The Gambian Goat Post

A Magical Key, Something about Ants, A Shirt Mistery and a tale of a Journey

2011-11-29T15:36:00.001-08:00

The Key

A few days ago one of the ladies, who is typically lookingout for me, gave me a key. It was the key to the other side of the squatty shedwhere I normally take care of my business. I had always wondered what was inthe other side, I figured it was storage. This morning I checked it out and Icouldn’t be happier man.

It is sparkling clean squatty toilet! As far as I’mconcerned the place it a palace, there was even a bucket pre-filled with even abucket of water for flushing. If I could only find a reliable source of fiberI’d be set.

Ants in the Pants

I now know where the expression comes from. Enough said.

Clothes on the Line

Arg! Just had my favourite shirt go missing from the clothesline last night – might hope to see it walking around the compound or Sukuta before the start of next week. (not sure if it is a temporary or permanent borrow )

Heart on the Line

Not more then a minute after finishing writing the lastparagraph. The woman who has been voluntarily washing my clothes and cleaning myroom since my arrival just stepped in the room overwhelmed with tears.

Soon my limited Fula began to understand the situation moreclearly. She believes my missing shirt is a personal attack against her,someone’s plot to make me think she is taking my clothes.

At first it seems strange and far fetched (who would dothat?) however, it is very plausible (the one who steals it can’t wear it andif you are coming from outside the compound why just steal one?) Apparently itis well with-in the realm of the cultural norms and darkness of a human heart.

Even yesterday I was involved in a conversation aimed atpitting me against someone else. Honestly, if we claim it we are not tempted tothese schemes we only deceive ourselves.

Two weeks ago I had the chance to speak from 1 John chapterone where John talks about walking in the light. When we walk in the light itexposes darkness – and darkness doesn’t like it, it is a uncomfortable feeling.

Needless to say my heart was broken for this woman. I havealways been impressed with her faithfulness, humility and generosity. My hopethe shirt shows up and it is all one big misunderstanding, more for her peace thanthe sake of having my shirt back.

To Kanilai (and Back)

Those who know me well understand I have a mild sense ofinsanity for the sake of just for the sake of adventure. In the lull of theelection, I decided I needed to get out of the city and go see something new.

Without much persuasion, I convinced a local friend that weshould bike to Kanilai together (the president’s home village). For him the 200km+journey was a regular trip as he is a member of the Gambian cycling team. Forme however this was a different story but I wanted to see if I could do it.After all I had bought this sweet road bike I wanted to try it out.

The challenge was not so much the distance so much as thetime. Originally I had envisioned doing the trip 100km a day, turns out ourschedules limited us to one day. To put it in perspective I figured thefarthest I have even biked in a single day was 60-70km. It is a bit like beinga 10km-15km runner than deciding off the couch to go out a run a marathon, inthe hot sun.

The locals had a good laugh when I told them where I wasgoing, as most will refuse to travel that distance in a car unless necessary.My rational side tended to agree with them particularly after the first hour.

Up country roads are beautiful, wide open and quite withminimal grades, the outflow winds are really the biggest challenge. At eachvillage we met a cheering section of children most who would chase after me inhopes I would drop candy, coins or lay a golden egg on my bike seat.

We arrived at Kanilai around noon, it was a bit of a ghosttown as the president had announced a free 3 day party in Banjul it seemed like the whole village hadleft to join him. This was true to the extent that there was not even a vehicleremaining to take us into the safari park. After 20mins of negotiating, Iconvinced the staff to allow us to go on our bicycles while the guide road anATV (assuming the lions wouldn’t eat us*). I figured we would set a newprecedent for eco-tourism.

* it turned out to be a valid assumptions, the lionsphotographed in the office were now dead because they tried to attack their owner.

The trip home was a mental test, yet, my friend encouragedme home. Often he would stop at wells refilling my bottles and buyingwatermelon slices while I cycled ahead. As night settled in, the road became anendless tunnel of light lit from my beam. My legs continually verged oncramping up and my mental fortitude was wearing thin. I was about readytransport when the Brikama traffic light signaled 1 hour to home – a few morebananas and a boiled egg from a shop would bring me home.

All said the journey was a great success and then only sideaffects seemed to be a bit of numbness in my left hand which I think is relatedto my previous elbow injury and holding onto the handlebars for so long. I evenmanaged to get on the bike the next day so I cold go for a swim.

From Here to the End

Tomorrow and Thursday: final visits making sure all out of country arrangements are made properly (making sure I'm not getting scammed is a full time job some days). This is hard there are many demands and few

The weekend: We are hosting a family meeting for HOW calling all alumni and distant relative. (originally scheduled for the prior weekend) *see scheduling post from last week.

Monday: Goodbyes and packing. (and of course learning to speak fluent Fula)

Hope to squeeze in another post perhaps on the way through London. (including the always popular "best of" photo collection.

Thanks for following and all your prayers and support.

God Speed.

Mike

Tetris, Meds and Orchards

2011-11-23T07:20:00.001-08:00

Blogs and Meds

I'm trying to remember to blog when I take my weekly meds*... I typically remember at least one of them. This week almost forgot both!

* Meds keep me from getting Malaria and Blogging hopefully keeps me from loosing friends. :O)

Revisiting theOrchard

For those who have been following my writing this trip mayrecall my first post regarding the apparent failure of the orchard project andin time it would be re-visited. While that time has come. Here is my epilog ina series of points.

Clearing things-up…

Over the past few weeks a young man was hired to do somework clearing the grass at En Gessa (the field). In doing so, many treesthought to be lost have now been found. Now I must say grass in the Gambia in a little higher than what we wouldtypically find in Canada,in most of the field the grass is more than 5-6 feet tall. Naturally, I wasexpecting the trees to have grown to this height by this time however as thelocusts and goats had severely impeded growth. I’d estimate about 50 trees havebeen found to date and I am currently working to take an inventory.

Not dead yet…

Almost like Monty Phython’s black knight, many trees arerefusing to die. Remaining sticks thought to be dead are now throwing up newbranches. This might add another 15 to the total.

Dealing with the issues…

One of the hardest things to find in the Gambia isreliable workers. People will work hard for a month or so and then begin toslack off once they believe they have your confidence. I have seen this timeand time again. This is not only an issue between foreigners and locals buteven between the locals themselves. The few who are committed to success of aproject are normally held by other responsibilities – as these people are indemand.

To date we have now used 4 different workers and the plan isfor one of the leaders to move on the compound so he can naturally supervisethe work.

The pests…

To give an idea to the scale to which these pests weredisturbing the orchard,

part of the report I got regarding the problems at the orchardwas a visit from Nari (National Agriculture Research Association) emergencylocusts response team. This institute was established by the UN during the 90’swhen major swarms wiped out crops in Mali,Senegal and Eastern Gambia. The situation at the orchard was deemedworthy of this team (who when I originally approached them refused to aid).

While I was away the orchard was visited twice by this specialtask force. I’m praying they don’t need to come again.

Looking forward…

Despite all the challenges I am hopeful and optimistic aboutthe future out come of the project and see the benefits extending well beyondthe local community.

Scheduling

I can remember the day I received my Nintendo Gameboy ™.Yes, this primitive devise destroyed many hours, days and weeks of my life. Myfavourite video game of all time is Tetris – particularly the original Gameboyversion – I even was class champion during informal tournaments in both grade 4and 5.

So, where am I going with all this?

Well, of late I’ve been seeing my childhood devotion to theTetris was perhaps a divine appointment to learning to scheduling effectivelywith-in the Africa culture.

Effectively managing time in an African community is aconstant juggling act trying fit the pieces together never knowing what iscoming next. Just like Tetris you may expect to and leave a space for aparticular piece but it will not appear or perhaps you expected one of them andthem get three.

For example, today I was supposed to be in the North Bank a“very important” trip planned over a week ago confirmed Tuesday morning andnever officially cancelled. I had pushed all plans and activities from today.However, I began I realize on late last night (without being told) we would notbe going – the motor bike we were supposed to take when out for repair, the mansent to go ahead to make preparation was sitting drinking Ataya and one of theothers coming along made a comment about fixing a fence today.

However, just like Tetris, one can only plan for a piece andthen one must manage the pieces that come. Obviously there is a change in plansfor today, worst yet the trip is still expected to happen but now I just don’tknow when and no matter what I will be expected to attend. Naturally, I’ve beenscheduling meetings and plans for all days around today.

This is the norm, unexpected holidays, power outages, familyevents and the like can drive the pragmatic scheduler to insanity. During myearlier experiences all these would have been a mini crisis. However, throughmy past experiences, I’ve learned to schedule in almost in the African/Westernhybrid system which I can best equate to playing Tetris effectively.

Let me explain…

Much like in Tetris, my strategy is to build a schedulingframe work with as little firm commitment as possible. Big items are planned inperiods of big holes but are always backed up by other activities that are lesstime dependent (administrative, short visits, simple errands and the like) Asmuch as possible like activities are grouped together even if they are oflesser importance (ex. always stop to visit people while passing by this willhelp mitigate time consuming responsibilities later). Similarly, nothing thatcan be done now waits to tomorrow (including resting) unless it is trumped by a‘family’ obligation no matter how trivial. Other than this there are a fewother guiding principles dealing with gauging certainties but they are hard toexplain.

Thought it is not perfect model it seems to handle thingswell – sure works better than total chaos or beating your self trying to keep aday timer.

To conclude, someone called the people in village we weretrying to meet today. To which they replied, “It is a good thing you didn’tcome. The president is holding a campaign rally in the area and so we wouldn’thave been able to meet”.

As you see the system works quite well. :O)

Sukuta News

2011-11-15T02:50:00.001-08:00

Scholarship Update

November 14, 2011

One of my main projects with-in the Sukuta community isdeveloping a sustainable scholarship program. There is no doubt there is anincredible need to support education with-in the community. Often public schoolfees are more than a parent’s monthly salary. When the choice is between eatingfood and paying school fees education will take a back seat. This reality pullsthe plug on the future of many bright and hopeful children.

Knowing these cases are out there is one thing. The trick isfinding them (needed vs greedy) and sometimes then of course sometimes theyfind you. On Saturday, I had such an experience.

A Wolof woman came to our compound sometime after lunch. Sheand her son had left Bakau (an hour away by transport) early in the morning andcame to wander the streets of Sukuta after hearing a rumour there was anopportunity for scholarship; 3 hours later she and her son were directed to ourcompound.

She came prepared – official invoices, report cards and thelike. Her son was 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th in the class(typically 40-50 students) for every subject. The Father was out of the pictureand even when he was around she didn’t see the school fees as a priority. Shehad been trying since the summer to get her son back into school.

Speechless, it is hard not to do what you can.

Last night we held a meeting for all students and parentsoutlining expectations, the vision and the importance of taking the scholarshipopportunity seriously as to allow it to move forward. At this time I have over30 names of students both young and old looking to improve their education andthe list is continuing to grow. At this time two thirds of them are alreadycovered for the remainder (thanks to many of you and your support) and we areworking to manage the remainder. It is exciting to think of the possible impactnot only for the students but for the whole community.

Hoore Nagge

A couple days back I was ask for a contribution to buy somemeat. With the arrival of Tobaski there is a lot of slaughtering happeningright now so I guess meat is cheaper and being I live on the verge ofvegetarian while here I decided to go in for it. When I got home last nightthere was a very big pot with a very big fire under just outside my door.

Taking any attempt to practice my Fula I asked.

“Hida defeh, koHondun ni?” (lit – You are cooking, what’s this?)

“Hoore nagge” was the reply.

With some effort I pieced it together - Lets see…in thevillage I had learned ‘nagge’ is cow now the question was what was ‘hoore’ – ohyes ‘head’. Hmmm.

Needless to say lunch today was adventurous.

Tobaski

For all my visits to predominately Muslim nations I had yetto experience a Tobaski and this I blessed to experience my first. Here are afew observations from the outsider’s view point:

As explained to me, Tobaski is the celebration of Godproviding a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of sacrificing Ishmael his son(the teaching in the Kor’an differs from the original Hebrew/Jewish scriptureswhere it is Isaac Rachel’s son). There is a special prayer and then sacrificingof a male animal whose meat is to be eaten and shared in the following threedays. It is said to bring blessing to the family.

The concept of atonement or forgiveness was surprisingly nota theme I encountered. From what I understood, this is viewed more as a task todo among many by which you receive blessing and can continue to work towardsfavour during the Day of Judgment. Again this is a central theme in the HebrewScriptures.

Tobaski is not unlike Christmas in feel on the days leadingup to the feast. Markets were packed and traffic was a nightmare as people(mainly woman) bought new dresses, shoes and hair for the event* –. The men areprimarily charged with purchasing a ram. I can be a great cause of grief andembracement if a family unable (particularly if you have had in the past).

The days of Tobaski are spent visiting, from a socialperspective the days are about spending time together, there is little else onthe agenda. From this perspective it is easy to see why it is such a valuedholiday, particularly in this culture. Where ever possible people will travelto their home’s to visit their home villages.

I can not explain much about the prayers or slaughtering inthe morning as not being a Muslim I was only able to attend informalfestivities that followed. The day again like Christmas is spent with familyand friends sitting around eating copious quantities of meat. From afternoon toevening I ate 6-7 courses with meat, a sharp contrast to my typical diet here.

Couple of other notes was the sharp debate over the correctday of Tobaski. In the past Meccawould pray and then the following day the remainder of the world would follow.A modern movement has spawned to synchronize the dates, however, it met sharpconflict and it was easy to see where one allegiance stood (dead ram, liveram). For me it was an interesting window into the religious thought of thefaith.

All said I was glad to experience it first hand.

* the hot item was the real human hair for braiding. I sawone box said to be selling for equivalent of over $200US

When Chinamet Africa

There is a lot of discuss with China’srecent interest in Africa. The Gambiais no exception. In a lot of ways the relationship it a natural fit, China has money, Africa doesn’t, Africa hasresources, Chinais looking for resources. Granted there are some concerns. Both China and Africaand are cultures driven of by prestige and status, they understand how toscratch each other back.

From extravagant birthday parties to building fancyparliament buildings, from many perspectives it resembles crafty bait andswitch operation. With-in the boarders of this small country, mahogany isquickly becoming extinct. In my short time hear I walked past many lots of theprecious wood being packed into containers. The promise of quick easy money andfew rules or regulation seem to keep the locals and traders all smiles, as apassed such a lot yesterday with a man handing out money like it grew on trees.

When departing from Canada, a close friend had handed adocumentary on this very topic. “When ChinaMet Africa”. The documentary focuses on thecountry of Zambia,its copper fields, road building and farming operations.

So I invited a number of my friends both local andinternational over and we had a movie night. Naturally, we started watching“Cool Runnings” (which turned out to be a good pick) and later the documentarywhich I highly recommend.

Following the documentary, we went on to have a 30 minutediscussion about what we saw. Some of the main points of discussion includedeffective communication, proper planning and respect in understanding oneanother. Some shared stories of personal experiences that resembled some of thescenes with-in the movie.

At the end of the night we spend time in both Muslim andChristian prayers. In all things feel people left somehow enlightened, somehowencouraged and somehow challenged.

The Village Life

2011-11-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

November 4^th,2011

For many of us we are too young to know the "good old days" –or perhaps the good old days is more of a myth. However, spending time in anAfrican village is about as close as I believe I could experience theselegendary days. Over the last four days I been in such village on the Northbank of the Gambia.

The village itself is situated on grassy plains just south ofthe Senegalise boarder about a mile from the Northern main road. Perhaps100-200 residences depending on how many are in town (many youth and adultsspend the growing season in town and leave for the remainder of the year).

Life is simple – meals are predictable and redundant (butnever the less satisfying), work is primitive, horse, donkeys and simple tools,it is physical yet not ambitious and aside from the Alkalo(chief) social law is thegovernance.

In general, my stay was a welcome reprieve from my typicallife in Central Kombos (the major populationcenter of The Gambia). My body had been in marginal condition*.With-in a day of the village’s rhythm (and a meal or two of straight millet & sauce) my body hadseemed to have centered itself again.

For the men a day starts in the fields – in this season theactivity is harvesting ground nuts (peanuts), millet and corn have already come.Left with a manageable time schedule one can finish the day’s work in 6-8hours. The remaining day is left to drink tea, visit friends, relax and listento the radio.

For the woman, the tasks are a little more arduous. Fetchingwater from a 10m well across town, cooking and washing while minding thechildren is not an easy task yet they seem to manage with a distinct swaggerand grace. Further still they seem to find plenty of time to preen and braidtheir hair – by far their favourite past time.

Village life in Africa doeshave its proper quirks and mentality. There was a Spanish man who hadbeen sent by an NGO** to the village. His task to build a school, installwater pumps with distribution and a few other small development projects. Of course the village was pleasedwith the thought and donated some land of some of the families (outside of thegoverning circle – small village feud ensued).

However, the village became dissatisfied with the man's help soonafter he asked for voluntary aid for digging water lines, making bricks and pleaded they'd keepthe kids from repeatedly destroying his water pipes. “Why would we help whenyou will not pay us?” Naturally, the villagers had concluded this man wasgetting paid to do his job and he should get on with it and not disturb theregular life of the villagers.

After several attempts the frustrated Spanish man, accusedthe villagers of being lazy and withdrew most of the proposed project. Additionalarguments later broke out regarding not being able to use the generator forthings other than it’s intended purpose (why can’t I run it all night to chargemy cell phone? Or to run the TV I've been thinking to buy).

As it stands, the man (now referred to by the villagers as “Work-O”)no longer lives in the village, the school is mostly complete, the water pumpproject has been abandoned and however the locals use his pumped water wheneverthey get the chance (he has a temporary pump installed to get water for hisbuilding project).

At the end of the day both sides have been hurt andoffended. From a western perspective the issue seems confusing and ridiculous;however, I have seen it (in my projects) and continue to see this time and timeagain all through out the Gambia.It is with some level of intentionally I have still yet to propose a projectwith this village despite consistently visiting it over the past 3 years.***

The African continent has not developed because the African continentnow expects someone will develop it weather they want it or not. After all life in a village isn’t that bad,struggles exist but they pale in comparisons to the challenges it faces if itwishes to be developed. Finding the voices that want help and are willing to work for it is a challenging proposition it such environment.

I believe there are hard lessons ahead – maybe the West willbe able to learn them.

Anyways, some photos for your enjoyment. :O)

The Farming team for the Bah family(the other sons are not in town so the girl manage the fields with the brother)

Removing the ground nuts from the plant for the evening's dinner.

Breakfast in the fields - millet, sauce and some tasty squash.

--- notes ---

* I was suffering from a conditionI know as the Afri-bahs – stomach issues, sinus congestion, slight fever andgeneral malaise.

** Non-government Organization

*** Time and resources are reallythe two most prominent factors

Departures and Arrivals

2011-10-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

October 20, 2011 2:45pm PST

Gate D71 YVR

I feel like I should be writing something deep andinsightful There are only so many things you can be inspired write about inairport. But judging by the faces and the crowd here in the airport there isnot much interesting here.

After celebrating a my grandma’s 95^th birthdaylast week with my family, it astounds me the change she has seen in herlifetime. In the next 40 hours I will travel through three continents. On ajourney that would have taken a minimum 7 weeks for my grandma’s generation atmy age one way the entire duration of my time away.

It is almost to the point where preparing for this journey(number 6 of the sort) felt a little routine. That said, I’m a nervous traveler(although with experience I’ve discovered how to hide it and live with myself)Never the less, there is a piece that makes it hard to leave the known -family, friends, comforts. Yes, we live in amazing times –

Yet for all we have and have we still can’t seem to keep ittogether. If we aren’t happy/satisfied/joyful with what we have now – does itleave any hope that technology, science, economics, politics, social systemswill ultimately save the soul of our lives?* What choices remain?

Over my short 30 years trip, I still journey to really knowmyself and my faith. Jesus saviour of the world at times feels like a long shot– time and time again I have and will continue to put my chips on this ideathat God became flesh and taught us how to live. (Unfortunately there is this whole“Religion” of Christianity thing that I’m not a big fan of but He’s taught tohave grace for that too)

Anyways, just a few more minutes than I’ll be in a chair inthe middle of the sky!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

I think I’m going to listen to some Paul Simon Graceland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy5T6s25XK4&ob=av2n

this is not to ignore the improvements each of these areas have made. It is just a statement they don’t seem to be the solution.

