We did not start out our missionary career with the thought of being "rebels", but as it turned out I guess we sometimes appeared to be just that! You have to realize that we got to Africa at "the changing of the guard". It had been the colonial era up till that time since the very early days. The official posts in the government, the positions in banks and European stores and thus the leadership in much of the evangelical church were all staffed by white Europeans. The French army was there in some force, the Africans were gradually being changed to take their place.
One of our early memories of the significance of all this was one day when they held a large Independance Day parade in the city of Bobo. The law of the land was that women had to dress with "le sommet des genoux" covered - no short skirts! During the parade one of the head medical doctors from the Bobo hospital (a French lady) was standing in the front row along the parade route - she was wearing a very stylish French outfit, with the skirt just above the knees. They pulled her out of the crowd and took her off, admonishing her for her short skirts which the new African government would not allow - even for doctors!
We started in right away to learn the local language. There had been some new missionaries who had not learned language well and Grandma Kennedy was so afraid that we would have a hard time with Bobo and not learn the language properly - and I guess thus bring shame upon the family name! Grandpa was in charge of our language study, and basically we just purred along in the language and did just fine. I kept ahead of Dad (as I learned it through Jula) and wrote out exercises for him to learn the things that I learned before him, and thus we continued on until we passed all of our language exams in plenty of time and the family name was saved and my mom relaxed!
We had not been there long when we also realized that the mission had certain unwritten rules that we were expected to obey. In thos days no one entertained Burkinbe in their American homes. We were invited to eat with the Bobos and so we started to have the Bobo pastors and elders have a meal with us. I had all my lady friends from the village come for a meal one night. They all accepted with alacrity, but at first we fixed American food for them. Soon we realized it was best to stick with rice and sauce, salad and French bread. With a sweet cake for dessert and lots of coffee.
During our first term we decided to entertain beyond our own people group and invited the Komite Ba and missionaries meeting with them to have their meeting at Santidougou and I cooked for them, with the big help of Yusufu. Again this was a first, but was picked up by other people after that.
Some people could never get the message and continued to shun West Africans in their social contacts in their homes. This was, of course, a carry over from the old colonial era. One evening - long after many of us treated the local people on a common footing socially - some missionaries returned to Bobo from furlough on the evening plane. The then field director had invited all missionaries in town to gather in his living room to have refreshments and have a time to welcome back our missionary colleagues. While we were all seated around the living room, a knock came at the front door - it was our local Pastor, a wonderful gentleman who had had these missionaries as his profs in Bible School and wished to greet them for their arrival. Instead of inviting him inside to join us, the field director went to the door and called out the returning missionary in order to greet him on the porch, thus avoiding including him in our little party. Dad was so furious - we left soon after that and he stewed all the way on the trip home to Santidougou! Old customs die hard, and we rebels just kept pushing and doing our part to change things!
Polygamy was very much a fact of life in West Africa when we arrived, and there was a rule in the missionary manual which said, " no polygamist shall be baptized". As young rebels we wondered if that meant no polygamist can be saved? Should the extra wives be sent back to their original families as prostitutes? What about the children of such unions? This subject was hotly debated on the conference floor during the time when the mission was in charge and laid down the rules for the developing churches. In later years, the church made the rule that women taken as second or third, etc. wives before conversions are wives and all can be baptized. But that all are encouraged in the one man, one wife principal of the New Testament and polygamy was a no-no for Christians.
Speaking of missionary conference, we had one once a year, and only missionaries were invited. When some of us young folks got to be senior missionaries, we instituted the principle of invited a couple of national church delegates to our annual conference. They were honored by us - we took turns translating for them what was being said. And this gave a good impression to the church that we were not doing anything behind their backs. For many year we attended their annual conferences and their delgates attended ours. This greatly aided an understanding between mission and church.
Another rule of baptism was that the candidate had to know how to read (ostensibly so that he could read the Word and thus grow thereby). This hit us pretty hard our second year on the field. The Santidougou district wanted to baptize some young people, and Grandpa Kennedy (as field director and our senior missionary) came to Santidougou to question the candidates. Imagine our shock when Grandpa was questioning one candidate (this young man spoke no Jula - the language in which the questions were asked - and so everything had to be interpreted as Grandpa spoke no Bobo!) The young man was asked if he knew how to read! At that time we had not gone far enough in our language learning to prepare reading primers or have anything in print in the only language this young man spoke - Bobo Madare. Of course, he could not read - there was nothing to read in his language....but he was turned down for baptism! That ruling was later changed.
It also took a very long time for the mission to ordain West African pastors! This meant that missionaries had to serve communion and baptize, as the rule was that only an ordained pastor could assist at such functions. George Constance, who was the regional director for Africa, put an end to that on a visit in about 1956, and that was the beginning of having ordained pastors in our churches. However, the church followed the mission's ruling, and would wait for years before they would ordain a man to ministry. As the years went by, this changed. And of course we now have hundreds of ordained men in that part of Africa. We also have a few women who were consecrated in some way to ministry.
