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