Where's the pineapple?

ananas in my front yard

Ananas. Better known to English speakers as pineapple: an exotic, tropical, and sweet fruit with a strange name. Seriously though, what kind of a name is pineapple anyway? Maybe you don’t care to know but sometime in the 17^th century someone decided the ananas fruit looked like a pinecone. Except it's better than a pinecone, of course, because of the fact that its insides are full of yellow sugary edible goodness. That is probably where the apple part of the name comes into play. That strange yellow fruit looks like a pinecone but, if you’re into comparing things, tastes more like an apple than a pinecone. Or maybe the apple part was attached because the big edible pinecone became so treasured as a scrumptious fruit that it was called the apple of one’s eye. I personally like to call the tropical goodness ananas—that name brings better results when I go to the market searching for the funny looking pinecone fruit.

ananas on a taxi

One of the great things about living in the tropics is that I get to eat ananas all the time… some days I eat ananas for every single meal and snacks too. I love ananas. Ta tene. That’s the truth. So does Shawn Spencer. I’m not alone in my ananas love. Here in Central Africa ananas are everywhere you turn. They are hanging up along the side of the road, stacked in piles on street corners, on top of women’s heads, painted on taxis, incorporated into logos, printed on cloth, cross-stiched on bags and tablecloths, carved into beds, fashioned out of wood and sold at the artisan market… you get the point.

pineapple upsidedown cake

A couple weeks ago I had some different groups of the PHC kids make welcome signs to hang in our office for when Barb, the state-side director of PHC and my boss, arrived back in Africa for her three week visit. As I hung all the lovely welcome-back pictures for Barb on the wall I was delighted to discover that every single picture included an ananas. That’s a lot of pictures with ananas—too many to be simply coincidence. It could be all the kids think ananas are Barb’s favorite fruit. I don’t know the answer to this but I was curious as to why everyone around here is so obsessed with ananas so I did what anyone would do when they are curious and need answers: I turned to google and wiki answers. It turns out that the ananas is an international symbol of hospitality and associated with welcoming guests, safe travels, warmth, and friendliness (you can do your own google search and read the history on your own). Apparently these orphans are much more educated in the language of international symbols than I am and apparently the city of Bangui is trying to be really welcoming, warm, and friendly because there sure is an abundance of ananas.

ananas in a village hung on the edge of the road being sold for 40 cents each

Celebrations and Collectivism

Africans live for celebrations: national holidays, weddings, baptisms, inaugurations, graduations and even funerals. They are something to look forward to, something to mark accomplishments or hopes, a reason to gather. In a collective society celebrations bring meaning to life. Life is lived together, plans are made together, dreams are dreamed together and life, from beginning to end, is celebrated together.

a Ba'Aka pygmy graduate

Celebrations aren’t taken lightly. People travel long distances, give long speeches, sing, dance, and eat a lot of food. The men wear suits, the women put on wigs, and the children wear shoes. When it comes to celebrating there seems to be an unspoken rule that if a little is good, a lot is better. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of talking, lots of singing, lots of celebrating… which logically equals lots of meaning to life. (This might explain why there seems to be an overabundance of national holidays.)

This week I have had the honor of taking part in two celebrations. The first was a groundbreaking ceremony for a new learning center at the Grace Brethren Seminary and the other was a graduation ceremony at the Mbaiki Bible Institute. Both events held a lot of significance for those involved.

the dedication stone at the site of the new building

Grace Brethren pastors from all parts of Central Africa and from the United States gathered together to celebrate the dedication of the new building project at the James Gribble Leadership Training Center (the Grace Brethren seminary). The leaders of the seminary and missionaries have been dreaming and planning together and this celebration marked an important step forward in reaching their goal of equipping Central African leaders for ministry. It was a somewhat serious sort of celebration including prayer and talks to remind those gathered of the vision and perseverance it takes to accomplish the work God has called them to but a celebration none-the-less. 

Barb with the pygmy graduates

The Mbaiki Bible Institute graduation was a more light-hearted celebration. It was particularly significant because there were seven pygmy couples who graduated this year meaning that when combined with the pygmy graduates from the other Bible institutes, the number of Bible Institute trained pygmy pastors is nearly tripled. For these pygmy couples and the other couples graduating it was a celebration of the end of three years of study and the beginning of a life of leading, teaching, and ministering among their tribes. The graduation involved much more dancing and music than any of my graduations ever did! One of the most fascinating parts of the graduation was when, after walking (or dancing) up to receive their diploma, the graduates would walk over to their spiritual mentor and hand over their diploma and awards. It was a way of saying, “Thank you for dreaming dreams with me and for helping me accomplish what I have today. I want to honor you because you have helped me become who I am.”

lots of people at the Mbaiki church

In Central Africa life is lived as a group and life is celebrated as a group from beginning to end. People pray together, dream together, and learn together. Like anything involving people, this way of life has its flaws but this past week I saw the beauty of what it means to be part of a collective society. 

