The Art of Being a Guest

I went up to the Fulani village last Wednesday to celebrate the Feast of the Ram, and was reminded of the variety of hospitality methods I encounter in Cameroon. The Jacksons and many of the Cameroonian families in Bamenda have a “Welcome to the family,” hospitality.

our house and backyard

When someone comes over, he or she is welcomed, offered something to eat or drink, then everyone basically goes back to whatever they were doing before the person came, while making sure the person feels included in the family’s activities. At our house, this includes everything from preparing dinner, to working on computers, to having evening devotions, to celebrating birthdays, or even watching Jack Bower fight terrorists in our favorite TV show, “24”. Our guests also can usually help themselves to whatever they need. This style of hospitality is casual, and to be a good guest, you just need to take initiative to participate in the family activities.

Pizza Night at our house with my friends Karissa Clark and Elaine Scherrer

On the other hand, when I visit the Fulani compounds, they give a “Let me serve you,” hospitality. There are lots of hugs and shaking of hands. There are strings of greetings, asking about my health, my city, my house, my family, and other things I mechanically respond to and don’t actually understand, since it’s all in the Fulfulde language.

The women of the compound where we always stay

Being a good guest looks very different in a Fulani compound. Here are the strings of thoughts running through my head as I enter the compound: “Remove your shoes before entering the house.” “Don’t serve yourself the food, wait for them to serve you.” “Use your right hand to give or receive anything.” “Don’t make too much eye-contact with the men.” “Keep your legs covered.” “Don’t ask for more; wait until they ask you.” After practicing this art of being a respectful guest numerous times, I think it’s almost coming naturally! Last time I visited, one of the women in the village commended me on having “Pulaku,” or knowing the Fulani’s cultural standards of proper interactions.

Although it can be somewhat awkward for me to remember to do some of these counter-intuitive things, the rewards are well worth it. They are so pleased to see us putting an effort into learning their culture, and they go out of their way to serve us. If the women find out we like a certain kind of food, they are sure to make it for us. They always make sure we have enough food before serving themselves. They offer us sugar cubes for our tea, even if they only have a few left. If we’re spending the night, we get the best beds and the nicest bed sheets. I always feel very honored when I visit the village, and it motivates me to continue to try to learn the Fulani language and culture, which, based on their response to my blundering attempts at the language and manners, seems like the best way of serving them in return.

Me, Sarah (a week-long visitor with the Jacksons), Alex (a two-month boarder), and Jarrod getting ready to feast!

Carrying water for one of the older women of the compound (My first time carrying water on my head!)

Online Giving

In the interim between the enrapturing stories of my life in Cameroon, I have some exciting news for those of you who support me financially: online giving is now available! Here's the information given by Wycliffe Associates:

You can start your online giving by going to: www.wycliffeassociates.org/links/donatenow. Put any part of the name of the Wycliffe Associate into the search engine to pull up their name and set up your giving options. You will have the ability to set up the amount, date, frequency, and method of giving (either by credit card or from your bank). Once you set up an account online, you will be able to view and manage all gifts to Wycliffe Associates yourself through your online account. We recommend this as your most convenient option.

If the search does not retrieve their name at this time, you can still use this method. On the left-hand side of the donation page is a row of folders, click on the Other Designations folder. At this point, enter your gift amount and click on the Add to Gift Cart button. Next click on the Continue to Check Out button on upper right. In the Note field by the Other Designationsgift amount, enter their ministry account number, first and last name.

The Indiana Jones Ride is Wimpy

Celebrating Sala in the Fulani village this year was much different than last year (for the whole story of last year’s Sala, see the “Barka de Sala!” post of Sept. 2009). Last year I was jetlagged and in culture shock, while this year I was well rested from my 4 days in Germany and was familiar with Cameroon. Last year all my senses were on alert as I ate my first okra soup with fresh beef, watched the horse tricks, and heard and danced to the Fulani’s music. This year I was in a daze from having some kind of short-lived stomach illness which prevented me from eating at all or from dancing for very long. Lame stomach! So, while it was wonderful to see all my Fulani friends again and play with the kids a little, this year’s Sala was a lot more low-key for me.

But the most exciting difference between last year and this year was the ride back down the mountain to Bamenda.

