Hello again! It’s been a while since posting and, if that bothers or saddens you, I apologise! I’ve somehow drifted out of the habit - maybe something to do with getting engaged a few months ago, which has brought a rather significant life change and an even greater one just around the corner!
Time for a guest post. The below report was written by my friend John. He works for Urban Saints UK (youth and children's ministry) overseeing their global work of training people for children's work. I met him here in the Gambia last year when we worked together doing some children’s workers’ training - Pastor Steven (Director of SOW, Servants of the Word, Bible School where I teach) invited him to come with a small team (3 of them came last year, 2 this year).
I believe reading it will give you a feel for some of the challenges and joys of working here, along with some comedy moments. Over to John...
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Monday 5 June
02.30 is a shocking time to start a journey, but the redeye to Brussels dictated our schedule and a semi-comatose carload of worthies stoically shambled up the M20 in search of Belgians.
This was my last overseas trip with Urban Saints as I am being made redundant next month. Future expeditions will be with the new charity that a team of us are forming to carry on this amazing ministry, chaired by former Urban Saints Chairman, Peter Jeffrey.
My colleague for the trip was Paul Wykes, a friend the Global team first met in Qatar, where he had been leading a massive Urban Saints group. He’s familiar with the training having both hosted it in Qatar and delivered parts of it himself in Africa in support of a church plant.
The flight was smooth and Paul Mahmood was only 20 minutes late to meet us in Banjul, which for him is a record (in the right direction). A quick conflab and fried chicken dinner with Jonny our host (an English missionary supporting local leader training) and Ed (his mate just completing a medical elective in The Gambia), and we were off to bed in the WEC guest house.
Tuesday 6 June
We were expecting a slow start (we’ve worked here before) and were also not unnerved by having no idea how many people would be in attendance (things here fluctuate wildly depending on local employment conditions). However, the number of trainees attending was a record low (7 people). Last year we had been warned numbers would probably be 10, and in fact 30 people came, so this was horribly disappointing.
The course dynamics don’t work very well for so few people so immediate and drastic adaptation was necessary. The quality of the participants was high and the smaller numbers made discussion groups somewhere with nowhere to hide, so each could be stretched much more than usual.
The first session involved Paul Wykes being picked up and carried across the room by a delighted class introducing the concept of team – very disarming; laughter is a great start to a training course.
Newspaper Towers of Babel were pretty woeful. This was a point of pain for Paul, who has been in the construction industry all his life and has had significant responsibility for some big projects including skyscrapers. His critique of the local would-be Shard designers and builders was something to hear!
Wednesday 7 June
We looked at the Gospel today; what it is and what it isn’t. Seeking to encourage that delicate mix of allowing the Spirit of God to convict young people by taking the Word of God, carrying it to hearts, and giving sufficient opportunity for them to respond with an appropriate amount of compelling witness. Various hilarious pressurising role plays were enjoyed, and discussion around Acts 2 (Peter’s Gospel presentation at Pentecost) and James’ ‘Can faith without works save you?’ We managed to avoid (just) a detailed dissection of various understandings of doctrines of the Trinity – there were a couple of able Bible school students in the mix, eager to show their knowledge.
After the training, we caught a taxi with Linou and Samuel out to a more remote new settlement on the edge of the Kombos conurbation called Busumbala. Here a church plant congregation meets under a cashew tree on home-made benches. Mainly women and children, the congregants worship with basic choruses, play games and listen to the Bible and a talk from it.
During the meeting, Paul told the story of David and Goliath (very well) and I played a couple of games with everyone. It was lovely to be able to encourage and help a little, and to see the valiant efforts of the local church here planting among the animist Islamic suburban poor. The congregation was happy and worshipful, very excited to come together. Paul and I had concerns though about the sadly unimaginative efforts of the leaders, resulting in what seemed to us like it may have been a quite unattractive meeting, especially for the children, had we not been present.
Thursday 8 June
Lunch every day has come from a local Christian food outlet and has been very good. Today however was fish and I was unable to eat much of it. Famine wasn’t so bad as the heat was so oppressive that all other suffering seemed irrelevant. Participant numbers have climbed to 9.
