pics 3: a day of fun

217 - Some of the girls relaxing on an old lava flow. Most of the rock here is volcanic and this flow made it as far as the river.

237 - The whole crew. We had a lot of fun it was good to see some of these kids out of school where they can just be themselves.

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pictures 26 may: the formal banquet

4333 - These are all the UBAC hostel kids at the Formal Banquet. UBAC is the hostel that the Covenant Church sponsors here. It is named after the school in Congo that was closed in the mid-90's called Ubangi Academy. All of their parents have ministries in villages except the middle far right whose parents run the hostel. There are 2 Germans, 2 Australians, 1 Canadian, 1 Irish, and 5 from USA.

4328 - These 2 lovely ladies are both 10th graders at RFIS. The left is our friendly neighbor from the NWest and the other grew up as an MK in Suriname and came to Cameroon about 5 years ago. Her brother was on the Mt. Cameroon climb with me. She does a great job working with the kids on the community service trips and never misses a week. She is very dedicated to serving others and it a reflection of her whole family.

pics 2: reservoirs and doors

4371 - Here we are at Ekoko II installing the water reservoir. Vance Ficek is the maintenance supervisor at RFIS and Chuck is the brother mentioned above who climbed the mountain.

4357 - My superb engineering marvel. It only took an hour of adjusting to get them both to close together. The other set took 45 minutes. I just wonder how long it will be before a kid pokes his hand through the screen. I have some real strong thicker screen I might add on next week.

wu 26 may

Greetings from the Rainforest

 

We have been very busy this week. Betsy got back from the NWest on Monday just in time for us to go over to the Ficek's for her birthday dinner. It was very nice. She was dog-tired from the traveling but held up like a real trooper. I had spent the day canoeing on the river by Mbalmayo with some kids from school. I was asked to lead this expedition last week. My 2 conditions to going were that the vehicle that would be bouncing down a rough rainforest road was not mine and that one of them would perpetuate my lunch. The deal was made and we left at about 8am. The vehicle owner requested that we bring along one of their security guards to watch the truck while we were on the river. He turned out to be very useful later. The destination was the same locale we went to for a baptism ceremony last fall. The school owns 3 canoes (which I just found out about that day!! I could have been canoeing all year long!!) and pays a local tree nursery to store them just a few kms from the river. The float was uneventful right up to the time we were heading back downstream after lunch. A rainshower (thunderstorm) blew in with little warning and we got soaked to the skin. Betsy had my rainjacket with her so I had nothing. We had a lot of fun. There were 5 girls, the senior boy I mentor on Fridays and myself. We saw some wildlife but could not identify it. It looked like a gray squirrel but bigger. There were also a few eagle looking birds flying around. Since we could only fit 2 canoes on the top of the vehicle, Fernando the guard (how a French-speaking African got to be named Fernando I will never know) and I took 2 back while the young-uns dried out. On the way back, we were asked by the nursery guys to give a man a ride up the road. We figured he worked there and was ok so he jumped in the back seat and we headed out. About half way there I realized that his hand was reaching over to the bags in the backseat. There were wallets and cameras and other assorted irreplaceable belongings there so I kept one eye on him and one on the road. When he got out I noticed he had something stuffed under his shirt. Was it a $500 digital camera? A pocketbook with money and ID's? Fernando jumped out and politely asked him to give it back. I figured the guy would take off so I was nervous. He played dumb and finally pulled it out and handed it over. A mostly used up can of bugspray. He said he thought it was his. If a guy can't remember if he had bugspray in his hand 2 minutes earlier in his life or not, he has bigger problems than standing out in the rain. Fernando checked his pockets and patted him down. All he had was his ID so after a few loud exchanges we took off with his ID and left him standing there. We told him he could pick it up at the nursery. The guys there said he worked down the road and every day stops there to beg off some food. They turn him away because he spends his money on drugs and booze. I told them if he would have just been kind enough to ask for the bugspray I would have given it to him. I probably would have given him some extra food we had. Most Africans have a very low opinion of people who do not work to support their families.

