Commandos du Sahel Part II

We are incredibly thankful for the prayers and gifts that came for our voyage to Dakar.  How I would love to sit and "talk your ear off"...telling you all the funny things that happened, all about the incredible teaching we received, and the responses of the students to the Lord.  

FOR THE RECORD.  I'll start out first by saying that I did NOT travel by bus with the others. The "we" in the previous blog post refers to Tom and his team and the students. 

Becca and I were sent by plane two days ahead as the advance team!  Tom and Kirk and 3 of our national staff rode the bus with the 22 students and they took the pictures and had unforgettable experiences of 112 hours in the bus. They are the true Commandos of Sahel!  

I wanted to add just a bit more about the bus travels:  I asked Tom how far 2700 kilometers are "in American" and he pulled out his trusty atlas and saw that the distance was about the same as travelling from Wichita, KS to San Francisco, BUT, in reality that is where the similarities end.  

Making tea at a border stop.

At every country border there are at least 3 stops on both sides of the border.  So at the Niger border there are 3 stops when leaving: a police check, customs check and passport control.  And then, when entering Burkina Faso, there are again 3.  At each stop, the driver's assistant and two of our head "Commandos" took the paper work into the offices.  It could be quick or it could be long and drawn out.  There is no predicting.  That was the time to find a tree or bush for bathroom duty or maybe purchase a bite to eat.  

Those are the regular, expected checks.  There are also the random checks along the road that can surface at any time day or night and can add unpredictable hours to the trip.
  

Finding a bite to eat.

As we arrived 2 days ahead of the crowd, Becca and I hung out with our Senegalese staff friends, did some shopping in this amazing city and even had a "Nice" little treat!
(The name of this amazing place is "N'ice Cream.")  Becca had the Obama flavor.  

The weather was so refreshing and we were glad for the jackets we'd brought along. 
  

These gracious staff members with CRU in Senegal were our hosts. They picked us up from the airport, waited anxiously with us for news from the bus and spent some of their precious time being hosts to us all.  They also did an excellent job of planning and running the conference, along with their students.  Pascal was also one of our conference speakers.  

The bus FINALLY arrived around 11am on Thursday.  Wow, were we glad to see everybody.  They were one tired bunch after 55 hours on the bus.  But they had just seen glimpses of the ocean for the first time so the adrenalin was flowin'.  The agenda for the day was eat, shower, nap and exercise.  

Friday was the "tourist" day so we headed to the market for some shopping.  We found out that the Senegalese merchants are a bit more aggressive than those in Niger and we were soon surrounded by men selling every kind of second hand article of clothing possible.  The girls were ecstatic!  Girls and shopping...

Shopping done, we headed to Ali Baba's for lunch of hamburgers and fries, only to find out that the fries were inside the burger, along with a fried egg!  Interesting...

Then we headed via ferry to Goree Island where the House of Slaves museum is located.  This slave castle with its tiny door of "no return" was the shipping point for hundreds of thousands of African slaves.  

The students got to put their feet in the ocean for the very first time and taste the salty water.  Some filled bottles with the water to take back to Niger just to prove..."I've been there!"

For the next 5 days we listened to great teaching and then tried to digest it a bit in discussion groups.

The Commandos du Sahel stood and sang "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" with conviction and joy. 

The eating was super with 6 or 7 or us eating around a big platter of rice and either beef, fish or chicken.  Delicious.  

 All too soon it was time to climb aboard again and begin the 55 hour voyage back home.  

It is impossible to recount all the answers to prayer we experienced all along the way, in the eight months of planning for the trip, as well as during the voyage and during the conference.  

Thanks to all of you who prayed for us.  

Pictures by Laura and Kirk and Marcy

Introducing "Les Commandos du Sahel" Part 1

The "Project Dakar" had been talked about, prayed for, discussed, recruited for, prepared for and anticipated for more than eight months.  

There was no lack of obstacles, but God in his faithfulness and love and sovereignty made it possible for 22 students and 7 staff members to make the trip. It was a "commando" voyage, taking us from Niamey, across Burkina Faso, across Mali and across Senegal.  Traveling non-stop, cruising along day and night, it took 57 hours to arrive and 55 hours for the return trip.  The majority of students had NEVER been out of Niger so the thought of crossing Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal to arrive at the ocean was HUGE! 

Google Maps says the estimated time for the trip is 38 hours.  I'm convinced the folks at Google Maps have never taken a 2700-kilometer bus trip across West Africa!

Nor do I think that they take into account the numerous security checkpoints, innumerable stops by customs agents (day and night!), border crossings, bad roads, uncountable numbers of chickens, donkeys, goats, sheep and cattle crossing highways, waiting for the arrival of armed escorts, etc. 

The name on our t-shirts, "Commando du Sahel", was chosen by the Crusade student leaders and let me tell you, they were worn with pride!  

