Looking Like Christmas!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christ-mas……! Except that the particles in the air are red dust and black plastic bags instead of crisp white snowflakes.  We have hung a few red and gold ribbons in the livingroom, set up a tabletop Christmas tree on a wooden box,  and placed the new African nativity set on the small cupboard that holds our dishes. We listen to our one Christmas CD - a Chris Tomlin CD of Christmas carols (why didn’t I think to bring more? ...next year!) and have even baked some Christmas cookies.  It doesn’t quite look and FEEL like Christmas to us yet!  But then, what does “Christmas” look like?    In reality, that first Christmas must have looked a lot more like where we are in Mali this year, than any place we have been for Christmas in our lives!!   When I look out my window, I can see small houses with flat roofs and unscreened windows, and courtyards where small fires are built to cook simple meals.  The streets are rough and dusty—one NEEDS a feet-washing after walking any distance on them.  I can hear (CLEARLY, at 4 am) the braying of a donkey that might be the descendent of the one we like to think Mary traveled on to get from Nazareth to Bethlehem in answer to Caesar’s command for a census count. There might be a few cattle wandering down the street, tended by a Fulani herdsman, like as not;  probably a few sheep are in view, and a couple of hens with a flurry of chicks scratching in the dust. There may be a neighbors’ dog, or a couple of goats in the picture as well.  [No need to seek out a live nativity scene.: )]          

Children of all sizes are out and about from daylight til well after the sun goes down.   Infants are carried on the hips or slung on the backs of sisters just slightly older themselves. (Well, maybe a little older. – But we have seen tiny babies on the back of children that look to be no older than 3 or 4, and I watch in amazement as a mother places her newborn on the lap of her 2 year old (Yes, her 2 year old!) sitting on the bench beside her, then calmly picks the baby up again in a few minutes when the toddler gets restless.)  ‘Big’ brothers  stop in at the church services and listen for a bit, then shepherd their toddler siblings back out the door and down the street to wherever it is they have decided to go that day.  [I can visualize Mary telling Jesus to take young John or James out to play, and a similar scene ensues.] 

Toys are what you make them



Toys are made of whatever is at hand:  a bicycle tire or a plastic bag on a string make dandy toys to chase down the street with a stick or watch fly aloft on the breeze.  An empty plastic coke bottle works to play kick-the-can, by your-self or with a friend. ( A recent picture captured 3such tires lined up in parking-lot fashion against the church wall, with rolling sticks balanced on top, while their young owners ventured inside to hear the Bible story, or listen to the singing and the drums. [No, I don’t think that Jesus had coke bottles to play with, or plastic bags either, for that matter.  But maybe his kite was made from a scrap of material from a worn and discarded garment, or he had a whistle made from a length of sweet grass, or bamboo.  And I imagine that his feet got as rough and calloused as these boys’ feet get as he ran and played with the other boys in Nazareth.]  In Yirimadio, donkey carts and small pushcarts raise trailing clouds of dust (and flies) as they wend their way over the rugged streets and roads.  Piles of rubbish seem to be everywhere.

Small boutiques open their doors for customers and tailors hang up their samples on pegs on their shop walls. Carpenters set their beds and cupboards outside tiny workshops  to be seen by passersby, maybe choosing this quiet morning to varnish a new piece. The crippled beggar makes his way to his spot where traffic has to slow to cross a dry waterway and then turn a corner, hoping to make enough to sustain himself another day.  Children head off to school and enterprising women sit at food booths near that busy corner.  Fruits and vegetables, eggs to be fried and served on fresh bread for breakfast sandwiches, maybe a few soaps and household items are for sale.

