Kabiye Women's Retreat

This weekend I had opportunity to stay in a village with a couple of the other missionary women and go to a retreat for Kabiye women in Soumdina Powayi. Among the women from our team, Becky Reeves, Grace Hangen, Jacque and I along with two of our 6th grade students, Hannah and Maddie all stayed the night in the village. We slept in a schoolhouse situated near the church in Soumdina Powayi and the meetings were held at desks that were pulled together under a large tree nearby the schoolhouse. I had such a great experience singing, praying and reading scriptures along women who shared my faith, but not my language. At the beginning of the retreat on Saturday afternoon we split into small groups where we read scripture and prayed together.

Jacque befriended a woman named Julianne in her small group the first night who made sure to keep us both included in activities throughout our night there. We both were able to watch as the woman prepared our dinner for the night, moto (cornflour and water), in a huge pot over a fire stirring with one large wooden spoon (about 4 ft long) and two smaller wooden spoons. Then Julianne offered to have both of us try to stir the thick mixture. It was quite an interesting experience after watching these strong women hand over the large spoon to me to spend only a few moments wrestling with a wooden spoon and an unfamiliar mixture and tire myself within seconds.

After we had helped with the cooking Julianne began singing to me in English "Remember Me O Lord" after singing along with her she taught Jacque and I the French and Kabiye versions of the song. Soon we were singing Ameya, one of the Kabiye songs we remember enough words to sing on our own, and she and a friend of hers joined in. It was beautiful standing there with two women I had only just met and Jacque who I have been blessed with living with for this year. Singing and praising the Lord together crossed our cultural and language barriers and although it was only for a short time, that moment made my weekend :)