The Darkness and the Trash

The trashy riverbed near our house

There is much darkness in this world.  Sometimes it is overwhelming.  Sometimes the darkness is terrifying and revolting.  But sometimes it is less apparent.  Sometimes it is ubiquitous, everyday and unseen.  Why it could even take the form of a plastic bag.

On our island we have many things that aren’t right.  There is a lot of darkness.  Corruption is rampant, the rich steal from the poor, those with means and connections take what they want.  Those without suffer.  Sick people have little to no access to quality health care.  Many have no other course of action than to take a boat illegally to the neighboring French island to find better health care.  These boats are often over loaded, expensive, illegal and dangerous.  This is a great wrong.  The darkness is physical, spiritual, and institutional.  It is inescapable, even in the everyday.

Another sign of the darkness is trash.  It is everywhere, and everywhere we add to it.  It doesn’t matter where you live or who you are or how small your footprint may be—wherever humanity goes, we leave behind trash.  Have you ever considered that this could be a sign of the darkness?  Of course, for most of us, trash is something that is put in a receptacle and then carried far away where it won’t be seen, smelled, or in the way.  But when you live on a small, confined, over-populated island, the problem is unavoidable, and a constant reminder of the darkness that follows in our wake.

On our island, the trash problems are many.  There is no education about the dangers of trash.  There is no accountability.  On an island where every inch of land is farmed or used, there is no place to put the trash.  Plus there is no money to dispose of it properly.  There is also the problem of disposable items—the most notorious of which is the thin, wispy, plastic bag.  These are so ubiquitous that they are like dead leaves.  But then many of the clothes, appliances, plastics, etc. that are sold here are so cheap and of such poor quality they break quickly—adding greatly to the amount of trash.

The trashy ocean

Like so much darkness, even on this tiny island, we learn to live with it.  So it was with the trash.  There was a place we took our trash once a week—a stinking heap by the side of the road that would be collected once a week by a truck and taken to the other side of the city where it was unceremoniously dumped onto a beach and burned.  It was not a solution, but at least it concentrated the solution.  And like so many other forms of darkness, the truck succeeded in taking away the problem—out of sight, out of mind.

Then this week the mayor of our city announced that these collection places would no longer be allowed.  Why did he do this?  Apparently the perpetual pile of burning trash got out of control and the fire started to spread.  We’re told rain put it out before it did any real damage.  Is that the only reason? Of course there is plenty of speculation.  Did the garbage truck break down?  Did they run out of money to keep it fueled?  Did someone decide that the gas money would be better spent on themselves than on this public project?  We’ll probably never know.  But suddenly we have no place to take our trash.  The mayor’s solution to the populace: burn it yourself or throw it in the ocean.

Suddenly this seemingly small but very real part of human fallenness and darkness stands on our doorstep.  It will not go away and it will not be hidden.  What do we do with our trash? Throw it in the ocean?  the river?   That is what our neighbors tell us to do, but is is not the solution.  It’s just not right!  What can we do?  So we will separate our biodegradable trash and burn the rest.  But who wants trash burning near their house.  Finding a suitable spot to burn has been something of a challenge.  Maybe we will compost.  But who wants a smelly compost bin near their house?  When people live nearly on top of each other as they do here, there’s a good chance that our neighbors will complain.  Meanwhile, the rivers and beaches fill with trash and there is no solution in sight.  Darkness in the limp form of a plastic bag.

Went for a hike- got away from the trash

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Island women got together and recorded a new song to use in their fellowship together. We are so thankful to hear songs in the local music styles and language. We hope for more and more. The tummy bugs have seemed to pass without anyone else being too sick. We were able to get dental appointments for our time on mainland Africa, now just need to get medical appointments.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Island school has been dragging their feet but are finally set to start tomorrow (Wednesday). Please pray for positive first days for all of our kids (especially our boys who are very nervous). We hope for friendly, understanding teachers and good friends for all three of them. Pray for an island brother that Tom meets with regularly that is struggling with old habits that could hurt his witness. Pray for islanders studying abroad— we’ve had a few young brothers go abroad and come back years later unsure what they believe.

