John's new blue whiskers

Early Monday evening was proceeding like one of our normal days – I was in the kitchen starting supper preparations, and Adam was out on our front porch with John and Sam. Suddenly, I heard a cry from the porch. I hurried out to see what had happened, and saw Adam holding John who was bleeding.

John had fallen face first out of the swing onto the cement porch, and split a deep gash in his chin. We decided pretty quickly that we should take him to Gamboula, a town west of Berberati, where we knew a doctor who could determine whether or not John needed stitches (and who could do them!)

So after hurriedly packing a few bags, we set out on a bumpy dirt road, just before sundown. As the last rays of light were disappearing from the sky, and we were bouncing crazily along the (very bad) road, our headlights (only the high beams were even working at that point) suddenly went out! Adam was able to figure out an ingenious way to have light, by turning on the left turn signal which also turned on an extra headlight to illumine the side where the vehicle would be turning. We had enough light to continue our journey and finally, about three hours after leaving Berberati, we finished the 40-mile trek to Gamboula.

Dr. Wester took John right into his house and decided he needed stitches. So he and another doctor put John on the kitchen table and right there put six neat stitches into his chin. We spent the night in a guest room at the center there.

The next morning, before leaving the large center where the hospital is located, we visited an amazing garden called “The Garden of Eden,” which has been planted by some missionaries whose focus is on agriculture. The garden is a huge expanse with paths running through it, and filled with all types of fruit trees imaginable. In fact, as John and I walked through it in the morning, I saw many fruits that I had never even seen pictures of before, and have no clue what they are! But it was amazing. After spending about half an hour walking through the Garden of Eden, I decided I have definitely found the ultimate CAR vacation destination.

Here is John with his new blue whiskers. He is doing just fine.

the Gbaya translation team gets going

I thought you might like to see a picture of Adam and the two Gbaya men, Anatole and Alexi, who will be helping translate the the Gbaya O.T. Actual translation work hasn’t started yet, but important groundwork is being laid. Right now, Adam is working through a translation principles course with the men. When our colleague Esther gets back to CAR, she will be doing linguistic research, vital for laying a good foundation for the translation.

Alexi, Anatole, Adam and John

Anatole and Adam

Anatole and Alexi are really excited about starting translation work, and Adam’s already enjoying working with them. A third translator is currently in Bangui getting Bible training. Eventually, he will join the team back here in Berberati.

banana bread - more charcoal baking experiments

I am trying to hone my baking-over-the-charcoal-fire skills. I am getting better over time. Please feel free to share any ideas with my that you might have about baking without a traditional oven. I am eager to collect new methods and tips.

I have been experimenting with making good banana bread, and I think I’ve finally figured out a good method.I get my coals hot on my charcoal cooker. Then I put a tall stock pot like this over the coals with about an inch or two of water in the bottom of the pan.

I pour the banana bread batter into two of these big cans, and set each of the bread cans in the water on two of these little cans, in order to keep the bread “pans” from touching the bottom of the pot (the little cans need to have both top and bottom cut out so that they will not float on the water).

After covering the pot, I just check every once in a while to see if the bread looks done. Once it looks close to done, I pour the water out of the stock pot (the “oven”) so that the bread can finish baking and get a little browned around the edges (the steaming cooks the bread well, but it needs to cook a little while without steam to get a good crust).

The bread comes out of the cans very easily, and then I cut the whole loaf in half lengthwise so it doesn’t roll right off the plate! 

Then, people like this help eat the bread:

$1 of organic produce -- and "death by coffee"

Most nights, I go shopping at the small market really close to our house, where women start to gather around 4:00 p.m. to sell the vegetables and fruits they have brought from their gardens. The market is a great place to practice my newly-learned phrases in Gbaya, and to receive plenty of encouragement from the women who are glad to help me learn to speak their language.

For about $1, I got a couple papayas, a pineapple, some freshly-roasted and ground peanut butter, and spinach. Not too bad for locally grown organic produce, right? Fresh from the garden too!

Oh, speaking of language learning...this morning when I approached the payote (grass-roofed place for sitting) where Adam was having his Gbaya language learning, he and the teacher were howling with laughter. I was approaching with a cup of coffee. Adam had attempted to say, "Ruth's bringing coffee." Instead, what he said was basically, "Ruth died by coffee." Death by coffee? I guess I could think worse ways to go.

planting the garden

The ground beside our house is all tilled, and we have started planting our garden. So far, we have planted pineapples, carrots, beets, sugar peas, a couple types of beans, sweet corn, a few varieties of tomato, and a couple types of pepper plants. We shall see what comes up.

There has been only one brief rain shower the whole time we’ve been in Berberati so far, but several days recently we have seen cloudy skies that seem to promise rainy season is nearer. Once the rainy season begins, we will not have to water our garden every morning and night, but in the meantime John and Sam help me fill up the watering can and make sure the garden beds get well soaked.

We planted herbs and flowers in front of the house about a month ago, and amongst the many weeds that have sprouted up, we also see some cilantro, Thai basil, Genovese basil and some flowers (cosmos, I think). John really likes seeing little plants just beginning to sprout out of the ground. He likes to bring green leaves to me and say, “Look, chlorophyll!”

After watering the garden this morning, John and Sam and I played a little soccer while Adam had his Gbaya lesson. I got a couple pictures of the boys while John took a rest (using soccer ball as pillow) under one of the palm trees in our front yard.