Love a Child
8. Northwest Haiti Christian Mission
9. Compassion Weavers
10. Mennonite Central Committee
11. Water Missions International

To these I would add: Crossworld, an evangelical mission agency working in Haiti for over 50 years.

Wednesday without Words

2010-01-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

Through the Eyes of a Newbie

2010-01-12T04:53:00.000-08:00

In the interest of sharing some insights about Malian culture, I want to defer to our friend, Annie Pettit, who spent the holidays with us. Annie teaches high school math at Dakar Academy and is a very good friend of Danielle. We always enjoy "seeing" Mali through the eyes of someone who has never been here before, so I am going to give you the link to her blog for today's Malian Life & Culture entry:

http://anniepettit.blogspot.com

Her three most recent entries are about her visit here.

Quote of the Week

2010-01-11T10:10:00.001-08:00

Hey, I'm on a roll, lol! Even tho I just posted my "rebooting" message, it's Monday, so I'll share this cutie which my Facebook friend, Shirley O'Neill, posted today (btw, Shirley & I were close friends in HS, lost track of each other for decades, and have reconnected thanks to FB. Say what you want about wasting time on these social networking sites, but they can be a real blessing!!!):

"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
- P. J. O'Rourke

Rebooting the Blog...

2010-01-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

It's embarrassing to look at my blog and see how long it's been since I've posted anything. A few weeks ago I changed the name -- it was at first called "My Non-Political Blog" b/c so many of the blogs I've seen are political, but really that name was supposed to be a "place holder" until I thot of something more original or catchy. Finally, I changed it to the old phrase which we first heard from Ken Durst, Here Today... Gone to Mali.

My biggest problem, I suppose, has been writer's block -- a whole year's worth, from the look of things! Then I saw a format which my colleague/Facebook friend, Mali-Anta, follows:
* Sunday – Quotes for the week
* Monday / Tuesday – Life Model topics
* Wednesday without words – Malian photos
* Thursday / Friday – Anthropology and culture topics
* Saturday – Book reviews

I like the idea of some kind of structure; it saves me from having to agonize over what to write. So here is what I will try:
*Sunday/Monday: Quote of the Week (I collect quotes all the time, this will give me something to do with them for once!)
*Monday/Tuesday: Malian Life & Culture
*Wednesday without Words (WWW): Pictures
*Thursday/Friday: Book Reviews
*Friday/Saturday: Current Event Commentary or Personal Journaling

I may not post on every topic every week, and as you can see, I don't want to commit to an exact day for each post (only WWW wouldn't work on another day!). I will probably also post our monthly prayer letters as they are published, b/c they too give a glimpse of our lives.

And all this is assuming anyone even reads this!

THOUGHTS ABOUT CROCHET

2009-09-04T02:25:00.000-07:00

This will probably only resonate with my crafty friends, esp. those who knit & crochet, but I think it's beautiful! I esp. liked the line: "Crochet is magically creating something from nothing."

The man seated next to me on the airport bus asked why I had come to Chicago. I told him I was going to a crochet conference. He looked rather perplexed, and then asked, "What is crochet, anyway?"

I said, "It's a method of forming knots with a hook and thread to create a fabric." He stared at me, so I added, "It's making doilies." He smiled and nodded, "Oh yes, my grandmother used to do that." I realized later that I had given him a pretty poor definition. Here's what I should have said:

Crochet is that skimpy little high-fashion dress prancing down the runway at a designer show. It's a warm hat and scarf in bright colors worn on a gray winter day or a soft, cuddly teddy bear clutched in a crying child's arms.

Crochet is a glittery shawl thrown over a shoulder to accent a little black cocktail dress or a sleek little evening purse encrusted with beads. Crochet is a fluffy blanket that welcomes a new baby to the world or a pair of socks with a zingy heel treatment for a teenager to wear with clogs. It's a Christmas stocking, a gift from one generation to another.