No Island is an Island

Our kids with their vacation countdown

I think our family might have island-fever. We came back to the islands at the end of February and haven’t been off since. We mentioned going on vacation to the kids and they immediately created a large countdown on the chalkboard. Our youngest takes almost everyone that comes to our house over to the map of Africa and shows them where we are going for vacation (just 14 more days!). The islands can feel pretty isolated sometimes. But there are different kinds of isolation.

When we first came to live in Africa (over 10 years ago), we went to Chad. Chad is sometimes nicknamed the “dead heart of Africa” because it is a landlocked country right in the middle of the continent. Our village in Chad was isolated geographically, surrounded by the desert-like sahel landscape on all sides. But we were less isolated logistically— it is not hard to coordinate the logistics to overcome the geographic isolation.  In Chad you could always get in a car and drive away. If there was an emergency, you could always just drive and drive—right out of the country even—until you found the help or civilization you needed. On the other hand our village in Chad was isolated socially.  Most people in the village were uneducated and had little contact with the outside world.  In many ways their world was quite small.  In Chad we remember having to explain that the world was round and covered in oceans.  We had to explain that you couldn’t simple drive to America.  One Chadian friend scoffed in disbelief—as if so much water was beyond comprehension.

Our town and then the endless ocean

On the islands, the surroundings are completely different. Endless desert is replaced with endless ocean.  Islanders scoff in disbelief when they hear that there are people in the world that have never seen the ocean! Everywhere you look here you find ocean. Socially, the islands are not nearly so isolated.  While many islanders have never been to other countries, many know of opportunities abroad and want to go.  It may not be exaggerating to say that the vast majority of islanders have family members living abroad. But we are certainly geographically isolated—in some ways more so than in Chad. We’re surrounded by ocean.  Hundreds of miles of water and land separate us from any major metropolis. Sometimes we can see one of the other islands far out on the horizon, but most of the time it is just endless blue.

So we have to deal with that geographic isolation but also logistical isolation. We can’t just get in a car and leave, the logistics of getting off the island are often complicated, unreliable and/or expensive—and this more than anything can lead to feeling island fever. 

Some co-workers at our office opening

Last week our co-workers on the other islands came to Clove Island for a meeting.  We work with some amazing people and it was so good to see them.  Yet the reality is, we are lucky to see them more than twice a year.  Geographically many of our colleagues are within 40-80 miles of us.  On a good highway, that’s less than an hour drive.  Why, many people commute that far just to go to work.  But the water which separates us and the lack of reliable transportation makes these distances vast.  Some of our colleagues were delayed by more than a day because of the lack of logistical possibilities—one airline, no boats, full flights.  Imagine if your only option to get from the north of Boston to the south of Boston was to fly in a 12 seater airplane that serviced the entire North Shore—or imagine if the only way to get from San Francisco to San Jose was on a slow ferry across the bay that would take most the day.  Despite this geographical and logistical isolation, being together with our co-workers and friends from the other islands, we were comforted with the reminder that we are not alone.  And thanks to technology and networks of connection, we are not socially isolated.  We have network of people who understand, who are there to pray for us, challenge us and encourage us.  So send us a text, drop us an email, give us a call—we’re not so far away…well, yeah, we are. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Two islanders went for a special swim this past week. We were happy to celebrate with them. We had a good time with our four visitors and were excited for them to understand more about our life and work here on Clove Island. An old friend from the big island that we haven’t seen in 5 years (he’s been studying abroad) is on Clove Island right now! We’re excited to see him and hope that we can encourage him while he is here.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Pray for the island group to continue to grow in maturity and purpose and for us to know our role in that process. There have been a number of tummy bugs going around. One of our teammates fainted at the market yesterday and is still sick. Pray for her quick recovery and that no one else would get sick. Continue to pray for our kids and the anticipation of island school starting soon. Pray for calm hearts and a good experience (we still don’t know what day school is starting!). We need some dental and medical check-ups while we are off island— pray that we would be able to make the appointments that we need to before we leave. We’re hoping to get the medical/dental stuff done in the first few days so that we can then just relax

A Bright Future

Tom talking to group at office

Things were finishing up. Most people had eaten their plate of snacks and were chatting. Suddenly one our island friends asked for everyone’s attention. It looked like we were going to be blessed with an impromptu speech (islanders love giving speeches).

