Well, I bought a plane flight home this weekend, and truly can’t believe that I’m less than 5 weeks away from leaving Africa.  Just writing that brings a whole slew of emotions- excited to see my family and friends (and have mexican food!), sad to leave friends and Africa behind, and a little nervous about what’s next.

I’ve been informed that some of you may be wondering what I’ll be doing once I get home, so I’ll let you in on the secret….I don’t know!  I am seriously thinking and praying about coming back next year to Mercy Ships.  I have loved being here, and feel like I’ve been right where the Lord wants me this year.  The ship will be in Togo (Benin’s neighbor to the west) next year, which means I would get the opportunity to follow up on many of my patients, and would be able to help with the continuity of the orthopedic program on the ship.  And I’ve met some amazing crew members who have made this year an unforgettable experience.   So needless to say, there are many things that are tugging at my heart, and making me want to be right back here for Togo.  At the same time I am very ready to come home and spend time with friends and family (and possibly get a job!).  So all that to say, I’m not sure where I’ll be next year.  I think the Lord is telling me to wait and just trust Him for what’s next, so we’ll see where he leads!

Learning to Walk

I want to tell you all about one of the patients that I won‘t forget any time soon.  His name is Daniel, and I remember the first time I saw him.  He and his mother had traveled from their village that was about 3 hours away and had arrived on a Saturday for their screening appointment which was on that next Monday.  The nurses had decided to let him stay in the hospital until Monday, since we had the beds available.  I saw him that weekend while rounding on my other patients on the ward, and immediately thought that we would not be able to help him.
It was apparent by the large calluses on his knees and the tops of his feet, that even though he was 8 years old, he had never walked, and had spent his life either crawling on his hands and knees, or being carried by his mother.
Daniel suffered from a mild form of cerebral palsy, which damages the part of the brain that controls the muscles, causing them to be spastic and tight, making it very difficult to walk.  In Daniel’s case, his hamstrings were tight, causing his knees to always stay bent, and his Achilles tendons were tight, causing his feet to always be pointing down.  We could make his knees straight and his feet flat by lengthening those tendons, but without long term therapy the muscles will begin to tighten again, and the surgeries will have been useless.  With such a long list of children that could be definitively helped with the resources that we have, we have to say no to most of the children with cerebral palsy.  So I had little hope of us actually scheduling Daniel for surgery.
But Monday came, and the surgeon that had just arrived had a large amount experience with cerebral palsy (CP) and he decided to go ahead with the surgery.  He knew that in his experience 8 years old was about the threshold for CP kids to learn to walk, and Daniel was going to be given that chance.
He came out of surgery with long straight casts on up to his thighs.  The first few days recovering from surgery were painful for him because his muscles had never been stretched that far before.   After a few days in the hospital it was decided to send he and his mother to the hospitality center that Mercy Ships owns in the city, so that he could come to the ship to get therapy on a regular basis.  Within the week, the physical therapists on our team, Olivia (yes, another Olivia) and Jana, had gotten him up in a standing position for the first time in his life.  
You could see from the sweat on his brow and the look in his eyes that standing and doing his exercises was painful and difficult, but he kept working.  Those first few weeks he was very quiet, only occasionally looking over to his mom for approval as Olivia pushed him to learn to walk with his casts.  But as he progressed and began to take a few steps with his walker, his whole demeanor changed.  He began talking to his mom, and laughing and smiling on a regular basis.  
After about a month in long leg casts, he was able to walk up and down the halls with a walker, and it was so exciting for us to watch.  Then the day came to take off his long leg casts and put short casts on up to his knees.  We thought it would be an exciting step forward for him, but instead it pushed him back.  He had lost the stability of the casts, and didn’t have the strength to even stand for about a week. You could see that he and his mom were deeply discouraged, and it was a hard time for everyone.  But within another week he was walking on his new short casts.  Olivia then moved him from a walker to crutches.  Then over the next month, from two crutches to one.  
After he mastered walking with one crutch she had him tackle the unthinkable feat of climbing stairs.  You could tell by the tone of his speech to his mother that this was not something he had in mind.  But slowly he climbed and descended over and over again, as a smile creeped over his face when he realized he had mastered his newest challenge.  
Then it was finally time to take off his short casts for good and see how he did without support.  Once again, he took a few steps back in his progress, and it became apparent that he would need long term braces if he was to continue to walk.  Thankfully we have had a number of crew members donate money to us specifically to buy braces for patients who might need them.  So we had braces made for him and he spent the next few weeks relearning how to walk with the braces.  

