a little bit of adventure

view of a sunset over Bangui from Brigitte's porch

God’s creation is so beautiful and even here in the city of Bangui there’s a lot of beauty. Living in the middle of a dirty bustling city without many parks or places to go hiking on my own is sometimes annoying but I am managing to find adventures still. Last week I was really frustrated because I was getting sick of sitting in front of my computer in the office. I’m not a fan of office work. This week has been a blessing because I’m getting to do things I love: hang out with middle schoolers and high schoolers, explore, and enjoy nature!

At the PHC center this week there is a high school spiritual formation camp. The kids are spending the night at the center but Caitlin and I have been going during the day to build relationships with the teenage orphans. We’ve been sitting through a lot of lectures, which isn’t that exciting because I don’t understand French and I’m still not fluent in Sango. From what I've understood the talks have been really good. People have been attempting to translate for me. I’m getting good at filling in what I don't understand and pretending to understand more than I do.

taste-testing fish

This afternoon we ate lunch with the students. That was an adventure in itself. I’ve made friends with the cooks and I always go and taste test what they’re cooking for the kids' lunches. Today there were some nasty looking fish cooking in big pots when Caitlin and I dropped into the kitchen area and of course we had to try it. Surprisingly it was really tasty! We also ate some gozo and cormeal stuff along with a sauce. The girls had to teach me how to eat it all with my hands.

a crew of helpful boys

The afternoon activity was the best part of the day! We all hiked up the mountain behind the center and had a blast climbing and laughing and taking pictures. “Hiked” might not be the right word for what I did though. It was more like I got pulled up and down the mountain by strong African high school boys. I made it to the top, enjoyed the beautiful view of Bangui, practiced my Sango along the way, and I got really dirty in the process. (Most of the girls stopped before getting to the top but I wasn’t about to stop before the top and get outdone by any highschool boys! I was happy a couple girls decided to be extra adventurous and come with me.) By the time I got back down the mountain I looked a bit more African than normal with my arms and legs covered in black soot. For hunting purposes they burn a lot of the landscape here and the mountainside had recently been burnt so there were ashes all over. The kids laughed when I told them I wasn't a "boundjou" (a white person) anymore.

It was a fun day! The next adventure I have planned is going to Bayanga, a village 14ish hours southwest of Bangui with a wildlife reserve where you can trek into the jungle to see elephants and Gorillas.

me and my friend Francine

hiking buddies!

looking down on the PHC center and the outskirts of Bangui

looking in the direction of Congo and my house

Merry Christmas!

A breezy 85 degrees and sunny… it’s the cool season.

Techno style Christmas music playing somewhere in the city is drifting through the open windows… the music has been playing all day repeating the same four songs. At least they're nice songs.

I LOVE cinnamon rolls!

The smell of homemade bread… I’m making Grandma Bacon’s yeast rolls and mom’s cinnamon rolls. It’s a Christmas tradition.

Extra traffic and a million street vendors selling soccer balls, little drums, dolls, bread, handcrafted nativities, fake Christmas trees, chickens, and phone credit. Last minute shoppers are bustling around the dusty city streets.

This can only mean one thing: IT’S CHRISMAS EVE!!!

Christmas in the heart of Africa is very different from Christmas at home. Not bad, just different. Being away from everything that feels like “Christmas” to me (family, cold weather, snow, candy canes, candle light Christmas eve services, the smell of fresh cut pine tree, pretty gifts wrapped up and hidden under the tree) is really making me rethink the whole idea of Christmas.

Mandy decorated for Christmas

There’s a lot I miss (my family especially). I can’t lie. But it is so neat seeing how people from all parts of the world celebrate the birth of Jesus in their own way. It’s easy to make the story of Jesus birth a nice little Christmas story about a sweet baby born in a manger surrounded by nice shepherds, cute animals, and happy parents. It’s a nice story to read cuddled up by a fire with hot chocolate, but in reality I’m pretty sure that’s not how it went down.

Mary was young, far from her family and all the comforts of home, giving birth to her first child, and not in very good standing back in her hometown. There probably wasn't any fluffy white snow or holly plants surrounding the manger and the animals probably were more smelly than cute. And Jesus, a humble baby wrapped up in swaddling clothes, wasn’t quite what anyone was expecting God to send to rescue his people from their oppression and be the savior of the world.

And what did Jesus give us? Everything. He died so that we could have everything God has to offer: abundant life, freedom, love, peace, purpose, joy, and the hope of an amazing eternity with him. God loved all of his people (Africans, Americans, Germans, Mexicans) so much that he thought that sending his son to die for our sins in our place was worth the cost. God gave us the gift of a new way of life in Jesus.

