Our Cameroonian Friends

We are privileged to have several people who work for us in our home. We are thankful to be able to provide jobs for a few students and women who live in the nearby village. This also frees us to be able to spend more time working on our classes and interacting with people.

Our cook, Martha, has a daughter who is 6 years old and goes to the primary school here at CBTS. After school, she, along with a few friends, stops by and hangs around outside. They are fascinated with Isaiah and fight over who gets to hold him. The older boys have been enjoying going out and playing with them. They seem to be warming up to us a little bit more. At first, they would simply scream and run away. This was a bit scarey to Jonathan, who now spends most of his time inside. The other boys are enjoying the games, where they chase the girls, or the girls chase them. The children here speak Limbum…and Pidgin…and are also learning French and English in school. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to communicate very well with the girls, but that doesn’t keep the kids from having fun. Sometimes, the girls are hanging around nearby until Martha is finished and goes home for the day, but more often, they are here for a little while and then leave. I asked Martha where they go, and she said that Goodness’ friends live a little ways from the seminary, and they walk together. Then Goodness either meets up with some students from one of the other schools or finishes the walk home by herself. They live 4 miles away.

I’ve also learned that our laundress walks about an hour to get to our house each morning around 8:30. Her husband has recently passed away, along with her father and sister. She has a nine year old little girl and also helps to care for her sister’s three children. The night that we arrived in Ndu, both Martha and Marcelline were at our home to greet us with a warm meal. It was about 6:30pm and already dark. (It gets dark at about 6pm.) I think they were there until about 7:30 or 8. It wasn’t until just this week, that I found out they had so far to go before they were home, and they were back again by 8:30 the next morning. Not only do they work hard, but they also have been very helpful in getting us settled into a new place. I am very thankful that they are ready and willing to answer multiple questions about things that we do not know how to do or understand.

We have hired a student to help with washing dishes. There are actually two women who takes turns depending on how heavy their homework load is for that evening. The dishes usually take 2.5 to 3 hours to wash each evening. One of the young women, Anita, is in the five year certificate program here at the seminary. She is a beautiful woman and delightful to have in our home. I am amazed that when the electricity goes out she continues singing praise songs and without a single complaint lights a simple pillar candle and keeps right on washing. She is always eager to help out with many of the simple things that I am learning to do…for instance, lighting the oven or the stove top when the electricity is out. (I think I am getting much better at this now. I usually can manage it in only one or two matches instead of 5 or 6.) Last night, we had dinner with our neighbors and forgot about the laundry that we had left out on the line. We have to take the laundry down or move it under the roof behind the house so that it is not stolen or rained upon. When Anita stopped to say goodbye, she let me know that she had also moved all of the laundry for us. Isaiah is always wandering into the kitchen and has enjoyed the attention that he receives from Anita. Maybe he misses his high school and college friends back home and is glad to have someone else who is doting over him. Anita’s parents died when she was very young, and she and her younger siblings were raised by various different people, but the children never were able to live together. Her family quit speaking to her when she became a Christian, but has begun to be a little bit more accepting just recently. She is hoping to continue school so that she can become a counselor for women, children, or couples. Her summers are spent working to pay her tuition at the seminary.

We also have a student who is working for us as our gardener. There is always something that can be done, chopping grass with a machete, pulling weeds, trimming, etc. He is free to work as many hours as he would like, and is also a joy to have around the house.