December

This is my last monthly blog.  In future I'll just add special occasions/events/holidays/visitors etc. 

There are still lots of birds and animals around but nothing different to what I've already shown you apart from this little chap who I found crawling around the patio.  It's funny but the dogs kill most animals that come into the garden but they ignore toads and frogs.

December was quiet with the exception of the District Convention.  It was a wonderful experience but what a journey!!  Around 300 kilometres took twenty two hours each way.  All three English congregations were to travel together on three coaches and were supposed to be at the meeting point at 7am and were going to leave at 10am.  Yeah . . . right.  We left the house at 7.30 and arrived at 8.  No coaches and only one sister with her two boys. 


The coaches arrived at 9 at left around 11.30.  We drove around the block and stopped for diesel.  The frist two coaches filled fairly quickly but the third had some problem or other and we had to wait ages for them.  We then drove 15-20 minutes to Banjul to catch the ferry. 

Stopping off for spare parts didn't inspire confidence.

Only one of the four engines worked on the ferry.

We boarded the ferry at 3pm (after waiting for the people and sheep to disembark) and caught sight of our first toilet since leaving home.  UGH!!  The only good thing about it was it was just a hole in the floor of the boat so I didn't have to actually touch anything  apart from the door as there was nothing to hold it closed with so everything had to be done one handed.  Enough of that.  You don't want to know.

5.30am, Dakar

Only two coaches could fit on the ferry so when we got to the other side we had to wait for the third coach to catch the next ferry.  We left there at 6pm and the rest of the journey went smoothly apart from a long section of road (about an hour long) that felt like we were driving over a giant cheese grater.  I was given the job of taking everyone's passport details, names and numbers and writing them on a form.  It SOUNDS easy enough but African names can be complicated.  One brother has a surname with 25 letters!!  Anyway, they were happy enough with it at the border and let us through.  One of the coaches has a problem and we had to stop briefly for a quick repair and somehow we got stopped for speeding!  How??  We arrived in Dakar at 5.30 am.  There were still no toilets so I had to go in a little bushy area in the public car park.  Fortunately it was still dark, the bushes wouldn't have provided any cover during daylight.






The Assembly Hall opened at 8am and we were given a wonderful warm welcome by the brothers.  They had arranged breakfast of hot coffee or chocolate and fresh bread with butter and chocolate spread.

Later brothers and sisters came to take us all to our accommodations in their cars and we were given a packed lunch to take with us of meat and rice.  Terry and I celebrated 10 years of very happy marriage on Friday so we decided to go for the slightly up market accommodation.  Ben was in a room with three other brothers and got to see far more of the city than we did.

Lunch on the terrace

Sunrise over Dakar

 This is my study Neka who came with her son David.  She had booked the time off work (Wednesday to Monday) but at the last minute they told her she could only have Friday to Monday.  We left Wednesday morning and arrived Thursday morning so how could she possibly get there in time?  She left work on Thursday afternoon, went home to collect her bags (David was travelling with us) and headed for the ferry.  As she was waiting a man was shouting that he was going straight to Dakar with his car if anyone wanted a ride.  It would be cheaper for her to travel that way and quicker than by public transport so she came with him.  He dropped her off at her accommodation and she was in bed by midnight and was at the assembly before us next morning.  

The Assembly Hall is next door to Bethel.  It's an open sided Hall so we were lovely and cool.  Terry had two talks and Ben and I were both on demonstrations.