Crochet is magically creating something from nothing. It's the love one pair of hands gives to another.

It's probably a good thing I didn't say all this; he would not have understood. But if you are a crocheter, you understand.

Jean Leinhauser (former editor and publisher of Crochet! magazine)
Crochet!, March 2004

2008-01-18T02:03:00.000-08:00

Take the Quiz here!

TWENTY-FIVE and STAYIN' ALIVE!

2007-10-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

DH & I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary Sept. 25 (we were in Dakar for a conference and to visit our kids, hence the belated post). Yay for us! We took the kids out to dinner and also invited the Ericksons, who met & married the same year we did (also joined the mission with us, Bill & Jim in '79, Becky & I in '82). I gave a corny little tribute to each of my kids. I know wedding anniversaries are about the parents, but face it, if we hadn't gotten married they wouldn't be here, and they have been (and continue to be) a major highlight of our lives for the past quarter-century!

I read a piece recently called "Married Today, Gone Tomorrow" by Janice Shaw Crouse which makes me even more thankful to the Lord for the longevity of our marriage. According to statistics, "If you married before 1950, the chances are your marriage lasted at least 15 years, probably 25 and likely even longer. If you married after 1980, however, your prospects are not as rosy. In fact, you are less likely than at any time since World War II to celebrate a Silver wedding anniversary — 25 years of marriage." [Go here to read the whole article: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JaniceShawCrouse/2007/09/27/
married_today,_gone_tomorrow]

This was published 2 days after DH & I celebrated our Silver Anniversary. By the grace of God or downright stubbornness (probably both!) we are still together and enjoy each other's company. Our 'nest' is empty (most of the time!) as the youngest of 4 children went away to school this fall, and we have been pleasantly surprised to find we still have things to talk about other than the kids!

So to continue the celebration of our Anniversary, I would like to include here a tribute to other couples whose marriages have, by that same grace of God & personal stubbornness, stood the test of time since 1980 (I've included a few married in the 70's as well since we are all essentially part of the same generation). If you're our friend and I missed you, let me know, and I'll include you in a later post!
[Alphabetical by first name]

Arlene & Dave R. 70's
Barb & Charlie R. '81?
Barb & Lee H. '70's
Bev & Court B. '82
Bill & Becky E. '82
Bud & Barb S. '70's
Chris & Karen P. '70's
Chuck & Becky K. '81
Chuck & Debbie B. '76
Colleen & Yudi B. '72
Dan & Audrey S. '81
David & Sharon F. '70's
Dee & Patty B. '70's
Dianne & Andy S. '79?
Eben & Sue C. '70's
Founeke & Ane D. '70's
Gene & Dawn M. '76?
Greg & Heather S. '74-ish?
Jeanie & Larry M. '81
Jim & Barb R. '70's
Larry & Stephanie K.
Martin & Luzia M.
Moise & Rebecca D.
Narci & Glenn H. '79
Paul & Kitty T. '78?
Randy & Anita T.
Ray & Deb H.
Rick & Carol R. '70's
Rita & Ron F.
Sandy & Gary G. '78?
Tad & Jane H.
Tom & Ruth H. '70's

Postmodernism explored/explained

2007-09-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

As part of my ongoing quest to understand the postmodernist mindset, I offer this quote from apologist/theologian Rave Zacharias:

...we have now reached a degree of secularization in our society whereby "religious ideas, institutions and interpretations have lost their social significance." This secularization "is revealed in a very inversion of language. It used to be that the Christian worldview was so present in Western culture that even when you were expressing secular ideas you had to borrow religious terminology with which to do it. Now there is an inversion; our world has become so secular that even when you are communicating religious ideas you have to borrow secular terminology with which to do it. Secularization has become so powerful in our social fabric, that the moment you introduce (into a discussion) a moral idea, if it has any connection to a religious worldview it is ipso facto disregarded as (being invalid)."