Thoughts From October 25, 2011, 10:55

Travel Time

Many people ask how do you travel to The Gambia, the answeris simple - the cheapest way possible. This year’s lowest bidder was a flightthrough London’s Gatwick and then Heathrow Airportsjumping down to Casablanca Morocco before the final flight to Banjul. The total trip Iestimate is about 27 hours. This was definitely was one of the shorter durationtrip simply because I didn’t stop to sleep.

Traveling alone is generally not my preference but I havefound many who are willing to keep this kind of schedule. Some trip highlightsincluded, sharing a seat with Saeed a heart surgeon from Birmingham, the walkthrough London’s Green park (despite the ~35kg of Luggage), my cold thai curreyand finally finishing my N.T. Wright book (After You Believe). All said, I’mhappy to be here now.

Day one!

For many my arrival was a surprise because of the heat (asurprise to me ~25 and humid at night) many on the compound were still up whenI arrived which I enjoyed the company of before having a bucket bath and tryingto catch up on sleep.

Waking there was little point in wasting time 7 weeks willgo by quickly. Being a surprise it buys me sometime socially before there is anexpected visit. After greeting all around the compound I downed a few shots ofAtaya and ate some ta-pa-la-pa. I borrowed an unlocked bicycle on the compoundand visited Michael and the Jallow family (see previous trip posts sometimearound April or May). I was joyfully welcomed and offer bananas from the groovewe planted the year before.

As feared, the orchard in the area had taken massive beatingfrom what I assumed to be the combination of locusts, goats, a broken well andgeneral neglect. Of the 250 trees planted – I could count ~20 original trees ingood. It was not easy to see – but no comment would be made now was not thetime for such things.

It is also important to point out they had already begun areplace orchard. This included about 30 coconut trees, a new banana plantationand oranges.

Before I ramble on too much about this, I will no doubtrevisit this in later posts. However, one must understand Africa,its ways and the heart of its issues. I will say that by day’s end my heart andmind was at peace with what had happened. I believe much was accomplished in myplanting efforts last year.

I later visited Ebrima, Victoria at CVM house and it waschance to collect some items I had left there. Later Mariatu (my Africanmother) in Senegambia it was great to see hersmile and to see her body in strong health particularly after suffering withgout most of last year. I met a few other Toubab’s who were staying around andenjoy a good meal.

After a good spat with the fickle Gambian internet Iabandoned hope of contacting home and started my journey home.

In addition to all said there where many other visit andmany more to come which will make for a very full week. There are plenty of greetingsto all at home particularly Mom, Dad and past visitors to the community.

Afri-isms…a quick list

Sickness is part of life: Malaria, colds, ring worms, thetrots and the like you live here long enough or at all you will have them. It makes you appreciate the healthy days.

Noise is for the benefit of all: I had almost forgotten allthis – from the 5am call to the kids preparing for school, animals, trucks,welding and the late hours of tailoring to the 5 hour block party which startedat 10pm. There is little control or segregation. (good thing I remembered tobring ear plugs)

Traffic Chaos: nearly had my life flash before my eyes onthe first day as an oncoming truck pulled out to pass on a narrow highway withno shoulder – the market streets aren’t much better but at least its all stopand go. It was a good reminder to keep my head-up.

Nani Pular!

I have decided I’m learning to speak Fula. My inability tocommunicate with many (and many in their preferred language) is a truly animpedance to continuing to help. Fula is noted by many as the hardest and mostvaried language of the region so this will be no simple task, particularly inthe Kombos where Mandinka and Wolof dominate most street conversation. Soreally to my lament I’ll be learning 3 languages, however, I have a good headstart and a living community to help. Here is hoping that 2-4 hours a day willhave me conversational before the trip’s end.

Priorities…

So I bought a bicycle. After the associated costs, policehassles and carbon footprint of the motorbike I used last trip (whose bluesmoke even the locals complained about), I’m pretty stoked to give this a shot.I paid around $150 and got a full on road bike in good shape. Not so great inthe sand but I can keep up to the diesel taxis of the paved road which will bea huge benefit. Getting a bike was my plan from the get go. Additionally, oneof my local friends is currently one of Gambia’s top cyclists so I shouldbe in good shape when I get home.

Now that I got that out of the way – I might think aboutbuying toilet paper or my own pair of sandals instead of borrowing everyoneelse’s so I can shower with out getting hook worm.

5 Star

Played my first gig at Gambia’s only five star hotel (itis known by the locals as 5 star. As posted earlier, I brought a guitar with me– after previous years of playing with my beaten up acoustic last year this isa great guitar and true delight to play (and it got the thumbs up from thelocals) The gig included a plate of a full on tourist buffet and a chance tocatch up with some of my musician friends.

What is to come…

Scholarship development – business and communitydevelopment, a trip to visit communities in Guinea Bissau and Conakry, in addition ther have been a numberof exciting opportunities which have already surfaced. I will talk more aboutthis as time goes on.

From Coast to Coast - A New Adventure

2011-10-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

With a convenient request from work not to work, I have scurried to make plans to return to the Gambia's smiling coast. It is never easy leaving home however, the onset of the "wet" coast winter and the anticipation of seeing my Gambian family help the transition. With just a few days to go I decided I should get some writing in as sort of an update as I once again travel coast to coast.

Thank You!!!

Big thank you goes out to the many who have given of their valuable time and resources to help with the coming trip. The scholarship benefit concert in September raised over 2k! Some of this money has already reached Gambia and is currently allowing students to continue with their education.

In addition to the concert, I've received numerous unexpected donations including a 50/50 draw put on by my co-workers. Further still, I have been continually encouraged by the many who have taken time to listen, encourage and pray for me and this vocation.

I've been blessed and it is humbling - thank you all for believing in this.

The pack rat

Less than a week to go and now my kitchen table has become a mosaic of meds, books, foreign currency and gadgets. Packing can be a bit of a crap-shoot, 20kg plus whatever you can convince the stewardess is "carry-on" (I have my tricks) but it all adds up quick. It typically ends with me doing a step routing on my work's shipping scale while I juggle things in and out of my pack.

Many people ask what I bring, aside from the typical toothbrush and underwear (note there is not a lot of use for socks) my general rule is "pack what is difficult to otherwise buy". Below are a few odds & ends that are vying for space in my pack (and a few items that won't make the cut)

A Custom Levi DD59A - not a typical item but those who understand my passion for music and my second favourite African pastime, know why this item is first of the list. If not check out the links page at www.gambiaproject.com.

A printed version of Mido Waawi Pular! - (I Speak Fula) this is a bit of a brick but may very well be my lifeline in my home community. The locals tend not to translate when it is just me around and so far this trip no one is planning on visiting. I'm both excited and overwhelmed with the thought of taking Fulani immersion.

Yellow Fever Immunization Card - You don't need it to go but you do need it to come home. No yellow fever card and you can spend your layovers and homecoming in isolation. (The shot itself is important too)

A USB hub turned charger - thanks life hacker, your brilliant idea will be changing all my USB devises (phones, lights, cameras) without the risk of exploding my fragile computer (power when you have it is a bit unstable in third world countries).

My NIrV Bible - I'm not just a fan for the grade 3 reading level but also enjoy that is a full 3 pounds lighter than my Grandpa's old study bible.

My Juice S2 - Simply a great friend, from cutting mangoes to fixing motor bikes - I just got to remember not to put it in my carry-on.

A bicycle helmet and bell - Well, my budget is a little tighter this trip - the motorcycle may be a little too expensive to operate so the plan is to ride a bicycle for my local errands and places taxis are often hard to find and expensive to hire.(it is that or donkey and donkey's are expensive)

My Kaftans - it is not often I get to wear them around these parts of the world. These styles keep me looking and feeling cool as I walk around Serekunda Market.

Not making the cutthis year Sunscreen, bug spray, hand sanitizers and water purification - not only are these items heavy but in most cases and seasons these are surprisingly trivial to life in West Africa so much so that from past trips I have years of stock pile already in country from my initial ignorance. Now before you write me off as a careless crazy (perhaps it is far too late), let me explain.

Sunscreen: In addition to the fact that the equator has an ozone layer without holes (for now) the diesel smog that exists in the city and the Sahara desert kick up enough dust and debris to act as a sunscreen for most daily sun explosures. Further yet you don't tend to spend much time in the sun. The sun is hot. Long pants, baggy shirts and plenty of time under the mango trees typically solicit the comments "Africa, right? Where is your tan?" when I come home.

Bug Spray: I can understand putting it on for exceptional circumstances however, living each day covered in deat seems more harmful than a few bits. Bug nets, a clean room and long clothing is again the way to go.

Hand sanitizer: My concern is generally not about my hands it is the 7-12 other right hands that are also eating out of my bowl. I'm glad I failed my 10 grade micro biology test because hand sanitizer just makes the food taste bad.

Water Purification: Many people ask "Do you drink the water?" the answer is yes. Really for one simple reason - to live and love in a culture so heavily based on hospitality there are some risks that must be taken. A refusal of a glass of water can be equated to the refusal of a person - for fear of a little bit of fuzzy stomach a simple refusal may be the most foolish decision of all.

Gortoh Laioru (One Month)

2010-08-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

Scholarship...

Attention teachers and all people who believe good education is fundamental for positive change in society. With the recent passing away of a long time missionary to the Gambia there are a number of scholarships which are coming to close leaving a large gap with-in the local community.

Under the mentorship of a long time missionary, I’m in the works of setting up a scholarship program to sponsor children from the community. I’m in the process of working out the logistics but the goal would be to have enough to sponsor 10-12 children balanced on needs and performance.

There is possibility to connect children to classes and other such thing but I’m not making any promises at this time. However, I’m in wondering who would be interested in being involved in sponsoring or recruiting sponsors.

If all goes well I will personally be interviewing the children and/or parents before I leave and making some selections. If you are interested in being involved please let me know by email.

Eyes on the Clock…

In one month from now I will be on a plane en route home. I feel a bit like the student’s crisis as he sits in the exam room periodically glancing up at the clock, both panicked to finish all the questions yet longing to hear the freedom of “time’s up”.

As a result my intensity and intentionality has increased over the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately there are a number of problems this can cause in this culture. After a couple of encounters some which resulted in more serious meetings, I had to remind myself people over lists but sometimes people means lists.

People is the list of a pilot’s pre-flight check. People is cutting enough firewood and storing enough food for the winter. People is gaining knowledge so you can understand how and why. However, coming to understand the culture I’m living in the pilot’s list has little value when no one cares to fly and food is only good if people will trust you enough to eat it.

So at the end of it all I’m left in my room eyes on the clock. My prayer is to know which questions to answer, bluff or just draw a smiley face and hope for the best.

Bitten…

So I was bitten by a snake the other day. It is possible I set the world record for high jump. Fortunately I remembered everything television documentaries had taught me about snake and I was able to relax my heart rate and calmly call over some locals to check it out.

I wasn’t sure at first if it was a snake as I was in some grass and only heard it but the double puncture confirmed my suspicion. The sake wasn’t too big the marks were around 5mm apart. There were no signs of poison but we bought a razor to the cut open the wound just in case.

I am now far more cautious about walking thought the grass.

A day in the Life…

It has been a popular question – Mike what does an average day look like for you? The word average makes it hard to answer but do the popular demand I had decide to create choose your own adventure African missionary day.

*note* I take no responsibility if you pick a bad day.

1. The first part of any day is waking up
a) wake up call to prayer go to 2
b) wake up to alarm clock go to 3
c) sleep through alarm go to 4
d) Wake up in a panic go to 5

2. The Arabic chant of “Pray is better than sleeping” reminds you just how lazy Christians can be and that you drank too much tea before bed last night but since you are now up you might as well …
a) Pray for a bit before falling back to sleep go to 1 don’t pick a
b) get up and go the squat pray you aren’t bitten by a snake go to 6
c) Roll over in a sweaty mess and listen to the cat fight outside your window go to 7

3. It is a beautiful day outside but you were up too late trying to figure out why you are missing 625 Dalasi. You decide to…
a) Hit snooze – 10 more minutes go to 9
b) Wake up anyways because you really have to pee and you slept thought the call to prayer. (not an option if you have been to 2)

4. It is Sunday morning your alarm didn’t go off because you forgot to set it as only the weekday alarm is automatic. Fortunately the church starts at 9:45 and you have 15mins before its time…
a) I should shower Go to 10
b) I should eat Go to 10

5. shouldn’t have had the Keh-keh (fresh milk from the market) you got 30 seconds to find you toilet paper and dash to the far side of the compound. After many trips experience you are an old pro and gracefully glide across the compound greeting the locals in stride. In a few fluid moments it is all over. A swig from the pink bottle and you ready to face the day. Jump to 8

6. You made it safely to the toilet. Relieved yourself and had a good couple hours sleep before the alarm rang out. You wake up put on some clothes and get ready for the day. Go to 8

7. You regret your decision – you really need to pee. Go to 6

8. After breakfast (Tapa-lapa peanut butter and banana) with a cup of unsweetened tea. The sun is out and there is work to be done. …
a) go to En Gessa Go to 11
b) work on a special project Go to 12

9. You have now hit snooze five times and the kids have now taken notice and began calling your name from outside. Fortunately no one else seem to be up to anything much. You can spend some time enjoying a bit of music, check your email and pray before heading out to check of the projects.
a) go to En Gessa Go to 11
b) work on a special project Go to 12

10. The line for the bucket shower was 3 girls deep and the shop is closed. You hope to guy beside you will understand put on your best and head off to church. Held in a round building, prayer mats on the floor and chair in a circle the service is like no other I’ve heard of. With 30-40 people the service includes some form of translation and often there is singing in 4 different languages. The speaker is different every week and typically engaging. The service finishes with a liturgical prayer similar to what one might see in a Mosque. After church you get really hungry and lunch isn’t until ~3pm so you will typically sneak some quick snacks before you sit under the mango tree. The beach is a favourite retreat you grab a couple of locals and head off on the motorbike. The water is warm and the air temperature is perfect. You thank God for Upon return you shower and
Prepare to go play at the Sheraton (see next topic) before making a list preparing for the week ahead. Go to End.

11. At en gessa there is always lots of work to do, grasshoppers to kill, weeds to pull, living fences to plant, stumps to dig out, fruit trees to plant. The challenge is knowing how much to do yourself and what should be left for the locals. Communication is often a problem although I’m sure it is selective hearing. All said it has been a productive morning and today everyone was there and you enjoyed the day’s work. You are called to lunch you sit down and eat around the bowl with your hands because there are no spoons. You return on the motor bike to the compound and prepare for the second lunch. Go to 13

12. You start working on that project and you suddenly called to go to a naming ceremony. The work will be there tomorrow. Quickly you go inside try to find some clothes that look ironed and clean. The rest of the day is spent socializing eating and drinking tea. Baby decides to pee when you are holding him - no worries just keep smiling it is all about the complete experience. Go to 14

13. This afternoon is along with spending time drinking Ataiya it is
a) Monday – There is lots of work to do at En Gessa at 4 you prepare to head back.
b) Tuesday – Today you meet with Omar to discuss recording techniques and learn about African Music. No cars on the road. Get delay getting pulled into the police station for a drug search. Play guitar for the officers while they search your bag.
c) Wednesday – Today you drive through Serekunda, get a shave visit your friend’s restaurant and the pick up some trees to bring back and plant in the field. They are working on the market road loose balance on motorcycle had to put foot down in a mud puddle, left leg now covered in red mud.
d) Thursday – Take some time to write some emails or work on studying your Fula - none of that actually happens. You are interrupted by an emergency meeting.
e) Friday – If the other two members of the Sukuta Trio appear (they are often off playing for the president) spend the afternoon jamming. Otherwise time to follow up on those projects you've been neglecting. Remember to take time an just sit with the locals.
f) Saturday – "Free time" – visit a village? Work? Visit friends? OR maybe head in to the market to find some limes or baobab so you can get one of the girls to make fresh juice for you.
Go to 14

14. The night has come. Monday finances and Fula lessons, Tuesday computer lessons. Wednesday, Fula and music, Thursday is bible study, Friday there is typically a special event. Each night you will typically eat at 10pm at one to of the two shops. Beans, eggs and potato is usually the best option. If you are having a really good night there may even be some salad available at a toubab price.

Through out he evening there will be 4-5 visitors with various request such as wanting to say hi, borrow (take) sugar, discuss an issue, or use the internet.

End. You have successfully completed your African day.
n = n – 1
do while (n > 1)

Sunday Nights at the Sheraton…

Every second Sunday night I sneak off the compound and head over the Gambia’s five star hotel. I don’t go as a guest but as a musician. I had been offered a chance to join my friend’s band a few months ago and haven’t looked back ever since. The music is a mix of Senegambian and afro-cuban traditionals; the chords are generally easy but the rhythms aren’t.

Fortunately being the off season the hotels is fairly empty (if not completely) regardless we have a good time end it is a great way to wind of a week of work.

The Importance of Civil Engineers and City Planning…

With the building of the new road into Sukuta there has been a lot of development over the past couple years. Granted this culture is not prone to planning everyone tends to fend for themselves and then sells the lowest piece of land to a toubab who doesn’t know any better. So I don’t need to write much more the photos really tell the story.

This is after a typical rain fall, the water from the new road runs down the street to the place in front of our compound.

The water eventually drains down a small passage way.

Water ends up here...

Then enters this compound...

href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_W7BtL49TtNU/TFgWv6J0ASI/AAAAAAAAAHo/-Kap009_rFI/s1600/flood+5.JPG">
And floods the compound they sold to the unsuspecting Toubab... but it is ok he only comes during the dry season.

The Lazy Farmer

The Lazy farmer works harder for less. I’m sure it is a adage in some African language but I may not have made it into the local circles. After a week’s break from En Gessa I decided to take a visit. It was obvious something has not happened there for sometime and that was weeding. The grass had completely overcome the peanut field.

There were not a lot of questions asked and not a lot was said say but the lazy farmers soon were awoken from their slumber and went to work.

There is obviously a level of disappointment and the early negligence will no doubt impact the end harvest. However, it was encouraging to see the response and see the community take the initiative seriously instead of giving up hope (which is not far from a typical local response)

Now things are much better.

Father Abraham…

Pastor came in the room late last night.
“I’d you to drive the boys to Brikama tomorrow.”
Harmless, right? Nope.

In the Hebrew scripture God is very clear in a covenant that Abraham will be a great nation and all people would be blessed through him. Part of this was a covenantal seal – and let me assure you the seal is not the blessing itself.

This morning four young unsuspecting boys were taken to visit a man with few strange tools and make shift operating room. I’ll be honest it was not easy to be with-in earshot never mind in the room itself not to mention I myself I’m not “under the law” (Thanks Galatians 5:6 among many other references) it crossed my mind it may have been a trap for me as well. But I quickly counted the four small robes and number of sterile blades and I was safe.

After the threat of emesis had subsided, I spend the rest of the morning fanning poor traumatized boys while singing father Abraham - chalk up another 4. But on a serious note, it did give a new perspective to Genesis 17:23 and begged the question if it was required would I volunteer?

Like any good African circumcision the Kankuran soon showed up – now I know why most of the boy run when he is out and about. Naturally, I myself prefer Santa Clause, the tooth ferry, Punxsutawney Phil or Mr. Floaty compared to the hairy rice bag wielding two machetes,
but when in Rome…

Bookends…

We are used to endings – clean, complete tidy endings. Particularly in the West we will organize and plan out our lives over nice clean concise arks. We dissect and isolate focusing on an issue in hopes of putting it to rest. I can see why no one likes to have things hanging over their head. Unfinished business often implies lack of peace unable to put things to rest.

This fear of unfinished work often this keeps us from being involved with messy issues and complex problems. They are untouched or patched with superficial solutions. I am aware that this trip will finish with many loose ends. I’m knee deep in too many things for it all to end well and when there is nothing solid to stand on you often have to learn to swim. There is a constant tension living at peace with the unresolved. The wheat will grow with the weeds – there is no way to separate them.

My hope is the miracle that one day all things will be sorted made right and somehow my decision to be a part of it all makes a difference that I can only imagine.

