There is a girl who comes by our house periodically. She is somewhere between 10-13 years old—I would guess. She comes at various times during the day so I know she doesn't go to school. She doesn't speak more than a few words of French, so I know she hasn't ever gone to school, where kids normally learn French. She works really hard as well. This girl comes by our house, and any other house she feels like knocking on the door of, to buy bottles. She carries a very large aluminum basin on her head with glass whiskey and schnapps bottles and on that is a huge woven bag full of plastic bottles. I've helped her get it off her head, so I know it's heavy. When I have bottles to sell, I help her get her load off her head and set it in the sand before our front gate. Then I go get all the bottles I've collected. We then debate over the price.
Now here in Africa, one never accepts the first price. That's just the way it goes. Even if you end up paying about the same amount, you have to debate about it first. I have had times where I was willing to pay their asking price but debate anyway, 'cause that's just what you do—and I usually end up paying less.
Anyway, somehow, with this girl, I don't have much desire to try to get more money out of her. I always feel sorry for her. (Besides, she doesn't understand French and I don't understand Ewe—her language—so it's pretty useless to argue.) She usually pays me 75cfa for 3 big, 1.5 l, plastic water bottles and 50cfa for 2 smaller, 1 l , plastic water bottles. That equals around 15-20 cents USA. She will then sell these bottles to other people.
Sometimes I think about things I'd like to have but don't. Then people like this little girl come by and make me feel like a millionaire. This little girl works really hard walking miles each day from house to house buying bottles that she won't sell for a whole lot more than she bought them. It's hot here and her load gets pretty heavy. She, however, is trying to make a living. I don't know her circumstances. I have no idea where she lives and who she lives with. Most likely, she does this for her family, whoever that consists of. I'd like to take a photo of her, but haven't yet decide to ask her. I'd need a translator.
Now that I finally write this down, I find I don't have all the words to express what it is exactly that I feel. It isn't just pity, but I also feel proud of her for trying to do something about her poverty, not just beg. There are 2 words and neither are totally adequate. Life is hard here, not for all Togolese, but certainly for most of them.
One last thing, if you'd like to know what they sell in the bottles this girl collects, write a comment to this blog entry and I'll tell you. ~kathy
The Stolls
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Saturday, 12 November 2011
A graduation on Saturday
Jonathan graduated today. Jonathan is one of Roger's colleagues. He is also a missionary—works in Togo but is from Guinea Conakry/Sierra Leone. He just finished his Master's in Missiology with most high honors! It was a privilege to be there to watch him graduate and we were glad to have been invited to be a part of it all. However, we had no idea just what this graduation ceremony involved. We got there at 7:30am so that we could be sure to get a seat under a fan—they were already almost gone—and the thing started pretty much on-time at 8am. Roger (I don't know if he was thinking positively or if he really wasn't thinking) said we'd be home by 10am. We got home a little after 1pm.
The girls were actually pretty good thru the whole thing but that was only because their new friends were there also and they could sit and chat the whole time (all 4 ½ hours of the ceremony). Since the only thing we had to tell them was to be quiet a couple of times, we didn't mind.
Afterward, we assembled in groups of students with the people they had invited and had snacks and drinks. This was interesting as the groups were organized according to country that the graduates came from and each group was in some sort of shady spot on the campus. Those happened to be pretty close to each other and some groups were REALLY loud. We had a loudspeaker just behind us and couldn't tell what was going on in our group (Jonathan's). Oh well. This part only lasted about an hour so we didn't have to endure it so long.
Even though it was long and not our favorite way to spend a Saturday morning, it was a real privilege to be a part of Jonathan's celebration.
LtoR: Adrienne and Adama (the cook and other trainer at mediAfrique), Jonathan and his wife Rose (with their two daughters, Maggi and Blessing), and Roger and I. (Our girls had disappeared as far away as they could get by the time we began taking photos.)
By the way, I have no idea who the little boy is.
The girls were actually pretty good thru the whole thing but that was only because their new friends were there also and they could sit and chat the whole time (all 4 ½ hours of the ceremony). Since the only thing we had to tell them was to be quiet a couple of times, we didn't mind.
