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OK, so Nigeria didn’t turn out to be so bad after all. Last time, I (Stephanie) told you how much I was dreading flying into the Lagos, Nigeria, airport for an Accrediting Council for Theological Education (ACTEA) project at the end of February, since Lagos has a reputation for being so chaotic and maybe even dangerous. At Lagos people who come to meet you can’t even hold up a sign with your name on it, because then all the scammers will write your name on their own signs, hoping to trick you into coming with them so they steal all your money. Slightly disconcerting. I’d been told to look for guys in white shirts with ‘NBTS’ embroidered in green. Even so, I made the guy who met me confirm that he knew my name and itinerary, just to verify that he really had been sent for me. But actually, the whole situation was amazingly calm and easy. I’m convinced that the prayers of the saints (i.e., you) made the difference, not only for my arrival into Lagos, but for the entire week, which went much better than I’d anticipated. Your prayers also seem to have been effective in healing the last remnants of symptoms from my concussion. I’d been praying, and asking others to pray, that the residual vertigo, blurred vision and fatigue would be gone before I left for Nigeria, and the Lord answered all that, just in time. I love feeling healthy and energized again!
This ACTEA project involved leading an accreditation team to Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary (NBTS) in Ogbomoso in southwestern Nigeria. It was lovely, but whew, was it steamy hot and humid. Picture South Carolina in August, with no air conditioning. (Sorry, UK friends, there is absolutely nothing in Britain to compare this to!) With its 111-year history, NBTS is probably the oldest theological seminary in sub-Sahara Africa. They’d asked us to assess their post-secondary (undergraduate), post-graduate (masters) and doctoral programs, and it’s a large school, so we were busy all week. But not too busy to enjoy some good Nigerian hospitality and fellowship—see photos below. For me the best part of the week was working with an ACTEA team that really gelled and everyone could feel it, so that we were having a great time working together on a significant project. Besides me, the team included members from Zimbabwe, Togo, the USA and elsewhere in Nigeria. One of the many things I appreciate about my role as ACTEA Accreditation Officer is the opportunity to pull together these teams of up-and-coming theological educators from across Africa, a unique chance for mentoring and helping others network, alongside the actual accreditation work.
Then I was home for a rather frenetic and stressful first two weeks in March, trying to write my report from the Nigeria visit, finish out the teaching term here at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST), and prepare for two ACTEA-related conferences in Ethiopia and Kenya. Oh yeah, and do our income taxes, and submit our daughters’ university financial aid forms for next year. Not a fun two weeks, but my long-suffering and endlessly supportive husband made it all work, in the midst of his own flurry of teaching three NEGST courses and marking a mountain of student papers.
Thanks to Bill’s help, by the time I got on the plane for Addis Ababa on 15 March, I was fairly ready for the two big faculty development conferences ACTEA was sponsoring. This was a partnership with several American professors of Christian Education, who’ve formed Global Associates for Transformational Education (GATE) to help theological educators in various parts of the world upgrade educational objectives and teaching methods. ACTEA (i.e., me) was responsible for all the logistics, while Bob Ferris and Duane Elmer from GATE led the sessions. The content of the workshop was good, but from my point of view the best part was having the entire faculties of ten major theological schools in Ethiopia together in one room for three days. As far as I know that’s never happened before, and I’m anticipating some longer-term Kingdom benefits from all the relationships forged. The bonding experience of sharing the rather minimalist facilities at SIM’s Camp Langano may have added to those relationships, but I’m not sure I could get anyone to admit it! The camp is a four-hour drive into the countryside from Addis Ababa, and the ‘amenities’ feature bunkbeds, outhouses, and cold showers. In their internal report after the workshop the GATE guys commented, “To call the facilities Spartan would be an overstatement.” But really, everyone handled it quite well, even some of our more urbanite Ethiopians. After the workshop in Ethiopia, the GATE guys and I got back on the plane to Kenya, and did it all over again in Nairobi for eight theological schools from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
I loved seeing old friends in Ethiopia, but I’ll have to confess that this return visit reminded me just how nice it is to live in Nairobi. As I was browsing at the grocery shop this morning, trying to decide which variety of marinated artichoke hearts I wanted to buy, I was thinking about how we call Nairobi ‘Africa with training wheels’. Compared to many African countries the conveniences and even luxuries we experience here are fantastic. Beautiful shops, trendy cafes, a lovely game park just next door. Well, except for the riots and robberies, and sometimes no electricity or water, but you can’t have everything. A few Saturday nights ago Bill and I were sitting eating dinner at home and heard a long spate of gunfire not too far away. We poked our heads out the door to see if any of our neighbors needed rescuing, but it didn’t seem to be on the NEGST campus, so we just padlocked the door and finished supper. It wasn’t until a couple of days later that we found out it had been a firefight between police and armed robbers escaping along the road below our house. And for the past couple of weeks we’ve been getting text messages from our embassy and the SIM director telling us where various rounds of political riots and student unrest are taking place. “Avoid Thika Road.” “Use care in areas near Kenyatta University.” Stuff like that. Oh well, I didn’t want to go there today anyway.
Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the conveniences of Nairobi (at least, the non-violent aspects) has a tendency to dull my sensitivities to what other Kenyans are experiencing outside the city. There’s been a serious drought going on, with the seasonal rains delayed, and people are going hungry not far from us. That’s why we’ve all been celebrating the wonderful drenching rain showers that finally started this week. I love lying in bed at night and listening to the rain. When rain is a life or death matter, the whole world looks different when God blesses us with rain from heaven.
Now Bill and I are looking forward to an Easter holiday at the Kenya coast, starting on Saturday. This is the trip we’d booked for when Linnea (20) and Caroline (18) were here for Christmas, but had to delay because of my concussion. But it’s coming at just the right time. Bill particularly is looking forward to this, as his reward for marking 125 term papers and 71 book reviews this week. (I have no idea how any human being can possibly do that, but he’s almost finished.) After two nights in a eco-camp at Tsavo game park en route, we’ve rented a little cottage on the beach just south of Mombasa. We plan to vegetate there for five days, leaving our lounge chairs only when necessary to eat. So if you’re exhausted reading all the things we’ve been doing for the past couple of months, just realize that there are compensations!
That’s our news this month, and here are our current praise items and prayer requests:
- Praise for rain in Kenya, and prayer that everyone will get the food they need.
- Praise for productive projects in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya as part of Stephanie’s work with the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA).
- Praise that Bill has successfully reached the end of a very heavy teaching term at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST)—three courses in three different departments, with 35-50 students in each course.
- Prayer for the new NEGST term beginning 13 April—Bill teaching Systematic Theology, and Stephanie teaching intermediate Greek both at the main NEGST campus and at an extension site at the Anglican cathedral in Nairobi
- Prayer for Linnea (20) and Caroline (18) at the University of Virginia, especially as semester exams begin in a few weeks, and as they make their summer work plans.
- Continued prayer for the sale of Stephanie’s late parents’ house, a key piece in the unresolved financial challenges that are making it difficult for us to know how long we can or should stay in Kenya.
- Prayer for plans for our biennial ‘home assignment’ (short furlough) in the UK and US this summer—we hope to see many of you!
And may each of you enjoy your own showers of blessings from the Lord…
In His service,
Stephanie
for Bill, Linnea and Caroline Black begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting
On the Road…
ACTEA Visitation Team to Nigerian Baptist Seminary
It’s traditional in West Africa to dress everyone alike for special occasions, so these clothes were gifts to the ACTEA team from the seminary. I had to get someone else to wrap and tie that hat for me!
With teammate Rose and two of the NBTS faculty women:
Here’s what we spent most of our time doing: checking documents…
(do you see me in the back left… as close to the fan as possible?!)
…and writing reports. As you can see, we were drinking LOTS of water to keep cool.
ACTEA-GATE Faculty Development Workshop in Ethiopia
We held the workshop at SIM’s Camp Langano, a remote spot on a lake in the Rift Valley.
One of the major distractions at Camp Langano is all the colobus monkeys in the trees.
Me with GATE leaders (Bob Ferris, at far left, and Duane Elmer, fourth from right), and other workshop participants.
After the workshop Ethiopian colleagues invited us to a local restaurant to introduce the GATE guys to Ethiopian food…
…and traditional Ethiopian dance.
Then we flew to Nairobi to do the whole workshop again with theological educators from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda (below).
Finally, back home again!
Tea last Sunday afternoon outside our house, with our friend John Paine visiting from New Zealand (John was taking the picture).
And on Monday a touristy visit to the Giraffe Research Centre so John could experience the classic giraffe kiss—a Nairobi tradition. Come visit us and we’ll take you to see the giraffes, too! Kissing is optional.
Happy to be home. (Shall we call this one ‘African Gothic’?)
