The Gesells

2010-04-22T03:42:00.000-07:00

Char's favorite fruit and vegetable stand

Sorry to have been so long without a blog entry.

The rains are returning, a welcome relief from the months of dryness and the days and nights of sweltering heat that builds prior to the arrival of the rainy season. The fields are usually full of farmers at this time, out working together to prepare for planting as the rains begin. It is a truly beautiful sight to wonder at as huge expanses take on the texture of orderly rows of freshly mounded earth, all done by hand, weaving around jumbles of boulders and lone trees left for a bit of shelter.

But this year the ongoing tension and violence in the area have many afraid to leave the security of the villages. In January another major crisis hit Jos and surrounding villages, soon followed by another major episode of violence in a nearby village. There have been ongoing flares of violence continuing through to the present, with victims frequently brought to the hospital and the villages near where we work feeling very much at risk.

As members of a peace church it feels like there is something we should be able to say or do to help respond to what is happening. In the face of the anguish being experienced around us, any small encouragements we might make for peace seem at best puny and inadequate in the face of these complex forces at play, and at worst the disrespectful intrusion of an outsider. We can only pray for safety and peace alongside our friends and colleagues, listen to their stories, and always rejoice with them when we hear stories of hope, believing that we are all a part of God’s creation and that most want the same peace for their families to thrive. Although this conflict is playing out along religious lines, it is really a conflict based in poverty and the difficulties involved in uniting a country with over 250 ethnic groups while still recognizing the strength of diversity that exists in Nigeria. It is our fervent prayer that in our global communities, religion will realize its potential as a vehicle for God’s power of peace and reconciliation, rather than as a tool for human’s power over each other.

We enjoy many aspects of our life here, particularly our friendships, work, and work colleagues that nourish us and form the foundation of our being here. The ongoing conflict and safety concerns have made it difficult for us as a family to focus on the reasons that brought us here, even though we strive to not let these factors define our understanding and experience of the rich and varied life we lead here in Nigeria. For the past month we have been trying to discern what is best for our family in these circumstances, wanting to also honour the relationships and work commitments to those we live alongside. Although we had tried to work out a way for our family to continue here longer in some modified way, we were not able to come to a mutually acceptable solution with our mission organization. So we have made the very difficult decision that our family will return to Canada this summer, earlier than our planned return of the following summer.

We are hoping to spend the following weeks working towards as healthy a closure as we can achieve with work responsibilities and relationships, focusing on the positive aspects of our time here as well as preparing for our transition back to life in Winnipeg. We are thankful for the opportunity to have come here to learn and share alongside the many wonderful friends and colleagues we have been privileged to meet. We are also thankful for the health and safety of our family through our time here.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this transition.

2010-01-25T00:05:00.001-08:00

Blogspot 2010 January

Jos riots-2010

It has been a while since I have written an entry. I had felt a need to sit down and write some of my thoughts and experiences that have happened these past few days.

Our family had a wonderful Christmas break with a trip to Abuja staying at the Sheraton Hotel and then to Yankari wildlife preserve with our MCC team and families. Both places were quite restful with great fellowship with friends. A blog entry awhile back had a funny experience with me and a baboon-but this time the tables were turned and we laughed at Westen. He was sitting in the chalet reading a book when he noticed the door open and there stood a baboon ready to scavenge some food. Westen quickly threw his book at the baboon and then ran towards the door to lock it. He definitely does not like the baboons now. We did see a few animals on our safari and there was an injured elephant roaming the grounds of the chalets.

We were happy when school resumed after about one month off for Christmas break. The kids were happy to be back and see their friends again. But then this past weekend security concerns started to surface and then we started to hear of events occurring in the north end of Jos. On Sunday morning a church was attacked by some youths. There was also report of a soccer game getting out of control with rioting. As I looked out our window I could see people standing and looking towards the north. I ventured out to the street and could see many plumes of smoke rising into the air. At one point I saw a big tour bus come cruising by with all of its windows smashed out along with the windshield cracked. The bus was full of people. The traffic was definitely slowing down and soon there was a curfew ordered for 6 pm till 6 am. We soon started to see smoke rising in other areas. That night we heard few gun shots with hopes that by next morning the military would have things in control. On Monday the riots had ventured into other areas of Jos which at that time did not seem to threaten us.

We woke up Tuesday morning with traffic as usual but then started to hear reports from others of gunfire. We had thought of going to work that day but were thankful we stayed home. School had been cancelled since the previous day so we waited out the morning. It did not take long and a 24 hr curfew was issued. As the traffic thinned out we could also then hear the gunshots. The fires started to get closer and then that afternoon we could see scores of youth vandalizing homes-setting them on fire. It was eerie listening to the cheers and excitement from the youth as new fires would start. Gunshots began to get closer and we could see the youth fleeing in different directions. As the day progressed we could see many army, police, civil defense and cadets coming and going in all directions to areas of need.

By Thursday the military seemed to have things under more control and the curfew was lifted for 7 hrs to enable the Muslims to bury those who died and for others to get necessary food and supplies. At the time we were unsure of how many had died- heard reports of at least 200 (Muslims and Christians) . On Thursday and Friday we began to see scores of buses, vans and cars leaving with people and their belongings. We had heard that there were thousands of people who have fled their homes.

As the days progressed more stories keep coming of devastating events experienced by many people. A young man came to our gate asking for money because he was shot in the leg and was unable to pay for medical expenses. A pastor we knew from Vom hospital had sent his family to Vom while he stayed at his church to protect it from vandalism. We had heard from one man that in his village in Tudon Wada the Muslims and the Christians joined forces to protect their area from outsiders coming in to instigate violence.

The city now is still under curfew from 6 PM to 6 AM. Randy and some others have ventured out in the last few days to pick up supplies. The stores are slowly opening up and some of the vendors who sell fruits and vegetables have returned. At this point we are unsure when school will resume but Randy and I will not go back to work until school opens.

We are very saddened by these recent events. I will include here an e-mail we received from a friend of ours who is a pastor of a church here that has been very affected by the recent violence and destruction. He has had many connections with MCC over the years.

Charlotte

Our friends,

Greetings

What do you say to a congregation that has been shattered by conflict? How do you encourage them again? I stood and read Psalm 88 in Church yesterday. The title of my message was Real faith faces real trial. Here in Jos, we have broken homes, broken walls, broken heart and shaken faith. This is similar to what the returning Exile during Zerubabbel/ Ezra/ Nehemiah went through. We can tell God how we feel, but we must trust that he loves and saves us to go and look for our lost neighbor in love not in retaliation... It is dangerous to preach peace in a time of war. But we have no option. Hold us up in prayer. One of my members openly told me, "Pastor we know you are Mennonite. We have not found anything wrong with your theology but we have found it very hard in our context...” I even find my theology very hard in this context. I am integrating my understanding in my life and asking God to help me remain faithful to his revealed will. I love God. I love his word. I love my members. I enjoy preaching it/teaching it to others. I take it seriously for my own life and it has been a wonderful compass. To God be glory. May we talk about peace and work for it daily.

A student of Theology (now) Pastor Bulus Datiri, now an Elder in his Church, Sang a song that has left an impression on me forever. The Song was in Hausa language GAFARTAWA GAFARTAWA x2 UBANGIJI KA KOYA MANI HALIN MAN HALIN GAFARTAWA ..... This translates FORGIVENESS, LORD TEACH US HOW TO FORGIVE OR THE ATTITUDE OF FORGIVENESS..
May we all find the grace to go on in his strength. in the New Year.
Obed

2009-11-28T09:52:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

Seems like a while has passed since last writing. During October school break, we traveled to a beautiful rain forest resort in southern Nigeria with 3 other families. Traveling is always accompanied with various worries here in Nigeria, but overall the trip went well. The scenery was spectacular, the food was good and the children had a great time swimming in an amazing pool. It felt like we were living in the clouds while we were there. It was nice to see someplace new but would have been nice to stay longer. Maybe next time.

Upon returning to work, we were faced with the sudden and unexplained transfer of our friend/hospital superintendent, which created a fair bit of confusion at the hospital. In addition to being my direct supervisor, he and his wife have been a major source of support to us and were instrumental in arranging our being in Vom. It has been a difficult transition for everyone involved, particularly since the accountant was transferred at the same time. Coupled with the fact that funds have been delayed in coming to the hospital from the PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Provision for AIDS Relief) program, the hospital has had a difficult time. The clinic staff has held together pretty well and I am still glad to be a part of them. The clinic attendant is often singing as she works. She is a good reminder to me to enjoy the moment for the things that I have. Here is a picture of her with 2 of her daughters. A bright spot is the long-awaited arrival of a new doctor, who hopes to establish a residency program at the hospital. He will also be the new satellite coordinator for our HIV/AIDS program and has already demonstrated that he has the energy and skills to tackle programming issues, so it will be nice to be able to work closely with him to improve the program. As the clinic staff capacity to run things has been increasing, I am now able to turn my attention to larger program quality assurance issues. It seems less and less likely that I will be able to shift away from the HIV/AIDS program to also do general public health work, but it still feels like good work and I look forward to eventually broadening out to a more public health approach in the HIV/AIDS program work.

Charlotte continues to do good work in the Tuberculosis Unit, although they will need to be looking at ways to ensure the work continues when she and her colleague are away. Apparently at a recent TB training in Jos that Char’s work partner attended, they used the Vom program a number of times as an example of how a program should be run. Just a couple of days ago a mother, father and child were all diagnosed with active TB, so there is never any question of whether the work is useful and needed. I sometimes envy Char’s more frequent interaction with the patients, since other than greeting the clinic patients as a group in the mornings, most of my interaction is with the hospital staff. A couple weeks ago we helped out with a medical forum for the Hope for the Deaf program, run by an MCC Colleague. It was fun to see Charlotte interpreting again (they use ASL here), bringing back memories of when I first fell in love with her while watching her interpret.

The children had their mid-term evaluations and are approaching Christmas break in less than a month. They are all doing well and continue to really enjoy school and friends. One of the kids, however, (I’ll let you guess which one) did come home with a sealed envelope (usually not a good sign) which requested we meet with the principal to discuss behavior issues in class. Nothing incredibly serious, but still not a fun thing for all involved. I guess we need to see such occasions as “growth opportunities”, right? There have been a number of recent fun activities based at the school: An international food fair, a crafts sale where we were able to buy quite a few Christmas gifts, the senior play, a performance of the Messiah (a wonderful ful chorus of 100+ strong voices), a music recital on Sunday, school Christmas concerts coming up… It’s a fun time of year, even without the cold and snow. (Yes, I do miss them, although I have heard it has been a long, pleasant and mild fall in Winnipeg.) Later today we will join some folks to celebrate US Thanksgiving.

This weekend is the anniversary of the Jos crisis from last year when hundreds were killed and we were trapped away from home, watching fires spread throughout the city. It also happens to coincide with a major Muslim Holiday. We expect the weekend to pass peacefully, but have learned to do a bit of emergency planning just in case. It must be a hard time for the people that lost family members and property- Easy to understand why such conflicts can repeat and escalate. It is also clear how important the peace and justice work of Mennonite Central Committee and others continues to be.

