The beginning
I grew up in Bülach, Switzerland. That is a small city close to Zurich. My brother is two and a half years younger than me. His name is Fritz. We often had visitors. My Mom has the gift of hospitality. My parents knew lots of missionaries. They loved to invite them and hear them talk about their lives and their work. We also had foster children that my Mom took care of.

I remember being very jealous of my brother. I always thought he got more attention than I. Only later I realized that I was a very demanding child. I usually got what I wanted and I wanted lots. For example with clothing: I often begged my mother for money to buy clothes. Of course she gave it to me. And then I saw how she told my brother: “You need new pants, here is the money, go get some”. I was furious, thinking he doesn’t even have to ask. I didn’t realize that I had tons of pants in my closet, because I liked to shop and I just asked. He didn’t.

10 to 16 years old
I love school and learning comes easily. I start playing basketball. I enjoy it, but I’m not very good at it because I don’t see in one eye. That means I don’t have depth perception and I never hit the basket. I’m good at running though. Later I play soccer. I’m very good at that. We train every week and our team participates in small tournaments. We often win which of course makes it fun.

Our team. I’m the goal keeper.

I want to become a typesetter like my father. Back then it is easy to find a place to do an apprenticeship. We just go by a printshop, talk to the manager (whom my Dad knows) and I got a place. These days it is much more complicated and it takes a lot of time and effort.

These pictures were taken when I was between 14 and 21 years old. I don’t remember the date of each one.

Always my handicap when I ride offroad motorcycles: my short legs. Rudy doesn’t have that problem.

The room is very small.

• we need to know English very well
• it would be good if we spent a year in America to get to know the culture. Support personell often are Americans. And Swiss an Americans often have problems with each other if they don’t know the others culture.
• we should have one year of bible school in order for us to survive spiritually in case there is no church where we will be going. The goals is that we learn to feed ourselves.

My English is pretty good since I traveled with my brother. Rudy has not had any English at that point. He decides we are going to do it all at once: we get married in November, live six months in Switzerland to get used to life as a couple (I believe he saw some problems coming), then go to the US in May, do a 3 months intensive English class and then one year of Bible College. That was fine with me and that is how we did it.

Honeymoon
We get married on the 25th of November 1989. It is a very cool day. It even snowed a little as you can see on the wedding picture. For our honeymoon we travel to Israel. We spend a week in Eilat at the beach, travel around in Israel and the last few days we spent at the beach again. I remember our last night. I sit on the bed and cry. Somehow being married is not as I imagined. I tell Rudy, you know, I think it is a mistake that we got married. Let’s go home to Switzerland and pretend it didn’t happen! That is how we started our married life.

Of course we traveled back together. We were able to rent an appartment from a couple that went away for six months. That way we didn’t need to buy furniture or anything. Rudy and I are very different. In every personality test we ever did we came out on the other end of the spectrum. We know that is a great possibility but it can also be a big difficulty. The biggest clashes we have in the kitchen because Rudy always wants to tell me how I have to do things. I hate that! For example he always turns off the lights when he leaves a room. Or he uses paper on both sides. I grew up in a print shop. I have never done that in my life!

First marriage seminar
Because of our rough start we already signed up for a marriage seminar a few months after our wedding. The other couples asked us why we were there. One of them was married 14 years and they said, if the seminar doesn’t help, they will get divorced. We enjoyed it a lot. We learned many things that they are normal. You know, just man and woman differences.

I’ll always remember the shopping example. We are told that men are hunters. If they need a new peace of clothing they go into a shop, try one thing on and if it fits they buy it and go home happily. Women are different. They go into the first shop. Try on many things, the husband is getting more desperate with each piece she tries on and keeps saying: it is great, just buy it. She leaves the shop and goes in many more. After a long time she wants to go have coffee and talk about what she has tried on. In the end she goes into the first shop and buys something. Rudy who understands this now has decided to be very patient and when we go shopping I can look around as long as I want to.

We laughed a lot in that seminar. And it helped us a lot too.

