Things I've Taken for Granted

Now that I'm home, I am really enjoying some things I used to take for granted...

1. Houses with walls (hence no chickens, rats, stray cats, wild birds or geckos in your living room)
2. Hot showers (need I say more?)
3. My washer and dryer (so the rain doesn't become the rinse cycle)
4. Soft things to sit on (i.e. not the floor)

Past Week in Surveying

*The following two posts are about a week late. I literally got sick in the middle of writing them last Wednesday. I am home now and feeling much better. Thank you for your prayers and support!

The families that we have been surveying are recent transplants from an area right on the ocean. They were actually forced from their homes by the government because the land was sold to a developer for a hotel. In addition, there is no running water in the area they had to move to. The Samoan government promised water last October, but as of now they still have to draw water from a truck that comes around. This situation made the social worker inside me want to organize and petition.

I have been struggling with the amount of child abuse there is on the island. In many families, if you are sick you get hit for being a burden, if you get hurt you get hit for being stupid, if there are guests you get hit for playing or wanting to be near them. It is really hard for me to handle being able to hear a 3-year old being beaten from 30 yards away. There are no protective services for children. They even get hit in the head in school by their teachers. I have been praying often for the Lord to protect these kids' hearts. Anger is a huge issue here, and it does not surprise me since many children grow up being hit all the time, often for (what seems to me) no reason.

Miscellaneous

I am leaving Samoa on Friday, so I am tying up lose ends and working with the hospital eye clinic to get statistics on the number of patients they diagnose with cataracts and pterygium. After a preliminary look at my surveys, I counted 19 people in the 31 households I surveyed as having cataracts or pterygium, which is surprising. Most of the 19 were pterygium. There are no ophthalmologists in Samoa, so they rely on mission teams to do any eye surgeries, especially the YWAM Marine Reach. I'm hoping that bringing light to this will cause more ophthalmologists to go there on mission.

The School of Mission outreach team (which includes Emily) left from the YWAM base on Monday for Fiji. They are training people on how to build the biogas for cooking fuel and doing evangelism. In 5 weeks they are going to Vanuatu where they will be doing similar things plus reconciliation ceremonies for the missionaries that have been killed there and going through the jungle to a village that has never been reached by the Gospel. PLEASE PRAY FOR THE TEAM. Especially when they are in Vanuatu, which should be the end of July-beginning of September. There is a lot of witchcraft there and physical dangers. They also need more finances.

Keep Praying

I think I might have a parasite or something. I have had stomach problems for several days, I vomited this morning and I am tired, so please pray I will figure out what it is because I have meds with me and that there won't be any more vomiting (sorry for the graphic details).
At least you know how to pray :-).

Please Pray

Please pray

I am getting sick, please pray that it will go away over the weekend. I still have surveys to finish up on Monday, which involve a lot of walking in the heat and as it is now I will not be able to do it. Thank you for your prayers!

Lessons Learned in Samoa

1. Never stand under a coconut tree.
2. If you talk loudly on the bus the old ladies will shush you.
3. Always carry a stick. (To fend off the stray dogs) 4. An umbrella is not just for rain. It is good for the sun and dogs (see above).
5. Pigtails do not denote the gender of a child.
6. If the bus is full, your lap doubles as a bench.
7. It is not acceptable to drink or eat while you are walking.
8. Always take your shoes off before entering someone's house.
9. If you are on the sea wall at night, you have to be on guard for giant cockroaches.
10. Samoans talk with their eyebrows.

Surveying in the Village

Yesterday we surveyed 7 families in the little village hamlet.
Explaining about how the bio-gas works and doing the survey can take anywhere from 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on how much the family wants to talk. I think more than half of the participants had a serious eye problem and cooked over open fires, which is an interesting find and hopefully will help me show the health benefits of switching to bio-gas.
We also prayed over several families, especially those with eye issues.
Unfortunately there are no eye doctors in Samoa, so there is no one to properly treat these issues unless a mission team comes.