Quoted by David Limbaugh

I am Lightly Nerdy

2007-08-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

What is it about these Inet quizzes some people (like me) love to take? I mean, why would I take a Nerd Test, when I'm clearly not one?

Blogger/Blogspot as a Source of Internet Porn

2007-08-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

I may have to switch my blog to another host. I used to like to browse neighboring blogs using the "Next Blog" button (upper left) but have found that this often leads to pornographic advertising. I was quite shocked, b/c there are supposed to be built-in protections against such things. I wrote to the company about 10 days ago, and just thought I would share my letter to them with you:

Aug. 22, 2007
I am writing about a number of violations to your Terms of Service regarding content, particularly the following:

* Pornography and Obscenity: Image and video content that contains nudity, sexually graphic material, or material that is otherwise deemed explicit by Google should be made private. Otherwise, we may put such content behind an interstitial.
* Commercial Pornography: We do not allow content that exists for the primary purpose of monetizing porn content or driving traffic to a monetized pornography site.

One of the features I USED TO enjoy about Blogger was the "Next Blog" button. I like to randomly troll the blogs in hopes of discovering a gem, as I hope other users might discover and enjoy mine.

I had not done this for some time and was in for a shock when I did. Yesterday and today when I did this, AT LEAST every 3rd (sometimes every other) page took me to pornographic photos (naked women, women with their crotches displayed to the camera, etc.). I respect your policy of freedom of speech (altho I don't totally agree with it in the area of porn), but why are these pages not preceded by an interstitial as mentioned above? What's more, MOST of them did not have the bar at top with the Flag Blog link. (Which means they also did not have the Next Blog option, so I just had to close down the page and could not continue exploring blogs).

I try to maintain a family-appropriate blog and cannot take the chance of my friends accidently opening such pages in proximity to my own. I will be checking back to see if their is any improvement, and if not, will move my blog elsewhere, and make known why I did so.

Here are the results of less than 1/2 hour of exploration using the Next Blog key: [Here I listed a number of URLs].

The following pornographic blogs had no Flag Blog option: [More URLs].

These were the only ones which gave me the Flag Blog option, and I did so, but I notify you of them just the same b/c Blogger has a reputation of ignoring flags: [2 more URLs]

I hope you will deal with this ASAP. It would be sad for a company like Blogger to become known as the "Best Source for Porn Blogs" in PC Magazine or Consumer Reports.

Why is God like that?

2007-08-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

I'm on somewhat of an emotional roller-coaster these days, so anything I write should be taken with a grain of salt...

For years I've been trying to figure out why God treats similar people SO differently. Oh, I know he's trying to build different things in our lives.

Take two missionary families, who both go to the USA for Home Ministry at the same time, and both need to raise funds for a new vehicle. At the end of the year, one returns (ours) and is able to buy an old used Land Rover in constant need of repairs. The second family returns with enuf money to buy a brand new air-conditioned Land Cruiser. (That was over 15 years ago; we have had 3 more used vehicles in that time, and the Land Cruiser is still on the road).

Then there's the fact that we prayed faithfully for a teacher to come help home school our children so I could continue in ministry. In 17 years of home schooling, we never once found anyone, but fellow miss'ys in the same town had (and have) teachers year after year.

Some extenuating circumstances:
The second family in the car situation belongs to a home church which provides almost 100% of their member miss'ys' support, as well as many of their project expenses.
Some of the families who got teachers belong to a mission which pools all support so their teachers did not have to wait until they had raised all their support before they could come. Another family belongs to a well-known agency with thousands of members, and therefore abundant human resources.

Okay, but does God need me to make excuses for him by stating these extenuating circumstances? He would be a pitiful God indeed if he is able to abundantly supply the needs only of those who belong to rich churches or big mission agencies.

So why, all other things being seemingly equal, did he not do for us as he did for those others? Enquiring minds want to know!!!

