Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Sacrifice
After sitting 8 hours in Maroua waiting for a bus to arrive to take us to the Cameroon border we finally arrived at our first police check before crossing the frontier. Hans sat in the front of the taxi that we had found with the driver and us three girls in the back. Military men surrounded the car talking to Hans, checking his passport, and peering in the window at us. One approached my side of the car and started talking to me. I played the dumb, I don't speak French part. We could tell that Hans was starting to do some bargaining. Finally we pulled away. Hans turned back to talk to us with a smirk on his face. "Do you know what they wanted?" He asked. We all just raised our eyebrows. We had our ideas but weren't sure. "They wanted me to leave one of you with them, but I told them it would be too much of a sacrifice." They argued saying that didn't make sense he had three of the white women. Our driver stated that everyone wants a white woman. And Sonya commenced to say that "It's not easy being this beautiful and white." We like to think it's as Sonya stated but really the hardcore reality truth is that it's not the beauty, its not the white skin, it's the pass to America that they want!
Friday, January 11, 2008
Don't wear chap-stick on a moto ride!!!!
Date: 1-3-08
As the trees whipped by and my head wrap flapped in the wind behind me I licked my lips and got a mouth full of dirt. Ohhh, that was nice. Yep, we were on our way to Nigeria from Cameroon and I just learned a very important lesson: don't ever put on chap-stick before a moto ride especially in the dry season. It's a recipe for how to get a gritty mouth for the rest of the day. Over mounds of dirt we flew, through herds of cows, by groups of waving children, and through 3 inch deep sand causing us to almost wreck a couple times. Finally we arrived at the Nigerian border and entered the market without any problems. The market was huge, we pushed back sheets and sheets of brightly colored fabrics, stopped to admire all the brightly colored peppers, and eggplant, bought some avocadoes for guacamole, held our breath as we walked through the meat market trying to keep the flies from flying up our noses, bargained for pink, green, and purple scarves that we hoped would disguise our whiteness, and paused to smell the pink and red Arab perfumes put into old medicine bottles. Our senses were on overload as we headed back to the border, one more country in Africa down and a very long moto ride ahead of us; a very long moto ride that would leave us all with very sore backsides, and raccoon eyes from the dust and sun glasses.
As the trees whipped by and my head wrap flapped in the wind behind me I licked my lips and got a mouth full of dirt. Ohhh, that was nice. Yep, we were on our way to Nigeria from Cameroon and I just learned a very important lesson: don't ever put on chap-stick before a moto ride especially in the dry season. It's a recipe for how to get a gritty mouth for the rest of the day. Over mounds of dirt we flew, through herds of cows, by groups of waving children, and through 3 inch deep sand causing us to almost wreck a couple times. Finally we arrived at the Nigerian border and entered the market without any problems. The market was huge, we pushed back sheets and sheets of brightly colored fabrics, stopped to admire all the brightly colored peppers, and eggplant, bought some avocadoes for guacamole, held our breath as we walked through the meat market trying to keep the flies from flying up our noses, bargained for pink, green, and purple scarves that we hoped would disguise our whiteness, and paused to smell the pink and red Arab perfumes put into old medicine bottles. Our senses were on overload as we headed back to the border, one more country in Africa down and a very long moto ride ahead of us; a very long moto ride that would leave us all with very sore backsides, and raccoon eyes from the dust and sun glasses.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
A Nalgene Smile
Date: 12-25-08
The morning sun filtered through the crack in my tin door. I opened my eyes to my first Christmas Day away from home. I bundled up in my sweatshirt and pants and opened the door to let in the first rays of morning light. Curled up with a fleece blanket on my mat and I opened up my bible for a Christmas morning time with God. Soon I heard the familiar, "Lee, lee, lee" letting me know that breakfast was served. "Je viene" I called out, as I slipped on my Chaco's. I sat down for a meal of white rice and tomato sauce. It didn't sit quite right on my stomach so I headed back to my hut after eating a little bit. There on my mat sat the gifts for my family. Now would be a good time to give them their gifts I thought and headed outside with the pile. As soon as Pierre caught sight of the new purple Nalgene (Vanessa had sent in her package) that I was holding towards him his hands shot out to grasp it and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Como, como, como" he kept repeating over and over again as he turned the Nalgene over and over again in his hands. He said thank you over and over again so many times. You see beside us Americans, only one other person has a Nalgene at the hospital and he's basically American (at least wants to be). Usually they drink out of old oil cans, or medicine containers. Next I handed out scarves to all the girls who immediately put them on their heads and wore them all day very proudly!! The picture book of landscapes in America that mom found at a second-hand store kept not only the attention of my whole family but also all the neighborhood kids for quite some time! It was a great Christmas. Couldn't be better after all those SMILES!!!
