Living and Learning

Another reprint of a support e-mail...hey, what do you want from me, I'm here to minister!

So, I ponder over my empty pasta bowl, what are the latest thoughts from Nigeria? So many things have happened since last I wrote, but I’ll try to limit myself to the highlights. Cultural interactions continue to exhaust me, and at times I wonder why I was ever so foolish as to sign up to stay for only two months. What can possibly be learned in so short a time? Certainly not bargaining like a born Nigerian, at least when you are as poorly suited for it as I am. Assertive, street-wise, persistent and LOUD? That’s not me. And though it may seem like a small thing, virtually everything is bought in the market and not only is bargaining the only culturally appropriate way to shop, it’s also necessary to avoid getting ripped off and burning through your per diem without acquiring the essentials of life, like food. Right now in my larders I have the aforementioned pasta, some cabbage, carrots, onion and potatoes, tomato paste, some peanut butter and jelly and…that’s about it. Anyone who knows me at all will know that my inner foodie is desperate to transform these ‘umble beginnings into magnificent meals, but so far, no dice. I must also have felt in need of some particularly severe penance tonight, since I have just spent the better part of the past hour looking at my favorite food blogs. Man alive, I think I’d have been better off walking to Canterbury on my knees! But it is a very good and refreshing discipline to eat somewhat like a Nigerian, and it won’t do any harm to keep it up for two months.

Well, as far as actual ministry is concerned, this week has been fairly packed. This week I have visited a number of the different ministries SIM is involved with here in Nigeria. For those of you who were concerned that there might not be an established group waiting for me when I got here, we could not have been more wrong! Right now there are about 5 different branches of SIM ministries operating in Nigeria, with each branch consisting of up to 4 different specializations. The entire network is made up of about 60 foreign missionaries and over 200 Nigerians!

The whole process of this week is supposed to be helping me decide which ministry of my branch, City Ministries, I would like to focus on, but I feel pulled in many different directions, both emotionally and vocationally. This week I visited the boys’ homes at Gidan Bege and the CARE center, Transition House. These houses have essentially the same purpose, to care for orphaned or unwanted boys and give them a home, education, and Christian discipleship. The only difference is that Gidan Bege is the first step for street boys, whereas they don’t go to Transition House until they’ve been at Gidan Bege for about six months.

Sometimes at the houses I feel as though I’ve shed an old identity and become this new person, “Auntie Shannon,” (auntie being an African title of respect) who is surprisingly good at volleyball and always ready to offer a silly face or snap a photo and be tackled by 10 boys who all want to see their picture. With the boys at G.B. especially, language can be a barrier, but all that they boys really want is someone to listen to them, kick a ball around, or just hold their hand. And I have to say, getting a smile from one of those boys makes you feel like this was the reason God let you keep breathing today.

You might be wondering why I keep referring to the boys of City Ministries. Well, most of the kids living on the street in Jos are boys, though there are some girls at another CARE center, Gyero, where I’ll visit later this week. Some of the boys end up on the street because their parents have died, but in other cases only the father has died and when the mother remarries her new husband will drive the children away. Others are driven away by abusive parents. In other cases, boys are suspected of having joined a “secret society” (Nigerian blanket term for occult groups) whose first requirements of initiation are often to injure or kill a member of one’s own family. A family who suspects a boy of having joined a secret society will usually try to kill him before he can hurt the family. Sometimes what these boys have been through before coming to this ministry is scarcely believable.

I had another very humbling experience today with our trip with other Nigerian Christians and medical missionaries to Blind Town, one of the poorest areas of the city. It is so called because in African Muslim society, the blind and deformed are no longer accepted and are forced to live apart from the community. So this shanty town was filled with the blind, the crippled, lepers, and other very poor families. I am still processing and feel that I scarcely have words to describe this experience. To put anything down on paper seems glib. And yet my first impression was that the whole place seemed absolutely surreal. I kept trying to force into my mind that these people aren’t just playing house in these patched together boxes of corrugated tin. This is where they live. The children get their only playthings from these garbage piles. They walk among these shards of broken glass with only skimpy sandals or with bare feet. And yet the women can laugh and chatter with each other as they wait in line to see the doctor. The children love to imitate everything you do and chorus through their English repertoire, “Hello,” “Thank you,” and “Bye-bye” to catch your attention. What can I say? This is their lives, and it is a privilege to be welcomed into it, even for one afternoon.

Well, thanks for sticking with me through this marathon update. Please pray for Nigerian Muslims through this month of Ramadan, and especially for SIM outreaches to Blind Town and the Muslim women’s ministry at Gidan Bege. Pray also for God’s guidance for me as I try to discern what exactly to do with my time here. And as always, if you’d like to opt out of receiving these novellas, just drop me a line!

Blessings, grace, and peace, dear friends,
Shannon