We have worked in and visited many African countries - the ones I can think of are: Burkina Faso, Egypt, Senegal, Malawi, Nigeria, Kenya, Congo, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Guinea, Guinée-Bissau, Liberia, Togo - and MALI! People always speak of "Africa" as if it were a country, but it is a huge continent, with many independant nations, each with its own government, kinds of people, many different languages, and different kinds of climate and scenery. The continent of Africa is made up of vast deserts and sprawling forests, There are large rivers which go for miles and many small rivers and other bodies of water. There are enormous cities and tiny villages - and everything in between. No one can make a general statement about "Africa" - or "Africans". Some people like to think that civilization began in central-south Africa; one thing is sure it is a continent of a great age, populated through the centuries by large kingdome and small tribes. A continent of cities and villages and solitary tribal peoples. Every kind of climate exists in this enormous continent. And Africa has been part of our family's life and knowledge for many years.
Dad and I have personally visited fifteen or more of these countries. Together we spent a week in Egypt during our honeymoon, visiting the pyryamids and sailing the Nile, staying in a lush hotel and bargaining in the colorful markets. As a child I stopped for a week or so in Guinée-Bissau, as we tried to reah French West Africa, way inland. We have all lived in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. When he was field director, Dad went to conferences in Malawi and Kenya and he also was Alliance mission rep to the Alliance affiliated churches of Nigeria for seven years. I visited there two times with him. In my teaching and conference ministries, I was able to go to Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Congo, Gabon, Niger, Guinea, Ghana, Togo and Mali. We all vacationed in Liberia as well. So we have seen a lot of Africa - but there is still so much more to see.
The African people are such an amazing, friendly people. I met Malian Muslim traders in the market in Congo and talked Jula with them. We found the Liberian people very friendly and even learned to understand their strange (to us) English while we vacationed there. Working with some of the "greats" among evangelical African leadeship on the continent was always a delight to Dad when he travelled to these large conferrences. When he returned from his trips, we would sit for hours as he told me the high points of the meetings he attended and all he had learned from African leadership.
My training sessions led me to the most astounding people and outstanding church leaders in various counties in Mali. In Guinea I had the joy of helping a whole new "crop"of missionaries adjust to the culture and curiosities of living in Guinea. I arrived back in Burkina from many of those trips, totally drained as I had been on call day and night in some instances. But I would not have had it otherwise, listening to Africans and missionaries with a sympathetic ear and trying to give biblical and practical counsel for their individual needs. On some of those trips, I would drop into my seat on the home-going plane, totally drained and sleep on the homeward journey. I count it a special privilege to have been able to participate in God's work in so many countries of Africa.
During those years of giving seminars in various African countries, in addition to the Alliance, I worked with some Baptist groups in several countries, Mennonites, the WEC and the GMU. There was both unity and diversity, and I felt welcome in every situation and denomination. It was an interesting extension of the ministry God gave me in the Alliance in my own country of Burkina Faso.
During many of those years of ministry, Mali played a big rôle in our lives. I lived with my parents when I was pre-school in French West Africa, the area which is now Mali. When Dad was field director, he directed the mission work in both Mali and Burkina (Upper Volta in those days). We often visited our missionaries living in Mali and also loved the Mali church leaders and Christians. The Mali leaders, as well as leaders from Côte d'Ivoire, came to Burkina Faso to our Bible School, Maranatha Institute, during the time I was teaching there. Somehow, the Ivoirians and the Maliens tended to gravitate to our home near campus for fun and conversation during their years at the Bible School. So we were friends with numerous students from these two counties, and they enriched our lives. Later on, when we ministered in their countires, we did not have a hard time being accepted by the church as we had helped to train so many of their leaders.
Part of the blessing of being at San Pedro that year was being in contact once again with the Ivoirian pastors who had been trained at Maranatha. And we experienced the same blessing when we were sent to Mali for a year - once again, many of the Malien pastors were our old students, and it was such a delight to work with them in their ministries.
In the district of Bamako, where we lived during our year in Mali (post retirement), there were eleven of our former Maranatha students there. They often stopped to consult with Dad in his office and would also come in and spend time with me, asking questions and discussing many subjects of doctrine and Christian living - just as we used to do years before in Bobo. At Christmas time we had a special evening with these eleven and their wives. We had dinner together at our place and then played games and just had fun together. It is a happy memory in our book of memories!
But now back to our serving in Mali after retirement - both a blessed and difficult year for us, this return to serve in Mali. And that tale deserves a chapter of its own!
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