Hello!
I haven't gotten as far as I would like in updating my blog, BUT I wanted to inform everyone that we will have a new addition coming to us here in Brikama! My friend Josh Thorn from Milwaukee, WI is coming for a three month stay and he actually leaves tomorrow (Sunday, May 23, 2009) and will get here on Monday. I would ask that you would keep him in your prayers as he is travelling and for his stay here. The sisters are excited to have him as he will be helping out alot with the school as well as at poultry. When the Lord give, He gives abundantly. I'm excited to see him as well as have an American Companion. You will hear more about him in my blogs I'm sure. Things have been incredibly busy and I am hoping to be compltely updated soon! please keep me in your prayers, my heart is so content here, and if the Lord wants me to come back home and stay for good...I'm sure my heart will completely shatter. So please, if you have any room for extra prayers, please pray that the Lord's will would be done in my life, that if He calls me back here - there would be a way to get back OR if He is calling me to stay home in Canada - that my heart would slow detatch itself from here. Honestly, if I never thought I would love a place and the people so much.
I miss everyone!
In Jesus and Mary,
Jen
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A new appreciation for the market, a relaxing view of the ocean, an engagement party and our Parish feast...what more could a girl ask for?
Sunday, April 25, 2009
Why hello all! I’ll continue with where I left off.
This week was Sr. Bernadette’s birthday and I think everyone loves it when there is a birthday in the house because we get to celebrate! And what better week to celebrate than during the week after Easter! We have a lot to be thankful for! Fried chicken and chips were on the menu and of course ice cream for desert. I think Sr. Bernadette was pretty happy that it was her birthday just as we all would be if it was ours.
I know that you might all be shocked to hear this news but….I have learnt to absolutely LOVE the market. HAHA….I even have to laugh at that statement because the view I had of the market before, I think I’ve done a complete 180. Those are the things that when I look back, I realize how out of my comfort zone I have come while being here. I think that it’s a great thing because I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. On the other hand, I’ve learnt to not really like the tourist markets. When you go to the market everyone is excited to meet you and they know that if they get you in their store that they can get a good price for things but they won’t harass you like a lot of the tourist market shops. They will just let you look, ask your name and where you come from and let you be on your way if you want but the tourist market, they keep you there until you buy something OR ELSE they keep you there trying to sell you something that you don’t want and you end up buying it just to get them off your back. Haha…sounds stupid I know but I guess if you do it enough it becomes a lifestyle. The Brikama craft market, I like. That is because I know people from there now and they are friendly. But other tourist markets, I have learnt to dislike them. Over the last few weeks I have slowly put my foot in the Brikama market and I am loving every opportunity I get to go. I think I was so afraid to go because I couldn’t understand people and I didn’t know the prices of anything. And another good reason is because I wasn’t used to being in such close proximity of so many people. But I enjoy going now, I enjoy the people and I enjoy bartering for prices for things. I started out by just asking around for the prices of things and I realized that once you get to know people first when you go into their shop, they realize that I’m not just a tourist and I always make sure they give me the “Gambian price” not the “toobob price”. I had one encounter with a gentleman who tried to sell me a pair of shoes for 80 dallasis and I knew the price for them was only 55 or 60 dallasis. When he said 80 dallasis, I looked at him and laughed and said, “haha…you think I just got here don’t you?” He smiled and said, “How long have you been here?” My reply was, “long enough to know that the price for those shoes is not 80 dallasis.” He laughed again and asked me how much I would pay for them. I ended up getting them for 60 dallasis. By the end of it there were many people around us wondering what the both of us were laughing at and they knew that he was trying to get a good price for the shoes but they also knew that I’m not new around here. The prices for things vary but there are many things that you just know the prices for and really only real toobob’s pay a different price for them. Every time I go to the market I allot myself at least an hour longer than what I think it will take me to get what I need because I always meet up with many people that I know and I always meet at least five new people who want to know who I am and where I come from. I realized this a long time ago, but what a smile does when it’s put on your face is like a title wave around here. I can’t even explain it. I think that when people see that you enjoy what you are doing and where you are they want to just say hello and they see the beauty of your soul through your smile. I won’t have anyone acknowledge me until I have a smile on my face and then I honestly can’t get out of the market without people stopping me to say hello. A smile can break so many barriers and it touches more people’s lives than only the one that you are smiling at.
Thursday the sisters went out to sell eggs and as much as I wanted to go, I knew that if I didn’t stay back to get my laundry done that it wouldn’t get done for another whole week. So I stayed back and did all my washing. I don’t want to toot my own horn, BUT….what was once a huge embarrassing task has become an item on my resume. No, I’m just kidding I’m not THAT good but it’s still a task that I have accomplished. Thank the Lord I’ve had every opportunity to wash my own clothes because otherwise I would never know how to properly wash clothes by hand. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to get made fun of and plenty of time to watch how the girls actually do it properly. At this point when I have the time, I enjoy doing it.
On Friday afternoon I took some time to make sure I got down town Brikama for around 2pm because that is the time that the Muslims have their prayers. I’m not sure if it’s like this everywhere but in the Gambia when it’s the Muslim’s prayer day, the streets close at least one hour before prayers and almost all of the shops close from 2-230. I knew that this happened but I hadn’t yet witnessed it so Friday afternoon I took a little walk and I saw how all of the men gather in and infront of the mosques, each with their own mat. And they’re all jammed together, right next to one another. It’s crazy to see. Women are not allowed to enter the mosque so there are no women around when it’s close to 2pm. I felt really out of place and as much as I would’ve liked to take a picture just to be able to show everyone at home…I would never because I would get ran after. Haha…and it’s rude. When I got home all the sisters and I left for Shalom, which is in Fajara for a meeting that they had with the rest of the communities. I’m sure I’ve explain what Shalom is but this weekend I’ve had a new outlook on the place because I had more time to look around. Like I said, we left in the afternoon and since everyone was going I was excited that I got to ride in the back of the truck the entire way there. I got to see all of what they call “Coastal Road” (the road along the coast where all the hotels are – we deliver eggs on this road) in a new light. I got to look around and see things I’ve never noticed before. When we arrived at Shalom we got to pick where we wanted to stay since no one was using the retreat center this weekend. There are a few different buildings that a person can stay and I stayed in the one that had individual rooms with individual bathrooms. What I learnt from Sister Susan was that Sr. Cecile was the one who started the entire retreat center. That was back in the 70’s though and the gradual changes to the place are honestly so beautiful! When you get to Shalom you go through the gate and right in front of you is a view of the sky, you would be able to see the ocean except that the grounds are kinda on the edge of a cliff. To your left is the convent where the sisters stay as well as the formation house. The formation house keeps the young postulants. There is a new building that was put up and I’m sure that it’s for retreats as well as any guests that come. This building overlooks the ocean and has a beautiful veranda to walk out on to enjoy the scenery. There is a part of the convent (I think it’s part of it) where Pope John Paul II stayed when he came to the Gambia. This also overlooks the ocean and has a huge screened in veranda. In my honest opinion, if I stayed out there, I would move my bed out there and sleep during the night since it’s nice and cool and there are few mosquitoes since it’s screened in. There is also a fireplace in the room. Going back to when you come into Shalom, on your right hand side is the retreat center where there is a huge conference/meeting room, there is a huge dining hall and this building also has dormitories that have their own bathroom. This is where I stayed. Many of the other sisters stayed here too. Just next to that dormitory/building there is another dormitory but this one is for two people and there is one common bathroom. As you go a bit farther on the path from the retreat center to the dorm rooms to the next door room building you see the chapel. The chapel also over looks the ocean and the tabernacle is in the shape of a lighthouse. The light is very visible during the night and it’s said that men in ships actually are directed by the light. It’s really neat and I wish I could see what it looked like from their angle. The landscaping in the yard is phenomenal. I said this the entire weekend, “I wish my mom and dad were here to see this! My mom would absolutely love the plants!” One thing about the flowers here in the Gambia is that you never have trouble growing the same color. There are so many different colors of flowers! Sr. Sarian is the designer and the gardener does all the planting and gardening but trust me, I felt like I was in a beautiful hotel resort this weekend. It’s gorgeous. The funny thing is that I’ve been there so many times to deliver eggs but I’ve never seen it in this way. When we got all settled into our rooms the sisters started their meeting and I decided to take a look around. As I was looking around my mom called so I talked to her for a bit and then I decided to go down to the beach. Just at the edge of the hill or sort of cliff there is a big fence that separates the land from the sisters and someone else. The someone else is trying to build a hotel right in front of Shalom, but there has been a halt in construction because they’re trying to stop him from building there since it will cut off the view from Shalom. It really would be sad if they built a big hotel right in front. The sisters have such a nice view and many people come there for retreats so it’s nice and peaceful. So I went through the gate and I had to walk around their construction to get down to the real drop off. To the left of Shalom is a compound with apartment buildings and right in between Shalom and the apartments is a long brick driveway that leads straight down to the drop off. When I walked down and realized that there was no way I could get down to the water I looked and looked and the only way down was to go into the compound with the apartment building and use their stairs. I was just wishing that I could’ve gotten down to see the water and stand on the big rocks but I couldn’t see a good way to actually get there. Just then the guard/watchman who was on shift opened the gate just to check everything out (not because he heard me because I was really quiet) and I asked him if there was any way down from here. He said, “ no but if you want you can come through here.” I was so glad! So I got to see the apartment yard as well as go down to the beach. When I got down to the water, there were huge rocks that were piled up and since it was evening the tide was coming back so the water was coming closer and closer to the rocks. I took a little bit of a walk down the beach but to do that I had to climb through some of the rocks. It was really really beautiful. I only stayed for a bit since we were about to have some supper so I thanked the watchman for letting me in and climbed back up the hill through the construction to go for supper. I knew that I was going to be coming back to the apartments on the next day because Sr. Cecile said that the sisters know the owner and she would let me use their pool, which I was very happy about. Supper was great and the sisters are always good company. I sat next to Sr. Rozine and she always makes me laugh. She usually has a serious face on her even when she is joking around, so when I laugh at her she tells me to stop laughing. Even though I don’t know if she really is joking about me stopping laughing at her, I still laugh because she’s really funny. In many ways she reminds me of my college volleyball coach, Raftyn. Her personality and fight is what reminds me most of Raftyn. After supper was done, the young sisters were to do a presentation on the life of Blessed Mother Rivier and St Paul. I was invited to sit in and watch and oh boy did we laugh. It was really informative and good, although the young sisters dressed up and even Sr. Bernadette tried to shrink down to make herself look like tiny little Mother Rivier. Oh we had a few good laughs. After that Sr. Sue and I walked around the yard for a bit to catch some of the breeze and then everyone headed for bed. Sr. Sue and I often will take a little stroll at the house in Brikama and we usually link arms and just talk. I enjoy spending time with her chatting. We always end up laughing at each other.
I woke up in the morning for mass and went straight to the chapel. Bishop Cleary was saying mass for us and we had morning prayers as well. Then we had breakfast and the sisters started their meetings again for the day. I went to the apartments with two of the postulants to ask if I could use their pool but the lady was out for a few hours. The postulants were leaving back for their assigned visits and so they said for the maid to remember me and made sure I went back to check with her. So what I did, since it was still early and there was a nice cool breeze coming in through my windows, I pulled my mosquitoe net back over my bed and went back to bed for a few hours. When I woke up, I dressed and went back to the apartments to see if I could meet with the lady and the maid had already talked to her about it so I chatted with her for a bit and then she showed me the pool. It was gorgeous. The apartments were built for people who come and go. You pay per night and it is pretty expensive but the nice thing about it is that it’s like a hotel since you get a maid who cleans the apartment. Each room has a balcony that leads outside to where there is grass (!! Which you rarely see, so I was excited!) and then a tiled area where the pool is. When you are looking westward you see the pool and then the ocean right in front of you. When you walk a bit further, you go back onto some grass and then down a set of wooden steps that lead to the beach. This is how I got down to the beach the night before. What I did right away was sit down on a beach lounge chair on the side of the pool so I had a view of the pool and the ocean. I just sat there for a few moments enjoying that I was able to just hang out there for the day and then jumped into the pool. It was a really nice clean pool and what I liked about it was that it was deep so I could dive in. For the majority of the time I spent reading and just relaxing by the pool. I went down to the beach for a little bit but I didn’t stay long since it’s unsafe to stay around the beach area by yourself since there are not very many people except for the young men who lurk around waiting for tourists to harass. I was informed this by a nice gentleman, who I’ll actually call my “angel” for that day. I sat by the rocks for a bit and enjoyed the sand and then I went back up to sit by the pool. I’m such a beach bum…or maybe I should say water bum since I just love to sit by the water on a hot day. I think the temperature got to around 100 degrees but you don’t feel it by the ocean. I think people like to try to give me something to do for the day if they are busy but honestly, I’m most content just sitting in the sun reading and being alone. My sisters and I always do that at the beach when we go in the summer. I sat by the pool until around 230 since I knew that the sisters were having lunch and they told me to come back for it. So I went back and after lunch everyone else went for their siesta and I went back to the pool to spend the rest of the afternoon there. It was awesome. When I got back, there was a gentleman sitting by the pool, the only other person there except for the security guard. His name was Roger, as I later found out, and he’s a business man who is from Lyberia. We got into a good discussion about the culture clashes, and to be honest the entire conversation was a clash of views. I’m always amazed at Muslim culture and I will never be able to grasp the ideology that it contains. Life is just very different and the gender differences are extremely different. When most men who come from countries like that meet American women they are appalled at the lack of “respect” that we would give them. And it’s not that I wouldn’t give him the respect that he deserves but for men in a Muslim society, women are treated very different and there are many expectations for them. As for American’s, I’m going to do my own thing and realize that we both come from differing cultures. I’m not someone who likes to back down when I know that no one except me can change my view about something (my family knows this very well) but there were many times we laughed because he knew I was stating my point of view and that he couldn’t change it. Anyway, it was a good conversation and everytime I talk to someone like that, I gain more knowledge about the culture differences in the world. What a small but HUGE world we live in.
I ended up going back to Shalom at around 6pm after having a good chat with the three security guards who were at the entrance of the apartment buildings. This was by far one of my favorite conversations’ here in the Gambia so far since even though one liked to joke around and ask me for money (since I’m a white) I’ve learnt a few tricks to defend myself. I think that many white people just automatically give people like that money and…I always make them work for it, since he has a good paying job. While he tried to get money from me, the other two laughed and laughed. Not at me…at him since they both knew I was holding my own and that he wasn’t getting anywhere. When he said, “why are you laughing?” They said, “Haha…because this lady isn’t a white, she’s a Gambian. She knows what she’s talking about.” HAHA…I just laughed when I heard him say that. The best part about it, was that even though we were all laughing he knew that I respected him but I also knew that he respected me and that we would both walk away from the conversation friends. Those are the types of converstations when people say, “you will never know what a culture is like until you sit with the people that live in that culture everyday” that I realize how alike we all are. The Lord has allowed me to see the beauty of this culture in the people of the Gambia. I’m more than grateful for this experience. My life will never be the same having gone through this. Thank you again for giving me this opportunity.
