Saturday mornings in Saboba… sleep in until about 10 and wake up to French toast with syrup, scrambled eggs with Lawry’s and crisp bacon and a glass of really, really cold orange juice.
Why did I even write that? I am only torturing myself. It was more like 6:30 am and I can’t stay in bed any longer because I will stick to my sheets. I get up and stand in front of the fan and pray I make it through the day. I wander into the kitchen and settle for oatmeal in boiling water, which makes me hot just looking at it. I have grown accustomed to very little sugar in my food. This I did not realize until I had a packet of oatmeal Kristi brought from home, and I thought it was too sweet.
Can you believe this?
We were looking forward to a nice, relaxing morning at home. Bob and Jean were supposed to be in this afternoon, but the conference Dr. Jean was overseeing was delayed until tomorrow. Kristi and I have done quite well by ourselves though and are having a great time, taking full advantage of the quiet. I made us tea and just as we were settling into a relaxing morning, Jonah walks in. No big deal. He’s pretty much family and he is always around. He wanted to check on us to see how our night went before he went on with his day.
Shortly after Jonah left, Aggie came into my room, “Please Nikki, Pastor Peter is here to see you.”
Pastor Peter is one of the good ol’ boys. He has been here since the beginning of time, and will retire from his church in November after 40 years of service with this wife Susanna whom he loves dearly. They have been the receipts of several of Dr. Jean and I’s evening walks and I was so flattered he stopped by to see me this morning. We sat at the dining room table and a chatted for a while before Aggie came in again, “Please Nikki, Joseph is here to see you.”
All of Saboba knows I am by myself and only recently that there is a new girl in town and they feel quite compelled to check up on us. Fortunately, Kristi and Joe are good friends too so she visited with him while I finished my history lesson with Pastor Peter. We talked about his family, how me met his wife, and their NINE children. He also told me about the customs of betrothal at birth and “exchange” within the Konkombas that make it so hard for girls to stay in school. The exchange thing works like this: if my brother and a friend who had a sister he wants to marry, he will give me to his friend in exchange for his sister, so you can kiss true love goodbye. He is so full of information, and I love having these kinds of conversations with people his age.
It was only 10:30 and both Kristi and I were hungry again, thinking it had to be at least lunch time. I had decided I needed to do some serious catch up on my writing, so I was at the computer trying to recap the last few days (again- not well done, but you got the facts). Kristi has not quite been 100% these last two days, and something hit me, so we were both napping to escape the reality of our ailments by 11:30 this morning. Pathetic? Little bit. I needed it though. I was in prime fighting condition again after I woke up. I am so very thankful I have yet to get sick since I have been here. I know that is because you have been praying for me.
It will be nice to have Dr. Jean back so Kristi can start working. I feel for her because Africa is a hard pace to get used to anyway, but especially difficult to adjust to when you are nearly on your way out of the most rigorous four years of your life. This has ended up being a good week for her, and I know she will benefit for getting to know the community before she treats them. It’s funny to watch her with new things because it gives me an idea of what my face looked like when I experienced certain things. I have also realized how much I have learned since I have been here and how much these people have taught me. They now refer to me as a native of Saboba haha.
We decided to watch “The Blindside” this afternoon. Bob has a modest selection of movies and fortunately, he has a few good ones. I decided watching it today that if I had the chance to still be me but grow up in a new place, I think I would like to be a Southern housewife of a football man. Classy and sassy and I rather enjoy that.
Joe and I were going to show Kristi a few places we had been, but the walk was too far for how she was feeling and I was too hot and tired to walk that far. She wanted to stay home, which was unfortunate, so Joe and I walked to one of the high schools south of town. I was trying to imagine walking this two times every day… it is quite a trek.
We stopped by what they call “Water West” which is a two story building where the water from the river is pumped and distributed into the town’s water system. The government has completely neglected its promise of restoring the people’s water supply and Saboba is in a water crisis right now as there is no clean water and that is why typhoid is so rampant. There were boys in the pack of a pick up yesterday drumming on their empty water cans, singing “Saboba water crisis” in Likpaakpaln. It was hilarious. They maybe thirsty, but they are still funny!
We climbed up the stairs and walked around the top, peering way down into pits that should be full of water. Women were lowering their buckets down into old, stagnant water to bring back to their families. Things like this make you cringe. It was good for me to see this.
I was quite surprised at the sight of the school. Its campus is covered in neat rows of mango trees that open up into a main courtyard where the school buildings are. I was hoping I would see some of the girls I saw yesterday, but this was the one school that did not come. Joe went to high school here so he was quite comfortable with the lay out. He pointed out the girls’ dorm, which is too small to house all the girls. Correction from my post earlier- there are some places for students to stay but not enough as I observed this evening.
My mom asked me in an email if I am homesick yet, and I’m not really sure how to phrase my answer in a way that won’t make her feel bad. Just kidding- she’s not like that, but in all honesty, I am not. I miss my family and my friends like crazy and wish I had pocket-sized versions of them so they could see what I am seeing, but other than that, no. I love being here and this is exactly where I want and need to be right now. I am officially over the halfway mark now. Once I realized this, I got slightly overwhelmed thinking about how much needs to be done before I leave here. I only met Comfort two weeks ago, and we have work to do! FYI- she is also called Yaya, which I think is awesome. So fitting for a woman of her beauty and personality. Leaving Saboba is going to be a sad, sad day.
I am exhausted after such a long walk, but I was in dire need of some fresh air and an excursion to a new place. Tomorrow, we will go to Emery and Moses’s church to fulfill the invitation I have had since I got here. Kristi is Baptist girl and this church is called the “Church of Pentecost.” We both got a kick out of this.
Fun fact: they say “sheet” here all the time and there is no negative connotation to that word. So, even though I have been nothing but my typical angelic, sweet self who never jokes around, for some reason they call me the “bulllllllsheet woman.” It took me back at first, thinking that Mama and Papa G would not approve of this, but now it just cracks me up because they crack themselves up when they call me that.
I am starting to nod off again, so I think it is time for by beauty rest.
I do want to give a shout out to my brother Gavin and tell you how much I love and admire you. I’m feeling everything you are feeling over here, and I thought of you when I read this is morning and would like to share it with the rest of the class:
The point my study this morning was praising God in ALL situations. I read about King Jehoshaphat (I can never take his name seriously either- it’s ok) and how his army defied all odds in not just winning, but obliterating the bad guys. He did this because he knew the battle was not his but God’s. All he had to do was show up and the Lord would fight for him. Point number two- he sent soldiers ahead of his army singing songs of praise. The Bible says as the men sang the Lord set up ambushes for the bad guys and they were destroyed.
“And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.”
2 Chronicles 20:30
No comments:
Post a Comment