Paul has been building a Tower of Babel in breaks since Tuesday afternoon. This is because Tuesday’s newspaper and tape tower-building was shockingly bad and he simply had to express his desire to teach construction to these folks somehow. He also had a previous record of 2.4 metres (previous training in Qatar) to beat. He spent all his down-time today fitting together extremely long, thin delicate tubes of taped newspaper. Late in the day he ran a drama game in which almost all the acts used his lovingly constructed tubes as props and wrecked them. He was pleased with the dramas but clearly in pain. It was difficult trying not to laugh.
Massive issues day as we looked at marriage, sexuality, young people and the church. There seemed to be a lot of chauvinism surfacing in the complaints of the women and the very defensive attitudes of some of the men. Debate was lively, particularly whilst Ed was leading on marriage. Voices were raised, people stood up, fingers were pointed, sides seemed to be preparing for war. I jumped in to rescue Ed towards the end – he looked like he might need to use his chair as some kind of lion- taming accessory.
Dinner tonight was at Jonny’s place – cooked by the beloved Auntie Mariatu. Steven’s family came along too and everyone ended up playing a complicated counting game (Fizz Buzz) contributed by Paul; belly laughter after dinner, always a good thing.
Friday 9 June
Today much of the focus was on assessing risk, keeping children safe and understanding how to have sensible measures in place to ensure your children’s work does no harm. Some of the participants had ideas on this, most did not. There were some horror stories that came out in the discussions, including the reality that many teams from overseas operate in The Gambia as if their nation’s safety precautions do not apply here. This included a European team a few years ago, that took 100+ kids to the beach to teach them to swim with only three leaders and no safety plans nor risk assessments in place, drowning 14 of them.
I had the pleasure of working through the hope found in the pages of the Bible, for people that have suffered abuse. Life goes on, healing and recovery is possible, ministry by broken people, normal.
Relationships were much more relaxed today. Leese punched me in the stomach at one stage and I attempted to wrestle him to the ground. (Impossible - he was seemingly made out of stainless steel and tree bark. I was lucky to escape the tussle without injury.)
Saturday 10 June
Our last day was cut short by the departure of two participants. We also re-cut the normal schedule to revisit some Part 1 training in order to better equip the participants for creating engaging Bible teaching lessons. We also put in some extra work on planning a balanced teaching curriculum.
Paul’s tower failed to reach his desired 3 metres despite strenuous efforts in all the down-times. Leese accidentally knocked it over. When he repaired it and stood it back up, it looked taller, so we measured it. Leese’s efforts made it at least 10 cm taller than Paul’s so we awarded all the tower building plaudits to Leese rather than Paul - a great moment.
We ended with a prizegiving and certificate presentation. By then we were down to six participants as three had left. This was the smallest presentation I have ever been involved in. I felt a bit flat about that, but was encouraged to hear what the participants said about the course.
Paul opted for bribery, handing out sweets for his question and answer approach to the Prodigal Son. The answers were woeful at first, with blank looks and fear the dominant responses to the strange Toubab (white man) who would not let them just listen, but tortured them with the hard work of interaction. By the end of his talk most people had acclimatised and even the smallest had won a sweet. We left with a chastened understanding of how much energy it takes to drive forward a church plant in this area, and the desperate need for excellent Christian leaders.
We moved on to the new Servants of the Word training college site. It is here that Steven plans to train hundreds of excellent ministers, able to advance the Kingdom in this nation. After the church plant experience earlier, the need for this was clear in our minds. Paul had some suggestions about how money could be saved in the construction and Steven eagerly agreed to meet him for this purpose later in the trip.
Monday 12 June.
Travel to Soma – 180 km up river was wonderfully comfortable – in Jonny’s excellent 4WD Toyota. I recall trips passim involving goat urine pouring in through open gilly-gilly windows, a car crash in a battered Renault with a mad African pastor at the wheel, and bumping along in the public bus among the chickens. This was just wonderful and included a stop off at the WEC (a mission with a significant presence in the Gambia) medical clinic to visit Jonny’s friends Will and Anna there. Both doctors, Will and Anna looked absolutely shattered by their 8-month sojourn on the front line of bush doctoring. On call night and day, treating all sorts of things including life-or-death and some operations they have really blessed the people here. After an inspiring cup of tea, we pressed on through the termite mounds to Soma.
