Peanut

There is something that is common to all ways of life here.  It is not a big thing.  It is tiny.    It unites the poor and the poorer.  The Muslims and the Christians.  The beautiful and the ugly.  The tall and the short.  The white and the black.  The corrupt and the corrupter. 

It’s nutritious.

It’s delicious. 

It’s the incredible, edible PEANUT!!! 

Peanuts are a part of everyday life here.  When you visit your neighbor here in Tchad, chances are you’ll spend the time shucking off some peanut shells before you pop that yummy morsel of protein in your mouth.  No, not the bug crawling on it… the peanut! 

They have the best peanut butter in the world here!  The peanuts are roasted and then ground into perfection, making smooth, creamy peanut butter.  You put it on everything.  You put it IN everything. 

If a kid is malnourished, you tell the mom to start putting ‘pâte d’arachide’ (peanut butter) in the bouille (pronounced ‘bwee’ and like rice malt-o-meal) that they eat every breakfast. 

We put peanut butter on bread.  We put peanut butter on bananas.  We put peanut butter in our smoothies.  We put peanut butter on papaya, mango, etc.  We have peanut butter with our spinach.  We have peanut butter with our rice.  We put peanut butter on our dogs’ noses.  We have even been known to put peanut butter on our peanuts. 

Every time you cook, you use peanut oil.  All of your food ends up having a little hint of peanut in it. 

So if you had a peanut allergy would you come here!? 

Well, not if you were sane!  But we have some insane people here!  And we are so thankful for them! 

Maranatha is here again this year!  And yes, one of them happens to have a peanut allergy.  And he is on his RETURN visit to Tchad.  He came last year and he is BACK!  He and his wife are here with 3 other couples to help us finish our construction project. 

And….there are 13 more maranatha volunteers coming this week! 

We are going to have a building party here in the heat while all you others freeze in the snow!  Mind you, it will be a peanut-less party, but we’re going to have some fun anyways! 

We’ll keep the epinephrine on hand!