THE MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

NO, I AM NOT ENGAGED. We were told upon arrival that the Togoliese men want us to take them home to the States so they will ask us to marry them. I really didn’t believe that they would come out and ask us to marry them or to take them to the states until it did. Yes, I had encountered how they act when we walk down the street. I had gotten pretty use to ignoring the kissing noises and calling you to come like we would a dog but someone asking me to marry them because they wanted to come to America, no way. But it did. At first I was taken by surprise. I was ordering gelato when this man started talking to me and grabbing my arm. He said he wanted me to take him to meet my mom and dad. At this point, I told him I was married. It helped a little bit.  We had this happen a few times throughout my stay, once while coming into the port by one of the military, once by a government official in Benin while we were trying to cross the border. MY favorite on and probably the funniest was Bruno and our zemi ride. On Thursday we caught Zemis back from the Artisan Village. Bruno drove us with two other drivers and we negotiated a price for the trip back to the ship. From the start Bruno was laughing with his buddies. I said no laughing, this brought about more laughter. I said “ALLE.”  After a little bit Bruno o asked me to take him to my country and marry him. I said right away I was married and my husband would not like it if I brought him home, hoping to stop the quest of getting to America with me but that did not help.  Well, it did not; he asked if my sisters could take him, which I quickly replied they were married with petit enfants. I was thinking he meant my real sisters but he was talking about my friends on the other bikes.  I have never laugh so much in my life on a bike. As we drove he asked me to think about someone to marry him. You are all lucky i did not marry you off in Togo. We continued to drive and would a points pass the other drivers waiting for us to catch up. Each time we passed them I would say “ Alle, Vite” which means go fast.  My friends told me after that I looked like I was having a great time and thought that we might ride off into the sunset together. I was a fun last ZEMI ride 

LE GRANDE MARCHE

Last Saturday, July 18th, my friends headed to Kpalime to see the waterfalls. I did not join them because I had not been feeling well and was not up for a car ride. Feeling much better on Saturday I joined a group heading to the big market. We headed out, a couple from New Zealand (who flew in with me), a nurse from the UK, and a seamstress from Sierra Leone. Our mission was to find soccer outfits, fabric, and experience the market.  I would have been lost if it not for Alicemaude. She goes to the market every week and knows the prices. We headed out for the fabric first. Too many to choose from and so beautiful. I was glad I had already found my fabric.  The search was on for one specific pattern for a good price.

In the midst of us looking for this fabric we walked through the meat market so to speak. I saw them unloading a full body, skinned animal, heads of animals, live chickens in basket on head of people. The meat was not cows like here in the states but either goats or dogs. We also walked through the fish market. They had live large snails, crabs, and fish. It was cool to see the crabs, but the smell and the snails made my stomach turn. The fish was not very fresh, covered in flies, and dried out. I just had to hold my breath.

While walking and looking for material, I was able to get my Togoliese soccer outfits for my nephews. We started at one shop but he did not have 3 in the same size or even three little ones. He took me down to his other shop which had them and quoted me 5000 CFAs which I thought was a pretty good price because the first time I went to the market I was quote 10000 CFAs for one. Alice heard the price and right away starting saying to the guy it is too high and come down. Eventually we got a price of 10000 CFAs for all three. Alice was happy with this.

HOLD ON by 33 Miles

Tonight I went up on deck 8 to watch the sunset.

I have tried to see one a week since I have been there. They are never the same twice and seeing them from the top of a ship is just amazing. Tonight though I took my pictures and then just sat and thought. It is hard to believe that I have started my last week here in Africa. I have learned so much about myself and who God is this summer. I am excited to share with people how God is working in my heart but tonight as I was thinking about this summer I was trying to pin point one thing that really has changed for me in the past four weeks. AS I was thinking I turned on my IPod to listen to some music as the wind blew through my hair, the waves were crashing on the beach, and the colors from the sunset was spreading through the sky.

The song Hold On by 33 Miles came on.

I've been there a thousand times,
I've felt the rain like a thousand knives.
And it hurts,
I know it hurts!
I've been there like a fighter plane,
Tryin' fly my way through a hurricane.
And it's hard,
I know it's hard!
Don't be afraid,
You'll make it through,
Just call out to me and I'll come running to you!
Hold on, hold on!
When the current pulls you under,
And your heart beats like thunder.
Just give me your hand,
And hold on, hold on!
Until the storm is over,
And I'll be fighting for you.
Just give me your hand and,
Hold on!
I'll give you hope, I'll give you faith!
And if it's dark, I'll light the way,
For you, for you!
By your side, until the end,
Until you're standing tall again!
I'm here, I'll always be here.
And if the tide, sweeps you out to sea,
When your strength is gone, and it's hard to believe!
Hold on, hold on!
When the current pulls you under,
And your heart beats like thunder!
Just give me your hand,
And hold on, hold on!
Until the storm is over.
And I'll be fighting for you,
Just give me your hand!
Ooooo so...
Hold on, hold on!
When the current pulls you under,
And your heart beats like thunder!
Just give me your hand.
And hold on, hold on!
Until the storm is over,
And I'll be fighting for you!
Just give me your hand,
And hold on, hold on!

