La Sonya

In my time in other countries I have had my fair share of toilet protocol. In Honduras I had to put my used tp (toilet paper) in the trash to burn later. When I first got here, to Tchad, I was very excited to learn that I did not have to. Then I found out I was going to use a hole in the ground, but now I have come to enjoy the squat position ;o) But as of most recently I have not enjoyed the rationing of tp. I am quite frankly sick and tired of having to ration two squares for one event and a few more for the other event. We four SMs having gone to Cameroon brought back with us a nice lovely souvenir, Gerardia. Hans first, then shortly there after Esther, then after they were done Liz (#2 for her) and with each case a lot of tp has been used. Poop! That means we need more! But being the bush where nobody uses tp on a regular bases, when they can use the mango tree or water, we have to go to a neighboring town to get some. I just want to be able to pull the tp and not feel guilty for u...

Rated PG-6th grade We’ve had lots of re-hydrated things here. From amazingly tasty blueberries that we have used in smoothies, to cherries that I want to make a glaze out of to put in doughnuts that Wendy makes, to even wham that has been dehydrated and it like jerky. I enjoy our dehydrated soup that Liz’s mom has sent us and we all enjoy the dehydrated refried beans and black beans that we use to make our Saturday lunch with. With all of it all you have to do to make it ‘normal’ again is add water –quite amazing if you ask me! Of all the dehydrated things I enjoy I do not enjoy dehydrated boogers. Let me explain . . . I’ve had a runny nose lately because of all the dust and allergies and what-not. And due to the toilet paper shortage, which I will address in another blog later, I’ve had to resort to a hanky to blow my nose in. I haven’t quite mastered the outfielder’s hanky (blowing my nose in the air and using my hand to fling the snot off.) and so I resort to the blue, red, purple o...

It all started back in April when Liz and I met James and Sara at Southern Adventist University in the lobby of the conference center. . . Sara told us that she usually ‘stocks’ up on weight in the states because she looses so much while she is in Tchad. Yippie I thought and so during the summer I ate my fair share of Moowalla’s ice cream and my fair share of sweats, all because I was going to loose weight when I got to Tchad. Then once I arrived at my new hut I was greeted by my family and treated like an important guest from far away and given all sorts of good and expensive things to eat, such as what I call a cup of warm creamer and sugar. Yes, that is right I was given a cup of fresh milk with sugar that had been heated up over the coals to make a nice afternoon snack. Don’t get me wrong either, it was very yummy. But after checking my self on the hospital scales and seeing how much I weighed in kilos, which at first sounds great, then translating that to pounds I realized this cu...

Working pens in Africa. That is non-existent here. I pick up a pen to write out my blog before hand so that when I get to the computer I won’t use all the time working on a draft, but it takes about 100000000 billion pens to actually write something out! We’ve got all types, inky, gelly, expensive, cheap, free, old, used, red, blue, black and even the trusty Southern Adventist University pens. I write one word and start on the next, then it only gets out the first two letters so I squiggle it on the top of the paper and get it working again, then start to finish the word and . . . nothing but a hard pressed line of where the letter would be if the dumb pen worked . . . so I pick up another pen and start the same crazy process over again!! I think that even Shakespeare had it better then this! What would our jolly John Hancock say to all of it? Or how about our beloved Edgar Allen Poe? How could even he come up with something to say about this! So DOWN WITH PENS!!!!!!!!!! Long live penc...

Breathe in deep, ahhh, that’s the smell of a hardware store! Each time Hans and I give out food to the TB patients we take a trip down memory lane, for me it takes me to the time when I was a little girl and on Sundays I would go to the hardware store with my dad, or last year when I would be working on my car and have to take a trip to the trusty O’Rilley’s auto parts store in Collegedale. But here after we take a big whiff and open our eyes we are in all reality staring at the insides of a long container that once, long ago, brought hospital items from America to the far away country of Tchad and now is being used to hold some medical equipment scraps, extra OR gloves and what used to be a few bags of rice for the TB patients that now has run out. We like opening the container, it reminds us of America, but we also like to open it because it offers us a chance to help out the TB patients that have to stay at the hospital for 2 to 3 months, by giving them a small amount of food to hel...

