Party!!!

            I’ve heard that a SM year is supposed to be all about new experiences. And it’s true. I’ve also heard that in order to take full advantage of the opportunities during the year, you should always say yes, whenever anyone asks if you want to go somewhere and do something. A couple of weeks ago, I heard Charis and Masha talking about a festival that was going to be happening in Lai. My interest was piqued and I started asking questions. When was it? Where was it? Can I go too? I was excited; it was going to be my first time out of Bere since I had arrived.

            The day before the festival was scheduled to start however, the sky opened up and it rained. It rained all day long. This might not be a problem if you live in the States, but when all the roads are dirt and the main transportation is by motorcycle taxi, rain means bad things. The festival was postponed until the following week. I was bummed, but a week goes by quickly. Two days before it was scheduled to start I was down with malaria.  Joy. Now I didn’t think I’d even feel like going. Then Charis heard on the radio that it had been moved back one more day, so by the time it was supposed to start I was back on my feet ready to go.

            Thursday morning I woke up to rain. I texted Charis to see if we were still going, she said Naomi wasn’t worried about the weather as it would most likely clear up. When I got to the SM hut where we were to be picked up by klondos, I found Charis reclaiming the building from a colony of ants that had laid siege to it during the night. She washed some out with water, and sprayed the remainders with insecticide.

            After waiting almost an hour for the tardy klondo men, we were off to the market to meet up with Naomi, then on to Lai. I fell in love with motos on that trip. I was already excited about the festival, and when you add on top of that the absolutely freeing feeling that comes from letting the wind fly through your fingers and hair, you get something I imagine would be similar to a high Miki.

            When we actually got into Lai, we discovered that the festival wasn’t scheduled to begin until the next day. We were so bummed. We’d been planning on going to this thing for a week now. Instead of just turning around and going back to Bere though, we decided to have a party of our own. We had brought along a video camera to document the festival, and now we started to use it. The law doesn’t allow for the use of a video camera within Lai, but we could use it on the bridge and along the river. So we did. I’m not sure exactly how, but we ended up having a dance party on the bridge. Charis turned on music from her phone and we did a variety of traditional African dances brought to us by Naomi, Jamaican dances brought by Charis, and ridiculousness brought by me. Of course we also attracted a crowd of men who were laughing at the crazy women dancing on the bridge. A couple of them threw in some of their own moves as well. It was so crazy and fun!

            When we were done dancing, we decided to go down to the river and see if we could find a fisherman who would be willing to take us out in his canoe. However, when we started walking away from the bridge our klondo men showed up and insisted that they would take us down to the river. We were more than willing to accept the ride. They then got off their motos and accompanied us down to help us secure a canoe ride. It was so awesome! And they didn’t charge us any extra for the short trips they took us on. We finally convinced a fisherman to take us out in his boat, and those guys are so strong! They were paddling with such ferocity every stroke made me almost lose my seat as the boat shot forward.

            After our boat ride, the klondo men drove us into town so we could walk around the market and wait for a restaurant to finish making food. Naomi was still on a roll and insisted on buying us bananas and tea. The first tea I’ve had in Tchad and it sure was tasty! The restaurant served us something that looked like a rice crepe and some sauce. It was different than what I’m used to eating in Bere, but it was pretty tasty. Once our meal was over, our faithful klondo men showed up once again to take us home to Bere.

            The next day we returned to Lai to attend the actual festival. It was a good day, but consisted of a lot of waiting. Neither Naomi nor Charis had ever attended this festival before so none of us knew what to expect. Once again our klondo men showed their knack of appearing right when we needed a ride somewhere, something I was very thankful for by the end of the day. There was a boat race, which was pretty cool to see, except the other spectators came flying down the bank of the river to see and nearly pushed Charis and I over right as the race began. But people were so helpful. They guided us around and helped us figure out where we were supposed to be next.

At one point when we were walking along the road, a pickup truck pulled up beside us and offered us a ride. Charis and I hopped into the bed of the truck, and Naomi slid into the back seat. When they stopped to drop us off, they all jumped out of their truck. It turned out to be a musician and his band. We took pictures with them and said thank you for the ride. It was pretty cool.

Right before we left Lai, we discovered why the boat race had taken so long to take place and why the dancing that was supposed to be happening that afternoon hadn’t started yet. Evidently because this festival was supposed to be a time for the very traditional Lai people, after dark you were supposed to stay indoors unless you were a Lai so that they could perform their secret rituals and traditions in private. This had been announced on the radio multiple times, it was something that everyone knew. One Arab man didn’t listen. I’m not sure if it was just him or if he had a friend with him, but he went to wherever the Lai were doing their thing. Of course this didn’t make the Lai very happy, so they murdered him and whoever might have been with him, then took the bodies, threw them over their motos and burned them. I was already tired and ready to go back to Bere, but now I was even more so. People can be so sick sometimes.

There is still so much work that needs to be done here. And it’s such slow work too. There are people in the church here who are still afraid of the curses. Sometimes I wonder if the people actually know Jesus, if they’ve ever actually experienced Him, or if they’re just going to church because that’s the thing to do. It makes me sad. And it makes me realize how much I need Him to be in me if I’m going to make any difference at all while I’m here.