After living in the hospitality center for over 3 months, the day came for Daniel to go home.  He had become known and loved by many people on the ship as they had visited with him and other patients in the hospitality center.  We had all shared in watching his physical and emotional progression throughout  the months and were excited and sad to see him go.
When it was time for them to leave, Olivia asked Daniel’s mother if she had heard the story of Jesus’ love for us.  She said she had, and when asked what she thought of it, she said “What has happened to Daniel is a miracle, before he couldn’t walk and now he can.  And I believe in this God who performs miracles.”
All of us on Mercy Ships came to provide physical healing to the people of Benin, but we also came to show the love of Christ through that healing.  And it was very apparent that Daniel and his mother experienced that love through his time with us.

Now I can say I’ve ghana to Ghana

On a side note first,  these West Africa countries have such great names for a punster such as myself.  I mean, Benin, Togo, Ghana- you can’t get much better than that.  I could probably make a pun for each of those countries all in ONE sentence, but I think I’ll spare you from the pain.  I’m beginning to think the reason I haven’t been to Nigeria is because it’s hard to think of a good pun for it.  Hmm…

Anyway, back to the topic on hand- Ghana.  I recently spent a four day weekend up in the mountains of eastern Ghana and visited the highest waterfall in West Africa, Wli Falls.  It took two border crossings and 10 hours with 16 people in a very small van, but it was worth every minute.  I actually heard about this trip during the first week that I was on the ship.  At that time descriptions of beautiful green mountains and waterfalls didn’t hold as much sway with me, because I was still in the Canary Islands, which are full of beauty themselves.

But after living in a crowded and smoggy port city for the past 5 months, a trip to the mountains sounded like heaven.  So we loaded up in the van at 5am on a Thursday morning, and headed to Ghana.   We arrived after a long and scary trip over a high pass (with a driver that didn’t know the meaning of downshift!) to a small village with green hills and a waterfall in the distance.

photo by Paul Waldron

We set our bags down at the hotel, and then headed up the hills to spend the first night camping near the waterfall.  It was supposedly an “easy” 30 minute hike to our campsite.  Instead it ended up being an hour hike with about 30 minutes of it straight uphill.  I don’t think anyone minded though, because the view all the way up was spectacular.

View from the campsite. Photo by Sarah Louden

Photo by Sarah Z

Jana, Sam, me

After spending an evening around the fire and having a suprisingly good night’s sleep we packed up and headed back down to the hotel.  It was a great little place that was built by a Ghanian couple a few years back, and is well known among Mercy Shippers now.  That afternoon we walked to the lower Wli falls and had a great time swimming underneath the waterfall. 

I don’t think I’ve ever swam directly through such a powerful waterfall to get to the back wall.  It made me panic a little at first to get hit by so much water, but thankfully we had some brave souls that went first and encouraged the rest of us to keep moving backwards, and eventually we all made it through to the other side.

The next morning we woke up early to go on a day hike up the ridge and then back down to the upper falls.  Now, usually when one goes hiking, there are nice trails with signs marking the way.  Not so in Ghana.  We had a local guide with flip flops and a machete guiding us up the mountains, which should not have suprised me at all.  There was no path for most of the hike up, but his machete did the trick when things got a little too overgrown. He led us up to the top of the ridge, and then we descended a “path” that looked a little more like a mudslide (and slide we did) down to the upper falls.  Once again we had a great time swimming and washing at least some of the mud we had accumulated away.  Then we proceeded to head back down, and as we were walking, the rains started coming.  We arrived back at the hotel after our 8 hour hike dirty, wet, and happy to have spent a great time enjoying God’s creation.