Since I am feeling less emotional than when I began this entry several hours ago, here are some (slightly) objective observations:
-We certainly learned to trust in the Lord, not in vehicles! I remember a one-year period when I should have been stranded at least 3 times, but He miraculously intervened and I was rescued. (Still, He would have less work to do if He just gave us a good car).
-For the past few years, I didn't pray or recruit all that diligently for a teacher (but that was partly b/c I stopped believing God would answer -- not that He could not answer b/c he was certainly doing so for others, but for some reason in our case He would not).
-I am grateful for having home schooled my kids. Even tho I did so out of necessity, not conviction, I came to consider it a privilege.

Something to be grateful for: I know some miss'ys who have been trying to raise support for a long time, are convinced God has called them to the field, and long to be serving Him overseas -- but who just can't get enuf money to do so. We've had our ups and downs of support over the last 20-some years, but God has kept us here where, not only are we serving Him, but we love to be! In light of that, my other complaints seem petty.

Empty Nest Syndrome

2007-08-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

"I missed them, but of the two of us, I think it was worse for Allie. She may have been a painter, but she was first and foremost a mother, and once the kids were gone, it was like she wasn't exactly who she was anymore. At least for a while, anyway." The Wedding (Nicholas Sparks), p. 59

This week we took the last of our 4 children to boarding school. She is 12, in 8th grade, and has been more than ready to go for over a year. But, oh, it has been soooo hard letting her go. Every now and then I say (only half teasing), "Remember, Susanna, if you want to stay home, just say the word..." and I get the typical adolescent, "Mo-om!" in reply.

So now, all 4 of our children are in Senegal, DD#1 as an English teacher, and the other 3 as students (only DD#2 actually has her big sister for a class, DS will have her next year). They are absolutely thrilled to all be together, as you can imagine (altho they are not living together in one place).

I'm not handling this Empty Nest stuff very well. I've been struggling with this all summer, having bouts of depression and so on. It's not so much losing the kids; it's: what do I do with myself now? The work I did in the local church before I started home schooling is all being done by Malians now -- and that's GOOD, we are supposed to work ourselves out of a job! So now I have to find another niche for myself. It would be nice if there were an office or a school for me to go work in, but it doesn't work that way. There's plenty to be done, but you have to be somewhat of a self-starter -- and I am pretty weak in that area!

I've started making lists of things I can do. But I don't want this to be just 'busy work.' And I don't want to do things which a local person could do, thus depriving them of a job/ministry. I plan to spend more time traveling with Jim on his many bush trips, and he will be glad have to have me with him. I may also have to start studying the Fulani language. I don't expect to become fluent (after 9 years he is not), but people always appreciate that you make the effort and it builds bridges.

On the other hand, having left off the kids... maybe it IS about losing them!

Where I've been...

2007-07-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

I was somewhat shocked to see that I have not been to this site for over 3 mos., since April 25 ! I went to the States in May to attend DD#1's grad from college. We are so very proud of her. She graduated summa cum laude in English & Adolescence Education. She's even talking about getting her Ph.D someday. Meanwhile, she is coming to teach HS English at Dakar Academy for the next 2 years. For the next year, at least, all 4 of my children will be in the same place.

On the other hand, this also means DD#3 is leaving us to go to boarding school in 2 weeks, leaving us with an empty nest. I am surprised at how much this is bothering me, as it has been long anticipated. I am consequently going thru some sort of a Mid-life Crisis (as dramatic as that sounds!) and bordering on depression.

Whose Fault is it Anyway?

2007-04-25T03:46:00.000-07:00

As we drove to Bafoulabe for our week of Bible teaching with 2 old friends, Moise (Moses) & Ananias, we were asking what they knew of many mutual friends. We got to a certain career soldier named Jacques, there was a pause, and one said in surprise, "He died! Two years ago (we found out later it was 7 years ago)! Didn't you know?" Since he could only have been about 40, I exclaimed, "Was it an accident, or was he sick?"

