Thanksgiving in Bere

Gobble gobble,

I am alone. The last Thursday in November and I am alone. Sarah left Tuesday to stay in an Arab village for a few days.

She made friends with a tiny Arab girl whose mother was hospitalized, pregnant, and with malaria. They are cattle herder nomads. Another member of their clan was diagnosed with AIDS and tuberculosis and had just finished his first two months of treatment in the hospital. He came in with draining tuberculous lymph nodes on his neck and was all skin and bones with no hair. Although a strong Muslim he insisted on joining us for "prayer" several evenings and was interested very much in the one true God who also loved him. So, Mahamat (as he is called), came to escort Sarah to his "village". I was to be without a wife for at least 3-4 days. She wasn't sure when she'd be back.

One of my biggest fears about being married was how I was going to sleep with someone else in the bed with me. About the only time in my life I'd ever shared a bed with someone was during family vacations when I was a child. My twin brother, David, and I had to often sleep in the same double bed and we spent most of the nights fighting for covers or sleeping fitfully in the cold. As a result, I was convinced I could never sleep well with someone else always wanting the blankets or kicking me or rolling over on me or pushing me to the edge of the bed. But, now I find that I have a hard time sleeping without Sarah there.

So I toss and turn all night and find myself awake and alone at 6:30 am on the last Thursday of November. The phone rings.

"Hallo"

"Oui, bonjour, c'est André, �a va?"

"Oui, �a va..."

"Vous allez f�ter ce soir?"

And it all comes back to me, today is Thanksgiving. André had also left me alone on Wednesday to take care of some money issues with the PASS project and for some reason calls me to ask me if we're celebrating this evening.

I'd forgotten. Now I feel even more alone as my family is so far away and one should be with one's family on Thanksgiving.

I go next door and ask Nellie and Rebecca if they would like to fix a dinner and invite the hospital staff to dine with us for Thanksgiving. They agree. We ask Salomon to buy three chickens and I go to the hospital.

It's André who's supposed to read the daily Bible chapter for staff worship. I take his place. At the end, as is our custom, we ask for prayer requests. I take the opportunity to thank God for Thanksgiving and to invite them all to have dinner with us at 5 pm. I say I'll talk more about it later, but they're all invited. As we discuss the cases from the evening, Thanksgiving slips my mind.

The day is thankfully slow. I had planned to do an open reduction and internal fixation of a mandible fracture but the girl never shows up. She had been hit with a stick in the jaw by her husband. By the time she went to the hospital in Lai, was referred to us, was sent by us to Kélo for an xray, returned the one day I was sick and so went to the traditional healer, came back with the xrays but not the patient, and finally returned...three weeks have passed. I hope she'll show up tomorrow.

Other than that, it's a routine day of rounds, clinic and minor procedures. I'm actually able to leave at 3 pm as scheduled. Nellie, Rebecca and I start to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.

I boil water and dump in half a can of mashed potato flakes...voila! an essential Thanksgiving dish! The gravy is made my Rebecca who unfortunately has no other oil but the local peanut brand...it tastes like peanut butter. We have a can and a half of green beans, a can of cranberry sauce, two cans of baked beans, Rebecca makes stuffing from Salomon's bread, Salomon boils the chickens in tomato sauce to be served over rice and we are set.

I set out the plastic chairs that came in the container out in the courtyard along with our two locally made couches. The sun is going down turning everything a glowing orange. Samedi is the first to arrive and the only one on time. Soon after Pierre and David show up. Then a cry arises from the street. I look up.

"Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!" The kids are screaming.

Next thing I know around the corner of the hospital comes a wild haired red head bouncing on a fine Arab stallion with dust on her face pierced by the widest smile imaginable. Behind her comes a robed and turbaned Arab on a donkey with a sheep tied behind his saddle. My joy is complete. I didn't expect her till tomorrow. As she swings down from the saddle I stride over to meet her and sweep her up in my arms. I can tell the trip has been good for her. She looks dirty but refreshed.

As the sun goes down most of the staff have arrived. Samedi and Anatole have been regaling us with stories from the hospital's past and all the missionaries of B�r� past. Degaulle insists on singing one of the only two songs he knows in English: "She'll be comin' 'round da mountain when she comes..." At least he thinks he's speaking English. I join in.

Everyone chows down and the food disappears fast. Even the team on duty breaks away for a few minutes to partake. The two Arabs accompanying Sarah (Mahamat and his father), also join in.

At the end, everyone goes around saying what they're thankful for. As usual, Degaulle flies off on a tangent and we all try to gently (and finally, roughly) to bring him back to the point. Anatole surprises me by being so thankful that God brought him to B�r� because his life has been saved and so much bettered by having been here. I am shocked as all he usually does is complain about things. Even Mahamat is thankful that his sickness brought him to B�r� where his "eyes were opened" and his body was cured. I, of course, am thankful that in the last year God found me a hot Danish nurse for a wife...even way out in Tchad.

Lazare says something bizarre, as usual, but says it with such enthusiasm and obvious joy that everyone bursts out in applause at the end. Finally, they all leave except Lona's two sons, Fambé and Henri, who spontaneously help bring in the two couches even though they are only 3 and 5 years old respectively.

While the generator is still on I show Sarah half of the best Thanksgiving movie ever, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". Then the generator cuts off and we go back to our rooms in darkness.

All day I'd been trying to call my family to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving but the satellite phone wasn't connecting. Finally, late that night I get through just as they are finishing eating waiting for the apple pie to come out of the oven. Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Jeannette, Mom, Dad, and Chelsey are all there. While I'm jealous of the apple pie and the family being together, I have to admit my Thanksgiving has been hard to beat!