So I got back to Shalom and the sisters were still busy so I went and cleaned up a bit and relaxed in my room until supper. After supper everyone packed up and left for home. Sr. Josephine had left earlier in the day since her sister was getting engaged and they had the engagement ceremony at their home in Brikama. When we all packed in the truck and left for home Sr. Odile, Sr. Bernadette, and Sr. Catherine decided that when we got home we would go to the ceremony. When we pulled up to the house you could hear the music from a mile away. There were tons of people and we walked into the compound and found many people all over. Many were dancing to the music and there were several elderly people there. We went to find Sr. Josephine and she was in the house with her family. We greeted everyone (I’ve met her mother and father before) and then just sat down enjoying the music and talking. When some of the music was good Sr. Catherine (who loves to dance) and Sr. Bernadette (who seems to love to dance also) started dancing and of course, I did too. Although I was the student learning from the masters. I can dance but there are certain moves for the different types of tribes. So it seems. It’s really not difficult but it’s neat to witness. It was awesome. I went outside to watch some of the others dancing and what I like about Africa, it doesn’t matter whether you are an old ma or pa or a young kid, everyone dances! It’s great. And I don’t mean just dances, I mean really gets into it. Back home an elderly person would dance some of the old time dance stuff, like polkas or waltzs but here, they’ll dance to anything! It’s great to see. Dancing, music and loud noise it a huge part of this culture and I feel like when I go home I’m going to think everything is toned down and quiet. I really love the culture here. We met with Sr. Jos’s sister and greeted everyone again and then we went home. As we were walking out of the compound we saw some of the girls from the hostel. I haven’t seen them all for about a week so we were excited to see each other. When we past the church on our way home we decided to stop and see how the preparations for the Parish feast were going. Some of the men and women from the church were in Father’s back yard making all the food for the next day’s event. Everything was going smoothly and everyone was working really hard. I’m not sure what time they went to bed but we were on our way home going straight for out beds. Everyone was tired.
In the morning everyone got to sleep in since there was no schedule for outstations since preparations for the feast were going on. So we slept in a got ready for mass. Since the church is named, “The Resurrection Parish” they always celebrate their parish feast on the Sunday after Easter. It’s a huge event and it’s a big fundraiser too. Father Tony was the Celebrant for mass and he did a great job. Father Gabisis and Father Bruno were also celebrating. The church was packed and the music was exceptional. I was thinking the entire time, how much our parish at home would love to see this so because there was a gentleman taping the entire mass I asked him afterwards if I could get a copy to bring home. I’m so glad…so everyone will get to see what mass here in the Gambia is like! I’m excited to show all of you! Mass was beautiful.
After mass, lunch was served to all the priest and sisters and everyone stayed to enjoy the day. Everything was held in the church parking lot and we were all glad that the huge trees shaded us from the hot sun. All the sisters from the other communites came to spend the day as well as most priests from the diocese and a lot of Church members. I met many people as well as enjoyed a lot of good food, music and company. I always love watching the young kids play the drums, sing and dance and at one point there was a group in the back of the church playing. It was really awesome to witness. You can’t help by start dancing along with them. That day was beautiful and I know I’ve only been here for less than 4 months but the people in this parish as well as the community make me feel like I’ve been a member of the community for years. I appreciate it so much. I will never forget the hospitality of this community.
Monday began the third term of school at AMR and I have to admit that because the break was so busy I was more tired going into the week than I thought I would be after 10 days of break. We had a new addition to the AMR family, Nina the new cook. She and Saba are working together now to plan and make meals and she is so nice. Right away when I met her there was something that just attracted me to her and I didn’t know why I really liked her. I then realized how much she reminds me of my oldest sister, Eryn. Honestly, Eryn…if you’re reading this, you have a black twin. If I’ve ever seen someone who looks like you, talks like you, is a “motherly” person like you…it’s Nina. I just love that she reminds me of Eryn since it’s kind of like having a piece of home around here. Nina is awesome and I love that she’s so nice…and an amazing cook! She and Saba do a good job.
The week went good and Sr. Odile informed us that we should be handing in our teaching plans to her this week. I was exempt from it before since I was new but I assume she thinks its good for me to experience what a real teacher has to do. Its good for me to plan because it helps the kids be focused and I know what I’m doing week to week. So we’re back at it and I hope to see some good progress this term. The exams weren’t very good for my students since when you can’t read…how can you do a test? Haha…oh boy, I can see why Bill Cosby used to laugh hysterically on the show, “Kids say the darndest things”. I had some of the most creative answers on their tests. Oh well…I will never forget these kids and I sure hope they can remember me. I spend almost every day with them and some days I get upset with them but most days I have to turn my face to the blackboard and almost die laughing at something that one of them will say. I wish all of you could meet them, I feel like you already do and then I have to remember that only words could never ever explain the personalities or how each of these kids has touched my life.
I’ll leave you with a familiar but applicable quote, “Life is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re going to get.” Never in my life would I have thought I would be teaching in Africa having 12 students who are so incredibly different from me as well as one another. But, it’s always good to look at life with the “glass half full” mentality.
I hope all is well with everyone!
In Jesus and Mary,
Jen
Why hello all! I’ll continue with where I left off.
This week was Sr. Bernadette’s birthday and I think everyone loves it when there is a birthday in the house because we get to celebrate! And what better week to celebrate than during the week after Easter! We have a lot to be thankful for! Fried chicken and chips were on the menu and of course ice cream for desert. I think Sr. Bernadette was pretty happy that it was her birthday just as we all would be if it was ours.
I know that you might all be shocked to hear this news but….I have learnt to absolutely LOVE the market. HAHA….I even have to laugh at that statement because the view I had of the market before, I think I’ve done a complete 180. Those are the things that when I look back, I realize how out of my comfort zone I have come while being here. I think that it’s a great thing because I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. On the other hand, I’ve learnt to not really like the tourist markets. When you go to the market everyone is excited to meet you and they know that if they get you in their store that they can get a good price for things but they won’t harass you like a lot of the tourist market shops. They will just let you look, ask your name and where you come from and let you be on your way if you want but the tourist market, they keep you there until you buy something OR ELSE they keep you there trying to sell you something that you don’t want and you end up buying it just to get them off your back. Haha…sounds stupid I know but I guess if you do it enough it becomes a lifestyle. The Brikama craft market, I like. That is because I know people from there now and they are friendly. But other tourist markets, I have learnt to dislike them. Over the last few weeks I have slowly put my foot in the Brikama market and I am loving every opportunity I get to go. I think I was so afraid to go because I couldn’t understand people and I didn’t know the prices of anything. And another good reason is because I wasn’t used to being in such close proximity of so many people. But I enjoy going now, I enjoy the people and I enjoy bartering for prices for things. I started out by just asking around for the prices of things and I realized that once you get to know people first when you go into their shop, they realize that I’m not just a tourist and I always make sure they give me the “Gambian price” not the “toobob price”. I had one encounter with a gentleman who tried to sell me a pair of shoes for 80 dallasis and I knew the price for them was only 55 or 60 dallasis. When he said 80 dallasis, I looked at him and laughed and said, “haha…you think I just got here don’t you?” He smiled and said, “How long have you been here?” My reply was, “long enough to know that the price for those shoes is not 80 dallasis.” He laughed again and asked me how much I would pay for them. I ended up getting them for 60 dallasis. By the end of it there were many people around us wondering what the both of us were laughing at and they knew that he was trying to get a good price for the shoes but they also knew that I’m not new around here. The prices for things vary but there are many things that you just know the prices for and really only real toobob’s pay a different price for them. Every time I go to the market I allot myself at least an hour longer than what I think it will take me to get what I need because I always meet up with many people that I know and I always meet at least five new people who want to know who I am and where I come from. I realized this a long time ago, but what a smile does when it’s put on your face is like a title wave around here. I can’t even explain it. I think that when people see that you enjoy what you are doing and where you are they want to just say hello and they see the beauty of your soul through your smile. I won’t have anyone acknowledge me until I have a smile on my face and then I honestly can’t get out of the market without people stopping me to say hello. A smile can break so many barriers and it touches more people’s lives than only the one that you are smiling at.
Thursday the sisters went out to sell eggs and as much as I wanted to go, I knew that if I didn’t stay back to get my laundry done that it wouldn’t get done for another whole week. So I stayed back and did all my washing. I don’t want to toot my own horn, BUT….what was once a huge embarrassing task has become an item on my resume. No, I’m just kidding I’m not THAT good but it’s still a task that I have accomplished. Thank the Lord I’ve had every opportunity to wash my own clothes because otherwise I would never know how to properly wash clothes by hand. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to get made fun of and plenty of time to watch how the girls actually do it properly. At this point when I have the time, I enjoy doing it.
On Friday afternoon I took some time to make sure I got down town Brikama for around 2pm because that is the time that the Muslims have their prayers. I’m not sure if it’s like this everywhere but in the Gambia when it’s the Muslim’s prayer day, the streets close at least one hour before prayers and almost all of the shops close from 2-230. I knew that this happened but I hadn’t yet witnessed it so Friday afternoon I took a little walk and I saw how all of the men gather in and infront of the mosques, each with their own mat. And they’re all jammed together, right next to one another. It’s crazy to see. Women are not allowed to enter the mosque so there are no women around when it’s close to 2pm. I felt really out of place and as much as I would’ve liked to take a picture just to be able to show everyone at home…I would never because I would get ran after. Haha…and it’s rude. When I got home all the sisters and I left for Shalom, which is in Fajara for a meeting that they had with the rest of the communities. I’m sure I’ve explain what Shalom is but this weekend I’ve had a new outlook on the place because I had more time to look around. Like I said, we left in the afternoon and since everyone was going I was excited that I got to ride in the back of the truck the entire way there. I got to see all of what they call “Coastal Road” (the road along the coast where all the hotels are – we deliver eggs on this road) in a new light. I got to look around and see things I’ve never noticed before. When we arrived at Shalom we got to pick where we wanted to stay since no one was using the retreat center this weekend. There are a few different buildings that a person can stay and I stayed in the one that had individual rooms with individual bathrooms. What I learnt from Sister Susan was that Sr. Cecile was the one who started the entire retreat center. That was back in the 70’s though and the gradual changes to the place are honestly so beautiful! When you get to Shalom you go through the gate and right in front of you is a view of the sky, you would be able to see the ocean except that the grounds are kinda on the edge of a cliff. To your left is the convent where the sisters stay as well as the formation house. The formation house keeps the young postulants. There is a new building that was put up and I’m sure that it’s for retreats as well as any guests that come. This building overlooks the ocean and has a beautiful veranda to walk out on to enjoy the scenery. There is a part of the convent (I think it’s part of it) where Pope John Paul II stayed when he came to the Gambia. This also overlooks the ocean and has a huge screened in veranda. In my honest opinion, if I stayed out there, I would move my bed out there and sleep during the night since it’s nice and cool and there are few mosquitoes since it’s screened in. There is also a fireplace in the room. Going back to when you come into Shalom, on your right hand side is the retreat center where there is a huge conference/meeting room, there is a huge dining hall and this building also has dormitories that have their own bathroom. This is where I stayed. Many of the other sisters stayed here too. Just next to that dormitory/building there is another dormitory but this one is for two people and there is one common bathroom. As you go a bit farther on the path from the retreat center to the dorm rooms to the next door room building you see the chapel. The chapel also over looks the ocean and the tabernacle is in the shape of a lighthouse. The light is very visible during the night and it’s said that men in ships actually are directed by the light. It’s really neat and I wish I could see what it looked like from their angle. The landscaping in the yard is phenomenal. I said this the entire weekend, “I wish my mom and dad were here to see this! My mom would absolutely love the plants!” One thing about the flowers here in the Gambia is that you never have trouble growing the same color. There are so many different colors of flowers! Sr. Sarian is the designer and the gardener does all the planting and gardening but trust me, I felt like I was in a beautiful hotel resort this weekend. It’s gorgeous. The funny thing is that I’ve been there so many times to deliver eggs but I’ve never seen it in this way. When we got all settled into our rooms the sisters started their meeting and I decided to take a look around. As I was looking around my mom called so I talked to her for a bit and then I decided to go down to the beach. Just at the edge of the hill or sort of cliff there is a big fence that separates the land from the sisters and someone else. The someone else is trying to build a hotel right in front of Shalom, but there has been a halt in construction because they’re trying to stop him from building there since it will cut off the view from Shalom. It really would be sad if they built a big hotel right in front. The sisters have such a nice view and many people come there for retreats so it’s nice and peaceful. So I went through the gate and I had to walk around their construction to get down to the real drop off. To the left of Shalom is a compound with apartment buildings and right in between Shalom and the apartments is a long brick driveway that leads straight down to the drop off. When I walked down and realized that there was no way I could get down to the water I looked and looked and the only way down was to go into the compound with the apartment building and use their stairs. I was just wishing that I could’ve gotten down to see the water and stand on the big rocks but I couldn’t see a good way to actually get there. Just then the guard/watchman who was on shift opened the gate just to check everything out (not because he heard me because I was really quiet) and I asked him if there was any way down from here. He said, “ no but if you want you can come through here.” I was so glad! So I got to see the apartment yard as well as go down to the beach. When I got down to the water, there were huge rocks that were piled up and since it was evening the tide was coming back so the water was coming closer and closer to the rocks. I took a little bit of a walk down the beach but to do that I had to climb through some of the rocks. It was really really beautiful. I only stayed for a bit since we were about to have some supper so I thanked the watchman for letting me in and climbed back up the hill through the construction to go for supper. I knew that I was going to be coming back to the apartments on the next day because Sr. Cecile said that the sisters know the owner and she would let me use their pool, which I was very happy about. Supper was great and the sisters are always good company. I sat next to Sr. Rozine and she always makes me laugh. She usually has a serious face on her even when she is joking around, so when I laugh at her she tells me to stop laughing. Even though I don’t know if she really is joking about me stopping laughing at her, I still laugh because she’s really funny. In many ways she reminds me of my college volleyball coach, Raftyn. Her personality and fight is what reminds me most of Raftyn. After supper was done, the young sisters were to do a presentation on the life of Blessed Mother Rivier and St Paul. I was invited to sit in and watch and oh boy did we laugh. It was really informative and good, although the young sisters dressed up and even Sr. Bernadette tried to shrink down to make herself look like tiny little Mother Rivier. Oh we had a few good laughs. After that Sr. Sue and I walked around the yard for a bit to catch some of the breeze and then everyone headed for bed. Sr. Sue and I often will take a little stroll at the house in Brikama and we usually link arms and just talk. I enjoy spending time with her chatting. We always end up laughing at each other.
I woke up in the morning for mass and went straight to the chapel. Bishop Cleary was saying mass for us and we had morning prayers as well. Then we had breakfast and the sisters started their meetings again for the day. I went to the apartments with two of the postulants to ask if I could use their pool but the lady was out for a few hours. The postulants were leaving back for their assigned visits and so they said for the maid to remember me and made sure I went back to check with her. So what I did, since it was still early and there was a nice cool breeze coming in through my windows, I pulled my mosquitoe net back over my bed and went back to bed for a few hours. When I woke up, I dressed and went back to the apartments to see if I could meet with the lady and the maid had already talked to her about it so I chatted with her for a bit and then she showed me the pool. It was gorgeous. The apartments were built for people who come and go. You pay per night and it is pretty expensive but the nice thing about it is that it’s like a hotel since you get a maid who cleans the apartment. Each room has a balcony that leads outside to where there is grass (!! Which you rarely see, so I was excited!) and then a tiled area where the pool is. When you are looking westward you see the pool and then the ocean right in front of you. When you walk a bit further, you go back onto some grass and then down a set of wooden steps that lead to the beach. This is how I got down to the beach the night before. What I did right away was sit down on a beach lounge chair on the side of the pool so I had a view of the pool and the ocean. I just sat there for a few moments enjoying that I was able to just hang out there for the day and then jumped into the pool. It was a really nice clean pool and what I liked about it was that it was deep so I could dive in. For the majority of the time I spent reading and just relaxing by the pool. I went down to the beach for a little bit but I didn’t stay long since it’s unsafe to stay around the beach area by yourself since there are not very many people except for the young men who lurk around waiting for tourists to harass. I was informed this by a nice gentleman, who I’ll actually call my “angel” for that day. I sat by the rocks for a bit and enjoyed the sand and then I went back up to sit by the pool. I’m such a beach bum…or maybe I should say water bum since I just love to sit by the water on a hot day. I think the temperature got to around 100 degrees but you don’t feel it by the ocean. I think people like to try to give me something to do for the day if they are busy but honestly, I’m most content just sitting in the sun reading and being alone. My sisters and I always do that at the beach when we go in the summer. I sat by the pool until around 230 since I knew that the sisters were having lunch and they told me to come back for it. So I went back and after lunch everyone else went for their siesta and I went back to the pool to spend the rest of the afternoon there. It was awesome. When I got back, there was a gentleman sitting by the pool, the only other person there except for the security guard. His name was Roger, as I later found out, and he’s a business man who is from Lyberia. We got into a good discussion about the culture clashes, and to be honest the entire conversation was a clash of views. I’m always amazed at Muslim culture and I will never be able to grasp the ideology that it contains. Life is just very different and the gender differences are extremely different. When most men who come from countries like that meet American women they are appalled at the lack of “respect” that we would give them. And it’s not that I wouldn’t give him the respect that he deserves but for men in a Muslim society, women are treated very different and there are many expectations for them. As for American’s, I’m going to do my own thing and realize that we both come from differing cultures. I’m not someone who likes to back down when I know that no one except me can change my view about something (my family knows this very well) but there were many times we laughed because he knew I was stating my point of view and that he couldn’t change it. Anyway, it was a good conversation and everytime I talk to someone like that, I gain more knowledge about the culture differences in the world. What a small but HUGE world we live in.
