Merry Christmas - We love you all!

The Best Baka Christmas Pageant Ever!

Some of our Baka friends put on a Christmas play this year for the village to come and see. It was very simple, but so precious! Here are a few pictures. It was getting dark so the quality of the pictures isn’t the greatest. The first one is of Mary (played by Tendi, and baby Jesus was played by her 3 week old son) before the angel came and appeared to her. She has her mortar and pestle and is making “Jabuka”.

In the next photo you can see (if you look hard enough) the wise men bowing down to baby Jesus and offering him their gifts of cassava leaves, a couple hands of plantains and a live chicken. Mary and Joseph are sitting there under the star of Bethlehem, and behind them are 3 shepherds and their herd of sheep (which were our kids and the Baka kids on all fours, bleating “baaa baaa”).

After the play and some explanation of the meaning of Christmas in Baka by Samba, we brought out some juice and popcorn and played some music for dancing. The last two Christmas’ we have tried different ways to give our Christmas gift to the village. Our gift includes rice, salt, bouillon cubes and candy for each family. This year we decided to hand this out after the play. Kpess and Sufiyo helped us out by filling up bags of rice and salt and making sure that each family didn’t take more than their fair share.

Finally after more dancing and merrymaking, folks started itching to get a ride back to the village (2 miles away) and cook their rice to have with their dinner. Barry made 2 trips in his car; Nathan made one (he had to fill the tire with air before they left…couldn’t imagine why it was so low!).

So…now email us or leave a comment letting us know what YOUR village / neighborhood / church / family is doing this Christmas!!! :-)

One more post before going home

Here's Darla (our new tutor who just arrived on Sunday), Nandry, Asher, Aunt Karen and Boaz (with some cool 3D glasses) trying on some Christmas tinsel. I just wanted to post this last picture before we leave for the bush tomorrow. Pray for Darla that she adjusts well to village life and that she hangs in there for the next 6 months!!!

Gotcha!!!

This is our little girl, Nandry, who is growing up way to fast! She’s so smart and clever that sometimes it takes pictures like this one of her with a basket on her head, or her sitting in a bucket to remind me that she’s still a fun-loving little girl who likes doing goofy stuff to get a laugh. She is “Miss Info” and would love to have your undivided attention to tell you the incredible thing she just learned in school about the reed warbler and the cuckoo. She is also our artist and gift-giver. If you are ever visiting our house for any amount of time (even as little as 5 minutes), you will walk away with an original piece of artwork, care of Nandry. If you stay for a few days, you might have to bring an extra suitcase for all the pictures and crafts that she has made for you. By the way Grandma, she was upset after you left because she found a bunch of stuff she made that she meant to send home with you…be expecting a package! Nandry can greet you in Baka, and have a pretty deep conversation with you in French and she’s not shy about it at all. And in this last picture, don’t let her girly-ness fool you, she can climb trees like a little monkey!

You talkin' to me?

Meet Asher. This is his snorting face, it’s one of his favorite responses when he’s asked a question. Here’s what usually happens. Someone (usually a Cameroonian) will come up to him and in French say, “Hello baby, shake my hand.” Asher gives them a blank look for about 10 seconds, then snorts like a pig, and walks away. No one yet, fortunately, has said that he’s rude…they just laugh. I’m trying to figure out if it’s just Asher’s way of saying, “I don’t know you so therefore I’m not going to talk to you.”

Asher is our puzzle man. When he’s not running around outside with the others, you can be sure to find him quietly on the floor of his room putting his favorite puzzle together for the 100th time. He’s good at seeing little details and fitting them together.

All of our kids bring us flowers that they pick out of our garden, our neighbor’s garden, the orchard and the forest, but of the 3 kids, Asher is the one that brings me flowers constantly and is very bothered if I don’t put them in water RIGHT AWAY. He loves to smell them all too and his “smelling” face is almost the same as his snorting face (see above).

And here’s a final picture of Asher just hanging out in a tree with his infamously infectious grin.

"Mom...Can I keep it?"

