"This is God"

I help teach the Sunday School at our little church, once or twice a month, and one of the other church members does the other weeks. A few weeks ago, we were doing a lesson on the nature of God (we are starting with Genesis and working from there) and he held up a little picture of a snowman and was talking about it. I wasn't paying close attention, since Benjamin was acting up for the upteenth time and I was busy disciplining him, but Toby told me later that the teacher had said that the snowman was God. I said he must be mistaken, and that the teacher was really talking about the verse that was pasted on the picture.

This week, Toby wore his Christmas socks (with snowmen) at home one day and our guard told him that he had ghosts (spirits) on his socks. After Toby told me this, something clicked in my brain and I said "oh no!". Because it occurred to me that the Sunday School teacher had indeed told the children that the snowman was God. God is a spirit, right?

Now, an American will burst into giggles at this kind of a mixup. Hillarious, isn't it? We did indeed have a laugh, but after we finished we felt rather sober. Because there are all kinds of wierd stories circulating about all kinds of wierd things (for example, rumors circulate about various things that foreigners do to gain power or money). Obviously, at some point someone saw a snowman depicted in a photo and had some ideas about it, and those ideas have spread to the general population. People here have no concept of snow, and why would they? It is a completely foreign concept. So, this white blobby thing that looks vaguely human would indeed be taken for a spirit. Makes me really wonder about the few Christmas decorations that are put up in town by unknowing foreigners! I'll have to watch this year to see if any snowmen go up. Gives a new meaning to the phrase "Spirit of Christmas past".

Anyway, I determined that I must speak to my colleague about it and after we discussed it he did indeed say that he thought this was a spirit and he was trying to explain to the children how God is a spirit. Ok, I don't have a huge problem with that. However, we do have to erase the snowman image from their minds, because they are going to see it occasionally and they mustn't believe that is an image of God. I'll have to sort that one out, perhaps by providing some other kind of picture for them to look at, like a bright light or something. Meanwhile, we just shake our heads! - Cami

The Sideshow Circus Freaks or Doing Hard Things

This entry has two titles, for good reasons you'll see in a minute.

One of the hardest things in adjusting to life here is just being so darn wierd. At home, I am a fairly normal person, and as I walk down the street people do not drop their packages, punch their friends in the arm and point, shouting "Look, there she goes!"

Ok, I am exaggerating a bit. But, there is more interest in my comings and goings than I am used to in America, and this is because I am a white person. In town, driving around in my truck, people do stare at me, but it is just general interest. When I ride the motorcycle, however, I feel like I am a freak from the circus. What, do I have two heads? Two years ago, there was only me and another lady in town who were riding around on motorcycles. We got a lot of attention. People's jaws would actually drop. Crowds would gather as I came out of a store, unlocked my bike, and rode off. Trust me, any narcissist would have a heyday here. Nowadays, there are lots of ladies on scooters and some on motorcycles, and interest has calmed down a little. But, my blinding whiteness still creates a lot of stares, pointing, and laughter. I wonder sometimes "Are my clothes unbuttoned? Do I have something smeared on me? Why are they staring so hard?". Just something different, that's all.

Staring here is not considered impolite. Do this in America, and people get angry. Here, there is nothing wrong with staring at someone for a protracted period of time, and if you ask "What are you looking at?" then you would be considered the rude one.

This has been especially hard for Toby. No kid likes to be stared at (unless they are parading by with their fancy new toy) and in the beginning he didn't like to go to town at all. If I am a novelty, small white children are even more so. I made the decision last year that the kids and I would walk to church, which is about a 35 minute hike from our house, through winding dirt paths, the back of people's yards, into the mud-hut slum area, past the market and on. I wanted the kids to get used to being in "the bairro", which is the area where almost everyone in Nampula that Kevin works with is living. I hated driving up in my car (which would be like arriving at church in a Porsche in America) and playing the role of the rich American. Plus, Kevin often needs the car on a Sunday for his preaching trips.