We were officially opening our NGO’s office on Clove Island. We have lived on Clove Island for about 5 years now without an office. This office reflects the way in which English teaching and our roles have been changing.  On one wall of our office we have put up bulletins which advertise all the different English learning opportunities on the Island.  When we first began there were only two.  Now there are more than 10 different English teaching programs!  All of which are completely organized and managed by islanders and (for the most part) run with only island teachers.  We have trained numerous teachers and many of these programs reflect their hard work and effort.  So our role has changed, we have become advisors, trainers, and mentors. People who started in our level 1 courses are now confidently teaching level 1 themselves.

Our island friend waited for the group to quiet down and began to speak.
“When I was a young man, I dropped out of school, left home and went to the big island to sell goods on the streets of the capital.  Then one day I saw two white ladies walking down the road. One of them was this lady here.”

He pointed to our old teammate from the big island who was visiting for the leaders’ meeting. He was referring back to over 10 years earlier (before our time) when she was new to the islands.  A sense of longevity settled over the room.

Kids looking in office window

“I wondered.  Who were these white ladies?  So I followed them,” he said this seriously, pausing dramatically, for effect. “They did not know it, but I followed them to a building in the middle of town.” The westerners were a little startled by this admission, a man following women unawares is a little creepy.
“I followed the white women until I saw them go into a building.   I asked around about what they were doing there and I learned that they were teaching English. That day I decided to sign up for English.”  (A quiet sigh of relief—creepiness factor mostly neutralized.)
“I was their student.  I came to love English and I realized that I needed to go back to school and get my degree.”  Now we were all started to smile, enjoying his heart-warming story.

“I got my degree and thanks to this NGO, I received a scholarship to study English abroad.  Now I am back home in my country teaching English at the main high school.” 

From an uneducated, street seller to a respected educator. It was a beautiful story of hope and betterment (that aren’t very common here). It was encouraging because it was about more than just learning English, it was about finding a bright future.

No island gathering is complete without snacks.

Our success in seeing English grow gives us hope for other more than just growth in English, we want to see Clove Island changed for the better in many ways.  Many times we look at the teachers we are working with—most of them young men and young women, and we wonder if they are the future leaders of the country.  Will they learn more than just English from us?  Will they learn a spirit of service?  Will they learn to put others before themselves?  Will they learn to be honest and responsible?  Will they give hope and light to the people of their islands?  As we look around at the people we work with, we find hope.  We see their hard work and faithful service.  We see their great potential.  Then we remember that great things are possible and we pray for a bright future for all of them.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
It was a big weekend. We had guests from both of the other islands for a leadership gathering. It was a great time of fellowship and talking. It is exciting to hear what is happening on the other islands and just to be with our colleagues that we don’t see often but whose company we very much enjoy.  We had the grand opening of our office— we’re glad to have it over with and to be able to use the space fully.  Our plans for getting off the islands for some vacation is finally coming together (the kids are already getting excited about it).

PRAYERS REQUESTED
At the leaders’ gathering we talked about some of the resources and strategies that we haven’t used much. Pray that we would have opportunities to use them to good purpose. We have our bosses with us for another day. We pray that we would have good times of reflection and prayer together. We have only recently learned that we will have more guests coming on Thursday for around 5 days. They are here to encourage us and learn about our lives and work. Pray for the logistics of hosting them and facilitating their time here. Island school is supposed to be starting in the next couple weeks (though no one will say for certain yet when the first day will be). Our boys are anxious about school starting, please pray for a good transition and for good recollection and comprehension in French. We’re hoping that they have some positive school experience before we go on vacation.