Since I wasn’t feeling well the day we arrived in the village, and since there were some Sala guests who wanted to get back to Bamenda early, Chris and Karen agreed to take us back down that first evening. However, we anticipated some complications. Complication #1: a dozen people (including 4 small children) wanted a ride down in the Land Rover. Complication #2: It’s rainy season, meaning there is a torrential downpour every afternoon and evening, making the dirt road very slippery. Complication #3: We waited to leave until it was almost dark.

Despite the impending difficulties, we all packed into the truck, with kids on our laps, and started our decent. The drive started out as any other drive on a dirt road in the rain would be: there were quite a few bumps and there was quite a lot of sliding. But thanks to Chris’s mad driving skills, we didn’t blink an eye. However, as we kept driving, the rain kept pouring and the sky grew darker. Finally, the dreaded event of any off-road driver happened: we got stuck. Not just stuck on a flat part of the road either—stuck on a steep, muddy slope, with a deep ditch on the closest side of the road. After some tire squealing, all of us passengers, kids, babies and all, slid out of the car and onto the embankment on the other side of the narrow road. We women did our best to be encouraging and stay dry, while the two men worked on pushing the truck up the hill while Chris gunned the engine. Just as we were praying for more help, some Cameroonians came down the road, and gladly helped us! And just as someone said, “If only we had some dry mud blocks,” who should appear but women carrying dry mud blocks down that treacherous road! Wow, God, you provide so specifically! The blocks did the trick, and the truck bounced and skidded up the hill.

The rest of the ride was free of interruptions, but we were holding on for dear life. Holding onto dashboards, safety handles, and the children. The truck was still sliding down most of the road, but in the competition between the mud and Chris’ driving skills, Chris was winning. At one moment, the truck spun around and came dangerously close to rolling backwards off the side of the road, and it looked like the mud might conquer Chris, but Chris came out the champion! The dark and stormy night, including the frequent lightning flashes, made the ride even more thrilling. At one point I exclaimed, “The Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland is wimpy! I’ll never be able to enjoy it again after this!” But we finally got safely home, passed the advil bottle around, and settled down to a movie to unwind.

After a turbulent end to a brief and mellow Sala celebration, the Jacksons and I are back on a relatively “normal” schedule. While life here isn’t as exciting as it seemed at the beginning of last year, it is very exciting for me to see how much Katelyn and Lum have learned and grown since the beginning of last year! It’s also nice to be familiar with how life works here—in Cameroon and in the Jackson’s home. I’m looking forward to building on the relationships I established last year and seeing what God has planned for me in the coming year.

Praises:

*I had a wonderful four-day transition in Germany with my friend Anna

*I arrived in Cameroon safely, with all of my luggage

*I recovered quickly from whatever illness I had my first weekend here

*I’m getting resettled in the Jackson household

*Financial provision

Prayer Requests:

*That I would continue to transition smoothly into the lifestyle and pace of the Jackson’s home

*That I would stay healthy

*That I would have wisdom as I decide what weekly ministries to begin again this year

Thank You and Looking Ahead

Dearest Friends and Family,

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support this past year. It has been amazing to see God’s faithfulness displayed in the love and generosity of people I care about so deeply. Your support made so much possible in my ten months in Cameroon. My students Katelyn and Lum have grown in their skills and knowledge. Several Cameroonian children in our neighborhood learned to read better in my weekly reading classes. I got to partner with the Jacksons in their children’s ministries, including a neighborhood Bible Club, a Bible Club at a school for disabled children, and physical therapy on horses for some of the disabled children.

From eating fried grasshoppers, to rallying Bible Club kids’ attention, to celebrating holidays with the Fulani people, this has been a transformational year for me. God taught me so much through the challenges and the joys of this past year. He taught me to appreciate and relate to different kinds of people. He gave me an awareness of His faithfulness in the simple as well as the magnificent. He gave me a fresh perspective of hospitality and selfless love.

Near the end of my ten months, I decided to commit to Cameroon for one more year, sensing that my ministries and my growth experiences there are not quite finished. So at the beginning of September, I will return to Cameroon for another school year! I am excited to move back in with the Jackson family and continue the work God has for me there.

I am also excited to partner with you for another year. More than anything, I need prayer. Pray for save travels. Pray that God will keep my focus on Him and his heart for the work in Cameroon. Pray that God will give me wisdom as I minister to the Jacksons and the Cameroonian children. I’ll continue to post updates on my blog this year.

Another important way you can support me is to contribute financially. I need approximately $500 a month for 10 months for living expenses. Even if you can only give $10 a month, or give a one-time gift, it will help. I encourage you to pray about how God is leading you to support me. Notice that this year you will send donations to Wycliffe Associates, not Grace Bible Church. All your gifts are still tax-deductible.

