What I'm going to miss

Here we are on our last day in Abengourou. It's Sunday morning and I'm sitting at the desk in the bedroom I've stayed in most of the summer and drinking tea from my favorite mug like I do every morning - for the last time. I'm getting ready for church - for the last time. I'm walking to the clinic (where the church is) - for the last time.

Friday night was our last afternoon trip to Zamaka where Andy gave a Bible study (this week it was about prayer). On our drive out there, he asked us what we were going to miss about Ivory Coast - that is no small question! We talked about it a little bit on the way there, but here are a few things I'm going to miss...

• The walk from the house to the clinic. We see a lot of interesting things and meet a lot of interesting people :) 
• Greeting everyone when we walk into a room.
• Hearing French everywhere. 
• The Gables - our host missionaries!  (I love this family a lot :))
• Playing dress up with little Gable girls. 
• Watching Harry Potter on the weekends - I had never seen it and the Gable boys can explain every spell to me (and act them out! :)) 
• Figuring out the markets.
• Working in the pharmacy with Koffi and Elise and Edith and Mme Tro - they are so fun :)
• Visiting the kids in the school program.
• Getting French lessons from our social workers/translators/Anouansse (not to brag, but we know directions so well that we could probably successfully get from our house to the market using a French GPS...maybe... ;))
• Wednesday post-home visit lunches. 
• The way that time works here - it's a slower pace. 
• "Attieke and fish Thursdays" and movie and game nights with the Gables. Or just whenever they came over and talked for a long time - those were some of my favorite times - and I will so miss the wisdom and knowledge they shared with us. We learn so much from them! 
• People carrying things on their heads and babies on their backs. 
• Pretty, colorful pagnes. 
• Listening to Magic System in the car!
• Collecting eggs at the chicken farm and sorting them with Emmanuel
• Danica playing the guitar and singing - and our 2 newest friends Vanessa and Elodie singing and dancing along 
• Distinguishing between African languages - Djoula, Agni, Baoule. (note: I am not good at this. but if they happen to say "white" or "okay" I'm all over it. :))
• Fatou and Noufou and Miriam - I could go on and on but the last blog is all about them so I won't. :)
• Going to lots of village churches. 
• Wearing long skirts every day.
• It's so warm and it's not even the hot season!
• The way we were able to pray for each child during home visits, regardless of religion.
• African drums in church services. 



We love our missionaries:)






Gilbert & Francois at the dam after home visits



Last week we had a carnival for the school kids!



Dinner at Vanessa's house



Tea & favorite mug

• Every prayer concluding with "au nom de Jesus" (in the name of Jesus) 

I could go on and on and on, but I won't (if you read the whole thing you deserve a prize:)). I love Ivory Coast. I'm for sure going to miss it.

Village Life

"Oh, I'm very sad," Fatou said as she hugged us again and we put our pagnes in our backpacks, "but that's life."

Danica and I spent five days this week in a village about forty-five minutes from Abengourou called Zamaka. We stayed with a wonderful woman named Fatou and her husband, Noufou, who were so gracious to us by giving generously of their space, time, and patience! Here's what I learned in one sentence: Village life in Africa is hard.

Fatou serving rice near the market

Let me just tell you that Fatou is incredible! She was patient with us as she taught us what it's like to live in a courtyard in a village in Ivory Coast. We were able to follow her for a few days and help out a little (really big emphasis on little). Each morning she woke up around 4 and swept the floor inside the house and the front yard while we took our bucket bath. There's no running water so it's likely that before she woke us up, she was getting water from the well a few yards from her house. The mornings were spent cleaning up around the house, washing dishes, and walking to the market to get vegetables, fish, macaroni, and oil. She spent the rest of the afternoons cooking. She sells rice, beans, sandwiches, and salads at the market in the evening, so in between making all of the food and going to the market to sell it, she is busy drawing more water from the well, washing the dishes (multiple times throughout the day), sweeping trash off the ground (also multiple times throughout the day), giving her four-year-old daughter Miriam a bath, washing clothes, and making food for her family. Did I mention she also leads a Bible storytelling group for Djoula Muslim women on Thursdays in Abengourou?

