SPRING CLEANING!! (sort of ; >)

I did some spring cleaning today- well, sort of.
This week the boys are unexpectedly home from school several days--something about the final exams.  If I have it right, the 9th graders are taking exams, and to prevent cheating opportunities, they cannot have them sitting 2 and 3 to a bench like they usually are in the classroom.  So all the other classes have no school and their rooms are used to spread out the test-takers.  Makes sense!

Most of our boys are in the first 3 grades, even tho they are older than you might think of when you say 1st grade.  Most did not have opportunity to attend school as young children, and some are struggling to learn now.  We will need to see what ways we can come up with to continue their education over the summer so that they do not regress.  Maybe those of you at home who are teachers can help us with some ideas. We do have a couple of boys who are in grades 4 & 5 but none above grade 5. 

Before heading to the States on her trip, Claudia had asked Ray to see about putting a back on the open shelf that is home to their books and papers in the family room.  The shelf was full:  books, loose papers, empty book covers and parts of books all stacked haphazardly on its 3 open shelves.  Some had slid off to the back of the shelves and were laying under the desk, others tottered precariously close to the front edge, waiting their chance to slide down and join their friends on the floor.  All was covered with the fine, rust-red dust that covers everything here, thick enough to make mud pies out of the bottom of my cleaning bucket when I was done. Imagine, if you will, an old bookcase that is out in the back shed, or in a corner of the barn loft, and has not been dusted for several years.    Add to that the fact that these are books that are shared with a dozen children, and they do not have my concept of careful care of all things literary.
I decided that a cleanup party was in order while I watched over their "Marinade" time for Christian, who wasn't feeling well.  I began sorting, stacking by types:  full (seeminglycomplete) books, empty book covers, book parts and what looked like salvagable pages.  Coloring and workbook types, all well used, I thought,  went in a separate pile, and the torn pieces that seemed to me to be beyond salvaging I put in the small trashcan on the other side of the desk.
Since my children regularly accuse me of keeping things that are not worth keeping, and being hopelessly conservative when it comes to saving anything that looks even remotely like a book, imagine my suprise to be confronted later in the  afternoon by a serious 7-year-old, who came to me, holding the offfending trashcan.  It is Bakary's job to clean the living room this week and in the process of carrying out his duty, he saw the papers there. With an expression of gentle reproof on his face, he proceeded to sort thru the discarded paper, removing about 2/3 of the pages that I had thrown away, shaking his head and saying "No, Mimi,.. no, Mimi...no, Mimi" as he rescued each one.  These he placed back on the table to be returned with the sorted books to the shelf.
What a lesson in perspective that was for me!    I DO remember thinking that the stack of books that I had sorted and put back together looked woefully smaller than the jumbled stash had looked before I started. What looked like an abundance when disordered and piled up in dusty disarray, shrank when stacked in neat piles, and I thought about the multitude of bookshelves that my own children and grandchildren enjoy.
We will work to put the broken books back together (using some more of the duct tape that Ginn and Garrick gave Ray for a Christmas gift-- what a treasure trove that has turned out to be.  Ray has already used up the blak tape, rebuilding 5 Bible covers that were falling apart with wear.)
I can also solicit help from some of you to send me books (preferably French, or maybe even Bambara) to help fill the shelves as we go along.  (Ain't Amazon wonderful!?!?)
That got me in the clean-house-mood, and I began to think about finishing the job of cobweb sweeping that Julie and I had started in the big room earlier.  Not knowing if it would last more than a few days given the climate and dust storms we have seen, I still determined to try, and have been pleased with the results thus far.  The children may not notice, but I do!!  So I have stretched to wipe cobwebby ceilings in the boys familyroom and bedrooms, and will wipe down some walls while they are at school again. Big improvement!

(For you to be able to grasp the problem of the dust here, I think I have an illustration for you.  Are you familiar with powdered tempura paint?  Picture a handful of rusty, red colored tempura powder being thrown in your front door, and each window,  with a strong fan blowing behind it.  Then repeat that experiment at least daily!  That is partly why there is dust on books and shelves,  ...... and canned goods..... and storage containers....and EVERYTHING!  Add a plethora of granddaddy long leg spiders who weave their gossamer webs across 10' tall ceilings and you'll begin to get the picture.)

Till next time, be Blessed and Be a Blessing.

