Trip to Senegal

Answered prayers

I always knew the trip to Senegal for the YWAM West Africa conference was going to be tough but I was still looking forward to it. I was keen to meet other YWAMers working in the region and to get to know some of my fellow Malian YWAMers better. A couple of weeks ago I asked God to show me concrete answers to my prayers and I was looking forward to see what He would do.

 What I hadn’t really thought too much about was just how many hours we would be spending in the bus. We left Koutiala at 4:00am Monday morning and what should have been a 6 hour drive to the capital to pick up other team members turned into an 8 hour one. We then had to wait 3 hrs in Bamako while the driver took the bus in for a service – which should have been done days before we started the trip. So we were running late but finally underway, we were all looking forward to getting to Kai a town about half way to our destination, where we were going to sleep the night. But the night dragged on and we didn’t get to the town till 4am, so we grabbed the food they prepared for us and took it on the bus and continued. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful apart from some rather ummm... African... toilet stops behind bushes and even ‘not bushes!’ I played a few games with my neighbour like eye spy and the alphabet game – my neighbour is roughly the same age as me but let’s just pretend she was a kid, it makes me feel better that way.

So after close to 40 hrs after we left Koutiala we arrived at our hotel near Dakar. After the meal and orientation I went straight into the swimming pool, even though it was 11:30pm. It was soo nice to be the cool water and it did wonders for my massively swollen feet.  The conference itself was pretty good, it was great to meet lots of new people and hear what YWAM is doing in the rest of West Africa. We were right next to one of the most visited tourist spots in Senegal, le Lac Rose (the Pink Lake) and also within walking distance to the ocean. As well as swimming in the pool and ocean I went on a camel ride, spent time in a hammock and listened to teachings. All in all pretty good.

 

       Our Speaker Jim and Translator          Our hotel                                      

 

             Me and a friend                                    The SWIMMING POOL

At the beach 

                          Swimming at the beach, the water was sooo warm!

Then came the trip home... we left the hotel at 11:00pm already tired from the travel there and then 4 days of conference. A few hours into the trip we stopped at a small town to buy water and all seemed fine until I looked out the window and saw our driver begin grabbed by the shirt and pushed along by two police officers. He was put into the police car but managed to talk his way out but he was still being man-handled by the young cops and it was quite a tense ‘discussion’ they were having. I prayed that God’s peace would come into the situation and literally 10 seconds after I prayed the whole situation just dissolved and everyone walked away. I have no idea how it was resolved or how it went from shirt pulling to walking away in so short a time but I do know God’s hand was at work (I wasn’t the only one praying by the way).

So, in the bus again, with our driver ... when day light came and we were getting close to the Mali border we saw miles and miles (not an exaggeration) of trucks parked on the side of the road. When we found the reason for this it was a big delay for us too. There had been some major flooding and in one place the road was totally covered in at least knee deep water. To either side of the raised road the water was up to the roofs of the houses and shops. Where the road was flooded a truck had fallen of the road and was on its side half covered by the water and there were many other busses and trucks who decided not to try and cross the road. Our driver however thought we could make it. We had 3 people walking in front of the bus to find the road and make sure it wasn’t washed away and we went forward very slowly. Water started coming in the front and back doors and I had images of our luggage floating around in the compartments. But we did get through the flood.

After that we had to cross a loooong bridge but the traffic in going in our direction (all heavy laden trucks) was at a complete standstill. So our brave and possibly stupid drive, decides to go across the bridge in the lane of the oncoming traffic which was fairly light. We get maybe halfway across the bridge before we come face to face with a big truck going the opposite direction, the drive of which was pretty mad about now being stuck on the bridge by a bus (the ones behind us) and I thought he was going to get out and beat up our driver, but he didn’t. So now we were really stuck but by grace we managed to sneak in the lane going in our direction when a small gap appeared. But we were stills tuck in the traffic.

One of our team members got out and walked the length of the bridge and came back and said we had a wait of at least several hours and he suggested we get of the buss and walk of the bridge as it wasn’t designed to hold a load of parked, full, trucks. One look at the swirling, muddy, flooded river told me that we would have no change if the bridge did collapse, not to mention there were only 4 people on the bus who could swim. But before we went to get off someone suggested we pray. So pray we did and, I am no kidding, within about 2 minutes we started moving and got all the way off the bridge! Straight after the bridge we got stuck in more traffic and it took another hour or two to get out but then we were on the home stretch. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful but very loooonnnnggg and I can say I was very happy to get off the bus after 40 hours of travel!

