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April 2005
Another session of 40 days and 40 nights (40/40) has ended. It was an intense, yet fulfilling, time of getting acquainted with this African sub-continent that we call home.
The first week was held at a local conference center.
These first days were spent getting to know our fellow pilgrims who had
joined us on this incredible journey. We also learned a few basic skills that
would be essential for surviving the coming days.
The second week found the group at camp.
This is where we would spend the majority of our orientation time. Things quickly fell into a routine with teams set up for kitchen and
chore duties. Each person was a
member of a team and each team had a different responsibility each day.
If you were on the Twiga (giraffe) team, and you had breakfast
responsibilities on Monday, then you would have lunch responsibilities on
Tuesday, supper on Wednesday, and taka-taka choo duties on Thursday.
The taka-taka choo duties consisted of cleaning the long drop toilets,
picking up trash, filling water containers and chopping wood for cooking.
So everyone did their part in helping the camp run smoothly.
Learning sessions were a daily activity for the
adults. Daily language sessions were held in the morning, followed by
lectures and sessions on a variety of other topics from Anthropology all the way
to using solar energy for cooking. The medical team had a number of
session teaching on the various tropical illnesses that can be contracted in
this part of the world and how to live in Africa and stay healthy. Did you
know that super glue can help heal a cut? Well that is just one of the
tidbits shared during the medical sessions!
Learning to cook in Africa was exciting; and cooking over an open fire was a challenge. But we took it on and did a pretty fair job of it! Creativity is a key to cooking in Africa. Did you know that everything you need to make a Tex-Mex meal is found many parts of the CESA region. Beans are readily available, though not in a can! You can make your own flour tortillas, avocados for guacamole are grown in many places; why you can even make corn tortilla chips! It can be a lot of hard work to cook from scratch, but it is worth it! At least everyone at supper that night thought so!
The children, probably more than anyone else, enjoyed the
camping experience the most. There was so much of nature to enjoy and you
didn't have to stay clean, you couldn't stay clean! School was an
important part of their day as well, but there was plenty of time to have fun
and enjoy camp life. Excursions to game parks and other fun places were a
great break from camp. They even got to have a cold coke during one outing
-- that made Mom and Dad jealous!
God blessed the storying times in the evenings around the
campfire. What a culturally appropriate way to teach/learn the Bible here
in Africa. By chronologically going through the Bible and telling the
stories that God has placed there, we learn more about God, His redemptive plan
for our lives and His desire for us to walk with Him daily.
Each of us are now back our individual countries. Some of us are back in language school, some getting ready to move to our ministry area, some becoming acquainted with new people and a new job, but all of us are richer because of the people we met and the relationships forged at 40/40.
Click here to read more about 40/40