Hey ya’ll here is another one of those funny emails that says I won’t have a lot of power for a while. Since our big generator is broken we have been using the little one, and since we ‘have’ one our Admin hasn’t wanted to worry to much about getting the big one fixed in a timely manor, so James is not using the little one to make power each evening as we did before. . . hence the not having to much power. Anyway, we have it finally for about an hour tonight (just power not lights, still a bit of protest :o) So more blogs out the wazoo when we get regular power. Until then, know I love you and am surviving.

“Ladies, do you remember the light headedness you experienced after seeing his smile light up a room? Men, do you recall when just the thought of her holding your hand caused shortness of breath and a queasy stomach? In some countries they call this malaria.” (27) from Focus on the Family, from the Aug 07 issue.

14/1/08 Last Tuesday, the day after getting back from vacation in Cameroon, it was morning and I found myself sitting in the back room of the American house alone and quietly crying to myself so not to be heard by others. I wanted to go home. I wanted to pack my bags and go home to America. I never get homesick, never want to give up and never cry to go home; but I was. I was deep in the pit of despair. I felt so alone and felt as if I had control over NOTHING in my life. I didn’t feel connected at the moment to any of my other SM family, to work at the hospital, to life in Africa. It was awful. After falling over on the bed I was sitting on I curled up and slept. I awoke to feeling no better only groggy and as if I was alone in the world. I decided to text Andrea that evening and have her call me because I new she had a calling card to call me with. I was walking home from meeting Clarice as she walked home with all the merchandise the famil sells in the market, when Andrea called. I...

I feel the urge to write, I’m just not sure about what. There’s a lot in life to think about. I texted Andrea last night to call me. I ended up talking about me but I know she’s got struggles too. It’s the whole waiting on God. It’s so hard. I trust and I know it’s worth it but what do I do while I wait? How do I get past this rought part? Help me Father. I don’t know what I’m to do and every idea I’ve had I don’t feel any passion for. Please show me what to do. My mood really matches this rare gloomy weather today, just a sleep dull and lifeless day. So this 5 months I’ve been here has been great but what do you do in marrage when you get past the honeymoon stage, that’s where I am now, the novelty has worn off and now I realize I’m here to stay. Purpose, must find purpose. Perhaps this is my purpose, to sit and reflect.

Lost that’s a bit how I feel. I feel a bit like a leaf floating on water. No purpose or goal. It’s as if all God has for me right now is sit and seek Him and to not worry about what others think of say. I feel so much love from all around. It’s not that I’m comleatly alone, I just feel as Nathan put it as though I’ve been put on hold. So I’m going to take some time to pray, journal, and listen to God. I sit here in our garden room and I’m so tired. I don’t want to complain but I don’t want to do anything but cry or sleep for a long time. I sit and listen to others but I just feel so distant from here I’m here physically, but mentally and emotionally I am thousands of miles from here.

I always knew I had a stubborn streak. I’m not a red head, like Anne of Green Gables but I’m a younger sibling and as such I always want to win. Back in April when Southern had their outgoing SM retreat I went as an old SM to help Andrea out and that’s when I first met the person who I know I couldn’t survive this place without her. As part of our introductions and ‘getting to know you’ talking I proposed a challenge of sorts, more of a fun game of who will get malaria the most. It’s a way I deal with situations, make a game of it and have fun. So it was agreed we’d have a chart marking each case of malaria. I never imagined anyone getting it more than 2 or 3 xs. But as of Friday I was shown taking a strong lead of 6 with all the other competition back at a mere 3. Now some have stated that I am in such a rush to win that I’ve slept without a mosquito net and I’ve put up a sign offering my bare arms to any Joe mosquito. But I deny all accusations. Who in their right mind would wish mal...

Last night was fun. We were planning on going to the Koza hopital party and we planned on arriving at African timing – an hour late. But at about 15 min after 8 Yves, the host of the party and hospital administrator came to our door to see where we were and if we were coming?! Opps, here we were going for African time and I think they were waiting for us! So we quickly got ready and left. It was a fun night and not boring, sort of. We ate right after they went in the circle and introduced everyone. For food there was quite a nice spread, it was a huge feast! Since we were the visitors/guest we went first (opps, and we the “prompt” Americans were late!) There was wicked hot pepper and my lips are still burning from it still! We were still all sitting in the giant circle and they told stories, jokes and little sketches. Some were very funny and very African and some as Hans put it were Blasphemous. We even performed sketch for them, we did Doctor, Doctor it’s the skit where one guy waits...

