La vie avec une famille Ivorien.. so far.

"The life with an Ivorian family"

Pardon me, if my Anglais is bad… or if you find a French word or two. I haven’t spoken much English in the past week.

Daily surrender - that’s the name of the game here. When I wake up, I tell God, “you have to give me enough strength for today, because I don’t have enough on my own.”

My “parents”, Bakary and Kadi Kone, are super helpful and welcoming. They’re in their 30s, and have 2 little boys. Her little sister, Kolo, and one of His brother’s daughters, Christine, also live there. They care a lot for our well-being.. Sometimes too much. Bakary doesn’t want Jamie or I to take a moto-taxi, and he’s afraid for me to ride my bike. He has good reason, but my perception of safety is so different here. But I am a child, right? I think I know everything here already, but in actuality, I don’t. So Bakary introduced us to a man whom he knows who’s a moto-taxi driver, who he trusts. They only speak to us in French, though Bakary knows a good amount of English. Kadi’s mother has been here for the past few days, and she speaks only Djula, so I’m picking up some of that as well. She likes to talk to me.. And I either just sit and smile, spit out what Djula words I remember, or speak French, and ask Kadi or Kolo what she’s saying. Last night, she taught me how to dance to Senoufo music. She grabbed my hands and started doing the “Senoufo shuffle” as I like to call it. It was great.

I take bucket baths twice a day. My “mom”, Kadi, helps me heat up a pot of water over hot coals, and I mix that with cold water from the outside tap. After being here for a few days, my little sister, Kolo (13), asked why I didn’t use the whole bucket. You’re supposed to pour whatever is left over your head. So now when I finish washing, she asks, “toute l’eau?” (all the water?) She also likes to laugh at me, often. Not only does she laugh, but she falls on the floor while doing so. It’s teaching me humility, and I’m thankful I learned to laugh at myself a long time ago.

My little brothers have taken a quick likening to me. Emanuel is 8. I recently taught him how to draw stars, and now he draws them everywhere. He is really sweet kid. He’s also super intrigued by my skin. Sometimes he’ll pet my arm hair, or point out my freckles and try to wipe them off. He has yet to figure out that they’re permanent. David is 5 and he is what they call here, a “bundi”. He likes to get into everything. One of his favorite past times is ringing the bell on my bike. Alas, he keeps life interesting. Yesterday, he made their puppy, “Djik”, ride his little tricycle. He pushed it all around the courtyard. The dog didn’t seem to mind. I also gave him a bath a few nights ago, outside, in a basin, as they do with kids here.

This week has been a lot of just spending time with the family, building relationships. Usually, we get up around 6, and the morning is full of sweeping, washing, reading a bit, walking to the market, preparing the noon meal. Then a petite rest in the afternoon, and more preparing, reading, playing with the kids, conversations, learning French always, and LOTS of visiting. Before dinner, everyone washes again, and dinner is around 8, then more visiting, sitting, and talking, and bed around 9:30 - 10. In the coming weeks, my schedule will change a little, as I start spending more time in ministry, at the local orphanages and Centre Providence.

Like I said already, life is a daily surrender: of my time, my will, my idea of how life should be. Every other morning so far, we’ve had ignames for breakfast. They are like large, heavy potatoes, cooked in oil with a tiny bit of garnish. I much prefer the bread and coffee days. But I had to stop my thoughts and say, “steph, this is how it’s going to be, for the next several months, you just aren’t going to get yogurt and granola for breakfast.” A surrender. That’s just one of the many.

If you are able, please pray that I’ll be full of patience, humility, understanding, wisdom, and strength.. All of the fruits of the spirit, really. I have been reading Psalm 23 fairly often. I love when it says “he restores my soul”, and “my cup overflows”. I’m learning to lean on Him in ways I never have before.