Thank you so much for your overwhelming support this past year and for considering how you can support me in the upcoming year.

With love and gratitude,

Catherine

Send all contributions to:

Wycliffe Associates

P.O. Box 2000, Orange, CA 92859

Make all checks payable to Wycliffe Associates. Include Code M08793 on the check (do not include my name!)

Hello, California!

For those of you who haven't heard yet, I'm back home!!!! It is so good to be back, with reliable showers, reliable internet, reliable electricity, and reliable stock in grocery stores. These fantastic grocery stores make it possible for me to easily catch up on my 10-month lack of Salt and Vinegar chips, cheezits, Beringer's white zinfandel, and strawberries. I have also taken full advantage of the availability of coffee shops! Oh, America the Beautiful!

Before I kissed the ground of California, I spent 10 days in England with my dear friend Sarah. She was taking a 2-week grad school course, so I stayed in a house with all the students, and had lots of time to rest, process, get used to Western culture, and have fun. Sarah and I went to the Lake District for the weekend, and I went on a couple of day trips while she was in classes. It was such a blessing to have that time of relaxation and transition, and to have time with such a wonderful friend.

Now that I'm officially home, I have had a fabulous time catching up with my family and with my Nor-Cal friends (and my 2 So-Cal friends who stayed with me last weekend--thanks, Ben and Laura!). My mom and I went to Ashland 2 days after I flew in to see the plays at the Shakespeare Festival. It was amaaaazing! And it was a nice, relaxing place to recover from jet lag and have some good mother-daughter time.

My family and I are going on a few other short trips this month to see relatives and spend some time together, and then I'm headed south for most of the month of August! I am sooooo excited to go to the La Mirada area to see friends and my church down there.

These past few weeks I have really experienced God's faithfulness and blessings. I praise Him for making all these enjoyable experiences happen--some of them happened so smoothly I am convinced God was intimately involved with these events! It is so wonderful to experience His love through the people I interact with here, in a different way than in Cameroon. I find much to rejoice about during my time here, and am confident that he is replenishing my joy to make me even more effective with the coming year in Cameroon.

I hope I can see the majority of you blog readers/supporters while I'm home. Don't wait for me to call you, either! I would love to hear from you! My cell number is the same.

May you find joy in everyday things,

Catherine

Blisters from Cooking? Seriously?

The Land Cruiser bounces through a pothole and swerves to the left to avoid hitting a chicken crossing the road with her babies. After a narrow miss, the car turns into a road that looks more like a dried-up riverbed, throwing us passengers from side to side. After a few painful minutes on this “road”, we screech back onto the main road and pass a man conspicuously peeing into the ditch. At last, the car turns into a small market area, eases down a narrow alleyway between two houses, passes through the front yards of a few more houses, rolls over the edge of a garden, and slows to a halt. After this very typical journey, we have finally reached Bafut, the village where Lum grew up, and where Lum, Fadi, and I would spend the weekend.

We are greeted by several children screaming with excitement, dressed in very well-worn clothes—one of which has on pants that are completely ripped down the back seam. Then, Lum’s mother welcomes us into her home and proceeds to fill our bellies to the brim with amazing Cameroonian food. I go through all the standard greetings: “Na, dey fine, how fo you?” “Bamenda is fine, how is Bafut?” etc. , and get to hold Lum’s new baby brother.

The next day and a half is full of playing tag with kids and helping Lum’s mom around the compound (Sorry about the lack of pictures--I forgot to bring my camera). Lum, Fadi and I cut up loads of tomatoes and vegetables, and I get to help with the whole process of making water fufu, a starchy, kind of sour-tasting food that we eat with a main dish of green vegetables. I have a whole new respect for Cameroonian women and all they have to do to just prepare one meal!

Recipe for Water Fufu:

Wash and drain 20 lbs of cassava root into the biggest pot you have.

Pour the now mashed potato-looking substance in huge bags to sit overnight.

The next morning, squish the fufu around in water to smooth it out (It should feel like you are a little kid playing in the mud again).

Stir the fufu with a large wooden pounding stick in a large cauldron over an open fire.

Continue stirring, even when the fufu gets so thick it feels like you are rowing a boat through a river of firm butter.

Embarrass yourself by passing the pounding stick off to the 60-something-year-old Cameroonian sitting next to you in the cookhouse, who can pound at that fufu with more force than you can possibly muster-up.