The next day we packed up and headed back to Benin.  I don’t think any of us were ready to go.  But I know at least for me, getting to spend at least a few days in such a beautiful place refreshes me, and allows me to come back and continue to serve the people who make up the fabric of this land that I’m growing to love more and more.

**The pictures seen here and in my photo album on the right are a compilation of the photos from the group- I’m not nearly as good of a photographer as some!**

Stories

Sometimes I forget the power that stories have on us, but the other day I was reminded that in some ways they are even more important here in Africa, where the oral tradition is still so strong.  I was speaking to one of the African translators named David, about a specific crew member who spent much of her free time visiting patients. These patients were staying at a warehouse that Mercy Ships has converted in to a hospitality center for patients to stay who need frequent follow up.  He was telling me about how much the patients and their families loved having her come and play with them or teach them a simple craft of some sort.

Then he started talking about a story that she would read to the patients.  It’s a children’s book written by Max Lucado called You Are Special.  And as he began relating the story to us, his whole demeanor changed, and I could tell that the story had made a lasting impression on him.

Here is an explanation of the story as best as I remember it, but I would suggest you read it for yourself if to get the chance…

It’s a story about Punchinello, a wooden person called a Wemmick.  The Wemmicks spend their days putting stickers on eachother- gold stars for “good Wemmicks” and dots for not-so good Wemmicks.  Punchinello has dots all over him, because he doesn’t have any special skills and is clumsy.  Because of his dots, everyone makes fun of him and he begins to feel like an outcast.

Then one day he meets a girl who doesn’t have any stars or dots on her, and he asks her why she is different from all of the other Wemmicks.  She explains that she has met Eli, the woodcarver who made the Wemmicks, and she suggests that Punchinello go to visit him.

Punchinello goes to see Eli, and Eli explains that the stars and dots only stick if you let them.  And that it doesn’t matter what the people in the town think of him, because Eli, his maker, made him and he thinks Punchinello is special.  Punchinello finally understands where his true worth lies, and as he leaves the house, the dots that have caused him so much pain start to fall off.

After David told the story he spoke of how much it meant to the patients who heard it.  Our patients that stay at the hospitality center are people who have dealt with an immense amount of physical and emotional suffering throughout most of their lives.  Many of them have disfiguring tumors, burns, or conditions that have caused them to be ostracized and sometimes completely rejected by their families.

In a culture that is deeply rooted in superstition and voodoo,  their conditions are thought to be a curse, and therefore those around them pull away in fear.  I could see it in the way that  David told the story, that he and the people listening understood the message behind the book.   And I pray that all of us on the ship are able to convey the love that the Lord has for each of His people that we meet and serve here in Benin.

Here’s a couple of verses that I am always reminded of when I think of the Lord’s love for us.

“The king is enthralled with your beauty…”  Psalm 45:11

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

A few pictures

I haven’t written in a while, and I think it’s because I have so many different things I want to write about, and as the ideas have mounted up the task of writing has become more daunting.  So I want to at least share some snap shots of patients and things I see on a day to day basis.  Sometime I think I get immune to the things I see in the halls, but it truly is a priviledge to get to do this kind of work every day.

These little guys both had club feet surgery and found a walker that they decided fit them very well.  The orange on the one’s cast is where I patched his knees up after he grinded a hole in them.  As you can see by the white showing through, the patch didn’t last very long.  I guess boys will be boys!

J had surgery a couple months ago for the large neurofibroma on his face.  He will return in September for another surgery.   But right now he’s basking in all of the attention he’s receiving from his new Mercy Ships friends.

I admitted this baby who was born with a large tumor on her face.  She had surgery last week and is now in the ward recovering.

