Arnetts Arrive in Africa
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This is part of the information recently received from Pearl about their work in Nigeria.
We came to Zing on Tuesday, September 13th. Daniel, the Jos mission/church driver drove us and is very good. We arrived about 6:00. It gets dark here by 6:30. We had left Jos at 9:30 that morning and the trip was beautiful, long, hot and tiring. My, the beauty this country has! The rock formations are outstanding.
We had a meal with Dearsley, the Bishop’s son, and his wife, Ina. They took us under their wings. They saw us to our house with some bed linens. We began unpacking and cleaning. The house hadn’t been lived in for 6 months.
If I hadn’t been to Africa before I might have been frightened. The bed was the old fashioned open or uncovered springs and a kapok mattress. After we put on makeshift bedding we got in bed looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Alas, when I turned to Chuck, I rolled downhill. When I turned to the other side I felt like I was sleeping uphill and had to really hang on. Chuck’s side was much better. Later in the week we found a piece of plywood that fits cross wise on the bed on the springs under the mattress so it would support our bodies. That improved the bed 100% but has no give to it at all. However, it is much better than the floor. If we get a soft mattress, we will complain about it too, I’m sure.
Another thing that would have been frightening was the noises. There was this awful screeching sound and things scratching on the roof. The clinic/patient rooms are not too far away and I occasionally heard sounds there too. There are many neem trees outside and they are producing their seeds now. About 6:15 every evening, these huge fruit bats come flying in and land in those trees. It will be interesting to see if they continue to come after the fruit is finished. I was always use to smaller bats before. They screech and hollar at each other, but I almost don’t hear them anymore.
We have seen many of our old friends since returning. One is a lady by the name of Saratu Don Malsm who helped us with many of the mission children when we were here before. Our kids played together. She makes the best peanut butter. They are now harvesting their peanut crops. It is a big cash crop. We have helped pull the peanuts off the vines. They have to be dried thoroughly before storage. Then they have to be shelled and prepared for eating. I don’t believe I would sell them so cheaply if that were me. Her daughter, Joy, is a nurse at the Zing Dispensary. Joy is in India at the present time studying preventive medicine and will be back in December.
We have had several visitors. Tommy, who was raised by one of our mission family friends, is now a veterinarian and lives close to the Nigerian/Cameroon border came to visit us. One day someone came to the door that I did not know. It was Boyo, who use to work for us (when he was maybe 3) when we were here before. His father is an alcoholic and his family had a difficult time. He now works in Jalingo with the ministry of finance. The next day another man came to the door. His name is Polycarp. He was one of Chuck Jr. buddies. Boyo had gone back to Jalingo and told Polycarp we were here and he did not believe him so came the next day to check. He is a teacher but has never gotten married. A bride price has to be paid and he is supporting the widows of 2 brothers and their 10 children. It is very difficult to marry under those circumstances. It was not difficult to pray a prayer of thanksgiving with these men before they left. It is so nice to see our “kids” and see how well they are doing.
We travel to the different dispensaries to check on the work being done there. Chuck is preparing courses to teach them how to provide better care for their patients using some of the herbs that are available. Some of the dispensaries are not difficult to get to, but others are a challenge. One day we went to a place called Moki. It is not far from here but the roads were washed out from the rains. To get to another one, we went off the main road, drove over the bank onto this path that went through cornfields and some streams. I’m sure we drove over some crops. I wished I had a video camera.
On Friday, October 20th we received word that our freight came to Port Harcourt. We need to send our passports so they know we are actually here. Hopefully we will have some of our things in a couple of weeks.
We felt like we had found a fortune. There was another letter from Chuck’s mom. A friend from Philippi has been cutting out crossword puzzles and crytoquotes from the newspaper for us. We got a month and a halves worth. Wrapped inside was a cassette of Christian music. What a treat. This is the only music tape we have.
One of the traditions for mission families is a Sunday evening supper of popcorn. With our loads came popcorn. We have had it two times now. The dutch oven we brought works very well. I brought spicy popcorn seasoning that I got through the food co-op. We used that last night. Then we squeezed a large lemon and made lemonade with it. This was really a delicious meal.
We also bought an electric yogurt maker. It is so good with fruit (& sugar if you like). When the electric stops I put it out in the shade in the warmth of the sun. One of the things I wish I had brought was a foley food mill. I have borrowed a Squeezo, but I will need to give it back. The guava butter is delicious.
When we came here we found an old swing, a porch swing at the front of the house. It was hanging from a tree and had fallen apart. We asked the carpenter to rebuild it for us. Our friends, Chuck and I have all enjoyed it. We will see how long this fad lasts. Chucks says that now we can call ourselves a swinging couple. Ha! Ha!
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Big road to Jenbri and Moki. |
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Solar Oven moved to better sun to roast the peanuts. |