Meet Boaz, our animal collector. I was going to say "our animal lover", but I think that Asher actually LOVES the animals more, Boaz is just completely fascinated with them. These were all taken when Nathan's parents were here. In the first picture Boaz has a lizard. Do you know how FAST lizards are? We were completely amazed that Boaz actually caught it. It wasn't so cool that it got away and was crawling all over us during our dinner.

This next picture is Boaz with a handkerchief full of rhinoceros beetles that the Baka caught and were going to eat. One of the phrases I hear most often during the day is, "MOM, come see what I have in my bug jar!" (and the next most common phrase is my reply of "GET THAT THING OUT OF THE HOUSE!" Often it is more than one species of cool looking bug. Boaz is already planning out his zoo and all the animals that he's going to have in it.

Here, Boaz is holding a "chat-tigre", which means "cat-tiger". We aren't sure of the English name. Anyone know? These are ferocious like a bobcat with rat-shaped faces. They are soft and cuddly-looking up close...when they are already dead.

In this last picture is what Boaz really really wants. A horse. He's been praying for one lately. He's gotten to ride one twice here in Cameroon, each time when we were at the beach.

To get your car washed...any puddle will do!

Hey Dad Crane...here are some new ideas for the carwash. Have you ever thought about opening up the stream behind the buildings? That's where the real money's at!!!

And now you need something for all the grease-monster trucks:

Why are some people so...URGLY?

Kemi Update

Kemi - taking in the sights like a good little tourist.
Though we thought at one time she wasn't going to make it, our little primate Kemi has survived and is growing well. The kids still enjoy playing with her and she's starting to explore a little more outdoors. We just have to watch out for the neighborhood dogs!
She loves to be cuddled and have her belly rubbed. Here she is falling asleep in Laurel's arms. And we thought we were going to stop after three....

Our New Chauffeur

I was getting ready to leave one morning and had left the door of the truck open while going in and out of the house getting everything together. Then, while I was walking past the truck one time, I noticed little Ambili at the wheel. I guess his mom thought it would be funny. It was. And - by the way - this is the kid that almost died a year ago. He's now walking all around like a pro and, though a bit late in his growing, is advancing well - Praise God.

A Day in the Life of the Conrods

Today, our first day settled back in the bush by ourselves after a wonderful 2 ½ week visit from Mom & Dad Conrod, went a little bit like this:

(The Abbotts are on a 2 week camping trip to survey the Baka area farther south of where we live – so we are the only foreigners in the area for a while.)

Nandry and I had our first full day of school for a few weeks. We got caught up enough and I was surprised how well she is remembering everything (especially in math). I was also surprised to look at the clock when Nathan interrupted us and find out that it was already 12:45…we started around 9am. It was a full day for us, and I hadn’t even gotten to do any Kindergarten activities with Boaz yet, which I guess I’ll do tomorrow.

Nathan interrupted to ask if we had time to take a picture of him eating a rhinoceros beetle. That put an end to school!!! It is rhino bug season and they are being eaten by the bucketful. A few of our Bantu neighbors asked Nathan if he would ever eat these large beetles and said they would cook them up just to see him eat them. So, after asking for salt, oil, a bullion cube and some onion, they boiled the beetles in a pot over the fire with all those ingredients except for the onion – we didn’t have much left.

Yum, yum, they tasted just like salt, oil, and beef bullion. We all tried them, but Nandry and I only had a little nibble. They were crunchy on the outside with a creamy filling. You were supposed to spit out the crunchy part.

After our real lunch of mac-n-cheese (thanks Mom Conrod for the powdered cheese packets!!!), the kids and I measured the path around the orchard to find the distance for running. We had a rope just over 16 feet long that we stretched out 52 times (plus or minus 1 – I would loose track when I had to mediate between siblings who thought other siblings got to hold the end of the rope longer). That means 4 times around the orchard equals 1 kilometer, and 6.25 times around equals a mile.

Nathan and I then put on our running shorts and shoes, heated up a can of oxtail soup and took it down the road to a woman who lost her baby a few hours after it was born a couple days ago. The soup had a lot of protein, so I figured it would be good for her body as she healed, as well as a kind gesture. Then, we set off running around the orchard. It was way too hilly and bumpy, and we couldn’t make long strides very easily, and we had to dodge under branches of trees…who’s idea was this anyway (mine, ooops). After two times around we realized that it took more effort than it was worth. The reason we wanted to run in the orchard verses on the road was that we could still be within earshot of the kids if they needed anything. When we got back to the house from the orchard, the kids were all playing “school” with the Baka kids and writing on a make-shift blackboard with chalk and burnt sticks. They were having so much fun we decided that because there were so many people around, our kids would be fine under the watchful eye of Mama Lendo.

