If You're Going to Travel...

 If you are going to travel—don’t tell anybody until the very last minute.

At the airport on Clove Island

This is an unsaid rule in island culture.  One that confused us for quite a long time.  “Why wouldn’t you tell people?”  On numerous occasions, we have had people come to us the night before traveling, call us from the airport, or we would just find out in passing that our good friend, our colleague, our neighbor, etc. has just traveled and wouldn’t be back for weeks, months, or even years.

It seems so strange at first, because there is also an important tradition in the islands of saying goodbye.  They even have a verb for saying goodbye before traveling.  When you are leaving, you are expected to “laga”  people.  If you don’t do it, you can expect them, upon your return to complain, “You never “laga-ed” me!”

A culture of saying goodbye and a culture of not telling anyone you are leaving???  How can that be?  But over the years, we’ve come to understand why this is so.  We believe there are three major reasons (although there may be others we’re not aware of).

The first reason is sudden opportunities.  In a culture where forward planning is not done, travel opportunities appear suddenly and when they come, the rule of thumb is to jump on them and allow the details (like money, housing, food) to work themselves out.  The fact is, islanders may have vague ideas to travel but the actual planning for that remains vague until only a few weeks before it happens.  Then, there is so much to do and organize before a trip, perhaps people don’t “laga” as they should because they simply don’t have the time.

The second reason is shame.  Plans so often fall through on the islands.  They can both come together quickly and fall apart quickly.  Little items like having a valid passport or necessary visa or vaccination can suddenly bring those plans to a grinding halt.  Traveling is an honor—something rich and important people do.  Having your plans fall through is shameful.  Islanders are so used to having their plans fall through, that it is best to hide them until you are sure they are happening—and let’s face it, you can’t really be sure until you’ve boarded the plane.

A goodbye visit

The third reason (and perhaps a main reason) is gifts.  When we tell someone we know that we are traveling, we often see them get a faraway look in their eye as if they are thinking about something.  After a moment or two, they come back into focus.  Then between the time we have told them and the time we part, there will be a request.  “Can you bring me a …?”  These days, the most frequent request is a phone.  A quality smartphone is hard to come by in the islands—even if you have the means (and most don’t), so why not ask it of the person traveling (since the assumption is that it will be cheaper and easier to get off-island).  But the requests come in all shapes and sizes.  This time we’ve had requests for a laptop, soldier boots, sneakers, large photos, kids’ clothes, phones, and fixadent (denture cream).  We got off pretty easy this time.  At least we didn’t get any of the outlandish requests that we simply can’t fill—big items that would never fit in our bags or items we’re not allowed to bring on an airplane.  

You can imagine the weight upon an islander of all the requests from their friends and extended family to bring back things with their little means.  It is a heavy burden.  So, the best way to avoid it? Don’t give them a chance to ask!

As evidenced by our list of requests, we didn’t follow this advice and we did tell people we were traveling. But we were selective in whom we told in advance. We don’t need requests from all of our acquaintances, but for our good friends, we want to be able to bless them and honor those relationships, whether it’s with a new phone, clothes, or denture cream.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The islands have started a campaign for vaccinating against cholera and we have seen a drop in the daily numbers of new cases. Pray that it continues! We were able to have needed medical check-ups, as well as a follow-up with our daughter’s specialist. Praise that we are doing okay health wise and praise that our daughter woke up this morning pain-free for the first time since April. After some initial trouble that caused her to have to rebook her flights, our teammate was able to leave her home country to head back to Africa. We are thankful for the stories from our medical team of great opportunities to share with and pray for islanders as well as some answered prayers for healing. Praise that one of island friends was able to travel and have a needed surgery.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
There was a landslide on Clove Island that killed three young people who were trying to mine rock from the hillside. This is second time in the past few months this has happened— pray for comfort for those grieving and better safety protocols for those engaged in this dangerous line of work. One of the local sisters on the small island has been very bold lately and she is now being told that she will lose her job and be taken to court for her boldness. Pray that she would be encouraged and have the words to respond to those in authority with truth and respect and without fear. Continue to pray for our daughter that she find healing and have lots of pain-free days. Pray for our kids as they finish up their school year and head into final exams. Pray for us as we try to get administrative work done this week so we can be free for July and August when we are traveling to the US.