"He had AIDS," I was told. That's always an uncomfortable pronouncement, since AIDS is sexually transmitted (here almost always heterosexually) and Jacques was a Christian.

Ananias filled the silence: "He was stationed in the far north (Sahara Desert) so he left his family back home and just visited them from time to time. It was those (Tribe x) women who infected him up there!"

It turns out that Jacques' wife died about 6 months after him (no big surprise there) and their only child shortly thereafter (she was probably conceived after her mother was infected).

Later, as Jim & I processed this conversation, we noticed that even though adultery is a sin in the Christian faith, it wasn't Jacques' fault he and his family died -- it was those (Tribe x) women! Perhaps this was said in the interest of not speaking ill of the dead (although those prostitutes are probably dead as well!), but I think it goes deeper than that.

For one thing, Malians believe that if a man goes without sex for too long, he'll become crazy or unstable. So the unspoken message is that not only could he not help what he did, but that he needed to do it.

Besides, Jacques is our friend, and those prostitutes are strangers...

Jacques is a believer and those (Tribe x) women were Muslims...

Jacques is from "our" tribe and they were from "another..."

So it was the fault of "those (Tribe x) women," not our poor dear brother who was only doing what is natural to a man in his situation.

And we think Western society is guilty of avoiding responsibility...

What Color is God's Skin?

2007-04-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

Our friend Neema (nay-mah) passed away last week. She was 35 y.o. and the only truly single person I've ever met here, because she was slightly handicapped. She had polio as a child, and the left side of her body was affected: she limped and had trouble getting into cars that were high off the ground (like most 4x4 vehicles owned by missionaries!), and her hand was twisted. In recent years she was quite sickly, tho I never knew exactly what with; she was always on the prayer list at church. They always referred to it as her sickness, tho I doubt it was still polio. She also had bad gum disease and therefore, terrible teeth.

So I told Jim that I've been picturing what she looks like now that she lives in heaven: standing up straight, with 2 strong arms and a full set of straight gleaming teeth. I imagine she is quite lovely now. He then asked me the funniest question: "Do you still see her as black?" What does that have to do with beauty?? Of course, she's still black!

Now lest you think my DH is a racist, he hastened to explain that his question was not based on which skin color is the most beautiful, but he was speculating whether something which has so divided people on earth will still exist in heaven.

I argued, "How else will we know each other if we don't basically resemble ourselves?" and...

"If God were to make us all one color, which would he choose?" To prefer one over another would simply justify the prejudices of this earth. Unless he went totally far-out and opted for green, purple, blue...

In heaven we will see the wrong in all our prejudices and not feel them anymore. Not all prejudices are based on skin, anyway, so changing that alone would be rather arbitrary. I reminded Jim of a pastor friend we have here, definitely a believer whom I expect to meet in heaven, who is clearly prejudiced against another ethnic group. They and he are the same color, but different tribe, and he is constantly making racist generalizations about them, something he has inherited from his culture, and a blind spot in his life. To him, his remarks are not racist, because he believes them to be true. That's the essence of prejudice, isn't it, the conviction that your beliefs cannot be racist because they are founded on truth?

There's a song that goes like this:
"What color is God's skin?
What color is God's skin?
I said, 'It's black, brown, it's yellow,
It is red and it's white,
Everyone's the same in the good Lord's sight.'"

Like the writer of that song, I don't believe heaven will consist of eliminating our differences, but rather of rejoicing in them.

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

2007-04-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

HAPPY EASTER!

I have to confess that I am dreading church tomorrow. I know that sounds terrible for a missionary.

One thing I like about the Christian holidays here is that they are very church-centered. That's a good thing. But the services on Christmas & Easter get really long. Every ethnic group (about 10 of them) shares a special song, in addition to those who sing weekly: the Ladies' Choir, the 2 children's choirs, the Bambara Choir, the French Choir. At Christmas, all this took nearly 4 hours, so when our colleague, Mark, got up to preach his well-prepared sermon, someone whispered in his ear, "Just 5 minutes, okay?"