Well, about 20 feet from our house we walked right into the middle of a HUGE group of biting army ants on the move, heading towards our bedroom. Not wanting them to come any further, we spent about a half hour unsuccessfully trying to spray them with plant insecticide and pouring kerosene around only to discover the best way to kill some of them and make the rest turn around was a big spray can of bug (roach) spray. Hopefully they won’t come back in the night because I emptied the whole can on them this afternoon!

We finally made it to the road and had a nice run. When we came back, the boys wanted to run a little bit with us on the road too, so we took them on a short run. Boaz is FAST. He’s a little bit short for his age, and he reminds me of the boy from the Incredibles that runs super fast with these short little legs just going a mile a minute.

After our run, we spent some time outside sitting around our cooking shelter waiting for the water for our showers to heat up over the fire. Then we washed us all off, had some soup for dinner, and the kids went to bed early because they didn’t get naps.

Well, this is long and I guess only parts of it were exciting…but hey, you can pick and choose what you read and just have fun looking at the pictures.

PS – while I was doing school with Nandry, Nathan was busy fixing our toilet seat, chatting with neighbors about all of the sick folks in the area, preparing a malaria treatment for a sick 5 year old, and talking to a Baka teen, Sufiyo, about how his (Nathan’s) nose was stuffy and Sufiyo could find just the right stuff out in the forest to fix that. Well…Sufiyo came back with the dark powdered stuff and showed Nathan how to snort it. So, Nathan did. This was right before our run, right before the ant invasion. I was standing there next to Sufiyo while Nathan was trying to spray the ants and Sufiyo sneezed like I never saw anyone sneeze before with stuff spraying out of his nose…it was gross. When he saw the repulsed look on my face (sorry, couldn’t help it) he said, “It’s the powder…see, it works!” After that, Nathan started sneezing like crazy for about 15 minutes. I think that snorting ground pepper probably would have had the same effect!

Another Asher Quote

I love this one! I was looking in the kid's ears with the otoscope because Nandry & Boaz were complaining that their ears were hurting. Asher wanted to look in my ear since I looked in his ear and declared that there was alot of wax in his ears. As he looked in my ear, I asked him, "Do you see any wax?" His response:

"Nope, just ONE wack!"

(If wax is plural...then of course it would just be one WACK)

Live Shrimp -- 5$ for 2 lbs

Nathan found a way to keep the boys amused as we were crammed in the car during our 4+ hour trip from the beach to Yaounde...he let them hold the live shrimp that we bought during a toll stop. Grandma's comment was, "how funny is that, buying live shrimp in a bag from your car window." The boys giggled and hollered (while Grandpa was trying to hear while on the phone with his office...I'm sure they won't enjoy those phone bills!!!!) as the shrimp crawled around and wiggled their legs like they were trying to swim away.

The Most Beautiful Beach

I think I spelled the name of our beach hotel wrong in yesterday's post. We were at the Semme New Beach Hotel in Limbe, Cameroon. It was beautiful!!!

Here's a picture of Asher, Grandpa and Boaz being brave and facing the on-coming waves without fear.

Here's Grandma & Grandpa posing in front of the ocean (by the tree that's growing through the concrete).

Vacation with the Conrods

Mom & Dad Conrod are here for the next 2 weeks and we are having a blast. I'll post a bunch more pictures when I get a chance (maybe Friday). Here's one of Dad in the pool with us all. We had great fun hearing Dad laugh (squeal, more like it) like a 5 year old during our water gun fight in the pool at the resthouse in Douala. We are currently at Limbe Beach at the Seme New Hotel (do a google search). We go back to Bakaland on Saturday.

