Category: Culture Page 3 of 4

Learning About Culture

On January 23, 2016

Taking Calla Grace on visits has afforded many opportunities to learn more about Chadian culture! Yesterday, I took her to visit a new friend and the hostess gave me perfume to put on myself and Calla Grace. I also have learned that Chadians will never mention that she is big or heavy (even though she is 2 1/2 months old and weighing in at around 15 lbs now).

My friends think it could cause the baby to get sick if someone says it because they are afraid of an “evil eye.” (This is a good example of syncretism – an animistic belief that is deeply ingrained in many African cultures, despite the “foreign” religion of Islam that has now taken prominence in their lives.) I have learned that you should not nurse in front of a lot of people you don’t know (not for modesty’s sake, but again, because of the fear of the evil eye that could make you or your baby sick).

Calla Grace had a strange, painless bump appear on her arm a few weeks ago and our doctor friend from the States didn’t know what it was. I was visiting a few days ago and noticed two other babies similar in age to Calla Grace also had the same bump on their arm. It was then that I remembered it as the same location she received her Tuberculosis vaccine (a vaccine that is no longer given in the States, but one that everyone here still receives). I asked around and everyone showed me their small scar on their arm from the vaccine. She didn’t even cry when she got it, but now she has physical proof that she was born in Chad (other than the birth abroad certificate that Josh just picked up from the U.S. Embassy a few days ago!).

Showing Hospitality in Chad

By kimberly

On December 7, 2015

In Chad, Culture, Ministry

Christmastime is a time where we tend to practice hospitality maybe more than other times of the year, so I have been thinking about this a little more the past few days. Josh and I recognize this as one of the gifts God has given us that we both share, and it is fun for us to have the opportunity to practice this gift together. Especially in Chad, we have many opportunities to host people in our home and show hospitality – both to Chadians and fellow workers from the West.

I was remembering with thanksgiving the ways that God has allowed us to use our home to show hospitality to others this past year. Abeche is a town many people travel through, but there are not many places for people to stop for the night if needed.

Before we ever moved into our home, a Chadian believer was occasionally sleeping in our compound on his way to and from other towns. Then, the week before we moved, we hosted a volunteer team from America who slept at our house (we were still living at the Orphanage guest housing in our town).

Since living in our home, we have hosted a Chadian family overnight for several days; fed lunch to countless men who worked to make our house a home; hosted a western NGO worker for a water drilling organization several different times overnight; hosted a man who lived here for 10 years working on Bible translation but who currently works from the States; hosted another Bible translator and church planter who lives a few hours from us; turned a spare room on our compound into a “studio apartment” for our nanny and teammate, Danielle; hosted the Blackfords who came on a vision trip and then decided to join our team; hosted two men, Ben and Matt, from our home church; and this coming week while we are still in N’Djamena, a new team in country will be staying at our house for several days while they make plans to move to Abeche in the near future.

In addition to providing a roof, a mattress, and at least a meal or two to all of these people, we were also able to use our spare room as a language learning space for another worker in our town.

I am excited that we are able to use the home God provided us to bless many other people as they go about the His work in our area. I pray this continues, and I am certain it will. We already have two or three groups from America scheduled to come out next year – all these will be for the purpose of mobilizing the church in America to missions in Chad.

Do you have the gift of hospitality? Do you find you can use it more during a certain season of the year? How do you hope to show hospitality this coming year in a way that furthers God’s kingdom? I’d love to hear how you practice hospitality in your own home!

New Series – The Amazing Versatility of the Moto

By josh

On December 1, 2015

In Chad, Culture

The moto is such an integral part of life in Chad, it’s hard to imagine what the streets would look like without them buzzing around. This photo series is our tribute to the moto. For the first photo…

2 dudes and 3 sheep out for a cruise

Christendom is dead. Good riddance…

By josh

On November 3, 2015

In Books, Culture, Ministry

One of the legacies of Christendom is that it is willing to provide a safe haven for Christianity, but only at the cost of the steady domestication of Christianity, gradually smoothing down most of its rough prophetic edges, so that Christian identity and cultural identity became virtually seamless.

Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first Century (Invitation to Theological Studies Series) by Dr Timothy Tennent
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005K7JZU4

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Fatalism or Faith?