The morning sun filtered through the crack in my tin door. I opened my eyes to my first Christmas Day away from home. I bundled up in my sweatshirt and pants and opened the door to let in the first rays of morning light. Curled up with a fleece blanket on my mat and I opened up my bible for a Christmas morning time with God. Soon I heard the familiar, "Lee, lee, lee" letting me know that breakfast was served. "Je viene" I called out, as I slipped on my Chaco's. I sat down for a meal of white rice and tomato sauce. It didn't sit quite right on my stomach so I headed back to my hut after eating a little bit. There on my mat sat the gifts for my family. Now would be a good time to give them their gifts I thought and headed outside with the pile. As soon as Pierre caught sight of the new purple Nalgene (Vanessa had sent in her package) that I was holding towards him his hands shot out to grasp it and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Como, como, como" he kept repeating over and over again as he turned the Nalgene over and over again in his hands. He said thank you over and over again so many times. You see beside us Americans, only one other person has a Nalgene at the hospital and he's basically American (at least wants to be). Usually they drink out of old oil cans, or medicine containers. Next I handed out scarves to all the girls who immediately put them on their heads and wore them all day very proudly!! The picture book of landscapes in America that mom found at a second-hand store kept not only the attention of my whole family but also all the neighborhood kids for quite some time! It was a great Christmas. Couldn't be better after all those SMILES!!!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Does it take 9 months for a white person too???
Date: 12-22-07
Friday found us heading to the market. Us being Sonya, Esther, Wendy, Cherice (1 yr. old), Caleb (2 yr. old), and myself. As soon as we stepped foot outside of the Toyota we were mobbed!!! Fifty kids surrounded us, touching Caleb, and shouting until he started to ball. We walked the 1/8th of a mile to the market barely being able to move because the kids pressed in so close, bumping us in all the places we might have money hidden. It's never been like this going to the market - what makes it so different today?? Yep, it was defiantly Wendy carrying Cherice on her front and a crying Caleb in the other hand. It's like they'd never realized that white babies exist. We surrounded Caleb and tried to keep them from touching him but somehow a hand would always manage to squeeze its way through trying to find out if the this little white moving creature was real or not. Finally we arrived at the Arab market where we get phone minutes. The Arab owner decided to take things into his own hands. He soon had out a rope swinging it widely and the group dispersed for a couple minutes and then regrouped again surrounding the shops in even larger numbers. Finally we finished with the phones and decided to take the back path to place where the lady sells tomatoes. We didn't lose any of them. As we walked back to the Toyota another man appeared with a green stick, walking in circles around us, whipping it at the kids. It kept them at about 5 feet away, creating us as the nucleus of some strange happening in the little village of Béré.
Last night Hans enlightened us as to maybe one of the reasons the white babies are such an attraction. Upon arriving at his hut one of the boys in his family asked him if it took 9 months for a white person too?? They also where amazed when Esther was able to have her surgery here. They thought white people always had to go to Europe because they were different than black people on the inside and couldn't be operated on here. And yes the reason all the babies cry when they see us is because the Arabs have spread the news for the past couple centuries that we white people (Nasarahs) like to eat little black kids. I don't ever think we will become a normal sight. Sonya and I are considering trying the Charcoal trick someday and seeing how that goes over but I'll save that for another blog!!!
Friday found us heading to the market. Us being Sonya, Esther, Wendy, Cherice (1 yr. old), Caleb (2 yr. old), and myself. As soon as we stepped foot outside of the Toyota we were mobbed!!! Fifty kids surrounded us, touching Caleb, and shouting until he started to ball. We walked the 1/8th of a mile to the market barely being able to move because the kids pressed in so close, bumping us in all the places we might have money hidden. It's never been like this going to the market - what makes it so different today?? Yep, it was defiantly Wendy carrying Cherice on her front and a crying Caleb in the other hand. It's like they'd never realized that white babies exist. We surrounded Caleb and tried to keep them from touching him but somehow a hand would always manage to squeeze its way through trying to find out if the this little white moving creature was real or not. Finally we arrived at the Arab market where we get phone minutes. The Arab owner decided to take things into his own hands. He soon had out a rope swinging it widely and the group dispersed for a couple minutes and then regrouped again surrounding the shops in even larger numbers. Finally we finished with the phones and decided to take the back path to place where the lady sells tomatoes. We didn't lose any of them. As we walked back to the Toyota another man appeared with a green stick, walking in circles around us, whipping it at the kids. It kept them at about 5 feet away, creating us as the nucleus of some strange happening in the little village of Béré.
Last night Hans enlightened us as to maybe one of the reasons the white babies are such an attraction. Upon arriving at his hut one of the boys in his family asked him if it took 9 months for a white person too?? They also where amazed when Esther was able to have her surgery here. They thought white people always had to go to Europe because they were different than black people on the inside and couldn't be operated on here. And yes the reason all the babies cry when they see us is because the Arabs have spread the news for the past couple centuries that we white people (Nasarahs) like to eat little black kids. I don't ever think we will become a normal sight. Sonya and I are considering trying the Charcoal trick someday and seeing how that goes over but I'll save that for another blog!!!
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