There was no sign of Pastor Edward on arrival at around 2pm so we checked ourselves into the Scout Centre. He invited us back to dinner at 8pm. In the meantime, we had a quick look around the town (pretty ramshackle and covered in dust). Boy was it hot – 41°C (106°F).
We headed down to the river and enjoyed excellent omelettes in a basic food establishment, regarded by the beady eyes of mudskippers gazing unblinkingly through the open back door.
Soma stands by the South bank of the river where the Trans-Gambia Highway links Nothern Senegal with the South. The road has been upgraded in recent years and now work has commenced on a bridge to replace the inadequate ferry crossing. Paul, being a construction engineer, showed a keen interest in the theodolite on our bank and the engineer radioing his commands to the others on the bridge columns. Paul pronounced the project highly professional. I was blundering about near the theodolite when an African frog-marched me away from it. Apparently if I had kicked it, the effect on the bridge construction could potentially have been to convert it into the Gambian equivalent of the leaning Tower of Pisa.
At Edward’s, over roasted goat meat, talk turned to his struggle to build the church building here. He has had to put up with vandalism, people desecrating it with human waste (sometimes they have been unable to meet because of the smell even after he has cleaned up) and the constant competing demands for meagre financial support. The town is 99.9% Muslim and hostile to his work, though he has an excellent reputation. He is 32 years old, though carries himself like a man 10 years older.
Part of Edward’s fund-raising is through growing pigs. He can sell a big pig for nearly £200 and he has around 20 of them. Recently a local family has stolen and sold 5 of his pigs. He has captured 3 of theirs and will settle the dispute with them by reasoning things out rather than having their son jailed (an option). Jail here is terrible and Edward does not want this to happen to the lad.
Edward has promised us power for most of the days – apparently there are no issues here like the ones we faced in Serekunda.
Tuesday 13 June
Well that was one hot day!
After breakfast at Edward’s (we admired his 5 cute little ducklings) we headed over to the Catholic centre to roast in the heat of the tandoori classroom. Of course, there was a power cut so no fans!
We had only 12 participants, between the ages of 16 and 25. It was great fun playing games and running the training. Things were very slow at first with everyone quite shy. By the time we’d played a bit and lugged Paul across the compound on a blanket people decided to enjoy themselves and enthusiastically chipped in to the sessions.
Jonny has hit his stride in teaching the course. He is patient and diligent at drawing out the thoughts of the participants and gets fantastic contributions from them. He really is a superb Bible teacher, with a great love of the Gambians and a good understanding of their ways. Lunch was cooked by Edward’s wife Kunsa, with two colleagues. It was eaten in small groups from shared bowls.
Indoor hockey (always a highlight) revealed some superb sportiness among the girls, particularly Adama and Augusta who won both their 2 matches against strong sporty lads who weren’t holding back, egged on by their sides’ cheering.
 |
| Samuel and Linou's group at Busumbala |
Nobody has a Bible and few read or write. It’s a desperately fragile initiative, kept alive by the prayer and faithful witness of the young leaders planting the work. Samuel and Linou normally travel by public minibus, an uncomfortable 2-hour trek to meet the villagers waiting patiently under their tree. The leaders visit people in their homes twice more each week. During the rainy season the meeting moves into someone’s house but sometimes they number 70 or more so this is not very practical.
During the meeting, Paul told the story of David and Goliath (very well) and I played a couple of games with everyone. It was lovely to be able to encourage and help a little, and to see the valiant efforts of the local church here planting among the animist Islamic suburban poor. The congregation was happy and worshipful, very excited to come together. Paul and I had concerns though about the sadly unimaginative efforts of the leaders, resulting in what seemed to us like it may have been a quite unattractive meeting, especially for the children, had we not been present.
Thursday 8 June
Lunch every day has come from a local Christian food outlet and has been very good. Today however was fish and I was unable to eat much of it. Famine wasn’t so bad as the heat was so oppressive that all other suffering seemed irrelevant. Participant numbers have climbed to 9.
