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19 April 2005
Dear Family and friends
The night is loud with bugs singing and twitching and calling out to each other. I am playing Handel’s Water Music Suite in F (as if to will refreshment) with all the louvered windows open and every fan on to move the heavy air off my mood. We are just days away from the beginning of the rain season. The clouds are low and dark and yet they hold themselves in tact one more day. Humidity is in the high 80%. It is obvious we are on the brink of the new season. My sister asked me what the seasons are like, the food, the lay of the land. I think I will share it with all of you. I arrived in November to the first month of dry season. There was still a little green in the weeds and grasses at that time. Water was flowing in the stream nearby our village, as well as near town. That was 5 months ago. Today, the stream is still: a bluish milky muck. Not moving. The open field outside my door is a grey brown haze of dust. The wells in the area are dry and so a new movement of people has begun.
Children mostly, with 5 gallon buckets on their heads or alongside their skinny bodies, are in search of water for the family. I know that they have knowledge of the water sources near the hills. It is a long trek and they move in groups of 5 or 6. They always wave their free hand and smile or call out as I pass or they pass me. In the US we have our $1.00 water bottles of spring water, here we have plastic baggies looking a bit like water balloons for sale. I personally keep my water bottle filled from my water filter tank by the sink. People who can spare probably 10% of their daily income might buy a drink of bagged water. The young men I have seen on the road as motorcycle taxi men will sometimes buy a bag and open it over their heads. I love to see their relief. It has been hot and dry. Dry like I have never known. Dry, as in the wood furniture splits, the rubber bands crumble, herbs hung in the kitchen are dry in a couple hours. So dry that the blue Scotch Bright sponges that I brought with me dry up so fast and twist so that the scrubbing pad separates and peels off. Fields near the road seem to spontaneously catch fire and burn for a half acre or so and then die out for lack of fuel. Dust doesn’t burn long.
So , did I say I was heavy mooded as I await the rainy season? You betcha. The whole state of Plateau as well as most of West Africa awaits the relief. Early Saturday mornings lately I have seen troops of young boys marching along the roadway following a couple uniformed men carrying flags of Nigeria and of their organization. Kind of like boy scouts. Some times they march, sometimes they are almost dancing. I watched last week as I imagined they were out doing a rain dance. I thought they were looking a little delirious in the heat. But they are used to it. Would you believe with all that I have told you, many of our girls here at school are wearing stocking caps and sweaters anyway? I have never once heard a Nigerian complain about the weather. Not once! We Baturis talk about it (and complain) all the time. See?
Let me change the subject to food. I am not losing any weight here. Nor am I gaining any either. The staple of my diet is vine ripe tomatoes daily, one or two bananas, some cereal or granola that a woman in town makes, some kind of red sauce on starch a few times a week and the leanest meat I have ever seen. Lean and usually very tough. I don’t eat much of it any more. The pork meat is the best for texture and flavor. It is just kind of hard to think about it much though as I see the pigs along the side of the road scavenging. But so far, we cook it good and long and no one has gotten ill from it. It is the fish I won’t try at all. The waterways are so bad and Saturday is laundry day at the rivers edge. Missionaries love chocolate. In all sorts of forms, so there is always some of that being circulated. The best and grandest surprise to me has been the strawberries.
There are few local women who have planted large plots of ever bearing type and I can buy it by the kilo and soak them (as well as all produce) in a bleach solution to kill off the sickening bacteria. Really, if you bite into any of it without the soak, you are in for a difficult week of trots and belly aches. I have been treated for Giardia recently so I want to be very careful. So, anyway , the strawberries are sweet and I keep them frozen after their bleach bath and use them with powdered milk and bananas as a smoothie. Nice. The closest thing to ice cream when I put it all in a blender and add ice. So anyway, cooking and buying food is a whole day project and I don’t cook much. Did I mention that peanuts are plentiful and are roasted at the roadside stand and another local woman has learned that we folk like peanut butter. So she grinds it. Just what I had for dinner again tonight. We who like coffee bring it in from the states or have volunteers who come to help bring it in for us. I have a night once a month when I grind coffee for myself and a friend. I brought my coffee grinder that a friend gave me a few years ago. It is a 110 volt appliance. That is odd in a country that is somewhere about 220 V. more or less. And what I mean by that is that the power fluctuates a lot here so one has to buy several voltage regulators. Let me draw you a picture of how this all works. I purchased a transformer in the US before I left for Africa. It weighs about 30 pounds but is only about a 6” cube of solid coil. I need a plug adaptor to plug the transformer into the voltage regulator that needs a special plug to fit the wall sockets. I have plugged a super duper power strip from the US into the transformer and then the coffee grinder gets plugged into that. There are about 4 on and off switches that I have to remember to “on” and then I can grind the coffee. That is why I set a date and time for this event with others standing by. Once I surprised everyone at a gathering by making chocolate covered coffe beans from the coffee that I had just received from my daughters in a miracle package that actually arrived here without a real address on it. They were a hit.