I ended up going back to Shalom at around 6pm after having a good chat with the three security guards who were at the entrance of the apartment buildings. This was by far one of my favorite conversations’ here in the Gambia so far since even though one liked to joke around and ask me for money (since I’m a white) I’ve learnt a few tricks to defend myself. I think that many white people just automatically give people like that money and…I always make them work for it, since he has a good paying job. While he tried to get money from me, the other two laughed and laughed. Not at me…at him since they both knew I was holding my own and that he wasn’t getting anywhere. When he said, “why are you laughing?” They said, “Haha…because this lady isn’t a white, she’s a Gambian. She knows what she’s talking about.” HAHA…I just laughed when I heard him say that. The best part about it, was that even though we were all laughing he knew that I respected him but I also knew that he respected me and that we would both walk away from the conversation friends. Those are the types of converstations when people say, “you will never know what a culture is like until you sit with the people that live in that culture everyday” that I realize how alike we all are. The Lord has allowed me to see the beauty of this culture in the people of the Gambia. I’m more than grateful for this experience. My life will never be the same having gone through this. Thank you again for giving me this opportunity.
So I got back to Shalom and the sisters were still busy so I went and cleaned up a bit and relaxed in my room until supper. After supper everyone packed up and left for home. Sr. Josephine had left earlier in the day since her sister was getting engaged and they had the engagement ceremony at their home in Brikama. When we all packed in the truck and left for home Sr. Odile, Sr. Bernadette, and Sr. Catherine decided that when we got home we would go to the ceremony. When we pulled up to the house you could hear the music from a mile away. There were tons of people and we walked into the compound and found many people all over. Many were dancing to the music and there were several elderly people there. We went to find Sr. Josephine and she was in the house with her family. We greeted everyone (I’ve met her mother and father before) and then just sat down enjoying the music and talking. When some of the music was good Sr. Catherine (who loves to dance) and Sr. Bernadette (who seems to love to dance also) started dancing and of course, I did too. Although I was the student learning from the masters. I can dance but there are certain moves for the different types of tribes. So it seems. It’s really not difficult but it’s neat to witness. It was awesome. I went outside to watch some of the others dancing and what I like about Africa, it doesn’t matter whether you are an old ma or pa or a young kid, everyone dances! It’s great. And I don’t mean just dances, I mean really gets into it. Back home an elderly person would dance some of the old time dance stuff, like polkas or waltzs but here, they’ll dance to anything! It’s great to see. Dancing, music and loud noise it a huge part of this culture and I feel like when I go home I’m going to think everything is toned down and quiet. I really love the culture here. We met with Sr. Jos’s sister and greeted everyone again and then we went home. As we were walking out of the compound we saw some of the girls from the hostel. I haven’t seen them all for about a week so we were excited to see each other. When we past the church on our way home we decided to stop and see how the preparations for the Parish feast were going. Some of the men and women from the church were in Father’s back yard making all the food for the next day’s event. Everything was going smoothly and everyone was working really hard. I’m not sure what time they went to bed but we were on our way home going straight for out beds. Everyone was tired.
In the morning everyone got to sleep in since there was no schedule for outstations since preparations for the feast were going on. So we slept in a got ready for mass. Since the church is named, “The Resurrection Parish” they always celebrate their parish feast on the Sunday after Easter. It’s a huge event and it’s a big fundraiser too. Father Tony was the Celebrant for mass and he did a great job. Father Gabisis and Father Bruno were also celebrating. The church was packed and the music was exceptional. I was thinking the entire time, how much our parish at home would love to see this so because there was a gentleman taping the entire mass I asked him afterwards if I could get a copy to bring home. I’m so glad…so everyone will get to see what mass here in the Gambia is like! I’m excited to show all of you! Mass was beautiful.
After mass, lunch was served to all the priest and sisters and everyone stayed to enjoy the day. Everything was held in the church parking lot and we were all glad that the huge trees shaded us from the hot sun. All the sisters from the other communites came to spend the day as well as most priests from the diocese and a lot of Church members. I met many people as well as enjoyed a lot of good food, music and company. I always love watching the young kids play the drums, sing and dance and at one point there was a group in the back of the church playing. It was really awesome to witness. You can’t help by start dancing along with them. That day was beautiful and I know I’ve only been here for less than 4 months but the people in this parish as well as the community make me feel like I’ve been a member of the community for years. I appreciate it so much. I will never forget the hospitality of this community.
Monday began the third term of school at AMR and I have to admit that because the break was so busy I was more tired going into the week than I thought I would be after 10 days of break. We had a new addition to the AMR family, Nina the new cook. She and Saba are working together now to plan and make meals and she is so nice. Right away when I met her there was something that just attracted me to her and I didn’t know why I really liked her. I then realized how much she reminds me of my oldest sister, Eryn. Honestly, Eryn…if you’re reading this, you have a black twin. If I’ve ever seen someone who looks like you, talks like you, is a “motherly” person like you…it’s Nina. I just love that she reminds me of Eryn since it’s kind of like having a piece of home around here. Nina is awesome and I love that she’s so nice…and an amazing cook! She and Saba do a good job.
The week went good and Sr. Odile informed us that we should be handing in our teaching plans to her this week. I was exempt from it before since I was new but I assume she thinks its good for me to experience what a real teacher has to do. Its good for me to plan because it helps the kids be focused and I know what I’m doing week to week. So we’re back at it and I hope to see some good progress this term. The exams weren’t very good for my students since when you can’t read…how can you do a test? Haha…oh boy, I can see why Bill Cosby used to laugh hysterically on the show, “Kids say the darndest things”. I had some of the most creative answers on their tests. Oh well…I will never forget these kids and I sure hope they can remember me. I spend almost every day with them and some days I get upset with them but most days I have to turn my face to the blackboard and almost die laughing at something that one of them will say. I wish all of you could meet them, I feel like you already do and then I have to remember that only words could never ever explain the personalities or how each of these kids has touched my life.
I’ll leave you with a familiar but applicable quote, “Life is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re going to get.” Never in my life would I have thought I would be teaching in Africa having 12 students who are so incredibly different from me as well as one another. But, it’s always good to look at life with the “glass half full” mentality.
I hope all is well with everyone!
In Jesus and Mary,
Jen
Monday, May 18, 2009
An Amazing Easter
Wednesday April 15, 2009
Praise the Lord, He has risen…Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Well, it has come to another end of the Lenten season but I can assure you that this has not been one that I’ve ever experienced before. Today’s gospel talks about two of the disciples meeting with Jesus on their way to Emmaus. They don’t recognize him but they talk with the stranger about what has just happened in Jerusalem over the last few days. They say to him,
“you must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days….all about Jesus of Nazareth, who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us; they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.”
When the day is almost over, the disciples invite Jesus to stay with them and it is only when Jesus was at table with them, takes the bread and blesses it and hands it to them that they realize that it truly is Jesus and not a stranger. But Jesus vanishes from them and they say, “Did our hearts not burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?” And with that they set out back to Jerusalem to find the eleven who also say to them, “yes it is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”
Today’s reading speaks to my heart so clearly of why we should have rejoiceful hearts at Easter. Our Lord has truly risen…it is not just a story in a story book, HE HAS TRULY RISEN! My heart honestly just leaps and I get tears in my eyes thinking of it, realizing that, just like the apostles, I have seen the risen Christ. What would it have been like to be in their situation? To meet a man on their road to Emmaus whom they share all about their sorrows and joys in the confusion of not knowing whether Jesus is alive or not. They have seen him crucified and they know that he was laid in the tomb but could the women really be right? Could he still be alive? I don’t know about you…but if I had seen my best friend die and then later hear that he isn’t dead but alive, I would be beyond belief but SO excited! I’m sure they were afraid and must have been talking about what had happened as they were on their way. If it was my sisters and I, we would talk and talk and talk about it trying to think through the whole situation of what had happened and I’m sure we would be afraid of what might happen to us. After hearing the gospel today and when it came time for the consecration at mass, my heart began to burn with a “knowledge” that the bread and wine is TRULY our Lord Jesus…risen from the dead.
“Did our hearts not burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:13- 35)
What a humble but amazing God we have. If I can say anything, having the opportunity to take in daily mass has truly changed my life. Reading the daily readings and following along has allowed me to see our Lord, my life, as well as the Church in a new way. We have The God of creation at our side who suffered on a cross for us, but yet He has the power to move mountains….and what praise do I truly give Him? Obviously nothing compared to what He has given me. I have to borrow His gratitude to give it back to Him. I thank the Lord daily for his generosity. Praise the Lord…Alleluia!
For what I can say about being in another country for Easter, I am glad to be a part of the Catholic Church since it is the same wherever you go. Holy week was very busy and it was an eye opener for me because through it, I have realized my own sinfulness and…to be honest, my laziness in my Lenten sacrifices. I’m honestly upset with myself about it. I definitely feel that I have failed more than succeeded. But this week I realized that, like Mother Teresa said, “the Lord doesn’t want us to be successful, He wants us to be faithful.” Thank the Lord for realizing this because my heart was very heavy going into this Holy week. But the feeling of sorrow for my lack of commitment only allowed me to recognize God’s mercy and grace. Monday and Tuesday were still very busy at the school with finishing up reports and getting everything all worked out for Parent/Teacher meetings on Wednesday. I was a bit nervous going into parent/teacher meetings since I haven’t met very many parents and you never know what the children say about their “toobob” teacher. So on Wednesday I waited patiently in my classroom with the kids coming in and out (since the kids came to school and enjoyed playing outside the entire time. I’m still not sure why they even came to school since in Canada we would have the day off). We were supposed leave the school early, at around 11:00am but many of the parents didn’t show up until around then to pick up the reports. And of course, the parents that SHOULD be there to realize that their children are not participating in class or making the effort didn’t come but the parents of the children who excel in class all came. What a backward system, but gives clear evidence of why the children have the habits they do. Anyway…who knows, maybe a few will come when we open for school again.
The children get rewarded when they get first, second, or third in their class and in my class Kaddijatou got first, Modoulamin Jobe second, and Alieu third. Kaddijatou was actually a surprise since she is the student that likes to come late to class, not pay attention and do everything in her power to do her own thing. She was the student who would’ve rather been beaten than spend her break sitting in her desk in class. I will be honest, after thinking about it I realized that she has made quite the turn around in class. It’s obvious that she more than likely gets her own way in other places than school but she has quickly learnt that in class she has to listen to me. If she doesn’t do her work, she will stay in a break to finish, if she talks or disturbs the class she will have a consequence. Most of the kids have learnt a lot and I’m proud to say that my kids are slowly becoming very good listeners and they respect others more than some of the other kids in the school. They know that I’m not there to be their friend, that I’m their teacher and that even though they might think I’m the meanest person for keeping them in a break because they didn’t finish their homework, that I do it for their own good. They may have a hard time with their phonics or numbers but I can assure you that these kids are far from stupid. They can tell when someone is there to help them. I know that they know I care about them because even if they have the tiniest little scrape, they come running saying, “Miss Jennifa, I have a wound.” It’s cute because they know that even though they may not need a band-aid that I will stop what I’m doing to just LOOK at their wound and say, “are you ok?” And really…that’s all they really want. Anyway, we ended up leaving the school a lot later than expected but when we got home I attempted to go and check my email at the internet café. It’s so slow and by the time a page loads you have to ask the guy for more time. It’s very frustrating and it’s the reason why I can’t get any of these posts up. I apologize for that. Our computer is getting fixed so that is my only option at the moment. When I got home we were having lunch with a woman who has been helping out at the school. Her name is Elizabeth and she spent to weeks here last year on a British exchange your teacher type program. She spent two weeks here at AMR and Paul, one of our teachers in the school, spent two weeks in England last year. It’s a great opportunity for the teachers and the kids get a new face too. She has been helping out in the school all week, especially with the grade three’s since they are learning about plants. They go out to the garden and she explains how plants grow and the differences in plants that are grown in the Gambia versus plants that grown in England. She’s really very nice and we were glad to have her over to the house for lunch.
In the evening the sisters usually have a free supper night since it’s their day during the week for a silent evening but on Wednesday evening (since Sr. Jos and Sr. Bernadette went out to get fish) we grilled fresh “bonga”. Bonga is a fish that has more tiny bones that you’ve probably ever seen in a fish. If the fish wasn’t so good to eat, I would just pass it up because it’s so much work to eat. The sisters make a sauce with sliced onions, lime, red pepper, black pepper, jumbo, and salt. The onions are all kept raw and you eat it with the fish. They call this “Yassa”. It’s amazing…seriously, like I said if it wasn’t so worth it in the end I wouldn’t bother taking the time to clean the bones from the fish. We all sat outside just on the door step grilling fish on a small charcoal grill. The moon was full so it was bright and beautiful outside. That was one of my favorite moments being here because we just sat outside and talked into the evening. I think I enjoyed it so much because it would be something that my sisters, Lise and I would do when we’re together.
Thursday was a busy day because I went out to sell eggs with Sr Cecile and Sr. Suzanne. And I think you all know how much I love to go. It’s really enjoyable to go with them because I usually laugh the whole time since both Sr. Cecile and Sr. Suzanne have fun personalities. I always laugh to myself thinking that they’ve spent so much time together I’m sure over the years that they know how each other works. And it’s hilarious to see first hand. Like I said, I usually laugh the entire day. I actually had forgotten that I was going, so I woke up kind of late and I had about 30 minutes to wake up, eat and get ready. But we were on our way and since I haven’t been out with the sisters lately because of school I got to see many friends today. It was a busy day and we tried to get back early enough to have time to relax a bit before we went to Holy Thursday mass. We got home and I showered and got ready for mass. Mass was really beautiful and I was surprised that there weren’t very many people. Everything was pretty similar to home and they had 12 men come up for the washing of the feet. After mass was done we had exposition and then the crowd filed out of the church with the Blessed Sacrament following behind for the procession to the Altar of Repose. The old church, which when the new one was built was turned into the church hall was the spot where they had the Altar of Repose, where everyone would stay until 12:00 with our Lord Jesus. When we arrived in the hall everything was so beautiful. The Altar was very simple but it had white and red flowers beside and red candles on top. We had old wooden benches to sit on and everyone stayed for at least 10 minutes after father left. The sisters and I left after about 30 minutes to go home and change, eat some supper and then we came back and stayed until 12:00. For me, the time flew by and I spent most of my time reading the passion in the gospel of John. When we left to go back home, I got to ride in the back of the truck since all the sisters were with us and it’s too crammed for all of us to fit. I have to admit that I enjoy riding in the back. On Thursday night when we left it was well after midnight so I got a good view of Brikama late in the evening. To my surprise, it was dead. Haha…I thought many people would be out and enjoying the evening but there were only a few people that I saw on the side of the road. The moon was full and it was beautiful. Everyone came home and went straight to bed. Friday, everyone got to sleep in a bit and I don’t think I heard much until around 8:30 or 9:00. I know that everyone was up earlier than that but the sisters have a day of silence in the house. When I woke up I found Sr. Cecile in the kitchen and she explained it to me. I spent the early part of the day cleaning up my room and then I got ready for stations of the cross at noon. Now, the Stations of the Cross are something that I’ve never experienced before on Good Friday but here in Brikama about 5 years ago the young people asked the priest who was here if they would be able to do stations of the cross in the streets of Brikama. So for the past 5 years the entire parish meets out toward the road we got to school and we are escorted by the city police officers down the main street in Brikama while reciting the Stations of the Cross. It was something so unique and beautiful. Some of you may think that it really isn’t that interesting and I’m sure in a predominantly Christian environment it really isn’t as unique as I say but when you’re in a community like Brikama (or the Gambia entirely) where the population of Christian’s is only 1% and the rest are Muslim and don’t believe in Jesus, it’s another story entirely. And keep in mind, this is only 5 years old so it’s still pretty new in the community. There is a reason why we were escorted by police. Many people stare and stop what they are doing to just watch us walk by and we even get people who try to say things and disturb what is happening. This year, nothing really eventful happened but Sr. Cecile said in previous years many of the Muslims would spit on the ground or turn up their radios when we walked by. The procession was lead by one altar server who was carrying a big cross followed by two other servers and Father Carl. We all followed behind. The crown started small at first but by the end it was very big. At each station, we would all stop and knee in the middle of the street and read the reflection. We did that the entire way to the church and the last station was in the church. Since it was at noon it was extremely hot outside. After stations, we celebrated the Good Friday service and everyone left in silence.