Well done if you managed to read this whole story, it got a bit longer than I was thinking but I can’t seem to tell the story in fewer words. I guess what I got out of it all was seeing really cool and FAST answers to prayer and I give God the glory for bringing us all safe back to Mali.

Back

I was quite excited to be heading back to Mali and getting the ministry with the garibouts up and running. Now after being back for a couple of months I am happy to be here but things are going very slowly with the ministry and that is a bit frustrating.

I have really enjoyed being able to talk with people here now that I speak French, I actually have to get to know some people again and them me but it is so freeing being able to express myself and understand! I do still have some difficulties with the language and still make a fool of myself quite often but hey, it is good to be able to laugh at myself keeps me from getting too serious.

In terms of the garibout ministry, I wrote a formal ministry plan and submitted it to the leadership team here and now I am waiting for their response. The problem is that it is summer now and everyone is on holiday and the leadership team won’t get together until October ... so I have to wait till then to start anything.

For the moment I am working on learning Bambara, the language the garibouts speak, I am doing a little research and lots of praying and planning. It is great to see how God is answering my prayers and I can see how He has been preparing things for this ministry; I am excited to see how it will progress.

My biggest challenges at the moment are finding people to work with me and finding a suitable house. I will be working with the garibouts from my house so it is necessary that it has a big yard with plenty of shade, also I would like a house with an inside bathroom and a kitchen, neither of which are really common here. When I find a house I will have to furnish it and that is easier said than done and I think I may be sitting on mats and cooking over charcoal for a little while.

I have some other thoughts I'd like to post with some photos but the internet isn't co-operating today so come back another day and I may have more up.

Just ... pondering ...

When I die...

... I want to have lived a life that touched the individual. But for that to happen does it not mean that I must first see the individual?

... I want people to say of me that I inspired others and gave them passion and hope.  But does that not mean I must be inspired and myself possess passion and hope?

... I want people to be at peace at my funeral. But does that not mean I need to live a full life, completing the work my Father gives so that at the end the only thing left to do is go home?

As you can probably guess I have been contemplating some of the deeper things in life and I am in the process if being inspired, gaining passion and maintaining hope. I am reading missionary biographies and autobiographies and it is indeed very encouraging and motivational.  Something of a theme has been coming through these books and that is God’s provision. I myself can testify to the fact that if God calls you He will provide! Look at the best example of God providing in the Bible: God called the Israelites out of Egypt and He sustained them (all 3 point something million of them) IN THE DESSERT of all places and for no less than 40 YEARS! As Hudson Taylor put it “depend upon it, God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supplies.”

I am excited to see how God will continue to supply for the garibouts in Mali and for me working with them. In using the word supply I mean so much more than money, I mean: food, good health, friends, livelihoods, joy, energy... and oh so much more.

... so now go...

Be inspired and one day you may be the inspiration

Be impassioned and one day you may be the passion

Be hopeful and one day you may be the hope

Paris

It is good to be back in Paris surrounded by friends and familiar things, the only problem is the French (the language I mean)! I was worried that I would have lost most of my French but to my delight I haven’t. I have certainly gone a few steps backward and it will take some effort to catch up but I can still speak French and understand it.

You know what I did the first night back, I closed my bedroom door and .... I was ALONE! No 7 other girls in there with me! I liked my roommates and got on well with them but 8 in a room and not even anywhere to go on base to be alone got a bit much by the end. Now I have a whole apartment to myself for most of the day.

One thing I just have to mention: I got to travel business class from Salt Lake City to Paris – 9 whole hours of great travel! I don’t know how I will ever go back to economy class flying!!!! I was a total geek though, trying out all the different buttons, making my seat moved in all directions, eating pretty much everything they offered (and it was GOOD food), I even took a photo of myself to prove it was real!

I’m a little unsure of what is in store for me for this time in Paris, I am attending the same church as before and loving it, I am working a little babysitting and taking some time to reflect on all that happened in the past few months. I was reading a book about a missionary in Hong Kong who works with drug addicts there and the whole time I was reading it I couldn’t help but be in the Children At Risk mode looking at what she did and comparing it to what I’ve been learning about the best way to work with kids and starting up a ministry – she did pretty well I must say. It is strange now that I can’t get out of that way of thinking, which is definitely a good thing, I just hope it lasts and I don’t get lazy and revert to my old ways of thinking.

I was hoping to be in Mali for the beginning of May but something has come that may mean I have to stay a few weeks longer in France. We will see. Either way it is great to have this time to pray and plan more for the ministry. 