By josh

On September 6, 2015

In Chad, Culture, Ministry

Allah has willed it

How many times have I heard this statement in our first 10 months in Chad. It’s spoken of everything that happens. The four year old boy who was hit by a car while wondering along the side of a busy road. The man who dies on the operating table in our local hospital, from a relatively routine operation necessitated by an entirely preventable disease. The guy on the motorcycle who hit me today as he was trying to pass (on the left) as I was turning left, skidding across the pavement and fortunately (for him and for me) coming away with just a good scrape. “It happens, God willed it.” In this case God also apparently willed that I give him some money, but that’s another story.

It’s one of the characteristics of this society that has struck me the most – the complete acquiescence to the events of life, without any real hope that there is a divine plan and that it is good. It provides for me a picture of what happens when you have such a strong belief in the sovereignty of God, as Islam does, without knowing anything of the great love of God. I was talking to a friend several weeks ago who made a very profound (in my view) observation: Muslims certainly believe God is great, but they don’t really believe he’s good. Not on a personal, relational level. They wouldn’t say that, but it seems to be a valid observation. Their god is arbitrary and capricious. He demands robotic obedience to a long list of do’s and don’ts, but doesn’t give any assurance of salvation at the end of it all. Mohammad himself didn’t even have assurance.

I have a great burden for those all around me every day living and dying in hopelessness. We have so much to offer! Our God is sovereign AND GOOD! Life is full of difficulty and heartbreak, the curse of sin, but we have the cure! Jesus took the curse so that we don’t have too. And for those in Christ, there is a great, overarching purpose in all events of our life. We’re being conformed to the image of Christ, the ultimate end of God’s promise to “work all things together for good.” (Romans 8:28-29)

Pray for our friends and neighbors, some of whom are very proud of their many religious activities, others who have been beaten down by life and feel as if there’s no hope. Both types need to see their fatalism turned to faith.

A Chadian Family Feud

By kimberly

On August 10, 2015

In Chad, Culture, Ministry

What Bible stories or verses come to mind when an Arab nomad friend shares with you that just outside of town, his family has had a feud with not-so distant relatives that involved knives and guns and resulted in 4 deaths, including one child? Many women were injured, some cousins are in the hospital recovering from operations. Reconciliation attempts were made by offering camels in return for the lives of men, but even those attempts towards reconciliation are viewed as a statement that they are enemies and no longer family. What words of hope and peace do you offer someone who has only been taught retaliation? What will it take to change the hearts, not just of individuals, but of entire clans who at their core are proud, judgmental, and many times unforgiving because their god is the same way? These are the questions I’ve been asking myself today.

Yeah, but do you have a pet ostrich?

By josh

On July 29, 2015

In Chad, Culture

Visited the palace of the Sultan the other day with some visitors, and I brought Isaac along. The Maba Sultanate dates back nearly 400 years, when it split off from the Sultanate of Darfur which encompassed western Sudan and eastern Chad. When the French finally conquered the region in the early 20th Century, the sultanate was all but destroyed. A puppet sultan was put in place to do the bidding of the French. But after Chad’s independence in 1960, the sultanate was restored. Today it exists, not officially as part of the Chadian government, but alongside the government. The sultan is allowed to run his own Islamic court to decide local matters, and is still very influential in the region. He has the traditional palace, where he no longer lives, but instead lives just across the street. His black Hummer is parked outside. And his pet ostrich is still kept inside the palace walls, fenced in (barely) and strutting around like he owns the place.

Isaac and Lillian pose in front of the ostrich.

A Baby “Prophet” in Chad?!