Last night was the big Formal Banquet for the school. All the fancy gowns and suits. It was held in a nice open air room at the Palace de Congres. It's where the Cameroonian national Congress meets and where all the Congressmen's offices are. It's a big fancy building up on a hill looking at the President's mansion. It was nice and the kids looked great. The meal was pretty lousy for 6000cfa though. If I was a vegetarian I would have been doing pretty well but I did not claw my way up to the top of the food chain to feast on carrots and bread. The students got a chance to say goodbye to the seniors and kids who are leaving after this year. The seniors do a thing where they "will" stuff to the younger students and teachers. T-shirts from camping trips and calculators borrowed. Some were very original. Seniors in the past have started traditions where they require their stuff to be passed down every year. A lot of them were personal but some got big laughs. One boy willed his hair (metaphorically) to the balding English teacher. I got a book of Sudoku puzzles from a student in my study hall who would watch me do online puzzles instead of homework. I never really said anything to him because I wasn't doing what I was supposed to either.

We finished a couple of big projects at Ekoko II today. The screen doors got bug-proofed and we installed a set of 3 gutters on the dorms that empty into a barrel for fresh water. They either catch drips off the tin or walk down to the creek for water so this will help out the wheelchair bound kids a lot. Oliver our day guard and his brother Emmanuel came out to work on a project. The shower drain out the side of the building had become plugged because the brain-child who installed it apparently forgot that water can not flow uphill. He then proceeded to bury the PVC drainpipe under 2 inches of concrete. The guys worked to chip it out and will go back on Monday to fix it up and get it working properly. Emmanuel does a lot of mason work on the side so I (the school) hired him to fix this up and repour the ground gutter so it flows out instead of settling in front of the door.

2 weeks to go and we are excited to see everybody. I am looking forward to the big juicy Larry Burger from Kimball Corner as soon as we get back.

Betsy wants to tell you all about her trip to the NWest but it looks like it will be next week instead.

Take care and God Bless

 

Brian & Betsy

W U 20 may

Good Day All,

 

Today is National Day. Cameroon got its independence in 1960 and May 20 is their national holiday. There is a big parade downtown most of the day and all kinds of other things. We live fairly close to the military airport so I got to see the big airshow yesterday. Cameroon is not known for its air superiority. Their entire arsenal is 3 French fighter jets and a C-130. The fighters did some flips and turns for a few minutes and about 20 minutes later the C-130 flew over and dropped a flag thing out. It went around (the long way) 2 more times and each time dropped out a string of paratroopers. Then the fighters went across a couple of more times and that was it. All that took about 90 minutes. The crowd seemed to enjoy it.

Betsy is spending her birthday traveling. She went to the NWest with our 2 guards and the Art teacher from school on Thursday. They should be home tomorrow afternoon. I am planning to find her gift today at one of the big markets but with all the random road closures I might have to wait until tomorrow. If I can get to the market it should be fairly empty.

I discovered the hard way yesterday that one can not expect anything built here to be made with any kind of standardization. I have been working with some students over the past few weeks putting on screen windows at a center for handicapped children. No two windows were the same and none were square. It was a challenge but we managed to get it all done. This week I decided to tackle making screen doors. The Madame in charge asked that I build 2 double doors for the dorm rooms. Single doors would have been a whole lot easier but we are here to serve. I built the doors in the CAM shop over the week and had them ready to go. I checked out a 15 passenger van so I could slide the doors right in on the seats. What I did not account for were 11 students signing up to go with me. It's only a 15 drive but they were crunched. I always try to put Cameroonians in the front seat next to me so the police are less likely to stop me. 3 white people in the front and you might as well have your papers in your hand before you leave the school. Anyway, most of the girls went off to play with the kids and me and the boys and 3 Cameroonian girls worked on hanging these doors. The doorway is 10 inches thick of poured concrete so we anchored the frame and shimmed it up to straighten it out. One door was about an inch higher on one side than the other and the floor was higher in the middle. After 3 hours of tinkering and adjusting, we finally got them to swing good. The Cameroonian girls chose to stay with us I suppose because visiting with a bunch of African kids is just not that big a deal to them. None of them had ever really done any building projects before. We let them each try a turn on the drill and hammer in a couple shims. It was very entertaining. My project for next week is to install some gutters that will empty into a barrel so they can collect rainwater. Right now they just put buckets under the roof edge and catch the drips. This way they could open the valve and get water anytime and not just when it rains. I have a plan drawn up but I have to run it by Madame Monique. I can't imagine she would say no but just in case.