Mary and Joseph may have looked out on a similar scene, don’t you think?  If the angels did not visit you and give you a heads up—Christmas looked like any other day in Bethlehem.  Mary probably planned to go down to the market to buy provisions for the day, and draw water for the day’s work from the community well. She may have had a scarf to wear draped over her head to shield her from unwelcome stares, as well as the heat of the mid-day sun. That scarf could also be coiled to make a more comfortable resting place for the pot that she carried back to her house on her head, pregnant or no. [Plastic buckets and light metal basins substitute for clay pots around us here in Yirimadio, but I still stand amazed at the loads they can carry on their heads.]  Joseph was most assuredly dressed more like the men of Mali, with their long flowing kaftans and loose trousers, than in the Docker’s and polo shirts that you guys might see in your closet.

Living in Mali has given us a new perspective on what Christmas looks like.  It is a different, and sometimes uncomfortable picture. We still enjoy some of our traditions,and the Christmas carols we listen to.  But my material trappings of ‘Christmas’ seem much less worthwhile, and I am forced to look at this gift of God in new ways.  What about you?  How does your ‘Christmas’ look this year?
Make it a meaningful one, no matter how and where you celebrate it.  It is still a celebration of the greatest gift ever given—Jesus, incarnate/come in the weak form of a man-child- to bring new life to us all.

Have a blessed Christmas!



We get watermelon for Thanksgiving AND Christmas!



Black plastic bag transformed into fish kite

 


At market with Fanta last summer.

 

School sucess and Christmas Celebrations

The boys are doing well in school and that is good to see. Sometimes, in the past, they have not risen to the top like good fresh cream. I wrote about the daily chores and the Bible meorization that is on their daily schedule. They also have regular homework time scheduled each day after school. Undoubtedly, that scheuled time when they have to sit down and at least look like they are studying is bringing postitve results. There is someone there who can answer questions if they have them, and is also there to see that the study time is being observed. This year we have 1 that is first in his class, another that ranks 3rd and another 5th. That is a pretty good record for kids who have been on the street and not under a caring parent's protection for these formative years. We are proud of them! I think they are understanding the value of learning and are really working at it.
When Claudia came home after being gone for 10 days for her Christmas shopping trip and visit with family in Austria this week, they were eager to show her their good reports, as noted in their workbooks. Claudia asked a question about how they were doing, and I watched as Karim (who happened to be the quickest to return with his evidence) pointed out page after page with a teachers 'tres bien' or similar comment posted. Jeremie and Boubacar and Amadou and Flo were grouped up behind him with their books to show her.
We have wondered what a Malian Christmas celebration would be like, and have been told that churches celebrate with an all night worship service with dancing and singing on Christmas eve, then go home for a few hours before gathering again on Christmas day to continue the festivities til mid afternoon. No gift giving or fancy decorations. "It's all about Jesus!", I was told. I hope we get a chance to experience that kind of a Malian Christmas.
Our base celebration will be more western, it seems. Claudia brought back some Christmas candies in the guise of Advent Calendars which a few lucky boys get a chance to sample each evening. Lights have been strung in the familyroom, and a snow and Santa cloth adorns the table there. We will have to wait and see what other celebration there will be.
We have put up Christmas decorations in our apartment-- the few that we brought with us, and a few that we have bought since we are here. Our decorations are quite eclectic. While we are missing the smell of fresh pine greenery that we usually cut off our 'back 40', we do have an Advent Calendar that Mattias,our exchange student from Gernmany, brought us many years ago; a tabletop Christmas tree with a tiny string of lights and a few carefully selected ornaments from our stash at home; our new Malian Nativity set, watched over by the hand-crafted-Malian-angel-ornaments that I purchased from a ministry to girls who are being rescued from prostitution here in Bamako. We also brought some bright red and gold bows to add color to the strands of dainty pine garland we purchased in upstate PA several years ago, while celebrating our 35th anniversary with the Freys (Remember that, Wes and Lena?). We have succeeded in downloading a few carols from the innernet but mostly are playing our Chris Tomlin Christmas CD.
Not like at home but, it is where we are for this season. We are of course missing all of our families and some of the extra celebrations that we enjoyed so much when we lived in Pennsylvania--but Ray & I are having a chance to sing in an 'Anglo-phone' (read English speaking) choir of Handel's Messiah, and we will be attending Julie's school Christmas program at BCA.
We are Occupying CHristmas here in Bamako, tho in different ways than we have in the past.
Celebrate with us the birth of the one and only Son of God- Jesus, Saviour , Redeemer, and Lord.
Mim in Mali

