Finishing our first courses

Last Friday and Saturday, respectively, we managed to finish the first two courses (Introduction to New Testament/Wendy, and Introduction to Christian Theology/Adrian), with students at the Gambia Theological Institute (GTI).

Our GCC classroom

Wendy teaching

Praise God with us, as everything went smoothly, and we have not found it difficult to translate skills acquired in teaching in Nigeria, for this new setting in West Africa. And thank you to all who prayed with us; the Lord heard and answered us!

We have enjoyed working with the GTI students, who come from a wide variety of backgrounds! Although some have barely finished high school, others have finished teacher’s college and are working as teachers; most are pastors or working in some kind of Christian ministry, though we also have two lawyers.

Three students

We have discovered that they are not shy in class, and ask lots of questions, just like our students in Nigeria. That is a blessings, for we quickly got a sense of whether or not what we were teaching was helpful and appropriate.

Mary

Room overview

By God’s grace, we hope to begin the second set of courses (Augustine’s Confessions/Wendy, and Christology/Adrian) by mid-November, when we return from Nigeria.

So we would ask you to pray with us for safety in the travelling planned for the next two weeks, as we hope to visit Nigeria (leaving November 4, to return to the Gambia on the 16th). Our main concern is to work with our Unijos graduate students.

Please pray for constructive sessions as we help them more effectively than just by email. Pray also for colleagues at the University of Jos, both our IICS colleagues who continue their ministry in that context, as well as our Nigerian colleagues, who carry on their work under considerable obstacles, whether provision of light, water and internet, as well as ethnic/religion tension, which can still so easily erupt in violence.

CVM in the Gambia

During the past two weeks we have also taken time to do some "sightseeing" beyond Banjul, and we want to share with you some views from our visits, as well as typical views of the roadside, first from our visit to Brikama, about forty-five minutes drive south of Kololi (where our compound is located).

Brikama roadside photos

For the first two weeks of our stay here we were the only guests at the CVM compound, but by mid-October we were joined by Stephen Wik, CVM staff worker from British Columbia. The next day we were joined by two pharmacists from Edmonton, Katie Wong and Rosanna Yan, who came to help out at the pharmacy of the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital for two weeks.

Katie and Rosanna in front of the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital

With Stephen, Katie and Rosanna we took a trip to the village of Jidda, south of Banjul, beyond Brikama. This village is special for CVM work, because it has been a focus of their wholistic ministry here in the Gambia, Typical of rural areas, the cultivation of groundnuts, or peanuts, as we know them, provides a staple crop.

Groundnut field

Groundnut plant

Cleaning plants

We also visited the plot of ground, and small house which the people of Jidda have allotted to CVM driver/assistant Martin, in thanks for his considerable help to their community. He lost no time in digging the well, which has been a real boon to his numerous neighbours. He was certainly a hero to the children, and the centre of attention when he showed them his new Canadian laptop.

Well

Children with laptop

As we waited for tea at Martin's house, we discovered that the day of our visit had been designated as a Gambia-wide day for immunization against polio. Although the immunization was given by mouth and not painful, the "strange" procedure elicited a fair amount of tears!

Polio immunization

Katie and Rosanna have already left the Gambia, since they planned to continue their visit to Africa with an attempt to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Before they left we said goodbye to them with a restaurant dinner with the entire CVM team here, including not only Martin, but also Joseph, the night watchman, Ibrahim, and our cook, Victoria, with her little daughter, Agnes, who enjoyed herself immensely on this occasion.

Dinner with CVM group

Agnes

CVM group photo

New programme at the University of the Gambia

An important reason for our coming to the Gambia this year was to meet with some officials of the University of the Gambia, particularly to greet them, and to discover the status of the proposed programme in Christian Studies, which will be held on the Brikama campus of the University, approximately 35 km from where we are staying.

Courtyard of the Brikama campus, with the building for the Department of Arts and Humanities

About a week ago we were able to establish contact with professor Gomez, who is head of the Department of Arts and Humanities, and also now acting deputy dean.

Meeting with Prof.Gomez

Prof. Gomez is hopeful that the approval of the new programme will be given soon, in an upcoming meeting of the university senate. Please pray with us that this will indeed materialize.

Since that meeting we have also met with the bishops of both the Methodist and Catholic Church, while we had a lovely supper with the Anglican bishop on our first night here in the Gambia.

Meeting with the Rt. Rev. W.P. Stephens, bishop of the Methodist Church of the Gambia

Bishop Stephens, together with his Anglican and Catholic counterparts, are very important in directing the affairs of the Gambia Christian Council, the body which will oversee the new programme. Please pray with us for these leaders, and their various contributions to this process.

GCC secretariat

The GCC secretariat is located across the road from the University Law Faculty, not far from where we are living. The Brikama campus is further away. Another new campus is being built even further from Banjul.