Here are some photos from my last days in Mexico and some from Paris

 

 

 

Final week

Before I get into the CRS as a whole I would like to say a couple of quick words about human trafficking as that was our topic for this past week. You know, I thought I knew about human trafficking, what it is, how bad it is and who it affects but boy was I wrong! I have been quite shocked this week by statistics and personal stories. Just hearing about it was challenging to me but also the feeling of I can’t do anything about it – not because I felt I couldn’t make a difference but because I know I am called to the garibouts of Mali, at least for the next while. I don’t know why but this issue of trafficking hit me harder than a lot of the other issues we have learnt about. Then I realised why ... the majority of the garibouts are trafficked! I had never thought of it that way before but they fit the definition, now I understand why I feel passionate about this issue and I will be working to fight it!

Now for a sum up of the rest of the school ... just to warn you, this might get quite long.

Where to start, where to start??? How do you sum up 3 months of intense learning, fun, relationships and outreach in a few words? I think I will start with what I what I wanted to get out of the Children at Risk School and go from there.

I wanted to get training what would help me set up and run a new ministry for the Garibout boys in Mali, but I didn’t want just any kind of training. I wanted to look at the hard questions, find out why kids end up in terrible situation like the garibouts, what God says about it all and of course how to help them.

I can say confidently that I did learn all that, of course there is always room to learn more and expand my thinking but I definitely got out of the CRS what I needed and wanted. Every single week I thanked God that I did this school before starting a ministry, I saved myself from making so many mistakes that would have taken a long time to repair.

I can say without a doubt that my thinking in terms of children at risk and how to work with them has changed. There are some things where I think it will continue to be a process of change but one of the main things I can share with you is this:

It might just be better for a child to stay with their family even if there are some risks. I know this sounds kind of harsh and even a bit stupid but what I have come to realise is that the family is soooo important for the child (if the child is at serious risk then of course it is better that they are removed from their family). Before I would have wanted to take all suffering children whether that be poverty, abuse, neglect... and put them in a home/orphanage but now I would rather have a focus of working with the family to create a safe place for the children within the family. This may mean a change in your approach and that you spend just as much time working with parents and caregivers as you do with the children themselves.

So what now?

Well, with all this new information and ideas I will be heading back to Mali to start a new work with the garibouts. I used to think I understood the garibout system pretty well but now I realise there is sooo much I don’t know, for example, it was only this week that I realised most of these little boys are victims of human trafficking, they are slaves, street kids and sometimes orphans. Putting these

labels on the boys doesn’t change their situation or who they are but it helps me understand them and better know how to work to help them.

I am looking forward to applying all that I have learnt and to learn much more along the way.

Immigration and refugees

This week was a little different in that we had two speakers sharing on two different topics. For Monday and Tuesday we had Lenneke who is staff on our school and she was talking on attachment disorders. Lenneke has worked in childrens homes in The Netherlands for several years where the children had severe attachment disorders. She talked about the physical problems that occur in the brain when children are neglected and how that can impact their behaviour and thinking, I really enjoyed this as it took me back to my psychology days. We also went through practical things to do when working with children with attachment disorder.

One thing that really stood out to me was the research that shows the connection between attachment and nerve pathways in the brain. If the child does not have a caregiver that calms them and meets their needs they won’t be developing the nerve pathways for inhibitory neurons (basically the baby doesn’t learn how to calm itself). It is kind of scary to think that how parents interact with their babies can actually change the brain.

Something this teaching challenged me in the need to provide a safe place for children with attachment disorder and by safe place I mean stability, predictability, love... I know that sounds quite simple but when faced with the realities of this disorder and the often manipulative, violent, hurtful behaviour these kids display you may not feel quite like providing a ‘safe’ place for them. I have seen problems like this first hand and I know how hard it is to keep your cool and act out of your intelligence not your emotions. I ask God to give me grace and wisdom in those situations but I know I will still make mistakes; I am only human after all.

For the remainder of the week we had Phil teaching on immigration and refugees. Phil is from England and has been working with YWAM for many, many years and in many different roles but now he works in the USA with YWAM in urban ministries and also with a refugee agency. It was very clear that Phil is passionate about this issue and he has a way of pass that on to others. I must admit that I have never really thought much about refugees and immigrants but now my eyes have been opened!

A couple of points have really stuck in my mind:

Firstly: do you know that 80% of all refugees have been in a refugee camp for 5 years or longer and 50% have been in one for 10 years or longer? That is quite shocking and gives me a new understanding of how hard it can be for refugees e.g. some children are born and raised in these camps and knows nothing of life outside of it!