Two years in America (1991–1992)
We fly to Columbia, South Carolina. We can live on the CIU campus for a little while, but we need to find housing. Somebody tells us about a house close by and we go meet the landlords. A real southern couple. We can’t understand a thing they are saying. Somehow we manage. They tell us we can decide how much rent we want to pay. And when we tell them that we don’t have any furniture, they say that they still have some in the attic. So we get a nice little house, fully furnished for a very good price. God did it again! He takes good care of us.

We start a 10-week intensive course of English at the University downtown. Especially for Rudy that is very intense. After that we start the Bible College. It is the one year Bible Certificate Program. Our classes take place from 8–12 then we go home and do homework. Sometimes until 10 pm. Rudys English wasn’t very good at first, so he writes his papers in German. So when I translate his papers in English he does the household. Or when he reads, we had lots of reading to do, then I do the work in the house. That is something that I really enjoy in our relationship: If what needs to be done is more Rudys gift, then he does it and I do the rest. Or when it is for me, then he does everything else. We really work well as a team.

We attend the CCC church and meet many people. It takes a while for people to get used to us and our accents. During this time hearing prayer is being practiced and I meet with the pastors wife. I tell her about my life and she looks if there are still areas where I am not free yet. She prays with me and I experience new freedom in Christ. I was still bound by some things of my past. And that is gone after that meeting. That is great.

After the year at CIU we go to Waxhaw, North Carolina. Rudy participates in the maintenance orientation, I take the computer one. We learn to love the American culture. We have friends and deep relationships. We love that.

There are also different classes that we can take. A really helpful one is “Spiritual Warfare” by Kay Arthur. One example of how it changed my life: Every time Rudy and I have a little misunderstanding I think “he doesn’t love me anymore”. Everytime I hear that voice in my head. In the class we learn that this could be an attack from satan and that I can just send it away. So I start doing that. And it works! After a very short time the thought does not return.

I also learn that it is important that I control my thoughts. I start thinking my thoughts very consciously and to ask myself: is this thought the truth or not. And if it not the truth, I send it away and refuse to entertain it. At first I wonder and think, it will be very hard to know what is truth. But it is very easy. And it works. It is so freeing. There are so many things that go around in our head and if we only think the truth, then we are encouraged and it doesn’t pull us down anymore.

During our time in the US we grow a lot in our faith. It is a very intensive time.

Back in Switzerland (1992–1993)
It looks like we are going to start our work with Wycliffe in the Centralafrican Republic. They started a new center there. There are only a few workers there yet. The director bought a center with six houses and they are in need of repair. That is Rudys job. But we are still missing one thing: French. I have worked in Geneva for two years, the language there is French. So I am proficient. Rudy has three years of school French. We go to Neuchatel for French school. We are a little tired of preparing and after six months we decide it is enough. It’s been almost four years of preparations. That must be sufficient.

Wycliffe is a faith mission. Every member needs his supporters for prayer and for finances. Since the whole thing is Gods idea, we told him that fincances are his responsibility. We write in our newsletter that we will leave in January 1993 and we tell the members of our church where we go. We explain how things work with Wycliffe, that is all. We go and we feel, that if we don’t have enough money, our savings are spent, then we just go back to Switzerland. We can tell you that God has always provided! We never lacked anything and we were really blessed.

January 1993: 1. Departure: 3 months in Cameroun – AOC – Africa Orientation Course
For our first trip we are very glad we can go along with a Swiss family that travels back. It is a little scary to travel to Africa for the first time. We spend a night in Douala and fly to Yaoundé the next day. AOC is the course where new missionaries learn about the African culture. It’s kind of nice to make the first mistakes in a group. We cook ourselves. We learn what meat to buy in the market. Some are tougher than others.

Before our departure I have to get some skirts. Until then I never wore skirts. But in the new culture pants are offensive when worn by women. Every morning we spray antibug spray on our bodies. The moskitos carry malaria and even though we take pills for prevention the risk is still there. Of course I also use perfum. When I smell it today then I feel put back to Cameroun and I can smell the bugspray too. I don’t use that perfum very much anymore…

The highlight of the course was to spend three weeks with a family upcountry. All by ourselves, out in the country with a family that we didn’t know. I was a little afraid of that prospect. The family we went to was very nice though. The husband spoke a little English. We were visited by our teachers once a week. They brought us toilet paper for example. You know, sometimes we got diarrhia, then we needed more…

It is part of the course to kill a chicken and cook it. I do it with a friend.