Those were interesting years.....years of change in the mission and the church. We were privileged to have lived through that time and also lived there to see the church come into its own and help to educate the leadership of today and tomorrow for the church of Jesus Christ in West Africa.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
MORE MEMORIES OF COLLEAGUES.......................................
As we left Paris and took a ship from Bordeaux and headed down the coast of Africa, we and the Arnolds travelled together, along with the Bowers family headed for Guinea and also a single lady for Upper Volta as well as another single person for Gabon. Interestingly enough, Arnolds and we were friends and colleagues all through our forty or so years of service in West Africe. We saw them often in Côte d'Ivoire, we retired about the same time and we now live in Toccoa and see them at church here. That has been a long time relationship! The Bowers did not even make it through their first term, She was a basket case from day one. Her husband would have been a good missionary but because of her fears, they returned to ministry in the States before their first term was up. He was an Alliance DS for a time, probably retired by now.
We had also started out with a single lady who did not make it through France as her former fiancé came over and claimed her and they left France and got married, never to be heard of again. Carolyn Wright went to Burkina with us, spent a term there and during her furlough year went back with a guy she used to date and they married and the last I knew lived in the Nyack area. Grace Nelson from Gabon was long term in that country, had a great life, retired when it was time and continued ministry in her home church in Washington state.
When we arrived in Burkina, Carolyn was with us there and my parents were our first colleagues there. Grandpa was field director and they were in charge of our language study. It was nice having grandparents live near us for you girls and they used to come often to our place for a meal. Whenever we had a morning of business or shopping to do in Bobo. we also ate the noon meal with them before driving home. After they left the field, Tom and Doloris Burns lived in Bobo while he was field director, and again we had a good relationdship with them long term.
The Mali and Burkina were one field at that time and Ralph and Ruth Herber lived in Sikasso, across the Mali border from Burkina. We found in them kindred spirits, using current missionary methods and we always enjoyed visiting with them, whether in Bobo or Sikasso. We were all in language work and we read (the then new) Practical Anthropology which was published quarterly. Ruth has now gone on to Heaven and Ralph is in his early 90's I saw a picture of him recently on FB and would never have known him!
We had the good fortune of having for colleagues some of those of our own family. The Albrights were located in Mali, but were part of our larger field. And Uncle Dave and Aunt Margot were first (for a very short time) in Mali at the Bible School, and then lived in Bobo and did field-wide youth work. Having family around was always fun and we tried to spend time together around the yearly holidays. We were always careful to also include the non-family colleagues who lived in our areas, in our times together. Uncle Dave, Uncle Jim and Dad all saw eye to eye on mission policy and working with the national church, and so they had lots of discussions when we all got together. It is interesting that Uncle Jim lives right here near us in Toccoa, and Uncle Dave and Aunt Margot are less than two hours away, so we see them regularly too.
Rollo and Joan Royle joined us in the work among the Bobo when they arrived on the field. I have to give them credit for living as a family in very cramped conditions in order to learn the language and get in with the Bobo people. They and their two boys lived in the little guest house (where you girls had your bedrooms earlier on) and it was crowded with a family of four. They took it joyfully, and we made a good team together. Eventually they built another bedroom on the house and this gave them expanded room for sleeping when their family was home. Joan always referred to our housing setup as "the big house and the slave quarters"!! When we left on home assignment they moved into the big house and the singles (Peggy and Karen) lived in the slave quarters. When we returned from HA, Dad was elected Field Director and we moved to Bobo. We lived both on the mission compound and later on in various houses arund the city, to be near our work there in the Bible School, translation work, etc. All of us were (and are) long term except for Karen who barely stuck it out one term. She came to the States, got married, had a son but the marriage did not last long - we lost track of her. Jetty also joined our team and she and Peggy have had a long term working and living together relationship. which is a delight to see.
In Bobo, when we lived in the director's house, the Kauffmans were our neighbors across the yard. Such great people, we loved them and had a deep relationship. Their boys and our boys were also good friends. In the small bookkeeper's house behind the Kauffmans, there were a series of bookkeepers who occupied that little house. Betty Canberg was there for some years, and you boys used to love it when she invited us over and made meat and vegetable fondue. Barbara Douglas was bookkeeper for a while, but she had a nervous breakdown. We had several other short term women - I can think of at least four! - but none of them lasted long. We had one dear gal, and she was so homesick when she first arrived. When I realized this, I used to have her come often for meals, and would tell her just to come any time and hang out at our place where there was plenty of activity. Once in a while, she wanted to repay our hospitality and would take us out to dinner at the Eau Vive in town. She would always give money to Dad ahead of time to pay for the meal - I guess she thought that men should pay the restaurant bill!