Kyra continues to grow and Westen has done a good job of training with her. He wants to try some agility training soon.

We continue to enjoy good family time. Conversation often includes ideas of God and we are thankful for the opportunity to be able to experience God in different ways each day. Although we treasure our new relationships and experiences here, we do miss our friends and family back in North America- Holiday gatherings and family reunions, Chicago friends reuniting there next summer, my parents’ 50th anniversary... I read something recently about “the terrible sadness of time” and place. I guess there will always be those bittersweet connections to other people, places, and times elsewhere.

Last weekend we went out to Vom for a hike to the top of the mountain (a favorite hike for us which we have posted photos of previously). My knee is in such bad shape now that I do not feel I can risk such hikes (which is a difficult transition for me), so I just stayed at the bottom of the hill and walked around chatting with people in the village while the group went hiking. I realized that I haven’t taken the time to do that very often. It was a lot of fun- I was asked to bless some newborn twins, played games with the 50-odd kids that hovered around where we had parked the cars, followed a scavenging young pig for a while, checked out the nearby spring/water source at the base of the mountain (looked pretty clean) and best of all, got a tip on a local food that will increase my “MAN POWER”. (Although I was not immediately sure of what the woman was referring to, her increasingly sly grin and the rising level of amusement in the group surrounding us soon left little doubt of what kind of power she was referring to. She did mention that it will also improve woman power.)

I don’t think I have posted on the blog a little encounter with a bunch of kids I had on a previous hike up the Vom Mountain that I had written up for a progress report, so maybe I’ll stick it in here-

A group of expats was visiting for lunch and a hike up Vom Mountain, a 2-3 hour round trip hike. We had invited two young Nigerian friends to guide us up the mountain, Dung (the former matron’s son- a geology student) and Paul (the assistant chaplain at the hospital). Although the hiking was fairly steep and required a bit of rocky scrambling, it was through beautiful countryside. The final payoff (in addition to some much needed exercise) is spectacular views across the village, hospital compound and open plateau as well as back into the rugged mountain regions reaching towards the Plateau’s edge. We drove through the village, parking next to a church tucked against the base of the mountain and prepared to set off. As usual, children began to quickly gather, word somehow spreading throughout the nearby area. As we set off up the trail more children joined- smiling, looking, sometimes touching, trying out their “Good afternoon!”s amidst much laughter, running ahead up the trail, back and forth, enjoying something new in their day. We were certainly a bit of an oddity, hiking up the path with no visible motive- no cattle to herd, goats to tether, wood to gather, fields to prepare, or village to walk to. Since my arrival in Nigeria, my feelings have varied during such times of scrutiny, although usually the smiles, children and adults alike, are irresistible and infectious. Our children often experience this differently, feeling uncomfortably on display. On this particular occasion I asked one of our expat friends whether it was safe for the children to follow us out of town without their parents knowing where they were, or whether I should ask them to return to the village. I knew that some villagers thought witchcraft was performed up in the hills; there were also some parts of the hike that could be a bit dangerous. My friend replied, “Do you think they would listen to you?” The thought had not even occurred to me that they wouldn’t! On their own initiative our Nigerian guides made a few perfunctory attempts to send the kids home as we hiked but only succeeded in momentarily slowing them. Later while at the back of the group as we turned to start the steep ascent to the summit, I stopped and told the children (only a dozen or so remaining by now) that they needed to return to the village, pointing back down the hill. They looked crestfallen but still with a glimmer of hope that I was not serious. I repeated myself firmly, with them likely not understanding my words but clearly understanding the intention. They turned and slowly started back down the trail as I said goodbye in Hausa- Sai anjima!- and turned to continue up the trail, thinking, “That wasn’t too bad.” After a couple minutes of strenuous hiking I paused to catch my breath and appreciate the view of the valley stretching into the distance. I was surprised to see that the entire group of children was cautiously coming back around the corner of the hill, looking up to see what we were doing. As I spotted them and shouted for them to head home, most of them scampered away again, but a couple stayed, willing to take their chances. After another short expenditure of energy up the side of the mountain, I turned to see what was happening. They were all now at the base of the hill, sitting on some boulders and intently watching our progress. It seemed that success would not come so easily after all, but I was sure they could still be reasoned with and once again instructed them even more firmly that they must return home to be safe. They seemed to be enjoying the interaction with increasing amusement. I resorted to flinging my arm towards the village with finger outstretched, pointing and shouting, “Go!” There was a pause as they gauged how best to react. The suspended moment was broken when a bold young boy of about 10 stepped forward and flung his arm melodramatically up the mountain, pointing and shouting, “Go!” in an altogether pretty fair caricature of my stance and voice. The base of the hill was quickly filled with animated children flinging their arms in all directions and firmly shouting instructions, then breaking into fits of giggling. I couldn’t help but break into laughter myself, which of course put a final end to any pretence of their following my instructions to return home. (I can’t help laughing even now as I think about it.) As we continued our slow ascent at the tail of the column, the children soon scampered around the side of the hill to reach the top before us. They hiked mostly out of my sight, perhaps in an attempt to preserve my feelings of authority. As far as I know, no one was injured and all returned home safely, as did we, hopefully having enjoyed their afternoon of verbal sparring as much as I had.

More Infectious Disease

2009-09-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

Hello-

Here is the mandatory warning that this blog post is not for the squeamish and may leave you with unsavory images for some time (it certainly has me). We have been experimenting with some more infectious disease here that we would like to share with you (just via the web). In addition to more giardia and some sort of nasty cold that is circulating (don’t want to ignore the run-of-the-mill infections), one of the girls had noticed some increased anal itching, so her sister did an inspection. We found them trying to wipe away dozens of visible small white worms crawling in and out of the sphincter. We think it was either hookworm or whipworm (we’re not too good at our helminth identification). The females apparently crawl out the anus at night to lay 10-20,000 eggs before slipping back in to a comfy evening of sucking blood or secretions from the intestinal wall. We treated the entire family just to be on the safe side and haven’t had a problem since.

I have had my first encounter with the dreaded mango worm. The kids not too infrequently find one on the dog and pop them out like a giant zit (somewhat satisfying). We have been well cautioned to make sure that we iron all clothes (yes, particularly underclothes) to prevent infestation/infection with mango worms, which we have done faithfully. Nevertheless , I somehow ended up with 5 gradually enlarging lesions on my forearm which I initially took for mosquito bites that had become infected. As the days passed the pain increased, at times feeling like small knives stabbing my arm. Eventually I was able to “pop” one out along with the rest. “Cordylobia anthropophaga, the mango fly, tumbu fly, putzi fly or skin maggot fly is a species of blow-fly common in East and Central Africa. It is a parasite of large mammals (including humans) during its larval stage. At the site of penetration, a red papule forms and gradually enlarges. At first the host may experience only intermittent, slight itching, but pain develops and increases in frequency and intensity as the lesions develop into a furuncle. The furuncle's aperture opens, permitting fluids containing blood and waste products of the maggot to drain.” (Isn’t that a tasty description- For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordylobia_anthropophaga. ) The lesions are gradually resolving, but all told it will be about 6 weeks of sporadic intense itching and pain. Here's some photos I managed to take:

On a sadder note, we had been thoroughly enjoying the surprise addition of 2 new kittens to our household. (You may remember we had tried to prevent her from becoming pregnant by asking our neighbour vet friend to help us- Apparently you can trick a cat’s hormones into thinking that it has been bred by use of a thermometer. Use your imagination, but let me just say that it was an experience I will never forget and I was not even on the business end of the thermometer.) Last week one of the kittens fell ill and died within 36 hours. A couple of days later the mother did the same. The vets seemed a bit baffled- kind of an uncommon presentation. Yesterday, just when we thought that the other kitten was out of the woods and not going to be sick, it also became ill and we expected it to follow the same course, but by this morning it very surprisingly seems to be well on the way to a full recovery, so we are hopefully optimistic at this point. Although the kitten had been promised to another family, they have graciously offered to let us keep this kitten that has survived.

School and work continue well. A team from Abuja (the capital) will be coming next week to do a quality assurance inspection tour of the HIV clinic in Vom. I’m sure we will learn a lot. Here are some pictures of our staff and a mom with her daughter (“Joy”) who said I can show their picture. Nvou, our clinic attendant, is in the sweater, who is doing her best to teach me some Birom, the local tribal language. She said to tell people that this is a picture of a "very fine Nigerian woman". Dr. Bot is our medical superintendent and my boss/support who works incredibly hard to keep everything running (from surgery to administration to clinic to filling the generator with fuel). Our pharmacy staff (Deborah, Dinatu, and Cabala) have some of the nicest smiles around. I'll leave you with a final image of "Joy" for this blog entry.

New Home

2009-08-06T05:34:00.002-07:00

We are unpacking the last of our boxes as we move into our permanent housing for the rest of our term, and are very grateful to have had Matthew from our MCC team mobilize a team to help us move.

We spent the last 2 months only a short distance from here on another compound. Our kids had a great time playing with friends through the summer holiday- Tire swing, football (soccer), water fights, cooking lunches together, video games, ultimate Frisbee, another trip to the Yankari game preserve and warm springs, and watching old reruns on DVD in the evening (anyone remember the Flying Nun?). Just the kind of summer I would wish for them right now. The girls came out to the hospital a couple of times to help in the clinics and I hope next summer to involve all of the kids even more- lots to learn and the staff and patients really enjoy seeing them.

The last couple of weeks have once again seen more violence breaking out in northern Nigeria, although fortunately not in Jos. Sadly, there was quite a lot of loss of life. The clashes seem to have been mostly between a very fundamentalist Islamic sect and government forces.

We are still enjoying our work at Vom very much. I have increasingly little to do with the TB Unit as Charlotte and Nurse Vick become more familiar with the TB program. The HIV/AIDS clinic has added another day to see patients and we are hoping to open the expanded clinic space for use by the end of the month. The clinic functioning continues to improve as the staffing has gained more consistency. There are still lots of challenges, but it feels like we are moving forward. (You may recall that the primary physician, Dr. Young, who was instrumental to the clinic’s start and running, needed to move to Australia recently- So we are still very much adjusting to her absence as well.) We enjoy the deepening relationships with work colleagues as well as getting to know some patients, although we have also begun to experience seeing patients that we know dying from their illnesses.

MCC team meetings were held in Miango at a retreat facility at the end of July- It is a very relaxing place with good food and even a good electricity supply there. We had a nice time getting more acquainted with the other team members and their families. Our family had also been out to Miango with some other friends for a couple of days earlier in the month. Things are especially beautiful here during the rainy season. There are few things I enjoy more than to be working in the clinic during a downpour, with a fresh breeze blowing through and the sound of the rain on the zinc roof (OK- perhaps a Sunday afternoon nap, in bed with the cool breeze and the rain pouring down). Harvest is also coming in- lots of potatos and other things- some of which make tasty snacks sold roadside.

Our cat had kittens last month (in spite of our attempts to prevent that). She seemed too small and young but did very well with the 2 kittens she had. It was amazing how this somewhat cantankerous, finicky, “it’s all about me and what I want” cat suddenly knew exactly what to do and had never looked so happy in her life as she luxuriously curled around the kittens, purring away, taking perfect care of them. They’re now just old enough to start jumping around and are exploring the house- a pretty fun time.