Every morning we get up and we sit in the living room or in front of the house. And we wait. We are hungry. I remember that as if it was yesterday. Every morning the hope that there will be something to eat. Often our host comes at around 11 am and brings us some plantains that he rosted in the fire and fresh avocados. Ever since then I love avocados. One day we are walking to visit some neighbours. As white people we are the attraction and of course our host is obligated to show us around. We walk and walk. Is is early afternoon, the sun is hot and as so often I am very hungry. We stop at a little shop and buy some bananas. Our host carries them. I am so tired that I start crying. Arrived at our destination we sit in the sofas and I am given a banana. I don’t feel comfortable because we are the only people eating and I don’t know if that is ok.

I feel that is the hardest thing the first few years in Africa: We are often in situations where we don’t know how to act. Of course we don’t want to offend anyone. We want to do the right thing. But how do we know what that is? It takes years until I feel completely at ease in the culture.

The three weeks in the village are very intense. I spent time with the mother and the children in the kitchen. We go along during the day to the fields and help working there. Of course the village people find that very funny, that the white people work in the fields. We just laugh along them. In the evening we get the big meal. Normally women and children sit and eat in the kitchen. I am allowed to sit in the living room with the men.

Three months in Kenya
Before we leave for Cameroun our director asked me if I was willing to do data entry for the accounting in the Centralafrican Republic. I love that so I say yes. That is the reason he sends us to Kenya, to learn the accounting program. When we get there I realize they were waiting for the new accountant. That was me! So I learn to be the new accountant. We get a Fiat 500 from someone. It is very convenient to have a small car at our disposition. It’s only too bad that the starter is broken. So I or the children as in the picture have to push start the car every time we use it. But it is very funny.

To finish our time in Kenya we participate in a safari and we spend two weeks at the beach. We love that.

July 1993 we fly with the DC-3 from Nairobi to Bangui, Centralafrican Republic (CAR)
Now reality hits: We prepared for four years for this time: Our arrival in the CAR. Of course we didn’t know right away where we would be serving, but then, four years is a long time. Finally we are at our destination! It is hot and humid. In the first few days Rudy gets a long list with many things to do. There is a number after each item, 1, 2 or 3 to show how pressing the need is. There are six houses on the compound. And each house has its own needs of repairs.

Rudy doesn’t have a workshop yet. He has to build one first. Here you see it almost finished. During the first year my living room is the garage. On the sides there are wooden boards with all the tools on them and the tires. I don’t mind. That is a gift that I have: if I choose to, I just don’t see it. That is very convenient.

The first two years are hard. There is so much work and so few people to do it. We also don’t have time to learn the local language, Sango. We request from the leadership that we take a timeout upcountry to learn the language. We get the permission and we leave for three months. We think it is important to be able to speak some of the local language. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be enough to get around.

In the beginning we work as if we were in Switzerland. Full speed ahead. Then Rudy gets malaria once a months, even though we take our medication every day to prevent that. Once it is so bad that the doctor comes to our house to give him an infusion of the medication. We realize we have to change something. The climate is too taxing on our bodies. We adjust our schedule to the African way of life with a long siesta after lunch und less hours. Right away could tell the difference and Rudy never came down with malaria anymore.

Once a month Rudy has to go to the pygmies into the rainforest to bring food to the translators. The project is new, so they haven’t been able to plant their fields, so they need us to bring in the food. We meet pygmies and enjoy spending time with them. They take us along to go hunting. It is amazing how they move in the forest. We feel like elephants, stomping through the forest. They are like cats, running, chasing. We are very impressed. We also realize that we always have food in the house. They don’t. If they don’t hunt anything, or if they don’t find any honey, then they have nothing to eat. We sometimes take a break and sit behind a tree to take a rest and eat some peanuts. They run around all day. They also can read the ground. Or they see what kind of honey is in the tree depending on what they see on the ground. Amazing!

The two houses of the translators. We are staying in the one on the left during our stay.