I've got pink nails!!!

Speaking of gifts… I love getting and receiving gifts at Christmas! I have already gotten two Christmas gifts and it’s not even Christmas yet!!! The first gift was from my Sango teacher, Marie Claire. Last week, part way through my lesson, Marie Claire reached into her purse and pulled out a bottle of bright pink nail polish. She said she wanted to paint my toes and fingernails so I could be beautiful for Christmas. Painting my nails was her gift to me. I was humbled. She doesn’t have much money and there are 13 people living in her house that she works hard just to feed. Out of her little she gave me what she could. Even though I don’t like nail polish (and especially not bright pink!) it meant a lot to me.

My other gift was from Ann, a guesthouse worker on our compound who was recently widowed. She’s been through so much and I doubt she has much money either because, like most Central Africans, she has a house full of kids. The other day Ann came running over to my house with two little bundles wrapped up, one for me and one for Caitlin. She had bought us each a necklace with a bead in the shape of Africa on it. She is the most joyful giver!

That’s what I’ve gotten for Christmas this year: a lesson on giving with joy and love even when you don’t have much to give. The joy and love make all the difference.

What I’ve helped to give are the 1000 gifts to the orphans at both the PHC centers here in Bangui. It is amazing how much joy these kids get from a little bag with food and a few little toys in it! The thing about their gift that makes it so special though is that it comes from their sponsors. It is a reminder that there is someone who loves them and thinks they are worth enough to invest something in and give a Christmas gift to. It's more than just a Christmas gift or a monthly amount of money to help feed and educate them, sponsors give these kids hope for a bright future.

holding tight to his Christmas gift!

What does Christmas mean to you? Think about it. I hope you all enjoy the celebrations, snow, family, and gifts but most of all I pray that you stop and think about all that Jesus gave you.

Merry Christmas!!!  

Christmas at the orphan center

Christmas in the Central African Republic comes with just as much excitement, joy, and frenzy as anywhere else in the world. For me, the past few days have been full of Christmas programs and parties. Friday was the big day when we got to give the orphans their Christmas gifts. I have been looking forward to that day for a long time and it was no disappointment!

The schoolyard all set up for the program.

Christmas dinner

Central Africans enjoy having extravagant celebrations that are a big deal and last a long time. When Caitlin and I dropped by the center Thursday (the day before the big event) things were already crazy with people putting up tents and kids practicing for the program. 

We were a little surprised to find a bull tied up on the playground. With smiling faces, the kids explained to us that this bull was going to be slaughtered and we were going to get to eat it the next day at the celebration dinner. It was a big treat. I’ve never seen kids so excited to watch a bull get its head cut off but that was the big event of the day. There was a little mob of kids around the bull and Madam Alexandrine put me in charge of getting photos. I managed to avoid watching the bull actually get killed but it was still traumatic. I’ll spare you the pictures.

kids waiting for their skit

Anyways… back to the event. The PHC Christmas program lasted all morning and consisted of the kids singing, dancing, reciting passages of scripture, and doing skits. It was all really cute! They were so proud. The program was followed by a huge meal. They served meat, rice, sauce, bread, fried bananas and all sorts of tasty African food and I had to eat it, recently slaughtered bull and all, with my fingers African style.

After the meal came the best part of the day: giving the kids their Christmas gifts! They were so happy!!! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

wouldn't be Christmas without a tree!

Madam Alexandrine handed out the gifts

kids waiting in line to get their gift

top twelve

Of course it’s when all sorts of interesting things are happening that I don’t have time to update my blog. The past couple weeks have been very full so I’ll just give you the highlights. Here are the top twelve things from the past dozen days:

1.    Finishing part one of the Christmas project. With a little help from some PHC high school boys, we managed to get all the Christmas bags packed and pretty much all the photos taken before Barb, Christy, and Brenda left on Thursday.

2.    Being a guest speaker on the Radio. Last week Barb, Caitlin and I were interviewed for a “True Love Waits” program on the radio. It was cool! (Now I can say I’ve been in North American newspapers, I’ve been on South American television, and I’ve been on Central African radio!)

All set up to go on the air

American girls eating African fish at a French restaurant

3.    Eating out at a French restaurant. I tried crème brûlée for the first time and it was as good as it sounds.

4.    Figuring out the bus system. Now that Barb is gone, Caitlin and I get to venture out into the world on our own! We have figured out how to ride the busses and catch taxis. The kids at the PHC center like to help us out.