Clousers, of course, became colleagues as well as family. They endured more than most people in the living situations they had. But it paid off as they stuck it out, then built their own place, and were able to establish a work among the Dafing people group which exists and grows to this day. They still visit and also do evangelism in that area. Courageous people - we salute you, Debs and Steve!!
Peter and Judy Colman were longtime colleagues in the city of Bobo. We taught at the Bible Institute together, were neighbors in the city of Bobo and were good friends. Peter and Judy were(and are!) both very talented people. They continue to have a good ministry in the Chicago area and teaching in other countries of the world.
From day one Neysa and Esther Cowles were neighbors, disciples of mine and dear friends. They lived next door to us for years, and they and I used to teach together in TEE and ladies' ministry. Esther went back to ATS, met Andrew and they married and came back as a family. And again from the beginning they were close friends and cohorts in ministry. Today Esther still carries on in many of the ministries in which I was involved and I look forward to seeing her (them) again soon! They are just like a part of our family and we dearly love them. Neysa and I travelled and taught together a lot when we were together in Burkina. Some of the African pastors called us Paul and Silas because we often travelled together doing teaching seminars! Neysa returned on furlough with us at one point, and she stayed in the States and married. No one had heard anything of her for ages - but recently I discovered her again on Facebook! I had a cheerful note from her - wish we could get together again and catch up on each other's lives. She is in Ohio.
Family, colleagues, friends - our lives have been enriched by so many people during our days as missionaries. I have not named them all. And these kinds of relationships have not stopped since our retirement. Again, God has provided for us good colleagues and friends, with whom we work and pray together for the extension of the Gospel in Toccoa, where God has placed us, and in other parts of the world in which we have invested.
We had also started out with a single lady who did not make it through France as her former fiancé came over and claimed her and they left France and got married, never to be heard of again. Carolyn Wright went to Burkina with us, spent a term there and during her furlough year went back with a guy she used to date and they married and the last I knew lived in the Nyack area. Grace Nelson from Gabon was long term in that country, had a great life, retired when it was time and continued ministry in her home church in Washington state.
When we arrived in Burkina, Carolyn was with us there and my parents were our first colleagues there. Grandpa was field director and they were in charge of our language study. It was nice having grandparents live near us for you girls and they used to come often to our place for a meal. Whenever we had a morning of business or shopping to do in Bobo. we also ate the noon meal with them before driving home. After they left the field, Tom and Doloris Burns lived in Bobo while he was field director, and again we had a good relationdship with them long term.
The Mali and Burkina were one field at that time and Ralph and Ruth Herber lived in Sikasso, across the Mali border from Burkina. We found in them kindred spirits, using current missionary methods and we always enjoyed visiting with them, whether in Bobo or Sikasso. We were all in language work and we read (the then new) Practical Anthropology which was published quarterly. Ruth has now gone on to Heaven and Ralph is in his early 90's I saw a picture of him recently on FB and would never have known him!
We had the good fortune of having for colleagues some of those of our own family. The Albrights were located in Mali, but were part of our larger field. And Uncle Dave and Aunt Margot were first (for a very short time) in Mali at the Bible School, and then lived in Bobo and did field-wide youth work. Having family around was always fun and we tried to spend time together around the yearly holidays. We were always careful to also include the non-family colleagues who lived in our areas, in our times together. Uncle Dave, Uncle Jim and Dad all saw eye to eye on mission policy and working with the national church, and so they had lots of discussions when we all got together. It is interesting that Uncle Jim lives right here near us in Toccoa, and Uncle Dave and Aunt Margot are less than two hours away, so we see them regularly too.
Rollo and Joan Royle joined us in the work among the Bobo when they arrived on the field. I have to give them credit for living as a family in very cramped conditions in order to learn the language and get in with the Bobo people. They and their two boys lived in the little guest house (where you girls had your bedrooms earlier on) and it was crowded with a family of four. They took it joyfully, and we made a good team together. Eventually they built another bedroom on the house and this gave them expanded room for sleeping when their family was home. Joan always referred to our housing setup as "the big house and the slave quarters"!! When we left on home assignment they moved into the big house and the singles (Peggy and Karen) lived in the slave quarters. When we returned from HA, Dad was elected Field Director and we moved to Bobo. We lived both on the mission compound and later on in various houses arund the city, to be near our work there in the Bible School, translation work, etc. All of us were (and are) long term except for Karen who barely stuck it out one term. She came to the States, got married, had a son but the marriage did not last long - we lost track of her. Jetty also joined our team and she and Peggy have had a long term working and living together relationship. which is a delight to see.
