Driving and AC

A big parking lot! (Don't have those on Clove Island)

Some of the major differences that soon distinguished itself between Clove Island and the French Island was cars, roads and AC.

On Clove Island we don’t have a car.  We get around on foot and by taxi.  This has worked very well for us.  The town is very walkable.  We live in the capital where taxis are frequent, easy and cheap.  (We can transport our whole family across town for just a little over a $1.)  If we want to go farther afield then we cram into taxi-buses.  These are cheap but less frequent, less comfortable, less easy.  The result is, we don’t leave the city all that much.  As our work seems to be expanding, we imagine we may have to buy a car in our next term, but for this time, being carless has been manageable and easy.

Upon arriving on the French Island, we were told we would need to rent a car.  We just wouldn’t be able to get around as a family without it, so they took us to one of the rental car places.  This brings out two differences between these two islands.  First, that renting a car would be necessary and secondly, that rental car places exist.  Soon we had a fun little Ford Fiesta to zip around the island in, and following our friend we drove out of town and across the island.  The trip was quite pleasant: beautiful tropical scenery, good roads, air conditioning and thirty minutes later we arrived in the pretty town of our friends.

Last day of French Island- special treat: a pool!

My first thought was, “Imagine if we had roads like this on Clove Island.”  The roads on our island are so terrible you never get much out of second gear.  Parts of the roads are so destroyed and beat up that cars must crawl over these patches with shocks creaking, undercarriage grating against rocks, and tires slamming into pothole after pothole.  I thought about the wear and tear on the vehicles, the wear and tear on the people crammed into those taxi-buses, the way it slowed down the pace of commerce, and prohibited movement and generally made life more difficult.  Imagine how enjoyable it would be for tourists to be able to pop down to the old coastal town on the Western side of the island with all it’s history and culture, or take a spin over to the south of the island to relax on one of Clove Island’s beautiful beaches.  But we don’t “pop down” anywhere and “taking a spin” sounds like what happens when your tires get stuck in the mud. 

On Clove Island, there is very little air conditioning.  Only a few shops and only a few cars have it.  Most of the time we rely on open windows and fans.  Most of the time this works pretty well, but we do sweat a lot.  But something else is gained by this AC-free culture.  When I drive around in a taxi on Clove Island, I am actively scanning the people we pass to say hello and vice versa.  This culture of shouting out names and waving to passersby is so common that I have friends who do it as a full time job.  They sit outside their shop and say hello to everyone who passes by.  It’s a great way to keep up relationships.

Back on the French Island, we were driving around in our little rental car with the windows up and the AC blowing, when we came upon a wedding procession.  The women were singing, drums were being beaten and the whole crowd walked down the middle of the street, but we heard little of it in our soundproof cocoon.  An old man motioned for us that we could come through on one side.  I smiled and waved to him.  No words were exchanged.  How different from Clove Island.  Later that day we turned off the AC and drove around with the windows down.  Something about it felt right.  But then we hit traffic, the sun started beating down and the kids started to complain.  Up went the windows.  On went the AC.  Between comfort and community, why is it so much easier to pick comfort?

Kids to school

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Ma Imani is doing better and the baby is healthy.  She is back to living with her family which is also encouraging.  We made it safely home from the French Island. Life is more or less back to normal for us here on the islands (although our teammates are away until February) but we are happy for school and English classes to have started again and for continued good relationships with friends and neighbors.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our youngest has started local preschool this week!  It’s been a bit of a rough transition.  Pray that he would be able to go to his class without crying and learn to obey the teacher.  We are thankful that his big brother is nearby and has been able to help out.  Pray that this would go well.  We have heard the disturbing news that some of our brothers and sisters have been bothered by authorities and are now afraid to meet regularly.  We have not been able to confirm anything yet, but this is troubling.   Pray for wisdom, courage and faith in the midst of adversity and fear.  Pray for our teammates who are far away from us this month experiencing all sorts of new adventures of their own! We’re experiencing new internet woes, pray that we’d find a solution.