NO FEAR

Last evening, while we were waiting for Dad Conrod to get off the phone with his office, we were getting ready to leave for a restaurant. We locked our hotel room door and walked down to Mom's room and chatted for a bit while we waited. About 10-15 min later, Nathan went back into our room with the boys because someone forgot something. When he unlocked the door, he noticed that one of the windows in the room was left open. Knowing that HE didn't leave the window open, he asked the kids about it. Boaz said he opened the window because we locked him into the room and he couldn't get out. Nathan was SHOCKED!! "Boaz, were you scared when you got locked in the room?" "No." Unbelievable...this is the window that he opened, decided it wasn't too far to the pipe that ran across the wall, then not much farther to the ground...so he climbed out, came around and joined the rest of us in Grandma's room. We would never have even known if the window hadn't been left open!!!
Our little daredevil....or as Nathan puts it when he personally does stunts like this (um...I guess that's where Boaz learns it from!) "calculated risk taking".

Resourceful

This is Pajero. He came to Mama Lendo's house to ask if he could use her big plastic bucket. There were a few holes in it, so he took some time to fix it. He heated the blade of his machete in the fire until it was good and hot, then placed in on the bucket where the holes and cracks were so that the plastic would start to melt and he could smooth it and patch it. It took him quite a while to fix, but he succeeded. It amazes me how much "broken" and "useless" stuff we throw out that the Baka look at and say "that can be fixed". Another thing they do (I'll try to get a picture to post soon) is use "dead" batteries to play their radio. Say their radio takes 4AA batteries, and they don't have money for new ones. They will come ask us if we have any used batteries. They will make a battery holder and align 8 or more "dead" AA batteries together just to get enough charge to run their radio for a few more hours. It's amazing!

Ambili Update

So many of you have been praying for Ambili and we are sure this is the reason that he is still aound. He's happy, walking and entering into toddler-hood. Just last week we were happy to see his bigger brother (Angu) leading him around by the hand, following the other kids. This was the first time we noticed Ambili away from his Mama and the other adults.

Speedy Delivery

We're here in Yaoundé for a few days. It’s time to get a couple things done while having internet access and maybe do some shopping while in the Big City. And, of course, time to just relax a bit from the demands and such of bush life. So, Friday morning we drive to the ERC (Educational Resource Center) to take back some of the children's books we had borrowed and pick up a few more. As we pile out of the truck and gather our books to return, a man sitting close by says he has a question for me. As Laurel starts to walk down the hill past the first few buildings to get to the ERC, I start to talk with the man. There are three people there: the man, a groaning, pregnant woman (His wife) and the guard for the compound that contains the ERC. The man tells me that he and his wife need help because they are from Central Africa, he just had surgery and can't walk and she is sick. I asked her how many months pregnant she was; she said "8."

[break in story: note that we have to always be careful when asked for "favors" since 1) we are asked so often that they can take up every day and not leave us time for the things we need to do and 2) many times the folks who ask can get by in their normal fashion with the help of their families, etc. and they just ask us because of our white skin and their thinking that all whites are extremely wealthy.]

I told him that I couldn't just leave my family there and that besides; I didn't know where any hospitals were in the city since I live in the East Province and don't know Yaoundé very well. They tell me that there is a clinic very, very close and that they just want me to give her a ride. I said "OK" and started to walk down to tell Laurel but realized that that short walk would take just as long as the short drive and the woman did seem "sick." So, we helped her get into the back seat of the truck (in the one open space on the driver's side - there were two car seats taking up the rest of the back seat). The guard opened the gate and got into the front seat. The husband stayed behind. We drove the two miles to the clinic. It looks closed and the guard gets out to be sure. I ask the woman how she was and she said "It's coming." I turned around to find her scooted up/leaned back in the seat and I saw the baby's head starting to protrude. I yelled at the guard to get in quick - we had to go. He asked "to the hospital?" I said "No, it's coming right now!" So, we raced right back to where we started from (the ERC compound) and as the guard jumped out to open the gate I turned to see how the woman was doing. She was holding her newborn baby boy. So, we parked and I tried to assess (in my limited medical expertise) the situation. Seeing the color of the baby I asked "How many babies have you had?" This was her eighth. I said "I don't know what black babies are supposed to look like - is the baby's color normal?" She said "Yes." So, I talked her through what we needed to do and what we didn't need to do (the folks here have a tendency to want to rush the placenta by pulling on the cord to get it out).