In Bobo, when we lived in the director's house, the Kauffmans were our neighbors across the yard. Such great people, we loved them and had a deep relationship. Their boys and our boys were also good friends. In the small bookkeeper's house behind the Kauffmans, there were a series of bookkeepers who occupied that little house. Betty Canberg was there for some years, and you boys used to love it when she invited us over and made meat and vegetable fondue. Barbara Douglas was bookkeeper for a while, but she had a nervous breakdown. We had several other short term women - I can think of at least four! - but none of them lasted long. We had one dear gal, and she was so homesick when she first arrived. When I realized this, I used to have her come often for meals, and would tell her just to come any time and hang out at our place where there was plenty of activity. Once in a while, she wanted to repay our hospitality and would take us out to dinner at the Eau Vive in town. She would always give money to Dad ahead of time to pay for the meal - I guess she thought that men should pay the restaurant bill!
Clousers, of course, became colleagues as well as family. They endured more than most people in the living situations they had. But it paid off as they stuck it out, then built their own place, and were able to establish a work among the Dafing people group which exists and grows to this day. They still visit and also do evangelism in that area. Courageous people - we salute you, Debs and Steve!!
Peter and Judy Colman were longtime colleagues in the city of Bobo. We taught at the Bible Institute together, were neighbors in the city of Bobo and were good friends. Peter and Judy were(and are!) both very talented people. They continue to have a good ministry in the Chicago area and teaching in other countries of the world.
From day one Neysa and Esther Cowles were neighbors, disciples of mine and dear friends. They lived next door to us for years, and they and I used to teach together in TEE and ladies' ministry. Esther went back to ATS, met Andrew and they married and came back as a family. And again from the beginning they were close friends and cohorts in ministry. Today Esther still carries on in many of the ministries in which I was involved and I look forward to seeing her (them) again soon! They are just like a part of our family and we dearly love them. Neysa and I travelled and taught together a lot when we were together in Burkina. Some of the African pastors called us Paul and Silas because we often travelled together doing teaching seminars! Neysa returned on furlough with us at one point, and she stayed in the States and married. No one had heard anything of her for ages - but recently I discovered her again on Facebook! I had a cheerful note from her - wish we could get together again and catch up on each other's lives. She is in Ohio.
Family, colleagues, friends - our lives have been enriched by so many people during our days as missionaries. I have not named them all. And these kinds of relationships have not stopped since our retirement. Again, God has provided for us good colleagues and friends, with whom we work and pray together for the extension of the Gospel in Toccoa, where God has placed us, and in other parts of the world in which we have invested.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
FAMILY GUIDELINES......................................................
(This is a parenthesis......................)
I had had enough of cluttered up files in the file drawers of my desk, so decided to spend part of today cleaning up those files and arranging things in alphabetical order. In the process I came across a series of notes Dad and I wrote up for a marriage seminar we facilitated together a couple months after we retired. Among other things, in the notes I found a list of family guidelines that we concocted, things we tried to do in our own family.... so I am sharing those with you today.
1. Give your kids lots of love
2. Make your children feel accepted and capable of doing well.
3. Discipline with integrity and according to the offense when possible.
4. Include lots of laughter in the home.
5. Communicate with each other.
6. Have family fun times, not necessarily programmed but that just happen.
7. Include family devotions in your lives.
8. Lead by example.
9. Give your children independance in small doses.
10. Give them both roots and winge.
11. Keep in contact with them, even when they are grown.
12. Give them a strong sense of family. (Strong roots make strong plants)
13. Give frequent affirmation to develop self esteem in your children.
14. Pray without ceasing for your children, even when they are grown.
I am sure we were not "model" parents, but we do have very close family ties, something we see lacking in many families today. We are proud of each one of you, and it rejoices our hearts when we see you nurturing your own children in Christian principles. May your tribe increase!
I had had enough of cluttered up files in the file drawers of my desk, so decided to spend part of today cleaning up those files and arranging things in alphabetical order. In the process I came across a series of notes Dad and I wrote up for a marriage seminar we facilitated together a couple months after we retired. Among other things, in the notes I found a list of family guidelines that we concocted, things we tried to do in our own family.... so I am sharing those with you today.
1. Give your kids lots of love
2. Make your children feel accepted and capable of doing well.
3. Discipline with integrity and according to the offense when possible.
4. Include lots of laughter in the home.
5. Communicate with each other.
6. Have family fun times, not necessarily programmed but that just happen.
7. Include family devotions in your lives.
8. Lead by example.
9. Give your children independance in small doses.
10. Give them both roots and winge.
11. Keep in contact with them, even when they are grown.
12. Give them a strong sense of family. (Strong roots make strong plants)
13. Give frequent affirmation to develop self esteem in your children.
14. Pray without ceasing for your children, even when they are grown.
I am sure we were not "model" parents, but we do have very close family ties, something we see lacking in many families today. We are proud of each one of you, and it rejoices our hearts when we see you nurturing your own children in Christian principles. May your tribe increase!