God Speed.
Mike

World Cup of Farming

2010-07-03T04:25:00.000-07:00

June 25th, 2010
The Rain

Well the rain showed up in force this morning the street out front looks more like a river. To be honest I’m quite thrilled about it. The first and simple joy is not having to water the 200+ trees now planted at “Ne Gessa” – when you pump it all by hand each day it can take a toll on you.

Secondly being a Vancouver boy it is hard to go 3 months with out a good rainy day. When it is sunny it can be hard to justify spending the day inside typing emails or researching things even organizing your receipts and folding clothes.

All said welcome “tabot” (Rain)

Lists…

Surveying the piles of scrap paper I've recently cleaned up there is no doubt I like to write list. I usually have a lot on my mind. For a time in my life writing out my thoughts in a list was the only way I could get to sleep. If I recall correctly this isn’t even the first time I’ve blog’d about lists.

However, if you are to the missions field there are some lists you cannot keep. Not because it is impossible to keep them but because we are called to live beyond them. Let me try to expand…

I believe when you sign up to help people there is a part of you that anticipates seeing cooperation, acceptance, respect and maybe even appreciation. This experience tends to be the exception and often the experience is really the opposite.

I could make large lists of the number of times I’ve been (or think I've been) misunderstood, unappreciated, lied to, cheated and stolen from. It would be depressing, it is even discouraging to even think about. How do you come to terms, it is not that I can ignore such experiences. They are real and they have real implications on each day's life. I don't believe this is too different from my life experiences at home.

I’m reminded of a story “A home for bastards” that is found in a book by Philip Yancy. The coined the phrase “We're all bastards but God loves us anyway.” I posted an abridged version at the end of this post.

At the end of the day, my faith* that brings me here is the belief that while I was/am a complete bastard and God did and is doing everything to put things right (without imposing on my free will) so I like the prodigal son and his self righteous older brother (who is just as lost) may understand the fullness of life and the love we are called to live in.

The Gospel is justice and mercy – you can’t have one without the other. The are spawned from the unchanging love of a heavenly father/mother who longs for children to come home. I really believe this is the only hope for the world… we have no where else to go narcissism wins.

I could go on explaining what it is that brings me here in detail but as it has taken me a lifetime to arrive to this point and I’m still on a journey. I’ve left it as an exercise for the interested reader again at the end of the post – all you need is a bible or a google search engine.

Bottom line… if I believe no lists against me how can I hold lists against others. It just won’t work (and I've got a list of my own doing). So I'm throwing out "those" list but it leads to a good question 'Really, how does that work?' and that will be left to another post.

Bugs

There are a lot of strange bugs. I’m not sure what they do or why they were created for but I feels like each night my room turns into an entomology lab and I've never really liked that subject.

Avoidance…

It is important to know ones tendencies. We all have things to avoid things; paying taxes, eating veggies, the neighbour who keeps asking for favours, the polarity poverty, waking up to pee in the middle of a cold night, environmental consequences*, trips to the dentist ect… To some degree I believe this is healthy – we are too frail to deal with everything at once.

The last couple of days there is no doubt I have been avoiding some things and sometimes I just conveniently forget. I know when I’m doing it and I do it best by being busy. It is easy to give yourself to work or a project, you can always justify it even though you know you really should be engaging something else.

Maybe I’ll get around to it after I’m done blogging.

Update on the trees

It has been a busy couple of working weeks. We have planted over +200 tree of 20 different varieties in a space of 3 acres. All in all, I’m pretty stoked despite the mostly indifferent reception from the majority of the community (but that is often the case – with any major project). It is typically the elders and leaders who understand best what is going on and they have been supportive.

Each individual tree is protected from ducks goats and cows by a 1 meter high fence. The grasshoppers have continued to be the largest threat our work. We have had some success of repelling them using a pound mix of neem tree and garlic. We have also resorted to some chemical defense however, as sprays are particularly expensive in country and there is always a concern with impact on other animals and families living close by. Still to date the most effective protection has been hands, feet and big sticks –I have personally killed well into the thousands – I should get some kind of a medal.

For those who love stats here is the breakdown of the tree thus far…*
Navel orange – 20 , Valencia orange – 20 , Jaffa orange - 20, Tangelo - 6, mandarin - 24, Lemon – 7, Avacodo – 32, Lime Tahiti – 12, lime local - 18, grapefruit – 8, Papaya – 14, Coconut 5, Bananas ~32, pomegranate – 12, guava – 8, starfruit -8, jack fruit – 8, goose berry – 8, Sour sop – 5, sweet sop – 4, cashew -12 and mangos - 6 (various varieties)

Thoughts on Changing Culture

I thought I’d update on the reprimands the other week. Correction and discipline coming from the outside can create animosity for years because you are often correcting a cultural blemish. For this reason you can burn bridges very quickly.

At the best of times even in our own culture the ideas of stewardship, decision and responsibility are often problematic in nature. A situation we might see occur in the West African context may play out as follows.

I loan money for you to build a fence - your mother gets sick you now use the money to travel to see your sick mother; there is no problem here. Further yet sometimes there is an assumption that I will just give you more money to buy the fence. Seems outlandish however, it is a reality here. I saw an example of this while in Guinea - the result stalemate between local church and missionaries.

Although, easy to throw stones I just think of the number of "western" cultural assumptions and have an revelation of just how patient and merciful God must be even when we think we are doing good.

World Cup…

There is no doubt it is a big deal here. The unanimous local favourite is Ghana. Many merchants and taxi drivers will shutdown to watch the games. As for me I continue to develop an appreciation for the sport itself despite the ridiculous officiating policies and refusal of appropriate technologies such as video replay. (Everyone with a TV set knows it was the wrong call why shouldn’t there be a way for the ref to get things right if challenged)

Anyways, at the time of writing this I’m about to go watch Netherlands take on Brazil. Go Netherlands!

Post Note :: Not a pretty game – more bad acting then Paco – (see previous posts) .

But to the lost of the African contient bring on Uruguay (due to the best Red card ever taken)

Min, Ko Mi Remoowo! (Me, I’m a farmer)

With the arrival of the rains comes the field cropping season. Over the past two weeks there has been a lot of action at En Gessa. The 3 acres are gradually being transformed into a field. Granted if you are a Canadian farmer you probably finish 3 acres of farming before you can finish your first cup of coffee.

However, unlike the “modern farmer” we here are working with machetes, hoes and donkeys. You know the old fashioned third world way – slash and burn! It is good hard work but we keep a good African work pace with plenty of breaks and chit chat.

...Good old slash and burn

It has been an interesting experience being involved with the process. I know from everything I read since social studies 8 these techniques are not the best practice for farming but now there is an appreciation as to the why such practices are used. This understanding may allow me to help influence change in the future.

Canada Day in the Gambia, eh?

This was my first ever Canada day abroad and not having an embassy or knowing of any other Canadians in the country I knew I would need to create my own patriotism. I started small sharpe’ing a maple leaf on every willing kid and hesitant adult. But I knew this was not enough I had to reach out to the greater Sukuta community.

I thought to myself what a better way to celebrate my Canadian heritage then to ride through town on the back of a donkey wearing my Canada shirt. So I did…

Happy Canada day missed being there with you all – we will make up for it next year.

*Environmental consequences:
This goes well beyond global warming and modern catch phrases as many do and can dispute these some with validity. As I believe the way we currently live compromises our current life and the life of people in the world.

** A short list of reading for the interested reader.
Luke 15:11-32 - prodigal son(s)
Matthew 5:42-48
Matthew 18:20-35
John 3:16-17
John 13:1-17
John 13:34-35
Romans 5:7-8
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
1 Corinthians 13

The context for all this lies in the understanding of the biblical context. I recommend reading from the bible with help from N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope” and “Simply Christian” or C.S. Lewis’ Classic Mere Christianity.

**
The excerpt is found on page 8 -12 of this PDF
http://www.troyhope.org/biblestudy/2008/Cell%20Lesson5.pdf
is pulled from:
What's So Amazing About Grace? Participant's Guide it is an consedence version of the story found in Philip Yancy’s “What is so amazing about grace?” I highly recommend the book it is a great read.

Télimélé and Back

2010-06-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

Out on a Porch
10:42pm Gaawol, Guinea

It has been an eventful couple of weeks here in West Africa thanks for your prayers and encouragements. Hear again are a few brief thoughts and adventure note to keep you in the loop. Enjoy.

Naming Ceremonies

One of the families I have been working with recently added a little baby boy. In West Africa it is in practice not to name your baby until the 7th day after birth at an official ceremony*. The tradition has many cultural, particle and religious reasons You can expect a naming ceremony to last from morning to well into the evening. Many people are socially obliged to take the day off and do. With so many kids born it is a miracle any work is done.

The ceremonies have become quite routine. I arrived a dressed in my fine blue haftan greeted and took my seat. On many occasions the name will leak out but I hadn’t heard anything. Thus I nearly fell off my chair when the name Michael “Dodo” was announced. As the only Michael in all Sukuta, it was very apparent the family had named the child after me.

Obviously quite an honour, the downside it can be a bit confusing now that there are two of us around.

* A welcome change to the North American practice of naming kids 7 days after being conceived

Trees

I just bought 163 of them hope they don’t die.

Bee Hives

I just bought two of them. Hope I don’t die.

Kaniline Music Frestival

The President Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Jammeh an enthusiastic supporter of local culture and “roots” has been busy putting on what must be one of the most extravagant (relative to means) cultural festivals I’ve witnessed. The 3 week long Kanilai International Festival is featured on the national television each night and has artists of all sorts from all over West Africa. It is like Woodstock only the president is fitting the bill.

The festival’s headliner was Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine. It is not everyday the pinnacle of the B-side Casino grade western entertainment comes to the Gambia. Naturally, I thought it was worth checking out. So I splurged $2.50 to buy a field ticket.

Granted for me the real draw for me was a chance to see of my local music friends performing on the big stage before the headliner. Holy Family Band, Jalix, and Jeli-Keba band ** were present to entertain the crowd stadium. I was graciously welcomed into the backstage and spent most of the night sharing joy and taking in their performances.

**
Holy Family Band long time friends (since 2005) great to see them “make it” after lots of hard work. Check them out in their old school format. www.reverbnation.com/gambiaproject

Jalix is Gambia’s hottest artist – although I had previously not known this my friend Omar recorded and produced his album. Additionally he provides live back-up when he is performing.

Jeli-Keba – my close friend is the lead guitar player and I have a seat of the band tour bus whenever I want. I first saw the band play in 2009. Their hit songs “Bye-Bye” and “Kono” (Money) are legit good sounding songs.

Baptism #2: come prepared

It is always good to come prepared even when you .Excited to attend another baptism I hop on the motorbike and met everyone at the beach. I soon thereafter discovered I would be one of the leaders performing the baptism. I not sure when the decision was made and I was very honoured however, I had not come prepared for such a task. Considering the options I did think about doing the ceremony in my underwear thinking John the Baptist couldn’t have had too much on either but opted for the more above reproach “all on”.

Ode to African Babies

When I signed up for a trip to Guinea I didn’t know I would be traveling with two babies. It seem proper wisdom not to bring your 3 week old baby on a 15 hour (driving time) 800km journey of rough road in 40oC weather, however that was overlooked and here I found myself preparing for the worst.

The vehicle departed at 6am, one hour, two hours, four hours passed, the road got rough, we’ve drove through lunch, diaper changes as the temperature climbed. I kept bracing for the explosion of screaming babies but nothing not a sound. Every once in a while I would turn around to find if there were still alive. There they were sleeping, latched on for a meal or happy bouncing along. In fact in a total of over one hundred combined baby hours I can count on one hand the number of time either of the babies made a fuss.

I don’t believe this to be an isolated case. In my experience African babies are well tempered their day is spent with the mother

Guinea

Guinea is a beautiful country, lush forests and winding rivers, accent cliff bands which give way to small mountain ranges. Guinea is famous for its bountiful resources and incredulous corruption the blessing has been a curse. With an election on the horizon there is some level of hope for the currently military controlled country.

The purpose of the 10 day trip was primarily to attend a conference for the persecuted church in West Africa and visit a sister community in central Guinea to evaluate potential projects. The potential is huge but it would all hinge on the wiliness of the local population to carry the burden.

I traveled in good company and met a number of inspiring people. I was pleased to see a theme with-in the conference for the local church to rise-up and take leadership to develop its own communities.

Resolve

In Guinea I’ve been stay in the company of a man who was the target of an assassination plot. This same man who has had is dogs slaughtered on his front porch in the night, his children threatened and countless court and false charges brought against him. The man was the first recorded Fulani to follow the teachings Christ a decisions he came to from his own independent studies and convictions; there was no outside influence.

As I sat in amazement of the stories I was humbled wondering if such resolve could come from with-in my own life. Africans seem to find the resolve quick readily and you see it various aspects of life. But like all traits it is not always a positive experience.

The Drive

From the heart of Guinea to the Coast of Banjul 800km, 2 meal breaks, 2 boarders, 18 hours one day, one driver. Yes, this is verging on insanity but where there is “resolve” it is possible. Everyone is hurting, hungry and car sick from the roads and hot weather but no one says a thing we endure together – really it is the of the highest virtue in the African context.

Guinea is beautiful but it is good to be back in Gambia. The real miracle is a full round trip with 10+ people in a vehicle without a single bribe, baggage search or customs fee.

Last of the Toubabs

Each year at this time in Gambia the temperature and humidity begins to climb, this change in climate brings about a few changes. One is most of the Toubabs leave for home. With Josh’s recent departure to I am now the last and will be the only short term toubab for the remaining months. Although I do enjoy the company of my local peers it was always nice have a breathe of the West when things become trying.

All said, I’m not too worried and kind of look forward to the challenge. I’ve always got the internet. (If it is working)
Cow and the Stick

Disciplining is a skill does not come naturally to me. I’d much rather be a generous friend and expect the best from people but a time come when a destructive habit and pattern must be broken. That won’t happen with out consistent tough love. It doesn’t make things easier that these cases often involve children and other social complications yet I can’t throwing out the line for other’s foolish decisions.

In Guinea the Fula's tie big sticks around the necks of problem animals. This prevents them from breaking through into people's garden. One garden grazing offense is tolerated but the second comes at a cost to the cattle's owner.

I’d ask for a lot of prayer for wisdom and patience over the remaining months. I do believe there are a number of positives changes that are occurring and have seen their fruit but they often seemed to be overshadowed by the difficult cases.

Looking for big long sticks,
Mike

A month in review...

2010-05-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Prelude…
Dear Friends and Family, (and blog stockers)
Sorry it has been so long since my last update. I’m still alive and I do think and pray for you. Thanks for the many whom have sent birthday wishes. This is now my forth Gambian birthday and like all it will be memorable but I will leave that to the latter part of the post. First I must catch you up on what has been consuming my time in the Gambia

Below is a progression of brief thoughts surrounding the past 3-4 weeks.

Peace,
Mike

Bees to the Honey

On my recent journey to a rural village on Gambia’s north bank I was invited to go on a wild honey hunt. Although the thought of sweet wild honey was tempting the potential of numerous stings one must endure on such a hunt I declined the offer and opted for the tamer 8km horse cart journey through the bush to pick-up a radio, so the locals could listen to Youssou N’Dour.

The Joy of Bananas

I got this morning and went for a run not for fitness and not for but the joy of bananas. We have now completed the installation of 36 bananas and a low cost gravity fed irrigation system at a place now affectionately called En Gessa* or in English “The Field”. It the hope that this simple field of Bananas will provide sufficient income to feed provide school fees for a family of 8 who currently live on the property.

Locusts and Bananas

I have been preaching a lot about the importance of development instead of aid. Unfortunately the two are often confused additionally development often turns into aid. To see healthy development it is a long road which requires much patience and a sustained intentional and regulated involvement. As it only through this involvement that one can begin to answer the question, what is development?

Is it education and freedom? Better roads and global commerce? Mobile phones and television? health and nutrition? Leisure and convenience? Who decides what the priorities are? How much does one get their hands involved in shaping the dreams of Africa? How does one care enough to follow through? I don’t believe there are any easy answers.

A recent challenge I have witness is the environment of Africa itself. Development is a dilemma in a culture that is prone to feed off others success like mosquitoes that get inside in your bug net. The means are always there to solve needs and situation however, solutions attract great problems. Swarms of the needy and greedy descend eat their fill resulting in barren waste for those who put in an honest effort. The result vast majority of the country/continent is propt-up on artificial grants make work projects. I know I’ve been involved in too many myself.

All said I do have great hope at least at the small scale level. I don’t think all the answers come at once but today the answer may lie in a visit to the Gambia’s emergency locusts protection office because there are locusts in our bananas.

Google Sketch-up

I recently spent a couple hours at an internet café downloading google Sketch a free basic 3D CAD program. It is not that I needed it but in a land of donkey carts, machetes and VCD players it is nice to play with some “real” technology. Now late nights in my room are spent orbiting around a 3D satellite google earth models of “En Gessa”* as I virtually plant trees, fence animals and build water distribution systems.

From time to time locals pop their heads in the door and try to figure out what I’m up to. Some begin to understand others ask me if I have any games on my computer that they can play although most have learnt by now that I am little fun and few things to say when deciding where to plant my Pomegranate trees.

It is Not the Money

Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking
- Sir Ernest Rutherford

I’m becoming a firm believer there are few problems in Africa and human life that can actually be fixed with money. I’m not suggesting money is not needed but most often money is not the limiting factor to progress; furthermore in many cases I believe it availability is it a strong hindrance simply enabling destructive behaviours and idolization of Western pop culture.

Transformation of the Africa will come from a transformation of heart and soul. It will take a sober examination of itself and its culture leading to a sincere repentance. I believe such a transformation can only be inspired by a call and encounter from the creator of all things.

God Speed your kingdom come.

The Two Stroke Wonder

I got the motorbike back from the mechanic a week or so ago. The speedo is still shot, the blue smoke remains and the headlights only are effective at high RPMs (got to go fast if you want to see) but I think most of the work they said was done has been done. I do have good cause to be suspicious as the total cost of the engine and drive train rebuild came in under $150 including labour and parts but everything seems to work.

Although It may shutdown and leave me sweating on the side of the highway for a few mins while I un-cease overheated piston or need me to re-route the housing of the front brake cables so it doesn’t rub on the front tire, the “Two Stroke Wonder” and I have come to terms of mutual agreement. I feed it oil and gas she gets me, my friends and cargo home.

Music Day

Since I was a young boy I have always had a strong addiction to music. This has carried into my world in missions work. So as part of my weekly routine I spend Friday’s playing music.

I met Papis and Mohammed in 2009 while riding on public transit down the coastal road to Brikama. Seeing their their Kora*** and guitar, I struck up conversation and we exchanged numbers before stepping down. I soon confirmed my hopes that they were highly proficient musicians connected to the inner circle of Brikama music scene. (the epicenter of Mandinka music).

Ever since our meeting I have found great joy in working with two musicians from the. We are working to write and arrange music for an EP which to be recorded in early July. The album will combine western and traditional African styles. We’ve already started planning our promotional media tour. I’m looking forward to posting some of the recordings online as they ready…. but one step at a time.

Afri-Bahs

Sickness in Africa by some measure is hard to explain. You will often have days of unexplained fatigue and loss of appetite. The trots are always I viable side effect that can lead anyone weary of venturing too far from home.

The source could really be anything, kids with dirty hands in the bowl, bad water but today the Keke is suspect. (“KAI-KAI” is fresh milk straight from the udder of a cow).

Purchased on a whim from the market by Josh in the hot sun had begin to transform the milk into a substance more resembling runny chunked yogurt. It wouldn’t have had any had it not tasted so good with freshly squeezed mango juice from earlier that day (The Juice had also started to go bad and needed to be finished up)

Yet, regardless of source today Josh and I mope about with the Afri-blahs.

Family Meetings

I don’t know if I can fully describe a Fulani compound meeting in a way that would do the procedure justice or make sense to the western mind. Only to say to the unprepared participant best not involve themselves. No rock left unturned, no accusation left aside; a 2 hour volcano of verbal discipline is unleashed from the summit to the valley floor.

If such meeting were to be held in western society it would take months to clean up the mess. However, here once all voices have spoken their furry and you think there is no way to mend the relationships. All is forgiven, a short but poignant prayer is given and the community returns to their smiles.

Art on the Table

I recently came across this drawing of “Thinking man” on my friend’s table.