Tuesday morning's departure time was 3:30 am.  Amazingly, everyone arrived at the meeting place on time.  At 4:15 we were off!    

We loaded an ice chest with pint-size bags of ice-cold drinking water, hoping it would stay cool for at least part of the trip.  The challenge was to keep everyone well-hydrated without evoking too many bathroom breaks.  

They are handy little things--bite off one corner and squeeze/drink the water out.  

 Some of the guys were concerned about needing to shower sometime during the long trip because there were, after all, girls on the bus they might want to impress!  The air-conditioning eased those worries!

We didn't pass one single McDonald's!  Students brought a few snacks, but mostly they purchased things to eat from vendors from inside the bus through the window.  

The bus was equipped with two chauffeurs and one "runner," a kind of apprentice.  The two drivers took turns during the 57-hour trip sometimes driving for 18 hours at a time.  Very loud music piped through the bus in their native tongue (Malian Bambara) kept them awake (so they said!), which was good, but annoyed us passengers. 

 How does one pass time on a 57-hour bus ride?  Listen to music, visit with friends, sleep and take pictures! 

We stopped for breakfast in Bamako, Mali (a 2-hour break).  It was served to us by dear staff friends, Abel and Christine, and included bread and butter, hot tea, coffee and milk, and hard-boiled eggs. It was a welcome respite after 26 hours of traveling. 

I am so incredibly proud of our students!  They truly were "commandos" in the long trip across the Sahel. 

Next:  The Week in Dakar.  Stay-tuned.

Catching up on Mulberry Street

Mulberry Street and its surroundings continue to bring delightful opportunities to exclaim:
         
            "did you see that?"
            "look quick!"    
            "I can't believe it!"

Even after um-teen years in this part of the world, there are always those moments that either I wish I had a invisible camera permanently positioned on my forehead, or wish I  could I put into words all the details the pictures don't tell.

Here are a few of the latest:

Taking chickens to market.  All seem to be alive and enjoying the ride. How many are there?

Vehicles in need of repair are a common sight here.  We followed this "Tilting Greenie" for a few blocks and he never fell over...

A new paint job just down the street from us--quite a sight for Mulberry Street.  It must have been a wedding coming up that occasioned the aqua paint job.  But the trees and the rocks, too?

As we were driving through downtown the other day,  Tom said, "Quick, get your camera out."
This is what you call a truckload of beef!  I wish I could have gotten a photo from the side as we passed him...

Mulberry Street doesn't disappoint.  

Talk about a comfortable ride to somewhere.   I know...you want to know how he got up there.  I have no idea.  But he had a great view from up there.

The sights are never boring.

The Days of December 2014

With the nights cooling off to the high 60's, the days staying in the high 80's and the humidity showing veeerrrry low, it feels like Christmas season has arrived in Niger.  We are so thankful for these cooler days.  It's amazing how refreshing it is to us and how much more energy we have. 

In our home, the month of December always combines decorating for Christmas and celebrating Tom's birthday.  This year was the big 60!  His favorite cake made him happy ...  and he shared it with the rest of us.  

 With our big campus outreach coming up, we invited several of our student friends to help us make sugar cookies to give to our students and their guests a little "sweetness" at the end of the evening.  It was the first time for the girls to ever make/decorate cookies and they loved it and we enjoyed watching them painstakingly place the candied sugars on the cut-out shapes.  We did three large batches of cookies so we were glad to have their help.

 With only one apron in the house, we fashioned aprons out of my "pagnes" (wrap around skirts).

The "Soiree de Noel" was a great time.  Our invited guests seemed to appreciate the evening and quietly listened to a presentation of the meaning of Christmas and who Jesus was and why he came.

A couple of days later we invited all our national staff AND their children over for a Christmas party.  What a fun time we had!  The early birds got to do some coloring and once the whole crowd arrived, the games began. The children came dressed in their new Christmas clothes from head to foot.  They  looked lovely.

 We played numerous fun games and musical chairs was the favorite.

The youngest member of our team.

We took a picture of the entire staff team but I forgot to tell them to smile!  They DID have a good time, but smiling for pictures is not the popular thing to do.

Christmas Eve was spent with dear friends at our home.  We had a special visitor this year:  Max, the father of Kirk and Becca was here for 2 weeks and we enjoyed having him a part of our celebrations.  

 Rachel brought an array of appetizers like none other and we leisurely snacked and visited before going to the table for our Christmas meal.
 

Christmas Day was spent in our little church and as usual, "Jeunesse 2", the name of our English choir, sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."  The service was followed by a heaping plate of rice and goat meat and an ice cold pop.

Yes, we were given delightful purple shirts for Christmas from some dedicated K-State alums.  Tom took off his KU hat for the picture...and because he wasn't allowed into the house with it on!

 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.