Going to camp

A month in Yaounde passed peacefully enough.  Nights were full with loud music blaring from nearby bars, cars and trucks driving, and the kids waking up repeatedly.  Days were spent doing laundry, visiting friends, and picking berries from the "picky-berry tree", as called it.

Half the trip to Gambola was on the paved road, which went fine apart from stops at the barriers.  There were 3 barriers within 5 km of one town; I heard from our driver that at one he was forced to pay $15 to be able to continue the trip.  I don't know what he had to pay for us to pass at the others, but I do know thatwould seriously cut into the profits for the driver & van owner.  At the end of the pavement, we transferred our luggage to a mission truck and transferred their luggage into the van, as they had people who needed to fly out of Yaounde.  Gas is expensive, and it always helps to share the costs.

The rest of the trip was difficult; bumpy roads, slow driving, and either Ruth or Michael bouncing on my lap with each bump.  We stopped at "roadside restrooms" and waded through dusty weeds to find spots off the road enough to not be seen by any infrequent traffic that might zoom by.  I tried to bill it as exciting to Ruth, who did great and had no accidents in the truck.  It was challenging to get back in the truck without getting too much dust on our skirts from the outside of the truck!  We were all glad for showers that night.  I guess the barrier people never thought of trying to charge us for exporting dirt to Gambola.

While at Gambola, we toured the fruit tree projects that Karl's dad and Roy Danforth had started when Karl was in high school.  Michael especially loved eating starfruit (carambola) and Ruth liked the nuts from another tree. I got 4 Sango lessons from a lady there, which was a very helpful refresher.  The silence of Gambola was startling, after being in Yaounde for a month.

Karl came to get us, and we drove to the camp.  That was another very long day.  On the way, we stopped at Berberati to meet a wycliffe family with young kids that's recently moved there.  They're six hours away from us - but maybe sometime we can go spend a weekend there or something.  But it's a long drive, especially with the kids.  It's not like you can play the alphabet game or anything, as you drive through endless jungle.  I took advantage of the one thing we had, and we talked about trees.  What do they need to grow?  What are the parts of a tree?  Do you see any that might fall down soon?  What do people use trees for?

We started with a single room (toilet/shower included) in a brick building with a palm-leaf roof that leaks.  Michael & Ruth shared a single bed and spent a long time getting down for naps or bed, as they enjoyed playing foot-to-foot etc instead of sleeping.  But we've had improvements.  They've knocked a hole in the wall toward the room next door, so now there's a doorway to that and the kids can each have their own bed.  They've slept great for naps and at night.  Things are quiet here.  We also now have metal screen on our room, though not on theirs.  We have a board blocking the threshhold so we don't have as many critters in the room.  Even so, there is the nightly sight/sound of mice and we definitely tuck in the mosquito nets.  When it rains, there are about 5 leaks in our room, two of which are over our bed.  I don't have to do anything at the camp really; someone else does laundry, plans & serves meals, cleans the room.  And Karl's folks have been here helping wiht the camp work and the kids.  Karl's dad has been helping keep the workers going on fixing the old depot into a house for us.  Today the challenge there was thousands of driver ants that halted the work.

So this is the first we've had real internet since arriving.  Maybe soon it will work well, or maybe this is a fluke, but I do want to try to post before I lose all this.  I miss family, friends, church, internet, my own space, organization, quick meals...but I've gotten to kayak a couple of times, I get to watch the river all day and put my feet in occasionally, I get fancy rustic meals, I have the liberty of time to spend with the kids, and God has given me grace for each day.

Karl has a whole lot in his domain, and the camp work is a big load.  Diamond miners, poaching, broken motors, faulty wiring, etc., in addition to fixing stuff and giving attention to what people want to tell him - I'm amazed at how he's holding up so far.  The verse foremost in his conversation: Unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labor in vain.  Pray that God would not only build our physical house/camp, but that he would build up a community of worshippers for him here.  One big thing yet to unfold is that Karl has given the command that the hunters are not to be using magic for their hunts any more; that then God can't let the company succeed in the hunts or the glory would go to the false gods.  Pray that God would be glorified.