I've been having fun playing with the kids while my translator administers parts of the survey. A three-year-old kept boy wanting me to tickle his feet when we were at his fale (open-air house) and then when we returned after lunch he got excited and said "My palagi (white
person) is here!" Someone also brought me their baby to hold for the first time yesterday. I taught a group of brothers how to act like you are eating someone up and they thought it was hilarious and promptly started "eating" my arms, hair and ears. You can see groups of boys in this area giving each other wheelbarrow rides and playing makeshift cricket throughout the day. We are finished surveying in this area now, but I enjoyed it. Everyone calls me by name now (Samoan name that is) and the kids run up to me. Luckily we walk to the shop there occasionally.

Things to pray for: the surveying will continue at a good pace next week.

Title: On the Base and Dance Crews

Currently we have a man on the base visiting from Thailand, Ekk. He is here because of connections to the bio-gas system. He creates all kinds of things, including machines that turn plastic, charcoal and wood into gas, a way to run cars on leftover cooking oil, and something to do with coconut oil and energy. This week the boys have help him build something that makes charcoal and a miniature bio-gas system that is all in a barrel. Not sure what he will come up with next.

A group of people on the base, including Emily, are preparing to go to Fiji and Vanuatu on mission outreach. They are taking the biogas to both places and going to a tribe in the Vanuatu jungle (literally cutting through the jungle with machetes) that has not been reached by the Gospel. They will be leaving as soon as they receive their funding. We are having a prayer chain so 2 people are praying 24 hours/day for that and for their trip.

The past 2 Friday nights have been filled with dance crews. Last Friday it was the "Best Samoan Christian Dance Crew" semifinals by the sea wall in Apia and last night it was "Samoa's Top 5 Dance Crews" concert. As many of you know I love dancing, so this has been very enjoyable. Last night, there were a couple of dances that had traditional Polynesian mixed in, which I really like especially because it has some Tahitian mixed in which I used to do. There were also a couple of "fafafine"numbers, which is what the Samoans call cross dressers. I was surprised at the number of cross dressers here, it is culturally appropriate as far as I've heard.

Things to pray for: Ekk, that he will see the Spirit of the Lord here and wonder; for the team's physical strength, safety, mission fees, the team leader, and against spiritual warfare.

New Pictures!

New Pictures

Surveying

Today we started surveying in a hamlet in our village that is owned by the methodist church. Earlier this week, we took a cake to the pastor (who has the power in the area) and he gave us permission to survey and told his church members we would be coming to their homes. Three people in four households had eye problems and cooked over open fires, which I ask about in my survey. One man we talked to said that 9 years ago he was cooking over the fire and opened a pot and his face was too close and the steam went in his eyes. The pain was very bad, and his vision became blurry. His vision never recovered. When we asked how he would like us to pray for him, he said he wanted to regain his sight because he wanted the Lord to use him more in the church to preach and he thought his sight was preventing that. Another household we went to listed their income as about $400/year and there were 5 children, including a daughter with Down's Syndrome who has severely delayed speech. Both parents said they had skin growing over their eye and it was affecting their vision, and they were using a natural remedy. One of the children picked the leaf for me that they were squeezing to use as an eye drop to help with the pain. When we prayed over the family, the woman cried and cried.

We will be going back to the same area tomorrow to continue surveying, they are expecting us.

Samoan Funeral

Yesterday the whole base went to the funeral of a big YWAM supporter who was also one of the main intercessors for the Samoan government. He was an electrician and was killed saving a worker from electrocution. We went to the day of burial service, but I have heard that the full funeral lasts about a week. At the beginning, we lined up and held a length of lace at least 4 yards long, we walked in behind the casket and wrapped the lace around it. A few groups of children did the same until you couldn't see the casket through the lace. The casket was simple wood wrapped in a woven mat and some palms. The service was 3 hours long and most of the time people went up and talked about the deceased. This included his wife and his 2 of his children, who were just teenagers.
During the service, many Samoans laughed at what seemed to be inappropriate times or at things that made me want to cry (like the daughter talking about how she was grieving). I have been told that many Samoans laugh when things are difficult. Throughout the service, people brought flower arrangements and wreaths to the front and went to comfort the wife and children.

