Une Promenade à Korhogo

(This was actually written yesterday afternoon)

Just got back from an exploratory morning in Korhogo. We left Bouaké early Tuesday morning, and have been getting acquainted with the town since arriving about 3 hours later. We’re staying at a guest house on the IBB campus (Institute Biblique á Bethel, the same place we stayed at for our trip in late December). We’ve spent the last 2 days visiting the pastors of different churches, visiting our churches’ radio station, and wandering over different parts of town.

This morning there wasn’t a specific place we had to visit, so Naomi, Alyssa, and I decided to take a long walk to give ourselves an unofficial tour of another part of Korhogo. We walked past the grand mosquée and eventually got to a bustling market. Women were speaking Dioula and Senefou as they sold vegetables and other merchandise. We were quite a spectacle, 3 white girls wandering around is not a usual sight, but many people seemed pleasantly surprised when we’d greet them the Ivorian way: Bonjour! Ça va?... I need to work on my Dioula and Senefou so that I can greet in an even more Ivorian way.

We continued walking until we got to the Koko l’eglise, which is the church I’ll be attending. When visiting on Tuesday we’d gotten there by Land Rover, so we hadn’t realized that there was water right across the street. There is a barrage or dam that’s created quite a large body of water, but to be honest I don’t know what people here call it, whether a lake or something else. We walked for a ways over the barrage; it was a busy path, with motos, bikes, and people, but not big enough to have a car go across it. It was beautiful, the water was on our left side, with a breeze coming up off of it to cool us, and to the right there were small plots of lush, green, irrigated farmland. Such a contrast to the dusty roads and dead plants that are rampant in the rest of the town. On our way back into the main commercial area of town we stopped at Café Express La Grande Mosquée, a place to sit and escape the sun for a bit. We were hoping for some cokes, but we thankfully ended up with three omlette sandwiches and waters instead (only cost 675F, which is around $1.35 for all three of us!). We sat enjoying our food and talking about how crazy it is that very soon we will hopefully be able to take the same walk and everything will be familiar.

This Sunday the 6 of us here in Korhogo will break up into our pairs and head to our different churches to be formally introduced to the congregation. Thankfully Koko is having a joint service this Sunday (more often they have one service in French and another in Senefou, but this Sunday the entire church will be together). Then Monday through Wednesday we’ll have an orientation for the pastors of our churches, our families and us, so that they know why we’re here, figure out some of the expectations we all have and we’ll also get to know each other a little bit better. On Wednesday afternoon, we’ll head home with our families and will start moving in to our new homes, churches, neighborhoods, and ministries.

Things are a-changing!!

I can barely believe it but this is my last weekend living in Bouaké! Next week is the beginning of the next (and main) phase of the JourneyCorps program.

These last few months have been the training and learning phase, where the 10 of us Journeyers lived on the ICA campus together and taken classes on everything from conflict resolution to culture to traditional African religion to French and Dioula. We have served together, we’ve attended local churches and stayed with Ivorian families, we’ve studied the bible and prayed together. We’ve gotten sick together, gotten homesick together, celebrated birthdays and holidays, stumbled through translation together, resolved some conflicts, and laughed a lot together. These last few months have been God-saturated and so much of it has to do with the people He’s surrounded me with.

But next week starts a new stage: 6 of us will be moving to a town called Korhogo, about 3 hours north of Bouaké where the other 4 will be living. Pairs of us will be placed with different local churches, and through these churches we will be placed as either individuals or pairs into different Ivorian households. Through integration with the church, and relationships with its members and pastor, we will each find different ministries and projects to be a part of or maybe even lead. Hopefully we will be staying in these homes and churches for the rest of our time in Côte d’Ivoire, with the occasional trip back to campus for debriefing and learning.

I will be attending the Koko church in Korhogo, along with another journeyer Jason. Some journeyers have an idea of what ministries they’re interested in getting involved in, however there is no ministry that is beckoning my name. So I am excited to form relationships with the church, the pastor, and my family and together we will figure out where it is I fit the best.

I am very comfortable the way things are right now; and while this next step will involve so much growth, it will also involve a considerable amount of discomfort: trying to make relationships with both language and cultural barriers is not an easy task. It involves patience, love, and humility that I do not readily possess.

And yet this I know: God’s primary concern is not for my comfort. He desires for me to abide in Him, for me to know, love and worship Him and to love others for His glory.