Paul has been building a Tower of Babel in breaks since Tuesday afternoon. This is because Tuesday’s newspaper and tape tower-building was shockingly bad and he simply had to express his desire to teach construction to these folks somehow. He also had a previous record of 2.4 metres (previous training in Qatar) to beat. He spent all his down-time today fitting together extremely long, thin delicate tubes of taped newspaper. Late in the day he ran a drama game in which almost all the acts used his lovingly constructed tubes as props and wrecked them. He was pleased with the dramas but clearly in pain. It was difficult trying not to laugh.
Massive issues day as we looked at marriage, sexuality, young people and the church. There seemed to be a lot of chauvinism surfacing in the complaints of the women and the very defensive attitudes of some of the men. Debate was lively, particularly whilst Ed was leading on marriage. Voices were raised, people stood up, fingers were pointed, sides seemed to be preparing for war. I jumped in to rescue Ed towards the end – he looked like he might need to use his chair as some kind of lion- taming accessory.
Dinner tonight was at Jonny’s place – cooked by the beloved Auntie Mariatu. Steven’s family came along too and everyone ended up playing a complicated counting game (Fizz Buzz) contributed by Paul; belly laughter after dinner, always a good thing.
Friday 9 June
Today much of the focus was on assessing risk, keeping children safe and understanding how to have sensible measures in place to ensure your children’s work does no harm. Some of the participants had ideas on this, most did not. There were some horror stories that came out in the discussions, including the reality that many teams from overseas operate in The Gambia as if their nation’s safety precautions do not apply here. This included a European team a few years ago, that took 100+ kids to the beach to teach them to swim with only three leaders and no safety plans nor risk assessments in place, drowning 14 of them.
I had the pleasure of working through the hope found in the pages of the Bible, for people that have suffered abuse. Life goes on, healing and recovery is possible, ministry by broken people, normal.
Relationships were much more relaxed today. Leese punched me in the stomach at one stage and I attempted to wrestle him to the ground. (Impossible - he was seemingly made out of stainless steel and tree bark. I was lucky to escape the tussle without injury.)
Saturday 10 June
Our last day was cut short by the departure of two participants. We also re-cut the normal schedule to revisit some Part 1 training in order to better equip the participants for creating engaging Bible teaching lessons. We also put in some extra work on planning a balanced teaching curriculum.
Paul’s tower failed to reach his desired 3 metres despite strenuous efforts in all the down-times. Leese accidentally knocked it over. When he repaired it and stood it back up, it looked taller, so we measured it. Leese’s efforts made it at least 10 cm taller than Paul’s so we awarded all the tower building plaudits to Leese rather than Paul - a great moment.
We ended with a prizegiving and certificate presentation. By then we were down to six participants as three had left. This was the smallest presentation I have ever been involved in. I felt a bit flat about that, but was encouraged to hear what the participants said about the course.
Feedback to the question ‘How has the training impacted you? What will you do now?’
Samuel (Pastor)
The way to build a programme and to bring the teaching alive was really helpful to me. I will make changes. People will learn more and be happier.
Sangpierre (Pastor)
I do not do any children’s work for a long time. I used to be a children’s worker. Now I am a Pastor and others do the children’s work. With God’s help, I will teach my children’s workers these things.
Dinner with Pastor Steven’s family included quite the funniest baptism story I have ever heard, told by Paul Wykes. It included a power cut, snow, near-freezing water, wet suits and chattering teeth. If you ever meet him, ask him to tell it to you.
Sunday 11 June
Daniel (Pastor)
This has opened my eyes to the way things are with us. I will look freshly at why we do things the way we do. We thought we were free but in some ways, we are bound by traditions which are not from the Bible.
Leese (Youth Pastor)
The way you have been with us, the way you befriended and laughed with us, the way you have served has helped me to understand leadership. It was not just what you taught but the way you are that has impacted me.
Rhoda (Children’s Work)
The self-assessment exercise helped me to identify the areas of my work and how I am doing that are not right. I can now focus on things better to improve. Also the games were so good, I have learned how to do these games, we will play more, have more fun.
This has opened my eyes to the way things are with us. I will look freshly at why we do things the way we do. We thought we were free but in some ways, we are bound by traditions which are not from the Bible.
Leese (Youth Pastor)
The way you have been with us, the way you befriended and laughed with us, the way you have served has helped me to understand leadership. It was not just what you taught but the way you are that has impacted me.
