1 Month A-Z

Today marks one month of my being back in the Gambia. Here’s an A-Z of Month 1:

A   Atlantic: the ocean is nearby, beautiful, fun and even warm at the moment.

B   Bats: fly everywhere as soon as it gets dark.

C   Chicken: have now learned to enjoy the bones and marrow as well as flesh.

D   Deadly: wretched mosquitoes - biggest killer in Africa. Thankful for modern medicine.

E   Electricity: very erratic - never appreciated it so much.

F   Fish: fresh and tasty.

G   Gille-gilles: onomatopoeically named minibus-taxis. One crash so far - no one hurt.

H   Hair: successfully shaved my head without losing any ears.

I    Ill: thankful for only a brief period of “Banjul Belly” on arrival.

J   Juice: love the guy who makes fresh fruit juice on the beach.

K   Kombos: the name of this coastal area where I live.

L   Language: made a start on Wolof. My favourite word is “waw”, meaning “yes”.

M  Mama: so thankful for my African mother full of love, wisdom, encouragement and joy.

N   “No, I’m not married. No, I’m not looking for a Gambian wife.”

O   Oranges: actually green, but a refreshing snack on a hot day.

P   Peanuts: eaten lots, and now know how to open the shells!

Q   Quegshon: how people pronounce “question”

R   Rice: huge portions once or twice a day. Still I’ve somehow lost weight!

S   Sweat: so much in the humidity. I think that’s why I’ve lost weight.

T   “Toubab!”: “white man”. What little kids shout out as I walk past.

U   Uncle: what children call me when they’re a bit more polite.

V   Very hot: it can be.

W   Watermelons: delicious and everywhere at the moment.

X   (E)xtremely hot: it can be.

Y   Yassa: a yummy local dish.

Z   Zoo: my back yard - birds, hens, dogs, cats, rats, bugs…

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While I'm at it, here’s a reminder of a mnemonic I shared before leaving of how people can pray for me here:

G  Gospel Clarity: please pray for clarity and accuracy as I teach God’s word and its central message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

A  Assisting Local Ministry: please pray that I’d learn how to be most effective in helping people here.

M  Meeting People: please pray for wisdom in which people particularly to spend time with, and for good friendships to develop.

B  Battling Sin: please pray that I would honour Jesus and encourage others by setting an example of godly living, being strengthened by God’s Spirit to turn from sin every day and turn to Jesus.

I  Involvement in Church: please pray for wisdom regarding which church to join. It’s been really interesting and useful to visit a variety of churches - particularly to see where my students are (many of them pastors). But it’d be good to settle somewhere soon.

A  Abiding with Jesus: please pray that I would keep my soul satisfied in Jesus every day, remembering that he is everything, and apart from him I can do nothing.

Surf's Up!

I’m so keen to surf in the Gambia. No one really does it though. Most Gambians can’t / don’t like to swim, and so the idea of wading out to sea for any kind of leisure is seen as rather strange / stupid. But there’s such great potential!

Two thirds of the population live in “Greater Banjul” / the Serekunda urban area (on the edge of which I live - star on the map) and down the “Coastal Belt”. All the way down the coast are beautiful sandy Atlantic beaches. A number of them I’ve been blessed to enjoy over the years, though never with a surfboard. Until now…

I’m so excited and eager to get surfing, but I need to hold myself back a bit. Here’s the sitch -

Location

The beach is a 25 minute walk from my house; I couldn’t really expect to be much closer. It’s lovely to be so near for a swim / drink at the beach bar, but even that distance is enough to make for a pretty hot and sweaty walk, just with a rucksack. I’m not super keen on lugging my board down and back (at least 30 mins to a surfable spot), especially as I can’t check conditions in advance.

Hopefully, by Christmas, I’ll have a vehicle that I can pop a board in. That will make things a lot easier, both for going for a surf here, or exploring beaches a bit further afield.

Knowledge

There’s not really any local knowledge about surfing here. There’s not even non-local knowledge about surfing here! Google shows up a few people who seem to have thought about it, but little more. One website simply says, “if you venture down the coast you might just stumble upon a whole line of great breaks”. Normally, one surfs in an area where people know about the waves, the tides, the currents, the underwater beds of the beaches, and how the weather (wind / temperature / season) affects all those things. Here, no one seems to have considered those things from a surfing point of view. At least, if they have, it’s not at all systematised or shared. So I’ve got my work cut out for me.

It’s quite an exciting project to have as a hobby here: mapping the surf potential of a new and promising area. It could easily be a full time job: ideally you’d want daily and careful observation of different spots in different conditions. There’s no way I can do that. I’ve got other things to be doing… But that doesn’t mean there’s no hope.