In Samoa, there are not graveyards. People are buried on their family's land. If a family owns land here, they do not sell it. Even if they move away, someone else takes care of it for them. If it is a very poor family, someone in the extended family will own land that they can bury the dead on.

And the Surveying Begins...

Up until the last few days I've mostly been talking to people on the base about issues with open fire cooking and looking up journal articles that speak to the dangers related to it so I could prepare a thorough and culturally appropriate survey for the village. I'm hoping my results will show that it would be safer and healthier to switch to biogas stoves, which are run on gas generated from human, plant and animal waste. This will help the YWAM base gain credibility in their biogas project and hopefully help them get more funding so they can help more people build the biogas systems. Regular gas stoves are not a great option here because the LP gas is more expensive than most people can afford. I'm looking at things like burns, injuries while gathering firewood, eye irritation, cataracts, and pterygium related to cooking with open fires. Last week I was talking to someone about the issue of finding firewood. They were saying that people will climb up the trees (mostly palm type trunks) and cut it with machetes, which can be dangerous. Some people also do not have any wood on their land and trespass and may be injured if they are caught. You can buy firewood, but it is about $6 a bundle, and that only lasts 1-2 meals.

On Friday, we surveyed a family who had actually come to the YWAM base to see about the biogas because they had heard about it and were interested. They were happy to see us and gave us lemonade and cookies, which is a rarity. The grandmother in the house is on dialysis, so we prayed for her healing while we were there. She was grateful to us for praying and sent us home with a bag of cookies. I think I read only about 50 people in Samoa are on dialysis because they do not have a doctor that is qualified to do the surgery that enables someone to do dialysis, so one comes on mission every so often. There are also no ophthalmologists (eye doctors) here. The people often rely on mission teams for specialists.

Things to pray for: that we are able to survey a lot of households and have the energy to keep walking (and walking) in the heat; that my translator will understand how I need the survey to be presented; that the families we go to will be happy to see us, open to the idea of biogas, and clearly answer survey questions. On a personal note, my eyes are itchy and yucky, so please pray that it goes away.

pictures!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.549537596866.2047747.177502257&l=e5abc07af7

Samoan Independence Day and Fishing

Wednesday was Independence Day here so I went to the celebration in Apia (along with the rest of Samoa). It started with something similar to a parade that was what seemed like every school, organization, village, and university marching, some dressed in traditional Samoan outfits and showing off their traditional tattoos. After nearly 2 hours of this, we decided to take a break and walk along the sea wall to a market and enjoy some passion fruit ice cream. We also stopped by the big food and crafts market and bought luao which is coconut cream wrapped in taro leaves to scoop up and eat with breadfruit; both are baked in an umu, the traditional lava rock oven. I would compare it to spinach cheese dip and bread. The second part of the ceremonies was several types of dancing from Samoa and the Pacific and it began after the Head of State of Samoa (like the president) arrived to watch. My favorite was a boys school that had over 200 dancers and in their "traditional" performance they included Thriller.

Yesterday Emily and I went on a fishing trip with the boys on the base.
The traditional Samoan way of fishing uses a very large net and several people slapping the water with sticks and making noise to get the fish to go into the net. Emily and I just walked around because the ocean is shallow for quite a ways. We found bright blue starfish, sea cucumbers, coral and something living in a pukka shell. The boys cracked open sea urchins and ate the inside. Emily tried it but was not too impressed. We mostly played with them and saved them from imminent death.

I received approval for my research from my university so we are planning to begin surveying people today as soon as it stops raining. We are also going to visit a Matai (leader)/pastor and bring him a gift so we can get permission to survey the people in his village.

