Day 2 and Holding

We had a fairly peaceful night, although the guards told me they heard gunfire throughout most of the night.

My phone rang at 1:45 a.m., and I was instantly awake. Turns out, the person just wanted to know if we were safe. I was wondering why he was calling at that time. Later I remembered that calls are free between midnight and 4 a.m. He probably didn't have any phone credit so he took that opportunity to check on people.

You can find quite a bit of news on the internet today if you google "Jos election violence." For the most part, I think the reporting is quite fair, although I think they have greatly decreased numbers of those injured and dead.

We are actually seeing hundreds of people fleeing from the Tudun Wada area which borders the area we live in. It's mainly women and children. They are not quite running, but they are walking very fast. They are all trying to get to the Air Force base which is a trek of about 2-3 miles.

I saw a family of 6 plus the driver get on a motorcycle this morning. The four children were quite small. I have never seen 7 people on a motorcycle before! The traffic I was able to see appeared to be mainly heading south out of town.

Of course, rumors are abounding. We heard this morning that our church was burned, but just now a member confirmed that only windows are broken.

Tobi just asked if he could play outside. I said no, but that he can watch another video--he sure was surprised. Letting the kids 'veg' out on videos seems somehow appropriate these days. They do know what's going on, but I try not to let them hear details.

Amazingly, we have had uninterrupted power for 36 hours now. I always feel better when we have power. I know I can do email, the kids can watch videos, the lamps provide a warm, homey glow even in the middle of the day, the limited food in the fridge & freezer is not spoiling...

I have had to get very creative with meal planning. It's a good mind-stretching experience. We have food; it's just not in the quantities and types that we would normally have. We are now feeding 5 extra mouths plus our family.

One woman who is with us now went to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. on Friday to line up to get her anti-retroviral drugs for HIV. That hospital is in the area of town where the fighting was quite heavy. She had to stay in the hospital all day because it was not safe to go out. She said many people were taking refuge within the hospital compound. She also said many people with injuries were coming in. By 4 p.m. she was able to trek to her home about 2-3 miles away. She said there were many soldiers on the main roads.

The other woman with us forgot to bring her anti-retroviral drugs for HIV when she fled. These drugs must be taken religiously, at the same time in the morning and evening. It's not possible for her to go back home to get the drugs. If the drugs are not taken properly, the body can develop resistance to the drugs in a fairly short amount of time.

Lives are simply being disrupted in every way imaginable. Some disruptions are manageable; others are devastating. We have heard of numerous homes being destroyed by fire.

Continue to join us in prayer for this situation.

Violence in Plateau State

Yesterday was the first time that I have not had to work on Thanksgiving Day since I have lived in Nigeria. It's not a holiday here, but it was a 'no movement' day due to elections held on Thursday. No driving is allowed. People are supposed to walk to the polling places and vote.

We had a nice quiet holiday at home (well, we had to be home). I took most of the day to prepare a nice Thanksgiving meal for our family and some family friends who came over. I want our kids to have an understanding of the American Thanksgiving holiday. Interestingly, most (all?) churches in Nigeria hold a Thanksgiving service on a Sunday near the end of November every year. It's an all-out 4 hour service where they truly express their thanks to God for seeing them through another year. We will be attending two Thanksgiving services this Sunday.

As we were preparing for work and school this morning, we started getting all kinds of text messages from Mashiah Foundation staff members in various parts of town. Jos is a city of about 1 million people. There were reports of fighting, gunshots, cars burning, etc. By 8:00 we heard that school was cancelled.

Elections here always come with the possibility of violence. It's too early for me to comment yet on what has provoked this outburst of violence, but it most likely has something to do with election procedures or results.

Sadly, one friend sent me an email that someone was killed just near their compound.

It is common here to live within compound walls. And we're so thankful for it especially at a time like this.

Please pray along with us that peace will soon be restored to Plateau State.

For the Love of Reading

For as long as I can remember, books have been my best friends. When I was in elementary school, I would beg my mom to let me read "just one more chapter" before turning out the light.

Maybe I majored in English because it was just a natural fit. I generally have 2-4 books going at the same time. In a way that's reflective of my life because I am normally working on a number of major projects at the same time.

In the past few years, I have made a conscious decision to read mainly non-fiction. I have found that fiction just doesn't satisfy. In one of the latest books I read, I came across an author with similar feelings, and she put it so well:

"I never can get interested in things that didn't happen to people who never lived."
--Helene Hanff in 84 Charing Cross Road

Since I was a child, I've wondered why true stories are called non-fiction. It's really not a very pleasant sounding word. It doesn't sound intriguing even though most non-fiction I've read is very intriguing. Why does it need to be defined as what it is not? The word actually means "not not true." I just think whoever coined the term non-fiction could have come up with a better term.

How do I find the time to read? Usually at the tail end of the day. I don't watch any TV at all--maybe 3 hours a month. Lately whenever we try to watch a movie as a family, I'm sound asleep after the first 20 minutes. I'm getting more like my dad!

