Village & Likano

We want to blog a little more about some of our Baka Likano story times, this is an excerpt from Nathan's journal from his first camping trip to Nkolbikon in April:

So it's Monday - the day I'm supposed to leave for Nkolbikan. Sufaio is already there - he's expecting me. Five other guys decide they want to join me. One guy is a blind fellow who spends his days playing an aita (a 7-string African instrument) and singing. His name is Bado.

It rained a lot last night and the road to Nkolbikan isn't good. It takes me just under an hour to go 16 km. Thank God for 4X4.

We arrive to find that Sufaio's family and many others are on a forest trip. They said they would be back, yesterday. We sit. We sit. We sit. It's a common pastime here. I figure it's time to set up my tent. Sufaio helps while everybody else ooohs and aaahs. (Actually, in Baka, it's wόooooo). Then Sufaio and I go bathe at the stream and come back to sit... again.

This time we're around someone's cook fire. Bado is playing his aita and singing - so sitting becomes more enjoyable. Sufaio brings over cooked spinach-like greens (cassava leaves) and potato-like roots (also cassava) and he, his little brother Assi and I eat it with our fingers. It’s actually very good. I watch as a woman boils more cassava added to oily liquid from boiling palm nuts, and also adds some mashed roasted peanuts. To my delight we are served a large bowl full to share. This time I get to use a spoon. It, too, is good.

I had told Sufaio that he was in charge of getting people together and deciding when and where, etc. I hear them discussing the best place to meet, and then he tells me it is time. We go back to where we sat during the afternoon and wait on others to come. We are facing north and over the following hour I get to watch the big dipper rise into the sky.

A half hour later more people come and finally, Bado strikes up some music. He leads the singing for a while until his repertoire of Christian Baka songs is complete and then Sufaio leads a few more. More people join as we sing until there are around 30 people. Though I am disappointed that Sufaio’s family is still in the forest, the turn out is good.

As I prepare my MP3 player to play the Creation Likano for them, I find that it isn't listed. Disappointed, I think about my options and decide that maybe it is best to start at Cain and Able anyway since I only have a few times to share here. I sum up the Creation and mentioned how God loved mankind and loved to be with them when they were perfect - but then they disobeyed and "badness" has continued until today. I play the Cain and Able likano for them and, when it’s over, try to make sure they understand it and it's implications (ie - you might not have killed anybody but we've all sinned). Then I pray for them. After that, Sufaio asks if the folks have truly understood and he prays too. We all sing a few more songs and I feel my spirit rise as everyone seems to be enjoying the time. I pray that God would do mighty things.

It is late. We have met for about an hour - from about 8pm to 9pm. Sufaio tells them not to take so long congregating tomorrow.

So now I'm in my tent - typing this out on my netbook - surrounded by forest and people who live off of the forest - must go to sleep.

****To read more about our experiences at Nkolbikon, check our our April Archives