My friend is bright, athletic, obviously a talented artist and Father of an illegitimate child; a pregnancy test just reveled there is another one on the way. Abortion (illegal and very dangerous in Gambia) has been considered as an escape from the cultural grinding that will soon pursue him with-in the Islamic community.** Marriage is an option but yet a further disgrace as with no job feeding two young mouths and providing for the needs of a wife.

Advice can be hard to give, there are many complications and solutions that would work from my perspective may not always be valid in such a culture. But in a land of hyenas and vultures I can only believe it is better to have a friend. And it is this belief that God has used that to answer many of thinking man’s questions in my life.

Birthdays in the Gambia

Many may not know but I recently celebrated my fourth African birthday. Many have asked how do you spend a birthday in Africa.

There are many things to consider when deciding how to celebrate an African birthday. The first I am in a communal culture individuals are seldom celebrated. Secondly a high percentage of Africans don’t actually know their real date of birth, thus birthdays are trivial. Three, the family meeting occurred because of improper cultural formalities and execution surrounding a birthday celebration. Knowing these three factors, I intended my birthday to quietly celebrated admits my compound people.

The morning was spent picking up mandarin trees and visiting a friend who I commissioned to grow them. I subsequently remembered I had been living with an expired Gambian visa for the past week and took my baby tree to visit the main police and immigration station in the center of town. To pamper myself I stopped by Bobo’s barbershop and got a quick $0.50 birthday shave and trim to remove 3 weeks of afri-scruff.

After lunch and to my surprise a cake appeared. Knowing that we never get cake I had assumed rumour had circulated that it was my birthday an some money had been put together. Granted it was a little strange – no happy birthday, no candles or formal announcement. It later all made sense to discover this cake was leftover from a wedding last weekend and had been brought out to be eaten because it was going bad. You may think it sad but to me it was wonderful, God had provided me with cake on my birthday.

Of course to fulfill my favourite African birthday tradition I rode up with Josh to CVM house to go out for ice cream, made a call home to the parents and started working on responding the Birthday emails.
Thanks all

En Yesso (“In the future”)
Mike

Footnotes…

* En Gessa is approximately 3 acres of land 20mins walk from where I live. There is a family which lives on the land and we are currently working with a small agricultural grant to use the field for agriculture.
** A note regarding my person stance of abortion. From my faith I believe freedom of choice and with this knowledge I will always choose and support the choice of life for the baby and the family. I believe mother Teresa puts it poignantly "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." This statement has challenged me to love and support so the choice of life is there for my friends.
*** a Kora is a traditional 21 stringed instrument used in traditional West African music.

Deep in the Heart of Sukuta

2010-04-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

April 20, 2010 :: 5:10pm

Outside my Door

There are not a lot of simple answers when you live in and amongst poverty, particularly when it has been presence for a sustained period of time. Each day my door lines with stories big and small. School, food, health care and shelter are all worthy causes and essential to breaking the poverty cycle. Of course it is easy to ignore (or be unaware) when you aren’t there. However, when the reality of a needy situation has a name and face and is standing at your door it is hard to hide from the it.

A Visitor

Life in the developing world is raw, it is hard to understand until you really come and visit. Dad decided come be one who would want to understand. I had the joy of picking him up from the airport last Wednesday. Some early highlights include playing bass on a recording of traditional music, learning to navigate the concrete labyrinths between compounds, leaving him on the side of the highway with two non-English speaking locals and long father son bonding walks as we push the motorbike home.*

One of my favourite new experiences for him may have just been the wedding – particularly because it my first chance to take him to visit some of my friends from my first visit to the Gambia in 2005. Kola nuts, crazy dancing, fancy dresses and the endless display of cultural idiosyncrasies are all things I’ve explored and experienced over five journeys to West Africa. My dad saw them on his second day. I’ve honestly been trying to take it easy but it is hard to do.

For a new comer, living in community in Africa is a take the red pill or blue pill type situation . Parades of social interaction from the locals creates an overwhelming wave of new names and language phrases to learn. Each new experience grows new questions, new answers breed new questions which normally don’t have answers but only further extend the beautiful chaos that is African life through the Westerner’s eye.

All said “Dad, You are highly welcome.”

Redeeming Long Days

Some days are long and trying but somehow God has a way funny way of redeeming them. When you drive 20km to spend 2 hours collecting scattered scat in the 35oC open bushy field, because you miss interpreted the cultural meaning of “I have a pile of manure ready to pick-up” may just come to realize how patient and tolerant people are of your own misunderstandings.

Or when the kids have curiously filled your rocket stove with rocks and used the pots to make mud pies which are set to bake on your chairs they will later turn around to leave of priceless portrait of you on the wall outside your door right when you were thinking about packing your bags and going home.**

We live in a broken world but there is a hope there is purpose in life and life in the right purposes – some days it is obvious other days it seems to vanish but each day I must believe this is true.

I pray all in well with each of you. Thanks for all the emails and notes I wish I respond each of them. Miss you all.

Salaam.

*I’m just writing this now because I know the stories will come out when he gets home.
** The label "Mike Camera" above my portrait is not a reference to the number of pictures I take but more so my African last name which should be spelt Camara but that wasn’t really important at the time.

Easter in Africa...

2010-04-06T17:58:00.000-07:00

I didn't quite understand Pastor's genius until I was 20 mins out of Brikama*; they don't call the place H.ouse o.f W.isdom for nothing. Louring me with the thought of a weekend away and a chance to drive his sweet Toyota Land Cruiser** to the E.C.G.*** Easter conference. How could I refuse? Granted at the time there was little mention of the 20 kids that would be loaded in the back but, it was too late to turn back all I could do was admire the brilliance.

Hot and "rustic" Kampant is Africa turned up a few notches. Although the Easter retreat is a family camp this year many parents chose to stay at home and elected instead to send all their kids as representatives. The foreigners were indited to manage the chaos.

The kids run wild juiced up of Cashew fruit and free of pants and parental control. With the heat and number of Gambian men who snore sleep is found in the back of the Land Cruiser or outside on open walkways. Meals test one's survival skills; 20 large bowls appear in the eating area, a prayer is said then 4 hours arduous cooking is turned over to the wrath of 300 mouths with right hands as utensils. It is really a germ-a-phob's worst nightmare****. However, all said as with most things African, the camp runs remarkably smoothly and everyone enjoys themselves.

The highlight of the weekend for me was the baptisms in the Gambian River. A 2km walk through the river flood plains, the community broke into song as 5 people gave testimonies and publicly declaring their dedication to Christ, a decision that often comes at a huge cost. It is a humbling example to see people with such strong virtue and conviction.

After Sunday service and lunch we packed 20 kids into the old Land Cruiser and followed the sun back to the cool ocean breeze of the Kombos.

Back in S.ukuta this week we are putting our hands back to work - the retrofit of the banana irrigation project is completed and we are trying to a to germinate over 1000 mahogany seeds that we gathered from the bush over the weekend.

Thanks for reading and for all who have sent notes sorry I don't always have time to write back. I miss you all.
Pecae.

Side notes:

* Brikama - The last major city before leaving the Kombos (South River Coastal region)
** the Land Cruiser served many years as the WEC's Sibanor Clinic ambulance. On the way home it decided to re-visit its history as two of my passengers fell quite ill. I'd like to blame the roads as opposed to my driving but regardless I made up for it when I got home by making a few calls and a special run to the only open pharmacy in Banjul to get full prescriptions for an abscessed tooth and an epic case of menstrual cramps.
*** Evangelical Church of The Gambia
**** If Norwalk or H1N1 ever made its way here... I honestly believe it is the grace of God that keeps everyone healthy in Africa.

Packo, Petrol and Piccadilly

2010-03-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

In the Lounge Watching Packo
March 20th, 11:06pm GMT

It is hard to go anywhere in the Gambia without hearing about Packo. Saturday night at 10:30 the country stops for an hour to watch a cheesy B-grade Italian soap opera with poor English dubs. The 5 minute commercials offer some relief. It is almost as intriguing as Gambia’s obsession with Celine Dion. It is amazing what unexpected things people will latch-on to. Maybe I'm just missing something...

Cont…
March 22nd, 11:36pm GMT

For those who enjoy a good day of bureaucratic process, last Friday I traveled to the Banjul police station. 3 hours, 10 officials and 100 Dalais ($5) later I had obtained a license to drive motorbikes in Gambia.

It is a scary thought to me (and likely my mom) knowing I have very limited riding experience and the undeniable reality of how things work on the roads here. Yet, it has become a practical necessity for traveling between rural properties and dropping visitors at transport hubs.

On today’s journey I learned an important lesson about checking the fuel tank. In my defense there wasn’t even enough to get to the gas station as I've discovered the locals aren’t in the habit of leaving much in the tank for the next rider.

Earlier on Saturday I was in Piccadilly, a poor suburb of Banjul, visiting with long time friends. Here money is hard to come by and conditions are rough. Spending time exploring new Mandinka vocab, drinking ataiya and getting a shave with a straight razor hardly seem like a day’s work, however, they are always precursor’s to deeper more intimate conversations about family betrayal, witchcraft and dark secrets from the minds of the poor and their oppressors.

There are times when the situations seem so dire, it is easy to be overwhelmed. From a distance it is easy to shrug shoulders and wash your hands problem and it is for this reason I travel. Though I don’t know the best way forward, by grace my heart left in peace and a spark of belief that there are great things to come.

In other news…

Josh has arrived safely and has been quick to adjust to African life thought there are always plenty things to learn.

Tomorrow I travel to a garden in Bwiam with many from the compound and a few friends. I hope to inspire people as to what is possible.

Miss you all and thanks for your support.

Nyow Naa… (I’m Here)

2010-03-18T15:31:00.001-07:00

From My Room Sukuta, The Gambia
March 16, 6:47pm GMT

Arriving 3am local time to the Banjul Airport, I was warmly greeted by Pastor as he explained that the others had been held outside the airport at a military check point for failing to bring their documentation.

Greetings and orientations to my new room left little time for sleep on the first night before the morning call to prayer wakes the roosters who summon the donkeys.

My first walk of the compound in the morning light confirmed many fears about what had happened to many of the things established last trip.

In contrast people soon began to appear out of their homes I was joyfully greeted by familiar faces and introduced to many new ones. My favourite was Dilha, the compound’s only grandma, 40 yard dash to greet me repeating most of her English vocabulary inserting my name and Fula phrases that I don’t understand. It was comforting and a good reminder I am in a culture that expresses love and appreciation thought time spent and relationships not things accomplished.

After a full and pleasant church service, I pounded back a couple rounds of taiya (the sugary, tea based, expresso of Western Africa) listening in on mixed-Fula conversation and taking in the warm breeze which graced the shade under the mango tree.

Lunch served around 3pm was a compound favourite – potato leaves, hot pepper, pounded fish and oil on rice. It was a firm introduction to my stomach which didn’t necessarily sign up for the trip by choice.

Later, I had been invited out to meet this year’s SMILE team (group of young volunteer teachers from the UK) and have a chance to swim in the ocean a much needed refreshment after my travels.

Monday was spend at the market buying a table, spoons and other essentials for life. I met up my with my friend Musa who provided company and some protection from inflated pricing. The dusty streets, chaotic banter, herds of cattle and door falling off the transport van were all familiar slights and sounds welcoming my return.

Last night I visited my African mother Mariatu and dropped off some mail from other “children”. She was in great spirits and aside from being unable to stand up she was her usual self. I played some guitar for her and she gave me a good talk about how she can't depend on her own strength only God's.

Over following week I will be busy in informal meetings, observing and solving mysteries, in hopes to map out what the path forward will look like over the next 6 months.

With love from the Gambia.
"Dodu"

It is real...

2010-03-12T20:31:00.001-08:00

Gate D64 - YVR
8:37pm PST

Well time has arrived this is real.

Trips like this generally start as an idea, most end shortly there after. The survivors slowly articulate themselves in conversations, research and . Taking root in shots, passports and tickets you begin to anticipate the connection. The week before sparks begin to ignite the reality: last day at work, moving out, saying goodbye to friends and family and enjoying your last . But still it never feels until you are passed the security point.

It feels the same for me almost everytime.

My first flight is delay which may cause some problems for the next two (you can pray for me). Anyway here is my boarding call. Tears, joy, and laughter await. God Speed.

To do...

2010-03-04T00:40:00.000-08:00

:: A quick administrative insert before the post ::

I had a number of requests asking about how they can be involved financially with theses projects in the Gambia. Here is the skinny...

As these are volunteer projects and my living expenses are already budgeted for, all donations (less 5% admin fee) now go directly to empowering locals through grassroots projects and are tax deductible.

Checks can be written to Northwest Mennonite Conference with a note attached separately to direct the money to CVM - HOW Project Gambia

Mail to:
Christian Volunteer Movement
47 Queen's Park Crescent East,
Toronto, ON, M5S 2C3

For Visa and Mastercard donations you may donate through Canada Helps Account 15 Mike Friesen CVM - in comments direct it to HOW Project Gambia
Please note there is additional admin fee 2-3%

Thanks

****Back to the original Post****

For the past 6 months I've kept a list of things to do in my I-phone. The majority of these item had deadlines associated with my departure next week some others were inserted as a practical joke by my sister. Some are essential, many are beneficial and there is a boat load of "nice to do" (can you ever run out of good stuff to do?).

It is often hard to set priorities in life particularly when you are feeling a time crunch. At times I tend to gravitate more to thinking about what I should be doing instead of just doing something on the list. This just leads to more analyzing. Fortunately the analyzing pays out well in epiphanies. The most recent was a new addition to the essentials list. "Be Centered"

In all the chaos, it is easy to loose balance. Becoming focused on the wrong things or even the right things the wrong way can quickly undo things thought done. And somehow, the proper focus in itself somehow gets the right things done at the right time.

Matthew 6:25-34

2010 the road from Gold to Goats...

2010-02-03T00:14:00.000-08:00

There is much ado in our city as Quatchi and less popular side-kicks prepare to take over the fine town of Vancouver. The olympic advertisements, volunteer dressed in blue and closed roads stir-up an opinion from everyone.

With my flight to Gambia now booked for the 12th of March for me to be here during the Olympics was a conscious decision. When planning my return to the Gambia a decision was made in my heart to stay. Even just being one of 2.2 Vancouver's million, this is my City and couldn't miss her big date with the world.

I have never liked traffic and crowds are seldom my preference yet I wanted to feel and celebrate life. Buried in the noise of glitzy events, incessant product placement, security and athletic escapades there is a gold mine of people wanting to be heard, be seen, be happy, be drunk, be proud, be angry, be involved, be lost, be important, be greedy, be the best and to be loved.

On the eve of the opening ceremony I ask myself... What is it that I want to be? A really I hope to be a child of God. I much as I'd love to expand on that deep thought and what that will mean for the Olympics and the journey ahead I may have to wait until tomorrow as I have work and a bed calling my name.

Anyways, thanks for beginning the journey from Gold to Goats. One short month to go.

The home stretch...

2009-04-15T03:56:00.000-07:00

In this post...
- shifting time, space and matter
- preparing for the airport
- goodbyes
- final thoughts

April 6, 2009
To the glow of an energy efficient bulb

Bending of time and space my travels in Gambia are quickly coming to close. In addition the news of my cancelled flight to Madrid has yet accelerated my departure.

Finding balance of life is a fine art particularly in a social culture. Here time spent is everything however, time spent drinking Ataiya doesn’t help feed, clothe, shelter or pay the electricity bill. However, finishing projects that nobody will take interest in or take is an exhausting and expensive way to feel good about accomplishing nothing of use.

Additionally each day the mind increasingly begins to wander back home and wondering how the transition will be back to “normal life” (which due to my current employment, social and housing situation will be far from “normal”)

Preparing to hand over the reigns of the garden has required much thought into structure, roles. At times I wonder how it will work and other moments I see so much potential and God’s hand in the work I wonder what could possibly stop the project. Our workers meeting last week brought me to tears of joy. I am really proud of the team here and really believe in each one. Perhaps the most encouraging success is the establishment of a ECG run garden sales network which is already exceeding our growing capacity which was one of my biggest fears. Only by the grace of God could things come together like this.

Apart from garden business each day is full of joy and surprises. However, I am looking forward to Easter weekend which will be a trip up country for the E.C.G. annual retreat. It will be a chance to step back reflect and spend some “non-structured” time with many of the people from HoW. After all this there will be two short days to dot i’s, cross t’s, say goodbyes and maybe think about packing my thing or two.

April 14, 2009
From the departure Lounge in Youdon-International Airport.

It was not easy to say goodbye. Really from many perspectives. Perhaps the most unusual challenge was the African tendency of total social avoidance when a close friends are leaving. That said I was able to eventually find everyone and share a few last laughs, tears and Fulani greetings.

You can’t expect to start such a venture and not develop such strong bond between the people you spend each day with. Even though for some of my friends we have exchange little more than 20 English words but word or actions, love and friendship could write epic novels.

After install the final security measures for the internet café network (and finally getting the internet service renewed from Gamtel) around 10pm. Anne spent the last night helping me pack, meanwhile Alieu provided me with some entertainment and company well into the wi hours of the morning. In addition to make sure I wasn’t lonely Alieu even spent the night sleeping in my room. Although, with my mosquito net packed away I had plenty of company. At least between the two of us we got enough sleep for one.

It was a quiet ride to the airport particularly for a full vehicle. I made a final few phone calls and ran out my credit before handing off my sim card to Musa. It took a few minutes of silence before anyone had the heart to in the goodbyes So far my only regret was forgetting to hand over the keys to my room but hopefully I managed to arrange things via the local system that they will be picked up.

From here I will arrive in Spain and be staying at the YWAM headquarters in Madrid for a week before flying home on the 20th. (Originally I was scheduled to leave country on the 17th but Spanair has cancelled my flight and rebooked it to today leaving me with a longer stay over) I trust this will give me some time to reflect and begin to map out what the next few years of my life may look like.

I’m looking forward to see everyone back home and sharing more details about the trip and all that God is doing here in the Gambia and in my life.

Well here is my boarding call until next trip. Thanks so much for your prayers and support.

Peace,
Mike

An update!

2009-03-09T17:12:00.000-07:00

In this Update….
- Welcome Tyler
- Where are the updates?
- The African Shopping Experience
- Please stop eating my crayons
- Musa, Buyam and 3 meter high casava sticks
- Banana Irrigation
And
What is to come…

March 3, 2009
From the House of Wisdom Office

--- Welcome Tyler ---

When your cell phone rings at 5:30am it is seldom a good thing. When it is the person who you are expecting to pick up at the airport later that day the odds get even worse.

Thomas Cook airlines has a policy. You must have written confirmation of your place of accommodation in the Gambia before you may board the flight (a measure, I can only guess, to protect tourists for being turned away by immigration on arrival). As no one I know has traveled via Thomas Cook Airlines this came as a surprise.

I soon began to negotiate with the airport attendant. His requests were simple. Written proof (on paper – with a letterhead) of his address of accommodation. Surely he must understand a church in Africa does not have its own letterhead, that there are no street addresses in most of the Gambia and that the majority of places do not have electricity never mind a fax machine.

However, after 15min of dialog Mr. Thomas Cook would not yield from the policy and with no shift supervisor of manager for appeal this pawn has the final word. So at T-minus 30 minutes before take off we were required to comply even if our place of residence had no address.

As email was not a valid option (they didn’t have a printer Tyler could use) I was given a fax number. To complicate the matter I was in Buyam – not in Situka. (aka 100km from the closest paved road) So finding a fax machine at 6am was going to be a challenge. Calling Wolfgang a WEC staff in the city and he graciously sprang into action. Unfortunately the fax machine in the Pipeline office was broken but fortunately I serve a God who is bigger than fax machines and airline policies. Left to pray. Time passed and later heard back from Wolfgang who called the airline as was informed that they had allowed him to board. Praise God!

Upon his arrival I discovered Tyler had managed to get a hold of his mom who typed a letter stating Tyler would be staying at house of wisdom in Sikuta for 6 six and signed it under her name and faxed it in during the final boarding call. For some reason this was acceptable and Tyler passed through.

So with great joy I welcomed Tyler look forward to sharing a bed with him for the next 6 weeks!

--- Updates?