Our new home is called “the Blue House”- in reference to its color, not mood. It is the second story flat on a Danish Lutheran compound, located at a very busy intersection called the Secretariat Junction. The flat is high enough that we have an
interesting view out over the hustle and bustle of city life, along with an unimpeded access to the hundreds of horn blarings that go on throughout the day. (Horns are used much more liberally here as they are in many countries. The Lorry drivers in particular like to announce that they are coming through and the horns can be quite piercing.) The view to other side is of the
beautiful compound- Mango, frangipanni and orange trees. We share the compound with a Danish family, the Lauritzens, that we are friends with. The flat below us is used by a couple who come sporadically throughout the year for short stays. We now have a generator and a bigger fridge that MCC has provided for us- We are very grateful. Electricity supply in Jos continues to be sporadic.

School has just started for the children. They were a bit anxious but are enjoying seeing their friends. I attended the chapel service yesterday morning- lots of new kids as well as staff. I guess that is an important part of life in such a mission community- getting used to people coming and going. We continue to be grateful for the opportunity for our kids to school with children from all around the world as well as Nigerians.

Hope you all are doing well where you are. Randy

Changes

2009-06-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been an eventful last couple of weeks. The kids have completed their first year at Hillcrest- It was a good year for them all and a lot of work as well. It is a relief to not have to struggle helping them to get homework done every evening. Their hard work paid off, though; all did well and received recognition for their efforts. Westen also had the 8th grade banquet, I guess intended to mark the transition to High School. It is a very big event at Hillcrest and he went through the stress for the first time (likely not last) of asking someone and all that entails. We were happy that he seems to have shown good judgment for choice of companionship. (Hillcrest’s website is http://www.hillcrestschool.net/, for anyone who is curious.)
Rainy season is well under way, with rain coming most days now. The downpours are beautiful and refreshing and the green transformation is amazing as everything springs to life. The fields are full of people getting crops in. The amount of work that goes into transforming huge expanses of land into neatly hand-tilled rows is humbling. When we first arrived last fall we enjoyed watching the progression of crops being harvested, so we are now enjoying watching people and the land move through this part of the cycle. The mango trees are filled with an amazing abundance of fruit, which the kids are enjoying very much.

Unfortunately there was an armed robbery on the hospital compound a couple of weeks ago. (There was another one within the last year, but before we came). We are thankful that no one was hurt- the people who were robbed are good friends of ours. The dangers of the kids spending so much time on the roads here (traffic fatalities are very high with treacherous driving conditions) had us already considering whether a move into Jos would improve our family’s safety, so we decided our family would feel safer being in Jos at this point. Although we are relieved to be in Jos now, there are many things we will really miss by not living in Vom. Our own and MCC’s vision of service and ministry is very much about presence and connections, so not living in the community where we work will change how we are able to go about that. The hospital community has been very supportive of our family throughout our time at Vom, and continues to be very understanding and gracious in that support. Charlotte and I will continue to work in Vom and we look forward to maintaining our work relationships and assignments. Housing is scarce in Jos, so we feel fortunate that MCC has found us very nice temporary housing until the end of July when we will move onto another compound and will likely be able to stay there until the end of our term. Both places have friends of the kids, so they are enjoying having more playmates.

Our experience here will now be different than we had originally thought, but we still want very much to be in Nigeria and continue with our mission (i.e. sharing our lives in God through relationships and work in a mutually transforming way). The entire process has and continues to provide many opportunities for growth- Life rarely goes as expected, especially here in Nigeria. Even when I cannot control what is happening, knowing that God is always with us, every breath, has been very comforting- That is the fundamental truth of my life and it has been good to experience that at a deeper level again recently. Just as our entire time in Nigeria has done, the recent weeks have also enriched and strengthened our family relationships. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Randy

Yankari Game Park

2009-04-07T03:29:00.000-07:00

It has now been 6 months since we arrived to Nigeria. There are some things I have become accustomed to but still many things which require more effort. We are just now beginning to build some relationships at work which has been a big plus. I have learned more about how life exists for the majority of people here in Vom. Life would seem to be a constant struggle when hearing their stories, but I have been amazed at how well villagers continue on from day to day.
For the past 2 months I have been in the TB unit. About half of this population is HIV positive. I have heard many sad stories where a husband is HIV positive and has not disclosed this to his wife and it is only discovered after he dies. The wife then tests positive and is left with this stigma trying to raise children. In some cases the possessions along with the children are taken from her by her late husband’s family. There is much difficulty with the TB population to stick to their 6-8 month treatment regimen with limited cash flow in paying for transportation. The TB meds though are paid for by the state.
It is frustrating trying to work with a system where there is a shortage of staff, limited funds for equipment, and people not following through with what is expected. The nurse I am working with is still putting in time in pharmacy because they have not yet filled her position. It was expected that Sister Vic would be trained to manage the TB unit. Our local supplier of items for the TB unit states she will visit us monthly to replenish our stock but we have been left close to empty at times if not for Randy making a run into Jos. Water and electricity is in short supply. There have been days where we have had no water for pts to take meds so I have carried a bucket from home one day. Other days the electricity turns off and pts are unable to get chest x-rays. The hospital does have a generator but is only able to use it when urgent due to limited money for fuel.
Traffic is still a major concern for me to overcome. We still come across many accidents and every time we are on the road my body tenses up. Just recently on a trip back from Yankari we were side swiped by a lorry (semi truck). We were waiting to make a left hand turn across traffic and the truck coming toward us lost control of the steering and came into our lane, just glancing off the side of the car (luckily). The driver did not stop to check on us but continued on. I am so thankful that no one was hurt. Randy and the kids were also in a crash yesterday on the way home from school when a car came off the shoulder to do a u-turn right in front of them while they were traveling at highway speed. They glanced off the other car but then ricocheted across the oncoming traffic lane- luckily there was a gap in the traffic and they just continued on across without further collisions. No one was injured and the other person was very nice about arranging repairs, but it was still scary. Now that I work in the hospital I am constantly reminded of how unsafe the roads are with the motor vehicle crash victims coming in to be treated. One day, 3 people came in all bloody from head to toe and one man’s arm almost severed off. There are no ambulances so they come in quite fresh, usually in the back of someone’s pick up.
Our trip to Yankari wildlife preserve was quite exciting. We were lucky to see many different types of animals on our safari. At one point we saw baboons, monkeys, water bucks and elephants all in the same area. It was quite a privilege. At the accommodations baboons and wart hogs roam the grounds scavenging for food. One time I was on the step of our chalet and was startled when a baboon jumped up right next to me. I quickly opened our door and ran inside screaming. When I closed the door the baboon was wrestling with the door handle and pushing up against the door. Randy and Westen just sat there laughing at me while I was trying to bolt the door shut. We have even seen them attempting to open our window. They are quite aggressive. It is odd when one feels we have become the caged animal with baboons looking in the windows. The water springs at Yankari is quite inviting with the constant temp at 31 degrees Celsius. At our first swim Kezia yells out elephant. Sure enough there was an elephant grazing at the far end of the spring.
The temp here is still hot and sticky. Every so often it cools down and it feels like the rains are soon to come. The trees continue to bring forth wonderful flowers and I am surprised to see them bear new fruit. We are enjoying the mangoes. Right now though, I could go for a big bowl of chocolate ice cream.-charlotte

2009-02-24T04:14:00.000-08:00

Charlotte and I spent a fair bit of last week in the TB unit. Due to financial and staffing constraints, the hospital has not been able to commit a dedicated staff member to running the program. Dr. Elspeth Young, who also runs the HIV/AIDS clinic, has been trying to give some guidance, but she is very stretched with many other duties and is supposed to be only part time. I think I mentioned earlier that she and her family will be returning to Australia this summer indefinitely to help their son (who has grown up here in Nigeria, as Elspeth did) transition into university there. Pip Mychael, an occupational therapist also from Australia, has also been helping- but they will be leaving for at least 6 months later this year as well. Char and I attended a one day TB training put on by the state TB program a couple of weeks ago which was quite good. The state program is designed to be largely implemented by primary health care workers who may not even have nursing training, based on WHO/STOP TB materials. We are lucky that there is a fairly good infrastructure in place to support the TB program, with free drugs (except when they run out, which creates quite a mess). Unfortunately there is no compensation to the hospital for providing the TB services, other than it being an important community service. Most TB services are provided through the state run primary health centres. So it has been difficult for the hospital to prioritize a dedicated staff member for the program. It ends up that whichever nurse is in the outpatient department when someone comes for meds ends up going to the TB room to dispense them, but since they are often not familiar with the intricacies of the program many things end up getting missed. It has reached a point that the state program has suggested that they may transfer the TB program elsewhere. Although we are able to get chest x-rays at the hospital here, in the smaller centres, diagnosis is just by sending sputums for AFB’s. We do not have the ability to do cultures (at least routinely), so that makes things difficult- also no bronchoscopy. Many of the HIV patients end up being treated for a suspect CXR alone. Apparently here ½ of the HIV patients presenting have TB, and 1/3 of the TB patients have HIV. Contact tracing consists of letting patients know that any family members who are also having prolonged coughing should come in to be evaluated. Very little prophylactic treatment is done, although I did see that one infant of a positive mother is on prophylaxis. Patients who have defaulted are not routinely followed up on due to lack of resources, although I am hoping we can work at that in the future. The medications being dispensed are not tracked or recorded, much information is missing from the treatment records, and the hospital does not keep a current comprehensive record of patients being treated (although the state may have a record). There is only a box with close to a hundred treatment cards, at least a third of which look to be defaulted. Charlotte has agreed to focus her energies on the TB program along with a community health extension worker, so I am hoping that we can spend the next few weeks doing some focused training and improve the clinic functioning. It is satisfying work, since I have a fair bit of knowledge about the different components of TB management from a public health perspective, the problems we are seeing are very fixable, and it will likely be of significant benefit to the individuals in the TB program as well as the community at large. So I am hoping to focus my energies here for the next while, although I am also starting to help with some things for the HIV/AIDS clinic.

