This year we celebrate Christmas with our youngest daughter and her family in Paramaribo. For the first time in years we are not celebrating the birth of Jesus together with the Wayana in Lawa or Apetina. We see the necessary preparations taking place via Facebook. For example, an elder from Apetina went by boat to Albina, a town on the coast, to do Christmas shopping for the community meals during Christmas. We were able to help him purchase some of the groceries in Paramaribo. This shopping costs him about a week of travel time. Just a different perspective on the long lines at the checkout 😉.

Our health is well. That’s something we’re very grateful for. The vulnerability of Marjolein’s mother remains a point of prayer. Fortunately, we know that she and Marjolein’s father are safe in God’s loving hands.

Marjolein has recently given very special answers to questions from Marco. Given the fact that her father and his sisters all wear hearing aids, reason for an appointment with the ENT specialist. Last Tuesday we were told that she indeed suffers from hearing loss. It is her choice whether she wants to start with hearing aids or whether she wants to wait a little longer.

During our time in the Netherlands, Marjolein had already started translating some parts of the interviews that were made in 2022 with the Wayanas in Canada. She was 4/5 of the way through, when her iPad crashed. An attempt was made to remove the documents from the machine. Unfortunately, that did not work out. She hopes to have all parts translated in the coming weeks, so that the video maker can continue with his work. Fortunately, Marco also has an iPad and she uses that one now.

House, garden and kitchen

We get up early every morning and then spend more than an hour removing weeds from the creek. Now that the long dry season has ended and the rains are bringing in the water again, it is a race against time to scoop out all the grass and the thick layer of leaves at the bottom before the creek is completely full. The materials are good to build a compost heap and we use the leaf layer to raise the garden floor. The sand in the creek comes from the garden, so we will have to do this more often in the future. At the same time, this is a nice work-out.

We have also been busy further organizing the kitchen cabinets. Here and there a shelf to put things on. The new doors and drawer finally got a coat of paint. The other doors are also due. The kitchen looks like new again.

Foundations for Farming Suriname meeting

The last few weeks, we worked hard to prepare everything for establishing a Service and Training Center of Foundations for Farming on the premises of the Lob Makandra foundation. We received a contribution from EO Metterdaad, in the Netherlands, to finance the first phase of this project. First, the road to the entrance of the site was constructed. This required a number of culverts to be placed in a drainage canal. The road was extended over this to the entrance of the site.

Then we had to find out whether or not the dam on which we planned to build a driveway would be strong enough to fulfill its purpose. Fortunately, that turned out to be the case. Immediately after the machines had done their work, we were able to drive the car over the dam without any problems. The first part of the plot then was scraped in such a way that excess rainwater would run to one side.

The first test fields were set out last week. We will cover the fields with a layer of ‘mulch’ to ensure that no weeds can grow. We will then plant/sow the fields to demonstrate the effect of the principles we will train here.

Friday, December 8 was marked by a special meeting on the site with more than thirty interested participants. We invited pastors from churches and a number of government representatives. The Minister of Territorial Planning also came especially, to hear about our plan.

The many questions that were asked after the three presentations showed that there was great interest. The question also came up how quickly we can start our training. People see the usefulness of what Foundations for Farming has to offer and would like to participate in the training that is (still) in the preparation phase.

Christmas

We would like to thank you very much for making the work at the Wayana’s possible this year through prayer and financial support.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a hopeful 2024.