One week has passed since Jon and I arrived in this different world of Africa. Lack of plumbing, electricity and so much more makes us feel like we have stepped into another time zone. Yet every day I have spent here my love of Africa grows.
Our trip to Catel was quite an adventure. The flight to Dakar went well. We arrived early in the morning; Beryl met us and took us to a mission house where we slept. We then boarded our boat for Ziguinchor. The only seats were a few benches on the deck, instead we had bunks. Beryl calls them coffins. Eight bunks to a 12x8 cabin. Beryl and Jonathan had it pretty good on the men’s side. Eight men, it was snug, I was on the women’s side with seven women and five kids. Now this was a hot and smelly crowd. Ear plugs and a sleeping mask put me to sleep quite nicely and at 10am the next day we reached our destination. We spent the day in Ziguinchor buying visa’s and supplies. A long car ride and we arrived in Catel.
The village of Catel is basically one main road with many dirt paths branching off it leading to many different compounds. A typical compound has several brothers each with several wives (3-4) and several other elderly relatives and MANY kids. Each wife has an average of six children. Since he purchases his bride, and builds another hut, the number of wives a man has is a reflection of his wealth. The women do 90% of the labor. Generally the men sit around all day drinking.
The Church is alive and growing in Guinea Bissau! Saturday night we have singing with the kids (40-50). They LOVE to sing and will bring drums and sing, clap and dance for hours. I think it would go longer but their voices give out. Sunday morning we have a small service, an hour of singing and a message brought by Tchalino. Tchalino works with Beryl throughout the week preparing his message and is a very effective preacher. The attendance is much smaller than the actual church size because many of the young men travel to outlying villages to evangelize. The need for workers is great. I am currently planning and looking for ideas to start a children’s church/Sunday school. (I would love any suggestions) Today I fashioned a bubble blower with a stick, string and some soap. The kids went crazy. It was hysterical. I have seen little if any toys of any kind.
Tuesday and Thursday nights we have Bible study. Last week we looked at what the Bible had to say about marriage. The Bible teaching about marriage… to love your wife… etc… goes against so much of their culture. The Christian life is not easy for them here and calls for a lot of change. They are definitely persecuted. If one of them so much as tries to help his wife carry the water, he is harshly reprimanded. Please pray for these new Christian young men who are trying to live according to the Bible.
Minjer, kal ku bu purblema. (literal translation “woman, what is your problem”) So begins a day in the clinic. The days have been very busy seeing anywhere from 20-40 patients a day. Malaria, parasites, worms, rheumatic fever, bronchitis, many infected wounds, UTIs, eye infections, STIs, fungi, alcoholism, animal bites… I have seen SO much! I work with Tene and Julio. Both have been functioning as a sort of pharmacy for Guinea Bissau. Both have had a little medical training. Both speak very little English. We have many humorous moments trying to communicate. Either Beryl or Andrew is available to help translate most of the time. Today I treated village witch doctor. Due to strong animistic beliefs, he is very wealthy and took his sixth wife yesterday. Sunday I went on my first house call. A woman had a miscarriage presumably from a raging STI that I discovered upon examination. She was very sick but is doing much better today.
Jon has been busy helping teach new believers and doing all kinds of work with the orange trees, helping with the clinic and a lot of maintenance work. He spent an entire day fishing a lovely rat (junkador) from our well. (see pic) After a day or two of noticing an odd smell to our water, Andrew discovered a large rat. It took the whole day and many unsuccessful ideas to figure out a way to remove it. By the time we succeeded, some decomposition had definitely taken place. However, it was a joyous occasion. Needless to say we have been walking to the school for our water these days.
I hope all of you are doing well. Please keep the church and the clinic of Guinea Bissau in your prayers.
Thanks for this post, lady! We are thinking of and praying for you both as you transition - as time goes on, please do let us know if we can send you all anything in the way of supplies!
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