Next Stage

2009-02-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

We are now entering the next stage of our mcc assignment—although we plan to continue our studies in hausa. Randy and I are beginning to move into our work fields. Obtaining our licenses has been quite an ordeal. For instance, they require some original documents sent directly to their offices. This is difficult when one does not have good access to email and no fax machines. I was finally able to get a receipt from the ministry of health in jos—basically showing that I handed in the required info, application and paid the money for the license. I do not know if I will ever receive the license-from what I am told the nursing council of Nigeria (which is in lagos) does not have the funds to adequately complete the process for foreign nurses to receive the actual license. I am able though to practice because i received a receipt. Randy has made one trip to Abuja (which takes about 3 1/2 hrs by car each way) and returned with more papers to complete before trying again. I have started with attending workshops on home based care focusing on the hiv population. I have been impressed with the wealth of information provided with regards to nutritional needs, other illnesses associated with hiv, ethical dilemmas, and confidentiality and stigma issues for families affected with hiv and aids. It can be difficult at times to know how to treat a pt that has tb and then also develops hiv or vice versa. The combination of meds in their treatment can cause more havoc on their immune system. It is also difficult to counsel a hiv mom who has just delivered her baby as to the pros and cons of breastfeeding or formula. There is a fair percent chance of the baby getting the virus from the breast milk, but there is also a great risk of the infant receiving severe diarrhea from unclean water used with the formula. The dilemma is compounded because the hospital does not have the funds to reliably provide formula or clean water for the infants first year. The mom also does not usually have money to buy wood to heat water or pay for the dry formula. This next week I hope to start in the outpt dept which houses hiv and tb clinics, a small triage and assessment rms for incoming pts. Randy has started to shadow another dr in the hiv clinic but soon realized the need for him to do direct pt care. His long term goals are to work on a more program/community advocate level focusing on the hiv population-but is a little concerned with the black hole that will be left when one of the clinical drs leave in june. Speaking of randy, he was up most of last night retching and with diarrhea. I must confess I broke out into laughter after witnessing him on all fours in the bathroom with his head in a basin. It is a rempel trait-where we tend to enjoy watching close friends/ family members in pain. We took him to get tested this am and discovered he has malaria. We have another addition to our family- a cute little kitten. It is great fun watching our puppy and the kitten play with each other, although our dog at times would probably rather not have the kitten dangling from her face with its claws. Our electricity and water is still very limited or non-existent at times. We have had a few nights lately where we were forced to use candles or flashlights. Our water tank, which serves our house, has also emptied a few times these past few weeks. We then bucket water out of our storage bins from our bk courtyard. Our kids now leave our house at about 6 20 am-we felt this was the best option with the transportation angst we still have. They join another group of kids driven by an ex-retired military officer—which helps put our minds at ease. The girls did mention that they witnessed a girl about their age get struck by a motorcycle and was then dragged off the road by her feet due to oncoming traffic. Randy also witnessed a horrific recent accident on his trip bk from Abuja where few people were seriously injured. There was also a recent accident where about 15 young men were killed – three of them were brought to our hosp whom expired later in the operating rm. The motorcycle drivers are also required to wear helmets as of jan 1—also providing one for their passenger/s. It has been quite interesting seeing the diff types of head gear from sport helmets, hard hats to old race car driver helmets used by maybe about half of the drivers. Then I would say about half of them or less actually have them strapped on. I have been told that some of the passengers refuse to wear them because of the ju-ju spirits. They feel, I think that one can get an evil spirit from the last person who wore that helmet. The flowers are still coming out on the trees—quite amazing in this dry season. Mangoes and avocados are now coming in and some strawberries were available at one market. I tried a passionfruit recently—quite sweet and tasty. Hope all is well--charlotte

Holiday Greetings

2009-01-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hello-

A belated Holiday greeting to everyone. We have had a pleasant Christmas break thus far. People have included us in numerous celebrations and we have had lots of time to play games with the kids. A Nigerian work colleague of Char’s from Winnipeg came to Jos to visit family last week and graciously carried along our new laptop for us. It is nice to have one again. (He also brought along a care package from Char’s family with chocolate, jolly ranchers, and the newly released Prince Caspian DVD- what a treat!) There are even plans for an internet café offering wireless access to be developed right next to our house in the next few months, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Family Christmas gifts enabled us to have some extra meals out, an overnight stay at the Miango Rest Home, and a new table tennis setup for the children, which is a big hit with their friends here as well. Thanks!

On January 2-3 our Mennonite Central Committee had a team meeting here at the guest house in Vom. (We had originally planned to have a retreat in Abuja, the capital, but due to the crisis some felt that we should not be away from our homes for that long.) All the families of the national (Nigerian) staff as well as our family and the Hartman-Souders met. It was nice for us to get to know the families a bit and it now feels like we are really part of a team. Our team benefits greatly from having the long term national staff. Just briefly, Athanasius is involved in programs serving the deaf community, Gopar does peace work, and Matthew runs the office as well as being involved in programs like the EPRT (see below), and the Hartman-Souders are the country representatives (overall MCC Nigeria program planning and connecting with partners). The MCC Nigeria program/staff is fairly small and its major mode of operation is to work through local partners. The balance then comes in being more than just an external funder- We can see that MCC works very hard at the relationship to these organizations. MCC currently has multiple partners with HIV/AIDS programs and has asked me to use a portion of my time to add a public health perspective to our connection with these organizations.

Char and I look forward (with a bit of anxiety) to starting our health work assignment this week at Vom Christian Hospital (on whose extensive compound we live, a 35 minute drive from Jos where the kids go to school). My position particularly is vaguely defined now, which is fine at this point. Clarity would be nice, but I am often tempted to try to impose clarity when it isn’t really there. I remember a communications professor at seminary once saying that it is a gift to be able to wait for clarity- So that is what I will strive for.

My goal is to connect with people in a meaningful way as I work at public health (which is the basis for our family’s being here with MCC, reflecting the “transformative” aspect of MCC’s mission). There are pre-existing givens and needs of the hospital that I will try to meet as much as possible, while also hoping to utilize basic public health precepts in shaping my work (e.g. looking at what information is available on illness and death in the region and what are the existing public health efforts to address them; what has program evaluation shown; what issues have the attention of the community, its leaders, and potential funders; what evidence based interventions are there for these issues). One of the expatriate physicians will be leaving in 6 months, and it is likely that I will try to fill in for some of the administrative/program planning HIV/AIDS clinic (PEPFAR funded) work that she currently does. They are also hoping to tie in to more home-based care and perhaps work with the existing extensive church networks in some way. Their Tuberculosis clinic also is in need of strengthening.

Hopefully that work will still allow for me to spend some time looking at some other public health issues- things like basic sanitation (e.g. latrine use, water quality, and other environmental health issues which are readily apparent) or malaria prevention. Injury impacts people heavily (particularly traffic related- the risk of driving here feels about ten-fold greater than in North America- it would be interesting to see the stats), and the recent hundreds of deaths in the Jos crisis of late November is a reminder that violence in its many forms takes a heavy toll. (Mennonite Central Committee was instrumental in the formation of an Emergency Preparedness and Response Team for the Plateau State a few years ago. This diverse, government connected network has played an important role in the response to the recent crisis and has likely helped to prevent other violence in the past. Peace work is a major focus of MCC and is considered a unique lens we have to offer in our service here.) Polio survivors are often seen on the streets, although it is further north in Nigeria where they are still experiencing outbreaks. Tobacco use seems very low, although I am told substance abuse is common and increasing. (The Vom Christian Hospital has actually formed a partnership with the Jos University Teaching Hospital in the last year to run a couple of wards for inpatient substance abuse rehab here- an important service as well as generating much needed income for the hospital.)

A 2000 WHO report ranked the Nigerian health care system 187 out of 191 countries. Nationally, the fertility, infant and maternal mortality rates are very high, with immunization rates and life expectancy very low.

On the positive side, I see amazing examples of community networks and support systems for community capacity. I have read that historically, the western medical model brought by missionaries was not always readily accepted/utilized by local cultures. Although western influences are readily seen today, particularly in urban settings, I have to think that such considerations will still guide my involvement in community health. The balance and tension are always challenging between sharing knowledge and listening, taking direction from communities and also being rigorous in the application of established public health principles. I look forward to learning a lot.

So the New Year has started and we hope to settle into some new routines. The Jos crisis still hangs heavily over life for everyone here. Military checkpoints and curfews will likely be maintained for months yet. Figuring out how to get the children to and from school when they start back the 14th is another major decision. We will likely rely on drivers, but due to the high risk of travel here, we are quite anxious about how this will work out. The 3 ½ months we have been here in some ways seems so short, in others so long. Living day by day is always a good idea- I’m not sure if that’s harder or easier to do here.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Randy

First contact with malaria

2008-12-11T03:48:00.000-08:00

Charlotte has been quite ill the past 3 days with malaria and likely typhoid on top of it. She is feeling a fair bit better this morning and had a bite to eat. Our family has been faithfully taking malaria prophylaxis and also received typhoid vaccination before coming, but they are known to be less than 100% effective.

We have learned a little bit how to use the hospital’s services through the experience. A Scottish doctor we know has been helping Charlotte, along with one of the Nigerian staff doctors. The lab test to diagnose malaria can be done for 150 naira (about $1.25). I had the lab tech give me a refresher on how to prepare a thick smear slide for microscopy and was able to see the parasites giving Charlotte such trouble. Although medications may be inexpensive by North American standards, their cost is often a heavy burden for families here. Medications are readily available in pharmacies, even without prescriptions. (Apparently the national government has been making progress in ensuring that ineffective fake medications are kept off the shelves, but we are still advised to always ask, “Is this the orginal?”)

Yesterday while at the MCC office in Jos, we heard a volley of shots being fired not far away. Apparently someone had stolen a motorcycle and the police were pursuing him. This caused some people to panic and start fleeing. In no time at all, rumors of “Jos burning” and renewed violence had spread via cellphone throughout Jos and further. One community had pulled a large bus across the road, blocking access to their neighborhood and fired a volley of shots to keep people away (which is what we had heard). So even though there had been no actual violence, it can be seen how high the tension remains and how close the fear remains below the surface of everyday life. On the way to and from school in Jos each day we pass through more than half a dozen police/military checkpoints.

Christmas is soon arriving here, although it still feels like late summer in many ways. Christmas without snow and cold will take some getting used to. I miss the crisp crunch while walking down the sidewalk, the glow of Christmas lights, taking the kids ice skating at the pond in the park, snuggling up on the couch in the den with a good book and the gas fireplace going, getting together with family and friends, egg nog, the smell of the Christmas tree, the climbing heating bills (oops- guess I don’t really miss that).

In spite of a hard couple of last weeks we are still grateful to be here in Nigeria, though. We have many new friends and continue to receive much support from friends and family back home. Charlotte does not mind the absence of cold in the least. The children have an excellent school, establishing relationships with other children from all over the world. The countryside here on the plateau is absolutely gorgeous with its beautiful spreading trees, rugged mountains, piles of precariously balanced huge boulders scattered across the landscape as if God were playing a board game and decided to leave the pieces out afterward, the fields everywhere with ripening crops and groups of villagers coming together to harvest each different crop as it is ready- the potatoes and yams, the maize, the acha, and now the guinea corn; the hundreds of children in their bright school uniforms filing along the side of the road on their way to school each morning. Even the bustle of the city has its appealing rhythm, with the frantic traffic and amazing loads being transported, the yellow fevers(traffic police wearing yellow jackets, controlling intersections in place of traffic signals) with their white gloves wildly flapping directions, the street hawkers selling everything imaginable at each stop(belts, rat poison, monopoly games, world maps…), people everywhere bustling, fruit stands, and the markets. The markets are the place I feel a wonderful “otherness” of Nigeria most acutely- with the press of people and amazing combination of sights, smells, sounds and jostlings. Vendors and other people we meet in the course of the day are overwhelmingly gracious and welcoming to us- we often receive wonderful smiles and greetings just for being here and trying to speak a few words of Hausa. Children often follow us, both fascinated and a bit scared of us, usually breaking out in group giggles when we pester them back. MCC and our country reps and staff support and provide for us very well.