Walking Through Open Doors

At the table at Markabu's house

There are many blessings to being a family on the islands, but one downside is that we rarely get invitations that extend to the whole family.  It is common for singles to get adopted into island families and regularly invited for meals. But islanders are less likely to invite a family. It is assumed the wife of the family can cook for them. Also some islanders feel like they have to have an extravagant spread if they are inviting an entire family of foreigners (something they may not feel if it is just one or two people). Then there is the reality that men and women just don’t do things together very much. Other than the month of fasting, men usually eat and relax separately from women and children. So Megan usually gets invitations to women’s things, Tom to men’s things, but family to family invitations aren’t common.

Tom had been talking to Markabu and Faswiri (two of our English Club attendees) a few weeks before and had mentioned enjoying meeting people’s families. Markabu had responded by saying that he had always wanted to invite Tom to his home but something had made him self-conscious about it . So then last week we were pleasantly surprised when Markabu came up and asked not just Tom but our whole family to come to his house and meet his family on the holiday this past weekend. We quickly accepted.

The ladies of the family

We are often looking for open doors, doors toward deeper relationships, doors toward getting to know whole families, doors toward meaningful conversations. Even more we look for door openers, people who act as bridges into communities. Our friend was opening the door and inviting us in.

Now nothing overly dramatic happened on this visit. We learned where Markabu lived. We met his family (mother, sisters, nieces, nephews). The women didn’t eat with us, but they surrounded us with words of welcome and giving gifts to Megan. His mother and oldest sister had made the food except for the one treat which was the traditional holiday gift of his grandmother. We learned about how his brothers have studied abroad, each in a different country. We learned that his father had died. We learned about how he met Faswiri and about their shared past times. The visit ended with pictures taken on multiple cameras and with sincere words of thanks all around. “My family is very nice,” our student said, encouraging us to return and visit.

It was a deepening of our relationship with him, a beginning of new relationships, a new opportunity.

The men

We didn’t necessarily know this opportunity was coming. Markabu had been one of Megan’s first students when we got to Clove Island in 2013, but he hasn’t been a consistent visitor to our home or club. Why after 4 years did he suddenly decide to invite us into his home? So perhaps it was Tom’s comment about families that cracked the door open and then Markabu held it open. Whatever the case, a part of us being here on the islands is being faithful to walk through the doors opened before us— who knows where they will lead. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The tummy bug ended up hitting Tom and our older son too. But we are thankful for our answered prayers that it passed quickly and that Megan and our youngest were spared. Thanks for praying for our kids— this morning our older son prayed for God to come into his heart and change him! We are very thankful for this desire planted in his young heart. Pray that it would continue to grow. He’s excited. Megan just got back from an all-day women’s retreat organized by island women. It was a great chance to connect and encourage each other. We are thankful for the island women taking on leadership roles.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We pray for Markabu and his family and our relationship with them. This week is very full. We just had the women’s retreat, we have visitors coming, we have  the leadership gathering that we are helping host and we have the grand opening of our office (which means having up to 50 islanders to the office for speeches, prayers, blessings and snacks). Pray that we would get everything that needs to be done finished. Pray for a good leadership gathering— that people would find tickets to travel to us,  for unity and mutual encouragement. Two islanders have asked to pray for things— Bweni has asked for prayer for her youngest brother who is often mistreated and bullied because his skin is much darker than the rest of the family. He is a kind boy and we pray that Bweni can be a light to him and the rest of her family. Ma Imani’s mother also asked for prayer for her health (she struggles with hypertension) and also with feelings of being alone— she’s getting older, has had grandkids thrust into her care and she has had tense relationships with various children. We pray that her children could come around her and that she could feel supported and loved.