Bounce...Bounce....Bouce....goes the 6 sisters in the white veils....and that other white woman

January 20, 1009

I know I haven’t written in a few days and I honestly feel bad if I don’t catch up with what the entire day’s activities were. And…it’s kind of good for me to remember it all and write it down. Thank you to all of you who have written me emails! I absolutely love getting emails. You know…mail is always good too. J I’m not sure if everyone got my Address yet and I know I said I would put it up here so…here it is:

Jennifer Bourdon

P.O. Box 2657

Serrekunda

The Gambia

West Africa

Phone number:

Cell number: 011-220-799-8453 (you can get a hold of me anytime)

I know that it looks a little weird since there is no zip or postal code, but it’s a real address and it should get to me. I asked Sr. Odile today if that address would work and she said yes. And I know it’s probably really expensive to call but I thought I would just put it down just in case anyone would happen to need it.

One other thing that I’ve really been thinking of and keep forgetting to mention. I know before I left there were a lot of people asking what they could help with, what they could donate, etc. And you know, being here now realizing what there is a need for (obviously this is just my own list of what I’ve seen being in school and whatnot). One thing I’ve noticed is that the kids really need good pencils, the small note books (since they’re only up to grade 3), individual pencil sharpeners, and good erasers. It seems as if there are never enough of any of these things and its kind of nice to have a good supply for each class. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the kids –being kids and loving to play outside with anything that looks like a ball- need sports equipment. If you read one of my previous posts you read that I took the girls to play volleyball and I had 100 girls and 1 ball. That really is not an exaggeration. 1 ball = 100 girls. And the boys want to play too. If there is anything I can suggest it would be that the kids need volleyballs, soccer balls, and skipping ropes. They don’t seem to play anything else since there is no grass to play on. But really anything would help. These are obviously just suggestions since people were asking. I’ll update the list if need be. Thank you to all of those of you who have sent stuff already. And again, I could never thank the people who supported me in getting here. It has definitely been hard this past week with everything being so new but I’m anxious to see how the Lord is going to work and I’m grateful for being here. I really am, so THANK YOU so much.

Sunday morning I woke up at 6:00am to get ready for the day ahead. I didn’t really know what to expect (just as it has been for most of the experience already) but I did know that Sr. Cecile, Sr. Sue and I were going to go out to the villages to distribute communion. Because there are so many small communities and many families don’t have the luxury of owning a car, many people cannot get into a surrounding town for mass. So since the sisters have been here they have been going out into the communities near Brikama and to have lay services. We dropped Sr. Sue off in Kimbojeh - a community just outside of Brikama and we went on to the next community – Faraba Banta. It’s quite neat because we pulled up off of this back road (now when I say “back road” think of the worst gravel or sand road you’ve ever been on. Now….multiply it by 200…and now you have the road that we drove on. I guess since they get such heavy rains, it washes out the roads and makes HUGE pot holes. Some days I feel like I’m on my own little safari trip sitting in the back of the little Nissan truck the sisters have. Bounce…Bounce….Bounce. It’s s good thing that we sometimes have to cram into it like sardines because then we at least stay put and aren’t bouncing everywhere. It’s quite hilarious seeing 6 sisters wearing their white veils and me sitting in the middle in the back. I’m sure people look at us like we’re crazy.) So we pull up to this little church that has a statue of St. Patrick in front of it. Sr. said that they must have decorated for Christmas since they had arches from the gate to the church made out of tall twisted palm tree branches. I’ve never seen anything like it but it must have been beautiful around Christmas. There were only about 10 people standing in front of the church waiting for us, so we went in and as the celebration started more and more people came in until the church was almost full. They have a lay service (a lay service happens when there is no priest available. The sisters are fortunate enough to be able to distribute communion and they do the Sunday readings.) When we left there was a woman who ran home to get to Papayas to give to us. As we’re pulling away she hands them to me through the truck window saying something in Mandinka, which sister translated “this is to welcome you to the Gambia.” These people are beyond welcoming. We picked Sr. Sue up and headed back into Brikama for mass. Sr. Cecile and Sr. Sue take the first communion kids for Sunday School and so I went into the church (since we were late) and sat in the back with Sr. Catherine. The mass was absolutely beautiful! One thing I absolutely love about the Catholic Church is that it is the same everywhere, obviously with a different twist (meaning that when you’re in Africa, they play African worship music but the liturgy stays the same.) It was so wonderful to be a part of and I’m excited to see it all up close more and more. Everyone wears their BEST dress or suit to mass and being here I’ve realized how beautiful these people dress. I can’t even explain it because it’s hard to portray what it looks like, hopefully I can get a few pictures of it up on here. But the women buy this beautiful colorful material and made a skirt and matching top and then they wear the traditional head tie to match as well. It’s all SO colorful. I was wearing a colorful sun dress that I had bought back home and I felt so underdressed and plain. I guess that’s just what I’m used to in Canada, but here I find my clothing looks so plain. The one thing I find strange in mass is when going to receive our Lord’s precious body people just randomly get up and go. They don’t just file out like we do at home, people just get up whenever they want and go. The first time I saw this I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to go or if it was just certain people getting up or what. It was quite confusing, but now I know. When they play music, it’s all African drums and singing. Again…I’m not sure I could ever explain what it is like but it’s so beautiful. Definitely makes me feel like I’m in Africa. Both of the priests that I have had to opportunity to see celebrate mass have been very good. I appreciate the honesty of the African people and when the priest gets up to say his homily he doesn’t spare any opportunity to tell people the truth. I think we need many more priests like that back home….well in fact we don’t only need more priests like that, we need more followers like that. I find for myself, I realize that by being convicted by the truth – you either face the truth head on, or turn away from it. And from being around these people more and more I realize how their “forward” attitude has really convicted me in my own faith. If I can’t even face the truth in my own heart, how can I face the truth in my own surroundings?

