Happy Christmas

 Here in Cameroon we say Happy Christmas. It is Dec 22 and Christmas is close.  The kids spent a day cleaning up the school.  It is not uncommon to see young children with a large machete, cutting the grass. 

Then we celebrated the end of term at Pledge with a Christmas Pageant.  Jessica was the angel in her class play of the birth of Jesus, Josh narrated the sixth grade play that I wrote, based on a book I read called the Colorless Book. And Emily was adorable doing an African Dance. I didn’t know she had such rhythm.

We also attended the St Joseph’s pageant where I teach and the Martins attend.  Pete played the guitar and the Martin kids and I led motions. On Tuesday I went to the HIV Christmas party.  We had Foo Foo Njamma jamma, and Christmas dancing. I had to miss the final day at the Treasure Center because of a schedule conflict.  I wish I could have seen them perform some of the songs I taught them. Thursday I said goodbye to the girls at Lourdes with a sing along.  Pete brought his guitar and was quite the hit.  But man, can those girls belt out some songs.

Friday we went to a Christmas party at the Seminary.  The seminarians have such beautiful voices; I just love to hear them sing. We had a huge feast and left before the speeches to get the kids to bed.

Last night we went to our friends the Shillinky’s to a “Wonderful Life party”. There was loads of treats and we got through the movie in three hours with the various power outages.  It was a great time of food and fellowship.  Each year I love the movie more.  What a beautiful reminder of how each of us is special and important in God’s plan.  I need that reminder, even here, when I feel that my role is so small.  This side of heaven I may never see the ways that we are impacting people in Cameroon.

Our little tree is full of homemade ornaments and the kids are eying the presents under the tree. Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care and the stained glass cookies are half eaten. 

Next update should be on the Open house we have planned for the 25^th and 26 and our Christmas trip to Limbe (a beach with black sand).  We are truly looking forward to this time of respite and family time.   

May you too be blessed during this season.

-Joy

Great Week

I had a busy week getting ready for Christmas programs this week.  I was teaching some Jesus centered songs.  In California I dreaded volunteering at the kids’ school because we would do crafts and activities for Hanukah, Kwanza, and Santa.  It was absolutely not OK to do a single manger or Bethlehem star let alone utter the word Jesus. Our house has been Christmas craft central and the kids have been having fun decorating the tree and house.

On Wednesday, I went back up to the Treasure Center School where we all said goodbye to the two teachers from Europe who have been helping to enhance the programming for the younger pupils. The festivities included traditional dance, traditional music singing speeches and presents for the young ladies.  We also had fun dancing together and with the kids. No celebration seems to be complete without the presence of a juju. This is a person dressed up as an animal or a witch like face and running around trying to scare people.  When we have asked, the local people say it’s just for fun, but clearly the roots of this are part of their spirituality.

Friday, we left at noon to go meet some other Missionaries in Mbingo.  We rented three lovely horses  with the most beautiful views.  We hiked, ate, sang, played, rented horses, and just relaxed.  We even had our friend Fr. Christopher come and do a home Mass with us.  The kids all did the readings and helped with the music. Fr. Christopher shared how we are like John the Baptist as we take our knowledge and go out sharing the good news.

 

Just two more days of school and then we are off for few weeks.

-Joy

One Day In Cameroon

Every day is different of course, but I just thought I would describe my day yesterday.

Sometimes I make a nice breakfast—pancakes, or coffee cake, but a lot of mornings the kids just have hard boiled eggs or Quaker Oats cereal.  This morning I had intended to make banana bread as I had over ripe banana.  I couldn’t make them yesterday because I was out of flour, but today I was out of oil.  I am amazed how fast I go through the basics like flour, sugar, baking powder, yeast, powdered milk etc.  I am still not used to cooking from scratch.  So the kids had oatmeal.

Once the kids were off, I got ready for a hot shower, but alas the water turned off sometime after breakfast. Luckily I am not a “gotta shower every day” person, but my control issues always flare up.  Really a warm bucket bath is fine, but just not as satisfying.

Tuesday is normally my day to be with the HIV group, but Pete had asked me to go to the Ruby Jubilee (40 year celebration) of the opening the St Thomas Aquinas Seminary where he teaches. Pete is so kind he rarely asks me to attend these long and not too exciting ceremonies.  But I was happy to have the day with him.

Before I left, I stopped down to let my HIV group know that I would not be there, and met two members outside (as the door was still locked).  One woman showed me a funeral program for a family member who had died. I opened it up and found dozens of pictures of this woman with her young children. I was so moved by the photos and the sadness of losing such a young woman that I just began to cry. Of course, my crying made her cry so we just stood and cried together.  I see these programs so often from people and people rarely show emotion when they show me. I think how much I have been underestimating the pain people here feel about losing loved ones. Just because it is common doesn’t make it less painful.  The other man standing there joined in with our grief sharing about his daughter who was HIV positive also, but refused to take the medication and died several years ago.  People who are not in denial are able to get tested and live quite long if treated. Too many, let pride literally kill them.