Traditionally, it’s a custom here as a Christian to give alms. But the people here have started the tradition that on Good Friday they all make – Nan Buru (this has turned into my FAVORITE dessert). It is made from rice and boabob juice. You pound the rice and form small balls and soak them in boabob juice and then cool it in the fridge. It seriously is amazing and I know I’m going to miss it when I go home since we don’t have the boabob fruit. So the Christians all make it and offer it to their Muslim friends as a gift. The Muslims do the same when it’s their holy feast. But the Christians give to Christians too. The sisters get so much that it’s close to the only thing you eat for the entire day. I don’t mind at all because it’s turned into something I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It took me a while to get used to it because I remember for one of the first days I was here the sisters made it and because of the texture, I didn’t really enjoy it very much. I’ve never liked tapioca pudding for that reason. But, I absolutely love it now.
After we came home, I went out to visit with some friends for a bit since the sisters were all taking the day for silence. When I met up with Papis, I found out that Nday was really sick so I went to their home to check on her and she was not doing very well at all. When I got to their house she was awake but looked completely drained of any fluid and she obviously hadn’t had anything to eat for a few days. Right when I got there I sat down on her bed and she curled right up and put her head on my lap. I asked her if she had gone to the doctor and she said that she had but she didn’t get her results because she had to pay 50 dallasis for them and she couldn’t afford it. I also asked her if she had eaten anything, and she said that she hadn’t eaten or drank anything all day, and at that point I got kind of upset knowing that she was trying to take care of two kids and no one was taking care of her. I ran out to get her something to eat and I went to talk to Papis to make sure he knew that she NEEDED to keep eating and drinking something, even if it was a little bit. I called Musa to come and take care of her because I had to get home. Musa brought her to the doctor the next day and they found out that she had malaria. She ended up getting the medication and instantly was getting better. I hope that she’ll be fully recovered within this week.
When I got home, Father Gabisi was over for supper and of course as the conversation always goes when Father is around – he was telling stories. Usually by the end of any conversation with Father EVERYONE has a sore stomach and tears in their eyes from laughing so hard. I hadn’t realized this, but Father Gabisi is the eldest preist in the diocese and he recently had his 25th anniversary of his ordination! When I got here, he quickly became a person of comfort for me since everything was so uncomfortable and new that his humor and excitement was always calming. Since then, we have created a great bond and we even have a small handshake when we meet up after mass in the morning. It consists of me getting my arm shaken off….haha. Father’s humor apparently comes from his mother since I hear that she was quite the jokster. We had a few good laughs Friday night.
I forgot to mention! On Tuesday evening, I found out that Sr. Josaphine was attending the Chrism mass that was being held at the cathedral in Banjul. I didn’t even know it was going on until about 2 hours before we left, but when Sister Cecile asked if I wanted to go I said I would love to since I hadn’t seen the cathedral yet. We left early enough to catch transport where we had to change vans at Westfield and go on to Banjul. When we got to the Cathedral I was shocked at how beautiful it was! We got there just on time, so it was packed full and I was trying to take everything in. The music was really beautiful. A lot of African drums and the choir was really good. If not everyone knows what the Chrism mass is, it’s the mass where all priests are called to concelebrate with their Bishop and it is where each parish receives the Holy oils. I realized how many priests and sisters I knew since everyone was there. I recognized a lot and after mass we spent some time visiting with everyone. I saw most of the Presentation sisters as well as Sr. Elizabeth (the one who came with us to Kartung), many other sisters and many priests. I even saw the young seminarians. They’re all really fun and some of them were surprised since I’ve only met most of them once that I remembered some of their names. One thing around here is that whenever there is a function, everyone has to be fed. So we went up to the rectory and all the priests, sisters, and a few others were enjoying something to eat. Sr. Jos and I came home with Father Gabisi and Mathew (a seminarian who is from Brikama). I really enjoyed myself and it was a beautiful mass.
So…where were we? Oh yes, Holy Saturday I slept in a bit and when I got up, the sisters and I ate breakfast. Saturday morning Sr. Cecile woke up not feeling very good and it’s sad to say that she spent the entire day in bed because she was so sick. I felt so bad for her because she was sick on both her birthday (which was only a few weeks ago) and on Holy Saturday. Sr. Sue had asked if I wanted to help out in the poultry a bit on Saturday and I was excited to have another attempt at handling those chickens. Since after the first attempt, when the chicken pecked at my hands, I was a bit nervous. What I will say now, I was still a bit nervous trying it out again but after the day was done I had become really good at taking the chickens out of the place they lay eggs. Seriously, chickens don’t like you to take them out when they’re laying eggs. And I had a few encounters with one chicken who I like to call “Mrs. Stubborn”. She was in room D and every time I went to go get eggs from the rooms she was ALWAYS sitting in the box where they lay eggs. When I would try to take her out she would peck at me and make noises. I doubt that the eggs she was sitting on were even her eggs but she just liked to be stubborn and sit there while I tried to figure out ways to put my hand in the box to take her out. I’ve never seen a real chicken with such attitude. I thought it was quite hilarious myself. So for the majority of the day, I helped the guys in the poultry and I really enjoyed myself. We picked eggs and put new saw-dust in the rooms, the guys cleaned the drinkers and we washed the veranda floor and the biggest job seems to be separating the eggs. Since the sisters sell two sizes of eggs we have to separate the eggs from big ones and small ones. When you go collect the eggs you have to keep them separate so you can count how many each room lays. So once you count then you pack according to size. Sometimes you get some incredibly small eggs and a lot of the time you get some really big eggs. Because some of the eggs are wet when they are layed the saw dust sticks to them so you have to clean them before they get packed. I guess you don’t have to, but no one wants to buy dirty eggs. Tony and Raymond (two boys who come to help) were helping pack eggs. So with the two boys, Sarjo and I sitting packing eggs on the floor we laughed quite a bit.
The sisters were preparing the meal for after Easter Vigil mass for the majority of the day. I guess after mass the priests either host the sisters or the sisters host the priests and this year was the sisters turn to host the priests. Everyone got ready to go to mass and we said good bye to Sr. Cecile who was sick in bed.
When we got to the church, Easter Vigil Mass had just started and everyone was huddled around the fire just outside the church in the parking lot. I couldn’t see much since I’m too short and there were too many people but I still heard everything that was said. We all walked through the parking lot to go into the church and as we walked into a dark church everyone held their candle. Father sang the Exultant and he did a wonderful job. I always look forward to hearing the Exultant sung. When the Gloria was sung it was so beautiful and it was so long! Even though I couldn’t sing it and it was long, just realizing that we could sing it again made me smile the entire time it was sang. The music was so upbeat and exciting and everyone in church was excited to be singing again. I sure was. It really makes a difference without the African drums. This year there were, I’m sure….around 25 candidates for baptism. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that many at Easter time. They all wore a white African style dress. The men had pants and nice top made in white and the women had a dress made in white. It was really beautiful! The women were all accessorized with white hair bands and ties with their hair all done really beautifully. At the time for the baptism all the candidates with their sponsors came up and formed a semi-circle around the altar. Each candidate had their own turn to put their head on top of the bucket and Father poured water on their heads baptizing each in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was really cool to witness. At the offertory all the newly baptized brought something up for a gift. Some brought potatoes, some brought okra, some brought rice, peppers, etc. Mass was beautiful and such a celebration! After everyone was greeting each other and so excited to finally say Happy Easter. I even saw a few of the people from Kembojeh who come on Saturday evenings. It was good to see that they had made the trip to Brikama to come to Easter vigil mass.
After mass we got home and Father was right behind us since he was coming for the midnight lunch. By the time we got home it was close to 1:30 am or 2:00am. We all sat around eating Yassa and chips and drinking good wine and drinks. After we did dishes everyone went straight to bed since we had to get up in a few hours. We were talking about the next morning over the supper table and Sr. Suzanne reminded me that we had to get up early to go for out stations in the villages. She said that if she was up early she would wake me up but when I got up in the morning it was well after 8:00am and she had gone. When she got back which was just in time to take us to the church for mass in Brikama, she mentioned that she even did the two parishes herself! I couldn’t believe it because even on a good Sunday where everything runs smoothly, we are all rushing to get back to Brikama for mass. And that is with Sr. Cecile, Sr. Suzanne and I. I usually go with one of them and we split up and each do a parish but she did both on Easter morning! If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that the Lord had maybe given her the gift of bi-locating just to allow both parishes to receive communion on Easter morning.
Mass on Easter was beautiful and there were many people who attended. The choir sang beautifully and there was a lot to celebrate about! The Lord has truly risen…Alleluia! After mass everyone got ready and packed in the truck to go to Lamin (a village just north of Brikama) to meet up with all the other sisters from the congregation in the Gambia. We were all in for a surprise since the Banjul Community was hosting this year’s Easter and all they told us was that we were supposed to meet at the church in Lamin. So we all met and exchanged greetings and “happy Easters” with all the sisters and then we packed back into the vehicles and followed behind in a caravan all anticipating what we were going to do. We pulled up to what is called “Lamin Lodge”. Lamin Lodge is on the Gambian river and to me, it seemed a lot like Makasutu (the place I went with the Billingtons the first weekend I was here). We arrived and the first thing you see is a tall African looking hut and lots of colorful wooden canoe-shaped boats. Lamin lodge is known best for their boat trips on the river but to get to the boats you have to walk on a rickety old bridge (to me it reminded me of the bridge that collapses in one of the Indiana Jones movies, although it wasn’t as high.) I’m not afraid of bridges since I can swim and the current doesn’t flow, actually to be honest I think it was mostly MUD underneath the bridge so in a “worst-case scenario” situation, I would imagine you would just get stuck in thick, thick mud. Haha…I’m imagining it now. So as we were crossing the bridge I had gone over first and so I looked back and laughed at some of the reactions of some of the sisters. There was a look of excitement on some of the young sisters and then, on some of the older sisters, there was the look of sheer terror. I’m not sure if it was the fact that the bridge wasn’t sturdy or that they had come into clear view of the days activities….a houseboat ride! Seriously, I LOVE water so I was so excited but some of the sisters don’t like boats and are afraid of water so it was kinda scary for them. As we got onto the boat everyone started to settle in a bit more and when we started moving we unpacked the food and ate lunch. It was awesome. After lunch everyone just relaxed. Some people even took naps and when we found out that we could go on top of the boat I jetted up to see what kind of adventure I could have. I think that most people were afraid to go uptop because it didn’t have railings but it was awesome because it had a little tent type thing and pillows where you could lay out and rest. The young sisters came up and we all sat around talking, dancing, and laughing. I really enjoy spending time with the sisters, and I’m glad that I get to spend time with everyone from all the communities because everyone of them are different. We enjoyed most of the day up on the top of the boat. We toured around the river and it was a gorgeous day to do it. On the banks of the Gambian river are what are called, “mangroves”. Mangroves are the plant that oysters attatch themselves to so women go out to collect them. It’s crazy to see because there are so so many of them and it honestly looks like large bushes on the banks of the river. When we got back to the lodge it was another eventful moment because everyone had to get “out” of the boat. The boat was swaying and all I’m going to say is that most of us had a good laugh looking at the faces of some of the people who were scared to jump out. We walked back across the rickety bridge and went to an African hut which was a restaurant and that is where we ate supper. Like I said, the Banjul community was in charge but I realized that the Fajara community was in charge for desert. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but the Fajar community is made up of two people – Sr. Sarian and Sr. Marie – seriously two of the funniest people I’ve ever known. They both like to play pranks on people and of course desert was not dismissed. Everyone was excited to see what they had brought for desert and so they introduce everything saying that each person had to pick a number and then we would get the desert that went with our number. Of course, when we each picked our number and gave it to them – each person ended up with a swapped number and desert. They gave deserts like a small bag of peanuts, or dried up fruit that wouldn’t have been good to eat. Everyone had a good laugh and after all the complaining (which was all in good fun) the sisters pulled out a big basket of fruit and cakes and we all enjoyed. After that everyone went our separate ways and we came home. When we were just about to have supper my sisters called and so I had made the arrangement to talk to them when I got back to Brikama. Everyone at home was together at my mom and dad’s place so when they called to talk later in the evening, I got to talk to EVERYONE! It was awesome! Even if it was for only a few minutes it was nice to hear everyone’s voices and hear how things were going. My family has always gotten together for holidays and birthdays and one thing is for sure since our family is small when some one is gone, you really feel the place of the missing person(s). Usually I wasn’t the one gone but since I’m not home this year, I know what the feeling of not having everyone home is like. The only people I didn’t get to talk to were my cousin Alex (who is in school in California) and my other cousin Sara who is finishing up her year and a half of being a missionary nurse in Ecuador. But let me tell you, as great of an experience as I am having, there is nothing like hearing your family’s voice on the other end of the phone.
I went to bed and woke up for mass in the morning….late. I’m not sure if I hit the off button on my cell phone or if it didn’t go off but when I heard the truck start and I looked at the time to see that it was almost 7:30, I threw some clothes on and SPRINTED outside to catch the truck rolling out of the driveway. The sisters were laughing at me and I was honestly laughing too because I can just imagine what I looked like running out of the door, fighting with the lock to close the door and sprinting around the house to get the attention of the sisters so they wouldn’t leave without me. Haha….oh boy.
After mass, we came home and ate breakfast and Sr. Suzanne had asked if I wanted to go to the Brikama craft market to look at some of the things they had there. So off we went, and like I’ve said before – Sr. Suzanne is the best person to go to the market with because she barely will take any price off the bat. We usually end up paying around half of what the people are asking. It’s great, and I laugh the whole time because some times when they give us a price (which is usually outrageous) she pertends to stumble and say jokingly, “ah…hold me, I think I’m going to have a heart attack.” Haha…ah man, I love her reactions. I met a lot of her friends and everyone just loves her there. We bought a few things and I even sat down with a gentleman who taught me how to play a bit of the African drums. It was awesome. Again, one of the best things I’ve had out of this experience – sitting and enjoying time with the people of the Gambia. They love it, and I love getting to know them. When you attempt to sit with them and join in with a part of who they are, they accept you like you are their brother or sister. We left having met most of the shop owners and I left with a long list of places to come back and visit.
Since this is our week off (which strangely enough I thought we had two weeks- I’m not sure if it was my imagination or a wish that made me think that) but anyway, all the schools in the Gambia have the week off. So, during lent all the girls in the hostel were gone and boy does it make a difference around here. The place is so quiet! I love having the girls around, but I can honestly say that the quiet and stillness was really nice to have too.
