Benin Bulletin #11
“Settling In”
January 29, 2018
Prayer Requests
1) Settling in – We
thank the Lord that we are starting to find our feet here in Benin though there
are still tough days. Continue to pray
that the Lord would confirm that this is where He wants us.
2) Spiritual Life
Conference – We thank the Lord for the great conference we were able to be a
part of. It really was a spiritual and
emotional breath of fresh air.
3) Global Leadership
Summit – We thank the Lord that Graham was able to attend the Global Leadership
Summit in Cotonou. We are especially
thankful that he was able to understand the content!
4) New Friends –
Thank the Lord that He has allowed us to make some new friends here in Parakou. Pray they won’t be the last! :-)
5) New Car – Praise
the Lord that our car is finally with us and running well. Pray that it would continue to run well as
the roads can be hard on vehicles here.
6) Language Learning
– Pray for Graham as he continues to improve in his French. Pray for Kathleen as she has started learning
the local language “Bariba”.
7) Ministries – Pray
for both of us as we settle into ministry here.
Pray that they would find a suitable space for the clinic Kathleen will
be starting here in Parakou. Pray that
Graham would be able to get more involved in the Radio Ministry and that it
would grow and develop in its ability to bring the gospel to the people of
Benin and Togo.
Introduction
Greetings everyone from Parakou, Benin! It is Harmattan time here in Benin which has
been great because the temperature has been cooler and more comfortable. For those who don’t know what Harmattan is,
it is a time of year where winds blow sand and dust from the Sahara Desert over
parts of West Africa. The air quality
isn’t as great but it’s a drier and cooler time of year so in my mind (it’s me
Graham by the way) it is more comfortable.
It does appear to be a dirtier time of year just because everything gets
covered in a layer of dust. Not long from
now I’m sure I’ll be very willing to trade a little dust for some cooler
weather!
Kathleen and I realized recently that it has been a while
since we’ve updated you all so we felt today should be the day. We have lots to share so let’s get right to it.
Orientation
Last time I wrote to you was back at the end of
October. However, that letter was
getting so long that I failed to mention a few things that happened to us
during that month. In early October
Kathleen and I joined 2 other new arrivals (from Germany and New Zealand) for
orientation. Orientation lasted 3 days
and we talked about various subjects like adapting to a new culture, stress,
marriage problems and even did a little bit of Bariba language learning. We enjoyed getting to know the new arrivals
and learning a little bit more about Benin and SIM at the same time.
New Friends
During the month of October, we were able to make a few new
friends. One of those individuals is
Enock. Enock was born and raised in
Benin and is currently attending university.
He works in the garden here at the missionary compound and also works at
a convenience store just outside our complex.
He enjoys coming over to our house for visits quite often. I’ve done my best to help him with his
interest in English. I told him I’d help
him as long as it doesn’t interfere with his university studies! He is also helping me a lot with my French. When I first met him, I found it very
difficult to understand him, so having a conversation without Kathleen present
was almost impossible. However, over
time, I feel that we are better able to have our own conversations now. It turns out I can be taught!
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| Enock and I hanging out in the Parakou Forest. |
Another person we have gotten to know well is Julienne. Julienne comes to our house 3 times a week to
clean, do laundry and cook. She is
originally from Ivory Coast but has lived most of her adult life here in
Benin. She and Kathleen have gotten
along very well and Kathleen even calls her “Mama” from time to time. When she first came to our house I wasn’t sure
whether our relationship would be able to grow beyond just a boss-employee type
relationship. To our delight we have had
opportunities to go over to her house and do things together with her. We feel so privileged to have not just a
helper around the house but in some ways a “Benin Mother”!
Another new friend I have made here in Benin just happens to
have 4 legs instead of 2! A SIM
missionary couple here in Parakou (Lee and Sarah Phillips) have as a pet a Red
Duiker. For those who don’t know what a
Duiker is, it’s basically just a small deer.
