Mangoes in paradise 2

Bai Laurent with Kouya NT printout under a mango tree

Last week I booked flights to return to Ivory Coast. We left there as a family in July 1997 having completed an 8 year Wycliffe assignment at Vavoua International School teaching the children of mission families working in West Africa. Both our children and myself have made separate trips back to Ivory Coast quite a while ago, but for my wife, this will be her first time in Africa for almost 15 years.

So why are we returning to the land of mangoes? To be part of a belated celebration of the New Testament in the Kouya language. Belated because the Kouya New Testaments arrived in the port of Abidjan in 2002 the day after Wycliffe personnel were evacuated due to the worsening political situation. Belated because that led to ten years of civil unrest and violence. Belated because the civil war battle lines in Ivory Coast were drawn right through Kouya territory. Belated because for the past decade, the Kouya church leaders have not judged it wise to hold a public celebration of God’s Word in their heart language.

But now they feel the time is right.

Mangoes in paradise 1 was some thoughts on Genesis 3 and Adam and Eve’s encounter with the fruit of the forbidden tree and the consequences of that disobedience for mankind. This blog is about my memories of a very peaceful rural environment where we lived and taught young people and made friends with Kouya neighbours in Bouhitafla and Dema and Gouabafla – and where almost everyone had a mango tree, not just for the delicious fruit, but also for the shade that the tree gave. It is also about my thoughts of how that peaceful rural area was plunged into conflict and suffering because Ivorians could not live and work and do politics together peacefully. It is also about how the Kouya New Testament brought encouragement and hope to suffering Kouya Christians – and how other Kouyas came to faith by hearing God’s Word in their heart language for the first time.

At this point, the flights are booked and we’re planning vaccinations and visas and travel insurance and all those things… but I’m starting to taste the mangoes. The fresh mangoes, not the UK supermarket mangoes.  And I’m looking forward to seeing people that I haven’t seen since 1998. And I’m wondering how much it has all changed in Abidjan and in Kouya land…

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