Friday, October 7, 2011
COLLEAGUES IN MINISTRY
I could write long lists of the wonderful African colleagues we have had through the years. Many of them keep in contact with us even now. Our friend, Elie Sanou, has SKYPE and so calls us occasionally to give us all the news. Recently, Yusufu called early one morning and we talked for a while. He had not heard that we are going out there in February and was so excited! Another friend called the other day through Elie's SKYPE, a fellow who caused us grief for many years, but Dad stuck with him. And he is now following the Lord and sorry for the past.
We have also had many visits from African friends - some have stayed a couple days, some as long as a week. Dad and I were counting up the West Africans we have had visit us here and it is up to twenty people or more. They come over for various reasons - to speak at a Missions conference, to attend a seminar, to attend College of prayer. And they all try to find their way to our place so that we can visit together again! We usually involve them in the Toccoa Falls College and our local church while they are here, as well as showing them the sights in the Georgia mountains. How blessed we are to have these cross-cultural friends even now!
Friends - through Darrell and Cheryl - from the Middle East have also come to visit and they are a blessing as well. Each one enriches our lives. Having lived overseas so many years, we are cross-cultural people, and we sometimes get bored with knowing only Americans now!
It was a real blessing - both for the church and also for us as family - to have Prosper here for Jennie's funeral. You know how important funerals are for West Africans, and the Lord worked it out so that Prosper was speaking with Andrew Schaeffer here in the States at that time, and he spent some days with us. This coincided with Jennie's Homegoing and the beautiful memorial service. This meant a lot to the church over there, that one of our own from that side of the ocean could be here to represent them at this important family occasion. And he was able to relay the news to our Bobo people.
Email and Facebook have also been tools for keeping in touch with colleagues all over the world. We hear from many international workers but we also hear from many people of other countries whom we have worked with through the years. We have emails and FB messages in English, French, Bobo, Jula and even Arabic (which we cannot read!). Communication in other languages is something we miss living fulltime here in the States, and this gives us a little taste of our former life when English was not a major language for us.
So many memories - so many dear friends and colleagues. Next I will write about missionary colleagues and what many of them have meant to us.
We have also had many visits from African friends - some have stayed a couple days, some as long as a week. Dad and I were counting up the West Africans we have had visit us here and it is up to twenty people or more. They come over for various reasons - to speak at a Missions conference, to attend a seminar, to attend College of prayer. And they all try to find their way to our place so that we can visit together again! We usually involve them in the Toccoa Falls College and our local church while they are here, as well as showing them the sights in the Georgia mountains. How blessed we are to have these cross-cultural friends even now!
Friends - through Darrell and Cheryl - from the Middle East have also come to visit and they are a blessing as well. Each one enriches our lives. Having lived overseas so many years, we are cross-cultural people, and we sometimes get bored with knowing only Americans now!
It was a real blessing - both for the church and also for us as family - to have Prosper here for Jennie's funeral. You know how important funerals are for West Africans, and the Lord worked it out so that Prosper was speaking with Andrew Schaeffer here in the States at that time, and he spent some days with us. This coincided with Jennie's Homegoing and the beautiful memorial service. This meant a lot to the church over there, that one of our own from that side of the ocean could be here to represent them at this important family occasion. And he was able to relay the news to our Bobo people.
Email and Facebook have also been tools for keeping in touch with colleagues all over the world. We hear from many international workers but we also hear from many people of other countries whom we have worked with through the years. We have emails and FB messages in English, French, Bobo, Jula and even Arabic (which we cannot read!). Communication in other languages is something we miss living fulltime here in the States, and this gives us a little taste of our former life when English was not a major language for us.
So many memories - so many dear friends and colleagues. Next I will write about missionary colleagues and what many of them have meant to us.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
BEGGARS AND THIEVES..........................................
The Scriptures tell us that we are to take the spoiling of our goods cheerfully! Living your life in West Africa, you have the chance to do this almost every day! Thieving is common in the larger cities. But in most of the villages, stealing is one of the cardinal sins. As you walk around and see what open lives everyone lives in the village, you can understand why stealing from your neighbor would naturally be a sin! So theft was taboo in the village.
The city was another matter. Young people coming to the city to earn a living would see the affluency around them and take to stealing as a way of life. I have already written about how we lost our entire month's allowance when we were young missionaries in the city of Bobo. That was a big loss and was never recovered. As you walk through the crowded marketplace in the city, occasionally someone will rush by you, yelling, "Son! Son!" (meaning "Thief! Thief") and everyone takes up the chase to catch and punish the offender!