More pictures coming soon!

Settling in...

Malo (hello),

I am settling in well in Samoa and trying to learn and practice as many Samoan words as possible. The phrase I use the most is fa'afetai lava, which means thank you very much.

I have learned several interesting cultural tidbits this week. In Samoa, pastors are one of the most respected individuals. This means that others count it as a blessing to serve the pastors. They often have their food and drinks made and served to them, and their houses cleaned.
Samoans are very religious and every evening there is a time for family devotion. To make sure you are doing your devotions people in the villages even patrol the streets for that time to make sure no one is out. I have been praying that the Samoan people will know the grace and freedom of the Lord, and see past man's rules. Today I went to a church that has several services, including one in English. 19 people led worship at the same time, singing and playing insturments. In Samoa, you take off your shoes before entering someone's fale (house) so it didn't surprise me that many people worshipped barefoot.

A few days ago we went into "town" which is Apia, the capitol. I got to walk along the sea wall and enjoy the ocean. We went and ate an American lunch because if people go out to eat here they do not eat Samoan food.
I learned that it is rude to eat or drink while walking and when in town or on the bus, it is inappropriate to talk loudly. I was also a bit of a spectacle in town because it is small enough that most people are used to Emily, but not to me. Speaking of the bus, whether it comes (or not) depends on the current bus driver. We have been playing a guessing game as to when the bus might come, and then sometimes we go somewhere and then the bus doesn't come to take us back.

Yesterday we went to the river higher up the mountain that has huge "sliding rocks". We had fun jumping off and sliding down the rocks that are like small waterfalls or natural water slides.

I have been preparing my survey for my research this week and I am hoping look at a link between eye problems and cooking over the open fire and umu (with lava rocks). It is also interesting that the men here seem to do a lot of the cooking outdoors, not the women like in many other developing countries.

Things to pray for: that I get IRB approval for my research through my university in the next couple days and that my migraine gets better.

Pictures from Samoa and Fiji

I posted pictures! Check them out:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.549199544326.2047578.177502257&l=660a34e470

Have Just Arrived in Samoa...

Malo (hello), today is my second day in Samoa! It is beautiful here, and the view is of the surrounding mountains and palm trees. So, some basic info about what it is like here:

-Where do I live? In a fale, which is has a big room on a platform that is open with no walls, but then has rooms and bathrooms attached to the back. Some fales do not have closed rooms attached. Emily and I share a room with a Fijian named Leba. We sleep in bunks under mosquito nets.
There are several fales on the base as well as some shipping containers that have doors and windows cut out.

-What have I eaten so far? For breakfast, a chocolate soupy mixture with rice and then dumplings. For lunch, noodles with egg and cassava or taro root (starchy root veggies). For dinner, noodles, cassava, taro, and laupele greens. And the others ate meat at dinner. I have also had starfruit and papaya, which grow on the base, along with coconuts, guava, bitter melon, cassava, taro, eggplant, pumpkin, sweet potato, bread fruit, pineapples, sasalapa fruit, cucumbers, and tomatoes among other things.

There is a little less than 30 people on this YWAM base, and most of us eat together and have worship and prayer together in a big fale. This morning we had worship, which was in Samoan and English, not only for my and my friend Emily's benefit but also for the Fijians and Tongans.
There was even a few songs in English. Worship includes dancing, clapping, and whooping. When they pray, they pray all at once out loud so the prayers just wash over you. It is beautiful.

Being with Emily is wonderful and she is doing really well, which is good to see with my own eyes :-). I am also preparing to start surveying people in the village for my research. The Samoans gave me a Samoan name (Emily's is Emele). Genevieve doesn't translate too well, so they chose Alofa, which means Love, my middle name.

Please pray that I regain all my energy without getting sick and get over jet lag. Also for my migraine because there is a lot of music and spontaneous singing that does not always agree with my head.

