chris and becka warner

We walk a lot. I never thought much about it until one day I noticed my socks were really dusty. So I turned my shoe over and saw this:

I bought these shoes new right before we left for Africa. $60 Dockers. Normally, I would never pay that much for shoes, but these were special shoes. They were comfortable, slipped on, matched all my clothes, and served as both “everyday” shoes and dress shoes; provided I washed all the dust off before using them as dress shoes. Basically I envisioned them to be my all purpose shoes; a perfect compromise between two principles that I hold in equal value: fitting in or “contextualizing” with the culture (most East Africans wear dress shoes everyday) and my personal preference of avoiding conventional dress shoes at all costs. For the most part they lived up to my expectations, but in Burundi I started to notice some serious wear on the soles. I decided to start wearing my tennis shoes as much as I could, with the hope that my Docker’s could make it through the year. This plan was working great until Christmas morning, when our team discovered we had donated most of our shoes to somebody’s criminal Christmas cause during the night. Fortunately, everyone had exactly one pair of shoes left. Lucky for me, my all-purpose Dockers were the one pair of mine that escaped donation (I’ve decided the best way to cope with theft is to consider it as a “donation.”) So I started wearing them everyday again, until the day my socks came out dusty and I realized just how much we walk.

In Burundi we lived close to downtown Bujumbura, so we walked everywhere. It saved money on taxis, and it was the best way to get to know the city. Now that we are living on a YWAM base, we don’t walk as much because we don’t have to leave everyday to get the necessities (food and internet). But when we do leave, it’s about one or two mile’s walk to catch the dalla-dalla to Arusha, and then we easily walk up to five miles around the city. Of course, sometimes we catch a ride with someone who has a car, and this cuts down the mileage substantially. But for the most part we’ve experienced East Africa on foot, and I don’t think I would have it any other way. It’s the best way to get close to a different culture, and you see and experience so much more then you would from a car-window. It also keeps us in great shape; I think I’ve probably lost around twenty pounds since we arrived. And, depending on the road, you might just get to your destination faster by walking anyway! Paved roads and sidewalks are about as rare as rhinos, which has made Land Rovers and other 4×4s the preferred (and sometimes only) means of transportation. This means walking is a lot more like hiking, even in the cities.

For this reason, after it became clear that I needed new shoes, I decided to look for some lightweight hikers; something with good soles that could hold up to the dust and rigors of Africa. Arusha is kind of a “Mzungu” town, so I had high expectations of finding something decent. I wasn’t disappointed; after looking through a few markets and small street shops, I found a small shop with some serious brands: Merrell, Solomon, New Balance, and others. I couldn’t believe it. Merrell and Solomon make some of the best hiking shoes in the world! I settled on a pair of lightweight Merrells and started bargaining. I was interested to see how expensive they would be; in the US they would easily cost between $100-200. The guy was driving a hard bargain; he definitely knew his shoes. In the end, we both got a great deal. I probably paid double what he would have charged a local, and about a quarter of what I would have paid in the US. How did those shoes end up there? Well, I can’t be sure, but I would guess they were stolen or left behind from Western trekkers who came to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. It’s the cycle of commerce: Westerners like me get their nice stuff stolen or leave it behind; an African businessman sells it; a different Westerner like me buys it for a fraction of what it would cost back home; the African businessmen makes a huge profit. Everybody’s happy, except for the guy who got his shoes stolen. Lest you think the African businessman always comes out on top, there is the reverse dynamic to consider: Africans grow coffee and make beautiful crafts; a Western businessman buys it in Africa for next to nothing and sells it in a Western nation for a huge profit. Ahh, Africa. Sure, the morality of my participation in this cycle is a little fuzzy. At least I will have plenty of time to think about it as I am walking the dusty streets of Africa in my new shoes.

Actually, only a North American would say “soccer.” It’s known as football here. But it seems to be an observable phenomenon in every country I’ve been too: kids will make a football out of anything. I’ve seen balls made out of old clothes, grass and other assorted vegetation, and plastic bottles. This guy made his out of plastic bags balled up and held together by twine. We kicked it around for while. He won.

Everyone crowded into the classroom last night to finish the first week of English class with a movie (in English of course!). We watched the classic “The Gods Must Be Crazy,” and the scenes involving the brakeless car were the class favorite (the biologist has to open various gates while his Land Rover rolls towards them on a crash course, etc). Some of the English in the movie was a little difficult for them to understand, but fortunately there was enough slapstick humor in it to keep them entertained. Class has been going really well; the students are so eager to learn that I often have to kick them out of the class room or they will study right through meals!

I remember the first time I tried to do the high ropes course. I was supposed to be training on how to operate it as an instructor, but when I stood 35 feet off the ground on the edge of the log bridge, I was frozen. My breathing was short and my arms trembled. I forced myself to put one foot onto the log. “Only 20 more steps and you’re on the other side“, I told myself. Yanking on my harness again, I re-checked my tie-in points. Everything was secure, but I couldn’t budge. I started getting frustrated with my body, remembering the others before me who had ran across like elves on a wire. People down below were hoarsely encouraging me to move. I did the only thing I knew I could: I sat down, straddled the log, and scooted shamefaced across it! Every glance to the ground below made feel sick, but I was determined to make it. I did, but I always regretted the way that my fear got the best of me.

Today, I feel like I am living on a different high ropes course. Since we’ve joined YWAM, we’ve left the world of working and receiving reliable paychecks to working even harder and having no clue what we will receive each month. In the last three years Chris and I have learned to trust God for every penny or thing that we need. I wish I could say I’ve always been confident that God would come through for us, but the truth is that many times I’ve done exactly what I did on that high ropes course: “scooted” through the situation! Yet God has always provided for our every need and more, and often in truly amazing ways. These days, when we are faced with another “step of faith,” it helps us to remember God’s faithfulness to us in the past. There are too many stories to tell all of them, but here are a few of our favorites:

While Chris and I were working with YWAM in South Australia, we were living about 30 minutes from the city center. There was no public transportation, and for sanity’s sake, we were hoping to get a car. We wanted to be able to get away from the place for a few hours, or be able to go to the store without having to ask 12 different people to borrow their car. One evening, Chris and I were discussing this and feeling quite hopeless about it. We had just returned from India, and you’d think after God provided the money for that outreach we would have been a little more optimistic. Finally, before falling asleep that night, I decided just to ask God for a car. I figured we needed a vacation too, so I threw that in as well. Chris makes it sound like I had so much faith when he tells this story, but I figured that I had nothing to lose in telling God what we needed. A few days later, someone handed us the keys and title to their vehicle! They explained that God had told them to give us their car. It wasn’t the sportiest car, but we never had a single problem with our little yellow Toyota Corona. Shortly after receiving the car

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Today was my first day of teaching English! We split the students into two groups. I have been given the larger, more advanced group. Even though I have experience in teaching other things, this is my first time teaching English. I wasn’t really sure how it would go, but by the end of the class today I was really enjoying myself. The students, 15 people of very diverse backgrounds, are enthusiastic and patient. For many of them, this is not English as a second language, but English as a third, fourth or even fifth language! I am looking forward to the next 11 weeks.