One of the books I’m reading is ‘A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.’ The author, an actual shepherd, points out a lot of the context we miss in Psalm 23 because we don’t understand what shepherding entails. He tells of how a shepherd leads his sheep through valleys; while valleys are full of potential dangers, they are still the best route to get to the high grazing areas. It is through the valleys that the sheep’s dependence on the shepherd is most evident: he is the one who protects them from predators with his rod, pulls them out of thorn bushes with his staff, and leads them in the right path. The sheep can’t do any of these things on their own.

Like the sheep, it is through the valleys of life that I become aware of my complete dependence on Jesus. And so, while this next step may be an uncomfortable one, I know that there will be many opportunities to get close to my Good Shepherd.

Quelques Photos

I tried to get some pictures up when I put up my last blog, but the internet wasn't cooperating. So a few days late, here are some pictures of both Christmas and the trip up north!

Christmas!

Back row from right: Katrina, Naomi, Alyssa, Devin, Holly, Heidi, Steph, Rod, Angelika, and Jason

Front row from right: Peter, Chazz, Beckie, me, and Jamie

Korhogo: These leaves aren't actually brown, they're just showing the effects of the lovely Harmattan wind. The dry season means lots of dust, especially the farther north you are.

Alyssa checking out the view on top of Mount Korhogo

All seven of us ladies on top of Mount Korhogo:

Jamie, Holly, Steph, Alyssa, Naomi, Heidi, and me

Highlights from the Holiday Season

It's been a while since I've updated anything on here, so to catch you up on my life, here are some highlights of the last few weeks:

I had the wonderful opportunity to serve at L’Arche, an international organization that works with the mentally handicapped, especially focusing on community living between both handicapped and non-handicapped individuals. I helped out with housework type chores: sweeping, laundry, dishes, and cooking. Since I have had a lot of experience working with handicapped because of my mom, it was actually one of the most comfortable experiences I’ve had working with Ivoirians. It’s funny how some things don’t change no matter the culture.

The director of the bible school for our churches here, Kéo, came to teach us classes on Côte d’Ivoire, the history, government, politics, education. It was great to get a general overview to help understand the specific context we’re a part of. He's back this week to teach us about the history of Christianity in Côte d’Ivoire, which I’m really excited about.

Despite not being able to participate in all the festivities because I didn’t feel well, Christmas was wonderful. We had a lot of good food, great people, and ended the day with a secret santa gift exchange. That way everyone got at least one really special gift.

This past week we’ve had a break from our regular schedule and so all of the girls took a trip up north to visit Korhogo and Ferké. We visited missionaries and ministry opportunities, did a little exploring of the area, and had the chance to relax and enjoy a new area of Côte d’Ivoire. One of my absolute favorite parts was hiking up 'Mount' Korhogo, I always love enjoying God's creation and getting a bird's eye view of things.

We celebrated New Years on campus with a big meal (including a pig we roasted on campus), a bonfire, dancing and worship. 6 of us Journeyers celebrated last New Years in St. Louis at Urbana (an InterVarsity missions conference, attended by around 20,000 people, where most of us actually discovered JourneyCorps); so this was actually our second New Years together, even though we didn’t all know each other yet last year.

Another highlight of these last few weeks has been the book Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauziya Kassindja. It’s the story of Fauziya’s fleeing from her native Togo to escape from female genital mutilation and a forced marriage. She eventually reaches the United States and is imprisoned as an illegal immigrant. It isn’t necessarily a feel good read, but it is an amazing story. It describes the West African/Muslim context with a personal perspective and although it’s not exactly what I’ll come into contact here, it is very similar. It also describes the hardships of being a refugee, the agony of prison life and the human rights violations that can occur anywhere, from a small town in West Africa to a prison in Newark. Definitely worth reading.

Some days it’s easy to ignore the political situation here, actually most days I almost forget it completely. Despite the relative peace we’re experiencing in the north, there is more than just a little turmoil around Abidjan (as many of you have been reading on the news). Côte d’Ivoire is a small enough country that it seems everyone has family in Abidjan and so is greatly affected by whatever happens there. So please join us here in praying for a peaceful and swift solution. If you want to keep up with what’s going on you can check out reuters.com.

I only have a few more weeks here on campus, then I'll be sent off to another town (most likely) to live with an Ivoirian family and get involved in a specific ministry!