After Sr. Suzanne and I came back from the market everyone ate lunch and we had talked about going to just out side Banjul for the annual Easter Monday kite flying fundraiser that the Banjul Parish puts on every year. Sr. Josaphine, Sr. Bernadette and I got ready and headed out to Banjul where everyone was flying their kites on the beach. We got there and there were tons and tons of people. There was a tent set up so you could sit in the shade, lots of food and drinks to buy and they had lots of music. We met up with some of the other sisters from the communities and they were standing next to a volleyball game that was going on. For most of the evening the sisters spent time with people that they knew and I met up with people that I knew but I was more so content with just going along the beach walking and sitting watching the water and the sunset. I spent some time talking with some of the girls from the hostel who had come. I mostly sat with Edwina and talked and as the sun faded away, so did the warmth of it and the wind picked up to where I was almost positive I stepped into -30 degree Canadian weather for a brief moment. By the time we were leaving for home, I was so cold that I even thought about going to bed with a hot water bottle. Haha…I know my mom can appreciate that statement. I really had a great day on Monday and I appreciated getting to go out to the beach again.
Yesterday was another day full of fun and laughs. Since Monday was Easter Monday and most places were closed, Sr Suzanne and I went out selling eggs yesterday. Sr. Cecile still wasn’t feeling well so it was just the two of us. And boy did we laugh. I know I’ve said this time and time again, but I just enjoy spending time with Sr. Suzanne because we have some of the best conversations and we both usually do something to make each other laugh. It took the entire day to sell eggs and I think we ended up getting home well past 8:00pm. Since we have baby chicks they need special meds and food so Sr. and I stopped by the vet pharmacy to get a few things and when we were there I witnessed something really funny to me. At one point we were talking with the vet pharmacist and when we finished he went to the back of the shop picked up a briefcase- medbag looking thing and strolled outside. When I looked out the door, I saw him on the side of the street giving injections to a horse. On the side of the street! Usually they would bring the animal to a vet clinic wouldn’t they?! Well, anyway, to me it was strange because the owner of the horse had his little horse cart and the horse was just standing on the side of the street. As the day went on, we packed and repacked eggs and met up with a lot of people that we knew. At around 5:00pm we met up with Marie who always buys eggs and she usually is the one to go to the market in Banjul with me and we went to meet with Sr. Suzanne’s uncle who is from England. Well he’s a Gambian but he married an English black woman. They were staying at a hotel in Banjul and when we pulled up, Sr. Suzanne began to show me the place. I honestly couldn’t belelive it. It’s one of the nicest hotels that I’ve ever been to! It’s right on the ocean so it has a lot of really tourist-y type things and it was huge! There were a lot of people, expecially by the pool. When you walk through the pool area you can go out toward the beach where they had tables and sun huts all over the place. There were young boys playing football in the sand and for a brief moment I thought, “what would it be like to have this type of experience rather than the one I’m having?” As much as I enjoy hotels and the beach and sun, I was happy to be the one oohing and ahhing about how nice the hotel was but yet at the end of the day we went back to the village life. To be a tourist is one thing, but to be a part of the community here in Brikama is another thing. People already call me a Gambian and I appreciate that, knowing that they accept me as one of their own rather than a tourist just passing through town. We spend about a half hour with Sr.’s uncle and aunt and then we had to go on our way home. Like I said we got home late so we unpacked the truck, I showered and went to bed.
I know that my mom was asking and making sure that I wrote every last detail down of my Easter experience here and I hope that I did it justice. It’s been so awesome to be a part of this experience and in some small way, have been become a part of the parish community here. As much as I write down I could never explain the feelings of what I’m going through here and what everything is really like. I will be forever changed from this experience and I will never forget it either.
I hope everyone has had a blessed Easter and I hope the weather is warming up!
In Jesus and Mary,
Jen
Praise the Lord, He has risen…Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Well, it has come to another end of the Lenten season but I can assure you that this has not been one that I’ve ever experienced before. Today’s gospel talks about two of the disciples meeting with Jesus on their way to Emmaus. They don’t recognize him but they talk with the stranger about what has just happened in Jerusalem over the last few days. They say to him,
“you must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days….all about Jesus of Nazareth, who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us; they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.”
When the day is almost over, the disciples invite Jesus to stay with them and it is only when Jesus was at table with them, takes the bread and blesses it and hands it to them that they realize that it truly is Jesus and not a stranger. But Jesus vanishes from them and they say, “Did our hearts not burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?” And with that they set out back to Jerusalem to find the eleven who also say to them, “yes it is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”
Today’s reading speaks to my heart so clearly of why we should have rejoiceful hearts at Easter. Our Lord has truly risen…it is not just a story in a story book, HE HAS TRULY RISEN! My heart honestly just leaps and I get tears in my eyes thinking of it, realizing that, just like the apostles, I have seen the risen Christ. What would it have been like to be in their situation? To meet a man on their road to Emmaus whom they share all about their sorrows and joys in the confusion of not knowing whether Jesus is alive or not. They have seen him crucified and they know that he was laid in the tomb but could the women really be right? Could he still be alive? I don’t know about you…but if I had seen my best friend die and then later hear that he isn’t dead but alive, I would be beyond belief but SO excited! I’m sure they were afraid and must have been talking about what had happened as they were on their way. If it was my sisters and I, we would talk and talk and talk about it trying to think through the whole situation of what had happened and I’m sure we would be afraid of what might happen to us. After hearing the gospel today and when it came time for the consecration at mass, my heart began to burn with a “knowledge” that the bread and wine is TRULY our Lord Jesus…risen from the dead.
“Did our hearts not burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:13- 35)
What a humble but amazing God we have. If I can say anything, having the opportunity to take in daily mass has truly changed my life. Reading the daily readings and following along has allowed me to see our Lord, my life, as well as the Church in a new way. We have The God of creation at our side who suffered on a cross for us, but yet He has the power to move mountains….and what praise do I truly give Him? Obviously nothing compared to what He has given me. I have to borrow His gratitude to give it back to Him. I thank the Lord daily for his generosity. Praise the Lord…Alleluia!
For what I can say about being in another country for Easter, I am glad to be a part of the Catholic Church since it is the same wherever you go. Holy week was very busy and it was an eye opener for me because through it, I have realized my own sinfulness and…to be honest, my laziness in my Lenten sacrifices. I’m honestly upset with myself about it. I definitely feel that I have failed more than succeeded. But this week I realized that, like Mother Teresa said, “the Lord doesn’t want us to be successful, He wants us to be faithful.” Thank the Lord for realizing this because my heart was very heavy going into this Holy week. But the feeling of sorrow for my lack of commitment only allowed me to recognize God’s mercy and grace. Monday and Tuesday were still very busy at the school with finishing up reports and getting everything all worked out for Parent/Teacher meetings on Wednesday. I was a bit nervous going into parent/teacher meetings since I haven’t met very many parents and you never know what the children say about their “toobob” teacher. So on Wednesday I waited patiently in my classroom with the kids coming in and out (since the kids came to school and enjoyed playing outside the entire time. I’m still not sure why they even came to school since in Canada we would have the day off). We were supposed leave the school early, at around 11:00am but many of the parents didn’t show up until around then to pick up the reports. And of course, the parents that SHOULD be there to realize that their children are not participating in class or making the effort didn’t come but the parents of the children who excel in class all came. What a backward system, but gives clear evidence of why the children have the habits they do. Anyway…who knows, maybe a few will come when we open for school again.
The children get rewarded when they get first, second, or third in their class and in my class Kaddijatou got first, Modoulamin Jobe second, and Alieu third. Kaddijatou was actually a surprise since she is the student that likes to come late to class, not pay attention and do everything in her power to do her own thing. She was the student who would’ve rather been beaten than spend her break sitting in her desk in class. I will be honest, after thinking about it I realized that she has made quite the turn around in class. It’s obvious that she more than likely gets her own way in other places than school but she has quickly learnt that in class she has to listen to me. If she doesn’t do her work, she will stay in a break to finish, if she talks or disturbs the class she will have a consequence. Most of the kids have learnt a lot and I’m proud to say that my kids are slowly becoming very good listeners and they respect others more than some of the other kids in the school. They know that I’m not there to be their friend, that I’m their teacher and that even though they might think I’m the meanest person for keeping them in a break because they didn’t finish their homework, that I do it for their own good. They may have a hard time with their phonics or numbers but I can assure you that these kids are far from stupid. They can tell when someone is there to help them. I know that they know I care about them because even if they have the tiniest little scrape, they come running saying, “Miss Jennifa, I have a wound.” It’s cute because they know that even though they may not need a band-aid that I will stop what I’m doing to just LOOK at their wound and say, “are you ok?” And really…that’s all they really want. Anyway, we ended up leaving the school a lot later than expected but when we got home I attempted to go and check my email at the internet café. It’s so slow and by the time a page loads you have to ask the guy for more time. It’s very frustrating and it’s the reason why I can’t get any of these posts up. I apologize for that. Our computer is getting fixed so that is my only option at the moment. When I got home we were having lunch with a woman who has been helping out at the school. Her name is Elizabeth and she spent to weeks here last year on a British exchange your teacher type program. She spent two weeks here at AMR and Paul, one of our teachers in the school, spent two weeks in England last year. It’s a great opportunity for the teachers and the kids get a new face too. She has been helping out in the school all week, especially with the grade three’s since they are learning about plants. They go out to the garden and she explains how plants grow and the differences in plants that are grown in the Gambia versus plants that grown in England. She’s really very nice and we were glad to have her over to the house for lunch.
In the evening the sisters usually have a free supper night since it’s their day during the week for a silent evening but on Wednesday evening (since Sr. Jos and Sr. Bernadette went out to get fish) we grilled fresh “bonga”. Bonga is a fish that has more tiny bones that you’ve probably ever seen in a fish. If the fish wasn’t so good to eat, I would just pass it up because it’s so much work to eat. The sisters make a sauce with sliced onions, lime, red pepper, black pepper, jumbo, and salt. The onions are all kept raw and you eat it with the fish. They call this “Yassa”. It’s amazing…seriously, like I said if it wasn’t so worth it in the end I wouldn’t bother taking the time to clean the bones from the fish. We all sat outside just on the door step grilling fish on a small charcoal grill. The moon was full so it was bright and beautiful outside. That was one of my favorite moments being here because we just sat outside and talked into the evening. I think I enjoyed it so much because it would be something that my sisters, Lise and I would do when we’re together.
Thursday was a busy day because I went out to sell eggs with Sr Cecile and Sr. Suzanne. And I think you all know how much I love to go. It’s really enjoyable to go with them because I usually laugh the whole time since both Sr. Cecile and Sr. Suzanne have fun personalities. I always laugh to myself thinking that they’ve spent so much time together I’m sure over the years that they know how each other works. And it’s hilarious to see first hand. Like I said, I usually laugh the entire day. I actually had forgotten that I was going, so I woke up kind of late and I had about 30 minutes to wake up, eat and get ready. But we were on our way and since I haven’t been out with the sisters lately because of school I got to see many friends today. It was a busy day and we tried to get back early enough to have time to relax a bit before we went to Holy Thursday mass. We got home and I showered and got ready for mass. Mass was really beautiful and I was surprised that there weren’t very many people. Everything was pretty similar to home and they had 12 men come up for the washing of the feet. After mass was done we had exposition and then the crowd filed out of the church with the Blessed Sacrament following behind for the procession to the Altar of Repose. The old church, which when the new one was built was turned into the church hall was the spot where they had the Altar of Repose, where everyone would stay until 12:00 with our Lord Jesus. When we arrived in the hall everything was so beautiful. The Altar was very simple but it had white and red flowers beside and red candles on top. We had old wooden benches to sit on and everyone stayed for at least 10 minutes after father left. The sisters and I left after about 30 minutes to go home and change, eat some supper and then we came back and stayed until 12:00. For me, the time flew by and I spent most of my time reading the passion in the gospel of John. When we left to go back home, I got to ride in the back of the truck since all the sisters were with us and it’s too crammed for all of us to fit. I have to admit that I enjoy riding in the back. On Thursday night when we left it was well after midnight so I got a good view of Brikama late in the evening. To my surprise, it was dead. Haha…I thought many people would be out and enjoying the evening but there were only a few people that I saw on the side of the road. The moon was full and it was beautiful. Everyone came home and went straight to bed. Friday, everyone got to sleep in a bit and I don’t think I heard much until around 8:30 or 9:00. I know that everyone was up earlier than that but the sisters have a day of silence in the house. When I woke up I found Sr. Cecile in the kitchen and she explained it to me. I spent the early part of the day cleaning up my room and then I got ready for stations of the cross at noon. Now, the Stations of the Cross are something that I’ve never experienced before on Good Friday but here in Brikama about 5 years ago the young people asked the priest who was here if they would be able to do stations of the cross in the streets of Brikama. So for the past 5 years the entire parish meets out toward the road we got to school and we are escorted by the city police officers down the main street in Brikama while reciting the Stations of the Cross. It was something so unique and beautiful. Some of you may think that it really isn’t that interesting and I’m sure in a predominantly Christian environment it really isn’t as unique as I say but when you’re in a community like Brikama (or the Gambia entirely) where the population of Christian’s is only 1% and the rest are Muslim and don’t believe in Jesus, it’s another story entirely. And keep in mind, this is only 5 years old so it’s still pretty new in the community. There is a reason why we were escorted by police. Many people stare and stop what they are doing to just watch us walk by and we even get people who try to say things and disturb what is happening. This year, nothing really eventful happened but Sr. Cecile said in previous years many of the Muslims would spit on the ground or turn up their radios when we walked by. The procession was lead by one altar server who was carrying a big cross followed by two other servers and Father Carl. We all followed behind. The crown started small at first but by the end it was very big. At each station, we would all stop and knee in the middle of the street and read the reflection. We did that the entire way to the church and the last station was in the church. Since it was at noon it was extremely hot outside. After stations, we celebrated the Good Friday service and everyone left in silence.
Traditionally, it’s a custom here as a Christian to give alms. But the people here have started the tradition that on Good Friday they all make – Nan Buru (this has turned into my FAVORITE dessert). It is made from rice and boabob juice. You pound the rice and form small balls and soak them in boabob juice and then cool it in the fridge. It seriously is amazing and I know I’m going to miss it when I go home since we don’t have the boabob fruit. So the Christians all make it and offer it to their Muslim friends as a gift. The Muslims do the same when it’s their holy feast. But the Christians give to Christians too. The sisters get so much that it’s close to the only thing you eat for the entire day. I don’t mind at all because it’s turned into something I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It took me a while to get used to it because I remember for one of the first days I was here the sisters made it and because of the texture, I didn’t really enjoy it very much. I’ve never liked tapioca pudding for that reason. But, I absolutely love it now.
After we came home, I went out to visit with some friends for a bit since the sisters were all taking the day for silence. When I met up with Papis, I found out that Nday was really sick so I went to their home to check on her and she was not doing very well at all. When I got to their house she was awake but looked completely drained of any fluid and she obviously hadn’t had anything to eat for a few days. Right when I got there I sat down on her bed and she curled right up and put her head on my lap. I asked her if she had gone to the doctor and she said that she had but she didn’t get her results because she had to pay 50 dallasis for them and she couldn’t afford it. I also asked her if she had eaten anything, and she said that she hadn’t eaten or drank anything all day, and at that point I got kind of upset knowing that she was trying to take care of two kids and no one was taking care of her. I ran out to get her something to eat and I went to talk to Papis to make sure he knew that she NEEDED to keep eating and drinking something, even if it was a little bit. I called Musa to come and take care of her because I had to get home. Musa brought her to the doctor the next day and they found out that she had malaria. She ended up getting the medication and instantly was getting better. I hope that she’ll be fully recovered within this week.
