Update 24 March

Good Day

 

I am sitting on my back porch at 5:09 pm on Saturday. Tickling my feet are our 3 soon to be departed (we hope) kittens from the cat who owns this house we rent. They are about 4 weeks old now and no box we have can hold them. They are still awkward but getting around very well. Mama cat is weaning them off milk in the last few days so we are stepping in as foster parents. Betsy has some elaborate names for each of them. Ophelia Cappuccino and Francisco I think. I like mine better. White, Brown and Gray. I just found out the hard way that their claws are certainly developing fine. Ouch. Brown seems to be the adventurous one of the 3. He is always the leader and seems to be the first to test new waters. Betsy was reading in the bedroom but now came out to see what the screeching is all about. Those claws are sharp.

We are off school for 2 weeks. Many of the missionary families are in town to pick up their kids from school and to attend a conference of some sort. It gives us a chance to talk face to face with them on their kid's progress. The big Drama Production was Thurs and last night. They did "The Merchant of Venice". Betsy was assistant director and designed all the costumes. A tailor from our quartier did most of the sewing. He is a friend of our guards and we got to know him a few months ago. He made around 45 costumes, tops and bottoms, and some hats. Betsy bought all the material from the big (crazy) market north of downtown. That place is a zoo. Americans certainly get all the customer attention they could possibly want. She gave her plans to Edmund and he did a good job. He made around 75,000 cfa ($150) for the whole thing and a ticket to the show. That is probably at least a months wages he made in 5 days.

I am the 10^th grade class co-advisor and they got the opportunity to sell refreshments outside before, during and after the show both nights. Getting 26 10^th graders to agree on anything is a miracle in itself but they managed to pull it together nicely. We called it Café Italiano and made booths like a marketplace. We had Italian café music playing and sold little pizzas, biscotti, lemonade and frappuccino along with a wide variety of desserts like mango pie and leopard brownies. Previous fundraisers have yielded about 60-100k for events like this so my expectations were low. On Thursday in 90 degree heat and humidity, the cold water fountain went out during volleyball practice and wasn't repaired until Friday. Our lemonade sales were out of sight. A few people asked if we broke it on purpose but I assured them we did not. We ended up making just under 200k which is about $400. They will use it for their class trip eventually. I was really impressed with a handful of kids who worked very hard both nights to get it done. Most of the rest chipped in a little but were invisible most of the time. We gave the leftovers to the cast and crew all-night party. We were asked to chaperone the event with the director, Kevin Chilton the English teacher, and agreed because we were afraid nobody else would do it and they would have to cancel. I knew the art teacher was invited and it turns out she planned to stay all night and then we were off the hook. We got the place cleaned up and swept out by midnight and after heavenly thanks, a game of Risk and a round of leopard brownies and Coke went home at around 3:30. We have been just lounging today. After 2 long days, we need some rest.

My Geography class is studying wind processes and we decided to build a windmill. The class designed it and we built it with scrap parts from the CAM shop. We had a public showing on Friday morning and it went well. I have some pictures I will attach from the show.

Other than that, we decided to go to the beach instead of Equatorial Guinea for break. The travel costs were just a little too much. We have reservations at the same beachfront hotel we stayed at last October when I crashed on a wave and about broke my neck. We are going with a couple from Florida we have gotten to know well here. She teaches Bible and English and he is the maintenance supervisor for the school. They are a lot of fun and we are looking forward to getting away.

Try the video with Windows media player.

Until next time

Take care and God Bless

Brian & Betsy

pictures: cats and windmills

Hope you like them.

B&B

WU 18 Mar

Hey Hey

 