On top of this, Easter falls in hot season. Last year, it got to 118F (ca. 48C) on Easter Sunday! I just get more and more uncomfortable and resentful, not at all the attitude one wishes to have on the highest holiday of the Christian faith. We also used to invite our non-Christian friends to church for the holiday, because a meal is served afterwards, but I just can't do it. I wouldn't wish that marathon on my worst enemy.

Mind you, the church members don't think it's a marathon. It's an expression of joy. But I don't happen to believe my Muslim friends appreciate it quite as much. Maybe I'm wrong.

Precious in the Sight of the Lord...

2007-04-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

Our family was camping for 4 nites/3 days, and one of the first emails we received upon our return was this one:

"Please pray for Sue's husband Sid and the rest of our family. Sue had a massive stroke on Tuesday morning and heavy cerebral bleeding. She was declared brain dead at 4:30 pm Tuesday.
Bev
We are hanging in there with God's help!"

Bev is one of my oldest friends; she was matron of honor in my wedding. Sue is her older sister, I'm guessing about 56y.o.(?). What a shock.

I told DH that I think what really struck me is that this means people our age are starting to die. For some years past, we have been watching as our own parents aged and passed away, as well as the parents of our peers. Most of them are gone now, so now it's our peers themselves who are dying. Sure, we have known some to die really young (Woody Phillips, Larry Eenigenburg, Jim Faber) but they were the exception, not the rule (and in 2 cases they were the sons of fathers who had died very young). And if our peers are "old enuf" to die, that means we could be next!

Mind you, I am a Christian and I do not fear death. On the other hand, I'm no Apostle Paul either, so I'm not saying I'm dying to go to heaven right now either (excuse the pun!). What I most "fear" about the thought of dying relatively young is missing watching my kids grow up, and knowing my grandchildren. I suppose I also "fear" the means of dying -- I don't like pain very much!

Times like this it's really hard to be an ocean away. I should be at that funeral, but all I can do is send my condolences from a distance.

Psalm 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

This joke is a hoot (but also sad b/c it's true)

2007-03-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

Good joke: Zero Tolerance: Then and Now

Do you know about Randy Cassingham? He publishes a weekly e-newsletter called This is True with true outrageous stories he culls from the press & Internet. Subscriptions to This is True are free at http://www.thisistrue.com . Try it out -- he does not sell his mailing list, so you are safe to use your regular email address. Anyway, one of his big beefs is Zero Tolerance, which is esp. evident in the educational sector. So the joke above (from his Jumbo Joke site, [www.jumbojoke.com], which consist mostly of funny true stories, not actual jokes) hits the nail on the head rather painfully...

Randy also publishes a free monthly newsletter called The True Stella Awards, about outrageous lawsuits. The Stella Awards were inspired by Stella Liebeck. In 1992, Stella, then 79, spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee onto her lap, burning herself. A New Mexico jury awarded her $2.9 million in damages, but that's not the whole story. [See http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html for the truth.] Ever since, the name "Stella Award" has been applied to any wild, outrageous, or ridiculous lawsuits -- including bogus cases! He searches for true cases, and you can subscribe by e-mail for free to get the case reports as they're issued. [http://www.stellaawards.com/]

How well traveled I am...

2007-03-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

I thought this would be a pretty interesting quiz since I've actually traveled quite a lot. But for Africa, they only gave you the choice of 4 places I've never been ... not quite fair, since I LIVE in Africa and have travelled to several countries & capitals! The rest, however, is fairly accurate.