In Bangui it is a challenge for me that there are not many white people to associate with. You have to get along with the people that are there. For me that is a super exercise. I befriend a woman, even though we are totally different. We still have contact today and write once in  a while. I think it is great how it is possible to develop a very deep relationship even if we didn’t like the person at first. And the better you know the other person, the more respect you have for each other. That is a great lesson for me.

After around two years we are really stressed out. When people come to us and want something we are stressed out and give clipped answeres. Everything goes on our nerves. Even if I think about it today, I feel ashamed. The employees of the center start their work at 7 am. We had decided to start at 7.30. Of course it happens that most days somebody wants something from us right after 7. We hate that. It takes a while until I realize what happens. People that are always stressed are very hard to be around. All of a sudden our eyes are opened and we change our focus. We decide we are there to serve. It doesn’t matter the time of day. With that everything changes. Even if the one man comes at 11 pm, because he locked himself out of his house, we laugh with him and just open the door for him. We also have a chat and enjoy being together. I’m so glad God showed us how wrong we were and how we could do it right.

Still today that is our philosophy: If you can’t change a situation, don’t even think about it. If you can change it, then do it! With all your strength. This way life is much easier, lighter.

After one year in Africa we think it is a good time to “order” a baby. Until then we had prevented conception with the temperature method and it had worked. Of course we didn’t know if it was possible for us to have a baby. But I go pregnant pretty much right away. It was a shock when I lost the baby in the 10th week. After that it takes a while to get pregnant again. But it so happened that we were in Switzerland for the birth. That was God’s provision because the birth didn’t go as planned and I ended up having an emergency c-section. Yannick was born October 12th, 1995. It took a while to get used to the nursing and the sleeping with a baby, but somehow we manage.

I still remember when I woke up in the hospital after the anesthesia. I look over to the little bed beside mine. And I wonder, I sure hope that is my baby!

We enjoy our furlough in Switzerland. We see many friends and supporters. In the many talks we have we realize how everybody has his burdens. And we decide that we are happy with our burdens, we wouldn’t want to change with anyone. We travel back to Bangui, happy to know that we are exactly in the place God wants us to be.

The first few months with Yannick are very exhausting. He doesn’t sleep well, he wakes up every two hours and I nurse him. In the evening he won’t go to sleep until 11 pm. During the day he is very unhappy, he is always crying. I had imagined having children to be different. I am tired and frustrated. Then I receive the book “Babywise” from Mariann and Gary Ezzo. I had read many books before the birth, but this book really helped me. We prepare Yannick his own room. Until then he had slept unter our moskitonet in a crib that Rudy had built. That way I woke up every time he turned around. First thing we teach Yannick is to go to sleep by himself. It takes three long nights, after that he sleeps through. Unbelievable. In the book there are many ideas. We try them out and they work. So all of a sudden life with a baby is much more relaxed and even fun. I am very grateful for that.

At this time there are small signs of a political crisis in Bangui. We don’t pay close attention until in April 1996 the war starts. All around us there is shooting going on. We don’t know what really is going on. We move our mattresses into the living room. That is the farthest spot from the street and we hope that the bullets won’t hit us there. We see the mob outside of our compound stealing and looting. During one night it is especially bad. A mob is in front of our door. Our guards talk to them and talk them into moving on. We are sitting on the ground praying, afraid what is going to happen with us. Finally our group decides to evacuate. We call the French that are in charge of that and are informed that we are number 3,000 on the list. So many people have their turn before us. What a shock!

One day I watch Yannick as he sits in our living room, happily playing on the mattress. He is so cute. And my eyes are opened to the fact that this is how I should feel. Safe in God’s hands. Nothing can happen to me unless he let’s it happen. I turn to him and ask him to give me that peace. And he gives it to me. That was a very cool experience: To have peace when life falls apart all around us.

The French inform us that we have to move to another compound where it is easier for them to pick us up. All around on the houses are sharp shooters from the rebels. Our guards walk the way we have to drive and tell them to please not shoot, there will be a bus with only a few missionaries. We go on the bus, praying and drive on. Nothing bad happens and we arrive safely.