Rhoda (Children’s Work)
The self-assessment exercise helped me to identify the areas of my work and how I am doing that are not right. I can now focus on things better to improve. Also the games were so good, I have learned how to do these games, we will play more, have more fun.
Gloria (SOW Administrator)
I have been mainly working with the youth but now I will look again at the importance of children. I want to work with them, launch something, help others to do this also. Samuel (Pastor)
The way to build a programme and to bring the teaching alive was really helpful to me. I will make changes. People will learn more and be happier.
Sangpierre (Pastor)
I do not do any children’s work for a long time. I used to be a children’s worker. Now I am a Pastor and others do the children’s work. With God’s help, I will teach my children’s workers these things.
Dinner with Pastor Steven’s family included quite the funniest baptism story I have ever heard, told by Paul Wykes. It included a power cut, snow, near-freezing water, wet suits and chattering teeth. If you ever meet him, ask him to tell it to you.
Sunday 11 June
Paul and I were excited to travel with Steven to help out with a church plant. He arrived in good time and hailed a taxi to the Westfield gilly-gilly station, from where we headed out by minibus to Brikama. At Brikama we jumped in another taxi and lurched down a dirt track to a large compound in which a group of believers were gathered in a large front room. The service had started and we joined in with some singing that seemed to be conducted at fast-forward pace. I worked on my rhythmic clapping but I’m sad to say my efforts were about as well timed as Corporal Jones’s Dad’s Army parade performances.
We moved out into the garden and sat beneath a mango tree. I led an elimination game based on catching a disease (always great fun) and spoke about Jairus’s daughter. I reckon about 1/3 of what I said was understood.
Paul opted for bribery, handing out sweets for his question and answer approach to the Prodigal Son. The answers were woeful at first, with blank looks and fear the dominant responses to the strange Toubab (white man) who would not let them just listen, but tortured them with the hard work of interaction. By the end of his talk most people had acclimatised and even the smallest had won a sweet. We left with a chastened understanding of how much energy it takes to drive forward a church plant in this area, and the desperate need for excellent Christian leaders.
We moved on to the new Servants of the Word training college site. It is here that Steven plans to train hundreds of excellent ministers, able to advance the Kingdom in this nation. After the church plant experience earlier, the need for this was clear in our minds. Paul had some suggestions about how money could be saved in the construction and Steven eagerly agreed to meet him for this purpose later in the trip.
Monday 12 June.
Travel to Soma – 180 km up river was wonderfully comfortable – in Jonny’s excellent 4WD Toyota. I recall trips passim involving goat urine pouring in through open gilly-gilly windows, a car crash in a battered Renault with a mad African pastor at the wheel, and bumping along in the public bus among the chickens. This was just wonderful and included a stop off at the WEC (a mission with a significant presence in the Gambia) medical clinic to visit Jonny’s friends Will and Anna there. Both doctors, Will and Anna looked absolutely shattered by their 8-month sojourn on the front line of bush doctoring. On call night and day, treating all sorts of things including life-or-death and some operations they have really blessed the people here. After an inspiring cup of tea, we pressed on through the termite mounds to Soma.
There was no sign of Pastor Edward on arrival at around 2pm so we checked ourselves into the Scout Centre. He invited us back to dinner at 8pm. In the meantime, we had a quick look around the town (pretty ramshackle and covered in dust). Boy was it hot – 41°C (106°F).
We headed down to the river and enjoyed excellent omelettes in a basic food establishment, regarded by the beady eyes of mudskippers gazing unblinkingly through the open back door.
Soma stands by the South bank of the river where the Trans-Gambia Highway links Nothern Senegal with the South. The road has been upgraded in recent years and now work has commenced on a bridge to replace the inadequate ferry crossing. Paul, being a construction engineer, showed a keen interest in the theodolite on our bank and the engineer radioing his commands to the others on the bridge columns. Paul pronounced the project highly professional. I was blundering about near the theodolite when an African frog-marched me away from it. Apparently if I had kicked it, the effect on the bridge construction could potentially have been to convert it into the Gambian equivalent of the leaning Tower of Pisa.
At Edward’s, over roasted goat meat, talk turned to his struggle to build the church building here. He has had to put up with vandalism, people desecrating it with human waste (sometimes they have been unable to meet because of the smell even after he has cleaned up) and the constant competing demands for meagre financial support. The town is 99.9% Muslim and hostile to his work, though he has an excellent reputation. He is 32 years old, though carries himself like a man 10 years older.
