I
remember being friendly with the workers in the grocery store in Los Alamos.
There was even one man who worked in the produce section that was a member of
our church, and with whom I would talk theology and philosophy and poetry while
looking for ripe avocados. Well, we're friendly with the various store clerks
here, and while I haven't really talked about poetry with anybody, the subject
of God comes up often!
Here
are some of the people we buy from in Junction:
These
are the men from the "Muslim store." They are devout Muslims, and close
down on Friday afternoons. We buy certain things from them if we don't have to
go all the way into town, where there is a better supermarket. Tanimu loves to
greet our children, and always calls me Pa James.
Now,
if we want to buy wine in Junction, you have to go across the street to
Aristide's. He's Catholic, and we see him in Church if we go to the local
parish on Sunday. He also raises chickens for their eggs, and his eggs
are usually better than the others you can buy in town. Not as good as the eggs
from our own chickens, though.
Once
we have worked up an appetite shopping, we buy a few sticks of soya from
Idrisu. He is another Muslim, and he only speaks Pidgin or Lamnso' to us. I
don't always understand what he says, but it's a good way to learn! He wants us
to name the new baby a Lamnso' name, "Nyuydze." He says,
"Nyuydze: e mean, God dey." (Nyuydze, it means: God is.)
While
community looks different in different cultures, we are blessed to know all these
people and live in community with them. We are together, as they say here.
No comments:
Post a Comment