Talkin' the way ye grew up, like!

Anyone who has ever lived among foreigners will know how good it is to spend an evening talking your own language. Try as they might, even other native speakers of English (our American, Canadian and English colleagues) just can't talk Norn Irish like what we do. So, the thought of a night's “craíc” (crack) without being accused of drug-abuse, was an offer we could hardly turn down!

After a visit to someone locally known as “The Chicken Man” (because of his big BBQ pit and freshly cooked chicken) Mary Endersby and ourselves joined the merry crew.

“The Merry Crew” are the Cycle for Hope team who are on their way from Morocco to South Africa. Most of the team are from Northern Ireland, except Oliver, who is South African and is presumably cycling home. There's the 'core team' who do the whole cycle plus a number of others who fly out for certain legs. This means they have to keep to a strict schedule, or they'll miss the people who are joining them. They also have a driver (Philippe, from Belgium) who has a lorry-load of supplies. They all seem very well organised.

They told us a bit about their adventures. Apparently Morocco is not the place to be if you want to celebrate Christmas and the Sahara in the rain is not much fun. The Nigerian government were really good to them and organised for them to stay in lovely hotels. In Cameroon, the people were wonderfully friendly (as most of the people along the way have been). The hot showers of SIL's Yaoundé training centre were great after a few days sleeping on concrete floors. Some of the team quit their jobs to do this! They shared how they have been meeting various missionary and relief workers in each country they cycle through and hearing about their work . It all seems like great craíc! It also felt a bit like being an extra in 'Long Way Down'

We told them how we ended up in Cameroon and Mary Endersby shared her story: learning unwritten languages by sitting and listening to what people said; documenting those languages; translating the New Testament; teaching people to read and write; teaching people to do what she has been doing so that SIL don't need to rely on foreigners. Thirty-odd years ago Mary quit her job teaching French to come to Cameroon. In the 1970s the links between Cameroon and Europe weren't as good as they are now and after 5 years she went home for the first time. In those 5 years, she made two phone calls home. Oh how the world has changed since she was a wee girl on a farm in the Mournes!