After mass we went back home to change before we went out to Makasutu – a hotel that has wildlife and it has an African theme to it. Oh…I forgot, the Billington’s (the couple from England) attended mass with us and came to all of the days activities. The owners from Makasutu buy eggs from the sisters so they said that whenever we wanted a tour and dinner we could come to visit. So seeing that the Billington’s were there they thought it would be a good opportunity to visit. I went along too since I hadn’t been there yet, either. We had to drive out of Brikama and take this old dirt road – just as bad as the one we drove on in the morning. It was about a 20 minute drive and we were all crammed in the truck. When we got there, we parked and when we walked into the area where the restaurant was, I realized that it was on the Gambian river. You walk in and the restaurant is all open with tents that have huge furniture that look like it would be fit for a king. It’s all dark wood with a teal color for the cushions with white curtains that were flowing in the wind. I’ve only seen something like it in magazines. They had a pool right in the middle and when you walked a little bit farther there was a dock with benches to sit and look over the river. When we reached the dock you could see, just off to our left, house boats! The sun was shining and I just kept thinking, “wow, this is so beautiful.” Just off of the dock you walk through a bunch of trees to what looks like little houses with verandas on the top. We were able to go in and take a look and what we realized was that they were the hotel rooms! I guess for a night you would pay 8,000 dallasis. But I can see why….it’s so beautiful! You walk in and everything is covered with that same dark wood, teal and white and red decorations. It definitely had an African feel to it. There was a huge bed that had a beautiful mosquito net covering it, an outdoor shower and a spiral staircase that lead to the top of the room where you could go out of the veranda to sit and relax in the sun. One strange thing was that as we were walking, Helen (Mrs. Billington) bumped into a friend of hers that she hadn’t seen for a while! They were staying there. What a small world! That two people from the same town in England, who hadn’t seen each other for a long time would bump into each other in small little Gambia?! We all had a good laugh over it. After touring the hotel we sat under a tent and had dinner. It was all so beautiful and I couldn’t believe that I was actually sitting in Africa under a tent having dinner. I think it was then that it actually hit me that I was here. We drank Baobob juice – which is juice made out of the fruit off of the boabob tree. You know when you look at a desolate African desert scene and see what looks like a dry African tree? That’s the Boabob tree. It has a huge trunk and is such a tall tree. The juice was very tasty.

After we left, we went back to the house for a few minutes and I played volleyball with the girls. Well…I taught them how to pass. We only had a few minutes so we didn’t get to so much but I really think that when we actually get the opportunity to play they will like it. We loaded back up into the truck and heading to Abuko – a wildlife trail. I’m not sure why, but I never even thought of snakes until we got there and the tour guide said something about it. I immediately froze and Sr. Sue saw my reaction. She began to laugh hysterically because she’s afraid of snakes and she recognized that I was too. I think I spent the entire tour looking at my feet. We got to see monkeys jumping from tree to tree above us and they would even come up close to us. It’s so funny because the monkeys think that when they turn their backs to us that they automatically become “invisible”. So we would see them come right up to us on a tree branch and then turn their backs and every once in a while turn they’re head to see if we’re looking at them. It was so cute. We saw lots of monkeys and tons of birds. The thing that intrigued me the most were the trees. They’re so huge and so many different kinds in the forest. We came to a pond that had crocodiles in it and we actually saw one looking for something to eat. At the end of the tour we came to a fenced in area where they had laughing hyenas. We didn’t get to hear them laugh but we did get to see them. Wow…they look just like they portray them in cartoons in the movies. It was so cool! I’ve seen little ones before but not at all like these. They’re like HUGE dogs! Apparently they were supposed to have had lions but the one they had died because the snakes attacked them. I just though…”oh my…” I know that St. Patrick has been watching over me because I haven’t seen one yet. And, the entire time we were on the trail I didn’t see any! Praise God…I guess they’re supposed to be hanging from the trees and all, but Sr. Sue didn’t tell me that until we were long gone and at home. I almost had a heart attack when she told me that. Thank the Lord I didn’t see one. The Billington’s are wanting to go back because we didn’t get to see the whole trail since it was too late, but heck no…I’m not going. Especially now that I know there’s pythons that are supposed to be hanging from the trees. Eecctthh….