Your Travel Profile:

You Are Very Well Traveled in the Northeastern United States (71%)

You Are Very Well Traveled in Western Europe (64%)

You Are Well Traveled in the Midwestern United States (50%)

You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in Canada (40%)

You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in the Southern United States (31%)

You Are Mostly Untraveled in Eastern Europe (20%)

You Are Mostly Untraveled in the United Kingdom (13%)

You Are Mostly Untraveled in Southern Europe (7%)

You Are Untraveled in Africa (0%)

You Are Untraveled in Asia (0%)

You Are Untraveled in Australia (0%)

You Are Untraveled in Latin America (0%)

You Are Untraveled in New Zealand (0%)

You Are Untraveled in Scandinavia (0%)

You Are Untraveled in the Middle East (0%)

You Are Untraveled in the Western United States (0%)

How Well Traveled Are You?

My Kids R Home!

2007-03-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne (Lizzi) & Benjamin got home from Dakar yesterday for Spring Break! They actually left 2 days early b/c our Brazilian co-worker, Alliné de Mota, was returning from a 3-month medical leave. She was to come on Tuesday, so I wrote and asked if she could delay just a couple days, b/c it also saved me making a trip out there and back. They all rode as far as Tamba with Walter, one of the other Brazilian miss'ys who was going to Kédougou, then got a bush taxi to the border, where we picked them up as usual. The only 'glitch' in the whole thing was that the kids were being picked up at 5am and Ben's clock didn't go off! But Walter had forgotten something and had to run home, so they got him up and he was dressed when he got back. It's soooooooo great to have them here!

Politics in Everyday Life

2007-03-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

FIRST OF ALL, HAPPY 3RD BD TO DYLAN H.!

Today I realized that when I think of politics, I mean Republicans & Democrats, House & Senate, Libertarian & Leftie, etc... But at this moment, in our work here in Mali, we are involved in a political brawl of sorts that has nothing to do with parties or elected representatives or any of that. We are trying to dig a well in a remote, dry, crummy little village. But because of ethnic politics, we are being blocked from performing this good work for poor, destitute people who really need water.

Dictionary.com defines politics as:
1. the science or art of political government.

2.	the practice or profession of conducting political affairs.

3.	political affairs

4.	political methods or maneuvers

5.	political principles or opinions:

Pretty straightforward (boring) stuff. But then you get to the definition that describes our situation with the village here:
6.use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control, as in business, university, etc.

Or even better, here's the idiom to "8. play politics:"

a.	to engage in political intrigue, take advantage of a political situation or issue, resort to partisan politics, etc.; exploit a political system or political relationships.

b.	to deal with people in an opportunistic, manipulative, or devious way, as for job advancement.

Now we're getting down to it. Politics is about power.

Here's the situation: We are working in a village which is really 3 villages. Ethnic group A were the original inhabitants of what we'll call the A Quarter. Ethnic Group B has had their own 'neighborhood,' the B Quarter, for as long as anyone remembers. The C Quarter was formed over 15 years ago when the C people group were chased out of their homeland (a country ruled, incidentally, by Ethnic Group A) and became refugees. So the local A's in this particular village invited the C refugees to live in an uninhabited sector of their village, perhaps even seeing it as a kind of compensation for the wrongs perpetrated by their brethren in that other country.

Mind you, the A's were not making any great sacrifice. The reason this sector was uninhabited was that it was nearly uninhabitable. It's very rocky, unsuitable for farming, but not too bad for livestock, and group C just happens to be a shepherding tribe. So for them it wasn't too bad, except for one little detail -- no water. They were able to dig some shallow wells which were filthy, plus each day they would send a donkey cart to the A Quarter, a mile or more away, to fill several barrels with clean well water -- a job which takes about 5 hours daily. So when my DH started visiting the C Quarter, b/c of his interest in this ethnic group, all they could talk about was their need for water. They were coping, but certainly not thriving.

The last time we tried to do a water project for C, the leadership of A said, "Only if you help us first." (This project was a less expensive option than a deep well, a first effort). So we did our project there first, and they said, "The C's can keep coming here for their water. You are not to do a water project there." Within a few months, that water project failed. There were a lot of reasons for this, but could the hand of God have been part of it?