'Chili' in Mali- (tho not so chilly as in PA right now)

This morning I read a post from a friend that was making a pot of chili. You have to know that a good bowl of chili is one of my favorite comfort foods, so my ears perked up--or is that my eyes perked up, since I was reading it?--anyway, I read her recipe. Yumm! I can make a taste-of-home-pot-of-chili here!
Large stock pot (Got it!-- I brought several good pans with me in a suitcase)"brown 2 lbs of ground chuck"(my taste buds almost started salivating. My beef comes in hunks that I watch them cut off the back quarter, or hanging side of beef at the open air market, and is so lean that I have to add oil or water to cook it well. In Home Economics class all those years ago, they called that 'moist heat methods for less tender cuts' )
"with 2 diced onions" (easy-- they are abundant here)
"Worchestershire sauce, and cumin" (yep I have those too
!)"...and drain the grease". (or NOT!)
"Add...tomatoes, and ..tomato paste". We can get large cans of extra thick tomato paste here, as it is a staple in many Malian sauces. The ladies buy it at market, a few tablespoons spooned from the vendor's gallon-sized can into a piece of plastic bag, enough to flavor a large pot of sauce. It is not the several cups that we use to make spaghetti sauce, or chili. And cans of diced tomatoes cost 3 times what I paid for them at home (6 times what I paid at BB's LOL:)) Remembering that the average Malian earns in a week less than most of you make in an hour of work, you understand that canned tomatoes are NOT on their shopping list.
"Add 2 cans of kidney beans"--(mine will be dried beans, soaked and cooked the old fashioned way. I will buy my choice of beans from perhaps 8 or 10 varieties displayed in open bags at one of the stands at market. They will then need to be picked over, to remove stones and other bits of the plant, before that are washed, soaked overnight and cooked. Not quite as simple as opening a can or two, but Hey!..>..>>..Pot of Chili!!)
..and simmer another hour, watching that it does not scorch or burn." Thats the same around the world! So is the "sit down and Enjoy with family and friends" part.
We'll be enjoying chili later this week, after I get to market again. We will also be intentionally naming out our blessings and thanking the God of all grace and mercy for His abundance in our lives. I encourage you to do the same.





I thought about how blessed we are in many ways. Beef is cheaper here than chicken, but the average Malian gets very little of either, while we can afford to buy as much as we want. The beef is very lean, as it is fed on what grass is available in sparse pastures,so it is also healthier for us. (THere was a reason that God said to His people that they were not to eat the fat!)

The dust has settled--but changed hearts remain.

The dust has settled.  The tents have been taken down. The crowds and Pastor Anthony have gone home. But there have been lasting changes in the lives of our boys -- and of us!  


Pastor Anthony prayed into each of our boys while he was here, many of them more than once.  He spoke truth and life into their spirits and their futures. Last night we heard testimony during family-meeting of the changes and the impact that they, themselves, are aware of in that impartation.
 One of the powerful things that Claudia has instituted here 