While waiting for the placenta to come I thought I should go tell Laurel what was taking me so long. I walked into the ERC and the librarian asked me how I was doing... I said "interesting…a woman just gave birth in the back of our truck”. You can imagine how startled Laurel was to hear that!

In the end they called some other folks they knew who came to transport them to the hospital and we wrapped the baby and placenta up together, said our good-byes, piled all of us in the front seat (because of the bloody mess in the back seat!) and left to get our truck washed out.

PS - (This is Laurel's comment) Now re-read this story with the image of Kemi, our monkey, sitting on Nathan's shoulder the whole time! Don’t I wish I had brought the camera!

Here's our muddy, bloody truck...the kids weren't even phased at all. When Nathan asked Nandry if she thought it was neat that a baby was born in the back seat of the truck her reply was, "Not really, babies are born all the time."

Conversation @ Lunch

Boaz: Mama, are there bad doctors?
Me: I suppose so.
Boaz: Oh...witch doctors are bad doctors.
Me: Yes, I guess so.
Asher (confused): Which doctors are bad doctors?
Me: Yes.
(Nandry starts to giggle.)
Asher (really confused): WHAT doctors are bad doctors?
Me: Witch doctors.
Asher (changing his question): Which doctors?
(Nandry laughing out loud)
Me: Yes, witch doctors.
Asher: WHAT?
Me: Which witch doctors?

Finally, after explaining using the French word "Maribou" and Baka word "Nganga", Asher gets it and keeps repeating "which witch doctors?"

Little Language Helper

This is Joe. I think he’s about 6 years old. His baby teeth which look rotten and discolored are starting to fall out and his healthier looking adult teeth are coming in. He was named after our missionary friend Jose whose family lived where we lived for a few years before we arrived. He’s one of my favorite “language helpers” because he giggles and laughs at everything I say instead of just giving me a blank stare. I have fun sometimes when I’m cooking dinner and the Baka kids are playing on the veranda just outside our kitchen window. I repeat them in Baka and they giggle and keep throwing out little phrases just to hear me say it. Then I start saying or singing something in English and they try to repeat me. It’s a fun game. One day, Nathan and I were having a conversation in Baka, for their benefit, all about how we were going to cook the kids on our veranda and what we were going to eat them with (plantains, cassava…etc). They all just giggled and giggled knowing that we were being funny.

Smart Little monkey

Kemi, our little monkey, is getting a lot more active. She seems really small for her age (about 3 months) and we wonder if it’s because she didn’t get the right nutrients when we first had her (we were bottle-feeding her cows milk) or if it has something to do with her head wound from the hunter’s bullet. She’s a good little monkey, but always very curious… She LOVES the kid’s toys, and will attack toy cars and try to taste them. She likes when we read to the kids and always tries to get up close to the book and see what it’s all about. In this picture she’s “helping” Asher with his puzzle. Actually, she doesn’t have a clue what a puzzle is and is only trying to pick the pieces up off the floor and taste them. She plays hide-n-seek with the kids too…well actually it’s more like just the “hide” part while the kids are chasing her around the room. It’s really cute when she hides behind a curtain or chair, because her really long tail always sticks out. She must be thinking, “How did they find me this time?”

Amazing

This 10 year old Baka girl (Kinge – pronounced sort of like “key-ngay”) is getting her ear pierced by her grandmother (Mama Lendo). Kinge’s friend showed up this morning wearing a cute pair of earrings that someone must have bought for her. They asked me for a needle because Kinge wanted to pierce her ears. So after I put alcohol on the new needle, she threaded it with a thick black plastic thread and squatted down next to Mama Lendo. All of us were grimacing and saying, “eeeeeeeee-yikes” or something to that effect as Mama Lendo tried to poke the needle through her ear lobe. No ice, no quick little prick then it’s over. It took about 25 seconds before she got the needle through. OUCH. Kinge is a tough girl, she sat there without flinching and didn’t even make a face. Then they tied off the thread. When they threaded the needle a second time I said, “Hold on a minute, I’ve gotta a picture of this” and I ran to get my camera. On the way to grab the camera, I saw a hair band that had tiny little beads on it that Nandry and I never wear, so I cut off 3 little beads (green-red-yellow, Cameroon colors) and brought them out for them to tie onto the string for her second “earring” made from a loop of string. She loved it! This picture is of her second ear being pierced…notice the grimace on Mama Lendo’s face and the lack of expression on Kinge’s.