I finished making my World Geography final last night. 194 questions. They will have to name every independent nation in the world. I have a series of outline maps with all the nations numbered. They have to write down the correct names. No list to choose from. I put all the stuff on the class directory so they have had a month and a half to get ready. They know exactly what to study so they shouldn't complain. I have offered a substantial reward to anybody who gets them all right. I figured that nobody would really try for it so I hadn't really thought about what the reward would be but now it seems that a few have taken my challenge head on. I better come up with something or there's going to be a revolt.

The big banquet (prom) is this Friday. I wasn't too happy with the idea of letting school out 2 hours early so kids could go home and get ready. It doesn't start until 6pm but school is letting out at 1pm. Also the 11^th graders are taking pretty much the whole day off to go to the University conference room and decorate. It seems like a lot of shuffling around on banquet day. Teachers have to arrange for shorter classes and to accommodate 11^th graders with homework etc. It was a hot topic at a staff meeting a few weeks ago. The question that seemed to end the discussion was "Why didn't they plan it for Saturday?" I hope I didn't upset anybody.

It has been raining off and on all morning. A small leak has developed in our roof somewhere. Every strong rain leaves a little puddle in our dining room by the back door. The road from downtown is still open so that means I can get to school. I don't know if I will be able to get back but I can get there. I have some schoolwork to catch up on anyway. Dan Grove is in town so that means street hockey at 2:30.

 

That's about it from here. Our plane gets into MPLS on 09Jun and we look forward to seeing you all. Our goal this summer is to speak at some churches and to raise enough money to come back next year. It will be tough and we need to raise a lot but we have faith that He will take us where we need to be.

 

Take Care and God Bless

 

Brian & Betsy

WU 12 May

Hello All,

 

I'm up at school and the network is down so unless it connects soon, this isn't going to go out until Monday am.

Another week has passed and things are very busy. My World Geo class has been playing my Race for Africa game. They seem to be having a lot of fun and learning a lot about different resources and business ventures that were in place across Africa in the late 19^th century. I have 2 German students and of course they wanted to represent their home country. What I didn't tell them is that not far into the game Germany goes to war with everybody. So far they have beaten England for 2 colonies and France for another. We finish on Tues and we'll see how it comes out. Portugal has a lot of money in the bank and could make a big move but I think they are too chicken to start something. The 2 girls on the Spain team were both taking AP French exams one day so I had to find 2 replacements for them. They could also make a move but they probably won't. 

Betsy had one of her small groups, all 9^th graders, over for an all-nighter on Friday after the choir and band concert. I lasted until 1000 but they were up doing girl stuff and watching movies until at least 2am. One girl is an American MK who grew up in Spain and Equatorial Guinea where her parents still have their ministry. She is fluent in French and Spanish and does really well in school. The other 2 are Cameroonian girls who also do very well. One was on the basketball "A" team and loves to play. She never played before this year but has grown to about 6'0" and is still going. If she learns how to rebound she will do very well. Her dad is a pastor and went to college at Oregon State.  I really don't know much the other girl but she is very soft-spoken and polite. I had to head out before the girls got up so I could get a group back out to Ekoko II to work on our projects there. We finished the screen windows and started on the screen doors. I got an idea for putting on some rain gutters that would empty into a barrel they could use for a water source. Right now, they just put a bunch of buckets under the edge of the tin roof and wait for it to rain. With a reservoir, they could get water anytime they want. I have a design and I know a welder who can make the brackets for the fascia real cheap. I have to run it by the Madame but I think she will go for it.

Many of you have probably heard on the news this past weekend that there was a plane the crashed not far from here. It was a Kenya Air flight that originated out of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and stopped in Douala, Cameroon on its way to Nairobi I believe. It crashed not far out of Douala in the middle of the night and everybody on board was killed. One of the parents of 2 RFIS kids was on the plane as far as Douala. 2 other ladies that were here working for the Field Education System heading back to the US were scheduled to be on that flight so they could catch a jet to Paris and be on their way home. They cancelled at the last minute instead waiting until the next morning to fly out of Yaoundé. I think there were about 115 people on board and it is really heavy on the hearts of people here. Many of the missionary people here that do project work fly all over all the time. It crashed so far out into the rainforest that I heard they had to make a road for the airline cleanup crews to get to the site.

