Coffee With Gunnar                                                                            

Just over a year ago (April 2004) I had the privilege of spending a week   with Gunnar.
It was in the last home he would live in and he and Renate had made it 
not only their home but a guest house for visitors like me.  Up in Mubi  there was always one month in the year a person tries to avoid being there.  This was April.  It was the hottest month and people left, school was out and there were cooler places to go visit. For this reason a visit to Mubi was rare but... I had never been there and besides workshops for teachers were going well and another one was scheduled.  I was excited about four things...1. A new place to see  2. A week of working with interested teachers in a school 3. Renate and 4. Gunnar.

Originally Gunnar was to be 8 hours away in Jos for a TEE meeting.  He had just recently returned from Germany and was feeling like the trip to Jos was too far for too short a time.  So he stayed in Mubi to help facilitate the teacher's workshop with Renate and myself .  I arrived in the late afternoon after the jolting final ride from Garkida to Mubi.  I had barely stepped in the door and I was warmly greeted with a cool coffee.  If anything was ever needed at that point for me it was something cool and something to perk me up...a coffee with ice.

This was the way I will remember Gunnar.  He had a mind for others  and knew just what was needed at just the right time.  The coffees continued during the week after long, hot days in the classroom.  It was in the evenings that I realized what else was on Gunnar's plate...he was preparing, organizing and chairing an HIV Aids Workshop for pastors to be held in the coming month.  I would watch him preparing for this and sit beside him as he tried to write down just the perfect English word for his papers.  Usually his choice for the word was better than the ones I would have chosen.  His attention to detail and his big heart and vision for the less fortunate was always on his mind.

Near the end of my stay the kerosene refrigerator stopped working.  Both Gunnar and Renate didn't seem too bothered by this.  They both adapted and put things that needed cooling in a clay pot of water.  Somehow other things seemed more important and that is what I'll remember of Gunnar... he knew his priorities and stayed pinned to the purpose of what he knew was important.

Each time I have a coffee whether it be in the cool or hot season I will remember who would make it first, serve it and have some for himself, once everyone else was taken care of.

We love and miss you Renate

and love to remember Gunnar in many ways,

Daniel + Joanna Bergen and kids

Mennonite Church Council, Jos/Nigeria                                                                                                       May 2005