We both look forward to starting work in January, feeling our way into new positions, but confident that we will have meaningful things to both give and receive in our work. Our family spends time together here in different ways than we did in North America and we have opportunity to talk about important issues in a different context. Attending a Christian school alone (which also enrolls those of differing faiths, such as Muslim), where most have a more conservative theology constantly sparks wonderful conversations with the children. It is exciting for us all to deepen our understanding of and relationship with God and our world together.

We also have much to learn about what our Mennonite background means in this setting, and our belief that violent solutions can only perpetuate violent systems. The country program review recently completed for MCC Nigeria identified the peacemaking lens as a critical, unique component of our presence here. Given the violent events of the last couple of weeks here, not unlike events that happen continually around the world (and it is easy to forget to include the structural and sometimes hidden violence occurring in North America), there is much work and learning for peacemakers.

Thanks for continuing thoughts and prayers. We also think of you and the work and lives you are all carrying on with elsewhere. It is comforting to think that we are connected and part of the same fabric of being and efforts towards wholeness.

Ku gaida ma iyalinku. (Greet your families.)

Randy

Jos

2008-12-10T04:32:00.001-08:00

In the wake of the 2001 riots, the awaited Plateau State local government elections of this November 27th came with underlying skepticism of what would unfold in the following days. “No movement” was declared to prevent people from gathering and causing disturbances on Election Day, except for those attending to the polls on foot.

We ventured into Jos the next morning unaware of events that had transpired during the night. On arrival at the children’s school we were met with “No school today” signs posted on the gate and the principal stating that some youth were rioting and burning tires downtown.

We proceeded with our children to the Mennonite Central Committee house on a walled compound in Jos. We, along with the Hartman-Souder family, were shortly joined by Matthew, our Nigerian co-worker, who informed us of the escalating violence occurring in north Jos. It was best for us to stay put.

As the day unfolded we began to get reports by cell phone of the devastating destruction of homes, businesses and lives occurring mostly in the northern communities of Jos. From a hill on the compound we could watch the plumes of black smoke appear in succession starting in the west and moving throughout the day to the east. In the middle of the day we witnessed some fires just beyond the compound wall with families fleeing their community. Gunshots were heard throughout the day. We encouraged our children to stay inside the house.

During the day we had heard a colleague/pastor’s home had been burned down. A family arriving to the compound guesthouse had fled their home and informed us they had lost a friend, who was struck from behind. An MCC partner/colleague was trapped in her home and unable to leave to travel to Senegal for an HIV/AIDS conference there. A man on the compound was told the military barracks’ mortuary nearby had closed its doors because it was full. A classmate of Tanner arrived on the compound with his family (Christians), fearful of returning back to their home. A neighbouring Muslim family had hidden them in their home while rioters tried to find them. Many similar stories of hope have since come out, of neighbors and neighborhoods protecting neighbors of differing religions from rioters, refusing to participate in the violence against innocent people.

I was weak in the knees, reminded of the same uneasy feeling following the 9-11 attacks in the US. Although attempting to remain calm, especially for the children, we all felt the noticeable stress and tension. We knew we were safe but there was the unknown, unsure feeling wondering whether the situation was under control, if reinforcements had been brought in, or if the wounded were being attended to. Reliable news about what was happening was hard to come by. At times we were even unable to send or receive text messages by cell phone. Phone batteries and air credit were running low and needed to be recharged.

We hunkered down for the night and had a community meal with two other families on the compound. It felt good to gather together. Brenda H-S made a “comfort food” dessert with M&M’s (a rare treat here). We had oranges that the children had picked from the trees earlier in the day. After dark, the red glow of fires burning could be seen in the distance. The night was unrestful with dogs barking and gunshots heard in the distance. The early morning Muslim calls to prayer were regretfully absent.

We awoke to news of more concentrated riots in northern communities. The fires began again with smoke seen in the far east and moving back towards the west. Once again fires appeared in the neighbouring community over the compound wall with families fleeing to safety. Smoke started to billow into our compound causing greater anxiety for our safety. Other families were becoming more concerned, feeling a need to leave the compound. Some teenage boys living on the compound (boys our children knew and played soccer with when we lived on the compound for our first weeks in Nigeria) began sharpening machetes and fashioning spears, fearful that people may jump over the compound wall and threaten their families.

Thinking the roads were secure enough to travel on this end of town, we attempted to return to Vom that mid-morning. On our way to the gate, two men strongly urged us to obtain a military escort for the trip rather than trying on our own. At the same time we received a call from Matthew stating that another 24-hour curfew had been issued, effective immediately. I was saddened to not be able to return home, but yet relieved to not venture out onto the roads not sure of what lay ahead.

We returned back to Mark and Brenda’s house. The fires nearby had gotten smaller and the boys had laid down their machetes. During the day we ventured to the top of the hill and looked over the city towards the north. We were one with other groups of concerned people perched on surrounding hills, watchful, waiting for peace. Throughout the day people were slowly migrating back to their homes from the military barracks where they had sought safe haven. At times we would receive word that some MCC friends/partners were still in danger or could not sleep in their homes for fear of being burned out or attacked at night.

Before supper, Randy received a call from friends in Vom stating that our house had been broken into. We soon discovered that our laptop and cash were missing. We were disheartened. Although this invasion was minor in comparison to what other families were experiencing in Jos, our inner sense of trust and security was a bit shaken.

That evening Randy and I made tortillas and Brenda made beans and eggs, one of our favourite meals. After supper we received a text message that the US and British High commands would provide an escort for anyone wanting to voluntarily leave to Abuja (the capital). At the same time, word came of possible planned attacks on churches Sunday morning. The night once again was restless with absence of the morning calls to prayer.

On Sunday, after curfew was lifted, we ventured home to Vom with Matthew and Mark H-S graciously accompanying us to assess the damage to our home. We picked up a welder and our contractor and repairs/reinforcements were made. Our family was able to feel less shaken and further removed from the insecurities of Jos.

Tensions remain high in Jos, although the violence has been suppressed with the heavy military presence in the city. The children’s school resumed today after a week and a half suspension.

It has been said that the struggles in Jos exist between the Muslims and Christians, although the conflict is much more complicated than that and involves politics and power. It has been said that hundreds of lives have been lost and thousands displaced. But what I have seen on the faces of two young men recovering in the Vom hospital from bullet wounds is quiet fear and horror of what they had experienced and seen.

The atrocities and pain felt by many will need to be our common ground so that we may rebuild our hope and restore peace and safety for all. May our faith in God and humanity sustain us as we reconcile the suffering felt by many.

Charlotte

Safe

2008-12-08T04:55:00.000-08:00

Hello. Just a note to assure people that we are safe. Jos has experienced some difficult unrest the past week and a half, with considerable loss of life and property. While we were trapped in Jos due to travel restrictions, our home in Vom was also broken into and we lost our computer. Friends and neighbors have been very supportive of our family through everything, but our problems are very small compared to many others who have lost much more. Although a heavy military presence has brought relative calm for now, tensions are understandably still quite high as life starts to return to some semblance of normal. Mennonite Central Committee continues to work at relief and peace efforts through their partner organizations. We hope to post a blog sometime soon with more details. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, both for us and for all those affected.

Getting along

2008-11-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

Sannu- It has been a while since our last entry. A few weeks back we spent a weekend at Miango Rest Home. It is a beautiful setting and only about half hour away. The weekend was peaceful and restful. They provided us with wonderful food and had activities for the kids. They played tennis, ping-pong ball, and miniature golf. We saw a chameleon for the first time. Quite an odd little creature, especially with its eyes rotating in different directions from the other one. It walked very slowly. The kids also said they saw a snake and it was standing up from the ground about 1-2 feet. I said latter that if it is standing up from the ground then it meant that you were too close to it. The girls had one of their friends from school along and the kids also met some other children at the rest home to play with. When we returned, the following week we had water working at our house and a small solar-battery run fridge. That was wonderful. It’s amazing how simple things back home that we take for granted make life so much easier here when it’s available. Needless to say the fridge stopped working because it drained the battery. So now the plan is to set up solar panels. Language study is keeping me busy. Every so often my head gets so full and I wonder if I’ll ever be able to communicate in sentences that convey a clear message. The kids are enjoying school and seem to be doing quite well. We like our home and the compound. The kids have found some local children to play soccer with. We visited another church last Sunday. It was about a half hour walk through the village and then up a hill. We were the first ones there because we did not know what time it started. Some curious children told us that they had gone to tell the pastor we were there. About half hr later the service started mostly in Hausa. It was a very lively church with lots of singing and dancing. The different choirs are great with their traditional instruments. At the end of the service many of the members welcomed us and the pastor offered us some minerals(pop). He then walked back down with us to our compound. Just found out today that he and the other pastor of the church are coming to visit us this evening at our home. MCC Nigeria has hosted a serve and learn group this past week and a half with doctors and nurses from US and Canada. We joined them yesterday evening for a cultural experience of some Nigerian dancing and singing. Randy and I offered to help the cook prepare the meal for the event. So yesterday we spent the afternoon cutting up fruit and watching them cook the meal over a fire for about 100-200 people. It was an interesting scene with dogs, a cat and chickens roaming around the cooking fire and listening to the mom and her daughters speaking in hausa. If they needed water it was carried in a bucket from the well on the other side of the house. Dishes were done on the ground and I watched one daughter grab some ruff sand to scrape off the bottom of a pot. They did not have any electricity at the time so another daughter took some of the coals from the fire and placed it in a metal iron to get the mom’s dress ready for the evening. She was singing in a group at the event that night. After the food was ready we assembled it into smaller eating containers on the kitchen floor. We then loaded the food and people into the pick-up ready to go when we discovered we had a flat tire. We all got out and changed the tire-got back in and then the new tire went flat. We called for someone to pick us up and then we all squeezed into a smaller vehicle. We felt at home in Nigeria. This morning we picked up our dog. We have decided to name her Kyra—a combination of our last 2 dogs Kiva and Kyr. It will be a challenge to keep our kids on task with their school work with the addition to our family. Culturally though a dog is considered a watch dog or a meal. We have seen women on the side of the road selling dogs for meat. I look forward to having another companion for my and westen’s walks in the morning. Happy up-coming US Thanksgiving-may your travels be safe-charlotte

Vom sunset

2008-11-13T05:30:00.001-08:00

Vom sunset

October Birthdays

2008-10-30T06:37:00.001-07:00

Sannu-greetings- this past month has been a month of birthdays. Westen celebrated his 13th birthday on the 12th. We went out to a nice restaurant that served Chinese and middle eastern food. There was a man there who made leather belts-so westen ordered one and then received it a week later. Later that evening we had chocolate cake with chocolate icing. The next weekend was Kezia and Riana’s 9th birthday. There were 3 other girls from their school about the same age celebrating about the same time so a big birthday party was organized with mrs Harley (their teacher) leading some organized games. I found some African shirts for them and some watches for their birthday. Then I celebrated my birthday this past weekend (you can guess my age). I found some clothes for myself and we went out and had pizza with mark and Brenda and their family. The kids and I all thought of our family and friends back home and wished we could have shared our birthdays with you all. We seem to be sleeping better at night as a family now. The girls, i think, are finally staying in their bed for the whole night. The night noises do not seem to bother me as much and i think our family is finally getting into a routine. Westen and i get up early and set out for our morning walk at about 5:45 am. The sun is just beginning to rise and there is a low fog in the air. We then get our breakfast with the family and then we journey into jos for school. Randy and i are in intense hausa language study. It is difficult at times to let go of our English language with its grammatical structure and syntax and take on a new language with its tonal nuances and relational pronouns. We have a great teacher who is very patient with us when we goof up. Our house is basically set up in vom. There are a few things we need like adding some counter top in the kitchen and furniture items such as a bigger bed for randy and i that are being made by a carpenter. The evenings at home are spent studying and we are in bed by 8:30pm. We are slowly meeting other families on the compound and have started to go to a local church in Vom. The services there are about 2 hours long. The kids did quite well today. Anyways- yauwa-sai an jima—means- good-bye- until later---charlotte

Moving to Vom

2008-10-14T09:18:00.001-07:00

2008-10-14
Hello! Thanks to those who have responded to our blog entries. Since we are only able to access the internet sporadically, I have switched off the “comment” function. Instead, please just e-mail us at thegesells@gmail.com so that when we check e-mail it will download onto our computer and we can then let everyone in the family read it back home. Thanks!