When I got home, Father Gabisi was over for supper and of course as the conversation always goes when Father is around – he was telling stories. Usually by the end of any conversation with Father EVERYONE has a sore stomach and tears in their eyes from laughing so hard. I hadn’t realized this, but Father Gabisi is the eldest preist in the diocese and he recently had his 25th anniversary of his ordination! When I got here, he quickly became a person of comfort for me since everything was so uncomfortable and new that his humor and excitement was always calming. Since then, we have created a great bond and we even have a small handshake when we meet up after mass in the morning. It consists of me getting my arm shaken off….haha. Father’s humor apparently comes from his mother since I hear that she was quite the jokster. We had a few good laughs Friday night.
I forgot to mention! On Tuesday evening, I found out that Sr. Josaphine was attending the Chrism mass that was being held at the cathedral in Banjul. I didn’t even know it was going on until about 2 hours before we left, but when Sister Cecile asked if I wanted to go I said I would love to since I hadn’t seen the cathedral yet. We left early enough to catch transport where we had to change vans at Westfield and go on to Banjul. When we got to the Cathedral I was shocked at how beautiful it was! We got there just on time, so it was packed full and I was trying to take everything in. The music was really beautiful. A lot of African drums and the choir was really good. If not everyone knows what the Chrism mass is, it’s the mass where all priests are called to concelebrate with their Bishop and it is where each parish receives the Holy oils. I realized how many priests and sisters I knew since everyone was there. I recognized a lot and after mass we spent some time visiting with everyone. I saw most of the Presentation sisters as well as Sr. Elizabeth (the one who came with us to Kartung), many other sisters and many priests. I even saw the young seminarians. They’re all really fun and some of them were surprised since I’ve only met most of them once that I remembered some of their names. One thing around here is that whenever there is a function, everyone has to be fed. So we went up to the rectory and all the priests, sisters, and a few others were enjoying something to eat. Sr. Jos and I came home with Father Gabisi and Mathew (a seminarian who is from Brikama). I really enjoyed myself and it was a beautiful mass.
So…where were we? Oh yes, Holy Saturday I slept in a bit and when I got up, the sisters and I ate breakfast. Saturday morning Sr. Cecile woke up not feeling very good and it’s sad to say that she spent the entire day in bed because she was so sick. I felt so bad for her because she was sick on both her birthday (which was only a few weeks ago) and on Holy Saturday. Sr. Sue had asked if I wanted to help out in the poultry a bit on Saturday and I was excited to have another attempt at handling those chickens. Since after the first attempt, when the chicken pecked at my hands, I was a bit nervous. What I will say now, I was still a bit nervous trying it out again but after the day was done I had become really good at taking the chickens out of the place they lay eggs. Seriously, chickens don’t like you to take them out when they’re laying eggs. And I had a few encounters with one chicken who I like to call “Mrs. Stubborn”. She was in room D and every time I went to go get eggs from the rooms she was ALWAYS sitting in the box where they lay eggs. When I would try to take her out she would peck at me and make noises. I doubt that the eggs she was sitting on were even her eggs but she just liked to be stubborn and sit there while I tried to figure out ways to put my hand in the box to take her out. I’ve never seen a real chicken with such attitude. I thought it was quite hilarious myself. So for the majority of the day, I helped the guys in the poultry and I really enjoyed myself. We picked eggs and put new saw-dust in the rooms, the guys cleaned the drinkers and we washed the veranda floor and the biggest job seems to be separating the eggs. Since the sisters sell two sizes of eggs we have to separate the eggs from big ones and small ones. When you go collect the eggs you have to keep them separate so you can count how many each room lays. So once you count then you pack according to size. Sometimes you get some incredibly small eggs and a lot of the time you get some really big eggs. Because some of the eggs are wet when they are layed the saw dust sticks to them so you have to clean them before they get packed. I guess you don’t have to, but no one wants to buy dirty eggs. Tony and Raymond (two boys who come to help) were helping pack eggs. So with the two boys, Sarjo and I sitting packing eggs on the floor we laughed quite a bit.
The sisters were preparing the meal for after Easter Vigil mass for the majority of the day. I guess after mass the priests either host the sisters or the sisters host the priests and this year was the sisters turn to host the priests. Everyone got ready to go to mass and we said good bye to Sr. Cecile who was sick in bed.
When we got to the church, Easter Vigil Mass had just started and everyone was huddled around the fire just outside the church in the parking lot. I couldn’t see much since I’m too short and there were too many people but I still heard everything that was said. We all walked through the parking lot to go into the church and as we walked into a dark church everyone held their candle. Father sang the Exultant and he did a wonderful job. I always look forward to hearing the Exultant sung. When the Gloria was sung it was so beautiful and it was so long! Even though I couldn’t sing it and it was long, just realizing that we could sing it again made me smile the entire time it was sang. The music was so upbeat and exciting and everyone in church was excited to be singing again. I sure was. It really makes a difference without the African drums. This year there were, I’m sure….around 25 candidates for baptism. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that many at Easter time. They all wore a white African style dress. The men had pants and nice top made in white and the women had a dress made in white. It was really beautiful! The women were all accessorized with white hair bands and ties with their hair all done really beautifully. At the time for the baptism all the candidates with their sponsors came up and formed a semi-circle around the altar. Each candidate had their own turn to put their head on top of the bucket and Father poured water on their heads baptizing each in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was really cool to witness. At the offertory all the newly baptized brought something up for a gift. Some brought potatoes, some brought okra, some brought rice, peppers, etc. Mass was beautiful and such a celebration! After everyone was greeting each other and so excited to finally say Happy Easter. I even saw a few of the people from Kembojeh who come on Saturday evenings. It was good to see that they had made the trip to Brikama to come to Easter vigil mass.
After mass we got home and Father was right behind us since he was coming for the midnight lunch. By the time we got home it was close to 1:30 am or 2:00am. We all sat around eating Yassa and chips and drinking good wine and drinks. After we did dishes everyone went straight to bed since we had to get up in a few hours. We were talking about the next morning over the supper table and Sr. Suzanne reminded me that we had to get up early to go for out stations in the villages. She said that if she was up early she would wake me up but when I got up in the morning it was well after 8:00am and she had gone. When she got back which was just in time to take us to the church for mass in Brikama, she mentioned that she even did the two parishes herself! I couldn’t believe it because even on a good Sunday where everything runs smoothly, we are all rushing to get back to Brikama for mass. And that is with Sr. Cecile, Sr. Suzanne and I. I usually go with one of them and we split up and each do a parish but she did both on Easter morning! If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that the Lord had maybe given her the gift of bi-locating just to allow both parishes to receive communion on Easter morning.
Mass on Easter was beautiful and there were many people who attended. The choir sang beautifully and there was a lot to celebrate about! The Lord has truly risen…Alleluia! After mass everyone got ready and packed in the truck to go to Lamin (a village just north of Brikama) to meet up with all the other sisters from the congregation in the Gambia. We were all in for a surprise since the Banjul Community was hosting this year’s Easter and all they told us was that we were supposed to meet at the church in Lamin. So we all met and exchanged greetings and “happy Easters” with all the sisters and then we packed back into the vehicles and followed behind in a caravan all anticipating what we were going to do. We pulled up to what is called “Lamin Lodge”. Lamin Lodge is on the Gambian river and to me, it seemed a lot like Makasutu (the place I went with the Billingtons the first weekend I was here). We arrived and the first thing you see is a tall African looking hut and lots of colorful wooden canoe-shaped boats. Lamin lodge is known best for their boat trips on the river but to get to the boats you have to walk on a rickety old bridge (to me it reminded me of the bridge that collapses in one of the Indiana Jones movies, although it wasn’t as high.) I’m not afraid of bridges since I can swim and the current doesn’t flow, actually to be honest I think it was mostly MUD underneath the bridge so in a “worst-case scenario” situation, I would imagine you would just get stuck in thick, thick mud. Haha…I’m imagining it now. So as we were crossing the bridge I had gone over first and so I looked back and laughed at some of the reactions of some of the sisters. There was a look of excitement on some of the young sisters and then, on some of the older sisters, there was the look of sheer terror. I’m not sure if it was the fact that the bridge wasn’t sturdy or that they had come into clear view of the days activities….a houseboat ride! Seriously, I LOVE water so I was so excited but some of the sisters don’t like boats and are afraid of water so it was kinda scary for them. As we got onto the boat everyone started to settle in a bit more and when we started moving we unpacked the food and ate lunch. It was awesome. After lunch everyone just relaxed. Some people even took naps and when we found out that we could go on top of the boat I jetted up to see what kind of adventure I could have. I think that most people were afraid to go uptop because it didn’t have railings but it was awesome because it had a little tent type thing and pillows where you could lay out and rest. The young sisters came up and we all sat around talking, dancing, and laughing. I really enjoy spending time with the sisters, and I’m glad that I get to spend time with everyone from all the communities because everyone of them are different. We enjoyed most of the day up on the top of the boat. We toured around the river and it was a gorgeous day to do it. On the banks of the Gambian river are what are called, “mangroves”. Mangroves are the plant that oysters attatch themselves to so women go out to collect them. It’s crazy to see because there are so so many of them and it honestly looks like large bushes on the banks of the river. When we got back to the lodge it was another eventful moment because everyone had to get “out” of the boat. The boat was swaying and all I’m going to say is that most of us had a good laugh looking at the faces of some of the people who were scared to jump out. We walked back across the rickety bridge and went to an African hut which was a restaurant and that is where we ate supper. Like I said, the Banjul community was in charge but I realized that the Fajara community was in charge for desert. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but the Fajar community is made up of two people – Sr. Sarian and Sr. Marie – seriously two of the funniest people I’ve ever known. They both like to play pranks on people and of course desert was not dismissed. Everyone was excited to see what they had brought for desert and so they introduce everything saying that each person had to pick a number and then we would get the desert that went with our number. Of course, when we each picked our number and gave it to them – each person ended up with a swapped number and desert. They gave deserts like a small bag of peanuts, or dried up fruit that wouldn’t have been good to eat. Everyone had a good laugh and after all the complaining (which was all in good fun) the sisters pulled out a big basket of fruit and cakes and we all enjoyed. After that everyone went our separate ways and we came home. When we were just about to have supper my sisters called and so I had made the arrangement to talk to them when I got back to Brikama. Everyone at home was together at my mom and dad’s place so when they called to talk later in the evening, I got to talk to EVERYONE! It was awesome! Even if it was for only a few minutes it was nice to hear everyone’s voices and hear how things were going. My family has always gotten together for holidays and birthdays and one thing is for sure since our family is small when some one is gone, you really feel the place of the missing person(s). Usually I wasn’t the one gone but since I’m not home this year, I know what the feeling of not having everyone home is like. The only people I didn’t get to talk to were my cousin Alex (who is in school in California) and my other cousin Sara who is finishing up her year and a half of being a missionary nurse in Ecuador. But let me tell you, as great of an experience as I am having, there is nothing like hearing your family’s voice on the other end of the phone.
I went to bed and woke up for mass in the morning….late. I’m not sure if I hit the off button on my cell phone or if it didn’t go off but when I heard the truck start and I looked at the time to see that it was almost 7:30, I threw some clothes on and SPRINTED outside to catch the truck rolling out of the driveway. The sisters were laughing at me and I was honestly laughing too because I can just imagine what I looked like running out of the door, fighting with the lock to close the door and sprinting around the house to get the attention of the sisters so they wouldn’t leave without me. Haha….oh boy.
After mass, we came home and ate breakfast and Sr. Suzanne had asked if I wanted to go to the Brikama craft market to look at some of the things they had there. So off we went, and like I’ve said before – Sr. Suzanne is the best person to go to the market with because she barely will take any price off the bat. We usually end up paying around half of what the people are asking. It’s great, and I laugh the whole time because some times when they give us a price (which is usually outrageous) she pertends to stumble and say jokingly, “ah…hold me, I think I’m going to have a heart attack.” Haha…ah man, I love her reactions. I met a lot of her friends and everyone just loves her there. We bought a few things and I even sat down with a gentleman who taught me how to play a bit of the African drums. It was awesome. Again, one of the best things I’ve had out of this experience – sitting and enjoying time with the people of the Gambia. They love it, and I love getting to know them. When you attempt to sit with them and join in with a part of who they are, they accept you like you are their brother or sister. We left having met most of the shop owners and I left with a long list of places to come back and visit.
Since this is our week off (which strangely enough I thought we had two weeks- I’m not sure if it was my imagination or a wish that made me think that) but anyway, all the schools in the Gambia have the week off. So, during lent all the girls in the hostel were gone and boy does it make a difference around here. The place is so quiet! I love having the girls around, but I can honestly say that the quiet and stillness was really nice to have too.
After Sr. Suzanne and I came back from the market everyone ate lunch and we had talked about going to just out side Banjul for the annual Easter Monday kite flying fundraiser that the Banjul Parish puts on every year. Sr. Josaphine, Sr. Bernadette and I got ready and headed out to Banjul where everyone was flying their kites on the beach. We got there and there were tons and tons of people. There was a tent set up so you could sit in the shade, lots of food and drinks to buy and they had lots of music. We met up with some of the other sisters from the communities and they were standing next to a volleyball game that was going on. For most of the evening the sisters spent time with people that they knew and I met up with people that I knew but I was more so content with just going along the beach walking and sitting watching the water and the sunset. I spent some time talking with some of the girls from the hostel who had come. I mostly sat with Edwina and talked and as the sun faded away, so did the warmth of it and the wind picked up to where I was almost positive I stepped into -30 degree Canadian weather for a brief moment. By the time we were leaving for home, I was so cold that I even thought about going to bed with a hot water bottle. Haha…I know my mom can appreciate that statement. I really had a great day on Monday and I appreciated getting to go out to the beach again.
Yesterday was another day full of fun and laughs. Since Monday was Easter Monday and most places were closed, Sr Suzanne and I went out selling eggs yesterday. Sr. Cecile still wasn’t feeling well so it was just the two of us. And boy did we laugh. I know I’ve said this time and time again, but I just enjoy spending time with Sr. Suzanne because we have some of the best conversations and we both usually do something to make each other laugh. It took the entire day to sell eggs and I think we ended up getting home well past 8:00pm. Since we have baby chicks they need special meds and food so Sr. and I stopped by the vet pharmacy to get a few things and when we were there I witnessed something really funny to me. At one point we were talking with the vet pharmacist and when we finished he went to the back of the shop picked up a briefcase- medbag looking thing and strolled outside. When I looked out the door, I saw him on the side of the street giving injections to a horse. On the side of the street! Usually they would bring the animal to a vet clinic wouldn’t they?! Well, anyway, to me it was strange because the owner of the horse had his little horse cart and the horse was just standing on the side of the street. As the day went on, we packed and repacked eggs and met up with a lot of people that we knew. At around 5:00pm we met up with Marie who always buys eggs and she usually is the one to go to the market in Banjul with me and we went to meet with Sr. Suzanne’s uncle who is from England. Well he’s a Gambian but he married an English black woman. They were staying at a hotel in Banjul and when we pulled up, Sr. Suzanne began to show me the place. I honestly couldn’t belelive it. It’s one of the nicest hotels that I’ve ever been to! It’s right on the ocean so it has a lot of really tourist-y type things and it was huge! There were a lot of people, expecially by the pool. When you walk through the pool area you can go out toward the beach where they had tables and sun huts all over the place. There were young boys playing football in the sand and for a brief moment I thought, “what would it be like to have this type of experience rather than the one I’m having?” As much as I enjoy hotels and the beach and sun, I was happy to be the one oohing and ahhing about how nice the hotel was but yet at the end of the day we went back to the village life. To be a tourist is one thing, but to be a part of the community here in Brikama is another thing. People already call me a Gambian and I appreciate that, knowing that they accept me as one of their own rather than a tourist just passing through town. We spend about a half hour with Sr.’s uncle and aunt and then we had to go on our way home. Like I said we got home late so we unpacked the truck, I showered and went to bed.
I know that my mom was asking and making sure that I wrote every last detail down of my Easter experience here and I hope that I did it justice. It’s been so awesome to be a part of this experience and in some small way, have been become a part of the parish community here. As much as I write down I could never explain the feelings of what I’m going through here and what everything is really like. I will be forever changed from this experience and I will never forget it either.
I hope everyone has had a blessed Easter and I hope the weather is warming up!