Count your clean house twice!

Our Boys

Let me introduce 2 of our boys to you today.

I have just been realizing that I have written a lot about the land and the climate and such things, and have told you all very little about our boys here. We have been here at H2tNI just a month now, and already we are discovering unique and particular strengths in each boy- some on the verge of young manhood.
There is Bakary, the sweet, helpful, servant hearted one.  Just 7 years old, and on the street from a very young age, he yet has a sweetness that is winsome.  Two weeks ago his daily job was to clean the tables after each meal.  One particular day we had a fish sauce with rather bony pieces of fish, and many bones and smelly scraps were left on the table when we were finished. Having lived more than a year or two in fly territory, I saw that the tables really needed to have a good scubbing if we were to avoid being entirely overrun with those nasty, pesky insects.  The floor wanted a washing too, with all the sticky rice and scraps that had gotten spilled there, so I thought that I would help him do that. We took the tables outside and I showed him how to make a paper "dustpan" to take the spilled rice and crumbs to the trash cans out and away from the buildings, rather than just to sweep them on the ground right outside the doors. Then we washed the tables, rather than just brushing them off.   He took the little broom from me and vigorously completed the job.  Not only that, the next 2 days, when I was not there to help, he washed the floor again- an extra job, above and beyond his required duty. It was a delight to see.
I have several times observed his quick attention to see a job that needs done and just go ahead and do it. He has helped our little 2 year old Jonathan, come and offered to help me carry something that I was carrying, offered to work with Ray at a task.  It is a trait that I so admire in my husband, and have benefitted from many times. :)) Pray that others will recognize that gifting and honor it in Bakary.

Then there is Karim, one of the quieter ones.  He, too, is observant, and has a real gentlemanliness about him that is special. When we have travelled in the truck (a real experience on these rough and dusty roads, I can tell you), he has noticed when a large truck was coming to pass us, and reached across to shut my window to save me from the worst of the dust and dirt that rolls in the open windows. He also would reach out to steady my shoulders when I was trying to get a picture while we were driving on a particularly rough stretch of that same rugged and rutted dirt road. 

It seems to me that this intense 14 year old is designed to be an accountant or have a detail conscious job.  He is extrememly neat and precise with his writing skills, and accurate with his math.  He does not answer as quickly as some of the other boys, but I wonder if that is more because he is being careful to have a right answer, well thought thru and sure, than from any lack of understanding. Pray with me that his skills will be appreciated, and that he will come to realize his worth for who God has made him, valuing his carefulness as a treasure.  

Sunday, June 5,2011 No water and no Spare tires!

What an adventure today has been!! 
There had been a sprinkle of rain again last night and sleeping was comfortable with the fans running.  Electricity was still on (just, we discovered:-))when Ray got up at 6am to find there was no water!  Upon exploration he discovered that Joseph had known where to push the reset button for the pump and he heard the gurgle of water just beginning to flow up to refill the empty water tank.   And then the electricity went off and the pump stopped!   No electricity means no pump working;  no pump means no water.  Ray decided to try again to get the generator working, taking apart the filter where he had discovered yet another leak, all to no avail.  That means no electricity for several hours at least, until there is enough solar collection to refuel the battery array past the cut-off threshold for producing electricity.   OK! .... We had no water stored for such an emergency-- we will learn to be more prepared!

We had planned to attend the English speaking Sunday service in Bamako this morning, as it was a special  wrap-up for the season and farewell for those departing Mali this summer.  Just a 1/2 hour before we needed to leave, a donkey cart arrived with several of the yellow plastic jugs that one sees everywhere, oil jugs that have been pressed into service in their second career as water containers. We brought some of that water up to the apartment in our bucket, heated some on the stove for Ray to shave, got our basin baths and were on our way!

