So this past week I left home (
The good news is that my father is making
slow, steady progress with his physical therapy. He must also go to dialysis three times a
week. I am glad for the progress and
prayers everyone continues to send his direction. I am back to phone calls home to keep in
contact.
As I got back to Garoua Boulai, many people
came to greet me. I felt welcomed in
many ways. I missed being here for
International Women’s Day on March 8. There are parties and a parade, they tell
me. Each year material is made to
commemorate the date – a choice of two different colors. I had bought a dress in the material, but
didn’t wear it until I got back. No
sense taking a summer dress to then-snowy Pennsylvania. Still, women wear the dresses even after the
date. I am, in fact, wearing mine
now. Here’s a glimpse.
As I got back four Central Africans were in
GB (Patrick, Antoine, Mathias, and Cyrique) with a chauffeur from the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Cameroon (Denis).
They are here to arrange to take more of the rice and oil as
Humanitarian Aid to Bouar and the surrounding area. What a huge job – for so many reasons. 
Imagine having to load and unload trucks
with 50 kg (100 lb.) sacks of rice and lighter, but more fragile boxes of
oil. Who will do it? For how much?
Where can it be stored while waiting to cross into CAR? Who will take it? How difficult will it be to get through
customs? Will it be the same as last
time? (Probably not…) 
There is a storage building on the Lutheran
campus that workers have fixed up to make more secure and serviceable for
storage. It is currently filled with
rice. The products come from Yaoundé (or
beyond) in trucks driven by Cameroonian drivers. Most of them don’t want to take the chance to
drive to Bouar in CAR – even though security is now good along the main road at
least that far. Others will take loads,
but demand exorbitantly high prices. The
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon has agreed to rent their truck and
driver to help out. The truck is smaller
so it means more trips, but at least food is getting where it is needed. There are still complications, but maybe they
are now better defined – if no easier to deal.
As I was writing this last evening, Pres. Golike, Patrick, Antoine,
Josephine, and Abel arrived from CAR.
The first three are dealing with some of the complications today. May it go smoothly!
This whole process has me thinking a lot
about greed. There are so many degrees
of greed that raise are evident. What is
greed, really? Dictionary.com says, “1. excessively or inordinately desirous of wealth, profit, etc.; avaricious:
the greedy owners of the company; 2. having a strong or great desire for food
or drink; 3. keenly desirous; eager (often followed by of or for ):
greedy for praise.” I think it is also wanting more than we need… Taking what belongs to others…
Or, maybe the better term for these latter
definitions is delaying gratification.
If we can’t, we see, so we want.
We want immediately, preferably without effort and in large quantities.
We all experience this (whether it is greed
or the desire for instant gratification) to some degree, but some of us have
learned how to curb acting on the feelings.
Who hasn’t seen a plate of cookies in the kitchen before a reception and
taken one, or two, or three… Who hasn’t
seen others eating candy and wanted some for him/herself? But do we act on these feelings? When does it matter? Here are a few examples of why I’m thinking
about greed/gratification now.
The mango trees are full of fruit now, but
much of it is still green (unripe).
Still, for the past month, youth (and even adults) have been climbing
the trees to get it. Or, throwing rocks
and fallen mangos to make other fruit fall.
Why? It is inedible. You can tell from the many mangos on the
ground that have had one bite taken out and then dropped because they are rock
hard and have no taste. I know people
are hungry, but if all the fruit is wasted this way, there will never be ripe
mangos to share.
When I mentioned in GB that Willie had bought
great t-shirts made for those distributing Humanitarian Aid to wear, a couple
of local Cameroonians said, “I hope there is one for me.” The shirts say Église Évangélique
Luthériennne-République Centrafricaine, partnered with ELCA and Mission
Afrika. Why would a Cameroonian not
working with the aid want one? Of
course, I saw the shirts and wanted one, too! (See selfie with the attempt to
get the front and back of the shirt…) I
hope that I can make the case that it was appropriate for me to take one.
Last week, after the weigh-station weighed
the aid truck and charged them their fees (probably too high), the official
then asked for a sack of rice and box of oil.
He knew this was humanitarian aid for those with little or nothing. He had a job, a salary, and “gifts,” yet he
wanted some of what he saw. (They gave
him none.)
Why are we so self-centered that want what
is not ours, even at the expense of those who have much less? Isn’t that a big part of the trouble, too, in
CAR with the “rebels”? How do we change
or control these unhealthy appetites?
They damage us as much as those we take from.