Fiji layover - Delayed Post

I had a lovely day in Fiji on my layover on the way to Samoa. I walked around the market, and a store owner invited me to his shop for a kava drinking ceremony which is a root that is ground and traditionally drunk in Fiji (it is also used in the US and as a natural treatment and known as kava kava). It involved clapping and chanting and drinking the kava out of coconut shells. Then I took a bus to the Wailoaloa beach. I hung out at the beach, had lunch and learned how to paddle board! Next step, learn how to surf. The people here in Fiji are very friendly and I'm glad I got to spend a day here! I am flying to Samoa this evening, and I will actually go back in time one day because Fiji and Samoa are on opposite sides of the international date line. It is Tuesday in Fiji but when I arrive in Samoa it will be Monday!

Getting ready to go...

I'm preparing to leave but I am sick :-( so I am mostly resting and doing research online. Please pray that it goes away quickly. I have been researching open fire cooking and the incidence of burns, especially in children. I will be looking at this when I am in Samoa. I will be working with the YWAM base as they are preparing to build biogas systems for poor families which will allow them to use waste as fuel, including for cooking. This will reduce the reliance on open fire cooking and the safety issues that are related to that, such as burns. If you want to know more about biogas you can check out some basics at http://www.hedon.info/cat14&deep=on. Please also pray that the Lord will provide rest of the funds soon, I leave on Sunday.

I am leaving 1 month early!

Long story short, because of some scheduling changes for my contacts in Samoa I am now leaving in 1 1/2 weeks and I just got my tickets last night. I would really appreciate your prayers as the Lord is showing me how to surrender every ounce of control to Him.

Please pray:
-That the Lord gives my husband Rodmy and me peace that surpasses all understanding. In being apart sooner than we thought, in coming up with the funds I need a month early, in trusting that everything will get done that needs to be done.
-I am also doing an independent study for my masters degree while I am there- please pray that my research proposal is approved by the Institutional Review Board in the next few days.
-For clear communication through cultural barriers. That things will happen in a relatively timely manner but that I will be patient and flexible.
-For the changes in what I am going to be doing while I am going to be there. I will be working with YWAM on their biogas project which helps poor families use waste to make fertilizer and fuel for electricity, cooking, etc. (Big benefits being improved quality of life and improved sanitation and health).
-For my health- that I will not have problems with asthma, migraines or back pain (or tropical illnesses!).
-That traveling will go quickly and safely. (Flying St. Louis to LA to Fiji to Samoa).

My trip will be May 22-June 25. I will update as much as I can while I am there. Thank you so much for your support.

My Prayer List

I would appreciate your prayers as I prepare to go to Samoa. Things to pray for:

-Research, planning and preparation for my trip. That I would be equipped and as prepared as possible when I arrive, especially in matters pertaining to skin infections and public health interventions.
-Being away from my husband for over a month (and he from me). That the Lord will distract us and make it not awful.
-Fundraising for the trip. This is also a praise, because He has started to provide funds from the church I was raised in. A huge blessing!
-Partnering with the Samoans on the YWAM base and hopefully health personnel in the area, that we will understand each other, that they will be interesed in my project, and that I will be patient and flexible.
-That I will be a strong support for my friend Emily, who is stationed there. Her contact with her spiritual community and support base is limited because of her isolated locale, so I am excited to be able to be there for her.
-That I will finish my Master of Social Work degree strong (graduating May 13!) and am able to study for and pass my licensure test before I leave.

That's all for now, I will update you as things progress. Thank you!

1st Post

Hello! Thanks for visiting my blog. This summer I will be going on a mission trip to Independent Samoa from the end of June to the end of July. In the rural villages, there seems to be a high number of skin infections among children, so my goal will be to reduce these infections. After figuring out what is causing them, I will implement sustainable, culturally appropriate interventions. I will be working through the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) base in Samoa, where one of my good friends, Emily, is stationed as a missionary.