I understand many of you may be wondering why there have been no written updates during the month of February. Well aside from it being a shortened month it had a full month’s worth of activity.

- Before Michael’s departure we had some ambitious goals to add some new wooden benches (now known as Solomon’s Porch Bantaba) and clean-up a major portion of the compound’s sprawling garbage pills (which is now just one massive pile).
- I caught a nasty bug that put me flat out for a few days. (not to mention I got stung by some caterpillar-porcupine hybrid when I put on my sandals).
- The arrival of a CVM team to the house in Senegambia brought in some Theologians from Wycliff College to offer a few lectures.
- Meetings with the US Peace Corps, Gambia is Good’s, WEC conference and a visit to the Bakau Woman’s garden.
- Moving towards just facilitating the work activities in the garden as I begin to hand the direction and responsibility of the garden over to its workers.
- Continuing to play music with the Wuli band.
- Acting as an unofficial tour guide to other Toubab vistors to the House of Widsom compound.
- Planning out goals and objectives for my remaining time in the Gambia.

March 9, 2009
4:15pm :: resting on my bed.

--- Shopping Gambian Style

One of my favorite activities in the Gambia is shopping for supplies for projects. It is a love hate relationship as the task at hand usually requires an entire day and it takes a half day to recover from the intensity of the experience.

A 20 min ride down Situka Hyw brings you to Serekunda’s London Corner. (Hi-way may be deceiving as it more resembles a motor cross track) Armed with a sketch book, backpack and a hidden stash of Dalais the course is set. The maze of narrow streets vendors seems endless and the constant flow of human, animal and vehicle traffic require a heads up attention. If you are fortunate enough to find what you are looking most of the work is done otherwise you are soon forced to re-design your project on the fly.

With a visible cultural disadvantage price negotiation can be the next obstacle. Purchases are an intricate mind game to find the going rate and then unlocking the best deal from the savvy shopkeepers and your local friends may not always know the correct price. I have gathered quite the reputation around the compound often beating the prices of the locals have been paying.

Once the goods are acquired you are face with returning the goods home. With no shopping carts, SUV or superstore green bags when the third item on your list of 7 items is two 200L oil barrels you have a problem. Often this is negotiated with the price and items are to be left at the store and picked-up by a hired wheelbarrow and paraded through the streets to the transportation depot once everything for the day has been purchased.

Computer, palm logs, a 1L of honey, 30m of chicken wire, a pack of toilet paper, a 50kg bag of manure and two 200L barrels are soon loaded and driven down to Sikuta garage. Mission complete!

--- Arts and Craftyness ---

From recent census 50% of the population is under the age of 18. So wherever you are or whatever you are doing there are always plenty of unsupervised kids around and interested in what you are doing. At House of Wisdom this is no exception. Occasionally I feel the need to provide some structure (mostly to keep them from grabbing random objects in my room)

Recently this structure has come in the form of a colouring club. Which is a fancy name for me handing out paper and throwing out a few boxes of crayons on my front porch. Nevertheless, it is a treat to see the creations inspired from their minds as they push the limits of modern art. Often this involves becoming the art (eating the crayons) or changing medium (my door or chairs) – then I’m reminded of my brother early childhood attempts to product a lifesized masterpiece of the killer whales he saw at the Vancouver Aquarium which only bring further joy to my heart.

On the topic of arts and crafts - when Tyler arrived he came with lot of stickers (heart, smiley faces, animals, ect..). As we strive not to give things directly to the kids (to help avoid the thought pattern – Toubabs = free stuff), I recommended we donate them to the Sunday school program and to my surprise they have already been put to good use to decorate the teacher’s bike. He simply explained the kids would have nothing to stick them to so he thought it would be good the put into good use… oh well.

--- Buyam ---

Before Tyler arrived I took an opportunity to travel with Musa Fatty to Buyam to visit what many in the know profess to be the best garden in the Gambia (and this includes the president’s garden). Run by John Greinner, a Canadian and former drug addict now a WEC missionary for 12 years, he picked up Musa and I up in his beat-up Toyota Helix and talked most of the way up.

A very passionate man he also speaks flawless Mandinka, runs a youth center, discipleship school, translates and creates audio books while holding the highest respect of the community in which he lives. After sharing dinner, hearing about the history of the compound and searching his house for a snake the watchman saw the night before we deemed everything safe and went to bed.

The next day David from Sifoe (ex-British military officer, now a semi retired businessman living in the Gambia) came and helped install an inverter he just sold John and joined us of a tour of the garden. As David and John are both very vocal and opinionated Musa and I spent most of our time listening as the conversion ebbed and flowed through the keys of African development to planting methods.

From to time during the tour I would glance I could see Musa eyes light up as he saw 3 meter high cassava sticks (most stunt at 1.5m), lime tree fences, graphed grapefruit/lemon tree, 1000 mango trees nursing in a concrete lined food tank. Perhaps the biggest inspiration would be meeting Solluman John head gardener who had worked with John over the past 12 years. I think it opened his mind to a new set of possibilities.

I too was inspired on many levels and excited to try many of the ideas. However, the highlight of the trip was getting to spend quality time with Musa. Juggling, playing dice, talking about life and even cutting hair the African notion of “moving together” definitely applied. After Tyler’s early morning wake up call (see preveious post) I cooked some French toast with some real Maple Syrup as a thank you to John and his family.

As we lefted Musa asked John for a new bible as I nearly forgot my passport but was reminded by grace just before I loaded onto transport. As we walked to the airport Musa and I shared a mutual excited about how God has lead us together and are looking forward to the future plans of the Garden.

--- Go Bananas

Since my arrival watering the bananas has been a chore and despite my best attempts to persuade the older kids to take on the task the trees have slowly been dying. However, this is no longer a problem! Over the past 4 days Jo (from Kamloops with CVM), Tyler and I have designed and implemented a banana irrigation system. Based off a barrel and some electrical conduit with holes; it is pretty sweet. I hope to post some pictures soon.

--- From here to the end

Here are some rough plans and thing you can be praying about over the next month or so…

- Kids camps with CVM in Gidah (similar to what I’ve done in Soma in the past)
- traveling to Senegal this weekend to watch Musa run in the Dakar half marathon and visit Mohammed and Matar.
- establishing a House of Wisdom waste management program
- recording project with the Wuli Band
- setting up an internet café at House of Wisdom
- another visit to Samba Chargie
- handing over the management responsibilities of the garden

Peace and thanks for reading!

Could this post contain no spelling errors?

2009-02-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

No doubt if you have been reading the blog thus far this title will perk your interest if not suspicion. Yet it might be entirely true as this blog is mostly visual. Yes, I have sat through 5 mind (and bum) numbing hours of page loading to birth a Gambian facebook photo album.
Enjoy... (no fear you do not need a Facebook account to view it)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105628&id=527556334&l=104c6

Peace,
Mike

"We Move Together"

2009-02-06T05:46:00.000-08:00

Post Summary –
- Planting seeds = Faith
- The joy of visitors
- Braveheart in the Gambia
- A week in the life of Mike in the Gambia
- Visiting Samba Chargie (a journey to the North Bank)

January 27, 2009
11:17pm – under the shelter of my bug net

Every morning at 9am I have a meeting and breakfast with the work group for the agriculture team. It a chance to go over the day’s tasks and ensure everyone has eaten (as many would not afford breakfast on their own dime). Part of the session we spend praying, reading and sharing experiences.

This morning I was scheduled to share but had little to offer. Resorting to reading some random Psalm I headed out to meet the crew. While I sat on the dirt eating my chocolate paste filled Tappa-lappa looking at a bag of peanut seeds I had a sudden change of heart for topic. I needed to talk about faith.

You prepare the soil (in our case pick axe, shovel out, mix in cattle dung, mix in, burning chaff filling back in and watering) in faith it will make a difference to the results of the crop. When shoveling buckets of cow crap and digging hard dry ground or digging the extra 6 inchs of hard pack soil it becomes easy to doubt the effectiveness or question its importance. Planting seeds is an act of faith; you bury a packet of potential and hope it soon will poke a green leaf to the surface. In a position of dependency that period of waiting can be excoriating.

In the same way the last couple of days I have really been struggling with my impact in teaching, vision for the agriculture program and effectiveness of living in community. These actions are in faith; faith God has called me here; faith the misunderstandings, health issues, discomforts produce benefits worth living with the people I’m aiming to help; faith it is possible to build a profitable self sustaining agricultural program at house of wisdom. Faith what I start can be completed.

When the father of a sick son came to Jesus asking for healing, he ask the man if I believed. To which he replied “I believe. Give me faith to overcome my doubts”.

This conversation was burning with-in my own heart and so perhaps what I shared today was more for me than anyone else. Thoughts I wrestled with as I crawled across the ground poking holes and dropping seeds into a week of intensive soil preparation. On the road ahead I see the need to hold on the faith of what God has called me to and knowing he will see it through to completion.

Sunday 2:08pm
--

It has been a joy to be part of Mike and Jon’s Gambian experience. Over the past week they have told stories, shared testimonies of their lives and spoken into the lives of many youth who face overwhelming odds and in an uphill battle. Not to mention Jon looked extremely sharp preaching in church today in his newly tailored African suit.

In the mornings Jon and Mike are out working along side the gardeners and taking on not only the immediate tasks but really approaching the situation in a holistic manner. Furthermore they are all stars with the kids. Coming home from school the kids rush through the compound gates in search of their giant Toubab friends. Juggling, drawing, taking pictures and just hanging out it has been a treat to see them engaged.

As this is the last week with Jon we are making plans to visit Ali Bah’s home village on the North bank (a more rual area of Gambia) and to see James Island an important fort during the time of British salve trade.

Thank you to all who have taken time to write me. It is encouraging to here from you and to here about life at home. I’m sorry for the many people I have not been able to respond.

As many people have been asking what an average week looks like I’ve mapped out some of the week’s highlights (and challenges below). I’m also hoping that as Jon returns he will have a chance to post some photos onto the internet of what we have been up to.

Sunday: Church service, Mike shared his testimony – I was experiencing digestive track problems so was unable to stay in the service – took a bunch of Imodium – Martin came by and we fit 16 people in a landrover and went to the beach to play soccer. Made Spaghetti for Martin, Jo and Musa. Vistied with Paul and Sandy.

Monday: Agricultural work in the morning – planted some seeds and dug some new lines for planting. Taught Math class – working with memorizing the multiplication table – Math is a challenging subject for most Gambia students - Taught a guitar class.

Tuesday: Agricultural work in the morning. Spent time with administration working in the afternoon. Heading to a celebration for Gambia is Good an NGO (non-government, organization) who’s goal is to supply the tourist industry with locally grown produce. Returned to the compound for toubab English class. Jon and Mike are taking the more advanced students and adults while I have been working with those who are just beginning to read.

Wednesday: Agriculture meeting in the morning. I met with a horticulturalist from Senegal about sourcing seeds and long term plans for the farm. Jon and Mike joined me in Fajara to meet with Toni and Rita. Toni has business which came up so we read books and I talked with Gee (a well educated man from Cameroon about broadcasting wireless computer to computer networking signals. We had dinner with the smile team (team of 12 university students from England who are teachers) who have Mariatu cooking for them and they also made us chocolate cake (wow!).

After we went out to hear the holy family band play at Karaba resort – this was a full day.

Thursday: Went and did some farming. After I spent time doing administrative work and then after lunch prepared for the evening English class and guitar lessons. Jon lead the compound bible study. We prayed for a man from the compound who recently returned to his home village in Guinea Conakry.

Friday: I got sick woke with a Fever – slept the morning and spent the rest of the day reading the bible and planning the farm’s development. Jon and Mike when to explore the Gambia for the afternoon. I when to the compound store and found they were watching Braveheart so I sat and explained to all the locals what was going on and why limbs and head were getting dismembered. I then slept some more to prepare for the chaos that was an all night youth event held on the compound. (being sick I retired early with a good set of earplugs) ***Discovered they have Ovaltine in the Gambia.

Saturday: I woke up and had a jam session with the Wuli Band. Spent time learning about the Kora (a traditional West African instrument that is a cross between a harp, guitar and a large kitchen mixing bowl) We then spent the afternoon at the Fatty’s eat Benichin (stirfried rice of the Gambia), drinking Atailya (green tea) and playing guitar to the large gathering of youth who came by to visit.

Sunday: Church, lunch, nap time and then off to the beach for some football. Today’s complication was when I got a fishbone caught in the back of my throat and needed to swallow oversized mouthfuls of rice and drink 2.5L of water while on the verge of vomiting to remove it. (I’ll be more careful with bones in the future) We finished the day with prep for our journey to the north bank and a game of Dutch Blitz with some of the youth and a lady who is illiterate and can’t count.

All in all a good week in the Gambia.

February 5, 2009

We left early Monday morning for the North bank. The plan was to visit Ali Bah’s mother and family who recently lost their father to lung cancer (yes, smoking kill in Africa too). For Jon and Mike this would be a truly rural Gambian experience – 1.5 km from highway there is no power, no running water and no toilets (just a 20” deep 4 foot wide hole you crap beside and push your business in with a stick).

We added a side trip a chance to see a famous slavery landmark. It was a bit of a shock to the system but not surprising to be thrusted into a tourist trap. First was the village development fee, then tour fee, then the boat fee, then the boat driver tip, then the tour guide tip. We managed to escape the restaurant, craft market and snack bar before heading back to town to buy supplies for our stay in the village.

Travel is typically a challenge and there can be many adventures and challenges.
- finding ways to keep your legs from going numb because there is a metal bar sticking into your right thigh (Ali Bah)
- learning eating your sandwich before the ride keeps it from falling through the floor (myself)
- discovering riding on top of the van is better than inside (Mike)
- knowing the right the time to ask the driver to pull over before filling your pants (Jon)

Traveling by horse cart as the sun set over the African horizon we arrived just in time to get our bearings and distribute our gifts of rice, meat and oil to the family. Through out the night village members came by to greet and with an adult population of ~100 people 3 foreign visitors is big news.

The village of Samba Chargie (named after the founding father) is itself quite beautiful. Its remote location from the road it feels like a time warp (until someone pulls out their lead acid battery to charger their cell phone) It is quite nice but life is rural Africa is not simple and the last year’s excess rain cracked and destroyed a handful of the mud brick and thatched roof buildings and excessive use and no maintenance the towns only hand well pump is working at 33% it’s normal efficiency.

The village is Islamic and so Modu Bah (a full time resident in the village) and Ali Bah (my neighbour in Sikuta) both received heavy criticism (and physical beatings) when they decided to follow Jesus. Not wanting to abandon the family and their home village they each have gone to great lengths to restore relationships and over the years have seen much progress. Part of our journey's goal was to show our support for the brothers and promote an understanding of peace and love between the two religions with-in the village.

Tuesday morning we spent touring around greeting, gifting and praying for village leaders, family members and friends. At each stop we were well received and saw a genuine hospitality and joy that we had come. As well it was a privilege to be accepted in to the Bah family. There is no doubt the lost of their father has drastically impacted present and future situation of the family (particularly for their mother). We all made our best efforts to be involved and present with the people by showing our love and support.

For me it was also a chance to bond with Ali Bah who will me my closest friend upon Mike and Jon departure. After snacks a meal of coucous and boiled tree leaves Jon and Mike retired. Ali and I then helped prepare the meat for the following day’s lunch, drank ataiya and sat in front of the house for a couple hours talking and sharing life.

The African people often use the phrase “we move together” and even from this brief exposure this phrase came alive. With so much of your time devoted to maintaining life (making bricks, replacing thatched roofs, cracking peanuts for seed, milking goats, cooking, eating) there is little time, finance or energy left for leisure activities instead work becomes the leisure and everyone can be seen “moving together”.

We left in the late afternoon again to the setting sun, we arrived home to hear that our visit had lead to the reinstatement of Modu Bah as head of the town census a position which had been revoked on his conversion – a huge step.
Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Uncle Dudu

2009-01-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

NEW POST SUMMARY
- New name!
- New survival skills
- New arrivals to the Gambia
- New Bacteria to the digestive track

January 20, 2009
11:27pm – to the sounds of Gambia Radio and Crickets

As there are now two Michaels on the compound the compound has assigned Gambian names. Mine has traditionally been Dudu (not by choice). Although a very noble name in Mandinka (great one), the name Dudu in Fulani means “un-hatched spoiled egg” (…and well you know what it means in English)

Never the less it stands - uncle Dudu (they might as well have a naming ceremony)

January 21, 2009
1:53pm – to the heat of the African Day

So a little bit of catch-up to do today…. :o)

As of Saturday we planned to start the garden on Monday. But this is Africa and well on Sunday at church a brief announcement about a naming ceremony to be held on Monday from 9-10am informed me we would be starting on Tuesday.

In Gambia and the majority of Abrabic influenced world babies are not given names until the 7th day (in keeping with Islamic tradition and for various other reasons). So when the name is announced it is also a big deal. Perhaps on the same scale as a simple wedding. Although the ceremony lasts for an hour, guest and dignitaries travel to stop by and present the couple with gifts and to enjoy good food.

As custom right after the naming a goat is slaughtered by the men, as a man this involved me. Although it took a half hour for my stomach to recover I definitely had a better appreciation for the meat when I did get around to eating.

The remainder of the day was spent enjoying Ataiya (super strong green tea), playing the dice game and listening to music turned-up a little too loud (I must be getting old).

January 24th – 5:36pm
On a cool overcast day.

With the arrival of good friends Jon and Mike from Canada on Tuesday came, fresh excitement, culturally understanding conversation, sicknesses, intimate living conditions and fun. It has been a joy to show them around and share in their new world adventures.

On Wednesday morning staying true to my Gambian name I went off in search of manure for the garden. My logic cows wander everywhere, particularly around the highway, so why go buy fertilizer. Being nobody else wanted this job and with my gimped arm I’m pretty useless in the garden this only added to my logic. So off through the streets I wandered with my wheel barrow and shovel.

The dropping were scarce, after 15 minutes I had little more than the interest of the locals who were new to the idea of a $%@ collecting toubab. But God will reward the faithful and on route to the highway an elderly man discovered my intentions and called me over. Unable to speak English he simply pointed at a compound. Unsure what to expect I marched into a cattle feed lot - jackpot. Greeting the owner’s son I soon left with a triumphant smile and a wheelbarrow brimming with crop producing nutrients.

On Thursday Mike and I ventured to the GIG farm to gather more insight into farming in the Gambia. Although not exactly what we expected we did gain some valuable insight while picking peppers and washing squash with Kelly the farm’s manager. On return we discovered Jon had received his first encounter with foreign bacteria on a trip to the Youth for Christ office with Alieu Bah and was passed out on the bed. Soon Michael was also there beside him and it was not long after I also began to feel my system deteriorate.

Although the sickness has failed to keep us from all adventure I’ve been in limbo ever since. Taking away much of my energy it has also made finding and appetite (particularly for the more foreign food a challenge.

This afternoon I’m taking some time off after having a morning jam session with a traditional Kora band the “Wuli Band” (Stand-up band). I met them on a taxi ride and took a chance that they were good and worth a listen. They are not only good they are also a lot of fun to jam with. I’m excited about some potential for some recording with them later on in the project.

Situka, Farming, Guitars and a Hot New Night Club

2009-01-17T06:05:00.000-08:00

January 16, 2009
9:02pm – My new room in Sikuta

POST SUMMARY
- Settled in to new room in Situka
- Started evening math tutoring
- 4 guitars in Africa?
- Farming, how hard can it be?
- Islamic – Christian scholars dialog
- And there is an outdoor night club just down block

Sikuta is alive – well at least outside my room. The constant bustle of activity parades in, out and by my door as I type. The days here are full of activity, curiosity and smiling faces. I have been well accepted and received a health balance of celebrity and outcast experiences.

I have begun teaching/tutoring (aka. lion taming) during the evenings. The students are eager to learn so far I have been focusing on Math which I have been informed is the weakness amongst most Gambian students. Based on the change I tend to receive when buying things it is easy to believe. It takes some unwind from a sessions worth of frustrations – there are only so many ways to teach that zero times anything is zero.

In the next weeks there are plans to add an English and eventually a guitar class. Since arriving I have had three broken guitars brought to my room all of which I’ve been able to repair to a playable condition. When I start teaching I’ll have 4 guitars to work with.

