Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Fulani believer

Hello, so what boring things have we been up to recently. Hold onto your hat!
Our colleagues, Jan and Ernie E, were sickly a bit the last two weeks. I took them to the hospital in Kadiolo to have blood drawn and tested. Tests came back confirming typhoid, and ruling out malaria. So guess what we did? We began treatment for typhoid. So 3 days later, they are still having difficult nights, and all is not well. In fact, Jan got significantly worse. So Ernie called me early Sunday morning. This would be Sunday the 15th. He said "really, this is not working, we need to be evacuated to Bamako, and possibly the USA. So Lisa and I went over and frantically helped them pack. Jan directing from the bed.
So then we asked, what do you need more from us? Do you need a chauffeur, or a nurse? Ernie said a driver would be better, because he hadn't slept too much with her being sick, and he's feeling a bit sick himself. So Tom ran back home, packed a bag. So we left for Bamako, Ernie, Jan, and I, (Tom).
As we drove, at first Ernie drove a bit, but he began to fade as the day droned on. (it is a fairly long drive to Bamako. Think Chicago-Minneapolis with a few million potholes in between...) So by the time we got to Bamako, we called the hospital we were going to, and said make room for two patients, not just one!
Ernie and Jan were admitted side by side into a room, given IVs, and superlative care. The IV tech got their IVs in one try! That doesn't happen in America a lot of the time. Good care followed. The lab report came back negative for typhoid, but positive for malaria, a particularly deadly strain that goes cerebral fast.
Jan was so low blood pressure when we arrived, we really could not have waited another day for her. Ernies case was much lighter, but a few more days untreated would have been serious for him as well. They stayed 3 days in the hospital, I ran errands for them, brought them towels, books, drinks, munchies, all things not available from your hospital bed. They were released, miraculousley for Jan, because her recovery out of the dangerous area was so quick. We stayed at a local guest house for a few more days, building strength. It was then decided that we'd drive back to kadiolo for them to rest, and for her to prepare to go to the US. (she already had a trip planned to help her daughter deliver a grand baby.)





This picture was taken at a restaurant we stopped at on the trip down. And I thank God when I see this picture because I know how they looked in the car travelling up to Bamako, and how sick they were in the hospital. Every day she is stronger, and is back up to 75% or so on the Seward health meter.
Lets not have a replay that takes us so close to desperately ill, okay?
Too much excitement!

This pic is of Tom meeting with the two Fulani speaking pastors, along with the radio station director, and our two local pastors, Youssouf, and Karim. Sorry, a bit blurry because it is a night shot... but you get the visual idea!

My second story is about a fulani man. (fulanis are also known as peule.) A few months ago we told a story about a man out in his fields with his radio, heard the gospel in his language, eventually came to the radio station, met with pastor a couple of times, and accepted Christ. This young man is the second fulani to do the same thing. He came to church last week sometime and announced that he is ready to become a christian! So the fulani pastor that preaches in the radio show was called from up north in Mali where he lives. He and another pastor came down, bussing more than 11 hrs to meet with this new believer for 2 days. Imagine a people group where believers are so rare that you would bus 11 hrs to greet a new convert!
The two pastors stayed with us while they were here, and they were amazing to talk to. They said they invited the young man to come to their month long Fulani Bible conference in January. I asked this pastor how many believers attended the Fulani Bible conference each year. He began to count families. He said 6-7 families are now involved. Wow! Pray for this young man, and thank God with us that these guys can be reached even out in their fields by radio!

Here is a pic of a woman selling fresh watermelon fruit alongside the road, so delicious. But the fruit of God we've experienced this week, the new life of this Fulani man, and the grace of healing for Ernie and Jan is no less delicious. God is good!

Thanks for stopping by,
Tom & Lisa

Monday, October 22, 2007

Swim fun





A couple of weeks ago, Lisa was at womens conference. One of the Bamako dads invited Caleb, Ben and I to dinner. So our boys enjoyed playing together and a swim.
We enjoyed an evening of good fellowship.

When the conference was over, we left for Kadiolo. When I got to Kadiolo, I realised the camera was missing. I was worried, because Ben and I had taken the bus back. But I really didn't think I'd left it on the bus. It turned out, I left it at our friends house. His wife came back from womens conference, and said "what is this?" We put our heads together, and figured out it is ours.

