Visitors from Northern Ireland

Almost two months have passed since the visit of Alison's mother, Ruth, and her Aunt Alice. Despite various mother-in-law jokes flying around, we were genuinely delighted to see them. After six months of interacting with a variety of foreign cultures and languages, it was refreshing to converse in “Norn Irish” again.

So, while we could speak and be easily understood, our thoughts had been with our guests. How would they make the switch from English-speaking Northern Ireland in the middle of the coldest winter for years, to the dry season in French-speaking Cameroon? The answer is, “Very well!”.

They even coped with being left standing around the airport for an hour and being approached by taxi-drivers every two minutes while we drank tea in the hotel restaurant! Note to self: take airport arrivals board announcements of an hour's delay with a pinch of salt!

You might be wondering what did we do with them for two weeks. Well, we brought them round the SIL campus and let them meet our colleagues. The round of meetings and greetings started with the other Northern Irish member of SIL, Mary Endersby.



Seeing as their first week here was during the school holidays, we took them to the beach. Fancy that – sitting on the beach in your shorts in January! After our first visit to Kribi, we didn't take long to decide the most suitable place for them was the lovely Illomba, close to the Lobé waterfalls.



It was at the Illomba that we got to see a turtle close-up. He had managed to get caught in fishermen's nets. To be honest we were a little concerned when we saw him lying on his back that this particular member of an endangered species was very endangered indeed! We couldn't have been more wrong – once the nets were all out of the water, he was put onto a hand-cart and looked like he had a jolly old time while being wheeled up the beach. Imagine him, lying there on his back, head up in the air, looking all round while the world passed by. Once at the water's edge, he was put the right way up and left to get back into the water himself.






Alas, our few days at Kribi passed all too quickly and we had to return to Yaoundé in time for the dedication of the Nomaande New Testament. This was our guests' chance to experience the Bush Taxi (which no amount of words or pictures can do justice to). No amount of words can fully do justice to the New Testament dedication or the joy and delight of those who have received it in their own language for the first time and we were glad to have Alice and Ruth here to see it for themselves.

The next day they enjoyed the contrast of African church in the morning and the SIL Western-style evening meeting. If God is the God of all the world, why would one culture's way of worshipping be any more valid than the next? Our guests certainly enjoyed the local rhythm and enjoyed a different slant on Matthew 4:19 - “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” - which was the start of the sermon. It then expanded to the more direct: “Follow me, and I will make you.” It's always good to here a familiar passage examined in an unfamiliar way. Among our conversations that day was the possibility that in Northern Ireland, we are so used to knowing the theological 'right answers', we don't often think!

The next week saw Alison and Clarke return to work at RFIS while Alice and Ruth found plenty of ways of entertaining themselves. They freely roamed the neighbourhood, bought the raw materials for some really tasty dinners and wouldn't allow their hosts into their own kitchen! They also spent a morning helping out the literacy office with packing materials for a training course. As well as groceries their haul included various souvenirs of their time here.



On their last day, we went to a hotel roof to show off the view of the seven hills this city is built between. As it happened, we were caught in the first downpour since November. So much for seeing the hills!



So what did our guests make of it all? By their own admission, they saw a lot more of what we and SIL are doing than any amount of blogs or e-mails could ever communicate. They were able to give us an outsiders' perspective on how we are living here and how we have adjusted to a different culture. They also had a great time themselves and went home happy!

We were obviously glad to see them! Anyone we have met here who have had visitors 'from home' will tell a similar story, of how it is great to have someone else who knows your culture and language. OK, so our colleagues speak English, but not quite the same way as us, like. Imagine being here for several years and suddenly hearing Dutch (or German, or Italian, or Chinese, or whatever) again! It was a great mid-way boost for us.

Now we have to get back to what we came here for!