Going Viral

Image from our Eid greeting

Every year when the big island holiday called Eid comes around we make sure to wish all our friends a great Eid.  Some we visit in person, but mostly we send out text messages- hundreds of them.  It’s a small but important thing to do.  In Island culture there is a great value put in maintaining relationships.  Maintaining a relationship does not cost much.  It simply means making contact on a regular basis to keep the relationship going.  You do not need to be good friends with the person to do this.  You don’t even have to have anything to talk about.  The important thing is maintaining a connection.  Over the years we’ve gotten used to visits to our home that last five minutes, text messages that just say “Hi”, phone conversations that consist of, “Hi...How are you?...Okay, Bye.” And even people calling and hanging up, just so we can see that we received a call from so and so.  All of these, to a lesser or greater degree, are examples of relationship maintenance. 

There is some nuance to relationship maintenance.  The fact of the matter is there is a lot of hierarchy in relationships.  Everyone instinctively knows their level compared with everyone else, which is important since there is an unspoken expectation of respect that is to be given to someone of a higher level.  In relationship maintenance, it is the job of the lower leveled person to keep the relationship fresh.  Thus, there is no expectation for a higher leveled person to do any relationship maintenance. 

We, as foreigners and teachers, are placed on a pretty high level in this hierarchy.  (Often we don’t feel like we deserve to be put on this level and do not strive for it, but at the same time can’t do much to change it). So, at Eid, when we send out our “Happy Eid” messages, we are both doing relationship maintenance and surprising people with our willingness to take on the “job” of the lower leveled person by initiating the contact. And every year, the response we get is one of overwhelming gratitude.  What a wonderfully simple way to make a lot of people feel a little bit special and bless them!

Recital with distanced guests outside

But this year we were not in the islands for Eid.  And because of strange telecommunication rules, we were unable to send text messages to our island friends.  We were limited to WhatsApp and Messenger (to which lots of islanders don’t have access).  We sent out many messages via those services, but our contact list is small compared to our phone contacts.  So we decided, since we weren’t there in person and couldn’t do visits and since we couldn’t everyone either, why not post something on our Facebook page.  So the whole family dressed up in our traditional Island clothes and made a ten second video selfie.  In it we said in the island language, “Happy Eid. May the Almighty God bless all our Island friends.  We will see you again soon, God willing.”  That was the whole message.  And we posted it on Facebook.

Apparently, people liked it.  The post went viral (among Islanders).  Over the next few days we watched the number of likes, shares and views skyrocket.  We got over a hundred friend requests. We had people we’ve never met trying to make contact with us, as well as people we haven’t seen in ten years asking to reconnect!  All from a little Eid post. 

Our island friends are used to us, but most islanders aren’t used to foreigners speaking their language.  Other colleagues have made videos of them speaking the local language and seen a similar spike in popularity.  We don’t know if anything will come of the post.  Probably nothing.  But it is a reminder, that our reach might be bigger than we realize.  That every time we immerse ourselves in island language and culture, we may be having a bigger impact than we suspect.

Celebrating end of school year

It makes me think of mustard seeds and mustard trees.  Sometimes the things we do seem so small and insignificant.  Yet, we have no idea what such things, done in love and faith, might do in the hands of a mighty God.  It feels like right now in America, it might be the same way. Amidst coronavirus and protests, our little acts of kindness, prayers, words of encouragement, speaking truth, may seem small and may go unnoticed.  But at the same time, they may have a greater impact than we realize. May it be so!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it safely to CA! Thankfully our planes were not packed and none of our fellow passengers seemed sick in any way! We are thankful that so many of the protests across the country have been peaceful this past weekend and that a movement for justice seems to be gaining traction. Ma Imani called me and her daughter’s nose bleeds have stopped and people have come to pray for her. The first Zoom-based translation testing was successful and they assume it will only get easier as people get used to the new technology.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
News from a few islander friends is that many people are still under arrest on Clove Island for political reasons. We continue to pray for justice, truth and fair governance on the islands and around the world. We continue to pray for the world in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Pray for us as we find new patterns and routines for our time in CA. Pray for Megan’s dad who has injured his knee— he just got back from the ER and thankfully it isn’t as serious as we feared it might be. Our youngest’s bloodwork indicates he might have parasites. We should hear for sure this week and hopefully get him treated. Pray for healing.