So Pete picked me up and we headed to the Seminary. I shouldn’t have been surprised that it was a Mass in the field, instead of in the Chapel as there was no room for the thousands that attended and these outdoor ceremonies are common.  But I was so mad I forgot sunscreen, sunglasses, and only had a small bottle of water.  I was so grateful that we were ushered beneath one of the few tents (we sat not far from the governor).  We may have been placed there because Pete is faculty or it may have been just because we were white. In any case I was grateful for the shade, comfortable seat, and nice breeze. 

I counted over 400 priest processing in and about 6 Bishops, one Cardinal, and a papal nuncio (a representative from the Vatican).  There were also about 200 seminarians (just for the North West region of Cameroon). I am not often impressed by all the pomp and circumstance, but in this case it was hard not to be.  The music was nice and the honoring of the School were nicely done.   

After two and a half ours we had finished communion and I was hope fully that the Mass would only be three hours (about the norm). But we still managed to go for another one and  a half hours.  After the four hour Mass, I was ready to pee behind a tree, but fortunately we found someone who took me to a real toilet and it even had paper (though I always carry my own).

We had hoped to stay for the meal and dancing, but needed to get the kids from school and I work the girls Boarding school on Tues afternoons. Fortunately Nestor made us delicious crepes with strawberry jam. Pete supervised the studying and I trekked off to Lourdes School.

I then counseled three girls dealing with friendship issues and academic stress.  One young girl that  was not much older than Jessica, was crying because her birthday is coming and she is lonely. Dear thing, of course she is lonely and homesick.  These girls are not allowed visitors or phone calls. My heart broke for her. I then went to my workshop for 11^th grade girls on Character development.  I used an exercise that has worked in other settings, but I underestimated how loud 90 girls can be or how much echo there would be in the sanctuary.  I completely lost control of the group and one faculty even came to find out what was going on.  I want the girls to have fun, but I will have to be a bit more careful.

I came home to dinner made by Josh.  His Taco shells get better every week and we had all the toppings. I helped Jessica study for her French exam and then went to bed with her at 8:30 listening to the sound of my husband doing dishes.  Yes, the water had returned, but God bless him, he would have carried in water and done it for me anyway. The last sounds I heard were the low breathing of Jessica and the sound of crickets outside.  It reminded me of summers on Cape Cod.

-Joy

Thorns & Roses

We have a family tradition during bedtime prayers of asking the kids their favorite and least favorite part of the day.  It is a nice way to hear what is on their hearts.  Recently I heard that some other Missionaries do a similar thing and call it roses and thorns.   

I really like that name. Each day is full of events. Sometimes we find that what was a favorite of one was the least favorite of another.  An example of that was when we went on a hike last year and got stuck in torrential down pour.  Emily and I were miserable and it was our least favorite part of the day, but Jessica and Josh thought it was awesome and the best part of the day.

So what does this have to do with the ant invasion?  Well, for weeks I struggled with ants in my kitchen.  I have sprayed, put down chalk, powder, poisoned, used Terro, made homemade poison, cemented up holes in the wall, prayed, screamed, swatted, and yet nothing has deterred the ants. The other three types of ants we have here, I have learned to live with. The biting ants, the water ants and what I call the Cape Cod ants (huge like I grew up with on Cape Cod).  Interestingly I don’t have the marching in a trail ants like I used to have in California.

One morning I came down and my room and the sink which is normally white was almost completely black. And the counter too, was swarming with ants. I did what any spoiled American would do and called Nestor (our saintly house help) and asked him to come early and take care of the ants. The next time it happened, I took a fly swatter and went nuts killings them. After several more weeks they finally went away.  An answer to prayer, change in season, or something else---I may never know.  I am just glad they are gone. 

What does this have to do with roses and thorns? When these things happen, I really try and see the good in it, or what I can learn from it, or how God is molding me into a more Godly woman through this trial.  But honestly sometimes there are just thorns. There may be no grand message about living humbly, or persevering, or being more stoic.  Maybe these ants are just part of life and a bit of a thorn in my otherwise lovely day.   

There were plenty of thorns in California and Texas. Life would be pretty dull if things went smoothly all the time. There are way more roses than thorns in my life.  Of course that is easier to say now that the ants are gone.

-Joy

Here are some pictures of my roses:

Note from Emily
I love you so much.
you're the best in the world!
you are very kind, loving,
enthusiastic, smart and fun.
from Emily.