Many times when things happen 4 days early it can be a little frustrating and can really throw a wrench into your plans. You count on things sticking to the schedule. I am a schedule guy. I can be spontaneous as long as I have a plan. I pride myself on being punctual and it bothers me when things don't happen when they are supposed to. Usually its not a big deal if something is a half hour late or something like that but 4 days early? As busy as we have been lately it very well could have been disastrous to see this happen 4 days early but in this case it was not. In fact, it was not met with disdain but joyous celebration and dancing in the streets. For the first time since November we got an official, no-kidding, send-the kids-in, stop-the-game, blast of a rain shower. There are few smells in the world that can compare to the few minutes of cool breeze that fill your nose with such sweet delight. Those tantalizing moments seem to linger on forever as you lean back and listen to the roar of the rain hitting the tin roofs in the distance getting closer and closer like a far-off train at night. Suddenly, it hits your roof and instantly becomes the highlight of your day. I know that may seem overdramatic to most of you. Rain usually means fixing tractors or watching a movie. To me today it was as welcome as a second slice of my Mom's pumpkin pie. I have lived in the desert and been through dry spells before but not like this. Waking up to the smell of burning trash every morning kind of sours a guy, you know? Our guards at our house said back in January that it would be March 15 when the rains came again. We were skeptical in thinking that anyone could predict rain 2 months out. Most TV weather guys get it wrong on the news the same day. The thought of 2 more months of dust clouds and searing heat seemed too much. The gray sky had been threatening rain for a few days but these guys stuck to their guns. I suppose being 4 days off in predicting rain is pretty good considering the seasons change here faster than Superman in a phone booth. We have had 4 really good rains since last Sunday and it makes a huge difference. We did get a sprinkle a few weeks ago but barely enough to wet the driveway. It greened up the lawn some. But I guess when your lawn is brown it wouldn't take much. We have another batch of mangos coming. Apparently the fruit trees here just keep going all year round. I am working on parts for a potato gun but I have yet to find good PVC. I have plenty of ammo hanging from the trees in my yard though.

I had the chance to spend some time with Rob Peterson from the US who is a pilot for SIL, the translation organization that runs things here. He has been in town for a few weeks and helps out coaching the volleyball teams a little. He was telling me about his latest adventure. A few months ago, the WWF (not the wrestling thing, World Wildlife Foundation) called and hired him and another pilot to do a spotting survey over Waza Park in the Far North. They take side jobs like this to keep costs down for SIL members getting back and forth to the villages. Betsy and I had the opportunity to go to Waza over Christmas break with the Smiths. It was fabulous from the ground so I bet it was even better from the air. What they did was fly a grid pattern over the whole park looking for elephants. The last time the elephants were counted was around 1997 and they estimated there to be about 1400 within the park. There have been so many problems with poaching up there that huge fines and jail time are handed out for anybody with elephant parts. In fact, any American trying to get any bones, teeth or tusks back into the country pays huge fines and possibly jail time. They were worried that the numbers were decreasing fast so they hired these guys to take a look. They found less than 250 left in the park. There is an old dirt airstrip in the park they used and went spotting at dawn and dusk to catch them at the water holes. Most of the time they herd together and stay around the water so he said it is tough to count the same ones twice. They have a few collared and were able to track them easily as well. It turns out that one collared elephant was shot in the afternoon while they were there. The blip stopped and they flew over and found the animal dead with tire tracks peeling away. I guess when you are dirt poor, don't care about anything and you see a big bag of money in an elephant suit standing there that will pay your bills for a year its hard not to pull the trigger. It's a shame. It's a good thing that giraffes aren't worth anything because they are so thick in there we practically had to drive around them. He did tell me about one day we spotted 2 animals running along with the plane on the ground and suddenly leaped into the air and landed in a tree. They were 2 full grown male lions and were apparently seeking shelter. We were told that there are a few lions in the park and we saw fresh tracks when we were there but no lions.

I have attached Rob's email he sent to me and his website if you want to take a look at his work. He is a lot of fun and he thinks I'm cool because he can talk about pilot stuff and flying and I can follow along. (most of the time) I would love to get a ride with him but he usually goes somewhere for at least a few days at a time and I can't miss school. I could get some really good pictures though.

There it is. Hope you are all well and warming up. Take care and God Bless.

Brian & Betsy

 

Here's Robs website

 

www.petersonfamily.info/robert/gallery2

 

Robert Peterson
Wycliffe - Partners in Bible Translation
Serving Bibleless Peoples through Aviation

 

 

Rob's Email

 

February 22, 2007

 

Dear friends and family,

 

Greetings from Waza in the extreme northern tip of Cameroon!  I'm flying for a national park survey this week. This is a special survey project in connection with the WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) of Waza National Park. Due to ongoing poaching activity, surveyors are particularly interested in an accurate elephant count. Although the vast majority of our flying is in direct support of missionaries in the bush, this survey provides subsidy to missionaries so they can afford to use the airplane. It also provides an important service to the local community and government.

 

Since the runway at Waza has been closed for several years, I flew from Yaoundé to Garoua (about half-way to Waza) on Monday afternoon.  Monday night and Tuesday morning I traveled by land to Waza to complete a ground survey of the runway before the second pilot came with the airplane. Although the majority of the runway was in great shape, this is the first time I've ever needed to evaluate an area damaged by a herd of elephants that crossed it several months ago! It's dry season and this region is semi-arid so it is extremely dry and rather warm (100˚ in the shade). We completed our first survey flight this morning. Although we didn't see the elephants we were looking for, I did see two lions that jumped into a tree! Once I return from Waza, I will work on uploading pictures to my website.