It was an incredible blessing I'll never forget to have spent this time with her. Here are some of my favorite things from our time in Zamaka...

Our host missionary, Andy, and Germain the day he was baptized!

• Fatou saying, "You wash Fatou!" Almost the entire time she spoke to us in French but this was the one English phrase she used a couple of times and we all cracked up every time. :)
• Carrying that sweet, sleeping four-year-old home from the market after Fatou was finished selling. 
• Being able to embrace the bucket bath (well I'm not going to lie, this did not happen the first day :)) 
• Looking at pictures of Fatou and Noufou's baptism.
• Playing patty cake with Fatou and the little girls in the courtyard.
• Walking around Zamaka and meeting lots of people with Germain.
• Talking to an elderly woman every evening at the market - she spoke French slow enough and in simple enough words that we could actually converse! 
• Being told we scared a little boy...by being white
• Seeing the nice clothes Fatou and Noufou had in a box for the legal wedding they're having in January - and the huge smile on Noufou's face when he talked about how happy and thankful he is to God.



I just loved her. :)

• The way the people in the courtyard stopped in and just talked and laughed together like family. 

By far my most favorite part was something that happened late one night when Danica and I were about to go to bed. Fatou came into the room and got out her Bible and flipped it open to Psalm 67. I asked what her favorite Bible passage is, and she told us it's Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." She read us both of these passages in French and we followed along in English, and then she prayed, blew us goodnight kisses and said, "I love you very much!"

My heart smiled and cried at the same time. When I'm back in America two weeks from this moment, will I ever see this woman again? I pray I will have the privilege of seeing her again this side of heaven, but if not, I'm holding tightly to God's promise of salvation and life that will never end - "salvation among all nations" (Psalm 67:2) - salvation that was extended to include Fatou, salvation that was extended to include me. I'm going to hug her goodbye in a few short days, but I have the joy of knowing that we serve the same gracious, accepting, restoring, saving God. 

Oh, I'm very sad. But that's life.

And I will see her again.

xoxo

kelsey

Here's what I don't like.

If you were to ask me something I dislike about Africa, I'm pretty sure I would always give the same answer (besides the occasional "3 inch long cockroaches" ;)): There's always dirt on my feet.

[Yeah, I agree - it's petty, isn't it?]

We came to Ivory Coast during the rainy season, and still there is dust everywhere. If you look closely at the plants lining the main roads, you can see a red-brown coating on the leaves. Gravel-dirt roads release a pretty thick cloud of the stuff when a car drives by, so by the end of a typical day, Danica and I can wipe off a nice dark tan layer from our faces.

The awesome social workers and translators we get to work with!

Danica and I have been making home visits for a couple of weeks now, and it has been such a learning experience. The kids we've visited are enrolled in the CHE school program. Most (if not all) have only one parent. Many drink from untreated wells. Many struggle to provide food for their families. Some fight recurring illnesses like malaria. Some are HIV positive. Most would just like to be able to have something to sell to provide for their families. Some of the kids wear ripped
clothes because they can't afford new ones.

And to top it all off, they're covered in dirt!

But something that has become more evident with each day that passes is that hope is everywhere. Each home is met with questions about the physical needs of the family. Each home is met with concerns for the behavior and educational needs of the child. And each home is prayed over in the hope that along with restoration of the body and strengthening of the mind, souls will find freedom and healing through Jesus Christ.

We have seen joy in the midst of poverty. But we've also looked into the lifeless eyes of broken children and struggling parents and prayed for the kind of healing that will only come through Jesus. There is so much pain, but there is also beauty - a hope that covers these children like the dust that covers their bodies. We are confident that God is able to craft new lives in Abengourou from what looks like nothing to us. It wouldn't be the first time He used dust to create the best kind of life.

Would you join us in praying for this community? Please pray that the kids experience healing and are provided for physically, mentally, relationally, and spiritually. Pray that the Christians in Abengourou would be encouraged to continue serving their community by being the hands and feet of Jesus. God is good and there is so much hope...I'm reminded of that again when I look down at my dirty feet. :)

xoxo

kelsey