Today, we met with Faculty of CLET. The Director of the center, Dr. Dongo, he is from the Congo. (I know, it rhymes). Although we have met Dr. Dongo (the Director of the Center) , Pastor Souk (professor and pastor of the Dapaong Lutheran Church), and Abby Pierre(the administrator), formal greetings needed to take place. Each speaks and introduces himself while Pastor Glenn translates. There are some other interesting cultural nuances that we are trying to keep mindful of, such as; Only a superior, in this case Dr. Dongo, is allowed to cross their legs. Women may never cross their legs. Any gesture, a wave, giving of gifts, eating etc, must be done with the right hand. The left would be an insult, as it is the hand one would use in the bathroom. Shorts are not accepted in this part of Africa. All men wear long pants, and although it is hot, one Pastor reminded us as we were speaking to him, that we are in Africa, …’please move under the shade of this tree’, which we did happily. The days are hot, but from roughly 12:00 to 3:00, stores close, workers go home to eat lunch and ‘Siest’ (nap). At 3:00 or so, back to work. Time is almost irrelevant here. We had lunch with Pastor Fluegge, Pastor Joseph, and Pastor DeMoss. We were having such a good time eating Foo Foo (yams) and peanut sauce (preparation picture attached) that Pastor was ½ hour late for a meeting. No worries, we cleaned up, and drove back to the Center where it was as if we were right on time.
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