"You're in now"

Today we had a joint church service and an international celebratory meal to celebrate International Women's Day. It was good to have the whole service taken over by the women. The men tend to be so much more visible in church, although they'd struggle without the women. Our friend Rose preached really well.

Last week I'd been picking raisins off the floor when the programme was announced, so I had to ask someone what was planned. I was given a programme and asked how many bottles of juice I was going to bring. I suggested 3 (5 litres), which was clearly insufficient as she ignored me and asked whether I was going to bring 5 or 10.  I brought some scones and, since a British drink seemed a tall order, some bottles of foléré (hibiscus juice). Tim commented that it was a mountain of scones, but when compared with everyone else's contributions it looked like a mole hill. Most people had brought several cool boxes brimming with food. The scones also stuck out a bit amongst all the African dishes. There were plantains, batons of manioc wrapped in banana leaves, Casava, Senegalese rice and fish, lots of the dishes made here with green leaves that aren't found elsewhere, lots of tasty things with a yellow or orange tinge because they've been cooked in palm oil, and some not so tasty, like yellow soup (which also contains limestone) which I'll not be trying again!

I've found it hard to help out with things at church for so many reasons: needing to help Reuben and Miriam cope with a 2 1/2 hour (or more) service; the size; the cultural differences; language etc. I've always been a bit at sea and relied heavily on a couple of (very busy) people when needing to ask what I should be doing, where and when. However, this time I managed to join in, putting food out, serving drinks, washing up cups when we ran out and collecting a mountain of rubbish. I was also handed a song sheet at some point. Thankfully Ernestine, whom I'd taught Christmas carol alto parts for the event in our garden, came and sang the song through with me just before we all trooped to the front of the marquee to sing it.

It was really good, after more than a year of being like visitors to the church, to be part of the team. It has taken far more effort and perseverance to get to that point than it would back home. Everyone really noticed (especially seeing me as a white person doing 'lowly' things like collecting the rubbish) and showered me with appreciation and thanks. Mama Christine (always referred to as Mama out of respect for her age and achievements) said to me "I'm so proud of you. You've done a really good job". It was really touching. Particularly since she could really have said "It's about time you helped out"! It's very christian of her to recognise a fairly paltry contribution for the underlying effort. As I was leaving she said "You're in now". Next time there is an event I should know who to talk to and how to get stuck in and people will expect me to be involved and ask me to do things. Phew.