Here in Tiepogovogo

After two weeks in the village, I can hardly believe how well I have adjusted to life in Tiepogovogo. I love it! Life is simple and there is no speedway or byway. They don’t have electricity, running water or toilets. Every time you turn around you see either cows, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, dogs or a cat and any combination of those. I even had bats that would go in my house every night, for a little while (they are taken care of now). Every morning I awaken to the thud thud thud of women pounding their rice or corn with these huge mortar and pestle like things and the bahing and stirring of either sheep or goats outside my house. Yet I have not had a problem getting a good nights sleep, I am thankful God made me a heavy sleeper. I love all of the sounds, all of the animals and all of the people.

The people are amazing! Tiepogovogo (my village) is a small farming community. Every family has at least one crop near by. Many of them grow either chilies, cotton or rice as main crops. Other crops include what they call auberguene (but they are not eggplant), onions, peanuts, corn and so on. Right now is harvest time for the chilies and cotton. I love to watch them come back to the village with these huge sacks of one of these on their heads, I mean we are talking around 100 pounds or more on their head. Amazing. They are helpful people too. Most of the village has been trying to help me learn Nyarafolo. The children are fun. They will come in one big wave and stand around me, sometimes to help me with Nyarafolo, sometimes to just see what I will do, other times to share my food with me. The other day I had a house full of kids. They are fun to watch, fun to play with and a joy to interact with. My family is a large one. My host father has two wives (he married the second before he knew it was not good in Christ). He has at least 10 kids. Maari, my main host mom, has 5 kids, one was just born last Friday. The baby girl is so precious; it has been cool watching how Maari takes care of her and she has let me help! Names are hard for me but I almost have my whole family figured out, just don’t ask me how to spell them in Nyarafolo. :) I don’t really know people yet, I can’t talk to them really you know, but you would be amazed how much one can communicate with simple signs and tones in voice. Even so the whole village is like one big family, my family.

I have been learning Nyarafolo, I would really like to talk to them all. It is not an easy language for an Anglophone like me. There are at least five sounds they use all the time that are not found in any Latin or Germanic language that I know of. Kp, Gb, Ny, Ŋ have challenged me to learn to use my mouth and tongue in ways I have not used them before. The grammar is extremely different too. I am still working on that one though, I’m not even close to understanding that yet, but hey it has only been two weeks; little by little, it will come as they say here. I am so looking forward to speaking to the people I see everyday with more than just greetings which are a little more complex than hey, how are you?

My accommodations are just right. I live in the village’s old church. That means I have a concrete floor and walls and a metal roof, which is different than most of the village. I have a two room latrine about 100 feet from my house. One side has a hole for number 2 in the middle and the other side has a drain that goes out of one wall this is for number 1 and bathing. The walls are mud brick, the floors are concrete and there is no roof, but I have a nice set of doors (none of the other latrines have this, don’t worry they don’t look). I have a nice cot for sleeping, which is actually quite comfortable, a mosquito net (good for more than just keeping mosquitoes out), a large water filter that holds several gallons on a stool, a plastic chair, and my bags and things and that's it. The simple life is sweet and it has been fun adjusting, I haven't missed much yet.