 

Life has been quite busy since arriving the end of January. When I arrived, the aviation group was focused on fielding the helicopter that has recently arrived here in Cameroon.  Initially I worked on completing an inspection on the airplane so that they could focus on the helicopter. The helicopter left Yaoundé for its home base in Banso on Feb. 7, and I did my first checkout flight in Cameroon on Feb. 9.

 

I'll share a bit more about my day-to-day living situation in a future update. For now, here are several praises:

1.         Continued good transition to life in Cameroon.

2.         Helicopter program is started and has completed several operational flights.

3.         My toolbox is here and back together (It's great to be using my own tools again).

4.         Good opportunity to visit a number of airstrips in the far north of Cameroon during this Waza survey.

 

Thank you so much for your prayers. Please join me in praying for:

1.         Safety during the Waza survey & ongoing flight checkout in Cameroon.

2.         Health & strength - I did have an upset stomach this weekend after attending a Cameroonian event.

3.         Wisdom as I consider other local involvements.

 

Thanks so much for your continued prayers, notes of encouragement and faithful support.

 

May the Lord bless you!

 

In Him, Robert

Update 10 Mar 07

Hello All,

 

I was faced with a dilemma this past week. I had a tooth that was really hurting and I knew I needed to see a dentist for it. Now, Yaoundé is not exactly on the cutting edge (no pun intended) of medical research and treatment so the thought of a going to a dentist worried me greatly. Most of the missionary community here go to Mbengo Hospital in the Nwest for medical treatment because the hospitals here are very unreliable. A student here hurt her knee in a volleyball game this past week and knowing the help they would get here in the city elected to wait until the next day to make the 5 hour drive up to the Nwest to see a doctor there. They ended up catching an SIL flight instead and it looks like she will make a full recovery. I hadn't heard a lot about dental work but I started asking around and I got the number of a new woman dentist in Quartier Tongolo which is up on the north end of the city. They said she only speaks French so I had another French speaking teacher make an appointment. I went there with such low expectations that I knew I would not be disappointed. The cab driver who swore he knew the place finally found it after driving around the neighborhood for a half hour. Good thing I left early. The streets here are seldomly named and there are no real addresses on buildings. Anyway, I found the office and was surprised to see that it at least had electricity. The doctor herself opened the door and greeted me in her best English. The whole office was about the size of an average bedroom including the waiting area. It was so cramped that she could have checked her email and drilled at the same time. Thankfully she did not. She was very nice and pleasant and her 2 dental assistants respected her immensely. There was none of the usual fill out 8 pages of forms and wait an hour before you start. She brought me straight over to the chair and asked if I had "eepertenniseeyon". I'm not sure if I'd admit to that either way but after hearing French accents for 8 months I understood her to ask if I had hypertension (high blood pressure). I nervously asked her if she meant right now or any other day. Seeing a frozen look on her face I simply repeated that I did not. The assistants put the bib on and started firing up all the stuff and laying out instruments. Before we left home last August I had a filling put in and it was the one giving me trouble so I anticipated some drilling and novocain. Not sure what the usual method of anesthetic is I prepared myself for the worst. She poked and looked and poked some more and then took a little spray bottle and squirted some awful stuff over the bed tooth and gums. I about choked on the flavor but the whole side of my face was numb in 15 seconds. She started drilling and shot me a little more with a needle but I felt nothing. 20 minutes later I was done pain-free. It turns out that my tooth was infected under the bad filling and I needed a root canal. I go back next Thursday to finish it off. The whole thing cost 88,000 cfa or about $160 including the office visits. Despite the obvious lack of conversation I would say she is the best dentist I have ever had. I know the average Cameroonian couldn't afford a dentist like her so I shudder to think what low-end care the average schmo gets here in the city. In the villages, there is probably nothing at all. One good thing about their health care system is that you can buy anything you want at a pharmacy. You just have to ask for it and you can buy it. The one by the Aeroport even gives SIL people a 10% discount (if you know how to ask for it in French).

Other than that, we are gearing up for a trip to Equatorial Guinea over break in 2 weeks. It should be fun and it's a lot shorter trip than the one over Christmas.

