Joseph in Jos: Simon Says: "will you laugh???"

Simon says: “stand up”
Simon says: “sit down”
Simon says: “touch your back”
Simon says: “touch your head”
Simon says: “will you laugh???”

This past week has been a very difficult week for me. At times I’ve been very frustrated, angry and sad. I’m not sure if it’s just getting over the “honeymoon” stage or if I’m just going through a valley. Last week on the eighteenth I turned 25 yrs old and I received numerous e-mails, 3 packages, and was able to talk to my family and friends on skype. This week was not the same. There were frustrating times. There were times when I missed my family and friends. There were times when I got sick of people saying “bature” (white man) and not calling me “Joseph”. There were times when I was taken advantage of and there were times when I felt God wasn’t listening to my prayers or the concerns of my heart. There was also a time when I missed the autumn leaves and the cool breeze. The fall is usually tough for me because in October of 1999, my brother Ricky died in a car accident. So, whatever the reasons, this week was difficult and depressing at times. I write this so that you will remember me in your prayers. I also write this because there was a happy ending to this week.

On Thursday night I stayed with our boys at Gidan Bege and slept in one of their beds. During the night, the mosquitoes had a field day on my exposed skin and the unventilated room robbed me of much needed sleep. I was exhausted from a long day and I should have done the wise thing and slept in my own bed in the comfort of my own house (and mosquito net). I told the boys I would come Thursday evening, I would read them a Bible story and then I’ll “pass the night”. On Thursday I spent the first part of my day trekking into the “bush” with my pastor (reverend Sunday Gomna) in an attempt to visit a member of the church who had a difficult pregnancy and gave birth to a premature little baby girl. It turns out she was in a different village recovering and we hiked 3 hours for nothing. We crossed a dirty river full of garbage for nothing, and I cancelled my plans for nothing. These all added to my already frustrating week.

After hiking across Africa (I’m being facetious) we then came back to pastor Sunday’s house for my favorite food, fish and rice (I’m being facetious again), I do not like fish, but I ate it anyway. I spent an hour or so with Pastor Sunday, his wife Esther and his 4 of his kids (Emmanuel, Ryrom, Anita, and Sandra). Being with his family and playing with his kids were the very medicine I needed to fix my week gone bad.

I eventually returned home with a burnt neck, a sick stomach from the fish, a sore back from trekking, stinky arm pits and to make matters worse; there was no NEPA (electricity). I only had 45 minutes before I needed to go to Gidan Bege for Bible teaching and to spend the night. I packed my bag, breathed a simple prayer for help and I made my way to 12 boys anxiously awaiting “Uncle Joseph”.

I arrived on time at 5 pm and from out of the wood work the boys began to run and attack me. “Uncle Joseph’s here, Uncle Joseph’s here”. Hearing the excitement in the boys and feeling wanted somehow brings a joy to me. I too was excited to see them because it was time to be a kid again, something I love to do. They could tell by the sleeping bag that I was staying the night (something that white people just don’t do) and they were so happy. I put my stuff away and joined them in games until it was time to settle down and continue our Bible story of Satan’s rebellion and Adam and Eve’s fall. The sun was setting and there was no electricity so I had to make haste. They all wanted to see the pictures but it was hard because every new page was getting darker and darker as the sun went down. We finished our story, knelt on the cement and prayed.

After the story we all went into the bedroom and to their surprise, I pulled out my laptop. They were so happy that we were going to watch a film; tonight’s movie is “Bambi”. It was a toss up between Lion King and Bambi but the boys chose Bambi because they didn’t like the part in the Lion King when Simba’s father died…Go figure, they’re mostly orphaned. We watched the movie and they all laughed at the part when Bambi is trying to stand on ice and his legs keep giving out. I too was laughing but not at the movie, I was laughing at them. It felt good to laugh; it felt very good to laugh.

The movie ended and I heard 12 boys say “good night Uncle Joseph”, it was music to my ears and it made me forget about the events of the week.

The night was hot and I was feeling tired from a long day of trekking and being with people. I turned to face the window and felt an ounce of cool air come through the screen, it was nice and soothing but it wasn’t enough to neutralize the heat. I laid down on a rickety metal bunk bed with one boy above me and one below me. As I lay there in the quiet of the night I could hear Simon sing a song about wanting a father and mother, I couldn’t understand everything but I got the jist of it. I began to fall asleep to his singing but then woke up to the silhouette of a 10 year old Nigerian boy staring me in the face. Guess who it was. It was Simon!

He came over to me to try to startle me but then he hid himself and I couldn’t see him. I could hear him laughing and giggling but I couldn’t see him. Then I felt these fingers on the bottom of my feet and I jerked my feet away from him. He disappeared again until I felt fingers in my sides and heard Simon laughing as he tortured me with his tickling. In the previous week Simon somehow learned that I was ticklish and now he was taking advantage of the opportunity to tickle me. He eventually stopped and came to a place where I could see him and said he would not tickle me anymore (to my relief). He then put his hands in my hair and started to play with my soft hair. He ran his fingers through my hair several times and then began scratch my back but I was skeptical because I thought he was going to tickle me again. He said “Uncle Joseph, are you sleeping?” I replied, “no but if you scratch my back I’ll be sleeping any second”. He said “I will scratch your back until you fall asleep”. So, I turned over to my window where I could feel a small breeze coming through on my face. On my head I could feel a little hand petting me and on my back I could feel the other hand scratching me. Simon kept asking if I was sleeping and then he said “uncle, if I scratch you here (by my arm pit), will you laugh?”
“yes” I said.
“Uncle, if I do like this, will you laugh?”
“Yes” I replied.
“Uncle, if I scratch you here, will you laugh?”
“Yes, I will laugh”.

Those were the last words until I slipped into unconsciousness. I fell asleep to a 10 year old boy scratching my back and playing with my hair. It was one of those things that erased the memories of the difficult week I had. It was the turning point of my frustrations and highlight of my time here in Nigeria. Our God is always faithful to bring us out of the valley’s we are in. It’s as if Satan said to me all week:

Satan says: be angry
Satan says: be frustrated
Satan says: be sad, but God says: LAUGH, laugh my son, laugh.

Simon says: Uncle, will you laugh?

Yes, I will laugh.