We try to read to the kids every night. I can tell they are on their way to becoming life-long readers themselves. We are currently reading Little Britches by Ralph Moody to the kids. It's the story of growing up poor on a rough piece of land in Colorado. Recently Tobi has started reading to himself. Prior to this, he has read short books aloud to me. The other night he read for an hour in bed! Great accomplishment for a second grader.

I get a steady supply of good non-fiction from my British friend Kath. I've been reading her books for years, and I've never come across a lemon yet.

What are some books I've been reading in the past couple of years?
84 Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
The Gervase Phinn series (5 books with anecdotes of his life as a school inspector in Yorkshire, England)
Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris
Christy by Catherine Marshall (I know it's fiction, but it's based on a true story)
Little Britches by Ralph Moody (family read-aloud)
Empty Cradles by Margaret Humfreys (fascinating story of British children who were shipped off to Canada and Australia in the mid 1900s.)
Nobody's Child by Kate Adie (a history of adoption)
Eleni by Nicholas Gage (the story of why his mother was executed in Greece in the mid 1900s)
A Place for Us by Nicholas Gage (a Greek immigrant story of life in America)

Have you read a good book today?

Boys & Affection

Today I got a spontaneous hug from my 8-year-old. What a shock. He has reached the point where he only gives me a hug if I ask for one.

I had gone to school to pick him up. He and his friend wanted to know if Tobi could go to the friend's house. The friend's father was there and had already said yes. They were just waiting for me. Knowing that I often say no on school days--especially when no advance notice has been made--Tobi was so shocked that I said yes that it resulted in a spontaneous hug--in front of other people, no less!

I distinctly remember the day he started shunning familial endearment. One day after kindergarten, we were waiting for some fried potatoes, and I casually draped my arm around his shoulders. He gently shrugged me off. I got the message, and I was o.k. with it. My little boy didn't need his mother clinging to him.

I still greatly enjoy my 5-year-old's displays of affection. When I drop him off at school in the morning, he loudly shouts, "Bye Mom. I love you!" When he finishes pre-school for the day, he will run across the playground at full speed and leap into my arms as a greeting for all the world to see.

I'll enjoy it while I can!

Tobi's 1001 pages

Tobi's elementary school set up a reading contest among the 2nd-5th grades for the October Break (11 days). The teachers had noticed that students often lose reading fluency over school breaks. The goal was to see which class could read the most pages (at their grade level) over break.

As an avid reader myself, I was really excited about this contest. The first few days we plodded along with me giving a lot of encouragement. Bayo and I dedided to offer Tobi some prizes if he could reach certain levels:

600 pages = a candy bar
800 pages = a small container of ice cream
1000 pages = N1000 (about $8.50) for shopping

Well, he made it to 1001 pages at the last minute. I let him stay up til 11 p.m. the night before school started! Even though it probably wasn't good judgment to let him stay up so late on a school night, I was quite thrilled to see his determination to reach a goal under pressure.

After school I gave him his 1000 naira for a shopping excursion. Here's the breakdown of how he spent it:
N100--candy
N900--3 cans of fruit cocktail and canned peaches!

Last week I had found the peaches in a store, and Tobi was stunned beyond belief at this great treasure!

Tobi's teacher has been conducting periodic reading fluency tests for all the 2nd graders. It will be interesting to see if his reading fluency has gone up after this great burst of reading.

A Day of Rest

Taking a sabbath rest...interesting idea that I've never really solidified in my life. Yes, we go to church on Sunday and don't go to the office, but is that all there is to a sabbath rest? I don't think so. I tended to use Sundays as a day to get caught up at home. I never mentally took a true rest. God ordained a day of rest. Did God need to rest? No, but I believe he wanted to subject creation to a rhythm of rest.

During a Bible study I attended we were encouraged to find a way of taking a sabbath rest. One friend said their family takes a sabbath from 4 p.m. Saturday til 4 p.m. Sunday. I asked why they stopped at 4 p.m. Sunday. She said they always have homework to finish up and lunches to get packed for Monday morning. Fair enough. I decided to give it a try.

I've been working on taking a sabbath rest for about 5 weeks now. I find myself really looking forward to this mini-vacation in the midst of a normal week. I must admit, it takes a very conscious effort to plan to 'do nothing.' It involves planning ahead with meals. I try to have some things on hand that I just need to heat up. The main thing I need to do is make sure I don't get on the computer...because that quickly turns into work.

During our sabbath rest, I read a lot--to the kids and just for myself. I've been trying to take naps on Sunday, but I haven't been very successful yet.

Sunday is a big visiting day in Nigeria, but we basically stay home. If we go out, it's just to Bezer Home for a hike. One weekend we went on hikes both on Saturday and Sunday. When is the last time I was such a carefree mother to just jump in the car and do something like that?

The mental break gained from a sabbath rest has definitely been worth it. I find that I'm very refreshed and ready to meet the challenges of the new week. One time my refreshed state of mind back-fired on me. I was feeling so rested, I decided just to check a few emails one Sunday night after the kids were in bed. At 1 a.m. I finally got off the computer. Monday morning came a little too quickly! Hopefully I won't repeat that mistake!