I think this is the cutest little girl that I’ve seen.  We have gotten to know her and her mom because we did weekly castings on her club feet.  She is always dressed up when she comes to her appointments, and even though she’s not too happy in this picture because of her new shoes, she’s still adorable.

This is the challenge that these mom’s face when their kids get surgery on both legs.   How would you like to carry a heavy 4 year old with 2 long casts in front, and a curious baby on your back?  And I bet she went outside and balanced her load on a motorcycle taxi in order to get home.

Two girls from the far north that came together for their cast changes.  They both had a severely bowed leg.  I’ll show you the after picture when we get it.

In order to decrease the amount of emotional trauma to ourselves and the babies with club feet, we put plaster casts on them and let them sit in a bath every week to soak the cast off before we put another one on.  But in this little guy’s case, it doesn’t matter if we’re the sweetest people in the world- we’re still crazy yovo’s in his eye and he wants nothing to do with us.

Possotome

The ship had a holiday this past Friday, and three of us decided to go to a small fishing village called Possotome, about 2 hours outside of the city.  We had heard from other people that there was a clean hotel there, and that it was a peaceful place to spend the weekend.  So after spending one too many weekends on call on the ship or walking around the chaos that makes up Cotonou, we decided that a night away would be perfect.

Friday morning we met our taxi driver, and squeezed in to his amazingly nice, air conditioned car for the trip.  The only problem we had was that he was also taking another couple from the ship in the same general direction, and while he promised us all that he had enough seats for 5, somehow an African idea of enough seats is not the same as our idea.  So we spent the next 2 hours with 6 people in 5 seats, singing along the our driver’s mix of 80’s and early 90’s love ballads.

He found the town after a few stops along the road to ask for directions, and dropped us off at a hotel that was right on the water.  We then proceeded to spend the rest of the morning sitting on the beach by the lake and enjoying the peacefulness around us.  After lunch we decided to walk around the village and look for an eco-tourism business that we had been told about.  It was apparent by the stares and the kids yelling “yovo”, that not too many white people frequent Possotome on a regular basis.  But after a little while of walking around a local guy came up to us with a professional looking brochure and told us in broken English that he was with Eco-Benin, and wanted us to come see their business.

He took us to their beach front area and brought us chairs and began to explain the different tours that were available.  You could go out on a fishing boat and learn how to cast nets and fish, or take a walking tour of the villages around the lake and learn about the local traditions.  After considering the amount of English he spoke (little), and the amount of French we spoke (VERY little), we decided the village tour might not be the most informative, and opted for the fishing boat.

As we were waiting for our illustrious guides to get everything ready, we had attracted a number of curious kids who we proceeded to play with for the next 30 minutes.  Here’s a couple of pictures of them- digital cameras are a great thing to have in Africa, because the kids love to see themselves after you take their picture. After a little wait we loaded on to the boat and headed out to learn to fish.  They taught us about the different fishing techniques, which included casting the net and pulling it in, placing some hollow logs on the bottom and then somehow catching fish in those (still not sure about that one), and then casting the net and diving in and getting the fish with your hands while they’re caught in the net.  I never understood what the advantage of this technique was to just throwing the net and pulling it in, but after watching the fisherman diving under and bringing up multiple fish, I decided I had to at least try.

So I jumped in with him- the water was shallow enough that you could touch the squishy bottom with your toes.  He took my hand, and down we went to the bottom.  I tried not to panic in the murky water with someone pulling my arm to the bottom of the lake, but it was hard the first time or twon.  When we were at the bottom he showed me how to feel along the sides of the net for any trapped fish.  Unfortunately I don’t think I ever really got the hang of it, because I always came up empty handed.  But it was fun and certainly not something I will get a chance to do very often.

Then after the diving experience, we learned how to cast the nets.  It’s a little bit of an intricate process, where you thread the net in your fingers in such a way that when you throw it it actually spreads out on the water.  This technique also proved to be too hard for me to learn in one afternoon.  Out of the three of us Laura was the only one that the fishermen said would do well casting the nets- I guess this is a hint that I should stick with my day job.

