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by Peggy Helmick-Richardson
Leah Magruder declares that she’ll consume almost anything except monkey or snake, and even confesses, "I’ve eaten porcupine and it is delicious; it is a beefy, red meat kind of taste. It is hard to describe." She adds that her more culinary-adventurous husband, Wes, has willingly eaten snake.
This cuisine is known as "bushmeat," and in addition to porcupine, snake and monkey, can also be antelope or rat.
Although this is not a typical meal for most North Texas homes, it is in the Magruder’s hometown for the last three years, Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Leah notes that although the selling of monkey meat is illegal there, it is not uncommon to find it for sale.
Some of the other common fare served in this West African nation may find more fans in Texas. Leah explains that the traditional dish there is ndole, which she describes as a "bitter leaf vegetable, much like Swiss chard, cooked in a way that is just delicious, with chunks of beef or fish." Another popular meal is koki, "made with ground-up beans and tomato sauce, tomato and spicy hot pepper. It is cooked in a banana leaf in palm oil in an open fire so it turns orange." She notes, "It tastes like a tamale and looks like a giant orange Hershey’s Kiss."
The Magruder family first arrived in Cameroon in August of 2004. The Reverend Wes Magruder is the mission superintendent of the United Methodist Church mission in this country. He explains, "We are a very new mission in Cameroon. The first Methodist churches were recognized in 2000 and missionaries were sent in 2002. At this point, there are 21 United Methodist churches and 23 pastors who work with the missions. My job is to oversee the growth and development of those congregations, train the pastors and give them resources, oversee the development of new congregations and new churches, and to oversee the other ministries that are part of the missions."
Also a commissioned missionary, Leah is the area financial executive (a fancy name for bookkeeper) and Christian education director for all UMC missions in Cameroon.
The Magruders, along with daughters Rachel, 13; Chloe, 11; and Mallory, 8, were in Collin County this past July and August, spending time with family and paying visits to area churches that have assisted them. Wes noted that Suncreek United Methodist Church "provides funding for our youth ministry" and First United Methodist Church of Allen "contributes to the money that it takes for our expenses as missionaries and they are also partners with one of our churches." In addition, he points out that Creekwood United Methodist Church in Fairview "is going to be building our first church in January. There are no UMC buildings right now; we rent spaces."
So how did this couple, both born in Texas and raised in Collin County, find themselves living in and loving a country on the west coast of Africa just slightly north of the equator?
A native of Beaumont, Leah graduated from Plano High School in 1981 and earned her bachelor of science degree in curriculum and instruction from Texas A&M in 1985.
Born in Dallas, Wes graduated from Allen High School in 1985. While attending California State University-Long Beach, he met Leah at a church singles organization in Plano while on break. "I would come back here in the summers," Wes explained. "I was working at the Allen American that summer." They were married in 1988 and Wes graduated from Cal State in 1992. The couple moved to Allen that year and Wes went on to earn his master of divinity degree from Perkins School of Theology at SMU in 1996.
While living in Allen, Leah owned The Med Group and The Secretarial Center and also served on the Parks and Recreation Board. After Wes completed his work at Perkins and was ordained as a deacon in the Methodist Church, the Magruder family’s life took an unexpected turn. Wes agreed to serve as a pastor for two years at a British Methodist Church in London.
"Because they were short of pastors, they would ask seminary grads to spend two or three years there to fill their pulpits," Wes states. "Structurally it’s a bit different, but theologically it is the same as the United Methodist Church in the U.S."
Both Wes and Leah emphasize how much they loved living in England. Wes also emphasizes, "That was where the seeds of what we are doing now were planted."
Despite enjoying the British environment, the couple chose to return to Texas in 1998 so their then two children would be closer to family. Another reason for returning to the U.S was that serving in England meant a delay in Wes’ ministerial ordination. Once back in the United States, his first pastoral appointment was to Valley View United Methodist Church, north of Denton, for two years. Following this, Wes was pastor of Trailwood United Methodist Church in Grand Prairie for four years. In 2001, he was fully ordained as an elder in the Methodist Church, and three years later, he received his doctorate in ministry from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University.
Although the couple enjoyed working with the churches they had been assigned to, Wes found himself seeking something more fulfilling. "We remembered hearing a lot about Africa and I’d always been interested in the continent. We had been talking about what it would be like to do ministering in a place that was very different, in a place where churches were so needed."
So the Magruders began hunting for a new cultural and pastoral oppor¬tunity on the other side of the world.
"We contacted the General Board of Global Ministries, and at the time when we made the first phone call, they told us they were not hiring or sending new missionaries. But we filled out an application," Wes pointed out. "I had a chance encounter with someone who worked for GBGM and I gave him a copy of our application. He called us a few months later because they had found a place in Africa for us to serve. I met him in October of 2003 and we were in Cameroon in August 2004."