We have started moving things out to Vom this week and hope to be spending the night there by Thursday. Getting a workable water system is the priority. Apparently the hospital compound’s pump is of a sort that requires fairly good quality electricity (a “3-phase” pump if I got that right) but the local power company has trouble providing enough electricity because their hydro dam has silted in enough that the flow is now inadequate. So the pressure is lacking to fill our tank which sits on an elevated platform in the back courtyard. Yesterday they were installing an additional tank that sits on the ground which will hopefully be able to fill with the available pressure. A pump will then be used to transfer that water to the elevated tank (hopefully we will have electricity often enough to run the pump).

We have been spending a fair bit of time with the kids this week catching up on some extra school work during their week break. I think they are doing pretty well considering that they missed the first quarter of school. Every time that they have any symptoms of illness (e.g. a rash or stomach ache) I am always wondering whether it could be something serious like malaria or typhoid- a bit nerve-wracking. Riana has had a fever, diarrhoea and a belly ache today, but the malaria rapid test kit we did was negative. If she has not improved by tomorrow we will have her checked at the local hospital.

Language study will start next week and go through the end of the year. It is so nice that MCC allows us this time to become oriented to our new home without having to dive right into work, which will carry its own set of new adjustments.- Randy

Visit to Vom Christian Hospital

2008-10-09T02:08:00.000-07:00

Hi---we have been here now 3 weeks and in some ways it seems like 3 months. The kids have started school this past week and so far seem to be enjoying it. The night before their first day we all had trouble sleeping. Westen was told that he tested into grade 9 algebra so he was scared about what that might mean—mostly more work. The girls, mostly Riana, were worried about meeting new people. That night also seemed really noisy with animal sounds and car horns. At one time Randy said I jumped on top of him in bed thinking there was someone in the room with us. Funny thing is that the next day when we came home during the day we found a live chicken in our house. Patience, our house keeper, said it was there when she showed up in the morning and thought we bought it for supper. We then wondered if it spent the night with us and maybe that’s what startled me. Evenings are now spent with the kids and their homework. We are working hard at establishing good study habits due to the expectations of the school. We went out to Vom this week and looked in on our house. It’s coming along good. Hopefully we will be moved in by the end of next week. Today we bought a dog-really a puppy- to keep us company in Vom. (It will stay with its mother for 6 more weeks yet.) The kids are looking forward to having a pet to play with. We also had formal introductions at the Vom Christian Hospital. We met some senior staff and had a tour of the facility. The work environment is quite a contrast from what I’m used to. I somewhat expected the very basic approach to medicine, but was still struck by how limited their resources are in any type of medical equipment. It looked like to me that most of their lab work is done by hand—did not see any fancy equipment. The x-ray dept looked very archaic and still used a dark room to develop their films. One of the physicians at the hospital needed to aid a delivery this past month due to complications with the baby. The head had emerged but the body was still wedged in the canal. After a c-section was performed, much to their surprise they pulled out a 2- headed fetus which had died in process. Our jobs do not start until January but we will be living on the hospital compound and will hopefully become more familiar with other staff members also living on the compound. It will be sad to move further away from Mark and Brenda and their children Valerie and Greg, we have really enjoyed our time with them and hope to continue developing our friendship. It will be great to start Hausa language study soon- with the many trips to the market it will become handy. Also with the patient care at the hospital, I expect I will need a better command of the language. Anyways our days are still busy with shopping for household items and getting to know the city of Jos.---take care--charlotte

Village Visit

2008-10-09T02:03:00.001-07:00

Village Visit
September 26-30, 2008
The Gesell Family

Westen (age 12)
This morning we got up in Jos at about 7:30am -8:00am, as usual (if you can call it that after six nights with MCC here in Nigeria). After half an hour of getting up, making beds, stealing some extra sleep, and eating breakfast, we (or I) were pretty much ready to take on the day ahead of us. The rest of the morning we spent playing games (soccer and Rukshuk).
Then about 10:30, Matthew, Brenda and Mark came with the big white van. Fifteen to twenty minutes later we left for our 5 day village visit. At midday I found myself standing on the road side about 10 meters away from a one storey structure that sat beside a tall looking cornfield. On the inside were low set ceilings that joined with about 10 smallish rooms. All this was attached in a square around a concrete courtyard with a deep –by my standards- a well in the middle. After it dawned on me that this would be different than I thought it might be (like large air-conditioned rooms with a tall chain-linked fence surrounding it-heck who knows maybe even a flat screen TV or two). I decided to just buckle done and see what happened.
It wasn’t bad! We sat in the courtyard under the sun. Luckily we were in the shade. We just talked for about a hour and a half. Frankly I’m amazed that people can do that. At about 2:30 pm we had a sort of stew with potatoes and fish in it. It was pretty great! During the next hour or two we wondered over to visit the pastor and the village chief. Apparently one of the chief’s cousins died. So there were a lot of people there. I think I used the term sannu (hi in Hausa) more times then I just said hello in English in the past week. The chief himself seemed like a jolly African man (who refreshingly spoke very good English). The only other people who spoke good English were Isaac (the father of the family who was hosting us) and his son and a few others who we met. After that we walked back to the church where the pastor lived and had prayers in I think Hausa. An hour later we headed back to the family building/ family compound for a bucket bath and supper before heading to bed. For supper we had a mash potato type thing with sauce and chicken on it. That was good too!
I thought that people in Nigeria weren’t as worried about hygiene. But in the village they take bathes twice each day. On our first day in the village, we went to bed at 9:30 pm, looking forward to getting up at 6:30 in the morning. The second day was great. First of all I would like to clear this up. The meals were not good. They were amazing. I really don’t think I fully realized the amount of work put into them though. For breakfast we had these beautiful greasy chips (french fries). They were cut out of potatoes in irregular slices, and if we felt like it we could put them on slices of bread. Instead of water we had a sweet tasting Nigerian version of hot chocolate. The tea was hot enough to last the meal. We had breakfast at 7 am. Isaac’s wife got up at 5- yes in the morning- to begin preparations for it. A little bit after breakfast we took a walk to the market. It was a pretty long walk, but in hindsight it did not seem like a big deal.
When we got there the market looked almost like I thought it would: with the area between the many booths packed with people. After some first impressions we walked into a cluster of low lying buildings to meet the chief of that area of the village. He seemed like a dignified 50-60 year old man who took pride in what he did. While we were walking around the market that day we were drawing attention in the form of a horde of some children. My mom was already pretty popular among them because she was giving out handshakes and high fives for the last 15 minutes or so. During our time at the market we bought a hard plastic green soccer ball. It was twice the size of my fist. It would get a lot of use in the next few days. We then headed back to the compound after buying some sugar cane and peanut/ball/rock/things. When we got back to the compound the first thing we did was play soccer for about 2 hours. After having lunch I think we played more soccer. At about 6:00 pm we took the game to the church for about a half hour, than we came back and ate supper.
One thing I noticed about people in the village, compared to North Americans, is that they take much more time to greet each other. The rest of our village visit passed by in a blur. We spent it playing soccer and eating and generally having a good time. One morning we went for a walk and found a stream running through a ravine. Finally on the last day Mark, Valerie and Greg came. Earlier that morning I ate so much that I really did not want to think about lunch. Isaac hosted a farewell prayer. About 15 minutes later we put our tiny mango tree that we acquired into the van with all our other stuff and drove back to Jos.
In conclusion I think the people in the village work a lot harder than we do. Therefore, I think they appreciate things a lot more as well. Things such as family, water and god being with them always are very important to them. I feel very grateful that they took us in so graciously.

