Here is another fun filled day in Bere'. From the moment I woke up till now I have spent my day serving the people. Every detail would be too long but I will hit the highlights of some of the type of things that I do here.
First I am making milk out of peanuts or soy beans for the babies at the hospital that are malnourished. I do this every morning and every evening while Wendy Roberts is out of town. She will be putting up a nutrition center for women with children that are basically dying from not enough nourishment. I am really hoping to be a part of this mission and I am learning how now. It is always hard to see the little ones suffer this way. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before and it breaks my heart.
I also woke up this morning to a blind man sitting in the dirt right in front of my house. He had his little 3 year old girl and a baby boy about 1 year old. He said that they were hungry and that his baby boy cried all night. Is there anything I can do?
Another person is out there waiting to talk to me. She is pregnant and due any day, has two children already and has taken in her little brother because both parents and grandparents are now dead.
The next major part of my day was joining Naomi at her church. Her church was having a women's meeting. There were women who came from the surrounding churches. The count was 175 women. It is very important to join hands with the locals and let them know you care about what is happening in their lives. Well, when I got there I was afraid and had no idea what I was in for. "Please God help me!" I was welcomed with open arms. As I brought my scooter in I met Naomi we moved it to the back of the building out of the sun. After parking my scooter I rounded the corner to proceed toward the crowd of women. They began singing, dancing, jumping and surrounding me and each person shook my hand. It was so loud with the shout that they do when they are moved with happiness. They sang a song that was interpreted that I was welcome. It was so overwhelming that it is hard to describe how that felt. They were quite the welcoming committee.
We all made our way into the church and the pastor had a sermon he shared about the importance of women in the Bible and their roles. He said that those that are doing good continue doing good no matter what other people may want to say to discourage you. If you know you are doing good just continue. After the sermon, about 30 women got up front and sang a song for me. It talked about how it doesn't matter what color we are or where we are from but one day we will all be together in heaven laughing and singing, we can't wait for that day. It was quite a song. Naomi said she wished I could understand each word as she had tears in her eyes. After a while they had me get up and introduce myself and say something to them. I found this to be such a privilege to be in that position and yes I was nervous. I made it short and sweet and gave God all the glory. Shortly after that we took a break. Naomi and some of the leaders took me to the back of the building. They had me sit in one of their best chairs. Anyone who has ever been to Chad knows that this is not an option. One of the volunteers said to me "just go with it and do whatever they want". I am trying to keep that in mind as they want to give me food and other things that I am thinking would be better for some starving children around the corner. Which brings me to my next endeavor.
I was sitting quietly and all of a sudden I notice a little boy coming around the building very timidly. He had a pair of shorts on that looked would fit a large man. These shorts were torn everywhere. He was too old just to go naked. You could tell he was very shy. He gathered the shorts at the waist and just held on to them. I glance down at his feet and notice his flip flops are held together by tire tube strips and they are shoes for an adult female. I quickly look at Naomi and ask how long is break? We were right next to the market so I tell her I want to go to the market and get this kid some clothes and shoes. She says we have time and we make our way over to my scooter after telling the boy that we want to take him to the market. Once he realized we were taking the scooter his face lit up like he was going to Disney Land. This was the highlight of my day. Doing something like this is the best feeling ever. We get to the market and make our way into the center where there is clothes and shoes displayed. We pick out a shirt and pair of shorts and make our deal with the Arab, he gave in to our price fast since we had the poor boy standing there in front of him. After our purchase we put it on him right there. Then went over and picked out a pair of shoes. He was so happy that he was almost skipping out of there. He definitely had a little strut to his step. As we made our way back over to the scooter to go back to church, people were shouting "May God give you more" in their language. What an experience! When we got back to the church all the women talked among themselves and figured out what we just done and there they go again with singing and dancing and praising God. Needless to say for the rest of the day I had a three foot shadow that followed me everywhere and I loved every minute of it.
After a little church business it was time to eat. It is quite a job to feed 175 women in Africa. Naomi and I helped to serve everyone. The food! They eat this stuff called "boule". What it is is pounded rice cooked then put into a large bowl so it is round when they tip it out. It stays in that shape and then they always have some sort of sauce. Now that is the scary stuff, seriously, you never know what is in it. Sometimes it is just better not to ask. Their favorite is dried fish boule sauce. You're lucky if you get a bite without fish bones. Yuck! Ok, so how you eat boule is like this. You sit on a mat and they bring around a big bowl with a plastic tea pot full of water. You are expected to wash your hands. They place a big round platter in the middle of everyone. On the platter is a very large mold of the rice for everyone to share and a bowl of some sort of sauce. After that with wet hands you take a piece of the rice with your right hand always and only. You then make it into a ball and make an imprint into it so then you can dip it into the sauce and be able to get more sauce with your bite. You are then expected to put it in your mouth without getting it all over the place. Some of their sauce is called long sauce. This stuff is great fun to eat. There is a reason it is called long sauce cause when you dip your rice ball into it then it comes out very long like snot. Then you quickly put it in your mouth. These Africans can eat this stuff too. They are always saying over and over. Eat! Eat! I will have a yummy bit in my mouth chewing away trying to be careful of the sand that is still in the rice so I don't break a tooth and there they are eat! Eat! This is a meal every African has every day. This particular day I was called away to go help another person that was at my home. So I didn't get to participate in the meal that day. :)
"God is good all the time, all the time God is good"!
Blessings,
Tammy
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