In Jesus and Mary,
Jen
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
hi!
Hello all!
I think I've got it! I found an internet cafe that is somewhat fast and allows you to use flash drives! Now it's catch up time...
I think I've got it! I found an internet cafe that is somewhat fast and allows you to use flash drives! Now it's catch up time...
A bad cold, the end of lent, and thank the Lord...A Break!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
I can’t believe it, I’ve been here for two and a half months and I have had three colds. Would anyone ever think that you would catch a cold in Africa? I sure didn’t. The first two times that I caught a cold weren’t bad but the one that I’ve been fighting the last week has been probably one of the worst colds I’ve ever had. I think because the change in seasons and the drastic change in temperature from day to evening it’s caught me off guard and I sometimes don’t think to put a sweater on until I’m already cold. I have even started to realize the change is temperature. When I first got here, since I was still new and the weather I had come from in Canada was very very cold, even the cold weather here didn’t seem so cold. But now, I really feel it. This week I spent most of my week in bed. I hadn’t been feeling very good from the week before and on last Sunday I had a fever and it just went downhill from there. I tried to fight through it but on Wednesday I woke up to get ready for mass and school and I felt like a truck had hit me. So I stayed home from school and honestly I slept the entire day. I got up for about an hour to have a little bit to eat but the rest of the day I spent in bed. As well as the majority of Thursday and Saturday. Honestly, I’m known for being able to sleep- whenever or where ever but I can say I’ve never slept that much, ever. I was so exhausted and my throat and chest hurt. But what I will say is that thank the Lord for fresh oranges, lemons, and papayas.
One thing I love about being here is that there are tons of fresh fruit to eat. Sr. Cecile had a bunch of oranges taken down from some of the trees so that I could make some orange juice as well as fresh lemonade to get enough vitamin C and since papayas are packed with vitamins she gave me a whole one to eat. I will say that today, since I’ve eaten so much fruit over the past few days my throat has felt so much better. I got up Friday, still not feeling well but I managed to get up and ready for mass and school. Thank the Lord that we only had half a day because I don’t think I would’ve made it through the entire day of classes. I spent the afternoon taking a bit of a nap and then I got up to walk to the church for 4:30. There was a gentleman who was travelling around the Gambia showing “The Passion of the Christ” to any parishes that wanted to watch before Easter. So some of the girls and I walked to the church and when we got to the hall there were only a few people. It was still light out and the man had set the hall up with a projector that was pointed toward a white sheet on the wall, so it was kind of difficult to watch. The reflection of the sun from the windows made it really hard to see the words at the bottom of the screen. There were old wooden benches that we all sat on and as the movie played there were more and more people that came to watch. We had to stop it half way through to go for Stations of the cross but after they resumed the movie. I had been thinking that I wished the movie would’ve been around because I enjoy watching it just before Easter so I’m glad that we had the opportunity to see it. Seeing our Lord Jesus go through his passion and death really makes it real to me. It’s one thing to read about it but it’s another thing to see it replayed before your eyes. I think the parts that really get me are the ones where you see Jesus with Mary and how they interact with one another. To know how human Mary and Jesus were and that she loved Him with an incredible motherly love. I can’t even imagine what it was like for her to see her son go through such a horrible experience. Can you imagine? It’s not like the Angel Gabriel came to Mary and said, “Hail Mary, Full of Grace. The Lord is with You now I’m going to tell you the whole story about what is going to happen to you if you agree to do the Lord’s will.” No…Angel Gabriel didn’t say that. Mary, when Gabriel appeared before her only said, “the Lord has found favor with your and in your womb you will conceive and bare a son that you shall call Jesus.” And based on little information, Mary - THROUGH FAITH- says, “Yes.” She wasn’t revealed the entire story about what would happen to Jesus, she went on faith knowing that the Lord would never abandon her. But what would our reaction be? Mine for sure would be….”Ok Lord, are you sure it’s supposed to happen this way? I thought you said you were going to give me a son, and now you’re going to take him away?” My reaction would be a doubtful one I’m sure. But that is why we can have such confidence in the Lord’s grace through Mary because even though she was human, the Lord worked through her to show us what perfect obedience looks like. She trusted the entire time and even when it must have been most difficult, she still trusted. I’m definitely glad that we got to watch it because it got me ready for Holy Week. After Stations of the Cross, I couldn’t stay for the rest of the movie since I had to go and stop at the super market and buy something for supper, but I went in to give Sr the keys to the truck and the place was packed! I couldn’t belelive it! And by then, it was getting dark so you could see the picture really well. I wished that I could’ve seen the rest, since it was a such a unique experience, sitting in this old church hall, watching a projector on the side of the wall. I’m sure everyone else was glad to watch it.
Yesterday, the sisters had their monthly retreat in Banjul and I was planning on going but I woke up still not feeling very well so I stayed home and slept for most of the day. I don’t know what it was, but a mix with the flu and over exhaustion seemed to me to be the root of it all. I sure haven’t been feeling good. I hope I will feel better this coming week.
Today, I woke up with full intentions of going out to the villages with Sr. Cecile and Sr. Suzanne, so I got ready and was having breakfast when they said that it might be better if I stayed home and took the morning easy. I thought it was probably a good idea since it seems to be a bit cooler in the mornings in the villages and I didn’t want to take any chances of getting sick again since I still am not over this one yet. Some days – expecially days where you are sick and have to stay in bed – all you can do it think and since I couldn’t really do much all I thought about was how I felt like I came all this way to help but it seems that I’m being helped more than doing the actual helping. So I am anxious to get better so I don’t feel so useless.
So I stayed and ate breakfast with the other sisters and got ready for mass. Since Sister Cecile and Sr. Suzanne take the truck to the villages we either go early enough to walk to church or else we take transport. Today I walked with John (who is one of the boys who comes to water the flowers on the weekends). I was also accompanied by Francis who I met up with half way to the church.
In the afternoon I was up for a walk so when everyone went for their siesta (afternoon nap) I ventured out not really having a destination but just walking. On my way toward the supermarket I met up with Omar, a friend that lives just a few minutes from our house. Over the past little while I’ve gotten to know Omar because I will see him walking home from his shop at the market and we will walk back home together since we don’t live far from one another. I’ve learnt a lot about him and it turns out that he has a brother who in the UK that still does some business in the Gambia. The house that Omar lives in is actually built buy Omar but it’s his brother’s place because he puts up the money for all the building. His brother sends the money and Omar does what he likes to the house. Today, when I met up with Omar, he invited me to his compound to see how the building was coming along. I can honestly say it is one of the nicest houses I’ve seen in the Gambia so far. The house is a pastel pink color and has a roof top that isn’t finished but has a great view of the Brikama highway. The floors inside are all tiled and what I like most about it, is that it’s clean! It seems that most of the houses or compounds that I have seen are so messy and they don’t really care to take good care of them but Omar does a great job at keeping the place clean. He has a HUGE mango tree in the middle of the yard and he’s planted some shrubs and flowers along the compound wall that will make really great shade when they grow taller. I didn’t stay long, but I was glad that I finally got to see the fruits of his hard work. One thing I like about Omar is that he seems to have a great work ethic, which is very different from how the rest of the men around here work. One thing I can say for sure is that the women in the Gambia work about 99% harder than the men around here, and I think it comes partly from their social culture and partly from their religious culture (since the country is almost entirely Muslim). But Omar owns his own little shoe shop in the market and in his spare time he builds his brother’s house. It’s really nice to see someone so hard working. After I left I went to see NdayFatou and Papis and I spent a good part of the afternoon with Nday. When I got the their little shop Nday invited me to their house so we went and just sat and talked playing with the kids. At one point she got up and said, “I have something for you.” She went to a tiny table that she had and took the plastic flowers that were in a basket and said. “here, I got these at the market for you.” I was shocked that she even wanted to get me something. At the same time I felt bad even agreeing that I would take them because it is clear that they don’t have much and the flowers add a little bit of color to the room. I said to her, “No, Nday…I can’t take those! You should keep them!” After I said it I wasn’t sure I should’ve, knowing that the hospitality of any Gambian is to give the little that they have and if you refuse they consider it somewhat of an insult. She didn’t really seem to say anything but she sat down and we kept talking. At one point she put her knees to her chest (since she was sitting on the floor) and said to me as she shook her head and started to cry, “Jennifer….you really like me, you really like me.” I didn’t know what she meant by it but as I sat there looking at her I realized that what she felt was honor that I would come and spend time with her and her family, knowing that not any Toobob would just stop in for a visit. I just enjoy spending time with her because we can just sit and talk and laugh at the funny things that Mancy and Babocar do. Usually Mancy is getting into some sort of trouble and Babocar is just running around doing his own thing. I stayed for a good part of the afternoon and then I came home. It was good to get out of the house for a bit to just walk because I haven’t been able to do much of that for the past week.
There have been a few people who have asked how they can help out and being here now for over three months, there are MANY things that I can see can use our help from Canada. I can definetly see how hard the life here is for many people since the development of the country is taking some time. Yes, here it seems to move fast but compared to how fast things happen in Canada to me it seems slow. I’m not sure if I mentioned, but at the school a few months ago they began to put up the new administration building, where there will be an office, kitchen, resource room, library, and computer room. I think from what I’ve heard the men are ahead of schedule but it’s so funny because I think out of all the time I’ve seen them working, I’ve only seen one machine and that was a cement mixer that still had to be cranked by hand. Other than that, everything is done by manual labor. It took two weeks to dig a bore hole for the septic tanks and I just kept thinking about how if it was in Canada, it would’ve been dug in a matter of hours. The men worked hard picking the ground with picks and shoveling the dirty until it was deep enough. Since the foundation has been done the walls (which are made of cement bricks) have been going up pretty fast. They say that the school should be done by the time school opens in September. I know that the sisters are one day hoping to have another two classroom buildings built as well as a high school and then I think they are hoping to have their convent on the property. Every time I call home and talk to my dad I always say, “Dad, you have to come here and see how they work! They do it all by hand!” I know that it is obviously a big undertaking to fund a whole building but there have been organizations who have donated the money for the previous buildings and since people are asking, I’m writing about what there is a need for. Honestly, being here and seeing the WONDERFUL things the sisters do, I can appreciate what the sisters do here. I know many of you don’t know what it’s like here but the education system in the Gambia is very, very poor. Many students will go through 12 grades of school and not know very much English or they won’t know the material that they should coming out of high school. But I can say that at the schools that the sisters run, well Anne Marie Rivier for sure, other community members or teachers from schools say how well the students who are only in grade 1, 2 or 3 can speak English. The sisters’ schools that are run are well known for giving a good education and like I said, the students come out speaking English better than any other school in Brikama. So I can assure you that any money donated for putting up part of the school buildings will be put to great use and honestly, it will help this country develop in a huge way because the young children are the future of the development of the country. If the children are not educated they cannot do much for this country and I see how unbelievably valuable one child’s education is.
Another thing, I have so many children come up to me on the street say, “please…will you sponsor me for school?” One thing I’m always amazed at is how the basic income for a family doesn’t cover the cost of living never mind trying to put your children through school. Many families have many many children (since many people are Muslim and have more than one wife) so they need assistance to put their children through school. We have many Muslim children who come to our school and as different as their values and the way they live are, I can assure you that they will come out of school having learnt MANY Christian principles without having realized it. So, school fees are another thing that if you would like to help, your money will be put to great use. For our school – Anne Marie Rivier – since it’s a private school, it is a bit more expensive but like I said, the education that a child comes out with is significantly higher than in other schools. For the whole year, it costs about $4,000 dallasis which converts to around $200. Nday Fatou approached me one day and asked how much it would be to send her oldest son to our school since she realized that he was learning nothing in the school that he is currently in. I have a hard time telling her how much it costs since I know that their family could never afford the cost of it. And it’s hard because I know how drastic their family’s life would change if they had one educated child. We are currently only up to grade 3 but next year the kids will move up to grade 4 so the classes will slowly move up to eventually all the way through high school.
As for another school, one of our teachers’ – Anna and her husband started a school in their home when their youngest son, Renautus was young. They originally started it by hiring a teacher for him to prepare him for nursery school and since some of the neighborhood kids that couldn’t afford school weren’t going to school, Anna and her husband invited them to attend for free. After the year was over and Renatus entered formal nursery school, Anna thought that it would still be good to give the kids who began learning the opportunity to continue with a bit of education so they kept the classes going. It has now grown into a nursery school and day care and they have a full time teacher as well as 2 part time teachers. Although the have started requiring fees but the fees are very low. Each nursery student pays 650 dallasis ($around $30 Canadian dollars) per year and a day care child would pay 4oo dallasis (around $20 Canadian dollars) per year. The full time teacher gets paid 1,000 dallasis ($50 Canadian dollars) per month. The other two part time teachers get paid 500 dallasis (about $25 Canadian dollars) per month. When she told me what the salaries were I couldn’t believe how little a good salary is around here. The school is located not far from our house in Brikama and it is called “Renatus International Preparatory Day Care and Nursery”. They named it after their son who they originally started having classes for. The school is open from September to July. Anna is just looking for some support, whether it’s a little bit or alot. Any little support can help because both her and her husband are teachers and I can assure you that teachers don’t make very much money. They also have three boys, so any little bit will help. She said that even if the teachers salaries could be paid for the year it would help out SO much. So I did the math and just for all three teachers salaries for the entire year would equal to around $1,100 Canadian dollars….for an entire year. I seriously still can’t believe that’s the amount. I don’t know how many students they have but when I look at the amount that a student pays for the entire year, it’s amazing to think of how little it actually is. And remember, the fact that a child is getting an education is must more important than the cost. An education for a child around here can completely change the entire family’s financial position. It’s really amazing to see first hand.
The church in Kembojeh where we have our youth group and we do weekly scripture studies has more than a leaky roof….half of the roof is off of the building. I can’t even imagine what it’s like during the rainy season. I guess when the rains come, so does the wind and last year half of the roof blew off so they have been stuck with sitting under only half of their church for mass. I can assure you that they don’t have a collection that would be big enough to accumulate enough money to repair it because they even have a hard time finding the money to buy a simple altar cloth (which would be around 75 dallasis – maybe). Since Kembojeh is a village, you have hard working families that don’t make much money. I would guess that an average Sunday collection might….MIGHT be between 10 – 20 dallasis (which is equivalent to 50 cents - 1 Canadian dollar.) I don’t think the roof would take much to repair, but like I said the congregation can’t really afford it.
I was talking with Sr. Cecile about the repairs and she was saying to me that if she had more time, she would spend it in the villages doing more for the Catholic churches in each community. I sympathize with her. It’s one thing to be a part of Brikama, Serrekunda, or Banjul because you can get almost anything you need. There is running water in most places and electricity. But in the villages, most people have it hard. Most families have to walk to the well or tap to get water for their use at home and some places don’t have electricity. The villages are very poor. It’s sad to see, but I will be honest…most days I enjoy spending my time there since there is a sense that life’s purpose is more than material things. One thing Sr. said was that if she could she would love to help the churches out and help them to have the initiative to work toward getting altar clothes, a crucifix, candle holders, a station of the cross, benches and hymn books if their church doesn’t have them. Doesn’t that sound SO small? I know…I think about our church in Duck Lake or some of the churches I;ve been to back home and think how small those things are. But to a church community here, to have mass hymn books or benches or a station of the cross is a prized possession. We really are blessed to have the things we have at home. Has the thought ever crossed your mind that you would ever be without a crucifix in your church? I hadn’t. But now I realize how important those things are to remind us of our faith and how I need to be grateful that we have them.
Anyway, this is just a list that I’ve made since there are many people reading and many people who are asking in what ways they can help. Please, don’t feel obligated to send money, but just pray about how you can maybe help. It may be through prayer, and it may be financially. Like I’ve said before, in the intelligent words of Mother Teresa, “All money is God’s money, it’s just how He chooses to give it to us, is the mystery.” If any of you are planning to give money just email me and I will let you know how to get it here. One thing about giving to somewhere you know someone is that the entire sum of the money gets to where it needs to and you know where your money is going.
