We arrived safely in Parakou, Benin from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, just before sunset on Monday evening the 4th of February. Thank you for praying for us.

The first half of the trip we were spoiled. We were sent to the border in a nearly new air-conditioned 4-wheel drive. We just had to pay the 53,000 for fuel, 10,000 for the driver and 1,800 for the tools = total 64,800 (US$148).

At the border of Burkina I got out to processes out of the country with our passports. Wow was it hot – more than 100 degrees and the midday sun was scorching hot. At the border there was no Hamarttan but just a clear blue ski that let the sun shine through. There we met Pastor Augustin with a “Bush Taxi” ready for us. We moved our luggage into the taxi and drove some more kilometers to the Benin police where I took our passports to processes into Benin. Then a cold drink and toilet at a little hotel and on down the road we went.

The trip from the border to Parakou was a hot and dusty. The taxi did have soft seats but without a/c the air that blew through from outside was HOT! Once we started traveling up the mountain we came back into the dust of the Hamarttan, but this time with none of the coolness we had experienced in Ouagadougou. It was 58,000 for the taxi (about US$132.00) So it was about US$280 for the 2 of us for this trip – well under the $600 each for the plane flight to Cotonou. (Normally it is not so expensive, but gas is way up and the dollar is way down.)


The terrain on this trip is at first Sahel – semi desert – lots of dirt, little green, but some bushes. You see mud huts regularly. Now and then you see something like a Butte – like a mountain with the top cut off flat. Just after you cross over into Benin there is a wide, mostly stone, mountain. The picture shows it but you can’t tell how big it really is in the photo. You wind up a good road to the top. As you go up there are always groups of women going up the hill or down. These women with lots of things on their head go up and down, or is it down and up, every day.

Last you drive through some rolling mountains. This is still a semi-arid area with not a lot of green. You drive through some towns like Natitingou and Djougou – key cities of the North of Benin. (We hope to do some leader’s seminars there when we have the finances.)

Benin is a narrow country that bulges out at the top. The main highway is kind of like the small letter “y.” Parakou is where the 2 lines of the “y” meet. It is the beginning of the Muslim North of Benin. We have preached all up and down that letter “y” and done a number of seminars as far as Parakou, but not above. We came again to do seminars. Debby is doing a women’s seminar in the morning while I am doing a Christian Worker’s seminar. In the evening we have a church crusade.

We stay at a S.I.M. mission guesthouse. It was sure nice to have a "real" shower and wash away the dust. (Had been doing “bucket bath” in Ouagadougou.) This is also one of the mission guesthouses that prepare meals for you. There is a very nice Australian family here that runs the place. It is 10,000 / night for each of us and 4,550 for each of us for meals – so that’s US$66.00 for the 2 of us each day – much better price than hotel and restaurants.

Augustin took us to meet the Mayor the first morning. Eastern culture, like here in Africa, loves to receive strangers. We had a nice time to greet the mayor. He asked us if we could help bring an orphanage here for the orphaned and abandoned children. Pray with us about that. It’s not Debby and my mission, but we are glad to help out in these things and Bill and Cathy Hoffman want to do this kind of work.

Tomorrow – Friday we have a big “kick off” for another Video Bible School here – out 3rd in Parakou. Then at lunch time we travel on to Cotonou. Then Saturday morning I will leave Debby there and go through Togo to Accra, Ghana to receive the team of 8 that is coming. Sunday morning I will bring the team back with me to Cotonou. Starting Monday they will have 6 days of Women’s seminar in 2 small towns and I will be doing “live” teaching at one of our Video Bible Schools in the city.

Fred

Monday Travels

Well it’s time to leave Ouagadougou. We enjoyed our week teaching here. After preaching this morning, at lunch, the leaders said how much the students enjoyed our teaching. They also reminded us that they consider this an annual obligation for us to come teach. They also invited Debby to come do their big women’s conference.


You can see the picture of most of the students in the room.

Please be praying for our travel tomorrow morning at 8 am (3 am East Coast Time) we will set off to Parakou, Benin. It is just above the middle of the country and the beginning of the Muslim North of Benin. First it is a 4 ½ hour drive to the border. Than about an hour of border paper work. Then about 6 hour ride in a Bush taxi to Parakou. You also loose an hour at the border when you set your watch ahead one hour. So that will be a days worth.

Internet in Parakou is limited when I can get to the Internet Café. We will do a Christian Workers seminar every morning and a Church Crusade every evening. So it will be a busy few days.

On Friday we take the 6 hour bus ride on to Cotonou, Benin. Saturday I go on to Accra, Ghana to pick up the team of 8 – with suitcases. Each is bringing a suitcase of clothes and medicine donated for the orphanage. Sunday morning we all load up and cross Ghana, cross Togo and on to Benin to Cotonou. A whole day process.

Thank you so much for praying for us.

Fred

In Ouagadougou

Debby and I arrived here in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Sunday, January 27th, in the late afternoon. We started the trip on Thursday at 11:30. It was a flight to Detroit then on to Amsterdam and finally arriving Friday evening in Accra, Ghana. No one met us at the airport, so we took a cab to the S.I.M. guesthouse.

Saturday morning we were up at 5 am to be at the bus station by 6 for our 7 am bus. No bus arrived. The 8 am bus didn’t show either. By 9 I was starting to look for something else. So off to another bus station and we found a bus going only as far as Kumassi – 1/3 the way – but it was something. Back at the first bus station, the bus showed at 10am so we got on that one and left by 11:15 for the 12 hour ride to Tamali, Ghana.

The seats were hard and some of the road was very, very bad. The bus didn’t have the promised a/c, but they refunded some money for that. We actually didn’t need the a/c because we are having a very strong “hamarttan.” This is a wind that blows down from the Northeast and kicks up a lot of dust. The wind is cool and the dust blocks the sun. In fact they have recorded record lows here. For us it is very funny to see the Africans in full winter dress, just because it gets down into the 70’s. But this year it got even lower down to 50 degrees. No a/c needed.

Sunday morning we were to get a taxi or bus on to Bolgatanga then a taxi to the border of Burkina. The taxi driver that picked us up at the hotel said he would take us all the way – yeah. So we paid him and in less than 4 hours we were at the border. Then an hour for processing out of Ghana and into Burkina. Then fight for a good price with the ‘Bush Taxi” – a very old Peugeot 505 wagon, and get in and go. In about 2 hours more we were in Ouagadougou. We made very good time! We stopped by a couple of banks to find a working ATM for international withdrawal, and got the local currency to pay the bush taxi and buy a few things, like bottled water.

Other than the bad start waiting for the bus to Tamali, Saturday morning, everything went pretty good. Thank you so much for praying for our travels.

There are always so many things to do to get ready to leave the US. Sorry I didn’t get anything up on the blog before we left – but I was so busy. Not only did I have to get Burkina visas for Deb and I, and a Benin visa for Deb, but we have 8 people coming over in a week and they needed Ghana and Benin visas. Doing the visas is a lot of work. Ghana, for an example requires 4 forms each hand written each with a photo. Most of the team did most of their paperwork, but we had to add some things to the forms, check them and write cover letters. Then you go to the post office and buy money orders and send it all by express mail with a prepaid return express mail envelope inside. Burkina raised their prices and was late and slow to send ours back, but when we got them we were pleasantly surprised to get 4 years visas instead of only 90 days. Yeah! Won’t have to do them again for a few years.


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Fred