I fell in love with the song back in February but tonight it took on a new meaning. As life gets tough we need to just hold on to God and the promises he has given us. We need to remember that all we need to do is reach out our hand and God will pull us through the hard times. One of the reason, this took on new meaning was because when you are swimming the ocean it is so easy to be taken by the current or pulled under by the rip tide. After swimming in a strong current you realize how easy it is to lose the fight and let the current take you. This is exactly what can happen when you let life get the better of you and you take you focus and hold off of God. I am so glad to be reminded of this tonight.

ALANTIC OCEAN AFRICAN STYLE

On Friday, we went to the beach with the kids from the Academy and the preschool came with us. I was so excited for this because I love to jump in the waves and ride the waves. When we got to the Academy that morning I found out that I would have a preschooler to watch for the morning. I was super excited for this but was a little disappointed because that means I really was not going to be able to ride the waves. So I headed down to the dock and swiped all the crew tags of the kids. Yes, I felt like I had 19 different identities. Off we go, except it is cold out, the wind is blowing and I really am not looking forward to getting wet but we are going and the kids are excited. We get there and Max, my preschool buddy cannot wait to play on the playground and jump on the trampoline. So we began here.  

After a little while Max was ready to see what was going on, on the beach. He was not yet ready to hit the waves but he enjoyed building and wrecking sand castles. When we left the ship Max’s mom told me that he has no fear, so I was ready for anything on this field trip. Okay, so we are now ready to jump the waves. Max was not too sure about this but I told him that we would just jump over the waves. Here comes the first wave and we were not ready.  No, we did not get knocked over but we didn’t jump the wave. We were ready for the next wave. Max has his swimmy’s on, he has both my hands, and he is ready to jump. That is all it took. We were off to jumping and letting the waves get us. By the end of the morning Max was saying “let’s go closer”, “I got you Miss Heather”, and “jump, jump, jump” We were having a blast. We only got knocked over once where I had to hand Max over in order to get up myself. So we get back to the ship and I am handing out name badges and Max runs into the dining hall to meet his parents. As I am going after him and my bathing suit cover up falls of as I walk in to the dining hall. I turned bright red, went back out, composed myself, and then went back in to make sure Max got to his Mom and Dad.

FOU FOU

First time I heard this I thought of Foo Foo the Snoo, a Dr. Seuss character, well that is not what this is. Fou Fou is an African dish that all the locals eat. On Wednesday night a group of 11 of us piled into the truck to hit the FOU FOU BAR in the heart of LOME.

So we got there and the owner started moving other customers so we had a table all together. So here we are a group of white girls and one boy making two locals move, it was just a little uncomfortable.  There were tables inside so we ended up eating inside instead of outside. While we were walking in we saw the pounding of the yams.  I guess before I go any further I should tell you what Fou Fou is. Fou Fou is yams beaten into a dough ball, which you eat with your fingers. You dip the dough into palm soup. Palm Soup is a spicy soup with goat meat.

So we sat down at the table to begin our meal. First things first, we must wash our hands. Here let me pour for you.

On to try the food! At first bite, my mouth was on fire.  But it was good.

Here are some pictures.

Although it was good it was so spicy and hot in temp that I could not eat it all.  The whole time I was eating I thought that Rebecca and Meredith would love this because they are the spice girls.

A WEEKEND OF FIRST And EVERYTHING ELSE

On Friday Night I went out with the girls for Ice Cream before my friend Julie headed back to the states and Saturday morning I went to BENIN. The country next door to TOGO. We had a great time. Between Friday night and Sunday Evening I have a huge list of first and adventures. I am just going to start listing them.

First Time:

• picked up by an Africa
• asked to take an Africa man home to meet my Mom and Dad
• time using the excuse I am engaged to stop and African man from picking me up.
• leaving the ship at 5:30 am
• walking through the port before the sun was up
• taking a taxi to the Border
• walking across the Togo/ Benin border
• having to go trough the VISA lines
• filing out Visa paper work
• walking the slave route
• seeing the country of Benin
• in Ouidah (where slavery began)
• learning that the African people sold other African’s into slavery
• seeing the hold Voodoo really holds on people
• riding a ZEMI
• hitching hiking and riding in the back of a pick up truck
• staying in an African hotel
• bartering for the price of a ride
• walking through the POINT OF NO RETURN and the POINT OF RETURN
• seeing a village on Stilts
• riding on a boat in an African River
• seeing how impoverished the country of Benin is (worse than TOGO)
• a gecko has crawled across me in middle of the night
• AFRICAN SUNBURN (yes I was wearing sunscreen and reapplying)

I could go into so much detail on all of this but Instead i will just post some photos.

