are emerging slowly here. I've started seeing
selfishness, motherly love, prank-playing, bad
money management, best-friendship, and last
night, I saw family problems and elderly wisdom.
There is this little girl named Estella. I have
NEVER seen eyes that lock into mine like
this. First her eyes fill up and find
yours. Then her smile breaks out and she starts
jumping up and down. But even though she is
moving up and down, somehow her eyes never leave
yours. I will video it because I CAN'T explain
it. Never seen anything like it. Anyway,
Estella, her mom and her sister Merci live down
the road from me and they use our well to get
water for cooking, bathing, etc. Her mom's name
is Brigette. Brigette is warm as can be. She's
amazing. She is older but has a bit of the same
energy that Estella does. Her eyes do the same
thing, but it's not as intense…maybe dimmed over the years.
Last night I was sitting on the mat with my
family. It was about 8 pm. Armelle (4) was
wearing her new New Years dress, but got cold and
brought me a huge piece of cloth to wrap her
in. She spun in a circle while the fabric wound
around her. Then she plopped down in my lap
like a little mummy. She fell asleep
quickly. We sang a few songs…head, shoulders,
knees and toes…talked about our days….but soon
were interrupted by some commotion. Ferdina (the
oldest boy who is visiting from another village
for the holidays) came running in and said there
was a fight going on with Brigette.
The five of us got up and went out to the edge of
our wall. There was Brigette. She had run
barefoot from her house and was a little
frantic. She said that her husband was really
mad and hit her. Estella and Merci were still
at home with their dad. Brigette tends to drink
rice wine all the time. She's never out of
control but always a little extra free with her
words and unaware of any personal
space. Apparently, she had gone to the market
and slept there all day, leaving the kids alone
at home (not that unusual in Chad). The father
didn't like that and I'm sure it was an
accumulation of other things…but he told her he didn't want her anymore.
As Brigette told us this I just felt
so bad that someone would tell her they didn't
want her anymore. So, in my totally broken
Nangere, I said, "Brigette. I like you a
lot. You can stay with me in my hut tonight. I
have an extra bed." At this, Jolie wrapped me up
in a hug and burst into laughter along with
everyone else. What? I thought. I was
serious. J Apparently, my Nangjere along with
my offer to stay in my hut was just a little funny. I didn't really get it.
Brigette came in and "hid" with us in our courtyard for a while.
Samedi came home. After he got home, Samedi was
filled in on the story. He LISTENS so well. He
said, "Ok, I will go talk with your husband." Up
he got, and he went over to Brigette's house.
Samedi is seriously one of THE MOST kind and
wise people. All of the people in the village
call him Papa Sam. Samedi started out as a
janitor at the hospital and today he is a
surgeon, doing C-sections, hernia repairs,
EVERYTHING. I am amazed at how much he
knows. Many times he's given me encouragement or
talked to me about the stuff I'm seeing here that
upsets me. He gets up and checks all of our
doors three times each night. He said it's his
duty as the father. He always takes time to
greet the patients and never blows ANYONE
off. He also said told me the other day that he
prays everyday that I won't get sick.
Soon, we got tired and I told Brigette I was
going to bed. I said my offer was serious and
she could come stay with me for the night. She
did. I moved my things off little cot and she
slept there. I tried to give her a blanket but
she said she just needed her little sheet. These tough Africans. J
I love to talk at night before I go to
sleep. When I was younger, I used to sleep on
Taylor's floor and talk his ear off. Then
Taylor was never home and I'd sleep on Fletcher's
floor. I talked his ear off too. If fact,
sometimes Fletcher would say, "Emily, if you are
going to sleep in here, you can't talk….I want to
sleep." Haha. Then I lived with Tara Becker
and I'd go sleep in her room. She also would
tell me that if I was going to come sleep in
there, I had to be quiet. I share a twin bed
with Lisa sometimes and she humors me and talks
with me for a while. Thanks Lisa. :) It's just
that when I lay down at night, my mind really
starts up. It's not my fault…I can't help it.
So I started talking to Brigette as we lay there
in the dark. She answered a few things and then
said, "Ok, Emily, sleep. It's time to
sleep." Hahah. I laughed inside and almost out
loud because even when you come to a completely
new place…some things about you just DON'T change.
Maybe fifteen minutes later, Samedi knocked on
the door. He said that he had just talked to
Brigette's husband. Her husband, after a lot of
convincing, had decided that he would not hit
Brigette and that he would take her
back. Brigette got up and said that she would go
back over there. After she left and the door
shut, Samedi said, "Emily, you should lock your
door." I told him that the lock didn't work from
the inside. He said, "What! It hasn't worked
all this time! Well, you should put something in
front of the door then." He then got me a brick
to put on the inside of the door. I love it
that my family looks out for me. What amazing
people. Amazing, amazing people.
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