The fishing net going in to the water

We finished the fishing trip and headed back to the hotel for dinner and an early night to bed (complete with loud disco music in the background).  The next day we just sat by the lake and talked, and then headed back to ship for the rest of the weekend.  It was refreshing to get out for the weekend and truly feel a little bit like I was in Africa.

A new outfit

A couple of weeks ago one of my patient’s mom’s gave me my first present.  We had been putting casts on her adorable little girl for a club foot, and she was coming in for the final part of the process, a small procedure on her Achilles tendon.  I saw her out in the waiting area and she immediately got up and motioned that she had something for me.  I eagerly opened up the bag to find this lovely outfit below.

Now while this may not be the first outfit I would pick out, I know that it was a big sacrifice for the mom to get something like that for me and it meant a lot to me that she even think to get gifts for us.

The whole day was particularly enjoyable, because three of our club feet babies that we had been casting weekly came in for the final procedure.  All three of the mothers were beaming with joy.  The first mom came in with a picture of her little girl before the casting, and I was amazed at the difference that 6 weeks of casting made.  The second mom was so excited when her son came out of surgery that she began proclaiming her thanks and praises to everyone in the recovery room.  Jana and I happened to walk in when she was talking, and when she saw us, there was dancing and hugs all around for what had been done for her little boy.  And then I walked down the hall and was given my present.

It’s always good to have a reminder of the end result of our work every now and then.  Sometimes the goal gets forgotten amidst the cast saws and screaming, biting (yes, biting) children.  It doesn’t take much to remind you, just a hug and maybe a dress or hat every now and then.

Shed some light on the subject

So for those of you who are wondering if I get to use any of my outdoor gear on a ship in Africa, I’ve got some good news for you.
I’ve had the opportunity to use my headlamp (or head torch as some call it) not once, but TWICE this week, while on the ship.
Monday we had a very busy day, with about 50 orthopedic patients who came to be screened by the two ortho surgeons that are here for the next two weeks. We were running around getting x-rays, discussing patients, and trying to make the day go smoothly when suddenly the power went out completely. The hospital is on the 3rd floor, which means there are no windows, so we were in complete darkness, except for the glow of the exit strips on the floors. The emergency generator kicked in soon after the outage, and I quickly used the opportunity to retrieve my trusty headlamp from my room just in time for the power to go out again. This time though, the breakers had blown to the emergency generators, causing a blackout that lasted for about an hour. Thankfully all of the patients in the ward and in surgery were taken care of without a problem, and we decided to continue our screening using our headlamps and eventually seeing patients in the hold of the ship, where there was some sunlight. So even though we were left in darkness, we ended up having a productive day, and I was happy to get to use my headlamp for a change, even if it was inside of a ship.
Then yesterday, I was trying to remove sutures from a patient, and discovered that black suture on black skin is not a good combination. But then I remembered that I had left the headlamp in the clinic, and decided to go ahead and use it to shed a little extra light on the sutures. It worked beautifully for suture removal, in fact I think I might leave it in the room just for future suture removals. The only thing that would have made it better is if I had gotten a picture of the ordeal. Maybe next time…

African Church: An Experience

Since arriving in Benin, Mercy Ships has encouraged us as crew to leave the ship on Sunday mornings and experience the local churches.  The first Sunday that we were able to go out I signed up to go to a small community church that was started by Lawrence and Gina, a Mercy Ships couple, when the ship was in Benin in 2004.  They had been helping build a medical clinic in the community, and during that time they were able to minister to the people not only physically but also spiritually, and a church grew out of the process.  So that first Sunday we arrived at Agla Pentecostal Church and were greeted with a warm welcome as Lawrence and Gina caught up with old friends and saw the fruit of their labors from a few years back.

The church is a small, open air building with a tin roof and wooden benches, and about 50 men, women, and children come on any given Sunday.  When we arrived we were led up to the front of the congregation and were given seats instead of benches to sit on.

