Paving the way for discipline

Last Wednesday morning, Sarah went to drop her colleague in town to do some shopping but found that the market was unusually closed up. We found out later that the Prefet had called a meeting at the Maision des Jeunes (Youth Centre) to discuss the behaviour of teenagers in the light of the stabbing of the Malinke boy the other week. But why was the market closed? On returning from this meeting, our local tailor explained that it was necessary to close the market, forcing everyone to attend. Everyone from market stall holders, to community heads, to representatives from the religious community was called to listen to how the whole community should keep an eye on their children, not leaving them to be influenced by the ways of the streets and night clubs but to take responsibility for them. Let's pray that this talk will have an impact.

Macenta town market on a normal trading day

Women selling dried fish

Taxi woes

Hi all,

After a gruelling 22-hr taxi ride from Macenta, Sarah's in Conakry to welcome and accompany Sonia, a sister from Wolverhampton, back to the Forest. There are some lovely stretches of road that are a joy to ride on (Macenta and the 54 miles after Macenta) and some terrible patches of broken tarmac and deep potholes that a small car cannot tolerate. I had the pleasure to travel with Pastors Simon and Simeon! What was interesting about the route however, was the change in attitude of the military at roadblocks. They no longer have the right to hound and physically abuse civilians, especially taxi drivers themselves, but they have to be courteous and people through the road blocks as quickly as possible! There were a few that took to being verbally abusive when our chauffeur provoked them, but the majority only wanted to see the necessary paperwork and wave us through, albeit grudingly. Whenever we travel, we take what is called an Ordre de Mission, or an official permit that shows that the mission has allowed us to travel. These are part and parcel of bureaucracy in many Francophone countries but work a treat for getting through these road blocks.

The beautifully smooth European Union-paid for road in Macenta

Sonia will be here on a journey of discovery of what life is like on the mission field in Guinea but also to support us during her stay. We're looking forward to meeting and getting to know her, introducing Guinea to her and also taking her through our mission journeys. Sonia is our first visitor since we arrived in Guinea (Eric in 2005, Sarah 2007) and we pray that this visit would be blessed and a blessing for all of us!


Up-to-date cat photos

In the meantime, Eric's left to run the eating schedule for Rowan, Benoit and the six kittens who are becoming more and more playful, agile and greedy by the day! Rowan is on a course of anti-worming tablets as she's lost a lot of weight, but then again it's not surprising as she's feeding six mouths plus Benoit who slips in and takes advantage before Eric throws him outside, yet again!

Big brother Benoit loves hanging out with his young siblings and play attacking also...

Ahh!

Gorgeous!

A very big thanks to Ali, our online vet who's always willing and able to answer cat health questions!

All is calm - update to Monday's blog

We are happy to report that the situation in Macenta has calmed. The family of the young Malinké lad who was killed agreed to accept the plea for forgiveness from the family of the Peul boy.Thanks for your prayers but continue to pray for these families, particularly for those who are grieving.

Bloodshed in Macenta

Today is the day after the day of celebration of Tabaski (name in West Africa) or Eid-al-Adha, when our Muslim cousins commemorate Abraham’s obedience towards God when he was asked to sacrifice his son Ishmael (not Isaac, if you thought you read wrongly), but God intervened by providing Abraham with a sheep to sacrifice instead. In the weeks leading up to the celebration, the streets are full of goats wandering or tethered in random spaces in preparation for the mass slaughter and feast. Tabaski normally passes peacefully.

This morning, Sarah had asked our housekeeper’s granddaughter Marie to go to the market to buy some tomatoes and aubergines as we would be eating with 80-year-old Gandhi Marinova, the pioneer called by God to establish the Mission Philafricaine in Guinea for a meal (more about her, yes her, in the days to come). She’s visiting Guinea as it’s the 30^th anniversary of the mission this year. She had received a cockerel as a present this morning and had kindly given it to us for our lunchtime meal. After a morning meeting, Sarah returned to find that Marie had returned empty-handed. Mariam, her grandmother explained that a young Malinké boy had been killed in a nightclub in town.

Eric returned from work and as usual, took the route towards the town but was diverted by the military as they had cordoned off the market and central areas. It turned out that two boys, one Peul, the other Malinké around 13/14 years old had seen a mutual love interest that they both yearned for. The young Malinké was successful and set about dancing with her. The young Peul saw them both dancing together and wanted revenge. He made for home, seized a knife, returned to the club and stabbed his ‘friend’. Now, as ever in Guinea, this has turned into an ugly tribal problem. The Peuls or Fulani are the largest people group, and dominate the commercial scene, and are often blamed by other people groups for controlling the food prices and resisting integration into the general population. There was much tension between the Peuls and Malinkés in the run-up to the general elections last year in which the Malinké candidate Professor Alpha Condé won the election and became president. Soldiers quickly surrounded the house of the young Peul to protect the family from Malinké exacting revenge. It’s not clear if the boy is still at the house or is in hiding somewhere else. A very precarious situation has transpired in that the ‘prefet’ or the head of state at regional level is also a Peul and any statement or intervention from him would only be seen as biased. In a very ill-judged move, a group of elders from the Peul community made a visit to the home of the bereaved family of the Malinké boy in order to seek reconciliation. They were met with by a furious mob who had tried to decapitate one of the elders who was rushed to hospital.

• Please pray for this terrible situation, that the hearts of the family of the Malinké boy would be comforted and that they seek not to exact revenge.
• That God would calm the hearts of those who are living in rage.
• That He would send an envoy capable of bringing the Malinké and Peul to the table to dialogue.
• For the military to act wisely and responsibly.