Greetings to all who have been wishingme well and wanting to know when I am leaving and what it’s like in Africa! I have arrived!
As scheduled, we left the US on Thurs., Aug. 30. I traveled with Elisabeth Johnson who will
be teaching at the seminary in Cameroon (after she has studied French). We arrived in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Fri., Aug.
31 at about 6:30 p.m. (There’s a 5-hour
time difference from Pennsylvania to here.)
The trip was long (29 hours including travel to the airport and waits at
various points), but uneventful overall.
The funniest story happened at the Philadelphia airport. We had to sit on the plane for about 20 min.
waiting while they rearranged and crammed and struggled with the luggage. We were on a small propeller plane going to
Newark and there must have been a lot of people like me who were making
international connections because they couldn’t fit all the suitcases into the
hold! They got in all the ones for
people with international connections and all the carry-on bags, but about 5
people’s luggage had to fly US Air and meet the passengers at their
destination! One of the pilots told us
about it and said that in 5 years of flying that has never happened to him
before! Weight would not be a problem,
he assured us, but we had to wait while they tried to pack things as tightly as
possible and then make other arrangements for the other stuff!
Joe Troester, who works in Baboua, where I will be, met us
at the airport with a taxi driver that he had hired. We had to hire a second taxi to have space
for Elisabeth and my bags, plus the two of us, Joe, and drivers! Still, we made it with little difficulty –
just some rush hour traffic.
We are staying at the guest house of Wycliffe Associates. This organization is part of SIL (Summer
Institute of Linguistics) and works to translate the Bible into diverse
languages of the world. They have copies
of the Bible in Sango (the national African language of CAR) and Gbaya (the
ethnic group and language of western CAR and parts of Cameroon). I have not seen them yet… Anyway, the guest area is part of the annex
and located 1-2 km. from the main area.
It is a series of buildings built around a grassy area with a few trees
and clothes lines. There is also a small
building with a thatched roof for meeting, sitting, outside.
Elisabeth and I each have a room with bathroom. Just after we arrived, we went to a French
restaurant for dinner. And, for those of
you who think that Cameroon is “roughing it,” I took a picture of the dessert I
had. This is a restaurant that
specializes in the cuisine from Brittany where crepes are popular. I had a tomato and cheese one for dinner and
then the Dame Blanche Crepe – crepe, ice cream, chocolate, and whipped
cream!
Today has been a rest/recuperate day, basically. We met with two of the people with whom Elisabeth
will be working and will have dinner
with them and some others this evening.
I will meet Rev. Antoinnette, a pastor from CAR who is in Yaoundé
finishing her doctorate.
Over the next few days we will be visiting a church (on Sunday
of course!), meeting some other people, shopping, getting my visa for CAR… The current plan is to head north
Wednesday.
As I write, I can hear the field close by where there is a
soccer game. Occasionally, the announcer
talks about the game (which, from here, is garbled French) and the rest of the
time they are playing loud music – mostly African with an occasional song from
the US thrown in.
So, all is well. I am
beginning to adjust. I know that these
days are important, but I am looking forward to when I can go to Baboua,
Central African Republic. (Tentatively
that will be Sept. 14 or 15.)
Check back to the blog to get updates and write comments or
questions. I’d love to answer whatever
you are curious about (as much as I am able…).
Good Luck and enjoy the journey. I loved my four years in Ngaoundere. Amanda Ndaya
ReplyDeleteBlessings on this time of rest and preparation.
ReplyDeletelove, janet
Es muy emocionante y a la vez admirable la razon por la cual decidiste realizar esta mision, exitos y mucho placer para las cosas que logres hacer en este pobre pais!!
ReplyDeleteCreo que soy el unico que te escribe en español, me alegra de todo corazon que estes bien y deseo todo el bien para ti en este noble empeño, solo cuiadate mucho,
ReplyDeleteRolando (marielorta)