Dear Family & Friends,
Speaking of hiccups… Last night
Jim thought his cough was due to the weather conditions this time of year in West Africa . They
are called the Sahara winds, which leaves the sky full of dust,
smudging the otherwise clear view from our hotel, atop a hill. He thought his headache that wouldn’t go away
was due to jetlag, and normally he has headaches, not a few. He had a very restless
night and then realized that he was sick.
I am still coughing sometimes from the lingering flu/cold I had for the
two weeks before we left. He had to
leave today anyway armed with a pill to mask his discomfort so he could finish
looking at the refurbished wells in Waterloo
Today you could either say I was stuck again, or I escaped a hot, bumpy
journey. They told us last night that we
could have a room (they weren’t kicking us out tonight after all), but that we
had to change rooms and go one floor below.
We liked this room despite the double bed, which made us have to readjust
our king size sleeping habits—but the mattress was comfortable, the pillows
fluffy, and the shower was exceptional.
Even though these rooms all basically look alike, they are never really
the same because, well, it is Africa . These things cannot always be explained. At any rate, I had to stay back so that they
could get the other room clean for us so I could pack our bags and supervise
the transfer (not that we don’t trust anybody).
The dozen wells
Jim saw today he was pleased with. Not
only was the concrete work good, but some had fences.
But then another hiccup--around noon is when I discovered that they didn’t have a room for us after all and
I had to leave. I didn’t have a phone. I didn’t know Jim’s number, and I was not
sure what to do with myself. I finally
decided that the hotel did have some LDS phone number and they did—it was
Sahr’s. I had him call Jim, and Jim
tried to get them to do something but nothing could be done. They were kind enough to let me stay in the
room but with my bags packed I had nothing I could do. Jim had purchased a can of Coke and some
chips. That was my lunch—didn’t very feel
good. Luckily Jim showed up just after 4 PM , showered, and we finished packing and
departed. We were to have dinner with
the Randall’s and they were kind enough to tell us we could stay in the
apartment next to theirs. So we had
dinner and then we settled in for the night.
Tomorrow we leave for Kenema anyway.
It is late now and I find the pillows hard and the three inch foam mattress
on a hard box spring a little uncomfortable.
I tried taking a shower and it came out like a spit, so I took a spit
shower, not daring to wash my hair.
Turay said that next week is typically the hottest week of the entire
year. Ghana Freetown
While visiting with Randall’s we caught up on the Schlehuber’s and I
felt terribly sorry for them. The entire
house had to be rewired because it was not enough to take care of the daily
electricity usage. That means they have
been living almost exclusively without air conditioning (how do they breathe at
night), hot water (cold showers), washing clothes by hand, and using dirty
water from their water tank on their roof that is open at the top and the birds
use it. How can I complain when these
people are really having such a terrible time of it! [We visited them on the
way to Kenema today (Wednesday) and they seemed surprisingly okay.]
We love the people we work with.
Jim learned that Turay’s wife Dorien is expecting their third
child. They are very happy and have of
late been feeling especially blessed.
Another good well, with a block
fence.
Jim took
this picture, which is really not allowed so I’m not sure how he got away with
it. This is a ‘female secret society’ place…rite
of passage. There are also huts for the
young men.
Love, mom & dad, Jim & Karen, E/S Greding
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