Vote Aftermath

People waiting for candidate motorcade (before vote)

This past Sunday morning, as is our habit, we were studying together. We were studying a passage that included a group of leaders discussing how to answer a question. “Should we answer yes or no?”, they wondered. “If we answer yes, we’ll be caught in hypocrisy. If we say no, the crowd might get angry with us.” So ultimately they decided to say, “We don’t know.”

Now this story is 2,000 years old, but we see that the human dynamic still repeats itself. Notice that they don’t ask each other which is the true answer. It isn’t about truth at all, they are weighing how each answer will appear and which will be most advantageous. Truth isn’t important to them in that moment.

We’ve gotten so used to this practice, that it has made us sometimes cynical and untrusting. When island leaders make claims and promises, we almost never take it at its face value.  At the same time, we also realize that the truth sometimes is superseded by people’s impressions and what they believe is true.  If enough people believe something, it shapes their actions and the events of the nation, no matter what has actually happened.

Island elections were yesterday. It wasn’t even mid-morning before we heard the reports of trouble. The reports are that people came first thing in the morning to different polls scattered around our island to find ballot boxes already full with pre-marked ballots (all voting for the incumbent president). Other stories are of international observers not getting the paperwork they needed to actually observe.  News reports show polling places ransacked, ballots strewn in the streets, military coming and responding. Friends have told us about going to their local polls and not finding their names among the registered voters but seeing on the list lots of people who had died or traveled. One friend said they went to polling place after polling place until they found their name and the names of some of the neighbors listed at a neighborhood poll far across the capital from where they lived. All twelve opposition candidates have united agains the incumbent denouncing the election and calling for protests. We’ve seen video and photos that suggest that people have been injured and even died from shots fired.

Daughter finds a friend

But at the same time the incumbent president’s office has sent a statement that everything has gone fine, that there has been no violence, no injuries and no problems. We don’t claim to know exactly what has happened in all these locations, but we’re convinced that things have not “gone fine.”

We’ve been having you pray for the islands’ elections for several weeks. As we prayed ourselves, I often felt conflicted about how to pray. The default prayer that seemed to come to my mind was praying that “everything goes smoothly and that there is no problems and everything stays peaceful.” But as I reflected on it, I questioned if that was the right prayer. We DO want peace on the islands, but we also want justice and good governance. Probably the “smoothest, least eventful” version of events would have been for everyone to just go with the flow and let things happen. But what if there is injustice, did I really want that to be ignored or apathetically accepted? Did I want “false peace” at the cost of justice? No, we want a bright future for these islands. So I started to pray for change. I started to pray for the bright future we dream of here, with leaders who lead selflessly and serve their people, with leaders who promote true justice and champion peace, honesty and transparency. I continued to pray, this time for peaceful change. We don’t want violence and are very troubled by some of the events we are hearing about, but we are encouraged that islanders are not just accepting a situation that strongly suggests the presence of corruption and injustice.

We’re not sure what happens now. We hear about the demonstrations on the big island being dispersed by tear gas and gunfire. We hear rumors of more to come, but we don’t know what the coming days will bring. So we continue to pray. We pray for peaceful change. We pray for the bright future for islanders that brings true hope and full life.

Son & goats escape the rain

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that reports of violence have been relatively limited and that our city remains calm. We are staying close to home but our neighborhood is not tense and people are still milling about outside. Flour arrived before the elections! We are excited to have daily bread back in the bakeries and the option of making baked goods! Thanks for praying. We got our kids exam results back and they did fine. The kids have two weeks off of school between trimesters (which is nice since schools usually closed during unrest anyway!). Pray that our kids don’t go too stir-crazy. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for the islands. Continue to pray for us, our colleagues and our island brothers and sisters that we can make wise decisions and be bright lights in this uncertain time. Pray for peaceful change. Allergies are really bad right now on the island and our daughter has gotten very wheezy and coughy— pray for relief and that we can find medication that can help her. It is horribly hot and humid, and electricity cuts means no fans at times. Pray for regular rains to cool the islands down. The island sisters are hoping to revamp the idea of meeting monthly to study and encourage one another (this was proposed a year ago but then too many people traveled away and it lost momentum). Pray that this gathering could happen and be an encouragement.  We’ve been telling our island friends and neighbors that we have been praying for their nation and getting others to pray too. Pray that we would have more opportunities to share our hope with them.

