Christmas in Cameroon

We enjoyed a peaceful Christmas here in Cameroon. It was certainly much different than Christmas in the US. We did not go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but I did do a little marketing with an American friend. I picked up a few relatively dull knives for the boys to use to cut weeds and carve a little into sticks. The man I purchased them from offered to sharpen them, but I thought they would be just fine the way they are. I was able to get four of them for about 80 cents. My understanding is that Cameroonians use them out on their farms and for peeling potatoes. I also found a Cameroonian football jersey and shorts for each of the boys, except Isaiah. Isaiah is fascinated with pushing things around the house, particularly a stool that makes an awful racket. Our cook, Martha, has a nephew who is a carpenter and was able to make a little toy from wood that he could push. Dale created a tire swing for the boys.

We brought along our advent calendar that we purchased several years ago from www.desiringgod.org. This has been one of the highlights of our Christmas season ever since and was a small taste of home throughout the advent season. We also read an advent story together, Bartholomew’s Passage, everyday during lunch. Dale is home each day for lunch, in fact, we eat every meal together except for breakfast a few days each week. The only Christmas songs we heard or sang with a congregation throughout all of advent were at a Sunday evening Vespers service in the chapel here at CBTS. While we enjoyed the familiar choruses, we were hoping to hear some traditional African Christmas songs. Other than our advent calendar and a small Christmas tree candle, we didn’t bring any decorations. I had told the boys that the candle would be our tree this year. Just into December, our gardener asked Dale if he should cut down a tree for us. We were very thankful and surprised the boys with a Christmas tree one Saturday afternoon. Our neighbors even loaned us a few strands of lights, and we made some paper chains and snowflakes. We even used tree clippings to make a few wreaths and to decorate the mantle.

I tried to give our house help the day off on Friday since it was Christmas Eve. However, it was market day, so our cook did some marketing for us. Also, though I had planned leftovers for Friday, she still had to grind the beef which kept her here longer than I had hoped. The student who is helping with general house work over the break insisted on coming to be sure that the floors were clean for our Christmas day. (We sweep and mop floors twice each week with multiple extra sweepings in between, but still they are always covered with red dust.) Our laundress also came for a few hours. I think maybe they were all a bit concerned about our ability to survive an extra day without them.

Throughout Christmas weekend, we enjoyed many familiar things. I made taco salad on Friday night with some Ranch dressing packets brought from home, we had a chocolate chip coffee cake for breakfast on Christmas morning (chips used sparingly as one bag from Costco must last as long as we can make it), we had garlic parmesan chicken on Christmas day (parmesan cheese brought from home), and we brought marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey bars to make s’mores Christmas night. Dale even made chocolate chip pancakes Sunday night with homemade buttermilk. We decided that we ought to enjoy the treats now since there is always a possibility that a mouse will find them. We even had the opportunity to play with a little snow. (Of course, it was instant snow that sticks to your fingers but does not pack well enough to make anything but a wall or mountain.) We did pass some along to our cook and laundress. This is likely the only snow that their children will ever experience.

Though we enjoyed treats from home, we also had a few treats the Cameroonians enjoy. I asked Martha to buy some sugar cane at market for us to try. She returned with two sticks about 5 feet tall and told me they did not have the large sticks. Really??? You peel the outside, bite a chunk off and chew on it to get the sugar out. Then you spit out the remains. Martha also brought us some chin-chin which is the only traditional Cameroonian Christmas treat that I was told about when I asked. I don’t know for sure how to describe chin-chin, but if you visit us next Christmas, maybe we will have some. Other than chin-chin, my understanding is that they just eat and drink A LOT. Christmas is the time when everyone wants to settle their debts, and others probably go into debt in order to prepare a feast. Someone from campus brought an entire cow to store in our deep freezer for the week before Christmas.

We have another week to finish grading from the first semester. Please pray that we finish all that we need to and that Dale also will be able to sleep some. On January 5th, we will travel to Bamenda for a missionary fellowship conference. Please pray for safe travels as the roads are awful and the drive takes approx. 6 hours. Shortly after we return, we will welcome another couple from the US that will be here to teach for the second semester. We would love for you also to be praying for Andrew and Susan’s arrival as well as the friendships that we look forward to with them.