By josh

On July 1, 2015

In Chad, Culture, Islam

Yesterday my house helper came excitedly to my house telling me of a 3 month old baby that everyone in town wanted to see. The baby supposedly had the word “Mohammed” written somewhere on her body, like a birthmark, and now she miraculously spoke three messages in Arabic related to praying and this current Ramadan season. I listened as my house helper told me how beautiful the baby was to look at and how my friend’s clothes were ripped because so many people were pushing their way into the compound to get a look at this baby “prophet” as they were calling her. People even said the president of Chad, Idriss Deby would come today to see the baby.
Today, I asked my helper if Deby came to town to see the baby. She told me that last night a respected Muslim leader in the town spoke on the local radio station to debunk any of the stories that had been rampant around town yesterday. He told the people he went there and saw the baby and none of the stories are true. The baby’s father and mother either made it all up or it was a demonic presence that they saw. Either way, they now have a stash of money from people who came to see the baby and thankfully this leader told the people on the radio to not believe what they heard.
Our believing friend had many people ask him yesterday what he thought (everyone knows he follows Jesus, is not currently fasting, and sees life differently because he follows the teachings of Jesus). He told them it was not true and today we were rejoicing in a small way that his steadfastness to Truth will today hopefully give him credibility amongst his non-believing friends. We pray that this sparks more conversations and opportunities for people to take a second thought at the things our friend has said about the gospel.
Regardless of whether the story of this “prophet” baby is a lie or something demonic, we are stricken with the grave reality that the vast majority of people living around us are so willing to believe anything but the Truth. They are in the middle of their month of obligatory fasting, hoping to add good points to their lives so God will accept them into paradise and they are even expectant they they may hear from Allah this month. When they do hear something that seems ridiculous to us, they believe quickly and with excitement. Our prayer is that the eyes of many would be opened to the Truth and that they would quickly and excitedly believe the best news of all – that hope is offered to them because Jesus died for their sins!

Chadian Firsts

By josh

On July 1, 2015

In Chad, Culture

We recently went on a family vacation to southern Spain. Getting there was quite the experience. We took our guard’s family in our vehicle to their village and carried Josh’s Arab language helper all the way to N’Djamena. It was a two day driving trip plus a day by air to get to our final destination. Along the way, we had a few first experiences I thought some of you would enjoy hearing about!
We had to drop our guard’s family off in a village, and of course that involved bathroom breaks. When I asked where I could use the bathroom, they handed me a shovel and told me to go behind their (mud brick) house, use the bathroom, and then shovel it over the grass fence. Typically, you find Chadian style (hole-in-the-ground) toilets in villages and in towns here. I assume this is a new village and they just hadn’t gotten around to digging a hole!
The family we visited offered us drinking water that looked like it came straight from a lake. There was no way I could touch it, but it broke my heart, knowing they were giving us their best and this is the best they had to offer.
They tried to give us a duck as a gift for bringing the family to their village (they were so happy because they hadn’t seen the family in four years). We had to turn it down because we were going to the big city and had no way to cook it (not that we would have known anyways!).
Last but not least, we also tried camel’s milk later that night. Our Arab nomad friend stayed in the guest house halfway to N’Djamena and shared dinner with us. He was very excited to have found the camel’s milk in town and couldn’t wait for us to try it. My kids wouldn’t touch it, but I had a small drip on my tongue just to be polite. It was disgusting! I think it was a few days old, because it was very sour. Josh tried it once before and said it wasn’t quite so strong.

Chadian Wedding

By kimberly

On May 6, 2015

In Chad, Culture

A new worker in town, me, and one of our friends at the wedding.

I had the privilege of attending my first wedding a few days ago. Remember the baby who was born prematurely? His mother’s sister is in the process of getting married. Yes, you read correctly. The wedding I attended was part 1 of 2. Part 1 is called a “fatee” – this is where male representatives of the bride and groom’s families meet together, formally agree to the marriage of their son and daughter, and the groom to be is expected to make a down payment towards the bride price. All of this happens relatively early in the morning and the bride and other women are in another compound, sometimes miles away. Afterwards, the men hang around, drink chai tea and juice, and play cards. Meanwhile, the bride is in a separate compound with her close friends and the other women in the family as well as close friends are in the mother of the bride’s compound cooking an elaborate meal of salad, sugar rice, goat, beets and potatoes, ground beef, etc. Around 2pm, the meal is served on a big platter and 6-8 people gather around to eat together. After this is finished, some girls from the bride’s family come very dressed up but still covered, sit together on a mat and sing songs. (I am trying to post a video but internet is slow now…).

The second stage of the marriage is still mostly a mystery to me at this point, but I do know that it is the time when the groom has raised all the required money to pay the family and the wedding is complete.

Chadian weddings are one topic of conversation, but Chadian marriages are a completely different subject. Soon, I plan to share with you the little I have heard, learned, and observed about marriages in this culture.