In the Muslim countries of West Africa, it is the privilege of those who have, to give alms to those who have not, and so there are many beggars in the streets, especially in larger cities. The first reaction of visitors who came to our country was to give to each beggar they met, and the streets in the center of the city are full of these beggars. Even those of us who lived in Africa all of our lives had our "favorite beggars" to whom we gave regularly, and other beggars would ignore us and allow our beggar to collect his dues when we passed that way!
But one soon learns certain laws of the beggars. For example, there are the "gallibouds", young boys in tattered clothes who swarm the streets near the main stores in town, their crude little tin cans held out and asking that you "give to God". I used to give to them, but after a while learned that these young children are sent out into the streets by their Muslim teachers to help support them. And so I developed the habit of parking near the bakery in the middle of town, and when the ragged little boys came with their tin cans, I would take them into the bakery and buy bread to be divided up among them to eat on the spot! They loved this, and ran to meet my car every time I arrived at that street corner, as they were hungry. Thus I assuaged my conscience and also helped those children directly instead of giving alms to the Muslim teachers.
These beggar boys and sometimes young thieving boys as well were good people to know. They had special hiding places for their loot down in the ravines along the river running through our city, and there it was that they hid what they stole. One day I was buying vegetables along a downtown street and stepped out of my car for a moment to pick up my basket of produce, leaving my purse on the car seat. When I got back in the car, I realized that my purse was nowhere in sight and I complained to the sales ladies from whom I had bought my vegetables. They told me, "Don't worry - go home and wait. We will bring your purse back to you at your house." And sure enough, someone appeared at our yard with my money and purse later on that day. Of course, they were suitably rewarded as it was not only my money that I wanted to recover but also my official papers which were in the purse as well! So you have to play the system and know the rules.
Another time Dad's passport had been stolen out of the glove compartment of our car and we realized it hours before he was to take a flight to Kenya and needed the passport. Again we asked one of these young local thieves to look for this important travelling document, and the next morning it appeared at our door , in the hands of our smiling little friend! So it paid off to know a few thieves.
One young such fellow became a friend of Dad's and he did his best to rehabilitate this young boy. He may have been the one who recovered the passport for us. We took him into our home to help him and to give him a small salary so he would no longer have to steal for a living. Before long I discovered that he had just added to his income through stealing from us! Pieces of my jewelry disappeared and other small articles around the house. Even Yusufu could not stop him from his habitual way of life and we finally had to dismiss him. The last time Dad saw him was at the train station, stoned on drugs. Those are the sad things that happen in life, but it does not deter us from still trying to help.
Actually, I lost a good deal of my jewelry - piece by piece - as we had Isiaka working for us in the house for years. In reality, he was an excellent house worker and Yusufu was there to keep an eye on him. He too had sticky fingers and helped himself to things he coveted as he worked in our home. Our faithful Yusufu was straighforward and honest all of his life of working for us. It is so important having had someone like him whom we could trust with our lives. What a gem!
I guess an important lesson we learned from these experiences of theft was not to put our trust in the things of this world, but to keep our eyes on our main goal of why we lived in this country of beggin and stealing!
The city was another matter. Young people coming to the city to earn a living would see the affluency around them and take to stealing as a way of life. I have already written about how we lost our entire month's allowance when we were young missionaries in the city of Bobo. That was a big loss and was never recovered. As you walk through the crowded marketplace in the city, occasionally someone will rush by you, yelling, "Son! Son!" (meaning "Thief! Thief") and everyone takes up the chase to catch and punish the offender!
In the Muslim countries of West Africa, it is the privilege of those who have, to give alms to those who have not, and so there are many beggars in the streets, especially in larger cities. The first reaction of visitors who came to our country was to give to each beggar they met, and the streets in the center of the city are full of these beggars. Even those of us who lived in Africa all of our lives had our "favorite beggars" to whom we gave regularly, and other beggars would ignore us and allow our beggar to collect his dues when we passed that way!
But one soon learns certain laws of the beggars. For example, there are the "gallibouds", young boys in tattered clothes who swarm the streets near the main stores in town, their crude little tin cans held out and asking that you "give to God". I used to give to them, but after a while learned that these young children are sent out into the streets by their Muslim teachers to help support them. And so I developed the habit of parking near the bakery in the middle of town, and when the ragged little boys came with their tin cans, I would take them into the bakery and buy bread to be divided up among them to eat on the spot! They loved this, and ran to meet my car every time I arrived at that street corner, as they were hungry. Thus I assuaged my conscience and also helped those children directly instead of giving alms to the Muslim teachers.
These beggar boys and sometimes young thieving boys as well were good people to know. They had special hiding places for their loot down in the ravines along the river running through our city, and there it was that they hid what they stole. One day I was buying vegetables along a downtown street and stepped out of my car for a moment to pick up my basket of produce, leaving my purse on the car seat. When I got back in the car, I realized that my purse was nowhere in sight and I complained to the sales ladies from whom I had bought my vegetables. They told me, "Don't worry - go home and wait. We will bring your purse back to you at your house." And sure enough, someone appeared at our yard with my money and purse later on that day. Of course, they were suitably rewarded as it was not only my money that I wanted to recover but also my official papers which were in the purse as well! So you have to play the system and know the rules.