Part of Edward’s fund-raising is through growing pigs. He can sell a big pig for nearly £200 and he has around 20 of them. Recently a local family has stolen and sold 5 of his pigs. He has captured 3 of theirs and will settle the dispute with them by reasoning things out rather than having their son jailed (an option). Jail here is terrible and Edward does not want this to happen to the lad.
Edward has promised us power for most of the days – apparently there are no issues here like the ones we faced in Serekunda.
Tuesday 13 June
Well that was one hot day!
After breakfast at Edward’s (we admired his 5 cute little ducklings) we headed over to the Catholic centre to roast in the heat of the tandoori classroom. Of course, there was a power cut so no fans!
We had only 12 participants, between the ages of 16 and 25. It was great fun playing games and running the training. Things were very slow at first with everyone quite shy. By the time we’d played a bit and lugged Paul across the compound on a blanket people decided to enjoy themselves and enthusiastically chipped in to the sessions.
Jonny has hit his stride in teaching the course. He is patient and diligent at drawing out the thoughts of the participants and gets fantastic contributions from them. He really is a superb Bible teacher, with a great love of the Gambians and a good understanding of their ways. Lunch was cooked by Edward’s wife Kunsa, with two colleagues. It was eaten in small groups from shared bowls.
Indoor hockey (always a highlight) revealed some superb sportiness among the girls, particularly Adama and Augusta who won both their 2 matches against strong sporty lads who weren’t holding back, egged on by their sides’ cheering.
News of outreach clubs in surrounding villages including a church plant encouraged me and will bless others who have travelled here to par-boil in the heat. There is a strong young church growing here, committed to running children’s clubs and turning them into church plants.
We only managed two sessions, because translation/communication slowed things up loads after a late start. The educational level of the participants is improving every year but things are fairly dire. The Bibles they use are in English because they do not read or write their local languages. Most can read a bit but comprehension is slow and Bible knowledge consequently poor for most.
There was no electric power all day. Someone rushed to get a generator which ran the projector until Paul pressed the economy switch and we lost that too. There were no fans.
Wednesday 14 June
Participant numbers have reached 15, a workable dynamic for the course. We took an executive decision to move the training outside. This eliminated the video projector and therefore all the pictures from the course but the heat in the tandoori classroom was unbearable. There was also a problem with the broken tile flooring and metal chairs in there meaning that every time someone moved, they blocked our voices with a hackle-raising scraping noise that was highly irritating.
Outside everyone was more comfortable and better focussed, a big step forward.
We looked at the Gospel today. It was pleasing to see the trainees wrestle with the basis of relationship with God and how to appropriately share their faith with young people without exerting undue pressure. With three complete units under our belt, we went for an early evening finish and headed straight into town.
I was delighted to get a local sim card installed in an old phone and we had an internet hot spot in place. Paul decided to get a local haircut. What happened next was easily the funniest thing I have seen in a long time (certainly since the epic donkey cart crash of 2016). Honestly, he looked like his hair had been hastily grazed by a passing goat. ‘Seems like I accidentally visited a combine harvester repair shop by mistake!’ he enthused. It will take a long time to recover as will my aching sides.
Edward took us on a wild baboon hunt. I must admit to a quickened pulse and some real excitement as the safari commenced. After a mile or two of off-road driving we entered the beautiful world of the Gambian bush, complete with exotic bird life. No sign of baboons though; Edward decided we should venture forth on foot. ‘It is OK: they will only attack if you are alone’ (err... oh that’s alright then.)
We slogged across open pastureland, then thick scrub, then up some massive hill (lovely views) and back down again. Not a baboon in sight...
‘Have you ever actually seen a baboon Edward?’ (Paul)
‘Yes, there are many, they are always here’ (Edward)
‘Well I think we can report to the National Geographic Society that the troop of baboons formerly residing on the massive volcano just outside Soma is now extinct.’ (Gleeful smile at pithy quip).
With that he walked face first into a particularly nasty thorn bush to complete the comedic moment.