Take the stick and your pride back and stir until you get blisters.

Keep asking the pro Cameroonian, “Now is it done?” “How about now?” “Is it done now?”

Continue the process of stirring till your blisters pop and the Cameroonian woman takes pity on you (or is disgusted with you) and takes the stick back.

When the fufu is cooked to a consistency that only a Cameroonian can detect, watch as this amazingly strong old woman heaves the pot off the fire (since there is no way you’d be able to lift that monster!).

Roll the fufu into cylindrical shapes with your hand and a small plate.

Pass the plate off to the Cameroonian woman after she keeps shaking her head at your attempts to roll the fufu correctly.

Enjoy your completed water fufu!

It was indeed satisfying to eat something that was made with my sweat and blood, and to find that it actually tasted the way it should, even though I helped make it!

Even though I’ve been living in Africa for almost nine months, it still amazes me how people here live lives of such simplicity, and how much hard work it takes just to feed a family. It is so humbling to see Cameroonians serve visitors with such hospitality, work so hard without complaining, and even are willing to care for other children who are not looked after by their own parents. I pray that God will help me work and serve with a similar selfless attitude in all that I do.

It’s also fun to have these types of unique experiences. It’s been really difficult to make this final push till the end of the school year, but God has been really blessing me over the last few weeks by giving me joyful reminders about why I’m here and choosing to come back next year. I got to take a dirt bike taxi up to our Fulani village a few weekends ago, which was refreshing. Then two weeks ago our whole “Jackson Village” had a great time hiking in the beautiful mountains of Mbingo for Mother’s Day.

Also, my reading class has doubled in size and it really seems like the kids are learning. Lum and Katelyn’s skills continue to improve. Chris, Karen, Jarrod and I have been having a blast playing card games in the evenings and weekends. Katelyn and I took the horses out jumping. And mango season is still going strong!

Praise God for these much needed times of refreshment and joy, and please pray that God continues to give me strength and perseverance for my last five weeks in Cameroon.

The Decision

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you all for your prayers about my decision regarding next year. I’ve made a decision: I am returning to Cameroon in the fall! I will come home to California in early July, and will split my time between northern and southern California till early September, when I’ll hop back on a plane to Africa. Although I’m already dreading saying goodbye to everyone again, God has given me a lot of peace and excitement about returning for another school year.

When it comes down to it, where else can I:

• Eat fried grasshoppers as a snack
• Watch a cow get slaughtered, then eat the beef that day
• Eat fresh passion fruit, guavas, mangos, and papayas

Deciding whether I like my grasshopper snack

• Take a shower with a gecko
• Ride a horse bareback and barefoot, as I follow a taxi, who’s following a motorbike, who’s following cow-herders, who’re herding cows
• Hang off the back of a Land Cruiser as we go off-roading
• See a dozen chickens crammed into the back of a taxi
• Be one of eight people in a 5-passenger car
• Milk a cow in a remote village

Going up to the village on a motorcycle-taxi

• Eat fish eyes
• Get in an argument with a vender over twenty cents
• Get three marriage proposals a day, just for being white and, in the words of one admirer, “tall and clean”
• Shake ants out of my clothes and toothbrush as a daily ritual
• Be given a vaccination by a Cameroonian nurse who was trained by reading books about medical “theories”
• See live chickens sitting in the kitchen, waiting to be made into dinner
• Help de-feather dinner

The chickens I helped de-feather; christened "Lunch" and "Dinner"

• Go to the zoo and see monkeys running free, pet a hyena, shake hands with a baboon, and be face-to-face with a lion
• Be a cultural and racial minority in a ballroom dance class
• Practice speaking five different languages in one day
• Live with such a hospitable family that every day I need to recalculate how many dinner plates to set on the table
• Be part of a community made up of people from all over the world
• Teach an eight-year-old to read, and see his face light up when he discovers he can now read a book on his own
• Hear the exclamations of delight from thirty handicapped kids as they open up their Operation Christmas Child gift boxes
• Watch my two students develop skills and knowledge because of how God is using me in their homeschool education?

In the next couple months, I will begin raising more support for next year. But I would like to ask you to start praying now about how God is leading you to support me, whether it is through prayer, a one-time financial gift, or a monthly financial commitment. God has worked such wonders through your faith and sacrifices this year, and I am confident that he will continue to do the same in the year to come!