7th Anniversary Celebration

November 18-20, 2011 we celebrated 7 years of ministry for Central Apostolique Malian (CAM) here in Bamako.  The ministry began in the part of Bamako known as Banakabougou, where Claudia Wintoch lived and worked, and began to reach out to the boys who lived on the streets around her, surviving by whatever means were at hand. They would congregate at 'people places' like the bus station, or traffic intersections where they could beg some coins from passersby on which to survive. They slept wherever they could find a safe place to lie down.  The younger ones served the older, and in return got such protection as they could provide.
 Today we are located in the quartier of Yirimadio, on a plot of land that was given to Claudia by God's grace and the at the hand of the governing body, as a base to serve the needs of these boys and others. More than a dozen boys and young men live at this base, going to school, eating and sleeping together as a family of sorts, and learning about the creator God that so loved them that he gave His only son Jesus to provide payment rescue them (and us!).
 We have had a weekend of special services and have been blessed and refreshed by the teaching and Fathering presence of Pastor Anthony Turner, our special guest speaker from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Let me walk you thru the days- with pictures!
 The day began for us on Sunday with a knock on the door just before daybreak. The boys were ready to slaughter the large sheep that had been purchased 2 weeks ago and has been kept on base in preparation for this day. Ray's help was wanted- and I soon went down to take pictures of the goings-on.  I was more than ready for them to end the ram's marauding of the gardens we had planted - he decimated our sweet corn patch and ate tops off many of the mango plants, tomatoes and young seedlings. (Maybe that was a contribution to his tastiness!) Pastor Anthony soon came out on his rooftop to chronicle the event as well.
 The kitchen was empty at that early hour, but would soon be bustling with the cooks and their helpers and friends who pitched in to prepare lunch plus an evening meal for an expected 150 guests. A huge kettle of rice, another of cous-cous, and a pile of onions, squash, potatoes and other vegatables that would find their way into a tasty stew --along with billiba sheep, of course!
 Tents had been arranged for to provide shade and their set-up started early on Friday morning.  For awhile there were an army of scurrying helpers laying out the poles and fittings, and they quickly began to take form. The whole open area where the boys play soccer was soon covered for the event.  There was a Friday morning service in the main building, with Pastor Anthony teaching, then a full day on Saturday and the main Celebration on Sunday under the tents/ Chairs and benches were placed in the newly created shady area and mats rolled out in front of the platform to provide a place for worshipping feet to move without stirring up too much dust. 
 The Baptistry had to be filled, and a chair placed in the water for the ones who were to be babtised to sit on. Ray supervised that project and made himself useful in many places.  After our Sunday breakfast of bread and jam (this morning we had mango jam that I had made and canned while mangoes were so plentiful), Julie and I played a game of Qwirkle with Pastor Anthony and some of the younger ones.  Ray stopped for a minute to look over a shoulder, but didn't stop long when there was work to be done.  (That will surprise none of you who know him :))
 After lunch the gates were opened and people began to arrive.  Crowds of children and a few adults came from nearby. Two bus loads of people from the old neighborhood arrived in one overloaded run, and we were amazed to see how many spilled out of  it's doors when Ray drove up. A few special friends arrived on motos and by car.  The radio crew—scheduled for the day of broadcasting-- did not arrive til 4 pm and so missed much of the program.  They did interview Paul and Claudia after the service. 
 Some of our boys were stationed at each gate to welcome people and hand out a piece of candy to each child (and then later, to watch that the plastic plates that food was served on didn't go out those open gates).  Others were positioned at the dining hall doorway to hand out  bags of water. Flo tended the sound board and Jeremie played drums.    Our resident boys all had their assignments to help with serving, gathering up and washing the plates, and then handing them out again.  (Unfortunately the food did not stretch to match the crowd and some street boys went to bed hungry, with out even their customary dish of fat rice.)
 A review of CAMs history and ministry was shared.  Energetic Bambara worship, lead by Paul, was interspersed with the more familiar(to us) praise music of the guest band, led by Daouda, the boys music teacher. We had a boys choir to help with worship, and Claudia had worked with 6 of the kids to do a worship dance number. 
 A highlight of the afternoon was the baptismal service.  Four boys gave testimony of their allegience to Jesus, and were baptised in the concrete baptistry  that is a part of the concrete platform area. They changed clothes and returned to receive their certificates and a blessing from Claudia and Paul, their Pastor.
 Pastor Anthony delivered a timely message on Fatherhood, and the blessing that our children are and give. He culminated his teaching by calling all the children to come forward, and prayed a blessing over them. He then asked them to turn and stretch out their hands to their parents and the other adults and pronounced a blessing from the children. It was awesome.  A proclamation of submission and blessing was passed. 
  Ray drove the double-bus-load of people back to Banakabougou, arriving back well after dark. It was a full day of anticipation, preparation, stress, blessing, relationship, celebration... and then rest. Our boys gave us reason to rejoice.  We see such growth and promise in them.  Please pray for us and them as we live and work together.
Striving to be a blessing to those God has planted us with in this season.  
Won't you join us!?!