Afterward, we assembled in groups of students with the people they had invited and had snacks and drinks. This was interesting as the groups were organized according to country that the graduates came from and each group was in some sort of shady spot on the campus. Those happened to be pretty close to each other and some groups were REALLY loud. We had a loudspeaker just behind us and couldn't tell what was going on in our group (Jonathan's). Oh well. This part only lasted about an hour so we didn't have to endure it so long.
Even though it was long and not our favorite way to spend a Saturday morning, it was a real privilege to be a part of Jonathan's celebration.
LtoR: Adrienne and Adama (the cook and other trainer at mediAfrique), Jonathan and his wife Rose (with their two daughters, Maggi and Blessing), and Roger and I. (Our girls had disappeared as far away as they could get by the time we began taking photos.)
By the way, I have no idea who the little boy is.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
update
Here we go again. It's been a along time since anyone wrote on here. It's not that there's nothing going on, it's just that we don't seem to get round to writing any of it down. Also, I prefer to have photos but haven' learned to edit them on this computer. So, how's that for some excuses?
Yes, we've had a number of things going on here. We met a family with 3 girls who are here temporarily. Unfortunately, it's just temporary, because we really enjoy them. The girls are good friends with Fiona and Sydney and then they have a younger one.
We've also celebrated 2 birthdays. Elena turned 13 on 23 Sept, and Fiona turned 11 on 1 Nov. We now have a teenager in the house!!! Sydney will turn 8 on 23 Dec. Fiona has really shot up this year. She's nearly as tall as Elena, who is only about an inch shorter than I. (Not that that is saying too much, but I guess for them, it's tall.)
One last bit of news is that Roger finished his 3rd year of teaching at mediAfrique, the training center we're here to help get started. There are a lot of questions about the future of the center. Like, do they want to grow? Where can they relocate with bigger facilities? What about more trainers? And so on... Roger, his 2 colleagues and their wives and I went on a little retreat to pray and try to find answers to these questions. There was a definite desire to branch out and offer more courses, maybe in TV, etc, but no solution as to where. God knows the answers and we just need the faith to wait and trust Him to show us those answers.
~kathy
Yes, we've had a number of things going on here. We met a family with 3 girls who are here temporarily. Unfortunately, it's just temporary, because we really enjoy them. The girls are good friends with Fiona and Sydney and then they have a younger one.
We've also celebrated 2 birthdays. Elena turned 13 on 23 Sept, and Fiona turned 11 on 1 Nov. We now have a teenager in the house!!! Sydney will turn 8 on 23 Dec. Fiona has really shot up this year. She's nearly as tall as Elena, who is only about an inch shorter than I. (Not that that is saying too much, but I guess for them, it's tall.)
One last bit of news is that Roger finished his 3rd year of teaching at mediAfrique, the training center we're here to help get started. There are a lot of questions about the future of the center. Like, do they want to grow? Where can they relocate with bigger facilities? What about more trainers? And so on... Roger, his 2 colleagues and their wives and I went on a little retreat to pray and try to find answers to these questions. There was a definite desire to branch out and offer more courses, maybe in TV, etc, but no solution as to where. God knows the answers and we just need the faith to wait and trust Him to show us those answers.
~kathy
Friday, 26 August 2011
Please pray
We just heard that the son of a family we know died of cerebral malaria. Please pray for the Cherry family at the loss of their son, Christopher, who was 10 years old. Please pray for us as well. This kind of thing scares me. I find it hard to trust that God is in control in cases like this.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
You know you're back in Africa when...
...the African airline you're on bumps you off their overbooked flight and doesn't tell you until you are halfway thru your trip.
...you finally arrive at your destination, and the flight is 2 hours earlier than stated on your ticket. Wouldn't normally be such a big deal but when the time is 3am as opposed to 5am, and your ride is therefore, still in bed, it is a bit of a big deal.
...you get home and everything is covered in mold from the overabundance of rain this year. Meaning that everything has to be cleaned and de-moldified. And, that all the clothes need to be washed because they STINK.
...the new pump that pushes water into the house, doesn't work and therefore the washing machine doesn't work either, just when there are literally mountains of laundry. (I've washed at least 10 loads, when we've had laundry, and still have about that many to go.)
...the washing machine doesn't run properly because of the sporadic water, making it necessary to restart the thing every 20 minutes or so.