During the day most adults are working and the kids are in school so to fill my time I have drove head on into an agricultural project. The compound owns ~3 hectors of land most of which is growing wild. So there is a huge potential if I can inspire the community to take interest.

I immediately booked a few meetings with a few key players in the region and after two days of very productive meetings with NGOs (non government organizations), foreign business men and agricultural scholars my mind is exploding with ideas.

Gathering a fair amount of curiosity from the locals I wander around the compound collecting “junk”. Old tires, buckets, rice bags, cans, water sacs and old bug nets all potential tools and supplies. I have also starting some composting buckets in the kitchen or outdoor cooking areas.

Taking stock of the tool/s situation (nothing) I made my way to Kanifing and put some money down to buy the best tools I could find (not saying a lot). A student of Kodak’s 5 “S” program I immediately involved some of the interested in setting up a tool rack for their proper storage.

It is exciting to see the interest from many of the young men. On yesterday’s visit to the Gambia is Good (or GIG farm) run by Concern Universal I had 5 guys come along – one of which is Musa Fatty. Granted we will see how many show up to dig the 8’ x 8’ x 4’ composting pit on Monday.

I have received a tremendous amount of support from Pastor Modu and his wife Mariama. We have spent a number of meals and car rides discussing vision. They have had the desire to start something (shown in their foresight to buy land) but their timetable are typically well booked time and energy to invest in such projects are limited.
It has been fascinating sharing ideas, Modu is fast becoming a leader in the dialog between the Islamic and Christian faiths. Holding a weekly dialog with prominent Islamic scholars from the area, he is bridging the gaps and offering a olive branch to the surrounding community. I have much to learn in this area and it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes of global new to understand the relevance and important of these discussions. Self taught and no credentials to his name, his desk is littered with letters to inviting him to speak international conferences in Africa and Europe. I’m humbled to be in such close proximity.

Anyways, my legs have just gone to sleep from sitting here and I should really go grab a bite to eat before bed. It could be a long night the local dance hall has just started up for the night and one might think they just invested in a new high powered PA (apparently it sometimes goes to 5-6am).

Thanks for reading and all your prayers.

Changing Worlds

2009-01-11T13:51:00.001-08:00

POST SUMMARY

- life has been full meeting with old and new friends; lots of great possibilities

- Beginning to set out plans for the next month

- Learning Mandinka with the Fattys in Latracounda

- Toubab NGO party a culture shock

- A new type of church

- Looking ahead to the coming week of settling in to my new accommodations in Sikuta.

- Will sleep well tonight :o)

January 10, 2009

8:48am – CVM mission house

This morning’s entertainment included Tijan beating a 3 inch cockroach to death with a straw broom and Musa chasing the spider sitting on the wall between the two clocks which hang above where I’m sitting. One clock is for Gambia time, the other for Saskatchewan time… perhaps I’ll get around to installing one for Vancouver.

Yesterday was full of meetings; Toni and Rita (Brazilian missionaries with YWAM), Mariatu (my African mother), Habib and Alagie (members of the Holy Family Band – Islamic Senegambian Reggae I have done recordings with – www.reverbnation.com/gambiaproject), Paul and Sandi, (youth workers from New York) and Eric and Elly (long term missionaries living up country in Basse whom I am planning to visit). I spent most of my time listening, watching and scribbling in my book; repair projects, things to teach, technologies to explore and experiment with, there are so many great opportunities here to contribute if one is willing to seek them out. (doing them is another thing)

However, the meeting that excited me the most was with Pastor Modu Camara. A modest sized property in the suburbs of the Kombos, the community runs a store/restaraut/tea shop, a hair salon, welding shop and a tailor shop. Spending little time with accommodations, food and financial arrangements (knowing we could each be trusted to work things out) we instead explored possibilities and talked about the people of the community and their needs.

I woke up around 6am this morning my mind racing with possibilities and never did get back to sleep. The thoughts of inspiring and equipping creativity here in the Gambia would not let me return to sleep. I’ll explain more in the days to come but now it is time to help with the morning chores and tending the garden.

January 11, 2009

4:17pm – CVM mission house – finished post @ 9:01pm

It was a slow start to the day today. I had spend most of yesterday with Jo and his family after doing some gardening and cleaning up a massive unorganized pile of donations, tools and junk under the stairs.

I was quickly greeted by little (but now bigger Fatu) as she ran down the landway. Musa handed me a painting he had prepared for me and Issa soon brought out a feast of Jolfa rice and fish. I felt like royalty.

We sat under the mango tree and drank Attaiya (strong green tea laden with sugar). True to my plans to learn Mandinka, I began taking notes as we discussed some ideas for drying fruit as a supply of food and source of income for the family. Ebrima Jollow the elder of the family shared much wisdom in thought and language, including some deep Mandinka expressions that took a few minutes of deep concentration to wrap my mind around. Quite amazing really.

On the way home I ran across an American peace corp speaking Mandinka and soon was invited to a going away party. Wanting to make some connections I decided to go so after dinner and a quick jam session with Martin I left home for the adventurous evening trek across town.

Expecting a quaint gathering at a restaurant I arrived at a beautiful beach front residence packed with 60 odd inebriated westerners in full swing. Although it was nice to converse in some familiar cultural context, it was a little overwhelming to say the least. Since I had made the journey I decided to stick it out. It was interesting to see the view points of salaried relief workers and hear their stories and frustrations there are many good things going on – but it is a different mentality from the volunteer or faith based projects. I made a few friends and contacts but left glad I was leaving.

Jumping off the other end of the culture platform was the House of Wisdom Sunday morning church service. There are a number of differences from your average western church first it is held in a round hut with Islamic prayer mats scattered over the floor everyone sitting in a circle with the children in the center. Secondly, I have never seen so many breasts in church – babies get hungry and there is little need for modesty or a nursery; it is just part of life.

I will no doubt have my work cut out for me: learning names, creating understanding and developing trust. These things will take patience, humility and love. Although the people are very hospitable, there are expectations I will fail to be and preconceived notions I will need to clear both in my mind and theirs. Tomorrow I will be moving in your prayers are greatly appreciated.

To end the day Jo stopped by and went to play some soccer on the beach before enjoying a meal together. It was the perfect end to the day and I will sleep well tonight.

Chicken or an Egg?

2009-01-09T13:53:00.001-08:00

January 9, 2009 :

9:27 Gambia Time..

CVM residence in Senegambia

I made it! … and almost as importantly so did my luggage. The only lost was my pack cover which never showed up in Madrid.

The trip to the Gambia has lost its special enchantment and seemed much more of a routine journey. That said there was fair share excitement, adventure and frustration. Madrid was more of a challenge than I would have anticipated. I had little time to research accommodations and staying in the airport alone for 16 hours seemed unappealing after already being on 3 planes.

I soon discovered how little Spanish I knew (even less than I thought) and I had never been so happy for my French later bailed me out of a few situations. Eventually I found a room for a reasonable rate and fell asleep later to wake up to explore the city for dinner.

I was blessed to have no trouble at the Gambian airport, due to my length of stay and the amount of electronics I was carrying with me I had anticipated trouble. Martin (CVM staff), Jo and Musa (Jo and Musa are friends I have been help Musa with his schooling over the last two years) were there to welcome me and give me a ride from the airport to a mission home in Senegambia (touristy part of town) where I will get my bearings straightened out.

There are new surprises and many things to relearn. New prices on everything and my language skills are as bad as I remembered them. While trying to get breakfast this morning I discovered there is an egg shortage due to some conflicts with street egg sandwich vendors and the government. (kind of like North American squeegee kids vs the government) After visiting 9 shacks (corner stores) I finally was able to buy 3 eggs but when I returned to make my sandwich I found one had already decided to become a chicken. So much for my appetite.

Fortunately, Martin and the two boys Musa and Tijan are here to help me navigate this all and help with teaching some Mandinka which will be a good project for the time I am here. Anyways, Martin is ready to go and the day is flying by and there is much to do and people to catch up with. More to come soon...

T minus 11hrs12min

2009-01-06T00:22:00.000-08:00

The hallway upstairs is lined in mesh bags. One for pants, shirts, drugs (the medical ones), a guitar and a week's worth of underwear. I guess I'll find out what I forgot when I'm there - and of course realize what I could have left at home.

The final days have been mostly details although, not finding my good shoes after moving houses triggered an emergency shoe purchasing expedition 30mins before mall closing (quite possible every girl's dream situation). Admits the chaos were great moments of peace, encouragement and fun. Notables included Sunday's the snow shoveling team to scrape the ice off the driveway, time with my grandma and the streams of visits, emails and phone calls filled prayers and heart felt words which provided repose between errands. Thank you.

A huge thanks to Mark for taking up valuable holiday time to get the web site up and running on such short notice. As well I am so thankful for my parents who have been called up to pinch hit many times this week and being so understanding.

From here planes take me the Minneapolis, Amsterdam and Madrid before I'll touch down in Yundon International Airport (home of Africa's only NASA approved space shuttle landing strip) mid day on the 8th.

Anyways, enough typing asd the morning comes fast and those mesh bag will not pack themselves...

Back to the Gambia

2008-12-31T17:49:00.001-08:00

Hello all,
I can barely wait to step on the plane... less than a week away and the world seems to be spinning a little faster than usual. Lists spill out of my mind into my notepad as days rip off the calander like the wrapping paper of an 8 year old boy's Christmas presents. Hopes and fears collide navigating what has at best been a turbulent fall in preparation for this trip however, as Apostle Paul addresses the Romans...

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.... as who can separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

... and this hope may realistically be all that has held me together through some of these days - and oddly enough that excites me and I hopefully some of that excitement spills over to you as well.

This will be my official site for my updates over the next 4 months in the Gambia. Please bookmark or sign up for the RSS feed. Feel free to post-up your comments or send them to my email::

neseirf_ekim(at)Hotmail(dot)com -

You can also check out the project web site (soon to be operational) for more tidbits and info on what I'm all up to

www.gambiaproject.com

Happy New Year and thanks so much for stopping by your friendship, prayers and support are a huge encouragement.
Peace,
Mike

Gambia 2007 blog location...

2007-05-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

Check it out.. first post coming soon.

team blog (general updtaes) on main page
Mike thoughts in the team section click-> lauch blog

Enjoy.
www.gambia2007.com

Finishing Strong

2005-06-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

God has blessed me with a great couple of day to end my trip here in the Gambia. With out sound too much like an Operah special, I have received closure in a number of areas desipte a challenging week. I even got a chance to dance on national television. Don't worry I'm bring home a tape. As my mind shifted homeward, look forward to sharing more of my adventures and especially to catch up on the events at home.

Grace and blessings,

Mike

Hebrews 12:1-3

Blog confusion

2005-06-09T13:21:00.001-07:00

My dear readers,

Thanks for your continued prayers over the course of the project. Your support and of encouragement have meant a lot to me. I have missed your fellowship (especially in this last week) and look forward to my return to Canada.

I believe there is a huge misunderstanding regarding my prelude to GAM-TV. I have tried to reword things to clarify. It is a danger in using a writing media as if thing are not worded precisly they can be misinterpreted and come across poorly. Please accept my apologies and please re-read my edited post.

I thank everyone for your emails long and short. My intension were just to improve the efficiency of the process. However, that is something I've struggled to learn is not the most important thing. Irronicly, it has shown up the past few days of my stay here in the Gambia.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog and understand its imprefections as an honnest representation of the missions field. I do this as I feel the need for transparency in our walk with God. All too often the media we receive (even with-in the church) is sugar coated and makes the outside things look far sweeter than they are or simply puts the emphises on the were the joy is truly found.

As in 1 John if we claim to walk without fault we simply decive oursleves and do not walk in the light. As Paul stresses through out his letters, we are to strive towards improvement of our walk.

Peace,

Mike

Soma Football

2005-06-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

* Hi Everyone,

I was informed some as finding hard to read my detailed improperly grammared and mispelt blog entires. So... begin I have the time I've decided to include a brief summary of the week. in blunt point form sentences. :o)

Travel as slow but decent both ways 6 hours to travel 180km.

Soma was hot, 40+ each day.
Football camps were a sucesses dispite our disorganisation.
4 Jesus film showings 2 with heated discussion (but thankfully not too many rocks were thrown)
Got to do some more African driving and ride a dirt bike.
Stayed in good health for the trip. (yah)
Not yet approved to go the Senegal to visit friends, please pray for permission.

For those who would like the details there are below as usual. Thanks for your emails and comments.

Miss you all,

Mike

Wednesday May 25th 2005, 9:12PM

God blessed us with a beautiful overcast day for our travels to Soma. This didn’t keep the temperatures from spiking in the low 40’s. To keep up with Gambian standards we were running well behind schedule. When we picked up our film equipment it turns out they had yet to use it since it had arrived from the US. On suspicion I pull out some of the gear for a quick test. It didn’t take me long to discover a major problem. All the equipment was 120V while the generator only output 220V. It is all good, as we managed to borrow a transformer but it delayed out departure to the hotter part of the day.

Now a couple of things about Gamtravel; normally a 150km journey would take about an hour. But because the highways look more like 4x4 logging roads travel is a little bit slower. It was a good thing Martin, our driver, had a 60min 1970s cheese ball Christmas tape to help us trough it all. Africa is full of randomness such as cows eating grass at a gas station or a village girl with American Tourister luggage. Listening to Christmas music in a 14 passenger van driving through a barren landscape in 40oC weather just seemed to be the norm.

We made a short stop at a camp by the Gambian River and I saw some mudskippers and crocodiles. We and our lunches arrived in Soma all in one piece. Put the stamp on a blessed journey that many Gambians will not ever make.

We were guide to our accommodations and discovered we would be living without city power and running water as those have been out of service for the past couple months. Toni and Rita, Brazilian missionaries who we will be working with, prepared for us an amazing meal that really hit the spot after a day of travel.

The neighborhood kids think it is the best thing ever. We played some street football with them before we set to work preparing for the week ahead. Should be fun, providing I remember to shake out my clothes before I put them on. Can we say Scorpions!

Thursday May 26, 8:38PM

Last night us semi Scottish blood had a Scottish party as Jana had somehow managed to keep a package of shortbread untouched. We spent the evening telling weird and wonderful stories and asking ridiculous questions. Nobody got attacked by a scorpion, good times.

Today was Steve David’s Birthday. The girls managed to find another Happy to You card this one had a dreamy Asian boy on the front. Geisbretch, you would have loved it. We had devos and ventured off to the market for food and footballs (soccer balls).

The camp began at 2pm nothing like running around in 40oC weather. We were the only ones foolish enough to show up. Some of the team had the bright idea to go “get used to” running around in the hot sun since we would be doing it all week and did so. The kids knew better and started showing up around 4pm. Needless to say we will be making adjustments to our program tomorrow.

At around 5pm we had a big game during the course of which I was humiliated several times. Nothing like having a 12 year old kid undress you t keep your ego in check.

The evening was spent preparing thing for Jesus film and watching to Kenny Rodgers. Fun stuff.

Saturday May 28th, 2:46PM

I just finished playing a song for Mariatu, my Gambian Grandma. I say this because she reminds me of my grandmas at home, full of joy and with a desire to glorify God with her hands. She has spent the last 2 hours the dirt and sweat out of my clothes even after I refused to give them to her. It is a Jack Johnson-ish song with a catching little hook made up of 10ths. She seem to appreciate it. “What been eating like would we do without Mariatu?” It is so true. We have been eating like royality despite the fact there is a weak selection of produce and only one shack where you can buy meat and even a limited supply of staples.

Yesterday was a challenging day. We ran two football (soccer) camps with teaching times and showed a Jesus film at night on a sunny day where the mercury scaled well into to 40s. The time between the camps was spent sweating on a thin wooden bench and then profusely sweating on a foam mattress. It is especially challenging, as I am required to carry much of the load.

My responsibility for the module is the Jesus Film equipment however, I find myself taking responsibility for loose ends and oversights that were not accounted for. It is always a fine line knowing when to jump in and take over other people’s responsibilities especially when they are out of your jurisdiction. I found myself in my “focused mode” as I hammered through the setup of the Jesus film equipment that we had never used before in the dark.

During the film I had a great discussion with the local pastor who is from New Guinea. It always amazes me the dedication of believers in Africa. It is their lives. They are seeds that have grown un-choked by the worries and desires of the world.

The pastor picked me up on his motorbike this morning to go look at some “better” Jesus film equipment. He even let me try it myself. very cool, by far the best way to get around in the rural African areas.

Sunday May 29th, 6:40PM

There is seldom a dull moment here in Soma.

Moments before dinner, as our compound invaded by kids learning hopscotch and playing with balloons to the melodies of Reliant K and Jars of Clay, a Mandinka wedding parade came marching by our compound. As I poked my head out in curiosity, I was thrusted into the middle of the dance circle. The energy was unforgiving. In a flash I was dancing with the African woman in a frenzy of joy and excitement that could never be captured by digital media. Left with no choice I let loose jumping and dancing shedding my white skin like a snake. Apparently, I did well as when I bowed out the woman pulled me back in for a second round.

It quickly occurred to me this was by far the best wedding dance I had ever participated in. We north Americans spend thousands of dollars on wedding dinners with DJ’s and seldom do people leave their padded chairs to experience the dance floor and few still find the freedom to really dance. Yet, it took little more than a homemade drum and some 50-cent whistles to rock my body. I wonder if I can fly them out for my wedding…(by the looks of it I’ll have plenty of time to save up)

The morning we spent in church, I led some worship and sawed through 2 strings and a chunk of my middle finger. Once again despite the lack of sound system ect... the experience was alive full of and spirit.

Other highlights of the last 24 hours included a great football camp. I am finally starting to get the hang of the sport. I have found my hockey background to be a blessing and a curse. After year of training to “take the man” I have had to issue myself enough yellow cards to make a deck. However, many of my old hockey drills cross over nicely and have really been enjoyed by the kids.

Last night I got another birthday celebration as Toni and Rita baked a cake and dished out Brazilian candies after our worship and prayer time.

I also made use of Jessica’s cool medical kit to removed foreign objects from my eye and have been voted smelliest member of the team for three days straight, a real feather in my cap.

Monday May 30th, 11:16PM

Another Monday and one less Malaria pill brought to us what was most likely the hottest day we had seen thus far close to 45oC. I moped out of bed with barely enough time to stuff down a peanut butter/jam toppalappa sandwich before marching off to the pitch.

Last night’s Jesus film stir up quite the reaction. After technical plans fell through (unable to find a working VCR with RCA outs in all of Soma), we were force to show the football version of the Jesus film. IT sparked quite the debate at the end of the night. Many young bucks of the Islamic faith showed up to strut their stuff on the Toubabs. As our goal is not to argue pointlessly with stubborn mind or start riots, the challenge was finding individuals who were truly seeking and actually wanted their questions answered.

I believe I was guided to a young Fula boy most likely a year or two younger than me. We discussed various aspects of faith and later moved to education and cultural topics before I was again thrusted into the fire with a bunch of wolves interested solely in spouting out premeditated questions without paying any reverence to the answer at which time we headed out for the night.

The afternoon was spent sweating on a foamy listening to Handles water and some Switchfoot. The afternoon session was a little more challenging. Arriving at 4pm the temperature was once again in the 40’s. Paying little respect for the scorching sun or the advice of Toni and Karamou our team charged out on to the field. (go figure, a number of the team members had headaches and weren’t feeling well when they got back) The kids didn’t last long and as they came in for teaching chaos reigned. To boot our translated was needed to pick up a team of three locals to help with the Jesus Film. A frustrating situation but by grace we managed to finish the session and move back out for a game as the temperature began to cool off.

After my shower I got to hang out with Mariatu. We discuss life and she told me stories of life in Sera Leone and with toubab teams she had worked with in the past. She shared some wise words worth remembering. “If you are not at peace with God, you may have food but you will never enjoy it, you may have thing s to drink but they will never satisfy and you may sleep but you will never be rested.” She claimed her journey on this earth is a testimony in God’s faithfulness in providing direction and provisions. It has been a real privilege to hang around her and learn from her wisdom.

Wednesday June 1st, 12:46AM

The month has flown by, along with my week stay in Soma. Tomorrow (today) will be our last full day under the Soma sun. For some on the team it couldn’t come soon enough as the heat and sickness have started to take it toll on people. My heart truly goes out to them as my last trip to this climate left me sun-stroked sweating on a foamy for three days. However, through my experience and by God’s grace I have managed to stay in excellent health.

