Africa Journal Day 4

Day 4

 Today began with a fishing expedition to a community fishing hole with Chris, his sons Benjamin and John Wesley, and Chris' friend Gery, a stone mason, who has done some work for Chris.  We follow Gery into town, where he leaves his moto with a friend, joins us in the truck, and directs us to the local bait shop. The bait shop is in the town market area across from the bus stop.  There are many stalls selling grain, other foodstuffs, and a number of items that are unknown to me.  He returns with a small plastic bag containing some sort of meat, and we proceed out of town on the highway a few miles, where we turn off on a dirt road, and wind around in the fields containing the remnants of the previous corn harvest till we come to a heavily wooded area.  After tracking through the tall grass and trees we see the water. I’m wondering what might be lurking in the tall grass, as snakes and snake bites are very common here. Varieties include the black and green mamba, which are the quickest and most deadly, the puff adder, and various kinds of vipers.  Gery warns us there may be a crocodile nearby, so while watching carefully for snakes and crocs we prepare our fishing equipment, just rod and reel with a treble hook, and a floater to try and catch some fish.  With no luck in our first spot, we move to another to try our luck.  After a time with no nibbles, I notice Gery stripping down to his underwear and wading into the water.  I realize then that he is running trot lines in this lake, and as he wades in the waist deep water checking his lines, I can't help but wonder about the crocodile.  With no fish, no croc siting, and no snakes, after a couple of hours we drive back into town, dropping off Gery, and heading home for lunch.

Many days, here in West Africa, naps are common for the locals.  After a long relaxing nap, Chris, Vickie, and I go into town to say "hi" to Mr. Barry (more about him in a later post), and pick up Andy, who was visiting with Mr. Barry in his tailor shop.  This afternoon's plan is to visit the site for the "widow's garden".  Along the way, as we look for our guide to take us to the area, Andy explains that his goal for this project, the Widow's garden, is to provide a sustainable source of food and/or income for the many widows in this village.  The church in this village has had many men die, leaving their widows destitute, and Andy and his wife Melissa have been providing support as needed.  As he and his family are moving back to the US in 2014, he has hopes that this project will replace the support he has been providing. 

 The chief of this village has donated land for the garden, and today we are visiting with some other villagers who already have gardens along the river that meanders through this area.  After a long walk dodging large rocks, cow poop, and tall grass, we come to a substantial green grassy area surrounding both banks of the river.  We see two local young men tending a 1/2 acre garden abutting the river, with a mud wall and a moat around it (to keep out the animals and livestock).  The mud wall is about 4 feet high, and the moat is about a foot deep.  The garden is filled with okra in straight rows, with zucchini growing up the walls.  The young men explain how the garden floods in the rainy season, when they grow rice, and in the dry season they grow okra.  They carry water from the river in buckets and irrigate the plants every third day.  This plot belongs to their father, but they farm it for their income.  For the widows, the chief has donated a hectare (about 2.5 acres) and Andy has a donor from the USA who has already given about $10k to fund the project.  After much discussion with the local "experts", Andy thinks that with the proper preparation by the team, the widows will be able to maintain that large of a garden, to provide food for their families.  The basic plan is to hire some equipment, a dozer and tractor, to prepare the raised garden, till the soil, build the wall, and truck in enough cow manure for fertilizer.  Then the team will utilize some men in the church who are farmers (most of the Dagara women are gatherers) to teach the women how to plant  the garden.  Once this is done, the widows s/b able to maintain the garden.  After all this discussion, our guide Hermann, who is also the local Living Water manager, employed by Geoffrey, explains to the farmers there that these white people are here to help with a garden that will last a long time, even for their widows after they die.  These young men aren't even married yet, and I wonder what they think about this explanation.  They appear to be amused and enthused about the explanation, by their laughs and smiles.  Hermann continues to explain to them that many of the white people that have come here do not plan for the long term, but these white people love God, and want to help the widows and orphans with projects that continue for many years, even after they have gone away.  This is the goal of all of the activities of the team here, sustainable projects and initiatives that the Dagara can “own” and manage long after the white people leave.

After dropping off Andy in town, Chris takes Vickie and me to the other side of town to show us the land that the Mayor of Dano has donated to the local church association.  We drive through the quarry, where men are making bricks out of mud, using machetes to shape and cut the bricks.  The red dirt mixed with water makes a substantial brick that after hardened by the sun is used widely as a building material.  

The association consists of the approximately 80 Christian churches that have been planted in this area in the last nine years since these original missionaries, including Andy and Melissa arrived.  There are now nearly 10,000 followers of Jesus in this area, where nine years ago, the Dagara were an unreached people group, nominally Muslim, with a few scattered Catholics, and all practicing animists.  

When I say church, it is in the context of the first century Christian church, no building, just a community of believers, meeting together regularly, led by one of their own, and learning to live in a way that puts others first, worships God, and tells the Good News of Jesus to non-believers.  The land that has been donated is atop a hill overlooking the town of Dano, and consists of about 10 hectares.  The team's plan with much input from the local association is a multi-step process.  First, is to dig a well for water, then build a wall around the property, a local government requirement.  Next is to bring in electricity, build a model Dagara house to teach the local women proper hygiene and clean water routines, and build a building for the Infants in Distress program (more on this in another post).  After all of this, help the local association decide what further plans are needed.  A concern that the team has is that the local church association will want to build a church building.  The team’s concern is that it would be a waste of $$ that could be better used, tempered with the understanding that the local church must make their own decisions, not to be told what to do by a bunch of white missionaries.  I suggested that the team start a time of teaching that would reinforce the idea that the "church" is not a building, but exactly what the Dagara have today; many local congregations or communities of believers that meet in their local area (always under the biggest shade tree), and continue to concentrate their efforts on the things that really matter in the Christian community.  Having read The Hole in Our Gospel (http://www.theholeinourgospel.com/) I have come to believe that most of our churches spend way too much money on ourselves and not enough on the needs of others.  

We drive back into town, through the quarry, as Chris gets to use his four wheel drive to navigate the narrow and steep "trail" over the steep cliffs of the quarry.  I am glad that this vehicle is built for off road use, because we are definitely utilizing its' attributes today.  Once we arrive back at Chez Sands, it's time for archery lessons for the boys.  Chris has compound bows and regular bows along with a variety of arrows and targets for practice.  So far, the chickens have been safe from the arrows of Benjamin, but it's probably just a matter of time.....................

Friday night at the Sand's house is always pizza and double feature movie night, so we enjoy home-made pizza, a kid's movie (Jungle Book) and the grown up movie (MIB III), after the kids are in bed.