...various small appliances, that ran fine before we left, suddenly don't work.
...because of the rain, the temperatures are pleasant. (A good thing since we could only take cold bucket baths for the first 5 days.)
We arrived a day late and 2 hours early from our trip to Germany. We had a wonderful time with family and friends. I think this has made it harder to adjust to life again here, that and the fact that things are in a sort of state of disrepair. It's hard not to compare "there" with "here".
...you finally arrive at your destination, and the flight is 2 hours earlier than stated on your ticket. Wouldn't normally be such a big deal but when the time is 3am as opposed to 5am, and your ride is therefore, still in bed, it is a bit of a big deal.
...you get home and everything is covered in mold from the overabundance of rain this year. Meaning that everything has to be cleaned and de-moldified. And, that all the clothes need to be washed because they STINK.
...the new pump that pushes water into the house, doesn't work and therefore the washing machine doesn't work either, just when there are literally mountains of laundry. (I've washed at least 10 loads, when we've had laundry, and still have about that many to go.)
...the washing machine doesn't run properly because of the sporadic water, making it necessary to restart the thing every 20 minutes or so.
...various small appliances, that ran fine before we left, suddenly don't work.
...because of the rain, the temperatures are pleasant. (A good thing since we could only take cold bucket baths for the first 5 days.)
We arrived a day late and 2 hours early from our trip to Germany. We had a wonderful time with family and friends. I think this has made it harder to adjust to life again here, that and the fact that things are in a sort of state of disrepair. It's hard not to compare "there" with "here".
Friday, 8 July 2011
Holiday highlights
We've been in Europe for just under 2 months. We came to celebrate Oma and Opa's 50th anniversary and the 50th of Radio Worldwide in England. We decided to spend time also visiting people in Europe whom we haven't seen in about 4 years--most of them.
The past week we spent in France. We stayed with our friends, Patrick and Marie-Françoise, and had a GREAT time!! We got to see many other friends and just hung out doing "touristy" kinds of things. The weather was super and we had fun. A special thing is that Roger, Marie-Françoise and Elena go to do parapente (paragliding). They all loved it and when they landed, they hardly had any words for how fun it was. Elena has written about her experience and added photos and you can read it here
Fiona and Sydney got to ride horses thru the forest which was definitely their highlight! Fiona even got to ride by herself. For Kathy just being with friends and having wonderful weather (warm without sweating!) was super.
Now we are visiting other friends in Switzerland before heading back to Germany on Monday. We then leave--after LOADS of meeting other friends and family--on 1 Aug for Togo again. However, we aren't thinking about that yet...
Here are a few photo highlights.
We got to visit many friends in England. Here we are with Steve and Anita Southgate.
Picking wild strawberries in Germany.
Oma and Opa celebrating 50 years together!
Stockbrot (stick bread) with family and friends in Germany.
Patrick and Marie-Françoise in France.
Roger parapente.
View from the parapente take-off over Lake Annecy, France.
Picknicking above Lake Annecy.
A view of Mt. Blanc, Western Europe's highest mountain.
The past week we spent in France. We stayed with our friends, Patrick and Marie-Françoise, and had a GREAT time!! We got to see many other friends and just hung out doing "touristy" kinds of things. The weather was super and we had fun. A special thing is that Roger, Marie-Françoise and Elena go to do parapente (paragliding). They all loved it and when they landed, they hardly had any words for how fun it was. Elena has written about her experience and added photos and you can read it here
Fiona and Sydney got to ride horses thru the forest which was definitely their highlight! Fiona even got to ride by herself. For Kathy just being with friends and having wonderful weather (warm without sweating!) was super.
Now we are visiting other friends in Switzerland before heading back to Germany on Monday. We then leave--after LOADS of meeting other friends and family--on 1 Aug for Togo again. However, we aren't thinking about that yet...
Here are a few photo highlights.
We got to visit many friends in England. Here we are with Steve and Anita Southgate.
Picking wild strawberries in Germany.
Oma and Opa celebrating 50 years together!
Stockbrot (stick bread) with family and friends in Germany.
Patrick and Marie-Françoise in France.
Roger parapente.
View from the parapente take-off over Lake Annecy, France.
Picknicking above Lake Annecy.