A nearby fishing beach

I could realistically pop down to the beach at least a couple of times a week. I’ve done so already. And (as I’ve done already) I’ll make notes about what I see of the surfing potential in different spots, jotting down a few details about the conditions and how it looked. Looking at the map and reading the Guide Book can tell you a few things too: noticing the slight points in the coastline (which will create interesting waves), being aware of where the busy working fishing beaches are (can avoid them for now), and so on. I’ve already begun planning potential day / weekend trips, where I could check out promising beaches a bit further down the coast.

Whilst people may not have been thinking “surfing”, there will be related local knowledge. Quite a few people spend a lot of time on the beach - either fishermen, or in the tourist industry, at beach bars / juice bars / hotels. They are more than willing to chat (try avoiding it!) and will surely have noticed at least what the sea tends to do at different times of year / when a storm kicks up / what the tide does to the beach / etc. The fishermen in their multicoloured dug-out canoes will have familiarity with the ocean in a more close-up way too. So I can begin mining info from these guys. Maybe some will even help me out by keeping more of an eye on things if I promise to buy juice / fish off them…

Dangers

A lovely looking wave that I found...

Another reason I’m not just diving in straight away is that whenever you’re thinking about water sports, especially in the ocean, there are dangers. Even more so when few, if any, people have tried to do what you’re doing before. Some promising looking beaches are rocky. There are rip tides around, though these can actually be useful for surfing (getting you out back to surf back in) if you know where they are and use them well. If you don’t, they can be at best frustrating and tiring, at worst lethal. Thankfully no one / no guide books mention sharks or crocodiles in the sea (the crocs here are all in the river, provided they don't get too lost…), though I’ve known a few people be stung by jellyfish. What can you do? Worth the risk.


So I’m biding my time at the moment, confident that with some observing and talking, the day will come before too long…

Potential

I’ve mentioned that there’s exciting potential. Here’s why I reckon so:

Bodyboarding down south here in 2005

• Many kilometres of easily accessible west-facing Atlantic coast, with no land between here and Central America = good waves. 
• Access to the same waves from storms in the North Atlantic which people enjoy very much in Morocco (booming surf industry), the Canary Islands (also a popular surf spot) and western Portugal (top place to surf in Europe, home to the biggest wave ever surfed [no thanks], and excellent conditions for beginners too, which I’ve enjoyed a few times.) 
• A surf camp has got going in Dakar, capital of neighbouring Senegal, in recent years, and Ghana, further round the coast. Positive signs. 
• Friendly locals will be happy to share what they know. 
• Did I mention the beautiful sandy palm-fringed beaches? 
• At this time of year you wouldn’t even need a wet suit. Nice. 

So - to be continued…!

Life on Life

Jesus famously said to his disciples, “Make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

This past week at SOW we’ve had 2 staff from Navigators visiting and leading seminars on discipleship. It’s been hugely encouraging having them around and sharing the house with them. We use Navigators material here year-round, and this has been a week of focussed attention on that.

Discipleship means living in response to the gospel - in faith and obedience to Jesus. The central conviction of discipleship is that Jesus gives us not just salvation and a ticket to heaven, but the privilege of growing in a relationship with him and being used by him in his service. He’s not after converts, but disciples. So the Navigators material we use is all about encouraging Jesus’ followers in that, and equipping them to then help others. Jesus’ vision and strategy is disciple cycles - disciples who make disciples who make disciples…

As we’ve thought together about various principles of disciple-making, the thing that has most struck me again is the call not just to teach others but to share life with others, setting an example. As the Apostle Paul said to the believers in Thessaloniki:

“Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you…” (1 Thessalonians 1:5-8)

Paul and his co-workers didn’t just turn up and preach, then retreat to their hotel rooms. They could say, “You know how we lived among you for your sake”. They shared their lives, setting an example, which the Thessalonians then imitated, and then modelled to others. Disciple cycles.

This has been deeply challenging for me. It’s one thing to come out to Africa to teach and preach. To do that well will require hard work, careful study and much prayer. But that is only half the job. I am also called to “set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). That is an all-encompassing call. I know that sharing life like that will involve great effort and will challenge my sinful selfishness in all kinds of ways: travelling through the heat when I’d rather stay cool, receiving unexpected guests when I’d rather rest, sharing possessions when I’d rather hold on to them, battling through awkward culture-clashing conversation…

I find it very tempting to fall back on my job description as a “Bible teacher”. I can’t do everything - I reassure myself - and my primary work is to teach the Bible and train people in their Bible teaching. That is quite true. But it doesn’t excuse me from the call to share my life as well as the gospel.

I will only be able to do this if God’s Spirit changes my selfish heart and fills it with his love: “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well” (1 Thessalonians 2:8).