Paterne peeking out of his classroom

Me and Paterne

5.    Picking out a sponsor child for Kristine and Sean. Telling Paterne, a spunky little 10-year-old, that my sister and her husband were going to be his sponsors and giving him their picture was one of the best things I’ve done since coming to Africa. Paterne has been asking for a sponsor and it made him SO happy to have a sponsor!! Now every time he sees me he gets the biggest smile! (I like Paterne because his favorite thing to do is play soccer. We kind of got into trouble for playing soccer in my office and being too loud. Oops!)

6.    Decorating for Christmas. Now that I’ve got Christmas lights strung around my living room and a tiny little tree my house is all ready for Christmas.

7.    Going to a concert at the Alliance Française. There were a couple African choirs performing Christmas songs in the outdoor theater palm trees wrapped in Christmas lights, and if that wasn’t enough to put me in the mood for Christmas, Santa showed up too!!!

8.    Making friendship bracelets with Nicole. She is the 16-year-old daughter of one of the Central African pastors here. A while ago she asked me if she could come over and have me teach her how to make friendship bracelets because she liked the one I was wearing. So she came over and we had a good time hanging out and chatting in Sango.

9.    Watching a French movie at Brigitte’s house. Brigitte is a German woman who works for UNICEF. She invited Caitlin and me over to her house to hang out with her and a co-worker, watch a movie and eat dinner. Even though I don’t know much French it was still fun!

the Bangui sign

10.  Hiking up the mountain to the Bangui sign with Wilfried, Jeff Gill and Mark Simms. We left home at 5:30am yesterday and hiked for about two hours total. There’s a beautiful view of the city from the mountain! We had a big breakfast at Wilfried's house when we got back.

the group fearless hikers (minus Jeff who was taking the picture)

11.  Making chocolate chip cookies! I decided that in honor of Tim Hock’s birthday on Sunday I would make him cookies with American chocolate chips and brown sugar. It reminded me of home and made me so happy!

12.  Hanging out with PHC kids... always a highlight!

Hanging out with my little friends!

PHC Christmas Project

Christy packing

Only 20 days until Christmas and here in the Central African Republic we are busily preparing!!! Christy and Brenda, two PHC volunteers, arrived in Bangui Wednesday night and we have been hard at work on the PHC Christmas project ever since (with the exception of a few trips to the pool and a couple breaks to eat Rosalie's homemade ice cream). It seems a little strange packing gifts and listening to Christmas music when it’s 95 degrees outside. 

boxes full of sardines

There are two parts to our Christmas project. The first part involves packing the Christmas gifts that we will give out to all the orphans in the PHC program the last day of school before Christmas break. Each drawstring bag has a notebook, a big crayon, a bracelet, a little ball, sardines, rice, sugar, and coffee in it.

all the goods

In this culture when you give someone a gift it is usually shared with the whole family. The idea in giving the children food is that they will be able to have a Christmas meal with their family. Many of these kids’ families don’t have much food so it will be very exciting for these kids to be able to take something home for their families that they can all benefit from and enjoy.

Brenda behind the camera

hard at work

The second part of the Christmas project is having each orphan color a Christmas card and get their picture taken to send to their sponsor. Brenda and I are in charge of the photo taking part of the project. It gets a little hectic when you’re working with hundreds of kids who aren’t good at standing in lines but it’s fun making them smile!

coloring her Christmas card

a proud little girl with her picture of Mary and Jesus

dressed for Christmas!

We have three days to go and we’re over halfway done with packing the 1,100 bags and we only have about 250 more individual photos to take. I can’t wait to actually give out the gifts in a few weeks!

‘tis the season for celebrations!

Nzoni Matanga! Bon Fet! Happy Holidays!

Today is Independence Day here in the Central African Republic. It’s one of the biggest holidays here and this year is especially big because they are celebrating 50 years of independence from France. They have been getting the city ready for this holiday for weeks now! There has been a lot of painting and cleaning and flag hanging happening all over Bangui and I must say the city is looking pretty good!

Caitlin and me with our German escorts Wilfried and Berno

Wilfried and Berno took Caitlin and me to the huge Independence Day parade this morning. We didn’t stay for the whole thing. It is probably still going on. For some reason Africans love to march! We stayed long enough to watch all the military march by. There were lots of big strong men with big scary looking guns!

Tim teaching me how to carve a turkey

Last week's holiday was Thanksgiving and I got to have two American Thanksgivings: one with the missionaries here and one at the US ambassador’s house. Both were good! We even had someone bring us turkeys from the US for our missionary Thanksgiving!

Me and Ginger enjoying our food!

our "fancy" thanksgiving at the ambassador's

The next holiday is Christmas. Tonight there is a team of two ladies flying in to help us get ready for the PHC Christmas project. We will be packing 1,100 Christmas bags full of gifts to give out to the orphans in our program on their last day of school before the Christmas holidays! It’s going to be a busy week!