The Vote

Rally caravan forming at airport

Things on the islands have gotten very political this past month.  Thanks to a constitutional change by the current president, the islands have another election coming up this weekend! So there is only one thing that everyone is talking, thinking, or arguing about.  Ask anybody on the street, “What’s up?”  They’ll give you the same answer:  “The Vote.”

We’d say that we are getting tired of it, but it is nothing like back home in the States. Island law stipulates that campaigning can last only one month!  So, for one packed month, the islands heat up with campaigning.

There are 13 candidates running for the presidential seat!  That means multiple candidate headquarters popping up around town blaring campaign music and hanging flags and banners outside.  Pictures of candidates and their pithy slogans fill up empty wall space around the city.  “Vote for me and end poverty”  “Vote for me and find hope.”  “One People, One Nation, One Vision.”  “A Real President”  Many believe that the current president will take the election by any means necessary. So if any location, the biggest posters by far are always for the incumbent, a few so big that they cover two-story buildings. 

There are also political rallies, involving busloads and busloads of supporters driving slowly through town, honking their horns as they make their way slowly to the venue.  Unfortunately, we’ve heard a few tales of the incumbent feeling threatened by another candidate’s popularity, and so stopping rallies from happening and sending the busloads of supporters back to their villages.

Elections are busy times and draw us into some good conversations. 

A few days ago I was talking to a man who is so fed up with the whole system he believes the only hope is revolution.  “Eliminate them all!  Then the leaders will be afraid to take advantage of the system.” 

But I challenged him, “Who will take their place?  Won’t they be replaced by the same kind of person?” 

He said, “They will be too scared to do wrong.”

I countered, “Fear only works so far.  No, the only way to get good leaders is to have leaders with good hearts.  So the change must start here.”  I pointed to his heart and the hearts of his friends.  “Until the heart is changed, nothing can change.” 

“But people don’t change,” he said, quite firmly.

“Yes, they can,” I answered, just as firmly.  “I’ve seen it.  But I only know of one way to really change.”

“What is that?” he asked. We spent the rest of the car ride talking about the only thing that can cause real change.  I won’t claim that he was convinced, but he was listening, as were all the others in the car. 

Some political posters even right outside our house

We know change is possible and we pray for it, but we understand where the skepticism on the islands comes from.  They’ve never seen it before.  Most islanders show a great deal of apathy about the election and its candidates.  “They’re all liars.” “They’re all crooks.” Others show an even more cynical view, “They’re all puppets of the incumbent, running to split the vote, so he can win.”  There are still some die-hard fans of different candidates and even those calling for a fight if their candidate loses.  But when we’ve asked what candidates stand for, the answers are vague to nonexistent.  Parties are created to support a candidate and candidates stand on their charisma and networking ability, not usually on a plan or a platform.

We tend to ask two questions:  Will the elections be free and fair? Will they be peaceful?  Unfortunately the answers to the questions are far from certain.  The islands have a long history of ballot stuffing, buying votes, and voter fraud.  I once spoke to someone who was proud to have voted three times and to have been paid for it every time!  There is talk of outside observers coming this time, but we’ve heard that the incumbent is doing what he can to disrupt that.

Peace is uncertain too.  It was only October of last year when our city burst into violence.  Will it happen again?  Some claim it will not.  Others seem sure it will.  Still others feel that violence will break out on the big island—not here on Clove Island.  But no one seems to really know. 

So we prepare ourselves for different possible outcomes and pray for peace. We pray for these islands. We pray for good leadership. We pray for heart change!

Pray with us. The vote is this coming weekend, the 24th of March.

Daughter at event

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful for the chances to share truth and hope in the midst of this tumultuous election season on the islands. We had a gathering to share with our island community some of the things we learned while we were off-island. It was an encouraging time and seemed well-received. Our kids made it through their end-of-trimester exams! Megan and our daughter went to a “coming-of-age” ceremony for a close friend. We were encouraged to see how engaged our daughter was in going and reaching out to islanders (even if it was long and uncomfortable).

