Memories of Mamou

I knew better, but I did it anyway.

We were living in Mamou, Guinea. That's in West Africa, for the geographically challenged. Wikipedia says it has a population of abut 76,000 people. It was our first post in Africa in 1998.

Life is fairly simple, but very hard. Poverty is rampant and Islam has stifled  practically every aspect of the Fulani culture. The people were oppressed from nearly every side, but because we were in the rain forest, famine wasn't as bad as in other parts of Africa.

We were living in a house that had been home to missionaries for years.  It was a comfortable 5 room house with 2 bathrooms. It had running water (with a 2000 liter storage tank) and electricity. Well, sort of.

Mamou, Guinea - 1998

City electricity was interesting, to say the least. On the standard 220v 50hz system, sometimes it only provided 20-30 volts. Other times, so much current came through that it burst the lightbulbs in our ceiling fans.

Most of the time, we simply didn't have city electricity. The story was that some official had embezzled the money earmarked for a city-sized diesel generator and had fled to France. Since our "regular" electricity came from a hydro-electric generator at the nearby reservoir, we had "good" electricity during the rainy season, which lasted from July to August. After August, we were rationed until all the water ran out of the reservoir until they simply shut off the city supply. The rest of the time, we used a portable gasoline powered generator.

Things would have been better had we owned a diesel power generator, which brings me to my story.

Our helper, Amadou, told us that our trash pit was full and needed to be burned. I should have just let him to it. (mistake number 1)  The pit was about 6x6x12 and was where be put everything from household trash to cut limbs and other debris from the yard.

Our night guard, Ibrahim, used a little kerosene lantern to shine (usually while he slept) during his night duty. I wish I remembered that I bought a gallon or two of kerosene for his lantern (mistake number 2)

I went out to look at the pit. It was indeed full. I looked around for something to light to catch the pit on fire. I found some rags, but they wouldn't  burn.

In my search, I spied my cans of gasoline that we use to run the generator. I figured that I could pour a little bitty teeny tiny amount in the pit and get the fire going. (mistake number 3)

I found a small little cup and poured perhaps a half a cup of gasoline into the pit. I stood back and threw in a lit match. Nothing.

I found a piece of paper or something and lit it and tossed it into the pit. Nothing.

Reasoning that I simply didn't have enough propellent, I poured in two or three more cups of gasoline. (mistake number 4)

I stood back, lit a match, threw it in and was knocked backwards by the explosion that sent burning banana leaves 20 feet into the air.

The explosion was so loud, that it made the pedestrian traffic stop on the national highway below the mountain to stop, look up, and wonder what those crazy white people were up to again.

Amadou told me to let him burn the trash pit the next time. I told him that I thought that was a good idea.

The Myth of Marriage Equality

The Homosexual Agenda has seen unprecedented advancement under the current liberal Democratic administration.  This is not a good thing.

Every media outlet has been subverted by messages of "equality"; here in Oklahoma, specifically "marriage equality" because so-called "gay marriage" is illegal here and the Agenda wants to do something about it.

There is currently a media campaign by Freedom Oklahoma pushing for the normalization of gay marriage in Oklahoma.

First of all, there is no such thing as marriage equality or marriage freedom. Homosexuals are simply looking for special rights.

Homosexuals promote a myth that they are being denied the right to marry whom they choose that is supposedly granted to non-gay people. It is a myth because non-gay people do not have the "right" to choose who they want to marry. They are prohibited by laws, conventions, tradition, religion, and common sense from marrying under-aged persons, married people, dead people, multiple people, animals and inanimate objects. And yes, people of the same sex.

I have long maintained that to permit same-sex marriage is to create a slippery slope into total moral depravity. That was proven to be fact immediately after the US Supreme Court ruled on gay marriage. Both pedophilia and bestiality groups demanded marriage rights for themselves.

Second of all, yes, I understand it isn't quite the same, but what would public outcry be if some group wanted to normalize something else and started a media campaign to do it? Say, meth makers. Or prostitution. Or marijuana? Gay marriage is currently illegal in Oklahoma. Other than financial gain, why do media outlets advertise for something that is illegal?  Fear of being called a homophobe?

Third of all, why do people who do not want a traditional relationship want traditional marriage?  I don't get that one at all.

Now, before you start labeling me bigot or homophobe, just keep your intolerant comments to yourself. There is no hate in my heart, except for the hate of the sin of disobedience. I do not hate gay people.  I'm not trying to keep anyone from doing anything that is legal or permissible. Without apology I am opposing the advancement of something that is counter-intuitive and  detrimental to the moral well-being of my culture.

I maintain that homosexuals do not want equal rights; they want special rights.