Bonding

The experience of staying in a village and eating and sleeping with a family in Ewede was amazing. The compound I stayed at had two mothers with babies so it was constant work cooking and taking care of the children, along with one of the mothers Piyalo showing me around and teaching me how to do things there and new Kabiye words. I loved the experience and getting to know the family, I miss them now that I'm back in Kara.

Cultural Observation

I went to the market again today, but this time it wasn't to look for material or food.. instead it was a time to watch and sit and learn. I sat with a woman named Benedictine also called Eso Wazim "God bless me" in Kabiye and I watched as she worked her booth of clothing in the market. As I sat there I noticed so many people would stare as they passed, but I just enjoyed myself trying to learn new vocabulary and to just see how her life was. It was very interesting to see how she as a mother worked at selling pants all day. She not only had the job of actually making the sales, she had to advertise her products and change money... all while her son whose name translated means "winner" slept or ate the food she purchased for him. I have so much respect for how much energy she had to put out in the few hours I observed her... She was really an amazing woman, another thing that impressed me was how she spoke Kabiye, French and a bit of English... I taught her a few words as she asked and she helped me learn a few as well. It really made me more excited about the weekend of "Bonding" coming up where I will spend three days in Ewede a village near Kara. I've been to the area and I'm excited to meet the people and hopefully be able to learn more and find a better appreciation for their culture and lifestyles.

The internet connection isn't always too reliable with the power outages. On normal days we experience at least a couple during the evening hours usually around dinner. Today we fixed meals for the missionaries, so we split up into groups of three to cook for each of the four families. I cooked with Lacy and Alan, and helped fix up a spaghetti, salad and an apple crisp. It was good to spend time with them and it turned out pretty well. I've really enjoyed the experiences at the market. I still need to learn how to haggle.. It's been good language practice though when you are forced to communicate what you want when you are shopping in a completely different language.

I think my favorite experience here so far was when Brett Emerson took us girls out to a village to practice some Kabiye and we played some soccer with them. There was an older woman who came over to us while we were there, she couldn't speak french, but she was very willing to help us learn more Kabiye words. She seemed to really enjoy us being there and was continually giving me a big grin. When we were getting ready to go, she took my arms and started to say things in Kabiye I couldn't understand. From what I could understand I realized she was giving me a blessing. I felt as if I would cry, she was being so kind to me... a stranger who just drove into her village and tried to speak with her... I'm so amazed by the love I've seen in strangers here, and hope that they see God's love through the missionaries, the interns and most importantly through each other.

I really appreciate the entire team I'm here with. All the interns have been great, us girls living together have bonded and become a little family. We all have so much fun in the evenings when we're all together after each days experiences are over. Thank you for all your prayers as we've been learning and trying to keep healthy.

Pictures

This above picture is of some of the children who played with us after we had car trouble heading to Kara. They asked Mary Margaret to take a picture of them with me, there were so many crowding around that not all of them would fit in the picture :)

This picture is of the first church we visited in Lassa tchou, it was cool to see how they involved all ages in the service. The speaker even stopped at one point to question the younger ones to see if they understood the lesson.

Market

So today was nice and cool at around 80 this morning. I can't believe how much cooler it felt after the rain fell this morning. I'm the lead teacher for the preschool, so today I started planning for class and afterwards we all had Kabiye lessons. It's so exciting how much I learn each day, not only about the people here, but about myself. Keep us in your prayers as Mary Margaret has been ill today with a fever of 104-101. Hopefully tomorrow she will be able to join us in the village for a worship service with the locals. I'm really excited and looking forward to using more Kabiye and french. Today after a short nap Angela and I walked around the town looking at the Market and seeing what was being sold in walking distance of the house. We ended up chatting in Kabiye with two women using sewing machines, it was good practice for us. Then we walked toward the other side of the area where there is more farmland and spoke in french with a few people, which was hilarious. It's hard to always understand what they are saying and often they don't understand us. Probably because of accents, but it always creates laughter. It's been tons of fun and such an adventure :) I love you all and hope you are growing each day as well!