MONDAY EVENING 9/26/2011

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OBITUARIES

The Late Mr. or Ms. Mouse

We do not know your date of birth, but probably today is your last day on earth.  This is written anticipating your soon demise. Your accomplishments were few but they led to your sickness and death.

On the night of my arrival, you ate your full of my Cliff Bars which I had carefully imported from the Costco store in Folsom, Ca.  Surely you thought that you had arrived in the land of plenty.  When I placed the bars  on the highest shelf in my bedroom, not only did you climb to there to fill your tummy, but you left a black trail of droppings to let me know that you had overcome my best laid plans to protect my property. 

Your appearances were very frequent.  One time in broad daylight I saw you climb head first down from my highest shelf.  Several times you made notable appearances by running down the hall.  On night I watched you scurry down the hall and go behind the deepfreeze. 

Another time you dared to run under the bathroom door and actually enter the room about six inches before you realized the room was occupied.  How shameful,  you were invading another’s privacy.  You left hurriedly without even saying, excuse me.  How rude.  At that point I realized you must go.  Though you have seniority and surely thought this was your private property, I now have obtained squatter’s rights.  I will prevail.

This afternoon Didier and I went to the local Jambo Market where I purchased Rat and Mouse Killer—a deadly poison which is designed to be very appealing to one like yourself, absolutely irresistible. 

While we do not know your date of birth, your educational experience, the number of descendants produced we do know that you departed from this earthly existence on 9/28/2011.  Adieu.

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TUESDAY MORNING 9/27/2011

Yesterday while at the market, we purchased mosquito spray.  I had accumulated so many visible bites that people were becoming alarmed when my arms were exposed.  I just counted the bites on my right arm and there are twenty-two visible red spots where some nightly monsters  feasted on me.  Didier has repeatedly asked me if I am taking my malaria pills and I have repeatedly assured me that I am current. He told me yesterday that there are more people in Africa dying from malaria than from AIDS.

I do not understand the mosquito problem here because I thought that there had to be standing stagnant water for the mosquitos to have a breeding place.  Didier told me yesterday that the mosquito problem precedes the rain.  According to him we are beginning to experience things which precede the rainy season.  There is almost daily a horrible wind and dust storm.  I have almost become accustomed to having grit in my mouth.  The wind so I have been told will eventually bring clouds and then  rain.  The dust becomes mud and the low places become pools of standing water.  And  I hate to think of what the mosquitos will be like.  I have read in missionary reports of “clouds of mosquitos.”  If they are this bad in the dry season, what will they be like in the wet season. 

As soon as we came from the local market with the spray, I went into my bedroom and covered my pillows with the bedspread.  Took my clean clothing out into  the hall and then Didier exhausted the whole can of mosquito spray in the bedroom, walked out, closed the door and told me not to enter for two hours.

  I accumulated no more bites last night, but my room needed to be aired out.  I have been instructed to keep my bedroom door closed day and night and to never open my barred and shuttered window.  This is hard for a fresh air addict.  It is doubly hard when you wake up covered with sweat. 

I am out of After Bite the topical medicine which is advertised as an itch eraser. I found it in Wal-Mart for less than two dollars, how I wish I had bought more. 

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Marriage in the African Culture

As I have previously mentioned in my blog, you do not see Christian women from the mission compound struggling with heavy loads of water each morning.  A member of the Church named Emory starts carrying water to the different houses in the community about 6:00 am.  He is thirty nine years old, engaged to a very attractive women in her mid to late twenties—my estimate.  Their engagement may last for three to five years as he or they try to save enough money to pay the dowry or bride price.

In this culture (pagan) the bride to be is seen as belonging to the extended family.  Her fiancée must not only buy the bride from her father and mother, but also from aunts and uncles on both sides of the family.  He may negotiate the price with the parents, but also must satisfy the rest of the family or a spell may be cast upon the bride by the family.  The spell may involve the wife being barren after the marriage if everyone involved is not satisfied financially.

The price of the bride is unknown for Emory, but Didier told me that for the parents to be satisfied they may want  $600.00.  Then the family may want a refrigerator or a TV.  Someone may want a bicycle, another may want a blanket. It is not uncommon for the dowry to go to $1000.00 or $1200.00. That is probably about what Emory will earn this year.  The Church may help, friends and family may contribute. 

The scenario may change if the bride to be becomes pregnant.  When it is apparent visually that the woman is pregnant then the man takes her to his house and they live together until the baby is born. This is allowed in the pagan society, because to fail to do so brings demonic spirits into the relationship. After the baby is born then things change dramatically.   If the girl’s family is capable of supporting the mother and child they take the new mother  and her baby and the price of the dowry goes up. If the family is so poverty stricken that they  cannot support the new mother and the baby, they may allow the couple to get married without the dowry or a lessened dowry. 

If the girl is not married by the time she reaches the age of thirty, then her dowry goes down because men want a wife  capable of having children. Another possibility is to marry her to a man who has a children already, but whose wife has died.

In the Christian community things are being seen differently as the daughter belongs to God and marriages should be encouraged. Children are a gift from God and are to be protected and loved. 

Didier told me that it was very difficult for him to marry Annie as he was a graduate student when they met.  He took off two years from school to manage a retail outlet for a rich man.  He got Annie a job and they both saved for two years before they got married;  then he went back to school.