Secondly: there are many, many refugees from all over the world coming into our cities and there are very few Christians working with them. Phil was suggesting that God is bringing the nations to us, right to our door steps and that instead of focussing all our attentions on missions in villages far away we also need to focus on urban missions to refugees in our own countries.

There are two things from this teaching that have really challenged my, firstly I had to re-examine my attitude towards refugees? To be honest I haven’t spent much time thinking about this in the past so I really had to stop and think do I appreciate these people, do I have empathise with them, do I want them in ‘my’ country??? I have come to the conclusion that I do value them and am happy to share my country with them but I have not always had that view. This week has really helped me understand refugees, the horrors they go through in getting to a camp, what they experience in the camp and then the difficulties in moving to a new country and culture.

This brings me to the second thing that challenged me this week. Well maybe not so much challenged but it got me thinking. The 14 months I spent in Mali were quite difficult for many reasons but the biggest ones were culture and language, going from being a fully self-sufficient socially adept adult knowing how to communicate, cook, shop, make phone calls, travel... to someone who can’t do any of those things – not to mention the loss of family and friends. Now what I realised this week was that because of this experience I can really empathise with the little garibouts boys I will be working with; they have been given away by their families and often end up in villages far from home where they don’t understand the language and they don’t know anyone. But on top of that they are treated like slaves and forced to beg for all their own food and learn the Koran in a language they don’t understand. I pray that through my experiences I will have a deeper understanding of these kids and be able to help them more.

God's love for the poor

God’s heart for the poor

This week we had Kit Danley who has been working with the poor in Arizona for over 30 years. Kit and her husband started Neighbourhood ministries which is an amazing ministry that touches so many different aspects of life in their community in the rough part of town. If you want to check out their ministry go to their web site: http://www.nmaz.org

The focus of this week was to look at how God sees the poor and also to go through some of the practical things necessary for starting up and continuing a ministry to them. The first day we went through some scripture to find out what God says about the poor, we have used this technique throughout the school so it was not new to me but this time we went more in depth into a few scriptures, here is an example:

Deuteronomy 24:14-15

“Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.”

-        The creator of the universe has something to say about wages! He has something to say to employers.

-         It is a sin to withhold payment

-         Do good to others even if there is no benefit for you, even if it costs you something. If there is no-one holding the employer accountable they can get away with a lot but God is watching and will call them to

account!

-          God heard the cries of the African slaves in America and He answered.

Another thing we talked about that stood out to me is that among the poor in ghettos there are two types of people; those that get out of it and those that don’t. The difference lies in how the people got to the ghetto, if they are there due to a series of unfortunate events like both parents lost their jobs and had to move somewhere cheaper they are more likely to get back on their feet and move somewhere nicer. But those that have lived there all their lives and their parents before them tend to have a different mentality and are unlike to get out of the ghetto on their own. I realised how important it is to understand this when working with the poor, you need to know their background.

That leads me onto something that had challenged me; that is the need to really understand the whole community in which you work, it’s history, the good, the bad and the ugly, what is it like today, who is working there and are the y effective, what does the community want... It seems much easier to rock up to a town and start working with the street kids but if you don’t understand the community and build relationships with them you will not really understand why these kids are on the street and you will not be able to make lasting change.

I know I have my work cut out for me when I get back to Mali; fitting into a new community and building relationships but to do that I will need to learn the local language. I am very grateful that I have friends there who have lived in the community for years and can help build those necessary relationships.

I felt this week of lectures was very practical and presented in a way that I could grasp and then at the end of the week we went to visit two different ministries to see how they got started and how they are run. The first was a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts; the second was an orphanage for street kids from the red light district and it was really interesting to visit both of them and see how they and God are changing the lives of children and adults in need.

This week was the second to last week of our local outreach ministry to the kids in the red light district and that is a little sad. I felt like we were starting to get  somewhere with the kids as we were building up relationships but this last week there weren’t so many of the regular kids there so it felt like we had taken a bit of a step backward – just in terms of starting relationships from scratch again. After having been to the orphanage and hearing the horrific stories of how the kids have been treated at the hands of their parents and then looking at these kids we work with, I can’t help but wonder what sort of lives they live, what their family backgrounds are and if they are kids in need of rescue??? Those questions can only be answered when you have strong relationship with the kids and their families, something we are not able to do by running a program for them once a week – which in itself is not a bad thing as the kids are hearing about God and learning to place their trust in Him.

Well ... that was some of my ponderings for this week, come back next week for more!