Another time Dad's passport had been stolen out of the glove compartment of our car and we realized it hours before he was to take a flight to Kenya and needed the passport. Again we asked one of these young local thieves to look for this important travelling document, and the next morning it appeared at our door , in the hands of our smiling little friend! So it paid off to know a few thieves.
One young such fellow became a friend of Dad's and he did his best to rehabilitate this young boy. He may have been the one who recovered the passport for us. We took him into our home to help him and to give him a small salary so he would no longer have to steal for a living. Before long I discovered that he had just added to his income through stealing from us! Pieces of my jewelry disappeared and other small articles around the house. Even Yusufu could not stop him from his habitual way of life and we finally had to dismiss him. The last time Dad saw him was at the train station, stoned on drugs. Those are the sad things that happen in life, but it does not deter us from still trying to help.
Actually, I lost a good deal of my jewelry - piece by piece - as we had Isiaka working for us in the house for years. In reality, he was an excellent house worker and Yusufu was there to keep an eye on him. He too had sticky fingers and helped himself to things he coveted as he worked in our home. Our faithful Yusufu was straighforward and honest all of his life of working for us. It is so important having had someone like him whom we could trust with our lives. What a gem!
I guess an important lesson we learned from these experiences of theft was not to put our trust in the things of this world, but to keep our eyes on our main goal of why we lived in this country of beggin and stealing!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
SHOPPING......................................................................
We all love to shop - or most of us do! I remembered the Africa of my childhood and did not remember any real stores there, so expected very little when we first went to Burkina. How surprised I was to find a town full of stores of all kinds - Monoprix, Peyrissac, Pharmacies, Lebanese grocery stores, Bata shoe store, as well as a well stocked market. The stores were very much like those in France. So you could not buy pork in the stores that sold beef. The products were mostly French, but we had gotten used to the brands available in France so they did not seem strange. The French had a rather large Army contingent in the city of Bobo, as well as ever-present Lebanese and some wealthy West Africans, so all these stores did a good business. But when the French army pulled out during our first term, one by one, most of the French stores also closed their doors.
But there was always the market! You have all experienced the African market and so you understand what it is like. An abundance of just about everything under the sun, spread out over a wide area, being sold by many merchants ordering their own merchandise and selling in small lots. At first glance, the African market looks like a huge hodge-podge of merchandise. It is hard to find what you want until you learn the way of the market. There are always a lot of little market boys hanging around, trying to make a franc or two. So you find one, explain to him what you are looking for, and then try to follow him as he takes off through the narrow, cluttered paths in the market!
The yuguyugu area of the market was always fun for you kids. Bales of used clothing from the US and France were exported into the markets of West Africa, bought up by the market merchants and put out for sale. Do you remember scrounging through piles of shirts, dresses, pants, shorts, etc., trying to find you size?? There was always a little sheltering cloth hung up by the sales area where you could duck in and try on something. And every year we would visit the yuguyugu to replenish your school wardrobe. We often found Sears and Penneys and other labels on clothing, as they had been in the huge bales of used clothing imported from the USA. We would take home our loot, have it washed and ironed, and - voilà! your new wardrobe for another year at boarding school!
If we could not find everything in the yuguyugu, there were always the tailors. All you needed was a piece of material you liked and another worn out dress or shirt as a pattern. The tailor would measure you, look at the material, ask a few questions, take your old shirt for a pattern, and set a date for you to come back and collect your finished product! Sometimes as I wander through a large store, looking at the hundreds of racks of clothing and trying to find my size, I long for the simplicity of those tailors who made your clothes to order, and then delivered them at your home! Every family had their own tailor - he knew his clients and where we lived, and often delivered our clothing when they were ready to wear. If an adjustment needed to be made, he took the item back and re-adjusted it, then brought it back to the house again.
Africa has evolved in what is available, and every time we go back we are amazed at everything that is now available over there. But I find that most international people still have their favorite, personal tailor. Sometimes they are funny in their comments. I remember years ago, one very "portly" missionary had a pair of shorts made, and when they came back they did not fit at all and so they tailor was called back to adjust them. His excuse for the difficulty in fit was, "I never made pants for a man who had a posterior both front and back!"
But there was always the market! You have all experienced the African market and so you understand what it is like. An abundance of just about everything under the sun, spread out over a wide area, being sold by many merchants ordering their own merchandise and selling in small lots. At first glance, the African market looks like a huge hodge-podge of merchandise. It is hard to find what you want until you learn the way of the market. There are always a lot of little market boys hanging around, trying to make a franc or two. So you find one, explain to him what you are looking for, and then try to follow him as he takes off through the narrow, cluttered paths in the market!