Three days later it is already night, three tanks drive up to the place where we are staying. We had already given up hope for the day. The soldiers made an alley and we ran safely into the tank. Each of us was allowed a handcarry bag. We were sure to never see anything that belonged to us. When we packed it we also realized that there are not many things that cannot be replaced. They are only things. It is a good exercise for anyone: reduce your life into a handcarry bag. What would you take?

Sitting in the tank we are extremely grateful. Finally we get to go. On top all around us the soldiers are sitting with their Mps holding guard. Unbelievable. Just like in the movies, except for us it is real. Some of us cry of relief. They take us to the airport. There are many people already, waiting. It looks like in the news.

Rudy hears somewhere that an american military plane is ready for takeoff soon. So we all run and try to make it on the plane. We have to fill out forms and everything. Somehow we make it. It is a transport plane, open on the sides and we sit on somekind of netting. It doesn’t matter to us. We are just glad to be safe. We arrive in Yaoundé and are able to stay with some friends that we know from AOC.

Back in Switzerland (1996)
My parents own a house with three apartments. The one on the third floor they usually rent out. When they know that we plan to come to Switzerland they keep it free for us. This time we come back unplanned and the apartment is free! For us a big relief. We land and have a home right away. To be in the war was traumatic. In Yaoundé we participated in a debriefing and we were told that in the coming weeks and months we will be very tired seemingly without reason. That is a consequence of the trauma. It helps us to know that, because we really are very tired all the time.

We decide to go see a psychiatrist. We don’t want to carry around baggage for nothing. We go together and see him a few times. He helps us to work through the experience. We also pray about it to be free. It takes a while until we are back to normal, energy wise.

1996–1999 Switzerland – Cameroun – Chad – Bangui (CAR)
The hardest thing is that we plan to go back to the CAR every two weeks. And every time there is another shooting or another unrest. So the plan gets canceled again. That means that we are not free to do anything, because we always think, we will go back soon. At one point we do fly back and we are allowed to stay in the rainforest in the pygmy village to build a new house for one of the translators. We are not allowed to be in Bangui because it is not safe, but in the forest there is no danger. After that we drive to Yaoundé, but there is no room for us. A friend of ours works in Chad and she invites us to go there to work. At this time we are fed up with the two weeks thing. So we decide that we want to go somewhere where we stay three months. And after that we look at the situation and decide again what the next step should be.

We have been trying to get pregnant for a while by now. But it never worked. I imagine it is because of the stress. But after a few months in Chad I get pregnant. We end up working in Chad for eight months before we fly to Switzerland for the birth.

Chad is a very hard place to live. The temperature rises up to 122 degrees fahrenheit and it is very dry. I didn’t think that is was so bad. But the heat gets to you. It is as if people live on stand by. The members there are strong people. They know God put them there. Otherwise you don’t make it. On the center there had never been someone that came to do that job. Usually a translator had to come in from the village and do it as best as he could. When they realized that we came to do support work, people were very amazed and very grateful. Rudy builds things that make life easier. For example the city water comes on sometime after midnight for a couple of hours. That means you have to get up and turn the water on to fill the barrels. Otherweise there is no water during the day. Rudy builds racks to put the barrels up and feeds them into the system in order to have running water even when there is no water from the city.

In the beginning of 1998 we fly to Switzerland. Yael is born on the 2nd of April. After 14 hours of labor they finally cut him out with a c-section. This time I’m not too shocked since I have had that experience already once. Again we are able to live in the apartment in Bülach in my parents house.

In Bangui the situation still isn’t resolved, so we travel to Yaoundé, Cameroun again. We work on staff at AOC. Later we are able to travel to Bangui. The situation is quiet and we can work in peace. We start to think what we want to do in the long run.

Relationships in Bangui
We keep learning about African culture. One example from our first two years where I had a huge clash: I have a young man that works for me in the house. He is very dependable, works fast and I am very grateful for him. On the compound where we live there are also offices. There is an office doing literacy work. I work in accounting. Somebody is responsible for giving out cash. The team consists of many different nationalities: Canadiens, New Zealanders, Swiss, Americans, an Austrian and of course many Centralafricans. One of them is working in administration. He is an important man, helping everybody with their papers. One day he chews out my employee on the phone. I don’t remember what it was about. But of course I felt it wasn’t his place to correct my employee. When I hear what he has done I go to find him and to confront him. I run into him in front of Rudy’s garage. Quite a few people are there, employees, Rudy, etc. and I scold him in front of everyone. I am so upset.