Faculty of Law

Beginning teaching in the Gambia

It is hard to believe that we have been here in West Africa less than two weeks. For some reason it seems that we have been here much longer already! Perhaps that is an indication that we are able to pick up from our former experience teaching in Africa, in both Nigeria and Tanzania. Indeed, aside from the considerable heat (between 28-32 degrees C indoors) and humidity, we have not found the adjustment very difficult. And we do realize that this represents the answer to many prayers on our behalf. So we thank all those who prayed! The Lord has answered our prayers in a wonderful way. So it is time that we update you on what has happened in these first days in the Gambia.

Adrian at Barcelona airport

To begin with, our travels went very smoothly - something we have learned not to take for granted - and we are grateful for prayers for safe travel! We left Toronto on Monday afternoon, Oc.5, and flew BA to London, Heathrow. By noon of Oct. 5 we were on our way to Barcelona, where we made the transition with AirMorocco to fly to Casablanca and Banjul. We arrived almost exactly on schedule at midnight that Tuesday - a feat that is by no means the norm, as we discovered.

CVM House -- The sign above the door reads 'Welcome to CVM House, The Gambia, West Africa

It was great to meet Martin, the driver assistant of the Christian Volunteer Movement (CVM) here in the Gambia, who took us to the compound rented by CVM in Kololi, one of the "suburbs" of Banjul, not too far from the ocean. This is the place which we will regard as home for the next few weeks. It did not take long to find a bed - after such travels we were thankful to sleep on solid ground.It has not been difficult to settle in. The home, two concrete buildings, is relatively new and well-built, thus in good shape, and with running water.

Archway, the approach to Banjul

Those first days Martin took us around for some essential shopping, particularly for things we would need in teaching, and to orient us to our new environment.

Adrian and Martin near ocean in Banjul

Crocodile (a tame one)

Dance costume (in museum)

Ancient trees

We took much of the rest of the week to prepare for our first classes at the Gambia Theological Institute, an ecumenical institution for pastors and Christian leaders. Wendy was to begin on Friday, and Adrian, Saturday. There was little electricity those first two days, but toward the end of the week the situation improved, and with it our ability both to tolerate the heat (with fans), and to set up email communication, since the internet connection does not work when the power is off.

Faraja Anglican church

Although many of our students are pastors or church planters, in the class we also have some involved in other professions, including two lawyers who are brothers. Our students also represent a number of different countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, the USA, and Nepal. They are a lively enthusiastic group, not afraid to ask questions! Sometime we have to cut back a bit on questions, so we can present at least a fair percentage of the materials for the course at hand.

Ad for our courses in local paper

Wendy is doing four sessions of five hours on Friday on Introduction to the New Testament, while Adrian on Saturdays for almost six hours introduces students to Systematic Theology. Friday afternoon is prayer time in this country. The courses were advertised in the local papers, and on the radio, and many students were contacted by cell-phone, but even so not all those who had enrolled in previous courses heard about these sessions in time. But the turnout of 11 and 18 in the respective classes the first meeting was sufficient for the courses to be held.

We have not yet met with officials at the University of the Gambia, but by God's grace we hope to do so in the coming week. Thank you for praying with us on these challenges. Prayer is the backbone of our ministry; so, please continue to pray that we may help our students constructively, challenging and providing them with adequate tools for their various ministries.

New project in the Gambia

For about a year now we have kept a low profile, except when we needed to ask for prayer in conjunction with the various crises in the Jos area of Nigeria. Not that we have been idle here in Toronto. Actually we have kept pretty busy with major renovations to our old Toronto house (for Adrian), and rewriting and preparing a book for publication (Wendy). So, is that what we plan to continue doing? Not quite! We certainly appreciated this year for changing gears, as it were, after many years of overseas service. We wanted that period of time to reflect on our experience, and to discover prayerfully what the Lord might have in store for us to do in these years (after turning 65). So, we are ready for a new venture, and it looks like a new venture is coming our way! Indeed, we have some interesting news to share!

Early this summer we were invited to participate in the development of a Department of Christian Studies at the University of the Gambia. If you have not heard of the Gambia, we can tell you that it is not a big country.

The Gambia is situated in West Africa. It is an agricultural country, with an economy dominated by farming, fishing, and tourism. About a third of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.

Market scenes

As a former British colony in West Africa, the official language is English. It has a population of a few million, of which about 90% are Muslim, though it also has a long history of religious tolerance. But at the University of the Gambia (UTG), where all students are required to take some courses inreligion, only Islamic Religious Studies have been offered. For some time now, Christian students have been asking for a program in Christian Religious Studies. With the support of The Gambia Christian Council (a small board of Christians representing the major Christian bodies, to liaise with the government) they made an official proposal, which received the necessary government approval. The head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at UTG, Prof. Pierre Gomez, a Christian, was instrumental in motivating further discussion, to accede to the request of students. The first crucial level of discussion, within the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, took place this past May, and Prof. Gomez was confident that discussions at higher levels (finishing with university senate approval) would not be a problem.

