We went to the english sabbath school, which was lead by one of the doctors. I was a bobble head the whole time; I could not keep my eyes open. I did a little better during church because there were so many new experiences. Their choir would dance as the congregation sang and sometimes we would have to stand. Moving kept me awake.
I stayed awake for the sermon because it was infuriating. The elder was preaching about the role of a women "based on the Bible," while one of the Bere boys translated for us.The sermon started with a surprise. The elder proclaimed that both men and women are equal. The Tchadian culture views men as superior to women, so this was unusual. If he continued on that track it would have been a decent sermon. Too bad he didn't.
The elder said that women are only equal on international women's day, once a year. Then he transition to how women should be for the other 364 days of the year. Quoting Bible verses about women like 1 Timothy 2:11 out of context, he spoke of how a women should be submissive. To make it worse some of the Bere boys were saying amen! (Just in case I never explained who the Bere boys are, they are boys who were "adopted" into the hospital. They are always on the compound helping us out , eating with us, etc. They are awsome people. Most of the boys have parents, but their living conditions aren't the best. That is why Tammy and Jaime - one of the hospital couples - took them in.)
After the sermon, we sat the Bere boys down and asked them if they really believed what the pastor said. For the most part all of them believed what he said. Many of them said that they would never beat their wife, which is amazing for a Tchadian to say. We showed them the Bible verses in context trying to explain why we were upset, but they didn't understand or didn't concede. It was very sad.
All of the Bere staff only have one wife and don't beat their wife because of fear. It all goes back to fear. Bere Hospital is an Adventist institution, therefore, we have to be a light unto the world. If the Tchadians want to follow a different lifestyle they will be terminated. There is no other way of upholding the SDA values and working with the Tchadians.
After church I took an hour nap then went to potluck. The food was really good. Everyone says that potluck is one of the few times we can eat American food. Yet another reason to look forward to Sabbath. The only other tradition for Sabbath is putting on satellite Sabbath school. This Sabbath School is call the naked Sabbath school for good reason.
There is a quartier (it is loosely translated as a small district) 2 kilomiters away from the hospital. Most of the children who come to this Sabbath school are naked. It seemed like the younger they were, the less clothing they had. They sang song in French, and one of the Bere boys, Tamdiga, taught the lesson.
It was explained to me that the way to reach the adults is through the children. The more noise they hear coming from the Sabbath school, the more people come. The prayer is that enough people will come to Sabbath school to warrant building a church.
There seems to be a trend in Tchad - it more like a game called "let's freak out the SMs." We were trying to play capture the flag in the dark. We were all bored and wanted to do something fun on the compound. Zach, the assistant project coordinator, walked in and was about to drop a load in the bathroom before the game. I had to pee, so I asked to go first.
As soon as I walked out the bathroom I saw Zach kneeling on the floor. Someone was yelling, "someone run and get a doctor," so I ran and grabbed everyone I could find. By the time we made it back to the SM hut Zach was in the bathroom with the major case of diarrhea.
Apparently, while I was using the bathroom Zach was talking to the rest of the SMs. They said he still had a smile on his face as he crumple to the floor. He was in a daze and unresponsive. After various quetions and assessments the doctors concluded that it was caused by contaminated food.
Zach blacked out once more, but was fine. Thank God we were with him and able to get help quickly. Other then the assistant project coordinators, Zach and Charis, no one else got the runs. They had the same host family cooking for them, so it makes sense. They now have charcoal and are on a close watch. They should be in tip-top shape soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment