Sunday, March 27, 2011

March 24, 2011 TRUE GRIT

True Grit; Many years ago I watched a Western entitled “True Grit”. Josie and I were talking recently about the peanut butter that the locals make here. Our first batch was entitled “True grit” because the harvested crop is processed directly on the ground, and small stones and grit find their way into the product. The good news is that Josie has now located a lady who makes and sells No-Grit peanut butter. So goodbye grit!





New bird species; We have seen several new birds in the bush. One of those looks like a shrike of some kind, and goes about in a small group – 4 or 5 individuals. I also saw a pair of vultures circling above us on the jobsite a couple days ago. There are some awesome sugar bird species here. One small black one has a pair of long tail feathers. Two Friday nights ago I rode 3km into the bush on my moto and saw a pair of Hoopoos. The brick color on the body is lighter than that of the African Hoopoo. I think the bird book lists them as Abyssinian Hoopoos. We also saw a plover – may be a crowned plover. There are many blue waxbills in the bush – a very small seedeater. The latest species is a type of Barbett, with a very light-colored head, and black and white spots on the wings when the bird is in flight. Many of the birds we see here are those we know from South Africa – their range is great on the map.


Arab cattle herders; A couple weeks ago us guys had the opportunity to meet some real Arab herdmen. We were out on the jobsite when we saw about 150 head of long-horn cattle coming thru the bush, right past the project we were working on. The cattle were moving Westward toward the setting sun, and were being driven along at a walking pace by half a dozen herdmen. So we downed tools and went out to greet them. I have noticed, from day one in Chad, that most of the Arab herdmen carry bows – and I have wondered where are the arrows? These guys were friendly, and we greeted them with a handshake. I commented on a bow that one was holding, and asked about the arrows. The man didn’t speak English, but understood what I was asking. He proceeded to show me a closed-lid cylindrical quiver, that held about 15 arrows, strapped over his shoulder, but hidden at chest level under his outer garment. I asked if I could look at an arrow, and he withdrew one. The wood shaft was painted bright orange, obviously for visibility, after shooting. The point of the arrow was thus: a steel shaft, about 1/8” diameter and 5” long was attached to the wood shaft and had a sharpened, flat triangular-shaped head with barbs directly behind the business end. Deadly! I don’t want to be on the receiving end of one of those. Only one of the 6 Arabs could speak English – he was at the tail end of the herd. He was a wild-looking man, and was shouting for the others to get a move on. When he reached us I asked him where they were headed. He answered, Cameroon. I asked how long they would take to get there, and he replied, 3 weeks. They live off the land and sell the herd in Cameroon, then return – again on foot – a type of nomadic existence. Still, it was all very interesting. One of our guys asked if he could take a few pics. They agreed (not usual with Arabs) and he got some pics with his I-phone.


Dust in the air; There has recently been quite a bit of dust in the air, a result of the strong winds blowing from the N/E off the Sahara Desert. Just a couple days ago I found myself on the outskirts of a dust twister. I could hear it coming thru the village before I saw it, and palm tree branches were swaying wildly. There’s a lot of power in these things. One of the guys here has seen a twister lifting crop stalks from the fields and other large bits, as they flew thru the air. When there’s a high concentration of dust particles in the air, the daytime temperatures are cooler due to the weaker sunlight.


Southern Cross; We have located the Southern Cross Constellation (Go, Aussies!) during the early hours of the morning, when we rise to visit the outhouse. This constellation travels on a very short arc on the horizon, in the extreme southern sky. It’s good to still be able to see Orion and the Big Dipper. We are about 8 degrees off the Equator.


Monkey; Three weeks ago, the team brought back a baby monkey from the Branch Sabbath School at Dabgue. The native children brought it to Gary there. The mother had been killed in a hunt, and the baby was an orphan. Gary has had monkey pets before, and so his family is raising this one, to return it to the wild someday.


Sleeping outdoors; Three of the guys on the team have taken to sleeping on straw beds on top of the large steel shipping containers that surround the hangar, about ¼ mile from us. They like the cool night air, and string up their mosquito nets each night. Kel wants to spend a night sleeping out in the bush soon. Josie probably won’t be along. There are several night birds to be seen, and probably a few snakes, centipedes and scorpions, too, to add to the spice of life.


Another visitor; We have had several “nightly visitors” in our hut. The latest being a desert mouse. This little gray mouse has a paddle tail like a chipmunk, and has large, beady eyes that help it see in the dark. Those who know the African Bush Baby will know what I’m talking about. The mouse reminds me of a very small bush baby. He visits us by coming down the wooden pole beams of our hut. We’ve seen him now on 2 occasions. Josie must have something in her kitchen area that he likes.


Motor Cycle Hassles; Well, the moto has given Kel some more worries and work to repair. The rear wheel drive system has had issues. The sprocket drive cluster had a broken lug (one of four, completely sheared off) and the rubber cushions on the 4 lugs have all collapsed - this after only 1,000 km on the bike. We thank the Chinese for their sub-standard engineering productions. Actually, the cluster on my moto is an upgrade of the previous model. We replaced Jonathan’s moto cluster cushions about 6 weeks ago, and personally I think the earlier model had a better system. What can we do, but go to the market and get a new part and do the work. So far, so good, 200 km later - “Genuine Chinese Junk”.


Humidity rolls in Yesterday; Wednesday, we experienced the first batch of humidity, as winds from the South blew all night and brought us a hot, humid night, with little rest. Last night we slept with wet shirts over us, for some relief - it helps. Also, during the day this week Kel and the guys have been wetting their T-shirts on the job to keep cool. Sometimes it takes 3 wettings to get thru the afternoon shift – the hot air dries shirts quickly.