Looking forward to Saturday afternoon!

Open Doors

At our staff meeting for the Self-Sustainability (sewing) Program, on September 1, I announced that we would not take any more women into the sewing program until January 2009. An hour after our meeting was over, Sarah, our head counselor, met me and told me to sit down.

After our staff meeting, Sarah had met with various women who needed to see her. Three stood out:

Tina*, an HIV+ woman in her 40s had recently been laid off from her job as a clerk at the university. She really wanted to join the sewing program because she has no other means of income at this time. She has been without work for 15 months. It is extremely difficult to find a job in Nigeria.

The next woman who came, Janet*, is someone Sarah knew years ago. Sarah described her as being very well-off and pleasantly plump when she knew her in the past. Sarah was surprised to see how emaciated the woman is now. Janet was never able to have children, and when she became sickly due to HIV complications, her relations decided to send her home to the village to die. But Janet wasn’t ready to die. She had heard of Mashiah Foundation and she was determined to come and learn how to sew so she could feed herself.

Then a disabled woman named Nancy* met with Sarah. Nancy’s wheelchair is in need of repair. For the meantime she gets around on her hands. She too has HIV. She survives by selling local brew in her neighborhood. A friend who is HIV+ told her about Mashiah Foundation. Although Nancy will not be able to use a treadle sewing machine, we have some other projects that she can do such as beading.

As I listened to Sarah narrate these three stories, I just smiled, and said, “God, what are you up to?” We make our own plans, but God has the final say. I was strongly convinced that we are not to close our doors at this time. Four months is a long time for someone to wait when they are already despairing of life. Instead of closing our doors, we have decided to keep our doors open, knowing that that is what Christ would do.

*names have been changed

I'm Back

Wow--It's been awhile! It took me a good 30 minutes to get into my blogger account. I did write down the user name and password for reference, but I just couldn't get in. Finally I was able to reset my password. Hopefully I'll be posting more often now so remembering my password shouldn't be such an ordeal!

It's only right that I share a bit about what has sidelined me for the past weeks. Back in November 07, the ELCA asked the Women of Hope to make a quilt replicating this He Qi painting. I don't know how large the actual painting is, but we had a computer printed picture that was 10" x 13". We were asked to replicate it as an 18' x 24' quilt--maybe I should call it a tapestry. Sometimes I'm even surprised that I accepted the job. It was so far beyond me that I would wake in the middle of the night with a kind of terror--how am I ever going to get that done?!

I left the picture on my piano for months. Somehow I thought that inspiration would eventually strike, and I would just know how to do it. Prior to this, almost all of my quilting has been straight lines. How on earth were we going to make all those curves--and get it to look decent?

Well, inspiration never did strike. (What did I hear about inspiration once? It's actually 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.) Finally our deadline was looming far too close. I just had to shelve everything else on my schedule and sit down with the women and start. Our methods were rough at best. I took my color picture and made overhead tranparencies with the photocopy machine. The transparencies were not that clear. Then we went to a school with a very tall wall and projected the images onto gumstay (something like interfacing). We traced out the picture in 6 sections with an overhead projector. Later much of our pattern had to be sketched by hand because it just wasn't clear. We began our sewing with the two candles in the lower left. To my shock, it only took us 30 minutes to figure out the curve technique. Do you mean I lived with fear all those months when the solution was really that easy? The women quickly caught on.

The actual piecing took about 3 weeks with a core group of 13 women doing the work. The machine quilting took longer than that simply because our new long-arm quilting machine kept breaking down. We have since learned many tricks of operating that machine: #1 is brush lint out of the bobbincase every 20 minutes or so. We assembled the quilt in 3 sections--that's the only way it was possible to get it on the machine.

Only after we had finished did some of the women confess that they didn't believe this job was possible. It was wonderful to watch their continuous transformation into fabric artists. I had started the job by having my hand in every detail, but gradually I realized that Esther, the project manager, was fully capable of leading this project. When they reached an impasse, they would come and ask me for advice on how to proceed.

The first time I saw the whole thing stitched together, I had this kind of holy fear/awe when I looked at it. It was so much more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. For a first, very rough attempt (oh yes, there are flaws), how did it look that much like the original painting?

Years back I came across a quote from Charlie Peacock: We create out of the imagination of God. I just feel so much that God's hand is on this quilt. Yes, we worked very hard, but it's just not possible to take full credit for how well it turned out.

We shipped it to Chicago today via FedEx (that cost an arm and a couple of legs). Total weight: 61 pounds. I just felt kind of drained after we sent it--like, is it really over? Later in the afternoon I suddenly realized that we did not put our label anywhere on the quilt. I couldn't believe I had forgotten that--me, the one who insists that all of our work bear our label with the red ribbon. I toyed around with the idea of sending a label to Chicago and asking someone to handstitch it on the back. A few hours later, it hit me, that forgetting the label made perfect sense. It's God's quilt--let the recognition stop there.