It was a lovely service with a full house in the upstairs (airconditioned!!) conference room; children, youth and adults gathered together this morning for worship, prayer and farewells.  John & Julie are experienced at such gatherings and led us well, mixing in a "spelling test" (I am  a "C", I am a "CH"...) to keep the little ones' interest as well. (I have never sung the version that replaces every word with an "icken" ending.  "I am a Chicken, I am a Chicken, I am a Chicken Hicken Ricken Icken Sicken Ticken..."  Very interesting!  Chris Clugh would have been proud of us!)
After a time of prayer for one another, we finished by singing Sound of Music's Farewell song.  How fitting!  "So long, au revoir,  auf wiedersehen, goodbye"-- in the many languages represented by these missions families.
One new friend invited us to join them at a small restaurant they know, where the food and service are good, and the prices reasonable--important considerations for eating out here. It was on the other side of the river--meaning away from home, and less familiar to us, but we decided that following them should enable us to get there with out getting lost.  As we started across the bridge, one of our tires went flat! We had no choice but to proceed til we reached the other side, and pulled off onto the shoulder at the first available spot, a place where banana plants extend from the road to the river. 
What to do?
Since we carried no spare (a flat earlier this week had not yet been repaired), and could not reach anyone at our base by phone (Paul has no phone at the moment, having had trouble and not yet getting it repaired) we called the contractor who is building the next house on the base, and he promised to go and try to make connections with Paul for us.  Thankfully, Christian was able to communicate with him in French, and our experienced missionary friend communicated the need for our vehicle to remain at that spot til repairs (offering a small stipend for watching service), and we proceeded to the restaurant for a good lunch of boeuf kabobs and vegetables, washed down with a sweet, richly coloured hibiscus drink. We received a call from Paul before our food arrived at the table, and with Christian explaining the crisis, resolved that they would come and replace the wheel for us.  Miraculously, they were there and gone before we finished our meal and we returned home without further incident.  (Did I mention that we stopped to pray and ask God for His intervention in the midst of it all?  :-)) Thank you, God, for your care of us.
Electricity was on again when we returned to the base in mid afternoon. We all got showers, talked to our kids via the wonders of Skype and Magic Jack, did work on our computers,  and ate a supper of Malian spaghetti with the boys (boiled spaghetti noodles dressed with some oil and enough tomato and onion to slightly color it). 
At 8pm a horn is blown. A Bible story and questions for all the boys takes place in the dining hall where we have all eaten, and where the street kids will sleep on their foam mats.Afterward, the resident kids and all the staff (except the gate guard, who is responsible for the street boys) go to the Livingroom for the Family meeting to end their day. Paul listens to the memory verse that each one is to pick from their reading of the day's assigned Bible Chapter, asks if there is any discussion of the days events, and prays a prayer of blessing over each one. I have been trying to "Catch them doing good", and compliment one of them on a good job done that day. Of course, with my lack of Bambara skills,  I have to explain it to Paul who then passes it on to them in their native tongue.  It has been fascinating to see them drinking up that encouragement. I must not let that slip away.
We finished the evening by playing a game of Quirkle with Joseph. Thanks to the Roxbury staff for buying that game for us.  It is a great game that is not much hindered by language, once the rules are understood.
Be Blessed and be a blessing today!
My thanks for the day?  I am thankful for an everpresent God, a protector and teacher who knows my name.

June 5, 2011 Another level of learning!

 I have been trying to get some pics uploaded but not getting there very fast, so I'd better get back to blogging and catch you all up on things.
We are in Mali for a month already!  Wow!  How much we have learned.  How much more we have to learn.  It is sort of like parenting, you think you are making good progress, then God introduces a new subject or at least a new level of learning and growth. BOY, DO WE HAVE A LOT TO LEARN!
We have learned a little about the Malian way of thinking--about the importance of relationship over "fact".  We have been told not to ask a yes/no question: an african cannot say "no" to a guest! He will have to give you a "yes" to fit in his culture of politeness. He will leave thinking he has done well, and go and do as he has intended all along. We will leave expecting the "yes" to be carried thru, and be disapointed and frustrated at the outcome.
Just yesterday we got a new perspective on that.  If you say "I will give you this money if you will use it for (a specific project), will you receive it?" to one of an African mindset, he will say "yes, I will do it!" However, once the building is built, or the money is in his hand, he will feel that it is up to him what it will be used for.  That is not our way of thinking, is it?  He is being polite and giving you the answer that you want to hear--right now, to make you happy.  His way of thinking is to build the relationship above all other considerations.  Our perspective is often about "The Facts, ma'am! Just the facts!"
We come from a black & white, right and wrong culture.  Most Malians come from a shame and honor culture perspective.  Both have their pluses and minuses, but until we understand each the other, we will be at a loss.
Be Blessed and be a blessing today!