Blessed by Pastor Turner

Today is Thursday, Nov 17 2011
 We are indeed blessed!  We have just made the acquaintence of Anthony Turner, a pastor from Colorado, who has come to be guest speaker for the 7th Annual Celebration here at CAM/Healing 2 the Nations base in Yirimadio.  Ray & I took him on a walk around the neighborhood this morning, to give him a taste of what it is like here. Along the way we spoke to children at play, ladies doing their laundry, shopkeepers tending their boutiques, and even a few men that greeted us as we walked by. We also got to show him the brick making process at 2 sites where houses will soon be raised, or added onto.
 We have known Pastor Anthony for less than 24 hours and are already feeling refreshed and encouraged by him.  We are looking forward to what else he will bring us, individually and as a church body this week. The theme for this time is Knowing the True Father (and the Father Heart of God),and he will teach and lead worship for us in special services on Friday and Saturday. Sunday will bring the culmination to the event, with a big fete and dinner on Sunday afternoon. 
 The main course for that dinner, biliba-daddy-sheep, has been in our enclosure for more than a week, and has helped himself to more of my garden plants than made me happy! He, with the able assistance of the much smaller young 'lion sheep' that was brought here in preparation for Paul's wedding in January, pretty well stripped the new stand of sweet corn that we had hoped to harvest in just a couple of weeks. (I get my revenge on Sunday!Um-m-m-! Mutton!) Seeing what was happening, and realizing that tying them was not working, I surrendered the patch after salvaging 1 small whole ear of sweet corn, plus 3 more nubbins that had the upper ends chewed off. We also dug what peanuts had grown (see picture of Ray & Adama)since the peanut plants went the same way as the corn. Ray & I ate the corn nubs for dinner last night before getting on our 'moto' to go to Handel's Messiah choir practice in town.  Actually, we got off our bike and got on Rokia's (thank you, Rokia) when we found we had no headlight. (We see many bikers running without lights, but we are not yet that adventurous!) Just a side note to the spirit of family care that she displayed; she returned the moto to us with the light fixed-- so we were especially glad that we had filled the gas tank for her:)) 
 The boys have filled several hundred small plastic bags with water, in preparation for thirsty attendees at the sevices, and will have a holiday from school on Friday. Shade will be provided in the open area that is just below our kitchen window, and stacks of metal chairs will be pulled out of storage for seating. There are also dozens of colorful plastic plates and plastic mugs that have been carefully hoarded from last years celebration to serve the meals. A neighbor has been hired to be an extra cook for the weekend, so that our regular cooks can participate in the services along with the rest of the base family. 
 As I write this, there is the sound of singing and music downstairs. The boys are in the middle of their weekly music lesson. They have a music teacher who comes and teaches about 10 boys, all together, for an hour.  Then they have the assignment of practice on the other days, each one taking a 15 min turn practicing on the instrument (piano, drums or guitar) that they are learning.  (American children should be so faithful at their practice!)
 Hope you are enjoying the adventure with us.  I promise to write again soon.
Take care to be a blessing this week, as you serve God and others.
Mim in Mali

October Heat

Another day that started out hot and dry, with even our white painted outside door radiating heat by 7 am. We have not had rain for more than a 10 days now. I know that may not seem like a lot in a temperate climate, but here, that means DRY and dusty as soon as the wind stirs, I can hear it gritting on our metal roof. The plants really need watered daily, and Adama has that job first thing in the morning. I am trying to get him to see the needs of the garden with his own eyes and not wait for me to tell him what to do. He also is responsible to empty the “dumuni kolo”(food wastes) bucket into the compost area and sprinkle a shovelful of dirt over it.