Distraction of the week

On Saturday, the Catholic Nuns from Dimako “descended upon” us with a group of 35 pre-teens and teens for a retreat. The group walked 8 kilometers (just over 5 miles) from Dimako to our houses, singing, stomping and clapping as they came. They wanted to get away to a place that was relatively quiet and free from the distractions that these kids normally have in town. They spent the day having meetings and group study times, as well as singing and a few games. The highlight for Nathan was that they asked him to give his testimony (in French) to this group of kids. Now we have 35 more “friends” that we know in Dimako that will greet us when we are in the market with, “Bonjour, Natan” or “Bonjour, Madam Natan”!!! (oh…and the Nuns came back the next day with a song, flowers and Chocolate for the Abbotts because they heard that they just missed Desma & Barry’s anniversary…I can’t wait for OUR anniversary!)

When Our Monkey Grows Up

The Bantu that live down the road told us that this is an adult species of the monkey that we have. We took these pictures about a year ago. The hunter shot it in the forest and tied its tail around the monkey’s neck so that he could wear it home…pleasant, huh? Our monkey will look like this when she grows up…hopefully not worn as a backpack of a hunter, though. Here’s a link to a page about our specific type of monkey (a Crowned Monkey): http://www.bioko.org/wildlife/pogonias.asp

Check Back Soon

Here's a link to a new page we are working on:

www.theconrods.org/Animals

I'm excited about this one!!! Hopefully we'll get it posted by Thursday. Here's a sneak peak:

Happy Laughter

We are in Yaounde for a few more days. It's been a good relaxing time, not having tons of stuff to do everyday while we are here. We basically came to pick up school materials for the kids and the part that will hopefully fix our new washing machine that stopped working after only 2 weeks! This picture is of Asher in our apartment in the SIL center here. The kids like to pack their book bags when we go on trips, and it's always interesting to me to see what each kid decides is important to pack. Asher packed lots of little things (cars, trains & planes), Boaz packed a few big things that he just got for his birthday (toy weapons and a larger walking dinosaur), and Nandry packed a few dolls and 3 or 4 craft projects (though last time all she packed was hair accessories).

"Can I have another bug jar?"

Bug jars...are a hot item at our house for our boys (whenever we finish off the jelly, or mayonaise, or pickles, Asher and Boaz are quick to ask if they can have the "bug jar"). I guess that the endless supply of exotic bugs around our house keeps them intrigued. This bug that Boaz found is orange and neon green! We have a small "terrarium" that we created out of a clear plastic container and made a screen opening on the top. About 2 weeks ago Boaz caught a rather large frog and put it in the terrarium out on our veranda. Someone didn't secure the top and the frog was gone the next day. 4 days later I found the frog in our drain in the shower. We put him back in the terrarium but kept him inside so that we could make sure the top stayed on. Well, the next day I heard Nandry yell, "ASHER, NO!!!! Mama, the frog just hopped under my bed and we have to get him out because what if he crawls up while I'm sleeping?" We didn't find him and I wonder if he's enjoying the peace and quiet of our house while were are here in Yaounde this week...maybe taking advantage of Nandry's bed being empty!

Tea Party

The girls have been enjoying the bucket of toy plates, cups, pots & pans and plastic "food". They make all kinds of greens and couscous out of sand and dirt and cook it over their pretend fires. We just cleaned out the "classroom" to get ready for home schooling Nandry & Boaz this year and found a bunch of treasures to put in the community play bucket.

Our 5 Year Old

Boaz turned 5 years old on Tuesday! We had a great day, and a great party! First we played some outside games like "Keep the Giant Balloon Up In the Air", then "Steal the Dinosaur Eggs" which were water balloons, then a waterballoon fight!












The Abbotts came over for a some dinosaur-shaped cake and ice cream, a fossil dig (with toy dinosaurs burried in couscous) and a hungry dinosaur bean-bag toss...and presents!