2-18-15
Another week and another update, the work here goes well.
Still more men than previously are attending the English classes and I at times
seem to need to be learning Arabic as well as Somali! In the language that I am
learning there are no “P” sounds. That may not seem to be too odd, but I am
also teaching beginners English and the “P” is incredibly difficult, especially
the differentiation of “P, b, & t”. Of course the difficulty is returned
during my language studies when I try to make rolled “R’s” and hard “Q’s” and
“X’s”. It, the language learning, is a re training of the mind as well as a
refiguring of the speech muscles.
We have been going out into the community and visiting or
talking more in the last two weeks than before, our supervisors just had their
third child, and we have been having a loose schedule and riding to and from
the English center with the girl team. Last week we got to walk down and around
eighth and ninth streets in Mayfair as well as to hang out in the barber shop
where our language teacher works. Getting to hang out in a Somali barber shop
was an interesting experience, and I made sure as we left to let our teacher
know that this week I would be coming back for a trim.
On Saturday we got up and hoofed it back down to Mayfair to
gather up some of the men, we were going to a king Tut museum exhibit and using
the tour as English practice, as well as a time for hare into lives. The exhibit was pretty awesome, in that we
could see all of the futility that was exercised in hopes of getting a person
to heaven through the gathering of stuff. For history and culture the
experience was amazing, but it was also spiritually saddening to see where
people had been putting their hopes and dreams. Once we were done with the
museum tour we headed back to drop the men back off for their afternoon
prayers, but the electric had been shut off to a large sector of the town so a
30-45 min drive took us 2 hours of quality talking time! (My “singles awareness
day” was spent talking to and building relationships with men and sharing my walk with them. And I think that it
made for a great day.)
Monday we left the
classroom after our lessons were over and headed to the barber shop on a
mission. That mission was for me to get a haircut in the Somali barbershop.
Once there we saw men that we recognized from the classes and the previous
week. The haircut wen well and there was more attention to detail than you
usually get in a shop back home. When it came time to trim around the beard and
neck… he, the barber, couldn’t find a working set of fine trimmers. So the
option was given for a straight shave…my first real straight shave. It took to
me what seemed a lifetime to make the decision, weighing the options of Sweeny
Todd in my mind or to trust this young man with my life. In the end (like 2
seconds later) I agreed and the process began! The trim and the shave were both
superb, no nicks or slits, and he even used the straight razor to make the
lines of my beard and moustache much more professional looking, I am happy.
Our barber/language teacher has only been cutting hair for 8
months.
We stopped at the little Somali coffee shop on the way back
to the classroom, to talk a bit more and because we had seen our teachers
brother there eating watermelon and chilling for a bit. The brother is one of
several and is now my official tailor, or at least that is what he told me.
Last week I took a pair of trousers that had ripped from the button to the
knees while in the village outside of Gaborone, and he repaired these trousers
so well that you cannot even tell that they were ever ripped. It is amazing to
be able to talk to these young men and be at ease around them, the shave went a
long way towards easing the conversations!
I am finding that
the hospitality of those who are struggling to live and provide for themselves,
towards others, is astounding. Every day that we go out and talk to people,
usually an excuse is found to treat us in some way or form. The haircut and
shave were free, as was the tailoring job, and seemingly always the tea is as
well. We are going to need to return the hospitality as much as possible
whenever we see an opportunity! So far I have noticed that to the people the
relationship is more important that the buying of a product. Of course this
means relationships formed outside of a market sense…if you walk into a shop
the buying of products is the important thing, but if you see a student or
friend in a shop, the practice in English is an excuse to sit and share tea
while talking about life.
After our language lessons when the opportunity arises we have
been sharing as much as we can with our teacher. We tell him about how and why
we live our lives the way we do and why we follow our beliefs; and he tells us
about his life, upbringing, and beliefs/practices as well. So far there have
been many discussions and some tricky things to talk about but we are definantly
going to continue building our relationship through language.
This week and recent time has gone well, I ask for your
intercession on behalf of the work that we are doing here, and for a larger
room (upper room) to be provided for language. Currently there is not enough
room to be able to effectively spend time talking to the respective classes
without having to be herd over the other groups. I also am Pr@ying for opportunities
to arise in which sharing my heart with others would be appropriate and well
received. Team dynamics are going well, and now there is a new 5+ lb. addition
to the team also. Open our eyes, ears, and hearts to the lost.
Thank you from taking time from your schedule to read this
update, and I hope that you keep our team in your hearts as well as thoughts.
Ethan.
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