Fulani's Again

Yesterday, we went back to see the Fulani refugee camp.  We decided that we would take watermelons to them, and then find out what else they were in need of. Here's a photo of Ethan loading up some of our watermelons.

And here's Anna with the Watermelon Guy.  We decided that we needed 75.  We went to the first watermelon stand and the guy had 44 melons.  We bought them all and told him we needed more.  Turns out he had another stand by the highway.  We drove there and guess exactly how many watermelons he had at his other stand??  Yep, 31.  Exactly.

We drove to the Fulani camp and unloaded the melons with the help of the women.  All the Fulani men are away from the camp during the day, either rebuilding their homes in the Mogu area or tending the cattle again.  The people of Mogu have sinced realized their mistake in pushing the Fulani out.  You see, the Fulani were sort of "contracted" to take care of the Mogu's cattle.  The Mogu tribe got mad over something and attacked the Fulani which caused them to flee.  Then, once things settled down, the Mogu realized that their cattle weren't being cared for.  Whoops.

Emily brought a small first aid kit to help take care of some of the wounds the people have.  Here she is cleaning the wound on a lady's leg.  I think this photo is just such a great example of being the hands of Jesus, getting down in the dirt and helping those in need.  It made me so thankful to have Em on our team.

The kids and I took a soccer ball so while Anna, Emily and I visited with the women, the kids could play soccer with the little Fulani kids.  The Fulani are still very shy with us, but after a few minutes of kicking the ball around, the little ones started to laugh and play with Ethan, Noles, Kylie and Jack.

 Here's Nolan playing kick ball with a little naked Fulani boy.  Thankfully that water tap is in the right place for this photo.

And here's Ethan throwing the ball with a little guy.  He would throw it to the little boy and the little boy would laugh and laugh.  It was so cute!

Anna just dove right in.  She sat on the ground, in the shade of the only tree, with the Fulani women and chatted with them.  The women all gathered around as Anna translated for us.  The Fulani women opened up and started telling us what it was they really needed.  It appears that some other aid groups have been there and promised to return with food, but haven't shown up yet.  The women said they have very little food and really need some corn.  And they mentioned that they so enjoyed the canned milk that we brought them last time-- they couldn't stop talking about the milk.  Some of the women kept pointing at us and smiling - they would point at Kylie and laugh, then me, then Emily.  We finally figured out that they were recognizing which one of us brought the bag of food to their tent.

As we were chatting, the women had their babies with them.  There was this one particular baby that was just adorable and we kept smiling and waving to her.  Finally, Emily walked over and signalled that she would like to hold her.  The mom handed her over and we all ooh-ed and ahh-ed over her.  As Emily was holding "her" Fulani baby, another mom came up and handed me a different baby girl.

Look!  I'm in love!  This tiny baby girl was so cute!  Then the mom told Anna to tell me that I could take her!  Talk about heart-break - I would've taken that baby home in a second!  

Then Emily had a turn with her.

Here she is just smiling away on my shoulder.  Oh, she was so cute!!

I'm in love!

We visited with the ladies a little longer and then told them we would return on Friday.  We'd like to be able to bring corn, milk and also a "panye" for each woman.  They fled with only the clothes they had on, and here in Africa, having a couple of "panyes" is important.  (It's just a big piece of cloth that they use for everything, it's a skirt, a dress, a way to tie your baby to your back, a blanket etc.)  So we'd like to be able to buy enough fabric for each woman to have one.  It was a really good visit.

This morning, Adam and Nate decided to drive out to Mogu for a little "reconnaissance" mission.  We wanted to know: 

1. How far is Mogu?

2. What is the state of their homes/land?

3. Is it possible for us to go and help out there in the rebuilding of their homes?

So he and Adam took off on a little adventure and, as you can see, the trails are pretty dirty!  Nate loved the ride but ate a pound of dirt on the way there.  They found the homes where the Fulani had been attacked and it was really sad.  Burned out homes and motorbikes, holes in the tin roofing of their homes made by machetes as the attackers tried to break in etc.  It must have been one terrifying night!

The recon went well and they decided that we could get there in trucks and that we could help rebuild, which is so great! We plan to head to the refugee camp tomorrow with food and then out to Mogu on Saturday to help with their homes.  Please pray!

We are also considering taking the stuff (generator, screen, projector etc.) to show the Jesus film while we're there. It would be so awesome to be able to do that since Anna happens to have it in Fulfulde. Please pray for us as we go to help and that we would have wisdom in what to do.  

And please keep praying for the Fulani.