That was a big mistake. Our friend, the director of the Centralafrican organisation takes me on the side and explains to me how bad it was, what I had done. In their culture anger is a big sin. Also, in the hierarchy of the African culture there is God first, then the man, the woman, children and then animals. Even me just talking down to him was an insult. Then him being an administrator and my employee being a houseworker, in his eyes he had every right to correct the young man. All of this is very hard for me to accept. But I choose to apologize and ask him for forgiveness. From now on I am very sensitive about what I say to a man. For example it is better to ask for things in the name of Rudy than in my own name. This way the person feels respected and is easily able to fulfill my request.

Through this and many other experiences our relationship to the director gets deeper and deeper. He explains things to us. He also warns us, when he sees us going the wrong way culturally. We learn that we dress for the other person. If I go visit someone I dress for the person I visit. If I dress up the person feels honred. For me that wasn’t always easy. I liked to dress however I felt like.

White missionary women in Africa have the tendency to dress in their nightgown. They think it is a dress, but to the Centralafricans it isn’t. They wear that in bed. For them it is funny when we buy the cheapest materials. They know that we have money. They always buy the most expensive cloth that they can afford. This way they can show how much worth they give to others. When I learned this, I started to dress up some. To buy more expensive materials and get sawn up with more special dresses. Here people get dresses made at the tailors.

One of my more special dresses. Here talking to our friend.

These outfits we got made in Cameroun. Look at Rudy’s shoes. They are the latest style!

Our work is mostly supporting translators that they can do their work. We work with white people most of the time. Now, that we learned so much about the culture we feel like we would rather work with local people. We sense, that we understand them and are able to relate well. We hear about a new work within Wycliffe: recording audio cassettes. Until then it was assumed that people wanted to learn to read in order to read the Bible once she is translated. But the cultures we work in mostly are oral cultures. They relate stories and life wisdom through telling stories. A new department is created: Vernacular Media. Rudy finds this fascinating and we move into this direction. That means that we finish up our work in Bangui  at the end of 1999.

Audiotechnician (Vernacular Media) Class in the US (2000)
We travel to Waxhaw, North Carolina where this class is offered at JAARS. Rudy learns how to record audio cassettes. It is the goal that he is equiped to go out into a village and turn a village house into a studio and record programs right there. Another goal is to train national workers to record too, so they can do the work themselves. We are very excited about the new work. It is a great way to get the translated parts of a bible into the hands of the people.

In these countries it is not like in our country. We listen to cassettes by ourselves. In Africa life takes place outside and if someone has a cassette recorder half of the village turns up and wants to listen too. It is a great opportunity for people to hear Gods Word and also to hear that God loves them.

We need to start thinking where we want to serve with our new acquired skills. Now we need to think about schooling for our children. After prayer and thinking we have to choose between Senegal and Ivory Coast. Out of Dakar, Senegal we get a warm invitation. In Ivory Coast the doors are closed. This makes it easy. And honestly, we are very thankful that God led us that way. A few years later the war breaks out in Ivory Coast. We are glad we are not there.

Third Child
We wish for a third child and during my time in America I am pregnant with Cedric. I forgot to mention that with each of the pregnany I had lost blood in the first 12 weeks. That means I was on bedrest for a few weeks with each of them. Being pregnant with Cedric I take it very easy, I feel sick often, so I rest a lot.

We plan Cedrics birth for the 2nd of October because a friend of ours who is a midwife is available then. She will support us during the c-section. In Switzerland if you had two c-section the third is a given. I get a peridural anestesia. That way I am awake through the operation. And after he is born I can watch them bathe him. That is very cool. Now we are a family of five. Four guys and me. That is fine with me. Rudy had hoped for a girl, I love having boys. Of course Rudy doesn’t mind. He is happy that Cedric is healthy.