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for the islands in the lead-up to the vote and its aftermath. We’ll plan on laying low on election day. Our island has run out of flour! The shops haven’t had any for weeks and now the bakeries are running out. This means no bread, not to mention other baked goods. We’re hoping that flour will arrive into the port before elections (since the port often closes during elections and unrest). Continue to pray for a return to stability for Megan’s back issues. Tom has started to teach a couple island friends to play guitar- pray that it would lead to good interactions and deeper relationships. One of Tom’s good friends seems to understand and accept so much of the good news. Pray that whatever is holding him back would be taken away.  Keep praying for opportunities to share and to study with island friends.

Rough Transition

No sick pics, here the kids are healthy again!

Transitions are always a dangerous time. There are so many things going on. You are going from one reality to another and the the in-between is naturally unstable and uncertain.

Transitions get easier the more you do them however. You learn some of the pitfalls and prepare. Whenever we are transitioning from the islands to mainland Africa I’ve learned that we need to bring jackets for the plane ride and lots of lotion and lip balm. This is after more than one flight with our kids freezing in the air-conditioned plane and multiple cases of severely dry skin as our bodies adjust to new drier climates.  This preparedness can become a source of pride. “We’re seasoned travelers, transitioning with ease and hitting the ground running in each new location!”

That’s when we get those nice reminders that even though we prepare, there are always unexpected challenges and things we cannot anticipate. So we found ourselves on Thursday night over a week ago…

We had made the initial transitions from where we vacationed with family, back to mainland Africa for a day in transit and then finally to the big island. We were staying the night with old friends before a morning flight back to Clove Island.

The previous three nights’ sleep had been cut short by either leaving in the wee hours or arriving past bedtimes. Our ten year old daughter had gone to bed early with a headache and fever. Our eight and six year old sons were placed beside her on the same bed. Our gracious friends had given up an entire bedroom to our family. The three kids shared a double bed, while Tom and I each had singles. We were more than tired and went to bed early. Sleep is an important part of a good transition!

We were awoken around midnight by the sound of vomiting. (This is one of the worst ways to wake up.) I was out of bed in a second with Tom right behind me. I went under the mosquito net and used the light on my phone to reveal our youngest sitting up in the middle of the bed retching onto the sheet. For a second I thought perhaps it was only on the sheet and somehow we could clean this all up without disturbing the other two kids. Another sweep of the light quickly dispelled that hope. The bed was covered, including stuffed animals and our eight year old. We got our vomiting son out of the bed and sitting in the dark hallway in front of a bucket. We sent our eight year old to the living room and moved our feverish daughter to my bed and started to tackle the bed. It was around this point that we remembered that the house hadn’t had any running water for the past week!

Generally we hope to be easy guests, even if we have three kids. Not this night.

I’ve never had to tackle this type of mess as a houseguest, but in one sense it was nice. There were four adults handling the clean-up instead of just two! But considering there were three kids involved and no running water in the house, we were very thankful for the extra help. We hunted down a new outfit for our eight year old who was covered in vomit. “How do you feel?” I asked, worried he might start feeling sick too. He looked at me tiredly and said… “Disgusted!” While I was dealing with our middle son, Tom flipped the mattress and got new sheets on. Meanwhile our hosts collected buckets of water from the cistern in the backyard and started rinsing the gross array of sheets, pjs and stuffed animals.

It was probably less than an hour later that we were all back in bed, hoping through the rest of the night that each cough and sniffle wasn’t the beginning of another round to clean up. We woke up feeling like we had never really gotten back to sleep but needing to get everyone out the door so we could catch our last flight.

So much for hitting the ground running. Our daughter vomited on the ground outside the taxi to the airport. We got people praying then. Everyone was semi-lethargic the whole car ride and the kids all lied down on the tiled floor during the check-in process, but we stayed healthy until we entered our home on Clove Island. That’s when three out of five of us were stuck sick in bed.  It would be a week before we were all healthy again.

Transitions are tricky things. Remind us to pray more before our next one!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are all feeling a lot better this week.  Thank you! The kids’ transition back to school has gone pretty smoothly and Tom’s work schedule has not really started in earnest, so we’re thankful for these small mercies which help with transition back. Tom got a couple of chances to share the 2 Kingdoms this week.  Our teammate has a friend who wants to study the book.  An island sister has a friend she is studying with now.  Tom’s friends continue to study and learn. We are so happy to see these opportunities happening! Thank you for praying—may we have lots more opportunities!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Megan’s been having some back pain again.  Pray for healing. The country is in the middle of campaigning for presidential elections that will take place on the 24th. Pray for honest elections, for peace and for the right people to be in the government. Pray for more opportunities to share and that we would have wisdom about where to spend our time and what relationships to nurture. This Friday we are hoping to share with our local brothers and sisters about things we learned while we were off-island, pray for a good time of fellowship and sharing. One of our colleagues has decided to go home for a time to help process some difficult events. Pray for a safe transition for him and for healing and restoration. Our kids made a friend (8 yrs) while we were off-island who has become critically ill and had to return with his family to his home country. Pray for wisdom for his family and doctors and for healing.