Today I was the only toubab at the morning football camp. It was nice as we had a small group and the assistance of the team which arrived from Seracunda. I was able to show some pictures I brought and tied it into a lesson on the purpose of Jesus. It definitely reminded me of my days at summer fun. Only this time I was talking to children in Mandinka. We managed to break a Florescent light and demolish a deck chair playing indoor soccer but, a good time was had by all. Despite the fact we have cancelled the camp for the morning I hope return to hand out some pens and wish the kids well in their studies.

Lunch was spent at Toni and Rita’s as they cooked an amazing shrimp dish (you can get fresh shrimp from the Gambia River as the water is still slightly salted. I also got to drive Toni’s truck into town to help run some errands. Being careful not to drive through any check points and potholes large enough to swallow a tire I had yet another positive Gambian driving experience. I even got to check the weather in Vancouver. 13oC and raining, maybe this 40oC stuff ain’t too bad after all.

The afternoon camp was arguably our best. It almost brought me to tears to see kids hanging silently off the windows to hear the gospel and have me pray for them. God has given me a heart for the lives of these children.

Tonight we showed the Jesus team in downtown Soma. After I found a kid wearing a POD shirt and so I played with some off of my notebook and then had some discussions with people about the film. as some young “punks” were getting rowdy leaving, intelligent conversations to rot by the wayside so we decided to pack up.

I spent the rest of the night talk with the Gambian team. I have really appreciated my time with the locals and take advantage of it whenever I get the chance. I have learnt much from their culture and relationships and in exchanged given them my limited insight into North American culture.

Gamstars

2005-05-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

Friday May 20^th, 11:52PM

The realities of my short stay here in have lurched their way into my thoughts the last couple of days. The first reminder came as Adam left to return to Canada this afternoon marking the midway point of our project. (Adam had plan to return do to personal commitments) He had really begun to appreciate his temperate character among countless other valuable contributions to the team. His presence will be missed.

Reminder was the overwhelming sensation of how many opportunities exist to serve.

After regarding my emotional and spiritual batteries yesterday. We headed off to City Limits radio 93.6 on your FM dial in Gambia. After a crazy town trip to Westfield in an overloaded taxi we arrived to a power outage and no “DJ Logic”. Now being accustom to such Gambianisms. We waited in the sweltering lobby while Jessica did some personal interviews.

Finally 10 mins before airtime DJ logic arrived and we got a brief intro to how things will work. This offered little or no insight to what actually occurred. We were offered seats in the studio and were quickly introduced to a whole new style of radio programming. Words could describe it however, Jessica got it on video and you should really see it for yourself. He played our song for 15mins straight reshuffling it to the start between random overdubs of catch phases and questions directed at us.

We celebrated our radio debut with a dance party/video shoot at the Kotu Elton. Good times.

Sleep was hard to find last night as I felt like Richard Simons was promoting his new work out program sweating on the foamies. It hot really hot and humid. To boot I was awoken to go to the beach as part of a final farewell to Adam.

After a 30 min nap, I reawakened for my second visit to sisters of Charity. This time I decided to bring my guitar. I spent most of my time hangin’ out with the eldest child of the group most likely 5 years old. It was a touching experience. I later pulled out my guitar for a pre-lunch children’s concert. It worked out nicely as the food was not ready for a good 20mins after it was expected. I came to realize how sick these children are as I feed a small 2-year-old girl with ankles the size of a carrot. She ate no more than a bite before bursting into spasms of coughing and crying as she keeled over in pain, a sight that will forever be engraved in my mind.

After lunch was none other than the famed naked baby parade to the training potties. I still need to work on my patience for that one. As cute is they are, the smell is unbearable.

After lunch I ventured off in search of Ebrimah (AKA Jo Fatty) to follow up on our time on Monday. It was enjoyable sitting under the tree again shooting the breeze with some Africans. After our initial conversation Jo told me the story of his eldest bother who had decided to become a Christian. Used the term ‘fight like a Blackman” referring to the actions of his Mandinka family. He was rejected not feed and became ill. When he was sick his family refused to take him for medical help and he soon died at the age of 25. (African family is extremely tight and important dependence is typical even for married children.

It was a reality check to my work in the Gambia. What can you say to a man with this experience while trying to decide to follow Jesus. His words were as follows:

“I want to follow Jesus but I am young and still want to be happy. I want you to see me and not have to say I am in pain, my stomach hurts, my joints are soar. I can not follow Jesus here.”

I will continue to hang out with him and will pray for wisdom. I stopped in to visit Gary and Pam before heading to Jam with Gambia’s hottest Reggae/Senga-Gambian band “Galaxy Crew”. It was cool playing with real Reggae musicians. They could play much else but they sure could play Reggae. The feel as authentic none of this white boy stuff. We hope to do a single with them over the next couple of days.

For the evening I played Rook and then went for Ice Cream with Jessica. It has been so cool to see God transforming her from the inside out.

Now it is just plain hot and I am waiting for the power to come on so I can sleep. It is too hot to sleep with out the fans on. Good Stuff.

Sunday May 22^nd, 1:45AM

Rolling out of bed at 10AM I sat in on a quick song writing session before we taxied off the meet with the Galaxy Crew.

After a chaotic setup we managed to Jam on the song we wrote and with-in a couple of run lame attempts we spat out a usable rendition of the song. The thing that tipped the bucket was Abraham’s free style reggae rap. In a burst of reggae revelation, I came to terms that no matter how hard I try I will never cut an authentic reggae track on my own, I need Rasta men to do it for me. We left the practice of some scratch tracks and an excitement for our new tune. I also hope to help them record there new hit single when I get back from Soma. (I will be a busy guy, that week is filling up quickly)

Forgetting about lunch I came back to work on programming of the track only to get distracted by the failure of our air conditioner that stopped functioning last week. It took little time to find the obliterated fuse in the archaic box. So Hewko and I went on a Gambia adventure. After a 7 stop trip, we finally where pointed towards Gambian electrical but surprise, surprise they are closed until Monday.

On returning our landlord had a brilliant idea giving us back the fuse with two strands of 18 gauge copper wire running through it. Now as a wannabe electric engineer of sorts an obliterated fuse usually means there is something really wrong. After warning about not using this new an improved fuse, I returned from the Jesus film tonight to find the power out but only in our part of the house. Strange?? Well no, after plugging in the fuse it took little time to blow our service panel’s master fuse which is lock and may only be opened by an electrician. We will not completely be with out power until late Monday.

However, for those wondering about the Gambian TV experience. We found out at 6PM today we would be on the air. After rushing home from the Jesus film and then to the TV station we sat in the waiting room with a couple of girls from Denmark who were also going to be on the show. We sang some songs with then and Rongo (one of their husbands has a connection to the TV station). Ansummani, the host, greeted us in typical Gambian fashion, 5mins before the show. We were given a crash course on the show and quickly discovered we would be presenting an Ashley Simpson clinic and lip sinking to our recording. Jess caught my initial reaction on tape, should be worth a good laugh. However, I don’t think it was as funny as the actual performance; I hope to get a tape of the show.

Anusmmani was a classic Gambian host. He couldn’t remember our names for the life of himself. He asked some good questions and we were able to provided some solid answers. We lip sinked “Message of Love” then did a live performance of “Beautiful Good Day” finishing with a song we wrote for the U-17 Scorpions as we were waiting to go on the show. We concluded the show by presenting him and the station with a Canadian Flag. All in all a very cool experience and I pray the Gospel was sent to the hearts of the Gambian nation.

After the show we moseyed over to the Elton for some sugar and another Gambian gas station dance party. A fitting end to a beautiful good day.

Sunday May 22^nd, 11:37PM

After a satisfying bowl of Mango porridge, we headed off to Maurice’s church in Banjul. After a Gam- frustrating journey, we still managed to arrive on time. However, as we walked in the Priest was not overly impressed. It so happened that he had no clue of our involvement with the choir. A brief scrum ensued as Maurice arrived things were not looking good at first but, some senior choir members stepped in and were able to tip the scales in our balance.

It was amazing to again listen to the choir, such power in their voices as they praised God. I could not help but smile as I lead the choir in singing How Great Thou Art.

After we had lunch with Maurice, it got to encourage the local parish’s young Adults group and some how found myself being offer a Julbrew Gambia’s own and only lager. We talked about many of the social and economical problems. Many of the newest are caused by the influence of Hollywood movie and TV shows.

The afternoon I helped shop for dinner and then had a great Sunday nap. Joyce and Jana cook a fabulous Linguini dinner and there are rumors we might get Naniamo bars tomorrow. Gambia won the U-17 championship. The streets have not been quite since the game was over at 7pm. After our team meeting Omar was over and then I spent some time just chilling with my guitar.

Tuesday May 24, 1:15 PM

I am at Compuland trying to do some intranet banking before our team heads off to Soma. Toni and Rita who we will be working with phoned just to let us know it is hot (like 40+ hot there right now). It is my goal not to pass out.

Steve and I might head up to Senegal from Soma as his passport has yet to show up. I hope to take the opportunity to visit the Yannon Family in Bambey. We had a day of rest yesterday and returned to Shalom. I took the chance to swim in the ocean and stayed up late to write an electonica song which was a nice outlet for the stresses of the day. I continue find my days with ministry more enjoyable. I get along with everyone on the team but relating on the deeper level has been a challenge. Different styles and different stages of the journey, it really is no different than life at hoe except everything is always under a microscope and all said we have a very cool team and continue to hold together as a group.

Thanks for all the emails. I am slowly but surely saving them to my USB stick (thank you so much Mark it has been a life saver) to read at a later date. I really appreciate it and do miss your fellowship. Sorry for not being able to reply to you all individually.

Jordan I can’t wait to read your in my scan I got something about Lord of the Ganch… good times.

I haven’t heard anything from the Creo crew (are we Kodak yet?!?) I hope George had a good trip and nothing too bad has happened. :o) Camilo I’ll need you to update my time sheet before the end of the month. Check your email.

Gam-TV

2005-05-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Thanks for all the emails…

Just a reminder to send brief messages via the blog as Email takes forever to read. It takes a minimum of 5 mins to open a text email. An internet cafe here shares a 56K modem between 6 or more PII computers.

Longer emails are cool and I enjoy getting updates from home.

downloading 2MB pictures is not going to happen please make ‘em really small so I can enjoy them. :0)

I pray all is well at home. Toady I spent catching up on journaling and decided I should getting old using “Gamnet” everything is called Gam- something here.

Peace,

Mike

Friday May 13^th, 11:08PM

So guess who is going to be on Gambian national TV? Well, I hope you guessed me. The story starts shortly after m last journal entry. That night I was inspired to write a song. The next day we decided to began a morning devotional time and work on some music. After a short but intense rehearsal we sounded slightly less like a bunch of disorganized white musicians and took to the streets. We headed down to the shack and played for 20 some odd people. We were extremely well received and as we returned to our compound a man suggested we’d go on TV.

He told us of a national Gambian music show from 11-1pm. “Samdi __?!?__” This show is Gambia’s equivalent of the Late Show or Saturday Night Live and is one of the country’s most popular. Thinking little of it initially then reconsidered and thought it is worth a shot. So today after a second street concert (this time under ‘thee’ Mango tree) we took off to Westfield to talk to a local radio host about being on the radio.

Aside***

One major advantage of being in the Gambia is celebrities really aren’t and making everyone accessible. With the additional advantage of being a toubab, we are assumed to be of star caliber. (We will be doing a lot of practicing over the next week)

Walking into the station we were greeted by two of Gambia’s hottest DJ’s as they were leaving the station. After some brief conversation we were offered some live airtime on DJ logic’s Thursday show. We then asked for directions to GAM TV. And after a hot 45min walk we were at the head office of the nation’s major broadcast headquarters. After a brief conversation we discovered we were really at the wrong location. But surprise, surprise they were just on their way to the other campus. (Which was directly beside our original starting location) We were quickly introduced to some of the head producer’s of Gambia’s hottest TV shows and they immediately were interested in having us on the program. They made some calls and were ready to have us on tomorrow. Caught off guard I suggested next week would be a better option, as I thought we better start to practice.

Other exciting events included a talk with Fajara’s Maribou. I even invited him to the see the Jesus Film. That would be something else. I also have been practicing my Wolof and had some more Sengalise tea on my round yesterday afternoon. The stuff kept me wired for 4 straight hours.

Tonight I went running with Omar. He showed me his pictures from his racing prime (one picture was of him winning the Gambian national 400m race by 30 some odd meters. He was 1 second off of qualifying for the Olympics. Even at night running was extremely hot, it was a good thing Omar had eaten too much for dinner it slowed him down enough for me to keep up but it felt good to be running again. I’ll see how my body feels tomorrow.

Monday May 16, 8:02 AM

Saturday I vented on a Tanka with Ali to Banjul in order to meet Maurice, the director of the choir. I had lots on my mind, we had just had a team meeting which we were frilled on all the progress that was made. Through blind contradictions and irrelevant preconceived comments, all the ministries I was involved in was on trial.

“What is the point of being of TV?”, “What long term benefits does it hold?”, One week is lots of time… You don’t have a lot of time so you don’t want to waste any time.”

I had to defend everything I had spent my last week working towards. It took a lot of control not to leave the meeting with out ripping off someone’s head. By the grace of God I was able to hold myself together.

However, after a brief rant on a park bench Maurice met us at the Benjul arch and all anxiety quickly faded to the back of my mind. Our first stop was the Catholic Church in the center of Banjul. A simple but rustic church with a beautiful wood ceiling and stellar acoustics, I hope to use it for recording the choir.

He took us to his simple bachelor suite and were warmly welcomed by a group of youth that hang out outside in his hall. We had some tea discussed plans for working together exchanged our musical and religious histories. I am really excited about working with him. He his extremely gifted and dedicated he has the vision of building a musical school to develop musical directors and musicians. It is hard to put into words how much fun we had but it was definitely a highlight of the trip.

After our discussion we ventured off to the Banjul market. This was my first Gambian market experience and it was surprising how much it reminded me of Metrotown. Granted it was a whole lot less flashy and stunk of rotting fish heads; however, the basic materialistic presence and trendyness were more than evident. For me it is becoming more apparent that people, African or white blooded Canadians, are people and at the root have common desires and struggles which are really just shaped by our culture.

We jammed into a Tanka and I quickly realized that the back seat is not the best place to sit for a tall guy such as myself. After introducing my head to the roof a couple of time, we stopped at Westfield for food. I can remember home at home I felt to the typical hassling of the taxi drivers, people driving every which way and the call “hello toubab”, almost to the point where it will be weird to returning to Canada.

Saturday night we had our Jesus film at Gary and Pam’s. We had a musical presentation that reminded me of many gigs back at home, empty chairs and a dozen people. (more evidence towards the similarities of our cultures) By the time we had finished our set the courtyard was beginning to fill. At the end of the film, I made arrangement to answer questions of a young guy named Jo Fatty, I will be meeting him this morning at 10am.

Sunday morning three of us headed back to Abiding Word for some crazy fire preaching Pentecostal action. After getting lost in the streets of Seracunda, we finally arrived. I spent most of the service processing my thoughts over the last couple of days and work out a rough guide to the my week. I also decided I needed to sit down and talk with leadership about the ministry I was involved with. In heart I knew we held the same goals but where just not catching ourselves heading in the same direction.

After a chaotic adventure home, where we somehow managed to take a 100m tanka trip, I sat down with Steve and got on the same page. It was such a relief to unify our thoughts and visions that were never really that far off.

The rest of Sunday was spent working on a single we hope to have ready for the radio on Thursday and tripping down to the Elton station for a flat of Eggs.

The problems with recording in Africa are space, power and Africa. I encounter all of these as I took over the girls bedroom to lay down some scratch track over the sounds of crying babies and birds I soon looked over to see smoke rising up from the my headphone amp. After a brief autopsy I found a power bus cap blown, undoubtedly caused by a power spike. It is my hope that is the only damage that was incurred to the devise. It definitely awoke me the realities of working with expensive gear in a primitive third word environment.

Thursday May 19, 10:19 AM

Monday morning after devos, I ventured off to meet with Jo and Ishmaela (the watchman at Pam and Gary’s). We spent three hours on a wooden bench under a shady tree talking about religion, marathons, Wolof, family and culture. I can type into words how real the experience was. I will meet with Jo again on Friday to go to the beach and continue our discussions.

Lunch at McFati’s (not Mcdonalds there is none in Gambia) gave me time to reflect and prepare for a crazy afternoon of recording.

The initial session work went fairly smoothly with a few minor computer crashes. However, as I was finishing the final BGV tracks, the entire Cubase file became corrupted and would not load. The full gravity of the situation did not sink in until I had tried a few simple fixes, rebooting, opening a few other files, moving the directory ect… I then spent 10 mins silently staring at my computer using every ounce of strength not to hurl it to the ground for a 30 second curb stomping session.

By the grace of God I found an orange in the fridge. I don’t think I have ever thrown and object so hard in my life, I felt my arm come out of its socket. I grabbed a pineapple Fanta refocused and proceeded to reconstruct the project from the fragmented audio files. – (all the audio file still existed on the computer I just had to put them together, much like a jigsaw puzzle) After a three hours of intense thought and concentration we were up and rocking.

The evening was spent singing with Maurice’s choir. For those who know my rhythmic incompetence, you can just begin to imagine me trying to sight-read African syncopation in a language that is not even Wolof. Never the less, being vocally dwarfed by an authentic West African baritone was an unforgettable experience.

The musical team returned to hear that Steve had been mugged and had his passport stolen; another rude awakening to the reality of being in Africa. (Not that this doesn’t happen at home) Although shaken, Hewko was not noticeably phased from the experience.

After a late night of programming and mixing Tuesday morning came as a rude awakening. I find I can’t keep my crazy schedule and sleeping habits that I do in Canada. Having no power at home I consumed the battery life in my notebook and external cell. I took a nap in hopes the power would return for the night. We were scheduled to work with a children’s ministry and show a Jesus however due to issues with GNPT (Gambian no problem time) our driver didn’t arrive until the an hour before we were scheduled to be at the Jesus film.

So we piled into a van with our gear and traveled to a village 20 mins south of Brikama. The smell of cachou fruit (the nuts grow around the top of the fruit) excitement of children greeted us as we drove into the dusty town. After meeting some of the local Mandinkas and trying to learn a few phrases of second African tribal language. I took the opportunity to draw some water from the well and teach the kids how to play hopscotch.

We did another short musical presentation before showing the film. I spent the majority of the film talking with Benjamin a native of Sera Leone he came as a refugee to the Gambia. He has an amazing passion for sharing the Gospel with children and villages. He shared stories of how he got approval from the government to teach in school. On any given week he shows the film 8 times a week. He lives with two children off of the meager schoolteacher’s salary of his wife and partners with Gary and Pam for larger events, as his only equipment is 27” TV and a generator. It is my hope that I can arrange to hook him up with some better equipment before I leave.

After the film, people stayed for prayer and for more information. (about 50 in total) Benjamin will be returning with a small to do follow-up. People are hungry for truth in this region. I hope it is found.

On a quick aside, I had an discussion on the drive home regarding Benjamin’s ministry. From it I derived the following; Do not ever let me pass unfounded judgment on someone’s ministry. I was dishearten to listen to someone so blindly reject the ministry of a man who has devoted his life to the service of the Kingdom. Add to my frustration the individual offer little in the way of a position correction to the situation other than to just ignore it. I do not want to let my heart become so jaded to intensions of people that I ignore the spirit of God.

Well, yesterday was my Birthday. I spent the early morning finishing the mixing on Mango Tree Revival’s first hit single “Message of love”. It sounds really good (at least throught the headphones I mixed it on)

I spent the morning with the Sisters of Charity who work with malnourished and sick children who cannot be supported by their family. The play area filled with 25 odd kids smelled of puke and urine however, I could not have thought of a better way to spend my birthday. I spent my time entertaining kids with a stuffed elephant singing James brown, Justin Timberlake and Grishwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (the elephant part, you would have loved it Jord). At several moments, I found myself at the verge of tears along with my other co-workers. After watching the kids “eat” (aka. smear rice and sauce everywhere but in their mouths), I paraded a stampede of naked malnourished children down the hall to a line of kiddy potties. Today I gained a whole new respect for the woman who have dedicated their lives in service of these kids. After a long walk home due to another Tanka mistake, Hewko and I went on a Tanka loop to three radio stations.