    

 

WHAT A WEEK!!

So before I begin talking about last week with the kids, I guess I should recap the first week with the Academy kids. Our First week was entitled Heroes and finding the hero within. As well as identifying everyday heroes. We talked about stepping out in faith, taking action, saving the day, and unexpected heroes. During the week, we had different crew members come into talk with the kids about what they do on the ship. We started the week with the captain coming in and telling us about how he steps out and faith and his favorite part about being a captain. We then had the first engineer come in and then we toured the engine room. That was a great experience. We also had the head of Housekeeping in to tell about the unexpected.  It was a good first week as well as a tough one. Due to possible demonstrations in town during the week over the price of fuel. The captain and the head of security asked us to change our plans for field trips for the week. The threat of strikes, they did not want the kids out if the people decided to riot the other reason was if our fuel trucks didn’t arrive we might have had to move the boat. BUT with much rejoicing we did not have to move the boat and our fuel truck arrived. We also have a couple of great days on the boat instead of going off. We did WET WEDNESDAY and a movie and ICE CREAM AFTERNOON one day and the other day we did a sports day and a ice cream party. We had a great first week and we’re quite ready for the next week of adventures. Week two here we come.

So week two arrived with not much hoopla. Not demonstrations, not riots, and the fuel trucks arrived. This week was entitled caring for God’s Creation. We were heading out on an AFRICAN SAFARI. I became a safari guide and met the kids at the BAOBAB TREE to talk about the animals we would meet along the way. It was fun stepping into the teaching role and being silly with the kids. Through out the week we talked about trusting God, Loving God, and Following him. ON Thursday, I took my first and second grades outside to paint with their feet. I wish I had brought out more paper for them because my three kids had a blast. We did get a little paint on deck 7 but we cleaned it up afterwards. ON Wednesday we headed out on our first field trip. We piled into the Land Rover’s and headed to the SPORTS COMPLEX not really sure we could get in because our reservation we for the week before and not one got in touch with them for this week. We arrived and they had two hundred kids coming that day. Needless to say we were unable to go there for the day but I was thinking and had already asked a few others if they were ok with us going to the SEAMANS Club for the day. We called SEAMEN’s and asked we could bring out lunches. They allowed us and we headed out to the pool. The kids had a blast. They pretty much entertained themselves. On Friday we once again piled in to the Land Rovers and headed to FIL “O” PARC which is a playground and pools. The kids love it. They have so much freedom here to really play. Driving to the Park was quite the experience. The looks of everything changed. This looked more taken care of. The port of LOME is on the extreme level of Poverty.  We had a great time.

How was the week outside of the ACADEMY? It was also great. We had lots of fun times. Between games and movies we can pretty much keep busy every night of the week. Wednesday night we got off the Ship for a night at the SEAMEN’s quite a few crew members headed here tonight to watch the GERMANY VS SPAIN game. One of the day workers had asked my friend Julie to meet him there because she was leaving on Saturday. So five of us girls piled in to the shuttle for a night of cards. We started playing Ban anagrams with just the girls but after the game ended three of the guys stopped to play. Two of them being day workers. We played a game of SORRY REVENGE as teams. It is more fun in teams then individually. It was also fun to play with the language barrier.  We few of us also chugged MALTA’s. On Friday night, night we headed out to Ice Cream because JULIE was leaving the next day we wanted to do something with her before she left. Julie and I decided to split two desserts. Pistachio Gelato and crepes Melba but instead of two dishes they combined them into one. It was delicious

The Camera Phenomena

On Sunday, I went back to the Fishing Village Church. I felt a little more at ease this time because I knew at little bit more of what to expect. There were not camera crews this week. The message we great. I also knew some of the songs because they where ones I had already here. I think I am going to make some copies of songs to bring back and teach my kids. After the service, we great. The church is in the mist of building a new church with a school.  They have parts of the wall up and are still raising funds for the rest of the building. Pastor James invited us to go see the church and pray over it.  After a few minutes, we went over. I took a few pictures.

This is the church they worship in now. It is a rectangle that has about two side covered with some type of branch, the roof is metal siding, and it is held up with trees for the poles.

Here is what the new building will be like.

While we were taking pictures the children all wanted us to take pictures. They love seeing themselves. They come up to us and point at the camera to ask. They also are great at posing for the camera. After a few shots it was there turn to snap photos. A lot of them have cut off heads but they just had fun snapping and seeing what came out.  Here are a few shots from the various cameras.

It is so easy to fall in love with the kids over her eand just want to give to them. They are so open to affection and to outsiders. After taking pictures, I was able to play a little with a few of the boys. One little boy would come up to me and wait for me to tickle him and then run away. We played this for a little while and then a few of the other kids joined in. I loved hearing the laughter. While I am here I want to be a blessing to the people not only on the ship but to the children. I am already thinking of something that my class can do as a mission’s project.  I am hoping to go back one more time before I leave.

Trusting

Heather