A couple of Sundays ago was a day of firsts for me. I rode on a "zimmy John" (motorbike/ motorcycle) to get to church. Taking a motorbike instead of a taxi is about half the price. The zimmy John drivers will go places that taxi drivers won't. In this case, Bienvenu told us that the church was in an "unpopular" part of the city where taxis don't like to go, so we had to take motor bikes. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes a couple of times as cars came very close, and we hit several large bumps along the dirt roads. They don't wear helmets here either. I must say though, it was a lot of fun! The zimmy drivers wouldn't take us all the way, so we walked the rest of the way to church. Then we arrived to a church underneath a mango tree. The church does not have a building yet, so they meet under the shade of a mango tree. There were about twenty to twenty-five people at the service. I went to church with another nurse and one of the West African dayworkers, Bienvenu. He is originally from the country of Benin, which is a French speaking country next to Togo. I met him at the beginning of my time here. his story is very interesting. He was a Muslim who came to Christ because he read the Bible to try and refute it. He was part of a Muslim group who were actively against Christians. Now he is absolutely sold out for Jesus! The church members were so kind and welcoming to us. Their children were precious and wanted to hug us and sit on our laps. After church, we went to Bienvenu's house, which was a room with a mattress on the floor. It was very simple. There was an outhouse outside, and the cooking was done over an openfire. Then we went to another church member's house to have lunch. His wife prepared us a traditional West African meal of Akunme and sauce with fish in it. It was really good! Akunme is made of cornmeal flour mixed with hot water and beaten until it forms a kind of "playdough" textured dough. The traditional way to eat it, is to eat with your hands. One takes a piece of the dough and dips it into the sauce. Everyone eats out of the same bowl :) It actually is so fun to eat that way. I love that everything here is about community, even down to how one eats! I also drank pure coconut juice out of the coconut today for the first time, and then ate some of the coconut meat. Random tropical medicine fact: apparently, coconut juice is sterile and full of nutrients. If someone is in the jungle and needs IV fluids, one can use sterile coconut juice. By the way, coconut juice really does not have much flavor, and is not that good, in my opinion. The meat is better when it is drier because otherwise, its kind of slimy.
During the past two Friday nights, a group of people from the ship have gone to Le Gallion (a French hotel and restaurant) in Lome. There is a live band consisting of mostly West Africans and one Frenchman, that plays there every weekend. They are fantastic. They play a mixture of rock, jazz, blues, and reggae. Last Friday we went there for a going away party for several nurses that were leaving for home. It was a great night of good music and dancing. It was a funny site: a group of Yovos (this is the name Togalese have for white people) dancing! After Le Gallion, we went to a place called La Rumba. Its a salsa place and we had a great time dancing salsa. Who would have thought, salsa dancing in West Africa?! Its interesting the people one meets abroad. We met Lebanese-Italians at Le Gallion, as well as a group from India. Most of these internationals are in Lome because they own businesses here. We also met some peace core workers, and some Germans on vacation. That is why I love to travel because you get to meet and talk to the most interesting people. Well there have been other firsts, but that's all for now :)
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