I found myself walking along a sandy path with the warm glow of the sun touching my face. I gently lift my face to welcome it’s warmth. As I continue on down the worn path I start to hear my name being called. It starts off and small, “sonya . . . sonya . . . sonya”. But as I near the callers the sound increases to more of a victorious chant, “Sonya . . . Sonya . . . Sonya”. The children are chanting my name as they run forward to grasp a hand or catch a timid but bold glimpse. I grasp my hands together and lift them high and shake them in victory as I pass by the cheering fans of eager children calling my name, I must be dreaming. This must be a dream where I have just run a triathlon and won or performed once again with Destiny Drama Company or perhaps I have just been crowned Queen of England. Surely this is a dream, a dream to justify this crowd of merry children that have scattered themselves along the warm sandy path to chant my name. Where else would one find children chanting o...

* Late night Dec 25 + Liz and I worked the night shift Christmas day. * Late start – naturally we left a lot later than planned + 8 am * HIPPOS!!!! We got to see them before the new year which was our goal. * Hospital truck to Kelo * Beaucoup packages at the post office!! – 3 for me * Van/Bus/trash of metal to Tchadian boarder + Climb in the can and we’re the first row that faces EVERYONE! + Fun kids begging for money, so I put my hand out for money and they gave me a coin so I plunk it down into their bowl. Goes on for awhile. + Liz realizes our door is not a door because a door can close and stay with out a rope holing it to the rest of the vehicle. + I think our car wanted to be able to go faster so it stripped all extra fabric and cushions out to help the speed. + We start to leave but our contraption doesn’t go. So they start to push, including those ...

In our famil we kill the fatted sheep on Christmas Eve. Then my Ama begins to prep all of the food that she will be serving over the next 24 hours. She had already begun to prep by making fried peanut butter cookie things a day earlier. When I got home from the American Christmas Eve bash it was already late and normally everyone would be asleep inside their huts but tonight was the big night before Christmas and Ama and Clarice were still up cooking up a storm. So I sat down with them to watch and talk. They gave me my supper which was my portion of the sheep innards. I think I definitely did not like it and I only ate a small, small part and I couldn’t bring myself to touch the heart. There were so many pots full of cooking meat, rice and tea. It was all in preparation for the following day – Christmas! Ama had to get a lot of it done then so that she would have time to go to the Christmas morning Mass at the Catholic church she attends fairly regularly. It was nice to sit next to th...

Here is the story of my Christmas in my new home. It was a great Christmas. Unfortunately it has been a while now since those grand days and I am so full of all my other stories that I am having trouble remembering all the excitement of the days gone by! But I will do my best to tell the stories. . . Sunday found us with great unbelief that Christmas was just a few days away. It was a little hard because our Christmas spirit had been so used right after Thanksgiving in putting up all our decorations that by the time we actually got to Christmas we had forgotten a bit and the decorations were a bit familiar and no longer exciting. Come Monday I was a little reluctant to go home to my hut because we had just been talking about how we missed home and all the Christmas excitement there. But home I went, and when I got there I saw how my Ama had been working up a storm!! She had been cooking these peanut cookie/fried things. They were great. I saw here sitting in the hut with all these plat...

Sonya Chad 324 Originally uploaded by dreams with faith hey yall i hope to be putting more pictures up. I am still here in camaroon enjoying ELECTRICITY and INTERNET and so much more. the down side to this is that seeing all of the world online has made me a little home sick, okay way more homesick than i care to admit. but God is good and i still believe i am supposed to be here. besides i know that the next 5 months for me will go fast. The internet cafe uses a french key board so it takes way longer to type. so i have written everything by hand and will type it up later for andera to post. theres lots to write. heres zhqt the key boqrd looks like if i type like it is qn q,ericqn key boqrd: zoz hoz thigns qre differnent: donùt hyou think so ,qybe next ti,e i zill bring ,y q,ericqan key boqrd% love and peace, sonyq

Sonya Chad 359 Originally uploaded by dreams with faith more pictures coming soon!!