MBETIMANGUE Elisabeth

Classroom number one, bottom floor, first on the left. Five days a week this classroom is filled with 63 tiny first grade orphans and one courageous teachers. Currently finishing up her first year of teaching at Project Hope and Charité, Elisabeth is by no means new to being a teacher. Elisabeth has wanted to be a teacher since she was the age of her first grade students and she has been living out her dream for the past 29 years teaching in many different schools around Bangui. Her mother was illiterate but Elisabeth said her father was a teacher by occupation and he did a good job of making sure his children were educated, most importantly in the Word of God.

When I asked the small spunky women what her favorite subject to teach was she promptly told me it was teaching about God. “I have been teaching kids and adults of all ages the word of God at church and in schools, private and government alike,” Elisabeth told me, “I like to teach little kids better than grown-ups, though. Grown-ups are not so excited to learn but little kids’ hearts want to learn and believe. I get so much joy when I see that my students are understanding what I’m teaching them and growing in the Lord.” Elisabeth was teaching addition the day I sat in on her class. As Elisabeth taught, the little kids were busy chalking numbers onto their small slates and adding them up. I’m not sure how she kept the attention of that many little kids.

Elisabeth’s motivation for teaching is a desire to be a role model. She loves to learn, read, and study the Bible and she wants to inspire kids to be excited about learning too.

She is very proud of her class of 63 PHC first graders. They have been doing excellent this year, I’ve been informed, and are receiving very good grades. Elisabeth, who is quick to smile and not afraid to be stern, has done a great job teaching her overflowing class of first graders! Project Hope and Charité is fortunate to have a teacher as good as Elisabeth.

Elisabeth with her 1st grade class

Central African People: LAOUKOURA Jeremie

Oh the places you go, the people you meet, the dreams you encounter… here in Central Africa I am surrounded by people with fascinating life stories and dreams. I have decided I need to practice my interviewing/journalism skills and start introducing you to some of the cool people you might encounter if you’re ever in Central Africa.

So without further to-do, meet LAOUKOURA Jeremie. 

I met Jeremie a couple weeks ago while I was at the James Gribble Leadership Center (the Grace Brethren seminary here in Bangui) doing some research and interviews. He is a first year student who comes from a family of pastors: both his grandfather and father were preachers in Powa and his younger brother, Jean Paul, is a pastor now too.

Even though neither his grandfather nor father received seminary degrees, Jeremie accredits them with teaching him the ways of ministry and he says they were the ones who encouraged him to pursue seminary. Jeremie, however, is not going to seminary in hopes of one day becoming a pastor. His dreams are a little different from his forefathers although the goal is very similar. Jeremie’s dream is to translate the Bible into Kaba, the language of his home village of Powa.

Powa, sometimes spelled Paoua, is located in northern Central Africa in an area that is currently war-torn and unstable due to rebel activity. Many people have been driven out of the village or have fled for safety, Jeremie and his family included. In the capital city of Bangui Jeremie has been employed by SIL, better known as Wycliffe Bible Translators. He has helped with various translation projects but at this point the project of translating the Bible into Kaba is still only a dream as far as I could gather. It is an important dream to Jeremie because, as he explained, not everyone in his hometown knows the trade language of Sango, especially not the women. “I want the people of my village to understand the Bible in their own language and understand it well. If they can hear the Bible in their native language it will speak to their hearts in a way a non-native language can’t,” Jeremie commented.

Jeremie with fellow seminary students

Jeremie has put his translating work on hold while he receives seminary training at the James Gribble Leadership Training Center. He is taking courses in Greek and Hebrew, both languages he needs to know in order to accurately translate the Bible. He is on the right track for reaching his goals but it’s already been a long journey. He began his undergraduate level Bible training in 1982, fell sick, had to go to Cameroon for treatment, and wasn’t able to finish until 1999. (His wife, however, was able to finish a Bible degree during this time, which I think is pretty cool). Since 1999 he has worked with his father in the church he was leading in Powa, he has done translating work, and served in other churches doing his best to support his wife, three sons, and three daughters.

Almost one year of seminary done and two to go. You can pray that Jeremie continues to have the dedication, strength, and health to accomplish his dream of translating the Bible into Kaba. He still has a long road ahead of him.