School daze; Also yesterday, Wednesday, was the day the principal at the Ecole Adventiste (elementary school) selected for Josie to give the music exam. She had the questions all ready the Friday before, so she and Frederick (our Chadian French teacher/translator) went to the school on that Friday to show the principal what had been prepared. He suggested giving the exam to the older children, and we agreed. So Wednesday morning Josie and Frederick began in the 5th grade room by passing out a sheet of notebook paper to each child. Josie drew the music staffs on the blackboard, and Frederick translated the questions. Next we went to the 6th grade room, and Frederick was really getting into it. The 3rd and 4th grades were next, but the exam was oral, so the grade given was for each group. The 1st and 2nd graders were given marks based on their cooperation during class times. Josie needs to grade the papers and hopes to keep some of them for memories.


Keep courage – Maranatha! Jesus is coming.


Kel & Josie.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

If you wanted to send a box?


Posted by Leif Penrose:
If you'd like to send a box of stuff to Josie & Kel use this address:
Bere Adventist Hospital
Gary Roberts (K&J)
BP52
KELO
CHAD, Africa
A Heads UP: Please do not send any packages after March 30, 2011. The packages take about a month to arrive. Kel and Josie will be returning to the U.S. for a home visit in May and the folks in Chad don't know what to do with packages that arrive for people who are not there. There is a small fee that Kel & Josie have to pay fo reach package they receive. You may want to make a donation at the web site to cover that expense. Click here to donate
Leif Penrose

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

March 2, 2011 CROSSED WIRES - etc

A friend of ours recently admitted that writing something to post on his blog is really a “heart thing”. And I have to agree with him. One doesn’t write because of a sense of duty, or to keep up with a regular schedule. It’s something that comes from the heart. So, if you notice that our blog notes are sporadic, maybe our heart skips a beat occasionally.

Crossed wires: Have you ever gotten the wrong meaning from what somebody said? Or maybe the facts you presented were misinterpreted after transmission. We call this getting the wires crossed. Well, here’s a literal “crossed wire” story. The Chinese motorcycle we bought in December has had several “issues,” the latest brought with it a good laugh. I happened to be on Gary’s motorcycle (abbreviated locally as “moto”) riding behind the guy who was on my moto. The driver on my moto in front of me indicated a right turn, yet turned left into a driveway at his gate. I wondered about this, and then decided to try out the turn signal for myself, while sitting on the moto. Left switch, left front blinker operates. Right switch, right front blinker working. Then I looked behind me, and saw why I had been confused at the driveway. The left front and right rear turn signals work together, as do the right front and left rear. We corrected the problem by switching the terminal connector in the wiring harness … Leave it to the Chinese!

Solar Power: We thought we were going to be able to have a single light inside our hut, but alas, the battery that would hold the solar charge cannot hold any charge. The solar panel works great, but the battery is dead. So our dream of a light must fade away and we continue to use flashlights.

Thick sand gets thicker in February: Two Sabbaths ago we were challenged to the hilt! We had to be south at Dabgue for our branch Sabbath School and only had motorcycles (motos) for transportation since the land cruiser was not available. At this time of the year the sand on the roads in the area is very deep in most places. Kel and the others made several trips back and forth because we had 3 motos for 12 people, so some of us started walking the 5.7 km (3 ½ miles). Kel found that he had to drive at 50km/h in order not to slip and slide and bog down in the hot sand. Kel took Josie and one more all the way home (Josie was praying all the way – a very scary ride!) Occasions like this shave several years off a man’s life!

Birds in the bush: As the old saying goes” “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. Well, we’ve not had any in hand, but we’ve seen incredible wild birds thru the lenses of our binoculars.Kel has discovered several more bird species. He saw recently a relative of the scimitar-billed (red-billed) hoepoe, doves that look very much like Namaqua doves. Carmine bee eaters, a small type of light-colored heron and Pied kingfishers are found at the big river. Jonathan here on the mission has a bird book titled Birds of Africa, South of the Sahara. The book is so helpful identifying the birds here in Chad, and of course we recognize the South African birds in it and can compare with what we see here.

The River Finally: we got to see the river last Sabbath afternoon – a van from the hospital came to pick us up and we counted 27 people in the 14-seater van! The river is about 8 km (5 miles) from our place. Kel was surprised to find it was only about 30 inches deep mid-stream. The guys were all sitting in the water trying to cool off. Josie soaked her feet as she was still in her Sabbath skirt, but really did not want to get in the dirty water.

Roof on Gary’s House: This week (Feb 27) saw the start of the steel roof framing for Gary & Wendy’s house. Kel and Josie had previously taken field measurements of the perimeter ring beam, about 10 feet above the floor, and Kel used the field info to lay out the steel framing on the computer using AutoCAD. The team planted the primary post (that sits within the free-standing “island” in the kitchen/living room area) and from there started building the rafter/truss combos. The project is both challenging and exciting. Picture a Y-shaped building, with a hexagonal bedroom at each end of the two Y branches. The stem of the Y is the kitchen/living area. So we are presently erecting steel rafters above the stem. The hexagons already have their framing erected – now the challenge is to build a Y-shaped roof to meet them. We pray, and God gives us the wisdom to do … thank You, Lord!

Well, thanks again for your prayers and support. It means a lot to us to have our friends and family keeping us and our needs before the Lord. It’s not easy to be missionaries in this harsh, hot, dry land, but God supplies our need and gives us a measure of His amazing grace for each new day. This He does for you, too, dear reader! Keep courage – Maranatha! Jesus is coming.

Love & hugs,
Kel & Josie.