We took the Billington’s back to Shalom and I sat in the back of the truck and relaxed for the 45 minute drive back. It must have looked funny to Sr. Sue- who was driving- because every 5 minutes I sunk down into the seat a little bit more. I was So tired! I think at one point I was lying on the back seat taking a bit of a nap. We were all so tired when we got home, and even when I woke up the next morning my first thought was that I wished I could’ve slept all day. But we were up early for mass and then the first day of school for me. And boy was it interesting. I realized that my first grade class was…..well I’ll put it politely….very misbehaved. Haha. Thank you Lord. J I know the Lord is teaching me a lot of patience through this. What the sisters have me doing is helping the kids who are a bit slower with their learning. There are about 12 in the class and I’m not sure of any of their names, but there are these 2 little boys who sit right in the front row together and they are absolutely adorable. They’re supposedly 5 and 6 years old but they look like they’re three because they’re so small. If anything, they really make me smile when I walk into class. Today I was trying to teach them what a “fence” was. It was in one of the sentences and they were having a hard time with the pronunciation and how to spell it and what it really was. But one of the smaller little boys – when asked what a fence was- said, “it’s a big thing that you make with cement. You pour the cement, and then you make it really tall…etc.” and on and on he went. I had to just push my lips together to try not to smile because he was SO cute when he was saying it. And…in some way he was right because their “fences” around here are brick walls to keep out the animals, so he was kinda right. But it was absolutely adorable. I’m excited to work with these kids and I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot from them, even if it’s patience. Who knows…they’ll probably teach me more than the adults because just as the kids are learning from square one, so am I.

I have to admit that I came home yesterday with the wonder in my mind of why I had really come here. I know that the evil one was really working because when I came home I felt like I had no purpose in being here. “what was I really going to do to make a difference here? I’m too different and no one will care about what I have to offer here.” I guess these are a few things that went through my mind and even though it seems easy to just say, “well, I know I’m here for a reason,” I was pretty close to jumping back on a plane and coming home. That’s obviously me being very honest and I’m sorry if it’s too honest. It’s taken a lot to get used to this culture and I’m still having a very difficult time. I only expect that I will be used to it when I’m almost ready to come home….and then I suppose I’ll miss it. We definitely become accustomed to what we are familiar with and it’s hard to detach ourselves from what can become comfortable in our lives. That’s what I think I was dealing with and I’m realizing that it’s ok to do something different, and it’s ok feel uncomfortable. Those are the times that are the most rewarding because you really get to take a look at yourself and realize who you are and what you are worth to yourself and not to anyone else. And slowly but surely I’ll get the hang of all of this.

Today we woke up early again for mass and then school once again. It was another day of testing but for some reason I was up for the challenge, so it turned out to be a better day. I forgot to mention our ride home. After school is out we ride the bus….with all the kids. Think about the school but you rode from school. Think about that being packed with 200 kids yelling and screaming at each other. I think when I rode the bus home when I was a kid we had about 50 kids…..maybe. I honestly don’t know how we even pack 200 kids on a bus but it’s not a long ride for most of them. All the teachers always pile on last and we sit in the first few seats- packed together with a child on each of our laps (if not two children). It’s very hot and all the kids are yelling but in some way, I actually look forward to it because that’s part of what I came here to experience. No not yelling kids, but in some sense a realization of what life is all about. These kids bring me back to what is most important in life – the simplicity of loving who you are and who the Lord created you to be.

We got home and had a bit of lunch and then everyone took a rest. They call a rest – a siesta. So the sisters always ask, “how was your siesta?!” Everyone likes to take a rest in the afternoon, which I appreciate too.

So yes, things have been busy the past few days and I’m glad that I’m learning new things every day. It’s difficult trying to step out of my comfort zone but it’s a good thing to learn a few news things.

I sure hope everyone is doing well! Please email me, I wouldn’t mind to hear more about home and how things are.

In Jesus and Mary,

Jen