So anyway here are a couple of pics of Ben & Friends. Caleb was a blur, running around with their youngest, so he didn't make it into the pictures.

Thanks for stopping by!
Tom & Lisa

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

What's happening?

Rainy Season


So whats happening in Kadiolo now? Thats what your question was isn't it? It is now the end of rainy season, all the roads look like this. But underneath the puddles are the holes the water has carved out of the road during the past few months.
Travel will be more difficult until a grader comes through to help us a bit.

Canning tomatoes. Lisa, Laura, and Jan had a bit of a tomatoe canning party Friday.
Tomatoes are in season now, and just pennies will buy a lot of them. So the ladies went into production. We're hoping that they will be able to make salsa and other tasty items with them. (We havent seen a bottle of Pace salsa in 2 years! So a bit of salsa will go so well with the tortillas that one of our Christian women has started to make!
Of course, the ladies all had a good time of canning fellowship!







And here you can see some of the results!


Sunday it was my turn to preach. I preached on Revelation again. I did chapter 7.
People, esp church leaders are scared of Revelation, because it is complicated, and it leads to so many eschatological discussions. (end times debates.) So they shy away. I have been teaching it to the youth. One man told me it is too complicated for the youth to hear. I said, we all learn at our own level of ability. So we read the passage, and ask "what did that say? Sometimes implied is what did that not say?"
So anyway, I feel like I'm helping people realise they can study the Bible for themselves, and not to be intimidated into not reading.

We're waiting a bit to start "in school" Bible clubs. Soon Pastor Youssouf will ask the principals of at least 2 local schools, maybe as many as 4 if they would accept french Bible clubs to be taught in school after hours. The students are lacking in french, and our offer is for them to interact with Bible based material in french, giving them the chance to improve their handle on this very important language in Mali. Pray that those responsible are open to the idea, even willing and excited about someone caring about their students!

Thanks again for stopping by,
Tom & Lisa Seward


Monday, October 08, 2007

A day in the life of a Mali woman.

Someone wrote recently, and asked what is a typical days' routine like for a woman here in Mali? These women work hard. So I went out and took pictures of the housework that women do here. (Without a vaccum cleaner, electricity, or a microwave.) I thought you might find a few of these pics interesting as well.

Fire is very important. Most women cook with either charcoal or wood fires. Mali is trying to make natural gas available in bottles, but even subsidized, they are expensive for the people to buy. First thing in the morning a woman will light her fire, draw water from a well. (rope & bucket...) Then she will heat the water so everyone can have their morning bath. One takes a bucket of warm water into the shower stall, and lathers up! Then she will re-heat water for cooking.

Here is our good friend Lorme bringing back water to her house. In her case, her well was dry during dry season, and she had to walk to the neighbors' yard to get water. Her family probably does 15-20 trips a day. Of course, water is carried on your head. You need your hands free, you know... How much water could you carry without spilling?


Here is our neighbor woman. She is one of 3 wives. She is pounding corn to make cabato. Cabato is to a Malian what mashed potatoes is to an American. Even more so, because it is daily food. She will serve cabato with a gravy sauce. Sometimes a peanut sauce, sometimes a veggie sauce with okra and eggplant. Both are very tasty. The cabato is like very hard, firm dumplings of corn flour. It is served hot, if possible. It takes the women 20-30 minutes of hard pounding each day to grind the corn to make the cabato.




Always, sweeping the yard is part of the routine. Sometimes the kids are required to help, but school has started now, so many kids are not available for chores they usually do.This girl is sweeping with a bundle of stiff weeds. This kind of broom sells for 50 cents or so in the market place. It is very effective, although hard on your back. I never did figure out why they don't attach a broom handle to the bundle, but they don't.



Many women (I would say the majority, even) do not go past 4th grade in school. Therefore many of them don't know how to read. We really have a burden for these women to be able to read, and for the Christian women, particularly to know the Word of God with their own eyes!
Pray for the women of Mali, that they would be able to know the Word of God, that God would touch their hearts, and call them to Himself! Pray especially for the 6 who meet at our house 5 days a week to learn to read.

Thanks for stopping by,
Tom & Lisa Seward