Big Men Don't Say Please

When we teach English we often find that we are teaching about culture as well as language.  This is normal (any language expert worth their salt will tell you language and culture are mixed together and it’s unwise to separate them).  So the students always get a kick out of learning about American habits of being polite.  Americans say please a lot and expect others to say please.  We teach our children the “magic word” and remind them to say “Please” and “Thank You.”  Islanders find it amusing to stick a please on phrases.   

Young visitor come to say goodbye

The fact is, there is no good word for an everyday “please” in the island language.  For foreigners coming to the islands, it can be quite jarring the first time someone comes to your house and says, “Give me water.”  Or when you hear someone tell the taxi driver “Take me to the port.  You hear?”  That’s not to say Islanders are impolite.  They just have different ways of expressing it.  How to be polite looks different in different cultures.  On the islands, greeting people along the road, even if you don’t know them, is polite.  Walking someone who is leaving your house down the road for a bit is another way to be polite.  Waiting by the door even when you’ve been told to come in, is another example of island politeness.  

But on the islands, politeness is also wrapped up in respect.  Older people are addressed differently than someone the same age as you, you greet them more politely and so show them respect.  When people call us “Teacher” they are being polite and showing us respect.  When an important personage graces a wedding, the host will gush in extremely polite, flattery and respectful language, “Oh Honorable One, we are graced by your distinguished presence here among us today…”

That’s why it was funny when one of the students in the class asked, “Teacher, what if I become a big man?”  By big man, he meant someone important, rich and respectable—like a bank manager, elected government official, etc.  For a moment, we didn’t understand the question, but then it clicked.  In island culture, being polite is deeply connected to respect.  You are polite to those above you.  However, the one in authority has no requirement to show something beneath them the same respect.  Our student was asking, “If I’m an important person, do I have to be polite?”

On the big island!

The answer, in western culture (at least the one we grew up in) was yes.  Even big men should be polite.  It is expected and desired that people be treated equally and with respect.  Oh, we may know that the big bosses on Wall Street, or the power hungry politicians may not do this, but we want them to.  We think they should.  This is something so profoundly different between our two cultures and yet it is easy to miss.  How did this disparity come about?  It’s often hard to say with culture.

But a recent Sunday, we were reading a story about how a bunch of followers started arguing about which one of them was the greatest.  Their teacher came and interrupted them and said, “In this world, the kings and great men lord it over their people…but among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.”

Reunited with our older kids

I think the teacher’s words have profoundly shaped western culture.  Will that same teacher change Island culture one day?  God willing!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We were able to say our goodbyes and pack our house into our living room (so they can do work on the roof over our bedrooms). Tom got to study with Muki even the day that we left.  We made it safely to the big island and had a good time reconnecting with some of our colleagues there, including a couple that has recently moved to a new village much further south— it’s exciting that a new village will have people of salt and light living among them. We also made it safely to mainland Africa in time to see both of our older kids give their testimonies in front of their school community and to be able to ‘dunk’ our older son in celebration of the new life he has embraced. We are so thankful for how God is moving in our kids’ lives.  One of our medical teammates made it back to the islands after 6 months away and finally got her bag after a delay of a couple days!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The islands are celebrating a big holiday today connected with the annual pilgrimage abroad. Pray that islanders (those on pilgrimage and those on the islands) would be drawn to the truth. Continue to pray for our daughter as we try to find the right balance of medications that allows her to be relatively pain-free while avoiding bad side effects. Pray for good communication with her doctors, and that she would not be discouraged.  Pray for us as we have a long to-do list for the next few weeks— lots of meetings and appointments and administrative work. Pray that we would use our time wisely.