So, we walk through the bairro and it was so miserable for Toby. People would point and laugh as we passed, sometimes in an unkind manner. Many were friendly and would greet us, but groups of children sometimes followed, chattering about us. "Akunha!" (white person) was shouted at us over and over. This is also not considered rude, but was discomfiting for Toby. Finally, I came up with a game: each time Toby hears the word "Akunha!" he gets one metical. The value of this is about 4 cents. By the time our walk is finished, to and fro, he sometimes nets almost a dollar, and is pleased. Once, he walked way ahead of me, out of sight, because he felt that he would get more shouts and make more money, but I had to put a stop to that. Now, whenever he hears it he grins widely and his eyes light up. Funny!

We are getting used to being objects of interest, though sometimes it can feel stressful. One missionary family I know drove into a small town and everyone stopped to watch them drive by. Their youngest son said to his brothers "Just smile and wave, boys! Smile and wave." (This is a line from the movie Madagascar, by the way). Now i know a little bit more about how minorities feel where i come from. Meanwhile, sometimes I take a deep breath before I begin my walk to somewhere, because I know that my presence will create interest, and I'd rather blend in. Just not possible, unfortunately. On those occasions where I am considered more "normal", it is such a relief!

I know that when we return to the land of more varied skin colors, it will seem strange to us. What, aren't we interesting any more? :-) Until then, we steel ourselves, try to understand why, and attempt to use the attention for good and not for stress. - Cami

Wierd and Wonderful Birthday Gifts

Kevin always gets me something really good for my birthday, and this year I got two great things. He started making me a dehydrator for our anniversary in August, and finally finished it the day of my birthday. He's seen me spend many hours trying to sun-dry tomatoes in the sun (or using the car as an enormous hot-box), only to burn them in the final drying session in the oven. So now, I can use my homemade dehydrator to make dried tomatoes, banana chips (I hope) and dried mangos.

He asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I said a new stand for our water filter. You can see from the photo that our big white filter is kind of ugly, and it squats on our counter next to the sink, a constant eyesore. Necessary, but ugly. So, I asked him to get a welder to make a metal one that we could paint the same color as the window frames, and I would make a removable cover to remove the eyesore. Here you can see the results, which I am very pleased with. I'm 39, by the way, and had a wonderful birthday celebrating with out-of-town friends who brought me a bottle of shower gel, which I promptly spread on my skin because I thought it was lotion. Sigh. Obviously I've been here too long. :-) - Cami

Ben goes to school

Ok, I need to give Toby some PR as well, and say that he started second grade today. But for him, it is old hat already. He was up very early this morning and woke us up to tell us it was school day! He's been anticipating it for weeks (even though break was only about 5 weeks). Off he went, happy as a clam, back to his familiar school and the same teacher he had at the beginning of last year. Tonight, I asked him how it felt to be one of the "big kids" and he said "Oh man, it's great!".

But for Ben, today was very special. For about six months now, we've been pointing out his preschool as we drive by and saying "there's your friends" when we see the children outside. I took him two weeks ago to sign him up, then to buy fabric for his uniforms. The leader of our church (also a tailor) sewed them up, and when they arrived yesterday he couldn't wait to put them on. Every day lately, he's been saying "Is today the day?". This morning, we dressed him up (isn't he CUTE?) and he and I went off. It went pretty well, though i could see he felt very insecure because everyone was speaking to him in Portuguese. Every time the teachers spoke to him, he hid his face, and didn't seem to understand anything they said. He stayed very close to me all morning, though when I ducked out for an hour during snack time he seemed ok with that. I'll gradually decrease my time with him at school, and feel confident that eventually he'll do fine there. We dumped Toby in a Portuguese preschool in Portugal and he was miserable for months. We regret that to this day, so with Ben we've decided to be more gentle about it. We can't wait to hear our little Ben speaking fluent Portuguese, and able to interact with people here more easily. Please keep him in your prayers. - Cami