To make a lo-o-o-n-n-n-g-g-g story short, we managed to find some funding for a well in C neighborhood. There is an African-American organization that wants to do a lot of good things for the C's, and the C people have said, If you get us water, you can do anything else you want. There is a C Christian worker who wants to promote education, hygiene, improved animal husbandry, farming, and not incidentally, preach the Gospel. Water is the key to all.

This time, DH asked the C village chief to go to his A counterpart and negotiate. (Let's keep the foreigner out of the picture!) Chief A told Chief C, "That's fine, we're all one here, if you can get a well, go for it!" Mind you, this is a culture where you can never say no to someone's face. So his response was really the only thing he could say within the confines of his world view (but it is also okay to stab your neighbor, at least figuratively, in the back.) Nevertheless, DH decided to go to the next higher political entity, the mayor of the commune, to get official permission. You're supposed to do that anyway, so the government knows what's going on.

So there was a meeting at the mayor's place in another village. The chiefs & elders of A & C were all there. The A's were conspicuously silent. So the mayor wrote up an official document, authorizing the well. They were delighted, in fact, since it is a project of this country for every village and hamlet to have clean water, and they can't afford to do it all.

So the day came for the ground breaking, last Monday the 12th. There were several local officials there to each dig up their token spadeful of dirt. No one from A Quarter tho -- in fact, the mayor said Chief A had called him that morning to lodge a protest. "Why didn't they speak up when we all met together?" asked the mayor. "It's too late now, and besides they know that these people have a right to a well!"

By Tuesday 13th the work had been stopped b/c Chief A contacted the next higher government authority, the prefect, who has authority over the mayor. So now we wait...

Okay, so what is political about all this? Lots of things:
1. The person who controls the water holds the power. If C Quarter gets water, they will be less dependent on the A's.
2. If the little boys of C are freed up from getting the water for 5 hours every day, they will be free to attend the village school, where as yet no C children attend. Education is power, too!
3. Chief A says he fears that if C gets water, more people will come to live there. Again, he feels a threat to his power.

There are ethnic conflicts going on here, too, but this is too long already, and I don't want to go into that anyway. One really hard part is that we have a burden for the A people to be reached with the Gospel as well, and are praying for Christian workers to come to our Region in that capacity. We have showed the J film in the A language twice in the village. We fear that this conflict is cutting us off from future positive contact with these A's. :-(

But I wanna be a political blogger...!

2007-03-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows it's the political bloggers who get famous, like Michelle Malkin or Mike Adams. Occasionally the religious ones make a name for themselves, like Al Mohler, but I'm not quite in his league. We're both Baptist, but that's all.

The problem is that politics make me very uncomfortable. I just hate the partisanship, the nastiness and the name-calling that goes along with it. And I don't like conflict, so I'm not comfortable debating politics.

And I really hate the thought of getting pigeonholed. Like I wasn't really in favor of the war in Iraq in the first place, so that puts me on the side of the Dems or the lefties or the progressives, choose your epithet. But now that we're in Iraq, I think we would be crazy to just pull out -- so I guess I'm a Republican or a conservative or something.

Take gun control -- I believe in the right to bear arms as enshrined in the 2nd Amendment. But I do not see why that right has to extend to assault weapons and all the crazy stuff Mike Adams buys for himself all the time; so I favor some limited gun control. So what am I?

I read about this woman the other day, a conservative evangelical like me, with a son in Iraq (unlike me) who has started peacefully protesting the war. Basically, everyone who thinks the way she does on other issues (pro-life, etc.) reviles her for this, and those who agree with her about the war revile her for her stance on typically conservative issues. Didn't someone say, If everyone hates you, you must be doing something right? I guess that's where she fits in.

So here I am, a non-political blogger, doomed to anonymity.