Public Health

 Do you appreciate Public Health?  What is Public Health?  

One of our English students wanted to use this for the subject of our English Club he was leading.  He found a short video (from Australia—doesn’t Youtube make the world smaller?) that gave a little overview of the topic.  If you’ve got a few minutes, you’ll probably appreciate this blog more after a viewing: 

Island-version of public pool

Public Health Service Message

As you watch the video, you may think, “Gee, I didn’t realize all the things that qualify as Public Health and all the ways I benefit because of it.”  But for islanders, the reaction is different.  “Wow, look at all the things other places have.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have those, too?”

In the first few moments of the video, the announcer says matter of factly, “The water from your taps is safe, secure and clean because it is regulated, so you’re protected from waterborne diseases.”  Clove Island water is untreated, a factor in the severe cholera outbreak on our island.  (Personally, we filter all our drinking/cooking water, but most islanders don’t have the resources for such filtration systems.)  

A bit later, “You know that walking and cycling is good for you, and the shared pathways maintained by your local council make active travel easier and safer.”  On Clove Island, a very small percentage of island roads have sidewalks and bike lanes don’t exist. Older island cities were modeled after Arab Medinas, with narrow walkways for pedestrians, inaccessible to vehicles, similar to modern cities moving toward “car-free” zones.  But the old medinas were not the result of a public health initiative.

The next one gets a laugh, “When you go to the shopping center, the air-conditioning is safe because the cooling towers are regulated to stop the growth of legionella bacteria.”  Clove Island doesn’t have a shopping center.  Some businesses have air-conditioning, but there is no guarantee that it is running because of frequent power cuts.  The idea that there would air-conditioning in huge complexes and that the units would be regulated is even more unbelievable.

Our youngest by streetside 'restaurant'

“You understand that how food is handled is an important part of making sure it is safe to eat, and the food safety rating certificate on the door assures you that the people who manage the cafe do, too.”  The island reality is that many people here don’t understand how food should be handled and there are no safety rating certificates on the doors of restaurants.  In fact, the majority of restaurants don’t have doors, and are just temporary set-ups on the side of roads.

Public parks, public pools…more things that are just dreams.  Islanders have the ocean for play, and rivers for washing clothes, but all littered with trash. This is perhaps the closest thing to public parks or pools.

With the recent cholera outbreak, the public health initiative has been a pretty clear message.  “Wash your hands.”  They came to our sons school and talked about it.  Outside many shops there are handwashing stations, bucket taps of bleach water donated by UNICEF.  People seem to be becoming aware of the importance of hand washing—something we take for granted that everyone knows in the US.  

The English Club didn’t go very well. The vocabulary was a little too difficult for the English level of those that attended, but it succeeded in one regard. I can now answer the question, “Do you appreciate Public Health?”, with a resounding, “Yes!”

Daughter enjoying lunch after medical tests

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our daughter was able to get her MRI and receive a diagnosis and start treatment. We are grateful to know what is going on and for the fact that she has access to the specialists and medical care making such a diagnosis possible (something that would not be possible on Clove Island). We are thankful that cholera vaccines have come to the islands to try to finally put an end to the epidemic. Tom was able to finish another round of teacher training in a village, as well as mentoring a new teacher trainer.  Even as we are traveling, Muki plans to continue studying. Thankfully the conflict between the airport town and its neighbor village seems to have calmed.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our daughter was diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune disease. There is a possibility that with treatment that it will go into remission, but she has a long road ahead of her. Pray that she would not be discouraged, that she would be healed and that in the meantime we would be able to manage her pain effectively. We are meant to travel to the big island tomorrow, but were informed at noon that the airline has canceled all flights for the whole week. Thankfully another airline has just started business this week, so we quickly found seats with them tomorrow. Pray that our travels to the big island and then to be with our kids will go smoothly. At a women’s gathering this past week, there were lots of requests for ill health— pray for healing and encouragement. Rice has come, but not enough to truly stop the shortage. Pray for the poor that are going hungry to get relief soon.

