The moving sidewalk

All the big airports have moving sidewalks that help people cover more distance more quickly.  The results of the effort one makes in walking are multiplied so that, with the same number of steps, one arrives at his or her destination more efficiently.  It doesn’t matter if you are heading toward the terminal or toward one of the gates, there is a moving sidewalk to help you get there.

The impression I have after spending time with people in this part of West Africa is that all their sidewalks are moving in the wrong direction.  The progress they can make seems to have little rapport with the effort expended.  No matter how hard they work, they always seem to end up in the same place.  It is as though they are on a sidewalk that is moving them backward at the same rate that they try to move forward.  If they let down their efforts or are sidelined for even a short time, they actually end up behind the place where they started.  The movement of this sidewalk is carrying them in the wrong direction.

The situation in which our local driver finds himself illustrates the presence of this sidewalk that is moving in the wrong direction.  He owns an old Mercedes, which is a solidly built automobile.  It is the tool that permits him to ply his trade and support his family.  When we were here two years ago, he said his goal was to earn enough money to trade this car in and buy a 4x4 vehicle that would be better adapted to the rough roads and underdeveloped dirt tracks of the area.  It would be more comfortable and roomy for paying passengers.  He could count on a better income to support his growing family, pay for schooling for his children, etc.  He had a vision and he was willing to work hard to achieve it.

Two years later we return to the same area and have the same driver.  He is still driving the same very old Mercedes.  But, now it is two years older.  More and more parts on it have rusted and broken.  Instead of putting money aside for a new vehicle, he has to use everything he earns just to keep this one running.  A major factor is that the road to his village hasn’t been worked on for a decade.  Over the past two years small potholes have grown in some places to deep, yard-wide holes that are nearly impassable.  Any vehicle on the road is subjected to constant vibration for a distance of over thirty miles, so breakdowns are frequent.  In our first week here, the old Mercedes had two torn tires and the rusted tailpipe fell off as we were going over a bumpy part of the road.  In spite of his vision and hard work, our driver is gradually being carried backwards by this sidewalk that is moving in the wrong direction.

There appear to be multiple forces conspiring to control the direction and speed of the backward-moving sidewalk:  governmental neglect that refuses to provide a better road, family pressures to use money for immediate expenses rather than save it, the lack of access to education or training that would make it possible for him to have another job or move to somewhere better adapted to what he can do… and I’m sure there are other factors of which I am not aware.  In any case, there seems to be no way for him to get off this continual movement that carries him in the wrong direction.  He runs against it as hard as he can but makes no visible progress.

One of the unjust characteristics of our fallen world seems to be that for those who are already privileged by favorable circumstances, the sidewalks are all going forward, helping them advance more quickly, while the sidewalks surrounding the underprivileged are rigged to keep them locked in their situation, or even to carry them backwards.  If this group of people lose their job, suffer an accident or serious illness, if their home is damaged by fire, flood, or earthquake, the backward movement is suddenly accelerated, diminishing all hope of eventual advancement and change.  If the movement could just stop, maybe then – little by little – they could start advancing, at least at the rate of their own steps.

As I watch, I feel helpless.  I can help a bit by paying fair prices for their goods and services, but is there anything to be done that could actually change the sidewalk’s direction?  Where is the switch????

In everything be thankful!

On Monday the mid-day meal wasn‘t ready until 4 p.m.

- thankful that there was eventually a good meal;

- that we had had a good breakfast that morning, so we weren’t too handicapped by the lack of food in doing our teaching;

- that there were no complaints and the students kept working with discipline even though some of them had been traveling since very early that morning without food;

- that this revealed a transportation problem the cook had in getting to and from the market, and that a solution was found.

Sunday night the electricity went off in the campground where we are lodging.

- thankful that we were able to get settled and check email before it went off;

- that we had brought flashlights and candles with us;

- that the cool temperature means we can sleep without air conditioning.

- that we still have running water and got a good meal;

- that it had come back on by the next morning and stayed on for the rest of the week.

Wednesday morning Yaya, our driver, couldn’t get his car started to drive us the half-hour to the teaching center.

- thankful that he sent someone to let us know what was going on;

- that he quickly found someone else to drive us to the center;

- that the problem was relatively minor and could be repaired that day.

From Thursday night to Saturday morning we had no running water at the campground.

- thankful that the manager could purchase jerry cans of well water in order to give us buckets of water for washing up;

- that we can easily procure safe bottled drinking water (the water coming through the faucet is not safe);

- that we still have electricity;

- that I grew up without running water so the situation is not that shocking for me.

Friday morning Yaya came to tell us that one of his tires was torn by going over the huge potholes in the road.