Their appointment to this West African nation was for a three-year term, with 33 months spent in the field and the last three months being itineration. Wes describes itineration as "a very Methodist word" which indicates a period of time when the missionaries visit their supporting churches as well as take vacation time.
While visiting here for two of these months this summer, the Magruder family was hosted by First Baptist Church of Plano, staying at Harrington House, the church’s new missionary residence. "It is costing them for us to be here and we are not even members of their church or their denomination," Wes emphasizes.
When the family first arrived in Yaoundé, a city with a population of approximately one-and-one-quarter million, they lived in a neighborhood that housed diplomats. Wanting to be more in touch with the local citizens, they eventually found a home across town that was large enough to house their family as well as provide sufficient office space. The Magruder’s home is a two-story house, with the upper floor dedicated to office space and a guest room for visitors. Their down¬stairs living space has four bedrooms, a kitchen and living room.
"The house is cinderblock with concrete floors which are tiled. And there is a lot of red dirt that has to be cleaned up a lot," Leah declares. "We have electricity most of the time, but we have a lot of outages and spend a lot of time talking in the dark."
She asserts that other than its large size, this home is typical of many in Yaoundé. Some have dirt rather than tiled floors and even though all have indoor plumbing, not all have electricity.
Leah also notes that their home, provided by the GBGM, is guarded 24-hours a day. "There is a lot of crime and we are targeted because we are ‘rich Americans.’ And we are very rich compared to everybody else." Yet in spite of this potential for being a target for crime, Leah emphasizes, "We are safe! The crime is basically, ‘What can I get that I can resell?’ I tell people, if my children were starving I don’t know what I would do. I have a lot of compassion for people who are hungry. I completely understand why people do what they have to do."
The couple also recognizes the almost overwhelming problem of cor¬ruption within the country. "We have had to learn about how people feel culturally about corruption, so we have had to be culturally sensitive about how we fight that," Leah explains.
Wes adds, "In practical terms, we have had to learn how to deal with the stops by policemen; we get stopped a lot by the side of the road. The police are there strictly to make money off of you. It used to be very frightening and very stressful."
"Now we approach it very differently," Leah smiles.
"We refuse to give them money, but we may give them a Bible or we promise to come back and see them again," Wes continues. "Sometimes we end up making friends with them. We know that they don’t make very much and they are working to get every franc they can so they can support their family."
Leah also empha¬sizes, "There is no free health care or welfare, no soup kitchens, no battered spouses homes, there is nothing for people in dire need. We could give until we had nothing left and still not make much of a difference that way."
Yet, in spite of what they see as high levels of corruption and poverty, the Magruders define Cameroon as "absolutely one of the safest, quietest and most peaceful places in West Africa." Wes explains that the last presidential election in the country was in 2004 and the current president "has a very firm control on everything." One issue that Wes attributes to the peaceful nature of the country is the plentiful and inexpensive food.
In addition to having large quantities of fish available, the farms and gardens there produce a variety of fruits and vegetables. The Magruder’s own backyard is evidence of this. Leah rattles off what grows in their own garden, "a banana tree, a mango tree, a papaya tree, plantain tree, sugar cane, cassava…" She explains, "We live in the rain forest so we get really rich soil and the rain." The couple notes that the temperature year-round usually ranges between 75 and 85 degrees, with the occasional highs and lows being 90 degrees and 70 degrees. The rainy season begins in August and goes through November, with the weather remaining dry through February. Another brief rainy period returns in March and April, followed by hot, dry weather until August comes again. January is the hottest month and August is the coolest.
Leah points out that all three girls readily took to Cameroon, a country with approximately 250 languages and two official lang¬uages—French and English. "Rachel speaks French really well, and the other two speak street French really well," she states. "But it’s probably not the prettiest French you’ve ever heard." Admitting that her French is very limited, Leah laments that their last minute assign¬ment to Cameroon meant there was not time to for her to attend language school before leaving the United States.
The first year in Yaoundé, Rachel, Chloe and Mallory attended a school their parents gradually concluded was not providing a safe environment for them. Last year, Wes and Leah opted to remove them from the school and place them with another missionary wife who was able to home school them. This year Rachel is attending Rainforest International School in Yaoundé, a missionary school for students in seventh through twelfth grade. The two younger daughters will continue to be homeschooled.
