We arrived in Max's village for a couple more days so that we could get our last Stories tested, and also make our goodbyes in Tea Village. Even though we'd only met these women for the first time about 2 weeks before, the bond was strong and we were sad. We were told that there would be a "ceremony" after we finished our last Story and that the radio station was even going to be there! We had told Max that we planned on compensating these women for their time and he said this was when that would take place.
We finished our last Story and came out into the courtyard for the ceremony. We sat around on mats with our new best friends in anticipation. As I was sitting on a mat that was across the courtyard from where we'd been testing, I looked up and saw the top of the village m-sque. I looked down and realized that we had been telling all of those Stories about the Jesus Road while we were literally sitting in the shadow of the mosque, in a village that was described by a fellow Musl-m as being extremely Musl-m, with a dozen women with whom we had no prior relationship. God's plan is so much bigger than mine...
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| Waiting for the ceremony to begin. |
So we sat around for a little while after giving the women's chief the compensation for their hard work. Everyone was talking and laughing and discussing how good it had been to get to know each other. Then, sure enough, the radio station showed up! The guy had some kind of battery-operated recording machine with a strap hanging off his shoulder and a microphone was plugged into it. He interviewed a few of the ladies and Abby and me! We were on Malian radio...crazy! The even crazier thing is that there's a chance that the Stories could be played on that radio station some day. After we sat around a little while longer, Max started motioning for us to get up and leave. We really didn't want to, but we did because we needed to get on the road ASAP. We were planning to drive to Bread Town so that we could spend the night working on Excel documents before heading back home.
In Mali, when you are ready to leave someone's home, you "ask for the road." So we stood up and began the process of asking for the road, saying the goodbye blessings, shaking hands...and in this case...hugging. All the women walked us to our truck in a huge crowd. As we began to walk away, my name twin came and grabbed my hand. In Mali, you have a special connection to your name twin so we had become fast friends. The other ladies literally called us Black Niame and White Niame. It was kind of hilarious. We held hands all the way to the truck.
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| She's kind of adorable. Also, I really had quite the side headwrap going that day. |
As we were walking to the truck, I looked at Niame and realized she was crying. Then I looked around and saw that several of the women were crying. This totally shocked me! The only time you're really supposed to cry is at a funeral. Women stay completely silent during childbirth. Any time we were moved to tears we always had to dry it up so that they wouldn't see us! All I could do was pray that the truth they'd heard had taken root in their hearts.
We climbed into the truck and started the drive back from Tea Village to Max's village. All the way, Max just kept mumbling things like, "That was so good...this has been so good...so good to those women...so, so good." This from the guy who was so apprehensive on the first drive to Tea Village! God's plan is so much better than mine...
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