- thankful that it didn’t happen while we were somewhere out on the road (we learned there is no spare tire);

- that he could get it repaired right away, right here in the village;

- that it happened at the end of the week when most of the teaching is finished;

- that the repaired tire held up to eventually get us to the center;

- that there is good understanding with the director of the center so he knew what to assign the students to do until we arrived nearly an hour late.

Also Friday morning, after we did get on the road, the tailpipe fell off Yaya’s car.

- thankful that it was not something more crucial that broke;

- thankful that the local mechanics work quickly and have the know-how to keep vehicles running and on the road; it was fixed by the time he picked us up at the end of the day.

The road over which we have a 15-mile ride morning and afternoon is extremely rough and nearly impassible in some places.

- thankful that we have a local driver who knows the road very well so we don’t have to navigate it ourselves;

- that Yaya is a good driver and quite careful overall, balancing our need to get to our classes on time and to get there safely.

40 years ago today

September 5, 1972.

That date will forever remain engraved in my memory.  One reason is that I've had to refer to it a lot since then.  You see, that is the day that we first arrived in France to begin our overseas missionary career.  So, on all residency papers filled out over the 37 years that we lived in that country, the line that asked for "date of entry" was filled out with 5 sept 1972.

In and of itself, the day was very special.  I remember my nervous excitement as the airplane descended through the clouds toward the old Marseille airport and I caught my first glimpse of France.  FRANCE!!!!  After several years of decision-making, finding a sending agency, raising support, working temp jobs so we could travel around the country to contact supporters, multiple trips to the New York City French Consulate for a long-stay visa, it was happening!  We were moving to France.

We were met at the airport by Eugene Boyer, and his wife Charlotte introduced us to the French style of eating with a lovely multi-course dinner.  (Note to self:  DON'T fill up on the first yummy thing served, there is a lot more to come).  We stayed with them for several days and the first French city that we walked around was Aix-en-Provence where they lived.

The day is also significant because of what happened in Europe that day.  The Olympic Games were being held in Munich, Germany, and it was on that day that Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli athletes in the Olympic village, eventually killing 11 of them.  The news was breaking on French television and our horrified host was translating what was happening as he learned about it.  That was great motivation for learning the language -- we needed to be able to get information ourselves.  It was also a sobering reminder of the complicated world in which we live and minister.

Forty years later we are still ministering, although no longer living in France.  After an intense ministry of church-planting in cooperation with the Evangelical Reformed Church of France (Eglise Protestante Réformée Evangélique) in 3 different areas of the country, time during which we came to deeply love and appreciate the French people, French culture and history, France's place in the world, and especially the wonderful French Christians, our ministry is base is now located back in the USA.  However, instead of "pulling back" to a retreat-like home base, our interests and involvement have actually expanded to embrace West Africa, along with Southeast and South-Central Asia.  God expresses himself in cultures all around the world, and he is giving us the on-going privilege of working alongside several of them.

Today is another September 5, and there is an inevitable surge of nostalgia and gratitude as we again remember where it all started.

Those who have no choice

A refugee is someone who has had to flee his homeland in order to survive. This usually means living in a UN-sponsored camp somewhere with no possibility of working or otherwise providing for himself and his family. In many places people have been living in these camps for years, sometimes even decades. Their only hope is to eventually be moved to a country that accepts a certain number of refugees. Often,they have no choice in where that country is. If their case is accepted, they go. This means that people from tropical jungles can end up in cold Northern countries, or that subsistence farmers can be sent to urban areas. These destinations are frequently in places where the newcomers don’t know the host language, food, or customs. Put yourself in their place. What would you need in order to start living again? Who could you lean on? How would you feel?

Of the 14 million people in the world now living as refugees, 9 million of them have been living in camps for ten years or more. The United States has the policy of accepting around 60,000 refugees per year for resettlement.

These facts were presented in a training session on how to befriend refugees that we attended last weekend at a local church. It was eye-opening. This is an area of intervention that seems ready-made for Christians. It is also an area where Christians around the world are already doing much, both in the original camps as well as in the resettlement process. We as individuals have a role that we can play in continuing this ministry of help in our communities.

Since our denomination is partnering with a church in Nepal, we were interested to learn that Nepalese make up one of the largest refugee groups being resettled here in the county where we live. This is one of God’s surprises since we were unaware of this before moving to the area. These Nepalese are one of the populations that has been living in camps for decades. Some of them are already Christians, having heard the Gospel while in the camps. Bill has worshipped several times with the church organized by one of the groups that lives nearest our town.

As an immigrant-background people, the Lord’s command also applies to us:

“When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 19:33-34

Who are the “aliens” (refugees or immigrants) living near you that you can love and treat as native-born?