A Plethora of New Experiences

Written Monday, November 27, 2006

I’ve been having a plethora of new Africa experiences here at MCF Yatta. I’m teaching in a foreign country to students whose first language isn’t English. There are mothers nursing during my lectures, babies crying and children peeing in the classroom. I kid you not.

Friday afternoon it was basketball. Except the ball was a deflated soccer ball. The court was packed dirt interspersed with grassy patches. And most of the players were barefoot and wearing skirts. Everything in my North American mind was saying that there was no way to have a decent game of basketball under these circumstances, but we played and it was great. I finished the afternoon with an intense desire to again watch “The Air Up There.”

Saturday has a busy day. I hauled wood from the bush to fuel the cooking fires, helped to pound clay soil to make a dam, watched girls collect giant termites to eat, helped girls collect giant termites to eat and then ate my own giant termite. It was sautéed, with a bit of salt. No need for cooking fat. It has its own cooking fat built in.

The frequency of our insect encounters has decreased since coming to Yatta, but the encounters are still a regular occurrence. Each night more flying termites hatch. They flock to the lights, which they circle for a couple of hours until their wings (which are only temporary) fall off. Then they begin to burrow themselves into the ground. Last night the ground under one of the floodlights outside of our house was just teeming with termites. It’s like the whole plot of earth was wiggling. Truly gross. Also gross was how we found our living room alive with bugs. I guess we had left the light on while we were at devotions and all of these excited insects followed the light and slithered under the door into the room. Lindsey and I tried to sit in the room last night and do work, but it was just not providing the relaxing atmosphere that we were looking for. Finally I commented, “I just can’t handle this room right now.” She agreed and we ran to our insect-free bedrooms where we hid under our mosquito nets for the rest of the night.

Yes, Africa is great! Anyone want to come for a visit?