We returned to the town, helped feed and water Edward’s pigs, observed the nearly completed mission house, quickly looked in the nearly finished church building, and marvelled at the energy, drive and tenacity of Pastor Edward of Soma. Even if he was rubbish at finding baboons.
Someone killed Edward’s ducklings today. It was likely that this was done by roaming uncontrolled children from neighbouring polygamous homes where neglect and ill-discipline abound. Edward was clearly dismayed and cross but philosophical about it. This is the kind of behaviour that will only be changed by the gospel of Jesus, something Edward is committed to bringing those kids.
Thursday 15 June
The young leaders being trained were a feisty and lively bunch. Passions ran high during Paul’s crocker match (we had tried to get podex rules but they didn’t come through in time). For the first time in 9 years of leading training I found it necessary to physically restrain a participant as Philip moved to square up with Justice (it would have been a good one, but we’re not here to run boxing matches).
Numbers have reached 18 so we can now break into four small groups for discussion times.
Jonny was down with a tummy bug, throwing our programming into chaos. Whilst off on a sickie he decided to slip away for a crafty spell of birdwatching, during which time his tax disc blew out of the car and rendered our transport back to Fajara illegal... Nice.
Meanwhile Paul and Edward headed off on a motorbike to do some printing. Edward commented that Paul weighed more on the back of his bike than the whole Camara family combined - funny. Paul noticed a power plant next to the printing shop (running on solar). He nipped in to have a word, and within half an hour we had power for the first time all week. I think it was probably the aggressive haircut that swung it.
‘Well I think we can report to the National Geographic Society that the troop of baboons formerly residing on the massive volcano just outside Soma is now extinct.’ (Gleeful smile at pithy quip).
With that he walked face first into a particularly nasty thorn bush to complete the comedic moment.
We returned to the town, helped feed and water Edward’s pigs, observed the nearly completed mission house, quickly looked in the nearly finished church building, and marvelled at the energy, drive and tenacity of Pastor Edward of Soma. Even if he was rubbish at finding baboons.
Someone killed Edward’s ducklings today. It was likely that this was done by roaming uncontrolled children from neighbouring polygamous homes where neglect and ill-discipline abound. Edward was clearly dismayed and cross but philosophical about it. This is the kind of behaviour that will only be changed by the gospel of Jesus, something Edward is committed to bringing those kids.
Thursday 15 June
The young leaders being trained were a feisty and lively bunch. Passions ran high during Paul’s crocker match (we had tried to get podex rules but they didn’t come through in time). For the first time in 9 years of leading training I found it necessary to physically restrain a participant as Philip moved to square up with Justice (it would have been a good one, but we’re not here to run boxing matches).
Numbers have reached 18 so we can now break into four small groups for discussion times.
Jonny was down with a tummy bug, throwing our programming into chaos. Whilst off on a sickie he decided to slip away for a crafty spell of birdwatching, during which time his tax disc blew out of the car and rendered our transport back to Fajara illegal... Nice.
Meanwhile Paul and Edward headed off on a motorbike to do some printing. Edward commented that Paul weighed more on the back of his bike than the whole Camara family combined - funny. Paul noticed a power plant next to the printing shop (running on solar). He nipped in to have a word, and within half an hour we had power for the first time all week. I think it was probably the aggressive haircut that swung it.
Discussions about family and fatherhood, sexuality and appropriate courtship were pretty pithy today; everyone except me, Paul and Edward was single. The lurve doctors were in town and hopefully, guided by the Bible, helpful.
Friday 16 June
Paul had an 11th consecutive bad night last night. Very unfortunately he picked the room without a solar fan in it so is even more sweltering than the others. The internet access has been a double- edged sword for Paul. He is always pleased to make contact with the family but consistently every day the news from home reads like a blues song (except that he’d be quite pleased if his dog had died).
Despite a strong temptation to be grumpy he has connected well with our young trainees. His boyish charm and quizzically comical expression make him an irresistible discussion leader. He knows his stuff having done youth work pretty much all his life, and has risen to the challenge of communicating cross-culturally as a missionary (rather than his usual role as an ex-pat construction leader).
There was a disturbance during this morning’s discussions on risk management as a large bird strike descended through the trees and singled out one of the lads for a blessing of the stinky kind.