I will end this news with a little bit about the critters I encounter here. No lions or tigers, not even hyenas, however, from the way the dogs pace back and forth with their noses to the ground, I think they are derived from the hyena family. One critter is my living room lizard. He is elusive and quick and kind of chameleon, apparently harmless, so I just leave him to roam. I think it is a good idea to have one or two in residence. Because, just two nights ago, just inside the door was the biggest spider I have ever seen. Very hairy. Not the kind of visitor I hoped for as I began to close up for the night. My technique for capture is not to chase them around as they are very quick and like to hide under dark, low furniture pieces. My bed is low to the ground, the bed sheets actually touch the floor some nights as I turn or toss about in the heat. So, I have perfected the wet towel toss. I can thoroughly wet a dish towel and nail an intruder from up to 6 feet away. The weight of the wet towel holds the varmint in place until I come with my club and mash every inch of the towel with primal huffs. So far so good. I would have loved to share the specimen of the huge arachnid, but there were too many pieces to reassemble to do so. I can adeptly put a glass jar over bugs on the wall or screen windows and even coax birds back outside with fly swatters. So there. Oh. Just one more. This is the best. It is common to see bugs on the floors. It is also most common that they are dead. They are usually lying on their backs. Humm. Anyway. There are ants in the front of the house that scout my house for just such as these. So occasionally, when I see a critter apparently crawling slowly across the floor, I get up close to it to observe 4-6 little ants carrying off lunch for the queen. They are very strong and agile to cart off such large carcasses. It is much like the animated bug cartoon movies of the 1990’s. I point to the door as if to give them orders or directions and they are out in a flash.
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is just finishing up and it is exactly what we call missionary midnight. 9 P.M. so as the final movement is playing, I will close and make it to bed for the usual early rising. My day is long at the Girls center. 7:30 – 4 each day. Tomorrow I will take the tailoring class into town to shop for fabric. They are very excited. I will take them to lunch at a bakery that makes things like pasties. Meat and potatoes in a bread crust. Tasty and spicy. We will have a mineral (soda in a bottle) and that will be a real treat for all. Emmanuel will drive us in the Rafiki van. I look forward to each and every day.
Life is a contrast of joy and sadness, fun and difficulty. It has meaning way beyond what most of us realize. May I encourage you with the following verses from the Bible.
“ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you. the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints” Ephesians 1:16-18.
Your love and concern are a topic of my gratitude in daily praises and your personal needs and trials are covered in my prayers through Christ.
I love you more than I did before.
Judy
Posted by libbystokes at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)
13 April 2005
Dear family and friends.
This just a quick memo to alert you to a common Nigerian mail scheme and fraud that I have experienced. Some one has opened a letter that had been mailed to me and a bogus letter was substituted that told me much money had been raised for my mission and that I could pick it up in a nearby town and that I should pay the carrier a certain amount of money.
This is distressing news to think that your letters to me may be opened and who knows what. Please do not let that deter you, only be aware of what you put in them.
Also. NEVER send money to anyone who may say that I am in danger and you can help. It is possible that if they see you have written me, they may want to contact you since they know you care.
If anything of the such comes to you, please call the home office of Rafiki, they are in San Antonio and they will tell you of my condition. I will include the home office phone number. A few of you have asked how you can help me in a financial way, if not directly to the Rafiki Office.
Please keep the phone number and email address handy. I have even been told that the FBI has a special detail that is collecting evidence. I think she said it was a 417. You are advised to alert them if you receive anything suspicious.
I am sure nothing will come of this, but please be careful of fraud.
Rafiki Home Office 210 244 2600. and the email address to reach anyone about me is susyh(at)rafiki-foundation(dot)org.
My best to all of you. You are all in my prayers and thoughts.
Judy Stokes, aunty Jude.
Posted by libbystokes at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
7 April 2005
When I buy produce , I have to bleach it, so here is a picture of it soaking in the sink.
Judy
Posted by libbystokes at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)
5 April 2005
Hi. I just thought you might enjoy these pictures.
The toy truck is hand carved by the locals here. The part you cannot see is that there are several carved men in the back of the car. I love the one on the back and the drivers too.
The real truck is also full of people inside. They travel past here every morning at 7:30 am. I think that they are workers with farm food to sell in the market places. I am not sure. Men and women are stuffed on for the ride. They pay more than 80% of their wages for the ride to earn what they can. That doesn’t seem to deter them.
More to follow,
Judy
Posted by libbystokes at 09:47 AM | Comments (0)
21 March 2005
I saw a big green snake last night on the way to put out my trash. I almost stepped on a big frog and as I stepped up the step, there was the snake that was stalking the frog. They each went to safety when they saw me. I ran to safety too. Hahaha. I will empty the trash in daylight, thank you very much.
I sure love the coffee that was sent to me in the mail a while ago. I just got filters in my big shipment. Would you believe that someone took all my threads from the boxes. And my shampoo and vitamins. Who would have guessed? But almost everything else is there. I am happy and well.
Judy
Posted by libbystokes at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)
19 March 2005
Hi to you! just a short note to say all is well, and this is my namesake, Judith, with me. I am happy to say my things arrived this week. I am so glad to have many conveniences that were packed. Life has been so busy . we have a week off before Easter for in-service days at the Center. I hope to get rest and news to you then. Meanwhile, know that you are held in my heart with love and joy.
And it is Birthday season too for so many of you. I celebrate that you have such good health and a good life and good work. We thank God!
Till later. Judy
Posted by libbystokes at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)