Benin Roadtrip - Visiting a Precious Friend

There was a special day volunteer last year who held a special place in my heart. I think I wrote about her a bit Benin. She ended up having an ectopic pregnancy while we were in Benin and I spent much time with her in the local hosptial while she recieved surgery. When I left Benin she found out she was pregnant. She was supposed to wait 6 months after the surgery but it had only been 3. She was quite scared...as was I. My heart broke as I said good-bye as I know how much she has been through and now might suffer more.

Well...a few weeks ago a friend and I went with a day worker from last year on a 4 hr journey to Benin to see her, her family, and her brand new baby boy! Praise the Lord! The pregnancy went well with no complications from her surgery and she has a healthy baby boy...Isreal. He was a little premature, but otherwise fine. She told me how she took a zemidjan to the hospital when her contractions were getting very close. I still cannot imagine riding on a motorbike while in labor!

It was SO fun to go back to her house and be reunited with her and her family. She was SOO excited that we made the trip t see her. Of course it was quite the adventure trying to find her home in another country after only being there once. However...after a long taxi ride, back road zemidjan rides, and a few tricky phone calls...we made it.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch of fufu and tomato fish sauce, held the baby and played with her daughter Mary. We also finally got to see her husband's field this time around.

We walked a good mile at least from the house to see where his "field" is. On the way we of course visited many neighbors and saw their village church-which was built beauutifully and then a heavy rain came and it collapsed. My heart broke for that...all the time and hard work they all put into it...only for this to happen. How frustrating! They are continuing to work together to build it back up and still praising God in the meantime. How humbling.

Her husband plants corn, basil, peppers, casava, and other things. The crop used be so big that he had 8 men working for him. Now the crop is not doing well and just he and Edith work the field. They are praying this changes again so they can provide well for their family and put their kids through school. I just can't get over how much these people go through here. How hard they have to work for such simple small things. Yet, no matter how hard it gets I know Edith always has a smile on her face and is usually found singing while going about her duties.

As we came back home from seeing the field and village, Mary came out with Isreal strapped to her back...as he was crying and getting hungry. How precious!

Encounter with poo- as told by Olly Peet

I can't say it any better than Olly, one of my favorite Brits whose family is onboard. Here is his blog entry from today.

Sunday, 4 July 2010
Encounter with poo

To you and me, the Gulf of Guinea is somewhere to cool down on a hot day, and where fish come from. But to millions of West Africans, it's their toilet. Today, whilst frolicking in the waves, Libby shouted that she had poo on her arm...and sure enough she'd squashed a turd (not hers!) between herself and our friend Liz, smearing both with someone else's waste. Delightful. Olly http://peetfamilyinliberia.blogspot.com/


Needless to say, it was a bit disgusting to see little Libby with poo all down her side and poo all down my arm. I believe it went something like this:
Libby(in her cute British accent): Liz, I have poo all down my side.
Liz: No, Libby, it is only wet sand.
Libby: No, it's poo...and it's on your arm too.
Liz (after a closer look and a smell): Um, you're right...EWWWW! (Then yelling up to her parents on the sand)...Uh, we have a poo situation here!!!!

I think I used used so much hand sanitizer and microbacterial wipes on myself my skin is about to come off! :) TIA baby!

Youth Retreat!!

Last weekend us youth leaders took the some of the youth group up north to Kpalime for a little retreat away. This is something they do not get to do much and it was so fun! Here are a few pictures.

First we walked to the market. It started to rain. A nice old man sold Ali an Obama umbrella.

We got hungry..and thought pineapple sounded nice.

We walked by a FanMilk store...so can't pass that by without stopping for a treat.


Ali found a cute baby along the way and had to hold it. Her name was Shakira..not joking:)

We stopped to look at some clothes on the side of the road. Kim Anna wanted a pair of pants and much to our amazement found out the manikin was wearin underwear underneath...backwards. We found this odd. I guess that shows how hygenic they are around here. Ali showed the owner the problem and turned the underwear around the right way.

We hiked to a waterfall.

Many Obama articles around here say "Yes We Can". However, we found out that clearly that is false...as seen by the way the umbrella held up (or didn't) under the waterfall...haha.

We played in the waterfall and followed the river quite a ways. Still wondering how many parasites we aqcuired from that fun excursion down the riverbed.

Gregory, our guide, cut us fresh pineapple...and squeezed lime on top..mmmmmmmmmm!

He also gave us tattoos like the one on his arm. John wanted his on his chest and took it like a man.

It was a wonderful weekend with some awesome kiddos!!