The yuguyugu area of the market was always fun for you kids. Bales of used clothing from the US and France were exported into the markets of West Africa, bought up by the market merchants and put out for sale. Do you remember scrounging through piles of shirts, dresses, pants, shorts, etc., trying to find you size?? There was always a little sheltering cloth hung up by the sales area where you could duck in and try on something. And every year we would visit the yuguyugu to replenish your school wardrobe. We often found Sears and Penneys and other labels on clothing, as they had been in the huge bales of used clothing imported from the USA. We would take home our loot, have it washed and ironed, and - voilà! your new wardrobe for another year at boarding school!
If we could not find everything in the yuguyugu, there were always the tailors. All you needed was a piece of material you liked and another worn out dress or shirt as a pattern. The tailor would measure you, look at the material, ask a few questions, take your old shirt for a pattern, and set a date for you to come back and collect your finished product! Sometimes as I wander through a large store, looking at the hundreds of racks of clothing and trying to find my size, I long for the simplicity of those tailors who made your clothes to order, and then delivered them at your home! Every family had their own tailor - he knew his clients and where we lived, and often delivered our clothing when they were ready to wear. If an adjustment needed to be made, he took the item back and re-adjusted it, then brought it back to the house again.
Africa has evolved in what is available, and every time we go back we are amazed at everything that is now available over there. But I find that most international people still have their favorite, personal tailor. Sometimes they are funny in their comments. I remember years ago, one very "portly" missionary had a pair of shorts made, and when they came back they did not fit at all and so they tailor was called back to adjust them. His excuse for the difficulty in fit was, "I never made pants for a man who had a posterior both front and back!"
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
To the Third and Fourth Generations............................................
In Deuteronomy we read that God punished people for sin to the third and fourth generations. But in the next verse, He again says, He "showed love to a thousand generations of those who love (Him)." This is a beautiful promise from God which we have lived in our extended family. On both sides of our family - Pierce and Kennedy - we have known God's blessing and call in so many ways.
Dad's Mom - Grandma Pierce - had a father who was an outspoken Nazarene preacher. She in turn followed the Lord and became involved in Missions in her Baptist convention. Her three sons (Dad among them) and her one daughter all became ordained ministers in the church: Uncle Richard was ordained as a Baptist preacher, Uncle Luther as a Church of Christ minister, Aunt Esther as an Episcopalian rector and Dad an Alliance pastor.
On the Kennedy side, both of my parents were first generation Christians. But my parents were saved in their young twenties and trained to become missionaries. In my generation, my brother, sister and I all became Alliance missionaries. In your generation, three of you (our children) became missionaires and the two sons of Aunt Donna and Uncle Jim are also missionaries. This all is a much richer heritage than what we all realize. Especially in these days of such terrible tragedy in many homes. God has been good to us and is working into the next generation even now. Our children are now the third generation, and we look forward to those who will follow God's call in this next generation.
At the same time, everyone should not be a missionary or a pastor. Being a child of God, through salvation in Christ, is the highest calling. What we trust God to do with our lives from then on is according to His will. Being God's child is what is important, and in our case we are just as proud of the strong Christian laymen in our immediate family as we are of all of you who have felt led of God to go to other countries with the Gospel. We may not live to see what God will do with our grandchildren and great grandchildren, but our prayer for them all is that they will know Christ and follow where God leads them.
Dad's Mom - Grandma Pierce - had a father who was an outspoken Nazarene preacher. She in turn followed the Lord and became involved in Missions in her Baptist convention. Her three sons (Dad among them) and her one daughter all became ordained ministers in the church: Uncle Richard was ordained as a Baptist preacher, Uncle Luther as a Church of Christ minister, Aunt Esther as an Episcopalian rector and Dad an Alliance pastor.
On the Kennedy side, both of my parents were first generation Christians. But my parents were saved in their young twenties and trained to become missionaries. In my generation, my brother, sister and I all became Alliance missionaries. In your generation, three of you (our children) became missionaires and the two sons of Aunt Donna and Uncle Jim are also missionaries. This all is a much richer heritage than what we all realize. Especially in these days of such terrible tragedy in many homes. God has been good to us and is working into the next generation even now. Our children are now the third generation, and we look forward to those who will follow God's call in this next generation.
At the same time, everyone should not be a missionary or a pastor. Being a child of God, through salvation in Christ, is the highest calling. What we trust God to do with our lives from then on is according to His will. Being God's child is what is important, and in our case we are just as proud of the strong Christian laymen in our immediate family as we are of all of you who have felt led of God to go to other countries with the Gospel. We may not live to see what God will do with our grandchildren and great grandchildren, but our prayer for them all is that they will know Christ and follow where God leads them.
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