A Gambian Funeral

This past week I had the unfortunate experience of a death in my compound. Mama was the oldest woman in the compound. She was such a sweet woman. She was always eager to have anyone come sit and chat with her. And she often had the children around with her. She never did much besides sit or lie on the front porch of her house and enjoy the company of anyone who was around. But she had apparently been sick for a few days and on Thursday she ate her lunch in the afternoon and went in to rest and never woke up. They say it was high blood pressure or something of that sort.

When we arrived back at our compound that evening there were many men sitting and praying outside and the women were inside crying and wailing. We went inside and just sat with them for a long time. We woke early on Friday morning to the sound of the women pounding. The women had a lot of work to do to prepare for the funeral. It seemed like the entire village plus the village from where Mama had been married at came to the funeral. Again, the men sat outside conversing and praying while the women would go inside to offer their sympathy and then they also congregated outside. Many of the younger women took turns pounding the rice that would later be used. Here the family and compound has to provide food for everyone who came. So many of the people who attended would come bearing gifts of rice or money to help with that. The service was much like a funeral at home where a few of the men talked about Mama and the things she had done. Then afterwards the men went to the grave site while the women had to stay. There will be days in the next week when people come to be with the family.

It’s hard to know all the correct things to do in situations like this after being here only 2 months. I wish I could express my feelings of compassion to them in a way they would understand.

Before and After

Here are some pictures of my 'house' and moving day. Enjoy.

BEFORE

The back yard

the 'bathroom'

the front room

help with painting the back room

Little Fatu wouldn't let go of Eric even when painting

Water damage

MOVING DAY

AFTER

View of the house (from left wall to the pole)

View from front door (my room)

In my bed

Our chest in my room

Our cupboard (in Lori's room)

Lori's room from back door

Our shower

Our Toilet and accessories

Our sink

The back yard

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope that you were blessed by the time with family and friends. I have definitely missed being home with family. But God used the day to teach us a lesson. The team had planned to cook for ourselves plus two guests; with each of us bringing something to the table. We were pushed to our limits when we had two American guests come 2 weeks early. And we were reminded that in this culture it is polite to invite anyone who happens to show up while you are eating. So in all we served 15 people when we planned for 7. Denise, Lori and I were exchanging glances of stress and frustration as we added more plates to the table and then had to extend the table again. But we sat and had a great time and after everyone had eaten we had (almost) 12 plates of leftovers! We may not have started with 5 loaves and 2 fish but God definitely multiplied the food. Most people left after the main course and so the 8 Americans had a nice time of singing hymns and enjoying pumpkin pies.

And it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without Black Friday. So Lori and I got up before the sun and joined our friends Mariama Saidy and Cecilia to walk to the river. We watched as they sorted through and picked what they wanted of fish, shrimp and crab from the fishermen who had just come in from a night of fishing. We were introduced to a few new interesting kinds of fish. It was a good alternative to American shopping madness.

Daily Adventures

Life has been everything but boring here in The Gambia. Everything from American visitors & chasing mice to braiding hair & cutting rice.

We have been blessed to have Clair Good from EMM and David Shunkur from Kenya visiting with us and different leaders from the church and community to give direction and encouragement. They also traveled to Guinea Bissau to speak with leaders there as well. Gary & Denise had a visit from their niece and her cousin for a few days. So we have been busy providing hospitality.

Lori and I had a bit of excitement a few nights ago. We walked home to Jargu compound after a long day. All of our neighbors were inside and well on their way to sleep. We were surprised that might be able to slip inside without being asked to sit and chat for a while since that happens on most evenings. But as we walked to our door Lori saw some movement and the light of the flashlight revealed a small pack-rat. Our landlord’s wife heard our concerns and quickly stuck her head out the window and said she would be right out. As she is walking out her door she wraps her sheet around her and grabs a large brick. She then proceeds to chuck the brick at the mouse a bout a dozen times with no success. Meanwhile the rest of the compound is up and wondering what all the commotion is about. When we tell them it was a mouse Mariama Sadie said that they like to eat them because they have good meat. Lori was not impressed. The mouse eventually ran off and we were able to sleep in peace. Although we have run into small large spiders around our house.

Just yesterday as we were sitting around at the local shop with some women from our compound we were invited to go to the rice fields with some women we had not yet met. We decided that it would be a good opportunity to experience life of a true African woman. We walked out to The Bush and through muddy fields until we reached their field. They showed us how to cut the rice and let us try. It was actually quite easy and I had a lot of fun listening to the women chat about life. When we finally returned home we were covered in mud and I don’t think my feet will ever be the same. It was truly a memory I won’t forget.

I also sat for 3 hours and got my hair braided. It was very painful and my Caucasian hair doesn’t want to stay in braids. Maybe next time I’ll try something different.

More photos

Kids in my compound

Kids in the village

Getting my hair braided

Mobiles are still important here.

Bringing the donkeys back from the feilds

Long awaited photos

Here is a glimpse of what I see on a daily basis.

The MEHDA guest house

Our Bedroom


Our bathroom is through the wooden door.
Running water and a functioning toilet!