It was great hanging out with him as he shared some of his vision for CVM. Although I styles are quite different I have found it is a great privilege to serve along side of him.

My meeting with Gabriel and Maurice was cancelled due to Gabriel’s busy day. However, we still made it out t choir practice and I once again sang with the choir. There was no power so the practice was by candlelight. I finally started to catch on to some of the rhythms and was able to sing along to the song we were rehearsing last time. The guys in the choir are a lot of fun and can really belt out those low notes in comparison to my weak voice. Maurice is also an extremely talented choir director. We practiced “How great thou art” which we will be singing at Mass on Sunday with the choir and finally the choir blew me away by singing me happy birthday. Unreal.

I returned to find our house decorated for a small informal party for Jana and I. (Jana’s birthday was the 16^th). I was read the cards that were sent along with me and posted the picture of Golden Ears up by my bed. Thank you. :o)

Oh ya just am update on the TV... because of teh football we might not be on until we get back from Soma. However, we are on the radio tonight at 11Pm Gambian time (close to prime time for them) it is called city limits radio form westfield gambia. Not sure if they web cast. (4pm PST)

Football and a choir

2005-05-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

Sunday May 8th 8:44 AM

It is hard to take it all in.

Yesterday, Gambia won its first game in the under 17 African football (soccer) championship which are being held here in Gambia. The chaos and celebration was unreal. Parades marching the crowded streets a few times today we found ourselves in the heart of the action. Only once did we ever feel threatened and we were quickly able to remove ourselves from the situation.

The day started out with a broken door handle. No longer being able to shut or lock our door I quickly stepped into action knowing it would be days until an Gambian repair man would show up to do the repairs. After 2 hours of walking in the midday sun we found a Lebanese hardware store (the Lebanese own many store in the Westfield area) Which sold the part for 100GMD ($5) this was a vast improvement to the inflated cost at other stores ($35+). The sisters at the mission were quite impressed with my Gambian skills.

During the late afternoon, we were involved with a children’s ministry in telladine. I was given the opportunity to share a song with the kids. The most challenging part is to be involved in what is happening. With language and cultural differences, I resorted to the universal language of wrestling and sprint races, a great way to ensure you will sleep well.

With so much chaos from the football match we decided against showing the Jesus film this evening. Instead, we put on a short concert. The conditions were challenging to say the least. However, we were well received by the 75-100 people who took in our 30min musical presentation.

Monday May 9th 8:04AM

This morning half of our team left for the north bank of the Gambian river in preparation for a Jesus film presentation. We have officially begun or ministry cycles. I will be work along side Gary and Pam Nipper. We will be doing preparations for a Jesus film and hopefully solving some of their technical problems.

Yesterday we attended a Gambian church. We were very surprised to have the sermon preached by a video on a LCD projector. Not really “African church” although the scorching temperatures and tin
roof helped make the experience more authentic. The afternoon included a chance to swim in the ocean before the May birthday/ mother’s day dinner at the Kora. The evening we gathered and had a prayer and worship time with Gary and Pam. It gave us a moment to refocus for the work that lies ahead. I am excited to see how we will be used over the next couple of days.

Tuesday May 10th 8:07AM

The reality of living in Africa in finally setting in, as we began our ministry yesterday my stubborn self came to terms with a number of factors beyond my control.

1. It is hot here; being hot makes you tired. This may sound like an obvious concept to grasp however, I find myself expecting to maintain my North American intensity and energy level.

2. Things take time in Africa. Yesterday I spent many hours working on solving some fairly basic technical problems for Gary and Pam Nipper. Not to dissimilar to ones I would be called upon to solve at work. However, at home we optimize things for speed and convenience. Africa has a way of ensuring everything you need is one more step away.

3. I don’t speak Wolof; Learning languages in an uneducated society is hard. I really appreciate people with the gift of teaching. A good teacher has the ability to break down information into bites that their student may properly digest the information. Gambians are so excited you are learning the language they begin to teach you the other three languages they know how to speak as well. Although, Mandinka and Fula would be great to know. I’d really be content with being able to carry a basic conversation in Wolof. In a sense this also relates back to 1 and 2 as my mind is definitely a little slower in the heat.

All said things are going well and by African standards we had an extremely productive day. We plan on seeing Gambia play in the African U-17 football championships tonight. We are taking Omar for his birthday.

Thursday May 12th, 12:03AM

I am sitting in the family room of our new living quarters listening to Steve plucking away on his guitar over the drone of a 5KW generator reverberating though our concrete bunker. The tenants upstairs obviously enjoy having the power on and we live in a part of the country that it is usually off. The Girls whose room is right beside the generator have given up sleeping into their room and have prepared to camp out here as well.

The last two days have swung me like a gate. I was so choked at the way things were going I did not even type my journal entry. I spent the entire morning reading the bible and in prayer. The frustrations of blind spoon-fed, disorganized ministry left me disillusioned to the world and the restof the team.

A brief lapse occurred during the football match...

If you would like to simulate attending an African soccer match simply grab a seat between two sweaty men on a cement block while a couple of friends blow whistles in your ear and splash you with an assortment of soft drinks. It was amazing the amount of focus these 17 year olds played with considered a hundred fans at fainted and had been passed down to the field carried on stretchers to be fanned into consciousness. The experience was out of this world.It is a good thing we won, Gambians know how to celebrate a victory we haven't seen what happends when they loose.

The earlier part of yesterday was spent moving. An unexciting boring task which dragged on all day to make matters worse I believe the location we are now in is worse than the last for transportation. We require two tanka-tanka fare to get anywhere other than the traffic light and that distance is not really walk-able. I also miss the outside (and inside space).

After my intense quiet time this morning, we were scheduled for a prayer walk. Grouped with Ali we spent the morning walking the streets by Pam and Gary’s home. We spent time discussion the objectives and direction of our ministry and worked through a number of thing that were eating at me. We concluded we needed to take charge of our ministry and start working towards our own objectives and goals. Like getting the keys to our ministry. Before this we had been slaves to our schedule that we never knew more than a half-day in advance. This will undoubtedly mark be a turning point in my trip.

The rest to the day fell together as we got to call the shots. I got to drive a Nissan 4x4 pick-up in Africa! We also went out an got Jana’s drumming. Up to this point practicing had been rather futile with our a drum.

This evening was a total highlight. We were picked up by Gabriel an ~50 year old heavy set African man with a glow in his eye. He toured us to Banjul and then to an African choir practice. These guys can sing, such power and rhythm a true treat for the sonic sensory organs. Although I forgot a cable at home so I was unable to record it. The door was left open to do some work and exchange with the group. I look forward to the resulting events.

The first update

2005-05-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

Forward:
it has turned out that just because internet cafes exist it does not mean they work...the entire country's internet has been up and down like a yo-yo (or like our water system) and trying to time that with our schedual makes updating more of a challenge.

But alas here is the first update... there is lots enjoy.

Sunday May 1st; 6:53PM PST

Well, I am off again. It is hard to believe it has been 5 years since I left for Senegal and almost on the exact same day. Who would have thought?

In a cool surprise we met with most of the team in YVR. I was under the impression this would occur in London. However, it has made for an already pleasant start to the trip. Everyone has connected quickly; you can really see God’s work in assembling the team.

The flight has even been somewhat enjoyable, although, I learnt not to get the white red with the meal. I had the privilege of sitting beside Dave Warner who I’ve discovered is a project assist of sort and is working part time for CVM. Jess and Jana are beside me while Ali and Steven are right at the back.

I was given three verses for the trip
1. Psalms 91 from my Grandma
2. 2 Kings 5-ish by Darrell Neufield
3. Another one which was posted anonymously on my blog.

It is unreal how much stuff I am taking with me. I can only imaging what security will think of my bags. ~72Kg in total. The transfer to Gatwick should lend some stories for the next flight.

Tuesday May 3rd, 3:41 AM GMT

My dried fruit, honey nut cheerio cheese wrap was surprisingly good. I must be really hungry. I managed to grab 3 hours sleep tonight in the Gatwick Airport. Our group has taken over a large alcove has our “hotel room”. Our stay included free skate boarding entertainment, a steady stream of airport reminders and room service from the machine gun totin’ airport police who searched Adam because he was sleeping with out luggage.

I had am amazing day in London. The transfers went extremely well. It was a bank holiday meaning the ‘tube’ was quite vacant giving us ample room to lurch on and off of the old rickety underground to the chime, ‘mind the gap’.

We took over a row of seats in the Victoria train station and took turns guarding the luggage (aka) trying to sleep on top of it all. Those not passed out on the luggage would wonder around the winding streets of London trying to remember which way to look as not to have an unfriendly encounter with a speeding Peugeot.

My first shift was guarding. I pulled out my guitar and jammed with a group of disenchanted high school aged punk rockers that just happened to be hanging out at the train station. They couldn’t keep a cig out of their mouths for more than a minute as they ranted off lines of their favorite underground British punk tunes with a laugh, accent and banter that brought alive the forced British readings of my secondary school education. Once they had parted ways I managed to pass out on my red bag to the amusement/shock of the other travelers and security.

Upon arrival of the other half of the group, Steven, Jess and I set out to get lost of a beautiful Sunny day. You don’t really need a tour book in London. You just start walking and you will start to run into landmarks, beautiful old cathedrals and a few close calls with the traffic. A couple of thoughts I pondered while crashing sauntering through the streets; there are very few beggars on the streets, they will dispose of any unguarded bags in public places, all the cars are new or restored classics, McDonalds is the best source of public washrooms and the underground transportation is really cool and there are more tourists than locals in most of the downtown area.

At 8:30 we caught an hour coach to Gatwick. In my sleepless glazed stat of mind I had my watch torn off while handling my bags. I was sure I saw it on the ground as the bus rolled out of the station. However, it later turned up in the under bus luggage compartment, a sweet taste of grace for a tired traveler who spent most of the bus ride musing over the loss of my cheep digital watch. This served as yet another piece of evident that someone is looking after me.

Tuesday May 3rd, 9:53 PM Gambian Time

It is great to be back in Africa.

After an hour or so of Frisbee in the airport we headed in the check in. We had a few problems getting our things on cleared to be loaded. After we cleared security then we were crammed onto a new 300 Series Airbus. It seemed the manufacturer had accidentally installed an extra 5 rows. However, the flight went by quite quickly as I sat beside a young English chap named Nicolas. Rambling on between the monarchy, music, pop culture and cultural idiosyncrasies the 6 hours flight, flew by.

The Gambia Airport was actually quite nice. Built in 1997 and designed by some famous Senegalese architect it was more stylish then Heathrow or Gatwick from the outside, it definitely had its Africanisms. The general chaos, print shop deluxe signs, a customs desk that was little more than an old school desk and no security. Steve Hewko was able to wander back into the secure area of the airport along with and the extra helpful “freelance baggage handlers”. It was amazing how quickly they would end up holding a piece of your luggage, it is good thing they are at least honest. In comparison to my last African airport experience this one was quite mild,

On the down side two pieces of baggage did not arrive in African. We believe they were left behind due to weight restrictions. We hope they arrive on Friday on the next flight into town.

We (okay really 5 over helpful Gambians) piled our bags on top of a blue 1986 Toyota 7 passenger van and subsequently piled all 14 of us inside for a 15min ride to Shalom, which will act as our principal residence here in the Gambia. Beautifully situated on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean the color full compound houses a Catholic mission which the pope John Paul II had himself visited in his day. Complete with a few mangy dogs and random kids and various other quintessential Africanisms. I will have no problem calling this place home.

We unpacked had a drink (the water here tastes just how I remembered it) and ventured off to town to send off a quick email regarding our safe arrival. On the way back Hewko loaded everyone onto taxis, well everyone but the other Steve and I as the guy in the internet café would not let go of my hand. So, began our first adventure. Finding the way home was easy. It was shaking of the ‘bumsters’* that was the issue. “My friends, my name is Jimmy, Jimmy look after you we are bothers, I hook you up take care of you because I’m an honest man, I like to help you we do music have some ….” After 15 min of non-stop talking we finally managed to ditch him at the British consulate. Meanwhile, Hewko realizing we had been left behind was riding taxis back and forth on wondering where we were. Everything worked out.

Dinner was delicious; the sisters here know how to cook. After we had a quick health and safety meeting and after which I had a cold shower that was a refreshing end to a muggy 31oc day of travel.

* bumsters are African bums which try way to hard to make friends with White people in order to get some financial backing or gifts in return.

Thursday May 5th, 7:16AM Gambian time

Having trouble sleeping I decided to wake up and have some quiet time. It is a cloudy morning with quite a strong wind.

Yesterday, we spent the morning with orientation. The focus was primarily cultural and religious. In the afternoon we left for a walk to a Crocodile pond in the middle of an urban slum. Despite the poverty the streets were remarkably clean and void of real Africa stenches which typically scream at your nose. Apparently the Gambian government has legislated a few hour block of time were Gambians must clean up the area in front of their dwelling. It was also surprising how little we were being harassed, for a mob of Toubabs.

The crocs were fairly docile and most were in the pond. Charlie, the giant pettable one, is the main attraction. However, he was on the far side of the pond. With the guides sleeping in a wheel barrel on their siesta, I hardly felt comfortable venturing around the other crocs for a hug.

When we returned to Shalom we had the privilege of meeting Gary and Pam Nipper who had been missionaries to the Wolof people group since 1987. They had some amazing stories of work God has done through them and some excellent advise for us as short term missionaries. I am looking forward to working with them.

In the evening we had another short session and them a quick Wolof lesion with Omar. If I have yet to talk about Omar he is a contact from Hewko’s last trip. (Decker I did say hi for you) EH told many Wolof jokes, I hope to record a few as they are so funny because they aren’t. Understanding jokes is the last thing that happens when you are entering a new culture.

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out and playing a nostalgic game of hid-n-seek. I also had a chance to Jam with the other musicians on the trip. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of it. We definitely did not connect on a musical level. It will undoubtedly be a challenge to put things together. I also realized I left 4 cables behind when I was repacking bags before I left. Not so cool. Mom, Dad if you could check the side pocket of the black bag to confirm that would be appreciated and I’ll just have to find a way around it. :o)

Thursday May 5th 11:37PM

The best thing today occurred after the worst way of spending two hours in Gambia, watching the Waterboy. After touring through Sena-Gambia to see the monkeys. It was a 7 min taxi ride with a driver named Mamadu and Jana. After our initial banter over the price we hopped in and got him to put on a reggae tape. He will hopefully be back to drive us to our destination tomorrow. We will be doing a Jesus film on Saturday and will be doing a prayer walk through the town and making preparations.

Just before bed, I went down by the ocean and played guitar with a few others and somehow lured myself into the ocean for a night swim. To my dismay the water was out when I returned to the compound that will leave with a salty sleep night.

Saturday May 6th 12:08 AM

Today began our first day of ministry. In the morning I spent my time, putting together some musical tracks for a concert we will be putting on tomorrow (well, I guess today). Then after a trip to Westfield for Chawarmas and a Coke we head to Telladine where we spent time walking the street and meeting with the chief as we will be showing the Jesus film in the area. We returned and cooked a spaghetti dinner with the first Mangos of the trip, quite the treat the Mangos here are unreal.

The evening consisted of trying once again to find an open internet café and Catching crab for the sisters at the mission. You could almost call it a crab rodeo.

Note from Sat 12:00 apparently we caught the wrong crabs and we ceremoniously release a bucket of dead crabs in the ocean. (it turned out only the big one survived)

Going, going, almost gone.

2005-04-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

Where did the week go?

I'm currently on the lawn in the speckled shadow of the willow tree which canvasses my backyard. A yellow post-it proudly displays the shrinking list of task which preclude my departure. These I scribbled down between day dreams and short bursts of actual work on what may be may last day as a Creo employee. (I'm not quitting, it just will be called Kodak when I get back, I'll be a Kodiak when I get back)

My week traveled through the dark valley of a vector calculus midterm, to a fountain of joy with when a couple of Fedex boxes on my porch and a the rush of a packed stadium where Bono himself called people to the aid of the poor and helpless in Africa. Like a prelude to a beautiful symphony the week's melodies have paraded through carefully woven to introduce what lies ahead. A journey that will undoubtedly challenge my character, open my eyes to colours previously unseen and expose a soul to the oceans of the world.

Before I get carried away with a lame attempt of putting my experience into words on a screen. My sticky note listed a reminder to thank everyone for their prayers, encouragements and support. It has humbled and encouraged me to no end, people must think I will make a difference. With such an experience of joy, peace and power, I am almost ready to head-on down to Deer lake to try walking on water.

However it has managed to stay off my tattered yellow friend. Unfortunately, my faith isn't quite there yet and the microscopic creatures in that lake are most likely worst than anything I'll see in Gambia....Maybe tomorrow.

Normal is Over.

One week to go...

2005-04-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

The anticipation that shoots through my viens over powering any stress which remained in my body. In one weeks time I will be landing in London just completing the first leg of my trip. I spent the weekend weighing my baggage, running erans and enjoying the company of good friends.

After church I trekked to Squamish with a small entourage for a final hurra with the beautiful West Coast, could not have been a nicer day. We hiked the Chief's second peak and spent the afternoon watching the sunlight's glow on the southern face of diamond head and dance across the waters of the Squamish inlet. A peacefull and humbling experience to say the least. What could I have ever done to deserve a day such as this?

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?

28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

More than Fine

2005-04-21T01:19:00.000-07:00

Everything is going to work out.

I had you asked me the simple question "how are you?" 4 hours ago, as some poor well meaning souls did. You would have gotten a "mneennewah" type groan or a 5 min-mini lecture on all the variables which hang in the balance with a personal invite to my semi-sick tired body's pity-party.

It was little after 10pm when I sat down with guitar and began to flesh out my woes. Why was I so concerned? Even now reading my last post it is clear I'm uncharacteristically stressed. I definitely upped the anti since then. I had lurched through my last 3 days in a flap over the details of my trip. As much as I would like to blame the Larium for my edge, I could only really attributed it to be an enhancer.

I am not sure quite what sparked my mind; however, it became apparent to me how foolish I had been. I have a ticket, yellow fever shot and a plane ticket... Really everything else is an accessory. It is not like there would nothing to do in Gambia if I arrived with out a FMR RNP or eco-charge battery system. I had done all I could. I was simply questioning Gods ability to aid the flow of international shipping. I had set my focus on all which could go wrong. The result was an undeniable drift from the vision of this trip, changing lives in light of Christ's love.

After planting my discombodulated self on a couch my guitar, pen and a pad of paper for a couple of hours. I emerged with a few chords put together with a few intelligent scribbles and peace. Arguably the most productive two hours of my week.

Thanks for your prayers.

Welcome to the Gambian Goat Post

2005-04-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Thanks for checking the Goat Post.

I choose a blog to update everyone of my Gambian adventure. I hope you'll enjoy the format. It will no doubt give a more intimate view of life than a traditional newsletter. It also gives you all oppertunities to comment and ask your burning questions. You don't need to sign up for anything but please put your name in your comments so I know who left them.

*** Please excuse typos which will litter this blog. I think faster than I type this leads to problems... thanks for your patience and understanding. Otherwise, enjoy!

Well, Gambia sits on the horizon no more then a 2 1/2 weeks down the time pipe. I have started a count down on my white board at work to give fair warning to all who wish to pile their urgent work requests. Some have caught on and are taking full advantage.

On Monday the Gambia team commences our Malaria meds. Most of us are taking Larium, the pharmasudical that makes your dreams come alive in full spectrvision. Our goal is to sync-up our dosages (one a week) so we all wake up with comperable dream squencies. The other more logical reason is so no one forgets admist the countless other things which will be on our minds.

The crunch of preperation has been chewing on my schedule like a teething dog. It is hard to believe I'll get it all done... an exam, assignment, taxes, a heavy work load, shopping for the final peices of recording equipment and the countless administrative tasks which make for smooth traveling. All this has made sleeping a challenge, an unfortunate fimiliar reality as the readers of the badgerlounge may have noticed.

Although my body is worn, my spirit has been strong. I anxiously await to serve and see mircles of God's hand. In a sense they have already begun...