When I was living in Botswana I saw a few of them, but usually just
glimpses because they were small and would often run into the bush as you
approached them. So, I was shocked when
I saw “Lily” when we went to the Phillips house for the first time. She is tame enough that you can walk up and
pet her. She has gotten a bit rough with
some people, but I have found her very pleasant to spend time with. Neither of us speak very good French so we
get along just fine! :-)
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| Lily the Red Duiker. |
Spiritual Life
Conference
Kathleen and I had a chance to meet the entire SIM team
(along with a few other missionaries) when SIM held its annual Spiritual Life
Conference (SLC). We had a speaker come
from the UK to challenge us with God’s word each day. There was also a group of Bible College
students from the UK who took care of the kids while the adults were in their
sessions. One of the UK Bible students
led the music and Graham joined him on his “Djembe” (African drum). We had a great time getting to know everyone
and we are already looking forward to next year’s SLC!
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| We had to give a presentation of our ministry in Benin during the conference. Apparently this is what it looks like when we do that. |
Global Leadership Summit
At the end of October, I had a chance to travel back to
Cotonou (about a 6-7 hour drive south of Parakou depending on traffic) to
attend the Global Leadership Summit (GLS).
I had the opportunity to attend the GLS in Botswana and I really enjoyed
it. For those who don’t know it’s a
conference that is held every year at Willow Creek Community Church pastored by
Bill Hybels in Chicago, Illinois. The
conference is recorded, made into DVD’s, translated into a bunch of different
languages, and used to hold conferences all over the world. I was a bit nervous attending this particular
GLS because I knew it was going to be in French. However, to my great delight, they had
English subtitles for each session! So
instead of the hardest part of the trip being the French, it turned out to be
the trip from Parakou to Cotonou. I have
a step counter that I wear on my left wrist that counts the number of steps I
take each day. When we travelled to
Cotonou the trip was quite bumpy. When
we arrived in Cotonou that evening I looked down at my watch and realized I had
broken a personal record and walked 21,000 steps! Not bad considering I was on a bus the entire
time! :-)
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| Praise the Lord for English subtitles! |
Car Saga
In November, Kathleen and I travelled together on the bus
from Parakou to Cotonou. We needed to
apply for our residence permits to legally stay in Benin. Also, we had purchased a 2003 Toyota Rav4
that we were told had gone through customs and registration and such and was
ready to be picked up. The immigration
process went very smoothly. The first
thing they do is take a blood test and screen you for HIV, TB and
Syphilis. As it turned out, Kathleen and
I didn’t have any of those things so we were able to apply for residency. After that was done we turned our attention
towards getting our car. This was a much
harder task.
If I had to summarize our problems with the car it was that
there was simply a lack of communication.
I believe this was mostly just an experience in cultural
differences. For those who don’t know,
the common way to buy a car here in Benin (or in most countries in Africa I
imagine) is you use a dealer. SIM has
used a guy for a number of car purchases and had success with him so that is
who we used. Unfortunately, when our
dealer bought the car, he found there was a problem with it (the radiator had a
large crack in it). We didn’t find this
out until after we had the car in our possession. Instead of contacting us to let us know the
minute he found out, he decided to go ahead and get it fixed. Unfortunately, the repair was not done
properly. When the dealer tried to bring
the car to us it overheated. When it overheated,
the head gasket went with it. So, when I
finally got possession of the car and got it checked by a mechanic, he
instantly found the problem. The car we
had just spent a ton of money on, that we hadn’t even driven yet basically
needed a huge and costly engine repair.
Good times. Needless to say,
Kathleen and I were very discouraged and frustrated. Thankfully, the dealer took responsibility
and said he would get the problem fixed and absorb the cost. That was a blessing but it didn’t make me feel
much better. I knew this was a major
issue and wasn’t sure whether or not the mechanic we had chosen would be up for
the task. However, after staying an
extra week longer than planned in Cotonou, we were finally on the road. There were still a few issues with the car but
thankfully I was able to sort out with my new American missionary friend Albert
Helmuth. Albert and his family live in
the village of Djougou (about a 2-hour drive northwest of Parakou) and he is an
automotive mechanic. Albert very
graciously worked out a few issues we still had with the car and it is now
running very smoothly (as smooth as any 15-year-old car will go). Needless to say, we feel very blessed to have
a reliable vehicle to use to get around with.