2001 – Dakar, Senegal
In January we travel to Dakar for the first time. We feel like we have arrived in paradise. The beach is close by, the climate is nice, there is always a breethe from the sea and people welcome us warmly. Yannick will attend Dakar Academy, an American Christian school. We look for a house close by. In Cameroun I had seen many Moms driving their children around all day. I didn’t want to do that. We find a nice small house in a safe neighbourhood. There is even a small apartment included that we can rent out. The house also is not very expensive. That suits us. I feel, I don’t want to pay too much money for rent. That money is gone every month. I prefer spending money on other things. (Clothing for example…   🙂   ).

We buy a scooter for me. That way I put my three boys on it in the morning and we drive the short way to school. We live in Africa, everything is possible. I love that. The way leads through the neighborhood, no big streets.

Rudy adjusts quickly to his work. At the center in Dakar there is a studio where the recordings are done. He has two co-workers. In the end there is one class for local people.

As before I need a maid. Someone recommends C. to me. She starts to work and we hit it off right away. I am very happy to have her in my house. We end up being best friends.

We visit C. at home in the South of the country. I love getting my hair done. Senegalese like it too.

When we moved into our house in Dakar we ask our Senegalese friends what people normally do when they move into a new house. Their answer: On a Saturday you take your whole family, you go from house to house and you present yourself. You say something like, we are the new family that lives in that little house over there. We are your new neigbours. They will invite you, so you go in with them, sit down and visit. At first I think, that is too hard. I can’t do it. But if I ask advice, I follow it, otherwise I should not have asked.

So we take all our courage and go from house to house. Our next door neighbor is extremely impressed. He can’t believe that we do the Senegalese tradition and he is a huge fan of ours. He tells all his friends that he has White Senegalese neighbors. Once in a while we visit them. They both work, so they don’t have a lot of time. But they enjoy a little visit sometimes.

Rudy goes to work with the bicycle. Sometimes it is a little dangerous, traffic in Africa is unpredictable. He always made it safe. I work one morning a week. I give out cash to the members. As I learned in CAR I always dress up and the Senegalese employees at the center love me for it. We laugh together and it’s a lot of fun.

Time passes fast and soon we have to start think about the future of our children. We wonder what the best moment is to return to Switzerland for them to do schooling. We hear people who say that it is good to return before puberty others think it better after. I find that a little difficult because they are five years apart in all.

Last picture of our time in Africa.

2005
We fly to Switzerland on furlough for six months and plan to return to Dakar in the summer for another two years. Yannick is 9 years old at this time. In April my Dad gets sick, he has Leukemia. The worst kind. He has to undergo chemo therapy. He spends quite some time in the hospital.

Whenever he is in the hospital I take his place in his printshop that he owns with his brother. They are very happy for my help. But as soon as Dad is back he wants to work himself and I stand back. That is ok for me.

We don’t know if Dad will get well again. The doctors can’t say. We decide to finish up our time in Africa and return to Switzerland for good. That way we can support my mother. In the summer we fly to Senegal for three weeks to sort through all our stuff. It is a bit of a challenge to decide what to do with everything. We can take about 400 pounds to Switzerland. The rest we have to get rid of. We are able to do it and to finish our time we spend one week in Saly, our favorite place in Senegal for vacation. This way we can say goodbye to this place too.

After the three weeks I travel back to Switzerland with the boys. Rudy stays behind for another week to finish up his work in the office. The day I arrive in Switzerland my Dad dies at noon, I arrive at 3 pm and at 5 pm I start work in the printshop. There is some urgent business I have to take care of. So I really hit the ground running. I don’t mind. I love a challenge.

I had not planned on working upon our return. For me it was God’s doing. The job is perfect. The boys go to school in the morning and I can work in peace. In the afternoon I have time for them and can take good care of them. My oncle is very happy that I work alongside him. He is over 70 years old and he works as a hobby. He doesn’t have anything else to do. So I work in the mornings when the boys are in school and in kindergarten. My uncle starts around 10 am, goes have coffee at 11… in the evening he stays until 6 pm. You know, he works how he feels it. It is not like 10 years ago, when they had lots and lots of work. We always have work, but it is not too much.

