Missionaries from Costa Rica

We heard that two of Ngone's sister Aissatou's daughters are now living at an "American" school in Thies. So one day we went to visit them with Aissatou and Ngone's uncle Jig Jum Jon (also known Baye Fat, Mara, or Aliou). Jig Jum is also teaching me Wolof.

We entered a beautiful villa in Thies and soon started chatting in French with the Pastor, a missionary from Costa Rica. He has about 15 kids living in the home and they are teaching them French, Spanish, and English, along with computers, bible teachings and other life skills. They also attend the local public school. They will live there up until the age of 18, when he feels they will have gained a solid foundation for the rest of their lives. He explained his approach also as very purposely oriented around the concept of family. He told Ngone and I that his father was a "metisse" African descendant from the east coast of Costa Rica (originally from the freedom seekers who fled Jamaica), so he feels the blood connection to Africa and has always wanted to pursue that.

Jig Jum apparently met this missionary through a mutual friend and has also apparently arranged a number of the children to live there. As the kids filed out to shake our hands and say bonjour he proceeded to greet all of them in Ngone's family's local dialect. (In fact he greets almost everyone he meets in this local dialect). Regardless, I can vouch for the genuine need for Aissatou's daughters to receive assistance. When I first met Aissatou she was very skinny and frail and impressed me tremendously with her perseverance, kindness and honesty. She has had a very difficult life since her first husband completely abandoned her and her first four kids (he has definitely missed out). It is great to see her now much stronger and healthier, and much credit goes to Ngone (and my Uncle Tom) for encouraging her to leave her husband's village and go work in the capital. But just last night I learned that she still often skips dinner and walks a few kilometers home each night from work to save transportation money.

This missionary visit really made me feel better about the efforts Ngone and I have made to help her family. To see a group going farther than us with their work and sacrifice helps give us a positive vision. And the family focus of their work is heartwarming.

One of the girls working there for a few months is from Milwaukee. She's shown in the picture above. She was an Americorps volunteer and never thought she would do missionary work but here she is. She is a member of the church in Milwaukee.