Then the music began…my first thought was, how does this much noise and energy come from such a small group of people?  They really must take the verse seriously that says “make a joyful noise to the Lord”- none of this halfhearted, self-conscious singing that one might find at any church in the US.

Then along with the singing came dancing, and before I knew it, Gina was leading all of us white girls up to the front to sing and dance to a song that none of us knew.  At that moment I tried to forget that I had absolutely no rhythm and enjoy the moment of joy and praise that was going on around me.  I’m not going to say that I completely disregarded my inability to dance, but it was nice to be reminded that worship is not about how I look or how I sound, but it’s about praising God.

So after a few rounds of dancing, and special music by the men, then the women, and then the children, the pastor turned to our group and said, “Now our guests will introduce themselves and perform a special song for us.”   We all looked around at eachother a little shocked, and after introducing ourselves sang the first song that someone could come up with.  I’m not even sure what song it was, but I can assure you it sounded very tame compared to the music we had been singing.

Soon after our singing, the pastor invited Lawrence up to the front to give the message, which was interpreted to Fon, the local language, then a few rounds of offerings were taken (offerings are not just a one time event in African churches), and church was over.

We were immediately given cold Cokes, and as soon as we took out our cameras, we were surrounded by curious kids wanting their picture taken with the yovos (foreigners).

Our view from the seats of honor.

The kids were happy to have our Cokes

After leaving church that Sunday I felt like that was where I was supposed to be- in a place where I can worship with other believers and hopefully even get to know some them, even though we don’t speak the same language.  So I’ve gone to Agla on a regular basis since then, and have settled in to a routine of singing, dancing, and just enjoying African church.  It’s an experience that I won’t soon forget.

Safari holiday

This past weekend a group of us took a trip up north to Pendjari National Game Park for a safari holiday.  It was a great time to get out of the city and see some of the country, and just take a break from the routine of the ship.  We had a four day weekend, so we left early Friday morning and caught a bus that took us 8 hours north to the city of Nattitingou.  I think we were all quite hesitant about the “bus” ride, as we’ve seen quite a few extremely overcrowded buses since getting to Benin.

But much to everyone’s delight, the bus company actually showed up ON TIME, and the bus was an amazing charter bus with air conditioning and comfy seats.  I wasn’t even sure if those types of buses existed in this part of Africa.

And so began the journey up north.  The bus ride was uneventful, and when we arrived at the bus stop, we were once again amazed to find that our tour guide was waiting there to pick us up and take us to the hotel.  We stayed at a hotel in Nattitingou on Friday night, which was relaxing and more importantly quiet- something you don’t find anywhere in Cotonou.   There was even a hill behind the hotel that a couple of us hiked up and watched as the sun set.

Sandi, Jana, me

Us getting our safari briefing at the hotel

The next morning we got up bright and early and piled into the “safari” van to head up to the game park.

On the way there our guide had asked us to stop and look at a man that he thought we might be able help on the ship.   So we stopped at a small village and were immediately surrounded by kids and adults (I’m sure our stop was the event of the week).

Typical village along the way

The man came out for us to see him, and had a large thyroid goiter which is something we do take care of on the ship, although there are some major hurdles to helping this man because of the long term follow up needed for thyroid removal.  So, the challenge then became trying to explain to Issa, our supposedly English speaking guide, that we might be able to help him, but we were not sure because of all of the potential complications.  His first understanding was that we could do the surgery that day, so we had to backtrack quite a ways, to the point where we ended up just  telling him we would call him when we knew whether or not we would be able to do it.