Charlotte
This was quite a journey. We have felt so honoured by the hospitality of our host family Isaac and Elsina and their son Longji. From the moment we arrived the respect and awe we received was quite humbling. The greetings one receives and then gives in Nigeria is such that we are all special and equal in god’s eyes.
Our first day was spent meeting the local people and neighbouring church. Although we share the same curiosity in one another I would hope that we would leave the same high esteem they bestowed upon us. The reverend at the local COCIN(Church of Christ in Nigeria) church and members shared their prayers of our safe journey and visit in their village. We also visited a village family where a funeral was held. Custom is for sympathetic friends and family to arrive soon after the death of the member and then to stay for weeks after.
The next day was a visit with the women fellowship. What fun it was to listen and watch them sing and dance with praise to god. Soon after, we walked to the village market with many special greetings along the way. The children were a special treat with many smiles and curios eyes. We met the village chief-what an honour, we were graciously received. On our return back we stopped at the big rock with a panoramic view of the surrounding area. We could see many vegetable plots, corn and neighbouring villages. Longji also showed us his own corn crop with pride. The girls then had their hair braided with about 15 children watching-what a sight, while the rest of us went for a walk with Isaac and Longji to see a near- by pond- created from mining rocks.
The next day we attended the COCIN church. The service was filled with singing, dancing and many prayers to god. We were honoured as guests by sitting at the front of the church with the pastor and elders throughout the 2 and a half hour service. This gave us a good view of the many choirs and singing groups from the young mens’ band to the old lady’s choir. After the church a blessing was given to a motorcycle bought by a local man for safety. Motorcycles are used as taxis in Nigeria. The owner then gifted us with rice and Kunu (a fermented corn drink). After church we journeyed by van to a near-by village and saw a crater-filled lake caused by an old volcano. On our drive back we first stopped at a local hospital where patients were treated by a bone setter. Most of the orthopaedic injuries were caused by motorcycle crashes. The patients were grateful for our visit as we listened to their stories. In Nigerian hospitals family brings the needed items such as blankets, clothes and food for their sick ones as they stay in the hospital. The clothes and food are hand washed and made on the grounds of the facility. Next we stopped at a village where Isaac was born. We witnessed groups of men playing checkers and an indigenous game with small rocks. Randy took pictures of them with the digital camera and they were surprised to see themselves in the image screen.
The following day we drove to another village. On the way we stopped at the side of the road next to some soft rolling green hills. At the village we went to the market and bought some bananas and peanuts. Our kids also liked chewing on the sugar cane. When we returned we visited a neighbour family member who showed us their grain storage bin and some old huge slabs of rocks where their forefathers would sit in their leisure time.
The last day we travelled to another village with a local taxi. There were about 12 of us piled into a small station wagon that looked like a smash up derby car. We visited a local Health Clinic where they had a recent newborn delivery over night. Many people sat outside waiting for blood tests, meds for ailments such as TB, and other health concerns. We then stopped again at another market where we saw many items being sold such as clothes, shoes, grains, oils, dried crayfish, fermented corn, school supplies, fabric, fruit and vegetables. After our last meal we expressed our gratitude for our stay with many thanks. The village in return brought many bags of Irish potatoes just harvested from their gardens. We were richly blessed with their kindness.
Although our lifestyles are worlds apart, I was struck by the wealth in their hearts, and beauty in their simple every day existence. These people truly lived off the land. The village visit gave us a kick start to Hausa language and culture. We saw how the women and men shared household chores and worked the land. We watched how they provided a means for their family in selling their crops, making food items or materials such as rope from okra plants for sale. We listened and watched how they celebrated life with Longji playing drums, Happy (a cousin) singing songs and many of us dancing to Nigerian music. I was struck by how strong the women are in carrying their children on their backs along with huge tubs of water on their heads. Watching old women walk for miles on the street in bare feet, and daily chores of hand washing clothes and floors and preparing and drying local crops for the season. Many of the young children would also share tasks such as peeling potatoes, plucking feathers of a dead chicken or like Kernan(age 6) throwing laundry on the cactus plant to dry.
Our family experienced new sights, smells, tastes and sounds. Our children were well received by the local children-playing soccer, skipping rope and laughing together in learning a new language. We greatly appreciated our hosts Isaac and Elsina and Longji for a wonderful village visit and can now call this place our village.

Kezia (age 8)
In the village we stayed at a family compound. The people at the family compound spoke Hausa, but after a couple of minutes some other people came that spoke English and their names were Isaac and Elsina and Longji. We stayed there for a couple of days. The next day some people came and braided me and my sister’s hair. In the morning I took a bucket bath with warm water. The next day we went to Isaac’s church. At the church we met lots of people. At the church we got to sit up at the front. There were about 150 people. The church service was about 4 hours long, but we only went for the last 2 and a half hours. One morning we went on a walk to a valley and saw a big centipede. What I enjoyed was playing with some friends, going to the market, playing with the skipping rope, getting my hair braided and dancing to Nigerian music. How I felt when I got there was kind of scared because I did not know any of the people. But after a while I was having lots of fun and it really was not that bad. How I felt when I left was sad because I was going to miss all my friends and the stuff we enjoyed. That was my village visit.

Riana (age8)
We arrived in the village at 12:00. When we got there we unpacked. Then we saw our rooms. They were very nice. After a couple of minutes we sat down on a bench. We learned how to count to 100, but I could only count to 30 in Hausa. After a while we met Isaac and Elsina. They have 1 kid named Longji. After we met them we had lunch. After we had lunch I met some friends. Isaac and Elsina are taking good care of us. While we were there we learned how to take water from the well. After one day me and my sister got our braided it took 2 and a half hours to get our hair braided. Then we went to play football at the field and then we came back and had supper. Then we went to bed. When we woke up I was writing in my journal. After I was done writing we went to church. A lot of people greeted us by singing. It was very nice singing. Then my dad introduced my family to the church. We were invited to sit in front of the church for the whole church service. After church we went back and had lunch. After lunch we played football again. We had supper after we played football. After we ate supper we went to bed. I had a great sleep. While we were at the village we went to many markets and other villages and health centers. The best part was eating sugar cane from the markets. We also did a lot of walking and saw some lakes and hills. When I woke up, in the last morning I helped my dad and the family peel potatoes for breakfast. Before we had breakfast me my dad and my sister went for a walk to a valley.

On the way there saw some pigs. After awhile we came back and had breakfast. That night we danced to music, it was very fun. Before we left a lot of people from the village gave us a lot of potatoes. I had a great time at the village.

Randy
Our family was hosted by Isaac and Elsina and their 16 year old son, Longji, and nieces Happy (16) and Kernan (6).
This is a farming village Isaac estimated to have about 5-6,000 people including the surrounding area. A few generations ago Isaac’s people moved to this area and he was able to show us the locations where their family had lived during the last couple of generations- Near the top of the big rock, across the valley, and finally near the main road for easier access. Although the tie to the land and people is strong, Isaac said he would still move to Jos (as would and do others) for better job opportunities.
The family compound was built just off the main highway in the 1990’s and they had some extra significant upgrades done in preparation for our stay- pouring concrete floors in the rooms previously used for storage and running wires for lights into these rooms. One side of the compound contained rooms that had been meticulously swept and washed before our arrival for us to sleep in, along with a room to store potatoes. Last year they had also added a septic tank (one of 3 in this part of the village) and an indoor squat latrine/bathing room. Isaac said almost no one has pit latrines and people just use the bush. The interior courtyard had been paved over with a tree left to provide shade and the leaves were used in cooking. A well in the courtyard provided water for the family and neighbours, although drinking water was obtained at the COCIN church a 5 minute walk away at the community borehole/pump funded by MCC. It was a picture of grace watching the women arrive each morning to fill their oversize enamel basins from the well, pairs of women bending and lifting the basins onto their heads and then smoothly filing out. The family’s sleeping rooms and parlour were housed to one side, with the adjoining side containing a kitchen room plus a room keeping the goats, chickens and firewood. No electricity runs to Bwonpe yet, although poles had been placed some years before but wires not run when the project faltered. The family has a small generator that they ran after dark, making bedtime preparations easier.
We arrived amidst prayers and we left with prayers. Given my expectations of our having very different theologies, it was an unexpected and joyful gift to feel such a spirit of connection in God. The earnestness and clarity of the prayers of thanksgiving for our safe arrival, and hearing of the prayers offered for us since their hearing of our planned stay in the village was very moving.
The family and community welcomed us in a manner that added an entirely new layer of meaning to the word “gracious”. I am quite sure that I have never in my entire life been (and am unlikely to ever be again) greeted so many times. Indeed, the warmth and sincerity of a single greeting would cover those of an entire week in Winnipeg (not an unfriendly place, but clearly on a different level when it comes to greeting). The gift of opening themselves, their home and community was so openly given it was almost overwhelming at times. On occasion I found myself neglecting to make greetings with the sincerity that was deserved, with some people likely having made long walks to come just to greet us at the family compound. The first morning people were already arriving to greet us at 6:30 as I came out of the latrine! An element of suspense was added to latrine visits by virtue of its being set just off the family courtyard, shielded only by a hanging piece of cloth. The first afternoon I had arrived in the village already feeling the effects of a case of giardia and the courtyard had been steadily filling with neighbours and children coming to greet us. I decided to wait until people had left, a poor decision in retrospect given that the only times the courtyard would ever be empty would between 9:30 PM and 5 AM. The courtyard continued to fill, as did the intestinal pressure. I will only say that complete disaster and injury to innocent bystanders were only averted by an exceedingly gentle and controlled peristaltic release timed to the hearty laughs Charlotte was eliciting as she attempted some Hausa greetings. In retrospect perhaps there is something to be said for just using the bush toilet, public health concerns aside.
One of our first visits was to the pastor of the local church. Midweek prayers had been rescheduled to Friday evening (I suspect for us) with the topic surprisingly being “stress management” where people were encouraged to take time for themselves from their busy daily schedules. The services were in Hausa with Isaac giving a synopsis afterward. We also walked to the local chief’s house to join in the community’s condolences for the loss of a family member. Other greeting visits included another village head, the pastor there and Athanasius’ father. (Although we did not catch him the two times we tried, he later came to greet us at Isaac and Elsina’s home.)
Isaac and family were willing Hausa teachers and we did our best to learn the greetings (although there always seems to be more to learn) and some other basic language skills like counting. Our greetings often caused great laughter. All the children learned quickly and Tanner became a community favourite with his willingness to engage in greeting, always ending with a “Yauwa” delivered with a dramatic flair.
Markets are held every day it seems at different villages. We enjoyed them all- lots of new sights, sounds, smells and tastes- exciting and usually (but not always) pleasant. The children especially enjoyed the sugar cane and I tried some Kola nut. (I’m not yet sure the bitterness is worth the slightly sweet aftertaste it leaves behind.) It was fun watching Charlotte shake hands to lots of grins and laughing with all the children who always followed our course through the market. Inevitably one would run away, afraid of Charlotte’s offered hand. Isaac admitted that parents will sometimes tell the children that if they don’t behave, the white people will take them away. On the way back from market Isaac pointed out the long grass marking where his grandfather was buried- Isaac said that the possibility of spirits returning keep people away from graves generally. An exposed solid rock hilltop provided a breathtaking view of the valley below, filled with homes tucked between cultivated plots and natural land formations. Although I had assumed that the land was naturally fertile enough to support such intensive farming, I was told that fertilizers are very necessary and quite expensive. Apparently the introduction of non-indigenous maize (corn) has exacerbated this. Isaac did show me how they plant different crops together, with potatoes being planted between the maize stalks and beans planted to climb the stalks (half-remembered facts of “nitrogen fixing” come to mind). Isaac also pointed out the thorn trees that are left in the fields to enhance the soil quality.
Sunday service had us honoured up front on the raised dais. The singing groups were fun, with the youth band getting everyone up dancing while offerings were paraded up front. I just hope that the smaller children were not too traumatized from seeing an overweight Mennonite bature (white person) “grooving” up front. I was honoured to offer the congregational blessing to the potatoes and maize that had been laid at the altar as an offering of first fruits of the harvest season. A blessing ceremony was also held after the service for a machine (motorcycle) that had been purchased by a congregant, praying for safe use and service to God. I was very happy to see this very practical “public health intervention”, given the extremely dangerous nature of the combination of poor road conditions, active and varied roadside activity, aggressive driving habits of Nigerians, and motorcycles and cars constantly weaving in and out of each other. I love to see theology and health mixing it up. One village woman was particularly happy to see us with four children (a “Nigerian family”), going on at fair length about the western practice of family planning being imposed/adopted in Nigeria. I wasn’t sure what to say.
Isaac used the church van and a driver to transport us on a couple of sightseeing outings. The surrounding country with its winding roads, steeply climbing hills covered in green, and deep gorges carved by rushing water were very beautiful. I was impressed when we stopped to greet some Fulani (Muslim) friends of our hosts along the road. Isaac said that relations are very good during times of peace, but can become strained during times of conflict when it is easy to become suspicious of neighbours, particularly those that are nomadic and with whom connections are not so good. After visiting a nearby volcanic lake and hearing some of the many stories surrounding it (e.g. the medicinal qualities of the water) we went to visit a traditional bone setter compound. A couple of dozen patients filled the rooms, with family members coming to support them until they recovered enough to return home. Some had accompanying X-rays showing severe breaks, most caused by motorcycle crashes. Isaac reported that results are very good and people come here from very away to receive treatment. It felt a long way away from an orthopaedic floor in North America. When we visited the COCIN church clinic later, the community health workers said they do work with the bone setters to help with pain meds, labs, and antibiotics when necessary. It was interesting discussing the treatment of TB patients at the COCIN clinic, and we were able to greet a young mother who had just delivered at the clinic early the morning of our visit. They do a lot without a doctor present at the clinic.
The difficult moments I remember include understanding that men and women usually eat separately, dark rooms, worrying about our children being too rambunctious at times that might not have been appropriate, being afraid that our hosts would be offended by Charlotte and I having disagreements (i.e. feel that they had somehow let us down), often wondering how our hosts were feeling about our stay, and learning to accept being constantly and graciously served while doing very little ourselves.
The most enjoyable moments include refreshing bucket baths with water drawn directly from the well, morning and evening; awaking to the sound of the courtyard being swept, Happy softly singing, and the smell of the kitchen wood fire; the sound of rain on the metal roofing; the amazing display of stars and milky way in the dark night sky (is it possible for the sky to be bigger here than back home?); watching our children play football, jump rope, dance and laugh with the other children; trying new foods, chips (french fries) for breakfast (everyone knew the children loved this); market visits; learning Hausa phrases; and the sense of community life. (Charlotte and I have often enjoyed and been challenged by living in community.) The greatest benefit was the unexpected friendship and connection to our host family and community. We were told repeatedly that we are now to consider this our Nigerian village home, something that all Nigerians have. Just spending so much time hanging out with folks adds a level of ease to being here. The small glimpse into village life also broadens my understanding of how most people still live in the country.
Although we had discussed our upcoming village visit with the country reps, we had not heard other village visit stories at orientation and had not actually given much thought to the visit ahead of time. In some ways it was kind of nice to go a bit naively, as well as not to have had heavy expectations placed on us by the CR’s. This worked for us since our visit was well prepared and organized. We were well cared and provided for, with our hosts trying to put us at ease in every way possible. The duration was fine with the five days certainly never leaving us bored- maybe a day or 2 longer would also have been fine given the number of things that Isaac wanted to do and see. (We were lucky to be in the village at a time when Isaac and Elsina had most of the days off from work anyway.) I am very grateful to the MCC staff and host family and community for having provided this opportunity.
One of my favourite memories of our time in Bwonpe will be the many people coming into the compound the day of our departure, bringing us gifts of over 200 pounds of freshly dug potatoes. Now we can enjoy chips for breakfast long after leaving and remember our new village.

