Basket Weaving

About 2 weeks ago, I mentioned to Pauline that I needed some baskets, and that if she didn't mind teaching me, I'd love to learn how to make them too. I told her that I'd even love to go out to the forest with her and collect the plant that they cut the reed off of to make the baskets with. She said fine. I waited for a few days, but thought she'd forgotten or wasn't interested. But, last Saturday, Nathan forgot to tell me but he had talked with Sufiyo the previous day, who had told him that the previous day (we're back to last Thursday, stay with me) he came by and was supposed to let me know that Pauline was ready for me to come and make baskets...but he (Sufiyo) forgot. Anyway, Sunday afternoon I set off to Koo, the village less than a half mile away to learn some basket weaving skills. Pauline had already gotten the material, but hadn't stripped it into thin reeds yet.


It took a while to understand the pattern and method to doing it, but I caught on pretty quickly. They were able to see my mistakes and correct them pretty easily for me. The hardest parts were starting out and transitioning from the bottom to the sides. It looked like we had finished, but Pauline was saying something about me coming back the next day (Monday). So, I left the basket and agreed to come back the next day. Well, Monday I went back and she said, "You left your basket." Yes, I had. And we promptly started making ANOTHER basket. I asked, "Oh, what kind of basket are we making today?" And the response was a laugh with "She asked what kind we were making today." And we started again, just as we had done yesterday. Nice, so I guess she was making sure I had retained it all over night. But it was good to have that immediate refresher, and I noticed that this basket was coming along more quickly. We didn't quite finish this one when she said, "Are you done? You can come back tomorrow to finish." I have yet to go back, there have been too many things this week keeping me from another afternoon of basket weaving. I'm also a little intimidated because Nathan heard the ladies saying that they wanted me to learn how to make a BIG basket like they use for hauling all their forest findings in. We'll see. Tomorrow, after school with the kids, I'll go back and see what's in store for our next basket making session.


Life here is still so confusing to me. I'm still in a fog most of the time with the Baka language, which I know attributes to my confusion...but a lot of things are cultural on my side and their side, and how we each have expectations that the other doesn't understand. I gifted her both days before we started basket making with clothes and food, thinking how nice and generous I was...but it still seemed like they expected me to pay them for teaching me. The second day, she mentioned that she could buy salt across the road at her neighbor's house, but it would cost her 200 francs. I thought it was just a random comment and said, "wow, 200 francs, really?" Then as I was going home, she sent 3 of her little kids/grandkids following me. I asked them if they were coming to see Jennifer (the nurse) and they said no. I asked if they were coming to see me and they said yes. I asked why, and they answered that their mother was sending them. I asked for what, and they didn't answer. I asked if their mother wanted money, they said no. Wondering what in the world I had missed, they finally said their mother wanted salt. Oh, so that was what the 200 franc salt comment was about. I had no salt to give them...if only these things could be talked through more clearly. I'm not even sure that a thorough understanding of the language would have helped me out there. I ended up sending them back with 200 francs. At least she could buy salt from her neighbor, maybe?
Anyway, she's waiting for me to come back tomorrow, and I will, to finish my #2 basket, and possibly start "the big one". Who knows? Anyway, for the most part, I'm enjoying myself and getting to spend time with the ladies while we are actually doing something and I don't feel like I'm just a bump on a log.

Princess Cool and Her Boys

She left the shades on for quite a while, even strutted around a bit. The boys thought it was great!

Movie Night

Tonight, Nathan and the kids crowded around our portable (7in screen) DVD player with 20 of our next door neighbors. We showed an episode of BBC's Planet Earth, borrowed from some missionary friends here in Cameroon, the episode called "Jungle". They loved it, even though it was in English.

If anyone feels sorry for us...as they sit comfortably alone in front of their 4ft flat screen...we are in the market for an LED projector (small/portable). That wasn't even subtle, was it?

Anyway, despite the tiny screen, we really enjoy times of fun and entertainment with our neighbors.

School’s Not Quite Out Yet

We have 5 more curriculum weeks to go…but I’m trying to pack into the next 3 weeks. I think we can do it, but the kids are seriously suffering from school overload. We started the school year about a month late because of our visa delays last year, and having to wait longer than we expected to get back to Cameroon.

Nathan is finishing up Science and History with the kids (he’s been doing these subjects for at least half of the school year, lightening my load a good bit). When I passed by the kid’s room while Nathan was reading the history book, this is the sight I saw…too precious!