Both the Malian 'kaba' and the American sweet corn that we planted earlier are finished now, and he has removed those stalks and put them to rest as humus where we will be planting more bananas. We have replanted both kinds of corn, and some sweet-grass in an area near the water tower, knowing that it will need regular watering-- maybe even 2ce a day-- after the rains stop entirely. We still have a couple of eggplants bearing, and 5 tomato plants coming into their own.

It is hard to visualize what the landscape will look like after there is NO rain for 4-6 months. (Dec-Feb have an 'average' of “zero” rainfall, and the shoulder months of November and March-April only an inch or so each. We are hopeful that Ray will be able to rig a gray water tank to make use of the significant amount of hand, dish, and clothes washing water that currently just goes into the septic tank. That, along with the drip irrigation bucket kits that we have ordered should go a long way to watering the gardens during this next 6 months. We will see!

Adama, our main gardener and grounds worker, had a chance to show Claudia the gardens today, which have majorly grown while she was in the states this last trip. You should have seen his face light up when he told me that she was coming to look. He absolutely beamed! This summer we purchased and planted 5 or 6 banana plants, 5 citrus trees, 2 'sun-sun' bushes and 2 grafted mango trees that are about 5 ' tall. They are all doing well! Then there are the tomatoes, a patch of sweet grass, some mint tea, and a few melon vines under the shadow of the water tower. New corn plants are waist high, where before there was only a weeds and grasses area. Nearby we are babying about 2 dozen mango starts, a nursery bed of bouganvilla cuttings and some sun-sun that we started from seeds 2 months ago. Most recently we have started a nursery bed in the shade of the western wall near the water source. Some seed scatterings of goyo(bitter green tomato), foronton(chili peppers), and gan(okra) are coming up there, and we hope to replant them in the new drip irrigation garden in a couple of weeks. Now if we can just keep them alive and productive this winter thru the dry season, so that output gives some return on input. :)) At least it is a training school for fledgling gardeners, and will hopefully equip one or more of these young men to seek employment in the future as a tender of gardens and grounds.

Ray will be busy again working on the newest building- what will serve as main quarters for Claudias as well as guest quarters. The electricity needed some verification and review, and he did that work with Claudia this morning after the gardens tour. Tile for the floors and bath walls was delivered this week and will soon be started. Ray also showed Claudia where the ants(termites) had found a way up thru the soft, uncased concrete floor and started making dinner of her kitchen cabinets. They were moved and the hole sealed, but it just emphasizes the need for ALLthe steps to be finished during construction. Thanks to all of you who have given construction funds to keep this project moving along. It will be greatly appreciated when it is ready for occupancy. Ray has also picked up responsibility for driving this last couple of weeks, as our driver cannot drive while he is waiting for his new liscense to be issued. That has meant a lot of extra hours on Ray schedule, and he and Julie have had to adjust her pick-up time to accommodate all the school childrens schedule. (He has also used to moto to give Hama a little extra attention. Hama, a 10year old, is handicapped and the only one that does not go to school, so Ray has given him a ride around the yard on the motorcycle after bringing Julie home.)Julie is also helping with the kids at homework time.

Oh, Yes.  One more thing!  I celebrated my 60th birthday here in Mali! with a delicious chocolate cake with (real) peanut butter icing, which Julie made for us.  Paul 'distracted me' to the upstairs deck to play a game of Qwirkle while the gang prepared the party venue downstairs-- and then the game was forgotten, when they called me to come down on some pretext or another. :)) I have gotten a delighful assortment of gifts, the likes of which I never would have been given had I celebrated in the US.
We are doing well-- I think :))
It is plenty hot, to be sure, and dusty, but do-able with God's grace.

Being blessed in the heat of October in Mali.

Hope you too are being blessed and being a blessing.

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Our Apt Livingroom- no grass hut!