Goodbye Celebrations

On the noisy bus for the goodbye tour!

First of all, we (Megan and Tom) are not saying goodbyes yet.  We will not be leaving Clove Island until July.  But this week marks the final week for our team and for our teammates.  They are saying goodbyes. 

Saying goodbye is important in island culture.  They even have a verb for it: hu-laga.  Loosely translated it means, to go out and especially inform someone that you are leaving.  You can use it like my neighbor does whenever I take a trip of even a day and forget to mention it to her, “I’m mad at you.” She says with a smile, “You didn’t laga me.”  I make my sincere apologies, and everything is fine.  But it highlights the fact that saying goodbye is important to islanders, and so with all our team leaving, islanders want to say goodbye properly.  This past weekend it meant a big celebration: a tour of the island and an all-day picnic.  Now that’s saying goodbye.

Tour Stop: Collect water from spring

So it worked out that half the group would go to the picnic site and spend the day there, talking, eating, dancing and cooking.  The other half of the group would drive around the entire island, ending at the picnic spot.  Doing the island tour is no easy thing thanks to the state of the roads, so it was easy to divide up.  Megan and the kids would go to the picnic spot and I would go on the tour.

Now I’ve done the tour before, but it was interesting to do it with a bus load of island students.  I was definitely on the noisy bus.  They sang and laughed and chanted for the entire 7 hours of the tour.  In short, they had a great time.  Now when I’ve done the tour before with foreign visitors, we make frequent stops on the way—to view a waterfall, to get some pictures of a scenic vista, or a pristine beach.  But I’ve never done the tour with islanders before.  It was interesting to see the things they stopped for.

Tour Stop: Only Tunnel on the Island

Our first stop was to see a miracle of nature.  A coconut palm that split halfway up and had two tops, looking like the letter Y.  Apparently, this is the only one of it’s kind on the whole island and worth taking a picture of.  Other stops included getting water from a fresh spring.  Buying raw milk in a region that is famous for it.  Visiting the tomb of an ancient relative.  Walking through the only man-made tunnel on the island.  Visiting a hydroelectric power station in disrepair, and finally stopping at a nice beach for a snack (where no one went swimming).  In the afternoon we arrived at the picnic spot where I rejoined my family. 

It was a long, hard and relatively fun day that I wouldn’t have missed for anything.  Something we’ve learned from living here is the importance of showing up.  It means a great deal to islanders.  Relationships are so important and showing up is of first importance.  We are reminded of this in a thousand different ways.  People who apologize to us because they haven’t visited us in a while.  Someone thanking us profusely for coming to their class or to their wedding, etc. even when we don’t know them very well.  Getting in trouble for not saying hello to someone often enough or not stopping regularly by their shop.  People frequently stopping by our house for no other purpose except to stop by.  People asking where we were when we do miss an event.  This “showing up” is required of relationship here, and so we do it.  Sometimes it’s uncomfortable and tiresome, but we show up.  And maybe we have something to learn from our island friends in this: A friend shows up.

The picnic ended with speeches.  One of the organizers stood up and made a very nice speech.  It was pretty exciting to hear what he said about our group.  In his own words he said, “They have left a good life in their home countries.  They have left their families and friends and they have come here.  They are here because [the One they follow] was a servant and so they also serve.”  Sometimes we wonder if islanders understand our love for them.  This weekend was a nice reminder that for many the answer is “Yes.”

Tour Stop: Beach bungalow for snack time!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it through the craziness of last weekend. We’re especially thankful that our kids did so well being dragged around to different events— our youngest was sick for the big all-day picnic but as still a trooper. We welcomed two islanders into the family this week! A group of us went to the shore to see both a man and a woman go for a special swim. A wonderful goodbye celebration!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The final round of presidential elections are tomorrow on the islands— pray for a peaceful process and good leadership for this people. The final week for our team will include a lot of packing, final celebrations, giving things away, and saying goodbyes— pray for them in this transition. Pray for all of us as we travel to mainland Africa where we will be led through a final debrief of our time as a team. We are also hoping to change our flight back to the islands so we can get our youngest’s hearing and speech evaluated there— pray that the logistics will all be worked out smoothly.