Here’s Nandry in the “classroom” corner of our bedroom. I have to do all three kids in turn, and then send them out to the kitchen table to finish their seat work on their own. Oh to have more space…but we make do just the same.

Au Jardin

I got to do some gardening with the neighborhood kids. They helped me pull weeds and had fun using the hoe to try to make rows for me to plant on. I had on work gloves so that I wouldn’t get poked by the thorny weeds and I kept hearing the Baka kids say something about a monkey. It turns out that their term for those types of gloves is “monkey hands”! I love talking with the little kids because they don’t care how bad I butcher their language; they always giggle and smile. They got rewarded with cookies and I gave the two girls that actually worked about 20 cents each and they were very satisfied. Cheap labor!

Thank You Ikea!

We bought these gymnastic “rings” from the States at Ikea and our kids have become quite the gymnasts since we put them up. I though this picture was too funny, because it looks like Asher parachuted in, and got stuck from the rafters of our house. I wish we had enough bandwidth to post video, because Boaz and Asher figured out a way to each swing on a ring and wrap themselves around each other, like two tether balls. It’s too funny.

Beach Part 2

I'm not feeling very wordy today. Enjoy a few more photos of our vacation at the beach.

Gotta love Nathan's waterproof camera! These fish liked to examine our toes when we were in the freshwater stream.

Limbe Beach, Part 1

There are so many reasons we love the beach...and the fresh fish, chips and fried plantains are just some of the many. This is our family's favorite vacation spot; we've made the best memories here over the years and it just keeps calling us back. If you come and visit, we'll take you there!

The black sand, from volcanic rock, is pretty great for making castles, especially drip castles.




We saw many people at the beach rubbing the black sand all over their bodies and then washing it off in the ocean. Supposedly, it's good for the skin. I tried it on my feet and it rubbed off all the callouses and made them soft and smooth.






Nandry collected our individual Jelly serving containers from breakfast and used them as forms to make bricks for sandcastles and a sand pyramid. I think we could have done something larger scale without the jelly containers, but it was still fun.





One of the highlights of the beach (as if the food, ocean, freshwater stream, playground, room with TV & A/C aren't enough) is horseback riding. When the horses aren't saddled up, they sometimes run and frolic along the water edge, it's a cool sight. The caretaker of the horses (in the yellow shirt) has been trying to convince Nathan that we need to buy one of his horses and take it back East with us to Bakaland. I'd love to do that, if not only for the shock factor of introducing an animal that the Baka have never seen before.

Finding Friends

On the way from our place to Yaounde, we stopped by the ever elusive village of Bonando to see if we could find some of our long lost friends. It was actually a large village, but you have to be paying careful attention to see the sign. We even had to make three stops along the road (it was a long, spread out village) to get to the "Baka ghetto" part. But we were so glad we did. Last year, while we were in the States, our Baka neighbor and friend Koeseni died. She was the mother of Ambili and his big brother Angu, two kids that became very dear to us during our last term.
The Mama with the baby (Baby Desma, even) hugging her legs is the sister-in-law of Koeseni, who's family is now responsible for raising Angu (on the right) & Ambili (middle). Angu had a little smile for us, but Ambili wasn't really phased when he saw us. It broke my heart to see their physical condition...Angu only walking on his heals because he has so many sores on his toes; and Ambili with an open, infected sore on his foot about the size of a quarter, complete with flies swarming around it. Keep these kids in prayer. They live too far away for us to have much input in their lives...but they are so precious to us.

The Perils of the Post

We LOVE getting mail! And our family (and some churches) have been especially wonderful/generous lately to send us some big packages....though we know it probably costs more to ship it than the worth of what is actually in the package. Well, this last package from family in PA came with a fairly large hole in the side (see in the picture), where apparently a rat got in while it was sitting in the post office and had a feast. FYI, rats really like blueberry muffin mix as well as chocolate chip muffin mix. Fortunately, the dry roasted edemame was hardly touched and the gluten free bread mixes my mom sent were left alone (guess rats have a thing for gluten?). The kids got some activities books that went along with us on our trip and helped keep them busy in the car, and they also got a "bug vacuum" that we haven't yet tried. It's probably hard to tell in the picture below, but everything was covered in powdered batter mix...but it smelled really good. :)


I should add a PS, that even though there are many things not readily available to us like muffin mixes and often missionaries are known to...um...be frugal/not picky/not throwing away what others consider trash...well we DIDN'T make and eat the muffins. I just draw the line at getting leftovers from rats, know what I mean?