After our unofficial Mercy Ships consulation, we headed in to the park, anxious to see our first African wildlife.  Pendjari National Park is in the northwest corner of Benin and is named for the Pendjari River that runs through it.  The area of the park is 1062 square miles and it borders the Arli National Park of Burkina Faso.  They say that the terrain in the park is some of the most scenic in Benin, and that the park has elephants, monkeys, hippos, buffalo, and most importantly lions.  It is the very end of dry season there, so the land away from the river is dry and parched- which may not make for the best scenery, but guarantees that all of the animals can be found at the few watering holes at some point during the day.  So we spent some of Saturday morning at a watering hole looking for elephants, hippos, crodociles and lions, and the rest of the time holding on for dear life on the top of our safari van, banging on the roof when we wanted the driver to stop so we could look at animals.

Jeremy, Jana, Sandi, and Paul

Water buffalo

Hippos everywhere

Baboons with 10 feet of us, a little unnerving.

We continued that sequence for the morning, and then when the heat became almost unbearable for us and the animals, we stopped for lunch and to check in at the hotel.  The plan was for us to have one room for a group member who needed a bed, and then the rest of us would sleep in tents that the travel agent promised he would supply.

So we got to the hotel which, mind you, is in the middle of a 1062 square mile wilderness, and check in.  Our one room was available just as planned, but when we asked our tour guide for our tents, he said, “Yes, it is possible to camp IF you have tents.”  It took about the next 10 minutes to explain to him that we had been promised tents by his tour company.  At this point I knew the trip had been going too smoothly and well, this is Africa (TIA)- things can’t be perfect ALL the time.  Of course it was Easter weekend, so all of the hotel rooms were full, and we didn’t have any tents.  What to do?

Well, after a little too much fretting on my part, and some flexibility on the part of the rest of the group, it was decided that the mosquito nets we brought would work just as well as tents, and the driver had a tarp that we could lay on, so viola, housing dilemna solved.  Soon after we decided on this scheme, another room opened up for us, and in the end 5 people (including me) stayed in 2 rooms and the other 7 with mosquito nets and some sort of camping gear stayed outside.

The makeshift tents

After we finished sorting out the housing situation, we relaxed in the shade, and then headed out for an afternoon/evening drive through the park.    We stopped at a watering hole, and got some good views of hippos, and then just as we were wrapping up the evening, we drove up on a hippo crossing the road in front of us.  He looked as shocked to see us as we were to see him.  So he stood there for a few minutes, and then rambled on.  I think we were all pretty excited to get to see one that close up and out of water- it was a good end to the day.

We got back to the hotel starving, only to find out that the restaurant was so full that they were only taking people with reservations. After waiting a while we all finally gave up and ate the PB&J sandwiches that we had packed for dire situations such as these and tried to go to sleep in the heat, so that we could get an early start in the morning.

We headed out the next morning at dawn and soon into the drive we saw a herd of about 30 elephants, and then stopped by a lake one more time to look at the hippos, and headed out of the park.  So all in all we ended up seeing a lot of antelope, monkeys, baboons, hippos, water buffalo, elephants, wild boars (Pumba)  and crocodiles, but sadly no lions, tigers, or even bears for that matter.

There were too many trees to get a good elephant picture, but if you look closely, this one has tusks.

On the way back to Nattitingou we stopped at a waterfall, which was a great way to finish the trip, and clean off some of the orange dust we had accumulated- I think we all looked a little like we had stepped out of a spray tan gone wrong when we got to the waterfall. 

Then we headed back to the hotel for a much needed shower and a real meal. During dinner we got to celebrate Easter together by sharing communion and reading Matthew’s account of the resurrection, which was a great way to end our trip.

I think we all slept well that night in our air conditioned rooms, and headed back on the shiny charter bus the next day.  We had a couple more gentle reminders that TIA on our bus ride home, one of them being the blaring African soap operas on the TV that I couldn’t do justice to even if I tried to explain them thoroughly, and the other problem of large amounts of rain water leaking through the windows to the point of soaking anyone unlucky enough to sit by the windows.

But we made it back back without any mishaps, and even though I was sad to leave the quietness of the country, I think we were all grateful to be back to the comforts of life on a westernized ship in the middle of Africa.

**I posted a link to more pics on the right**