Can you believe it? Having learned this morning to look up before sitting down, another participant was hit on the head by a large mango this afternoon. Two risks poorly managed ...
I ‘infected’ everyone with a paper STD (don’t worry there was no sexual activity involved), underlining the wisdom in the Bible’s loving instructions about faithfulness and avoiding promiscuity. Today’s lessons were in sexual ethics, rebuilding confidence and resilience in damaged children and risk management. It seems like none of these issues have ever been raised here by the church before.
Not everything was super serious, we had a great outdoor balloon pop game that everyone loved.
Our late-night discussions with Pastor Edward left us agape at his neck. Last year he refused to lead the Christians in his area to vote for the impressively despotic Jammeh (ruled for 21+ years). He also told off the police post at the border for harassing one of his visiting missionary friends. He found out subsequently that one of the men he had yelled at was a prominent figure in Jammeh’s death squads, famous for beating, castrating and killing political opponents and strong community leaders opposed to the regime’s methods. Edward thinks that if Jammeh had won the elections last year, he was in a whole world of trouble.
We prayed for the family, it was a huge privilege to do so. Paul had a word from Joshua for them.
Saturday 17 June
Our last day in Soma; bittersweet really. These lovely kids need more input. We need to go. It has been a week of real hard slog for us just to survive the conditions (the locals have struggled in the heat and humidity and they were born here!). It is the nights and late afternoons that have been toughest. With no sleep, to raise your game and run a dynamic programme through 40-42 degrees of sticky heat with no fans is very close to too hard.
The young leaders are full of life and enthusiasm, just woefully under educated and in desperate want of systematic Bible teaching. Genetically they are superior to most humans I have met (if you don’t have good genes here you die), educationally they have been failed by their state. The final exercise of the day aimed to draw their creativity out and allow them to show how good they are becoming at teaching the Bible and planning (showing the matrix of what and how they aim to teach). They weren’t very good. Another week here and we could change some more of that but the real need that has surfaced is in a lack of Bible knowledge across most of them.
Edward was thrilled with the training and delighted with what he and the youngsters have learned but we left with a distinct feeling of unfinished business.
On our return journey, we called in at a couple of riverside lodges to admire the wonderful bird life and enjoy cold drinks. After leaving the first lodge we encountered a large group of wild baboons. We jubilantly informed Edward (of course) of our baboon hunting skills, seemed rude not to.
Sunday 18 June
After church (great worship and welcome, lousy sermon) we took an afternoon off. Jonny picked out a perfect beach for us with a number of pretty lethal hazards just to make it interesting. I emerged from the sea with a scraped and bruised back and a stubbed toe (both from concealed rocks in a fairly powerful swell) and a jellyfish sting. It wasn’t quite the pearly gates box jellyfish experience but a nasty moment with a lasting afterburn.
This evening we met with Pastor Steven, leader of Servants of the Word. He has ambitious plans for a huge faculty site for ministry training – we visited it last Sunday.
I watched in open admiration as Paul looked at the architect’s drawings, listed significant improvements to the layout of the site and building designs, and roughly estimated that if his ideas were implemented, Steven’s team could halve the building costs. This one-hour meeting could potentially save SOW in excess of £100,000 (of money they don’t have and need to raise). Steven was understandably very excited.
Following on from Pau’s meeting with him, I met with Steven to discuss our ongoing relationship. With the cessation of Urban Saints Global, I restated my team’s commitment to SOW, underscored by coming to serve here whilst in the crucial 12-week redundancy period of my employment.
Steven stated that he intends to work with Jonny to put in place a 2-week summer school and three more 2-day training events for the Soma young leaders; to increase their Bible knowledge and continue to work on their Bible teaching skills. ‘If you don’t know it, you can’t teach it, if you can’t teach it you can’t pass it on.’
Jonny is thrilled that SOW for whom he volunteers as a full time Crosslinks missionary, is prepared to commit to the people in Soma for whom he has a heart. He is the only British missionary that he is aware of in The Gambia, apart from the WEC team.
Jonny is due to marry Beth (from Cornwall) in September and together they will explore their ability to commit to mission life here in the long term. Please pray for them.
As for me, well The Gambia is one of those nations that I find it difficult to work into. However, the people, particularly these young ones from Soma, have taken a piece of my heart, and won’t give it back.