 

Betsy wants to share about her Drama Evangelism from Saturday.

 

Look, me two weeks in a row…wow.  Thank you all for praying for the Drama Evangelism teams.  We had our first outreach on Saturday.  There are a bunch of guys from the community who get together every Saturday morning at RFIS and play basketball or and volleyball.  There are some teachers who have used this as an outreach for the last few years.  Usually they have a bible study and prayer time at the end of the morning.  Well, these teachers invited the drama teams to come and be their bible study.  It went great; in spite of some technical difficulties.  All of the dramas were very well received.  After the teams finished their dramas, one of the men from the group shared a very basic gospel message (in French) and then the kids passed out some tracks (the Roman Road and the Gospel of John all written in French).  This week, on Wednesday, we will be going to one of the local prisons.  Keep the kids and their message in your prayers!

 

We are officially booked to arrive home on 09Jun late in the evening. We have been working on booking speaking engagements at churches and have a few down already. If any of you all would like us to come to your church we would be happy to any time. We can do a weekday evening or a Sunday but Our Sundays are filling up fast. We would love to share with you all the marvelous things we have been able to do here. Our future here is uncertain because of funding issues so we will be actively raising more financial support to be able to come back and fulfill our commitment. We would like to see as many people as possible while we are home but if there is a special event you want us to come to, please let us know so we pencil it in.

Thank you all for your prayers and donations throughout the year.

Brian & Betsy

pictures 5 may: hiking, map, dramas

4094 - Our project. I would like to say that I handdrew the whole thing but I have to admit it was an overhead projection traced and painted. Quite a few kids worked on it and all we have left is to lacquer it to keep fingerprints off.

3929 - Just getting started. The young man on the chair is one of the brightest kids I have ever had in a class. His family is from Germany and his parents are translators in Chad. The young lady was born in El Salvador, lived in Venezuela, Ivory Coast and Cameroon. Her family is all in the city leading missionary projects for their church.

3919 - Here's the Kobisan clan. On the left, his dad is a doctor in the NWest, the next is from The Netherlands and his folks are translators working here in the city. Next is a young lady from Quebec. She was the leading lady in the drama production and was phenomenal. The blonde grew up in Zaire (D.R. Congo) and she and her sister both go to RFIS. They are both fabulous musicians. Next is a young man from California somewhere and his family is in the city working as translators. Last is a truly remarkable young lady who I have gotten to know well. She was captain of the girls basketball team and did a great job and she leads the worship team at school. Her mom is a teacher at RFIS and her dad works for the SIL administration team. Her older sister graduates next month and they decided to go back to Chicago after this year. They are such a great family and are so involved in the school. They will certainly be missed by many.

3932 - Drama Evalgelism practice.

WU 05May

Greetings from sunny rainy sunny rainy Cameroon.

 

Things here are good. We are winding down to graduation day and there is plenty to do. Exams to prepare, projects to finalize, assessments to write and papers to grade. And that's just for Monday. I am working on putting together a simulation game for my World Geo class where the kids team up and race to colonize Africa. At least 6 different nations had colonies here in the early 1900's and beyond. I thought it would be fun to try a game where they have to raise money and start colonies abroad. I haven't worked out all the specifics yet but Betsy and another teacher are contributing nicely to uncomplicate my ideas. I already promised the class so now I have to come through.

I got an idea a few weeks ago (I was almost killed once when a train of thought ran through my mind) when my world maps in my classroom fell apart for the last time that I would make my own map that would never rip or break. I will send along some pictures that explain it further. I used my entire budget of $0 and enlisted free labor from my geography class and others. Emily, the Art teacher acted as technical advisor.

Betsy has been working hard with her Drama Evangelism team and from what I saw, it looks really good. I will have her explain more about it at the end.