Due to the relative absence of student problems at her new high school, Wes and Leah feel confident of Rachel returning to a more traditional school environment. "There are no drug problems that we are aware of," Wes stresses. "We think, in some ways, their childhood is sheltered from the excess of American culture. But," he emphasizes, "their awareness of the rest of the world is greatly expanded. They have friends from all over the world."
A favorite family pastime is trips to the beach, just a few hours away from Yaoundé. "I don’t think anything is really different except not being with their grandparents and cousins," Leah asserts about their daughters’ environment. "They have a dog and a goat and friends. They can play out in the street and it’s not unsafe. It is much easier to be a kid there." Another advantage Leah adds is the poor quality of television there means that watching too much is not an issue. The family does buy DVDs of American television series or movies to watch occasionally.
Other family entertainment includes playing games, going out for an occasional meal, swimming at the French Club and attending school events. Leah emphasizes that there is not a lot of time for play though. "We work all day, eat dinner and then it’s lights out. We are exhausted at night. It’s a different environment. There are not many days that we don’t work."
One particular cultural character¬istic of the people of Cameroon that has charmed both Lea and Wes is their hospitality. "They are the kind of people who will feed us the last food in their house. They will not take money or ‘no’ for an answer," Leah avers. Wes is also quite fond of the worship services in their country. "Their love for song, music and dance means that their worship services are so different. The services are full of joy."
Leah does offer one caveat. "No one is in a hurry to do anything. But once you learn to get over it, you can learn to relax and enjoy life for yourself."
Wes also warns, "If you compliment someone on something, they will give it to you. So you have to be careful what you say."
"I enjoy my work," Wes declares. "It is the most fun I’ve ever had in the ministry. I love the challenges and get to be the part of building something new. That is a lot of fun. And I love traveling around the country and working with the people of Cameroon. There is a great deal of excitement and zeal around the people we work with." Wes notes that the 21 male and two female Methodist pastors he works with are all from Cameroon.
Health-related projects for diseases such as HIV, malaria and cholera is one issue Wes feels particularly passionate about. "There was an outbreak of cholera and the United Methodist Committee on Relief sent money to treat the wells and latrines." Leah noted that the problem stemmed from villages building their wells too close to the latrines. To prevent another outbreak, men were sent from home to home in teams of three for two weeks to teach the people about how to prevent this problem in the future.
One social issue the Magruders have had a hard time dealing with is polygamy. "It is strong in Cameroon," Leah declares. "And the chiefs in the villages are expected to be poly¬gamous," Wes adds. They point out that the children of polygamous families often have a difficult life, particularly those children from the less-favored wives.
Another issue they view as a significant problem is the prejudice demonstrated between tribes and also between the French and English speakers.
Leah acknowledges, "There is a lot of witchcraft in the country, but they would never invite us to things like that. Cameroon is 30 percent Muslim, 40 percent Christian and 30 percent traditional African religions, which spills out pretty heavily into the Christian and Muslim religions." She also points out that it is still common to rely on the village "witch doctors."
One practice that particularly bothers Leah is the scarring of babies who are ill. "You are marked for life if you are a sick baby," she sadly shakes her head. "And a lot of Muslim women are scarified as part of a ritual."
Leah finds the politeness of the people particularly charming. Married women or women someone knows are addressed as "mama," or "auntie" in the English-speaking zones, and the men are called "papa." Strangers receive a more formal address. These women are called "madame" and the men are called "monsieur." "So Wes is called ‘papa’ by people such as the guards and drivers. His parishioners and pastors refer to him as the missionary and to his face they call him Rev. Wesley." She adds that the parishioners call her Mama Leah and that younger woman in the church are called sister.
Leah recently took on another task as an additional, unassigned duty—supporting women in cottage industries in her area. After utilizing the services of Mama Therese, a seamstress and pastor’s wife, Leah encouraged and supported her in the dream of establishing a co-op business, specializing in men’s shirts and women’s handbags. She also distributes goods from other co-ops.
Femme de Pette, in the extreme northern province and Saharan region that operates out of a hospital called Pette, produces hand-woven tablecloths, laptop computer covers and stuffed animals. Another group produces appliquéd and embroidered wall hangings primarily of biblical or village scenes.
Leah purchases goods from many of these co-ops and sends them to the U.S. via traveling missionaries. Leah boasts that during their trip to America this summer, she sold all 150 of Mama Therese’s shirts that she brought and approximately $2,000 worth of wall hangings.
The Magruders were recently reappointed to serve Cameroon for an additional three years and are looking forward to returning. Emphasizing that their three daughters all look at Cameroon as their home, Leah asserted, "Chloe asked us last week, ‘When are we going home?’ That was really good news to us."
Leah also admits, "The first six months there were tough—the culture shock and language problems. But we stuck it out and we are so glad we did." |