Tanner (age 11)
My trip to the village was really fun. The first thing we did was eat lunch. The lunch was very good. Then Isaac showed us around the village. After that we had supper. For supper we had mashed potato stuff with a stew. The next day we had a hot chocolate mix thing and chips for breakfast. We met some more people and had the same lunch and supper. I liked everything that we ate. The next day we had the same for all the meals. We met some more kids and me and Westen played soccer/football with them. On Saturday we went to the market, I liked the sugar cane the best. On the way back we stopped and rested on a huge rock. I really liked it. On Sunday we went to church. Church was 2 and a half hours long. The next day we went to a lake. On the last day we went to another market. When I first came I felt shy and when we left I did not feel shy at all. I learned a lot of Hausa there. I especially liked the greetings and learning how to count. I liked everything.

Nighttime Adventures

2008-09-23T04:11:00.000-07:00

Hi to all- this past Sunday we had the opportunity to visit a Nigerian Christian church. The church sits in a community where Muslims and Christians coexist in close proximity with one another. Apparently it was one the few communities where people refused to fight in the riots of 2001 where many people died. The church has a large congregation with young and old, families and expatriates. After church our girls went to a future classmate’s house with Valerie (daughter to Mark and Brenda). It’s so nice that the girls have already found some friends- it helps with them sleeping better at night. Speaking of nights-yesterday evening we got home and the girls found a huge cockroach, it took some time but our hero Randy finally conquered and squished it. So later when randy and i went to bed, we were settled under our mosquito net when just at the same time the generator was turned off-we discovered a huge cockroach inside inside our mosquito net over our heads. About 2-3 inches long. Needless to say it did not take long for us to wake up our neighbour to turn on the generator so we could have some lights on to tear our bed apart and find that bleepin’ cockroach. Randy said that one time it even leaped onto his head- I’m laughing hysterically while typing this with tears in my eyes. What a relief when we finally found it on our bed frame and randy smashed it with a shoe. With that to the beginning of our night-it took some time to fall asleep. We had a great rain storm after the cockroach incident to cool the night down. Nights are still trying especially last night with the cockroach and then–we got woken up early with Tanner fainting and smacking onto the concrete floor. Yesterday he started with a rash-not sure yet what caused it –but it progressively got worse with red welts all over his body. Then in the morning he was complaining of stomach pain and head ache. So we just happened to meet a doctor we will by working with in Vom so we called her and she was very helpful in getting tanner some blood work done and meds. Results were normal- with no malaria – probably just an allergic reaction to something. Today we got a chance to visit a local hospital and drive through downtown. I’m still amazed at the means in which people, animals, motor bikes and cars all co exist on the streets with no traffic lights and few traffic cops to direct vehicles. We still mostly live with the city water and electricity off. We have a water tank outside our current house to use for toilets, dishes and baths. The electricity came on for about 20 minutes today. We have a young housekeeper that works for us now while we are in jos. today she did our laundry, cleaned house and watched our kids for a few hrs. The kids loved it, she played games with them and the girls had fun helping her with the laundry. Interesting when i cant get them to even put their dirty clothes in the basket back in wpg. In the next few days we will be making a village stay about 1-2 hrs from jos. I’m surprisingly looking forward to it. Bye for now- i have great hopes that i will get a good night sleep tonight.---charlotte

We've made it to Nigeria!

2008-09-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hi to all- well we have finally arrived. We a had ruff start with our change in flight due to hurricane Ike in Houston, so we re-routed 2 days later through Dallas . That though gave us a few more days to relax in Albuquerque with Steve –randy’s brother and his wife Gail. The plane flight was long with short layovers. It was strange being at the Frankfort airport and not being able to experience the city-was way too exhausted anyways so crashed on some benches. The kids have done well so far with the time changes and experiencing new sights, sounds and smells. We arrived in Abuja the capital of Nigeria and were welcomed by Mark –our MCC rep and Matthew one of the MCC workers. Our first night was great in a hotel-we all had a shower and slept well. The next morning was our 3-4 hr journey to Jos. One of the vehicles broke done so Matthew had to stay back and the rest of us and our 12 suitcases plus carry on bags piled into one vehicle. That was quite the journey. It will take me awhile to get use to the traffic on the roads. There are really no divided lines between lanes. Cars just weave in and out between and around other drivers, telling other people they’re coming close by honking horns. When we got out of the capital we were inundated with motor bikes all over the place. Apparently in the capital they are not allowed. They also weave in and out of traffic carrying move then twice their weight—many picturesque moments like motor bike riders carrying huge logs, suitcases and other building materials. At times on our journey we would slow down in small villages and the local people would come up to our windows selling fruits, nuts, cell phones, drinks, and vegetables. One time Riana was by the window and some kids were grabbing and pinching her skin on her arm and tugging on her dress. She was just laughing and the kids outside the car were laughing too. It was quite the sight. I was surprised that she handled it so well. Once in Jos we unpacked some of our stuff into the temporary house on the compound where MCC is located. The kids have found some local Nigerians to play sports with outside and the girls were so excited to see Valerie –one of the children of Mark and Brenda-MCC reps. The kids have had a chance to see their school and seemed excited about going there. Last night was a long night. Jos time is 6 hours ahead of Winnipeg. The girls did not want to sleep on their own so I slept in the room with them. Riana and I could not fall asleep- it will take some time to get used to the noises of Jos- music playing, dogs barking, car horns and then you have the early morning, about 5:30, prayers over the loud speaker. I also was having these small anxiety episodes where I could feel myself falling asleep but would feel like I was shaking on the inside. I don’t know if that was jet lag or Jos lag. Today we went out to Vom to see the house and compound where we will eventually be living-in about one month. It’s a beautiful setting with lots of guava, mango and avocado trees. Our kids seemed excited about it too. Anyways in the midst of all these new experiences I think of our life back in Winnipeg and the friends and family we missing already. So far I think I am adjusting well to the different way of life here considering that the electricity and water has been off longer than it has been on, I took a cold sponge bath this am and I am learning how to use a cell phone for the first time.
---charlotte

Getting ready to leave for Nigeria

2008-09-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

We’ve had a wonderful summer, starting with our orientation to Mennonite Central Committee in Akron, Pennsylvania, the first part of July. We traveled from Winnipeg by train and were able to stop and see good friends in Ohio along the way, as well as seeing friends and relatives while in Akron. It felt good to renew meaningful relationships and update each other on where we are in our life journeys. The MCC orientation lodging, grounds, food and discussions were all wonderful. Lots of new friends for all of us. There is an amazing support structure in place to help our family’s transition to Nigeria.

The rest of the summer was spent wrapping up work and wrapping up boxes in between spending time with family and friends. My parents and brother and wife visited us in Winnipeg- we enjoyed our annual fishing/camping trip. Our Winnipeg neighbours, church, and work communities all gave us nice send-offs. We moved to Winnipeg four years ago to spend more time with Char’s family and it was especially hard to say goodbye to our frequent, easy visits with them. The house has been rented to a family that we hope will enjoy it while we are away. (It was important to the kids to have the home to come back to.)

The last 2 ½ weeks have been spent in northern New Mexico, first at a folk festival we have loved over the years, then seeing friends in Santa Fe, and finally with a Miller family reunion at our parent’s cabin. The energy of 14 kids running around made for quite a week. My younger brother without kids has termed such gatherings “Miller-mageddon”. (“But in the good sense,” he says.) There were also plenty of relaxing times with lots of meals prepared over the open fire. The New Mexico landscape has a way of opening the soul. Our family has a very wide range of spiritual paths as we live out our relationships with God and we are all passionate; so we were provided a good opportunity to flex our “diversity appreciation” muscles in preparation for moving to Nigeria. We are blessed to have the support of our families in our lives.

While traveling to Albuquerque today where we will depart from, Riana asked again, “Why are we moving to Nigeria?” (Leaving friends and family behind is still hard.) That gave us a chance to review again what MCC work includes: Relief, Peace and Justice, and Development work, with transformation for all involved. After the discussion we summed up our move to Nigeria as part of our exciting, sometimes painful, and ever-evolving, wondrous faith journey.

Welcome!

2008-06-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

In preparation for our move to Nigeria we have created a blog to make it easier for us to connect with folks. Although we're not sure how to use it yet, we hope it will be a good tool to share photos and updates as a means for generating some back and forth discussions. Please send any tips or suggestions you have. Our new e-mail address will be thegesells@gmail.com. Thanks for your interest!