I have been taking groups of students out to the Ekoko II handicapped children's center the past few Saturdays. We are working on screening all the windows in the dorms and making screen doors for both big rooms. We fixed up their playground equipment and repaired a bunch of furniture last week. There was a big volleyball tourney at school today so I could only muster 2 volunteers for today's adventure. They have been out there before with me and did a great job. We have 3 windows left and should start building the doors this week to hang on Saturday. I know a local guy who does masonry work and he is going to do a bid for pouring a few concrete walks where the mud seems to collect. He is up in his village this week so I hope he comes back soon or it will have to wait until August. The benefactor of these projects is a family who sends their child to RFIS and sends their monthly tithe to me for the purpose of giving it to the orphanages. There is an agency here called Hope Services that picks up the slack that the government drops in terms of taking care of basic needs of a half-dozen facilities all over the city. Unless a handshake photo is taken, the government drops a lot of slack. Sister Mary Joseph arranges special meals and health screenings for the kids and distributes donations. She is an incredible woman. Our SIL nurse, Ellen, volunteers with the Sister to give immunizations and such and I usually hand the cash over to her to pass on but I kept one installment and that is what paid for the lumber, screen, chain, fasteners and all that. I arranged with a couple coming over from the States last month to bring a bag of kid's chewable vitamins for Ekoko II. Most days all they get is some rice and cocoyams. Last week I brought out about 10 students from school who got to spend some quality time with the kids there. It was cool to see them open up and make new friends. These kids are outcasts and orphans and it is unlikely that anybody ever just asks them how they are. They are so friendly and helpful. I hope to make it out there at least 2 more times before school is out. There is a list of things to do out there that is practically endless.

Also this week I was asked to chaperone 6 teenagers on a camping trip up to Mt. Kobisan just west of the city. I didn't ask how many people had already turned them down but since we had Tuesday off school, I figured I could. We didn't get going until 5 because 4 of them had volleyball practice and I had a staff meeting so it was getting dark already when we started hiking. It is about an hour hike up and around a big ridge overlooking the city. The trail is well marked but we managed to lose it a few times. The kids brought enough food for a week and we got a little fire going. One boy, 2^nd from the left in the photo, managed to slip and cut his hand pretty bad on the machete he was holding. Other than that, we were pretty much disaster free. The top of the hill is flat volcanic rock with a little cover but excellent view of the city lights. I was hesitant to go at first thinking that a bunch of high school kids were just going up here to get away from parents and party it up. 3 boys 3 girls and short notice? Red flags everywhere but I went anyway. It turned out to be a lot of fun. No questionable behavior. Just a group of friends laughing and telling stories all night. I am so glad I went. We were just getting things ready for cooking breakfast when a rain shower started lurking over us so we packed up and threw it all including ourselves into a 2 person tent we brought. 7 people crammed in waiting for the storm to pass. After 2 hours we gave up and headed back down. We were soaked and covered in mud and laughing all the way down. I would go again for sure.

 

That's about it for me. I'll let my beautiful bride finish in style.

 

Hey everyone, Brian is much better at this then I am so I usually just let him do it, but this time I have so really cool news to share so I thought I would try my skill at writing again (after college I have tried hard to avoid it as much as possible).  Right after Christmas a few teachers got together and started talking about starting a drama evangelism team at RFIS.  Well, we presented the idea to the students and about half the school wanted to join.  Unfortunately, the school schedule did not look like it was going to allow us the time we need to practice and present the dramas.  But, the students were really into this an kept asking us when we were going to show them the dramas so they could practices and get out into the community and share.  A few weeks ago we started practicing the dramas and we are almost ready to go out.  There are 3 group dramas we will do presenting and 3 individual dramas.  The group dramas are Redeemer, The Ragman and Turn Around.  All three dramas are done to music.  Redeemer is about the creation and fall of man.  Ragman and Turn Around are both about Jesus dying for our sins and how He is the only one who can save us from sin.  The three individual dramas are short mimed skits.  One about how Satan draws us into sin and then does not let go.  One about how people will break our hearts and Jesus is the only one to put them back together again.  The last one is about how if God's word is going to make a difference in our lives, we must read it.  So far we are scheduled to perform at the prison, a local university, the school and within several neighborhoods.  So, pray for the students involved in the drama evangelism.  We do not have much time left, as far as the school year goes, and life is very full.  We also fell some intense spiritual warfare over this.  You can also pray for the people we will be witnessing to.  Pray that God will prepare their hearts for His word.

 

Well, I am told I have to end now. Brian wants to make sure he gets this emailed before church starts.  God Bless and thank you for all your prayers and support!