Anytime you have to brush the sawdust off of your shirt after teaching a class it is a good day. My Geog 9 class is studying Wind Processes so we (I) decided to build a windmill. But not just any windmill. Ours will actually do a practical task usable in a village somewhere. At least we presume it could be used, theoretically. The trouble with living on the equator is that it is seldom windy. We will sidestep that landmine by simulating wind with a desk fan. We built the platform Friday morning and it is about 4.5 feet tall and we started building the fan in the afternoon. Because of some scheduling changes my class meets twice on Fridays. The kids are very excited to see if we can pull it off but we (I) have to get a hold of some parts that the school does not have. There is a hardware (junk) store near the Mvan bakery that is always out of beigneys (fried bread with sugar for 50cfa or 10 cents a pop) that might have what we need. I might send DJ, a student who lives right near there, in to buy the stuff because he can get a better price than me.

That's it from here. Betsy says hey and God Bless.

Brian & Betsy

 

For real now...

A link to the Feb Newsletter is in the blog post of the same name. 

 

You should be able to download it to see the pictures and everything.  If you don't, drop me a comment and I'll fix it to the best of my abilities!!!

 

clb, the Brian & Betsy's blog editor :)

pic 5: It's a party!!!

Mary is the Guidance Counselor at school and we had her and another Covenant family over for dinner. The sparkling candles apparently fused together.

pics 4: Pix from the HS retreat: dining hall

This is the view from the "big rock" down towards the river and the dining hall at the Rock Farm during the High School retreat.

pics 3: Rock Farm river in dry season

This is the river at the Rock Farm. It is dry season now so there isn't much river to see.

Pic 2: Flashy Peacocks!

One feature of the farm is their resident peacock population that roams and squawks. They are pretty to look at but not so nice to hear at 5 o'clock in the morning.

pics 1: Height efficiencies?

Here are some pictures from our most recent weeks:

Betsy and one of my girls BBall players who is too tall for a standing photo with my lovely bride so she took refuge on the nearest chair. We had an awards dinner at our house after winning the championship game.

Update 02 March 07

Hello All,

 

Greetings from Yaoundé, Cameroon where the men are strong, the women quiet and the children are everywhere. We finished our newsletter this week and sent it out. If you did not receive it let us know and we will try again. Our last one was an electronical nightmare to send so we were looking for better things this time and so far it looks good.

 

We have a snow day today. School is closed and everybody stayed home. Since so much of "our country" has been blanketed with snow and ice, we thought we could convince the administration to have one here just for fun. They bought it and we have a 3 day weekend. Actually, there has been an issue with some of the local landowners around the school property. Apparently, the land including and around the school belongs to the city. SIL has an airtight lease for this property and pays the bill with no hassles. However, there are many homeowners (probably into the hundreds) who have also bought small chunks of this big property and have put their houses up on it. What they didn't know is that the people selling the land off in 500 square foot chunks did not have the land to sell. These people were buying it and building without permission from the city. Whoever sold it to them somehow convinced them to buy it with forged or no paperwork. Many have put their whole savings into their homes and land. There is not a real idea of a mortgage here. Now, the city or some bureaucrat looking for a "raise" decided to take it all back. The people around here had about a week notice before the city said they were coming in with bulldozers and flattening the whole thing. Why cancel school for this? Many rumors were flying around the neighborhood that SIL and RFIS wanted the land and were having everybody pushed off. On Wed. this week there were about 20 people shouting and yelling by the front gate in protest of the eviction. They stopped a few cars but no contact that we know of. Yesterday, we found out that people were planning a massive protest centered around our school and in the past these kinds of things apparently can go south very quickly. In Bamenda a few years ago a protest event ended in hundreds of arrests and a few deaths all because of misunderstandings like this. The Director decided to just have everybody stay as far as possible from school to avoid any headlines.

It turns out that absolutely nothing happened and now I have a nice quiet room all to myself to get work done. Betsy went to the market with another teacher and should be getting back home by now. I had a lot planned today but I guess it will have to wait until Monday.

We have a family coming over for dinner tonight. We have gotten to know them well and they are really great people. They have been here for quite a while and are hanging it up after this school year and moving back to Dallas. Their son was on the Bball team and I have an independent study geography course with their daughter. They are a lot of fun and we always have a good time with them. Saturday is a surprise party for Frank, a Covenant teacher who lives over by us. I was surprised to get the invitation and see that the party is at our house. I have to pay more attention to things. Sunday is the monthly Covenant prayer meeting and dinner at another family's house. Finally one where I don't have to do all the dishes.

That's about it from here. The Drama performance is coming up in 2 weeks. Betsy is having all the costumes made. She really gets into that stuff. I hope it goes well.

God Bless

Brian & Betsy