So how did we get involved? Through one of our supporting churches in Toronto, some months ago we met Glen and Marion Taylor, professors in Old Testament at Wycliffe College, the evangelical Anglican college of the University of Toronto; they, in turn, put us in touch with Steve Hewko who, with his wife, founded the Christian Volunteer Movement (CVM), as an agency for holistic mission to the Gambia. At present Steve is a doctoral student in theology atWycliffe College, but he has been travelling to the Gambia for many years already, even teaching at the University of the Gambia in the years when the university just got started, some ten years ago.

For more information about CVM, see the website: http://cvmcanada.com/.

The University of the Gambia awarding doctorate degree

During this past year, together with Prof. Glen Taylor, Steve has been instrumental in starting an institute for training pastors, called the Gambia Theological Institute, which is intended to meet the growing need for formal theological education for the small but vibrant Christian community in this largely Muslim West-African nation. In this project Steve and Glen have also worked in close conjunction with The Gambia Christian Council, which is fully supportive of its goals. The Institute is an ecumenical institution where pastors and other Christian leaders can attend courses on a variety of subjects, and work towards a diploma in theology or divinity (which will be accredited by Wycliffe College).

Anglican church

Church women

The program meets a real need, since at present the Gambia has no formal institutions for pastoral or theological training at all. The first group of students to take the program are now within a few courses of receiving their diploma. Many of the courses have been taught by graduate students in theology at Wycliffe. It is their hope and dream that this diploma program will eventually be offered through the University of the Gambia, together with the program in Christian Studies.

The good news is that the University Senate has approved the new program in Christian Studies. It did not happen quite as soon as had been expected (in June). We heard of this approval early in August. At that time we also heard that the Vice Chancellor of the university advised postponing the program until January 2011 or perhaps even September 2011, to give the various university departments more time to submit the CVs of prospective faculty to teach in this department.

So what then, are our plans? With the blessing of the Christian Volunteer Movement we have decided to go ahead with plans to teach in The Gambia this fall, as we had originally planned. Although we will not yet be lecturing at the University, we will teach a number of courses for the Gambia Theological Institute. Adrian has been asked to some courses in systematic theology; Wendy will provide an introduction to the New Testament, and a course on St. Augustine. As well, we will offer some public lectures at the University, and offer a seminar, if Prof. Gomez is open to that. This will give us a chance to foster relationships already established with partners at the University and at the Gambia Christian Council. And we can see at first hand the need and opportunity for further teaching there.

University convocation

At the same time we hope to use the opportunity being back in West Africa to travel to Jos, to take time for personal face-to-face consultation with our graduate students. One of Adrian's students, Cosmos, has been offered a scholarship to finish his dissertation, and has plans to travel to South Africa when the money comes through. Wendy has two students, Dauda and Rebecca, whose dissertations are coming closer to the point of completion. So it really will be good to have opportunities for consultation on a more immediate basis, after working by email contact these many months.

Practically speaking, we hope to be on our way to the Gambia in late September, to give the first set of courses (one each) in October; by the end of October we hope to travel to Nigeria for two weeks, after which we return to the Gambia for another month of teaching. We hope to be back in Canada by mid-December. The question of housing is being worked out. We expect to use the house which has been rented by the Christian Volunteer Movement, the umbrella organization through which Wycliffe graduate students raise funding when they go overseas to teach at the pastor's institute. Since we are both formally retired at this time, we plan to go out in a "volunteer" capacity with Christian Studies International, which has agreed to continue as an umbrella organization for this venture, and will continue to accept funding on our behalf.

Girls

Classroom

Aside from material needs for this venture, we would ask your prayers. Some wonderful doors are being opened up. This is an exciting opportunity for us, because it allows us to put into practice the experience we have gained teaching in very similar circumstances in Nigeria. For the Gambia too a rare window of opportunity has opened up for the profile of Christianity to be raised at the highest levels of education. Even with a history of religious tolerance, the profile of Christianity is currently not high, and academically it is rated as inferior to Islam. One of the big problems for the churches in the Gambia is the lack of proper theological training of its pastors. If the laity is not well educated either, one can imagine the range of beliefs, opinions, and even heresies that take hold. There is very little good Christian literature available, and no respectable academic Christian literature can be found in the university library. This scarcity of literature is indicative of the state of education in the Gambia at all levels, starting with the elementary. Many church members, including some pastors, are barely literate.

Children and classrooms

So the Theological Institute is an answer to the prayers of many in the Gambia. Recent developments at the university also mean new hope that a theological training program can eventually be incorporated into the regular university curriculum. Open to new development, The Gambia has accented university training for its people as an important step in that direction. At the university every student is required to take a course in religion. The new program will make it possible for Christian students to take courses in Christian studies, whether as a requirement, or to complete a major or minor for their degrees. And it will allow interested Muslim students to learn about Christianity from committed Christian professors. These new developments at the university have been greeted with much joy by many Gambians, as an answer to decades' long prayer for their country and the church. Please pray with us that these hopes will be realized, and that the Lord will bless our plans to participate in this new program.