I hope all is well and I will talk to all of you very soon!
Much Love,
In Jesus and Mary,
Jennifer
I can’t believe it, I’ve been here for two and a half months and I have had three colds. Would anyone ever think that you would catch a cold in Africa? I sure didn’t. The first two times that I caught a cold weren’t bad but the one that I’ve been fighting the last week has been probably one of the worst colds I’ve ever had. I think because the change in seasons and the drastic change in temperature from day to evening it’s caught me off guard and I sometimes don’t think to put a sweater on until I’m already cold. I have even started to realize the change is temperature. When I first got here, since I was still new and the weather I had come from in Canada was very very cold, even the cold weather here didn’t seem so cold. But now, I really feel it. This week I spent most of my week in bed. I hadn’t been feeling very good from the week before and on last Sunday I had a fever and it just went downhill from there. I tried to fight through it but on Wednesday I woke up to get ready for mass and school and I felt like a truck had hit me. So I stayed home from school and honestly I slept the entire day. I got up for about an hour to have a little bit to eat but the rest of the day I spent in bed. As well as the majority of Thursday and Saturday. Honestly, I’m known for being able to sleep- whenever or where ever but I can say I’ve never slept that much, ever. I was so exhausted and my throat and chest hurt. But what I will say is that thank the Lord for fresh oranges, lemons, and papayas.
One thing I love about being here is that there are tons of fresh fruit to eat. Sr. Cecile had a bunch of oranges taken down from some of the trees so that I could make some orange juice as well as fresh lemonade to get enough vitamin C and since papayas are packed with vitamins she gave me a whole one to eat. I will say that today, since I’ve eaten so much fruit over the past few days my throat has felt so much better. I got up Friday, still not feeling well but I managed to get up and ready for mass and school. Thank the Lord that we only had half a day because I don’t think I would’ve made it through the entire day of classes. I spent the afternoon taking a bit of a nap and then I got up to walk to the church for 4:30. There was a gentleman who was travelling around the Gambia showing “The Passion of the Christ” to any parishes that wanted to watch before Easter. So some of the girls and I walked to the church and when we got to the hall there were only a few people. It was still light out and the man had set the hall up with a projector that was pointed toward a white sheet on the wall, so it was kind of difficult to watch. The reflection of the sun from the windows made it really hard to see the words at the bottom of the screen. There were old wooden benches that we all sat on and as the movie played there were more and more people that came to watch. We had to stop it half way through to go for Stations of the cross but after they resumed the movie. I had been thinking that I wished the movie would’ve been around because I enjoy watching it just before Easter so I’m glad that we had the opportunity to see it. Seeing our Lord Jesus go through his passion and death really makes it real to me. It’s one thing to read about it but it’s another thing to see it replayed before your eyes. I think the parts that really get me are the ones where you see Jesus with Mary and how they interact with one another. To know how human Mary and Jesus were and that she loved Him with an incredible motherly love. I can’t even imagine what it was like for her to see her son go through such a horrible experience. Can you imagine? It’s not like the Angel Gabriel came to Mary and said, “Hail Mary, Full of Grace. The Lord is with You now I’m going to tell you the whole story about what is going to happen to you if you agree to do the Lord’s will.” No…Angel Gabriel didn’t say that. Mary, when Gabriel appeared before her only said, “the Lord has found favor with your and in your womb you will conceive and bare a son that you shall call Jesus.” And based on little information, Mary - THROUGH FAITH- says, “Yes.” She wasn’t revealed the entire story about what would happen to Jesus, she went on faith knowing that the Lord would never abandon her. But what would our reaction be? Mine for sure would be….”Ok Lord, are you sure it’s supposed to happen this way? I thought you said you were going to give me a son, and now you’re going to take him away?” My reaction would be a doubtful one I’m sure. But that is why we can have such confidence in the Lord’s grace through Mary because even though she was human, the Lord worked through her to show us what perfect obedience looks like. She trusted the entire time and even when it must have been most difficult, she still trusted. I’m definitely glad that we got to watch it because it got me ready for Holy Week. After Stations of the Cross, I couldn’t stay for the rest of the movie since I had to go and stop at the super market and buy something for supper, but I went in to give Sr the keys to the truck and the place was packed! I couldn’t belelive it! And by then, it was getting dark so you could see the picture really well. I wished that I could’ve seen the rest, since it was a such a unique experience, sitting in this old church hall, watching a projector on the side of the wall. I’m sure everyone else was glad to watch it.
Yesterday, the sisters had their monthly retreat in Banjul and I was planning on going but I woke up still not feeling very well so I stayed home and slept for most of the day. I don’t know what it was, but a mix with the flu and over exhaustion seemed to me to be the root of it all. I sure haven’t been feeling good. I hope I will feel better this coming week.
Today, I woke up with full intentions of going out to the villages with Sr. Cecile and Sr. Suzanne, so I got ready and was having breakfast when they said that it might be better if I stayed home and took the morning easy. I thought it was probably a good idea since it seems to be a bit cooler in the mornings in the villages and I didn’t want to take any chances of getting sick again since I still am not over this one yet. Some days – expecially days where you are sick and have to stay in bed – all you can do it think and since I couldn’t really do much all I thought about was how I felt like I came all this way to help but it seems that I’m being helped more than doing the actual helping. So I am anxious to get better so I don’t feel so useless.
So I stayed and ate breakfast with the other sisters and got ready for mass. Since Sister Cecile and Sr. Suzanne take the truck to the villages we either go early enough to walk to church or else we take transport. Today I walked with John (who is one of the boys who comes to water the flowers on the weekends). I was also accompanied by Francis who I met up with half way to the church.
In the afternoon I was up for a walk so when everyone went for their siesta (afternoon nap) I ventured out not really having a destination but just walking. On my way toward the supermarket I met up with Omar, a friend that lives just a few minutes from our house. Over the past little while I’ve gotten to know Omar because I will see him walking home from his shop at the market and we will walk back home together since we don’t live far from one another. I’ve learnt a lot about him and it turns out that he has a brother who in the UK that still does some business in the Gambia. The house that Omar lives in is actually built buy Omar but it’s his brother’s place because he puts up the money for all the building. His brother sends the money and Omar does what he likes to the house. Today, when I met up with Omar, he invited me to his compound to see how the building was coming along. I can honestly say it is one of the nicest houses I’ve seen in the Gambia so far. The house is a pastel pink color and has a roof top that isn’t finished but has a great view of the Brikama highway. The floors inside are all tiled and what I like most about it, is that it’s clean! It seems that most of the houses or compounds that I have seen are so messy and they don’t really care to take good care of them but Omar does a great job at keeping the place clean. He has a HUGE mango tree in the middle of the yard and he’s planted some shrubs and flowers along the compound wall that will make really great shade when they grow taller. I didn’t stay long, but I was glad that I finally got to see the fruits of his hard work. One thing I like about Omar is that he seems to have a great work ethic, which is very different from how the rest of the men around here work. One thing I can say for sure is that the women in the Gambia work about 99% harder than the men around here, and I think it comes partly from their social culture and partly from their religious culture (since the country is almost entirely Muslim). But Omar owns his own little shoe shop in the market and in his spare time he builds his brother’s house. It’s really nice to see someone so hard working. After I left I went to see NdayFatou and Papis and I spent a good part of the afternoon with Nday. When I got the their little shop Nday invited me to their house so we went and just sat and talked playing with the kids. At one point she got up and said, “I have something for you.” She went to a tiny table that she had and took the plastic flowers that were in a basket and said. “here, I got these at the market for you.” I was shocked that she even wanted to get me something. At the same time I felt bad even agreeing that I would take them because it is clear that they don’t have much and the flowers add a little bit of color to the room. I said to her, “No, Nday…I can’t take those! You should keep them!” After I said it I wasn’t sure I should’ve, knowing that the hospitality of any Gambian is to give the little that they have and if you refuse they consider it somewhat of an insult. She didn’t really seem to say anything but she sat down and we kept talking. At one point she put her knees to her chest (since she was sitting on the floor) and said to me as she shook her head and started to cry, “Jennifer….you really like me, you really like me.” I didn’t know what she meant by it but as I sat there looking at her I realized that what she felt was honor that I would come and spend time with her and her family, knowing that not any Toobob would just stop in for a visit. I just enjoy spending time with her because we can just sit and talk and laugh at the funny things that Mancy and Babocar do. Usually Mancy is getting into some sort of trouble and Babocar is just running around doing his own thing. I stayed for a good part of the afternoon and then I came home. It was good to get out of the house for a bit to just walk because I haven’t been able to do much of that for the past week.
There have been a few people who have asked how they can help out and being here now for over three months, there are MANY things that I can see can use our help from Canada. I can definetly see how hard the life here is for many people since the development of the country is taking some time. Yes, here it seems to move fast but compared to how fast things happen in Canada to me it seems slow. I’m not sure if I mentioned, but at the school a few months ago they began to put up the new administration building, where there will be an office, kitchen, resource room, library, and computer room. I think from what I’ve heard the men are ahead of schedule but it’s so funny because I think out of all the time I’ve seen them working, I’ve only seen one machine and that was a cement mixer that still had to be cranked by hand. Other than that, everything is done by manual labor. It took two weeks to dig a bore hole for the septic tanks and I just kept thinking about how if it was in Canada, it would’ve been dug in a matter of hours. The men worked hard picking the ground with picks and shoveling the dirty until it was deep enough. Since the foundation has been done the walls (which are made of cement bricks) have been going up pretty fast. They say that the school should be done by the time school opens in September. I know that the sisters are one day hoping to have another two classroom buildings built as well as a high school and then I think they are hoping to have their convent on the property. Every time I call home and talk to my dad I always say, “Dad, you have to come here and see how they work! They do it all by hand!” I know that it is obviously a big undertaking to fund a whole building but there have been organizations who have donated the money for the previous buildings and since people are asking, I’m writing about what there is a need for. Honestly, being here and seeing the WONDERFUL things the sisters do, I can appreciate what the sisters do here. I know many of you don’t know what it’s like here but the education system in the Gambia is very, very poor. Many students will go through 12 grades of school and not know very much English or they won’t know the material that they should coming out of high school. But I can say that at the schools that the sisters run, well Anne Marie Rivier for sure, other community members or teachers from schools say how well the students who are only in grade 1, 2 or 3 can speak English. The sisters’ schools that are run are well known for giving a good education and like I said, the students come out speaking English better than any other school in Brikama. So I can assure you that any money donated for putting up part of the school buildings will be put to great use and honestly, it will help this country develop in a huge way because the young children are the future of the development of the country. If the children are not educated they cannot do much for this country and I see how unbelievably valuable one child’s education is.
Another thing, I have so many children come up to me on the street say, “please…will you sponsor me for school?” One thing I’m always amazed at is how the basic income for a family doesn’t cover the cost of living never mind trying to put your children through school. Many families have many many children (since many people are Muslim and have more than one wife) so they need assistance to put their children through school. We have many Muslim children who come to our school and as different as their values and the way they live are, I can assure you that they will come out of school having learnt MANY Christian principles without having realized it. So, school fees are another thing that if you would like to help, your money will be put to great use. For our school – Anne Marie Rivier – since it’s a private school, it is a bit more expensive but like I said, the education that a child comes out with is significantly higher than in other schools. For the whole year, it costs about $4,000 dallasis which converts to around $200. Nday Fatou approached me one day and asked how much it would be to send her oldest son to our school since she realized that he was learning nothing in the school that he is currently in. I have a hard time telling her how much it costs since I know that their family could never afford the cost of it. And it’s hard because I know how drastic their family’s life would change if they had one educated child. We are currently only up to grade 3 but next year the kids will move up to grade 4 so the classes will slowly move up to eventually all the way through high school.
As for another school, one of our teachers’ – Anna and her husband started a school in their home when their youngest son, Renautus was young. They originally started it by hiring a teacher for him to prepare him for nursery school and since some of the neighborhood kids that couldn’t afford school weren’t going to school, Anna and her husband invited them to attend for free. After the year was over and Renatus entered formal nursery school, Anna thought that it would still be good to give the kids who began learning the opportunity to continue with a bit of education so they kept the classes going. It has now grown into a nursery school and day care and they have a full time teacher as well as 2 part time teachers. Although the have started requiring fees but the fees are very low. Each nursery student pays 650 dallasis ($around $30 Canadian dollars) per year and a day care child would pay 4oo dallasis (around $20 Canadian dollars) per year. The full time teacher gets paid 1,000 dallasis ($50 Canadian dollars) per month. The other two part time teachers get paid 500 dallasis (about $25 Canadian dollars) per month. When she told me what the salaries were I couldn’t believe how little a good salary is around here. The school is located not far from our house in Brikama and it is called “Renatus International Preparatory Day Care and Nursery”. They named it after their son who they originally started having classes for. The school is open from September to July. Anna is just looking for some support, whether it’s a little bit or alot. Any little support can help because both her and her husband are teachers and I can assure you that teachers don’t make very much money. They also have three boys, so any little bit will help. She said that even if the teachers salaries could be paid for the year it would help out SO much. So I did the math and just for all three teachers salaries for the entire year would equal to around $1,100 Canadian dollars….for an entire year. I seriously still can’t believe that’s the amount. I don’t know how many students they have but when I look at the amount that a student pays for the entire year, it’s amazing to think of how little it actually is. And remember, the fact that a child is getting an education is must more important than the cost. An education for a child around here can completely change the entire family’s financial position. It’s really amazing to see first hand.
The church in Kembojeh where we have our youth group and we do weekly scripture studies has more than a leaky roof….half of the roof is off of the building. I can’t even imagine what it’s like during the rainy season. I guess when the rains come, so does the wind and last year half of the roof blew off so they have been stuck with sitting under only half of their church for mass. I can assure you that they don’t have a collection that would be big enough to accumulate enough money to repair it because they even have a hard time finding the money to buy a simple altar cloth (which would be around 75 dallasis – maybe). Since Kembojeh is a village, you have hard working families that don’t make much money. I would guess that an average Sunday collection might….MIGHT be between 10 – 20 dallasis (which is equivalent to 50 cents - 1 Canadian dollar.) I don’t think the roof would take much to repair, but like I said the congregation can’t really afford it.
I was talking with Sr. Cecile about the repairs and she was saying to me that if she had more time, she would spend it in the villages doing more for the Catholic churches in each community. I sympathize with her. It’s one thing to be a part of Brikama, Serrekunda, or Banjul because you can get almost anything you need. There is running water in most places and electricity. But in the villages, most people have it hard. Most families have to walk to the well or tap to get water for their use at home and some places don’t have electricity. The villages are very poor. It’s sad to see, but I will be honest…most days I enjoy spending my time there since there is a sense that life’s purpose is more than material things. One thing Sr. said was that if she could she would love to help the churches out and help them to have the initiative to work toward getting altar clothes, a crucifix, candle holders, a station of the cross, benches and hymn books if their church doesn’t have them. Doesn’t that sound SO small? I know…I think about our church in Duck Lake or some of the churches I;ve been to back home and think how small those things are. But to a church community here, to have mass hymn books or benches or a station of the cross is a prized possession. We really are blessed to have the things we have at home. Has the thought ever crossed your mind that you would ever be without a crucifix in your church? I hadn’t. But now I realize how important those things are to remind us of our faith and how I need to be grateful that we have them.
Anyway, this is just a list that I’ve made since there are many people reading and many people who are asking in what ways they can help. Please, don’t feel obligated to send money, but just pray about how you can maybe help. It may be through prayer, and it may be financially. Like I’ve said before, in the intelligent words of Mother Teresa, “All money is God’s money, it’s just how He chooses to give it to us, is the mystery.” If any of you are planning to give money just email me and I will let you know how to get it here. One thing about giving to somewhere you know someone is that the entire sum of the money gets to where it needs to and you know where your money is going.
I hope all is well and I will talk to all of you very soon!
Much Love,
In Jesus and Mary,
Jennifer
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