Praise the Lord!
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| The lovely crack we found in our radiator. |
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| Our 2003 Toyota Rav4 in all it's glory. |
Language Learning
One thing both Kathleen and I are currently working on to be
more effective in our ministry is language learning. One interesting difference that I would say
most couples probably don’t experience when they are on the field is that we
are both currently learning different languages! As many of you know, Kathleen is very good in
her level of French. I still consider
myself a student of the language and am currently taking 1 day a week to concentrate
on French study. Kathleen is currently
studying Bariba which is the most commonly spoken African language in
Parakou. Many of her patients do not
speak French so at the moment Kathleen will be relying on an interpreter when
she meets with people in the clinic. Her
desire is to try and acquire as much Bariba as possible so that one day she
won’t need an interpreter.
Kathleen’s Nursing
Orientation/Christmas
During the month of December, both Kathleen and I travelled
to the nearby village of Bembéréké (about a 1.5 hour drive north of Parakou). Kathleen spent her days receiving nursing orientation
from Miriam (a fellow SIM missionary) at the clinic there. She was very pleased
to be warmly welcomed onto the team and the knowledge they shared with her. I
spent my days learning French with a local teacher. We spent Christmas and New Years in Parakou
with friends but the rest of the month we were in Bembéréké. It was nice spending time there but we were
both happy to be back in our own beds in 2018.
The plan at the moment is that Kathleen with be running a “sister” clinic
here in Parakou in the near future.
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| Kathleen did a great job decorating our house for Christmas. She even found lights and a tree! |
Radio Ministry/TWR
As most of you already know my role here in Benin was to be
working in their project department.
However, as time has gone on I have found myself getting involved into
more than just that. In our last letter,
I mentioned a South African couple (Garth and Fiona Kennedy) that are here in
Benin working with Trans World Radio (TWR).
Garth was interested in my IT expertise and wondered if it was possible
for me to come out and help them with some of their IT issues. After talking with SIM, we decided I would go
out to the TWR station 1 day a week. So
far, I have really been enjoying it. On
top of that, SIM has a radio studio that they use to record sermons and songs
in 17 different languages. These songs
and messages are then given to TWR and local FM radio stations to broadcast
them throughout the year. I’ve been
spending about 1 day a week at the studio helping out with their IT needs as
well. I see a lot of potential for that
studio and I hope that I will be more involved there in the future.
On the Lighter Side
As many of you know I have been struggling to learn French
for the last 15 months or so. For those
who are wondering about my progress I would say that I have my good days, and I
have my bad days, then I have my ridiculously bad days. For example, Kathleen and I were at church
one Sunday and the worship team stood up to lead us in a song. I find understanding people when they sing is
a lot harder than when they are just talking.
As I listened, I began to chuckle to myself because I knew what I was
hearing couldn’t possibly be correct. I
thought it might be a good insight for you all into what I tend to hear during
the worship time at church. Directly
translating what I heard into English, the song went something like this: “Love…summer…summer…God!” I hesitated to put quotes around it because
I’m quite confident they were singing something else. (at least I hope they
were) :-)
Another funny moment Kathleen and I had at church was when
we went to a special church service that was led by the woman in the
congregation. When one of the ladies
leading the service started to pray she said, “Madame Jesus!” (I’m assuming
this needs no translation) I’m pretty sure Jesus wouldn’t disown you if you
called him Madame, but I think He would agree that it wasn’t right.
Conclusion
And on that lovely note I think it is time to end. Thank you so much for your love and support
for us as we endeavour to be salt and light here in Benin. Until next time!
Blessings,
Graham &
Kathleen <><
SIM Contact Info:
SIM Canada
10 Huntingdale Blvd.
Scarborough, Ontario
M1W 2S5
Canada
Tel:
1-800-294-6918
E-mail:
info@sim.ca
(Our missionary number is 024460)
The opinions expressed in this letter are our
own opinions. They are not necessarily the opinions or views of Serving
In Mission (SIM).