A view of Mt. Blanc, Western Europe's highest mountain.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Falling Apart
Wow! Two blogs in 8 days! It's almost a record.
You know the saying, "When it rains, it pours"? Well, that's pretty much what's happening around our house. (Not that it's really raining, which would be wonderful right now when the heat is making the humidity nearly unbearable.) I'm talking metaphorically here. All our appliances are breaking down. The microwave died about a week ago. It was really old and rusty and we bought it from other missionaries who were leaving--and it's lasted a good 2 years already. It started being weird and only running when the door was open. I didn't think having those little microwaves floating around the kitchen was terribly healthy so have decided not to use it.
The crock pot decided to stop working day before yesterday. I had put 2 chickens in it and gone out shopping. We had visitors coming that evening and I was going to have dinner ready. However, when I walked in the door, there were no wonderful smells of cooking chicken so I was sure something wrong. Sure enough it was only cooked a little bit. What a pain!
Yesterday, the bread machine decided to stop working. I got everything in the pan to make a loaf and the motor just whirred but didn't move the beater in the pan. After taking it apart, we saw the belt was broken. We can potentially fix this but only if we can get the spare part from South Africa--where the machine comes from. We'll see if that's even possible. We got a new pan last Sept. when someone was coming from SA. I must say this machine has been great. I've used it on average around 3 times per week for the last, nearly 3 years that we've had it.
And lastly, our freezer is dying. We got it 2nd hand from people who were leaving and I don't think they got it new. When we come back from Germany at Christmas, it would only freeze up about 3 inches from the bottom. A guy came and put freon in it and it worked for a while. Then the freeze level started going down again. We had it filled again but now it's going down again. Since we're going to Europe in about 3 weeks, I'll just leave it for now. However, it's leaking freon and we can smell it. Ugh!
I guess we'll need to make some decisions about some of this stuff. A microwave is nice to have but we don't HAVE to have it. The crock pot is great and I use it often, but... The bread machine is almost a must and the freezer is extremely useful. With it, I only have to go shopping about once a month! I hate shopping here, it's so difficult with road works and terrifying traffic!
As we used to say in Swahili, "Mungu anajua." "God knows" what is best to do.
You know the saying, "When it rains, it pours"? Well, that's pretty much what's happening around our house. (Not that it's really raining, which would be wonderful right now when the heat is making the humidity nearly unbearable.) I'm talking metaphorically here. All our appliances are breaking down. The microwave died about a week ago. It was really old and rusty and we bought it from other missionaries who were leaving--and it's lasted a good 2 years already. It started being weird and only running when the door was open. I didn't think having those little microwaves floating around the kitchen was terribly healthy so have decided not to use it.
The crock pot decided to stop working day before yesterday. I had put 2 chickens in it and gone out shopping. We had visitors coming that evening and I was going to have dinner ready. However, when I walked in the door, there were no wonderful smells of cooking chicken so I was sure something wrong. Sure enough it was only cooked a little bit. What a pain!
Yesterday, the bread machine decided to stop working. I got everything in the pan to make a loaf and the motor just whirred but didn't move the beater in the pan. After taking it apart, we saw the belt was broken. We can potentially fix this but only if we can get the spare part from South Africa--where the machine comes from. We'll see if that's even possible. We got a new pan last Sept. when someone was coming from SA. I must say this machine has been great. I've used it on average around 3 times per week for the last, nearly 3 years that we've had it.
And lastly, our freezer is dying. We got it 2nd hand from people who were leaving and I don't think they got it new. When we come back from Germany at Christmas, it would only freeze up about 3 inches from the bottom. A guy came and put freon in it and it worked for a while. Then the freeze level started going down again. We had it filled again but now it's going down again. Since we're going to Europe in about 3 weeks, I'll just leave it for now. However, it's leaking freon and we can smell it. Ugh!
I guess we'll need to make some decisions about some of this stuff. A microwave is nice to have but we don't HAVE to have it. The crock pot is great and I use it often, but... The bread machine is almost a must and the freezer is extremely useful. With it, I only have to go shopping about once a month! I hate shopping here, it's so difficult with road works and terrifying traffic!
As we used to say in Swahili, "Mungu anajua." "God knows" what is best to do.
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