Karate

Tom, kids and BruceLee

On the islands you take opportunities as they come.  Sometimes you will walk into a store and they will be selling something very strange for the islands — say a good brand of coffee,  or pickles, or peanut M & M’s.  You might take these things for granted, but these are not normal products for the island.  So when we see them, and if the price isn’t outrageous, we buy them because there is no guarantee we will see it again.  Some things we have seen that we haven’t seen again include ground meat, hot mitts, and tortilla chips.

We’ve learned to take advantage of the unique because—who knows when you’ll find it again.  That’s exactly how we found ourselves doing karate.  Our good friend Arongo came by the house for a visit.  He shared with us how when he was growing up he did lots of karate, had become a champion at home and had received his black belt.  This was surprising news (and then again not all that surprising—islanders have a way of randomly revealing surprising details about themselves).  He then shared that although it had been many years, they were trying to get a dojo together and it would be great for publicity if they could get some foreigners involved.

Boys and Sensei

Now you may think it’s pretty shameless being asked to do something just for the color of your skin, but we get this all the time.  Moreover, we saw an opportunity. Our kids never get the chance to do any extracurricular activities on the islands.  This was like tortilla chips in the shop.  It’s a chance to do something a little bit different, build new relationships, and get some extra exercise.  So we said, Yes!

And that is how we found ourselves, (Tom and the kids) under the free tutelage of Sensei BruceLee. (Not his real name, but he goes by an English name, so we thought this would be fun.)  Sensei BruceLee is a character.  An older man who clearly has a passion for the sport.  He goes all over teaching kids karate at seemingly no profit to himself.  Possibly because he was taught by people of a foreign language.  Possibly because, he’s just a bit different, he hardly uses any language to teach the techniques.  Everything is pantomime and modeling—and he’s surprisingly effective.  And so, every Saturday we make our way to practice some karate.  There have been many weeks when karate was postponed because the practice space was being used for a wedding, but whenever it is free, Sensei BruceLee has been there, ready and eager to teach us new moves.

Although all of us do it, it has been most fun to see how it has engaged our daughter.  We think she needed an outlet for sports. Sports for island girls is pretty limited at her age.  During school P.E. boys play soccer, while the girls stand around, mostly ignored by the teacher.  When visiting the big island we’ve been envious of the opportunities there for girls to study dance and ballet.  Our daughter would love that.  Wonderfully enough, we think karate has actually met some of those needs.  The karate lessons are quite choreographed.  We see our daughter enjoying the fluidity of movement and grace it takes to do the moves well.  The boys like the kicking and punching, but our daughter shows an aptitude for the balance and movement.

Daughter is gifted karate gear

We’ve been away for a month with conferences, evaluations and vacation.  We are not sure if the karate has continued.  Will it be like the tortilla chips?  Something that we were able to do for a season and now it’s gone?  We hope not.  But then, something else might pop up.  You never know on the islands.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it back to the islands with all our bags and have already reconnected with many friends and neighbors.  We even managed to bring back a toaster oven without being overweight.  The kids went back to school this week and their first day back went well.  We’ve been glad to hear that all of our family members who were traveling have made it back safely.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We made it back to the islands, but almost immediately, everyone (but Tom) got sick!  Vomiting, headaches, fevers, coughs—the works.  It was a rough first few days.  Couple this with the island power cuts and humid heat at night, it felt a bit like a one-two punch for our return.  But God is good and we are recovering and adjusting. Pray for health and rain to break the heat.  Our boss’s knee is still busted and may need surgery.  Pray for wise decisions for that, as the timing is far from ideal.  One of our island sisters who is still struggling with health issues and trying to see if traveling to the French island is her best way forward. We’re still looking for teammates, both short-term and long-term.  May the Lord send good people our way. We pray for opportunities to share the 2 kingdoms, to find those who are seeking wisdom and light, and for light to shine in the darkness.