The Copeland Ramblings/

Family Day Adventure

Yesterday was Wednesday. Our family day. On Wednesdays we have no class, no one scheduled to be at our house. No scheduled Bible studies… So we have claimed Wednesday to be our family day. Usually we use that day just to relax at home and get things done that we had been needing to do or just hang around as if it was a Saturday. Our Saturdays are usually quite busy with cultural events and people stopping by, or errands to be run.

Yesterday we decided to mix it up a bit! =) First off we started the day off by sleeping in until the kids woke up… which as a gift from God they woke up at 8:30!!! Yippie!!!! We got up and hung around… took the clothes up to the roof to hang dry. (Praise Jesus for our new washing machine!!!!!)

We got ready to head out and first went to see Suzanne. She is the lady who cleans the house for us and cooks Senegalese lunches for us 4 days a week. She frees me up enough to take our French classes and get some studying in! Since she has been working for us she has obviously been bringing in a small income. Her husband works as well, but his job isn’t doing very well. They have two children and have been living in one room, a room smaller than our living room. Since working for us she has been able to save up some money to now be renting the room right next to them. This is a HUGE answer to prayer. So we stopped by to take a look at their new room. Very exciting. Next we walked about a hundred feet down and went to our friends house, Roger and Betty.  We went to see if Betty was going to be leaving soon to see her husband (Roger) at the clinic. He is there because he had an operation. She was there… she was just about to shower and then head off. So, we waited there about a half an hour and then we took off together to find a taxi.

Roger is at a fairly nice little clinic. We were shocked to find a nice little sanctuary area in the middle with trees and benches and that all the rooms have air conditioners. Roger was quite happy to see us. We sat and talked and prayed for about a half and hour and let him and his wife rest.

Next we left the clinic and found a taxi to take us to a grocery store called Casino. No, its not a casino for gambling. I have no idea why they picked that name. Its a pretty nice chain store. There are several in Dakar.  This one has a little restaurant right next to it called Ceasar’s. They have hamburgers and chicken. They are trying to copy Kentucky Fried Chicken… they actually claim to be one… hahaha! Its far from KFC… but it does the trick!  We had lunch there. Norm got a chicken burger, the kids ate french fries and I had a chicken wrap. They were all pretty good. Not like home…. but good enough that I wish we had one closer to our house. =)

Next we went over to the Casino and did a little shopping. We bought hot dogs, canned peas, corn, and green beans, chocolate bars for making cookies, butter, and strawberry milk for making smoothies, and a can of Pringles. We also bought a little rug for the kids that has the city on it with the roads for driving around on.  They are quite thrilled. They better be, it costed a whopping $24!

After we were done grocery shopping, we stuck all of our groceries in our back pack and my hand bag. We found a taxi waiting right outside the store and of course discussed where we were wanting to go and how much it would cost. The taxi drivers always try to get as much as possible out of us… But we know pretty much what the going rate is. This is figured out by either asking around or trying our best. Sometimes we will have up to 4 taxis drive away before we figure out what the right price really should be.

The guy didn’t exactly know where the ice cream store was, but we had a map and the intersection name. So he got us there with no problems. We hopped out… (little did we know, we accidentally left Emmaus’ lovey bear in the taxi! Luckily Grandma Tami had been thinking ahead and scoured the internet for us and had bought us about 6 of them!!!!)  Canaan was so very excited to go get ice cream. He had been asking us for days if it was the ice cream day yet. Then when he woke up Wednesday morning, the first thing out of his mouth was… LETS GO GET ICE CREAM!!! He was very happy to see all the different flavors. He quickly picked the Kit Kat flavor.  While we were all sitting there enjoying our ice cream, I spotted about 3 Talibe boys right outside of the ice cream shop looking in with those eyes that say YUM!! Then you can see the  ”but, I will never get to have some of that” look. Talibe boys are boys who basically have been given to go all around town and beg for money, this money then goes to one of the head Muslim guys. Often times if the Talibe boys do not get their quota of money for the day, they will be beaten. They wonder all around town with ripped up clothes and half the time they have no shoes. We try to have peanuts and lollipops on hand, so that we can hand them something to eat instead of money, since they don’t get any of it. When we were all done devouring our delicious ice cream we decided to buy a huge bowl of ice cream for them to split.

Canaan asked me why we were buying more ice cream. I said it was for the boys outside. He asked me why would we do that? I then said, “Because, they don’t have mommies to buy them ice cream and they never get to have any.” He was quite happy with that answer.

We walked outside with the ice cream and motioned for them to come over. They did quite happily. The three of them stood right around me looking quite jealously at the bowl of ice cream. I was trying to explain to them in French that it was for them to share, but the obviously didn’t speak French. So I handed them eat a spoon that had been in the ice cream and they INSTANTLY licked them clean. I think they were expecting me to give them each a little taste. They still just stood there staring at me. So finally I grabbed the littlest boys hands and put the bowl in his hand. They still looked at me very confused. So next I went ahead and turned them around and sent them on their way. That is when it finally clicked in their heads that the ENTIRE bowl was for them! You should have see the excitement in their eyes and their whole faces lit up. They quickly sat down and started devouring the ice cream.  A little later I noticed they had moved to a more hidden spot… they were still afraid someone was going to come and take it from them. Its amazing what $4 can do for three little boys. But whats more important it prayer. We have such a great opportunity that each time I see a Talibe boy we can pray for them. The track they are headed on now is to live their lives out devoted to Allah. I pray for them that some how, God will get a hold of their lives and they would live for Him instead.

We then hopped into another taxi and we saw a small riot just around the corner from where we were. They were a bunch of people rioting in the road with a big fire and tires with big fires in them. Its amazing how life here is not at all the same as it is at home in North America.  When at home would we see so many little boys wondering around on their own trying to find money so they wont be beaten, when do we just drive by a riot like its normal every day stuff, when do we at home see hundreds of men pour in and out of mosques bowing down to Allah. It seems to me that the need for God is so very obvious here. But the scary thing is how the need is just the same back home… but it just simply is not seen!

I really hope that today you will go about your day and pray for those around you and please also pray for those around the world who very much need God in their lives!

On this day..

• Canaan Chillin' with the Fam - 2006
• 20 Days Until OHIP! - 2005