Something funny that happened during this time: Yannick is in the third grade. He is doing good in Swiss school working in German. Until then everything had been in English. At one point I ask the teacher if she had noticed that he can’t really read German. She said, no. She explains to me, that in the second grade everybody has to read aloud. So she knows exactly who reads how well. In third grade the kids read quietly and Yannick was able to make up the answers as he went. So she helps him read German better. I found that very funny.

Rudy finds a job as a mechanic and works 80%. To find a job is a gift from God to us. Rudy comes home at 4 pm every night. So we have lots of time as a family. We love that. In Switzerland every child has 1-3 hobbies and the parents run around driving them around and just hurrying all the time. We didn’t like that idea. In Africa that was not the case and we were together as a family most of the time. So we thought about what we could do. Rudy and I love motorcycling so we decided to see if the boys would like it too. We bought a couple of small bikes for them and tried it out.

Cedrics first tries with a PW50. He does great.

Yannick loves to ride a quad. This is what it looks like a few years later. He is very fast too.

We start out very small. Three times a year we drive to France to a motocross track where we can ride all week. We go with our van and sleep in tents. The boys love it. We have a big trailer to transport four motorcycles and one quad. It is always a lot of work to get ready. In the business I have to finish all the jobs, for the vacation I have to plan the food and what to take. Then in spring and fall it is cold and rainy sometimes. After three times of doing this I am tired and I tell Rudy we need to get a camper or change our hobby.

We decide how much money we can spend and buy an old small campter where five people can sleep. We all have room even though it is a bit crowded. It feels like heaven though to be inside when it is cold outside. Later we even buy an American camper that is 30 feet long. That is luxury and we enjoy it a lot. I feel I deserve that because riding motocross for a week is exhausting.

Church
Rudy grew up in a free church in Winterthur. When we got married we attended that church. I even worked in the office for a while. They also supported us in our time in Africa. We are very grateful for that. Now, that we are staying in Bülach we chose to attend the local baptist church here. We can walk to church on Sundays. We really enjoy that. There are a lot of very cool people here.

We also hear about ICF Zürich and want to go see what it’s like. We are thrilled to hear Leo preach. He speaks right into our hearts. We love that. So now in the morning we attend the baptist church because we have many friends there and we go to ICF in the evening to get something for our soul and our spirit. That is perfect for us.

2013 – Uncle Ernst
In August uncle Ernst dies. I continue the business by myself. Instead of investing a lot of money I work together with a friend. He is a christian too and he has some big printing machines. I have a small one. So whatever I can print myself I do and if the job is bigger I give it to my friend. That way, if I don’t have work it doesn’t cost me anything (I don’t have to pay back for expensive machines or a salary for a printer) and if I do have work I earn some money). I start looking for work that I can do myself, that is design brochures and then print them. Small brochures of course.

I also ask God what his plan is with my life. I get the verse where it says “be quiet and wait for the Lord”. So I wait. The work always gets to be a little less. Many people get their stuff printed online in Germany or other countries because that is cheaper. Two years later I get the chance to work with people that are on welfare. I do that 1.5 days a week. I enjoy it. After a little more than a year I quit that job out of different reasons.

2016 – new doors open
In the local newspaper the state churches are looking for volonteers to work with migrants. I sign up and start to work with them. Many come out of African countries. Swiss people sometimes are a little afraid of them, but I feel right at home relating to them.

This Blog
For a long time I have thought about starting a blog. Since I didn’t know how to even start, I never did. A friend of mine has started doing a video blog daily and I love to watch him almost every day. Once in his blog he mentioned that he wants to help two people start their own blog. People can submit their project. I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to do it. I wrote it up and told God, if that is your will, you have to open the doors. My friend chose my idea and he has made it possible to do this blog. Thanks a lot Kevin (kevinrechsteiner.com)!!!

My idea
To start out, I shared my life with you. When I read something from someone I like to know who the person is. That is why I wrote it all out. Now I will write about things that God puts on my heart or what comes to my mind. I would also love when you write me questions or a situation and I can tell you what I think. I love to look at a situation and have an idea what the next step could be. I love when people grow in their life with Jesus.

The End