Time to Change your Diet?

 The islands have been in the midst of another rice shortage. For a long time, the big sacks of cheaper rice haven’t been available. People have been scraping by with buying the more expensive rice brands. But then they got in short supply and the price per kg went to over three times the normal price!! 

One rice shipment arrives!

At the same time, there were stories of rice stores getting wet with all the rains and mold getting into them. Some rumors have even claimed that the cholera epidemic came from bad rice! We challenge this one any chance we get with the real ways people get cholera, but rumors persist. A small shipment of rice arrived and quickly stories started to spread on island social media that the rice was littered with little bits of plastic and that people who ate it were all going to the hospital sick.

It’s hard to know if there is any truth in these stories or not, but the confidence in the government-regulated company that organizes the large shipments of the cheapest rice has plummeted. They are accused of corruption and ineptitude.

Meanwhile, people suffer. Lots of people have talked about going hungry, of their kids begging for food and them not being able to give them anything to satisfy them.

Giving pasta & sardines to hungry neighbor

So, is there no food on island? No, there is food. There is bread. There is pasta. There are tons of sacks of flour for sale at the moment. But islanders aren’t used to filling their stomachs with these things. They make things with flour, but it is not their staple food. I have brought up to many islanders that maybe they should eat other things, but most hem and haw and say that those other things don’t sit well and will give you stomachaches if that is all you eat. Many islanders believe that you haven’t really eaten in a day if you haven’t had rice. Lots of island kids want to eat what they are used to— they want rice!

But a short-term worker just asked me this week, “But they haven’t always eaten rice, have they?” And it is true! Rice is imported. The true ‘poor man’s meal’ of the islands is fish and locally grown starches. I don’t know when rice came to the islands— could have been hundreds of years ago. Our mainland African neighbors don’t eat rice as a staple, they eat a dough-like starch staple called ugali. But neighboring Madagascar eats rice as their staple, so it may have come from there. So we know that eating patterns can change— whether by choice or necessity.

But government policy plays a role in this too.  At some point, the islands found a way to receive subsidized rice from other countries.  This rice was priced so low that it would inevitably become the staple.  Nothing is quite as cheap as rice here for filling the stomach.  What if those subsidies were no longer available?  What if islanders were no longer able to depend on cheap rice?

We don’t necessarily think that this rice shortage is going to cause a complete change in islanders’ diets. There is hope that this shortage will end soon. One shipment came— it wasn’t enough for every household to get a sack, but some did. Not that one 25kg sack of rice lasts very long in an island household. One of our taxi drivers lamented this week, “We use at least 3-4 kg of rice each day!” Still they hope that more, larger shipments will come.  In the meantime, perhaps some households are trying some new foods, but most are suffering, hungry and longing for rice!

Back from last day of local school!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that some rice came this week to Clove Island. Our daughter was able to get stronger meds that have decreased her pain and made her feel more and allow her to sleep better.  We are thankful that she was able to see a specialist so quickly and that all the tests ordered are available there! Tom finally studied with Kwendzi and it went well! We are thankful that our youngest son was able to finish well at the local elementary school! Praise that Muki continues to come almost every day to study and has fresh insights every time.  


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for our daughter— she has an MRI and a follow-up appointment scheduled for later this week. She is in good spirits, but nervous about getting behind in school as she will have to miss two days. Pray that she would not fall behind and that we’d have clarity about what is going on.  This is our last full week on island before leaving for over 2 months. Pray for us as we pack our house into our living room so that hopefully they can do needed repairs to the roof over our bedrooms while we are gone. Pray also as we try to give things away and say goodbyes. Pray for the airport town and the neighboring village as they have been fighting and setting fire to each other’s boat and buildings. Pray for the island brothers and sisters that live there to be voices for peace. Pray for the island women as they gather to study this week— may they encourage, comfort and motivate each other.