A Long Road to the first Class

According to my sister Marilyn, the obstacles we encountered to day are fairly typical of her daily experiences in Senegal. There was no point in being anxious about any of these 'glitches' we faced because it would not have speeded up the process in anyway. The end of it is that we are in Dakar at the Biblical school and I am sitting in the class while Darwin is beginning to teach about - how to teach scripture, and the learning process of the student - via a french translator. We are in an upstairs room with louvered windows and multiple fans clipped to the walls. The curtains are blowing gently in the breeze and there are sounds of birds and car horns in the distance. We are on a lovely retreat/campus overlooking a lighthouse on the western most point of Africa.

We began our day, already, leaving a little late, just because things take time - going to the boulangerie, talking to the trash collector, making coffee, and we had many things that we needed to pack to bring to Dakar. We needed bug nets, an electrical zapper (incase we get bit by the spitting cobras), fans, water, etc. It is fortunate, however, that we were leaving late because we received a phone call that the printer is not working at the bible school and that we needed to bring our own copies of the (20 page) handout. It took quite some time to get the computer out of the car and reboot, just in time for the power to go out.....Here you see Darwin and Marilyn trying to start the generator.

Oh, here is a picture of MaryAnne and Darwin trying to figure out the error message on the copier which has stopped functioning.



We needed to stop and talk to the trash collector. I guess he is just going to dump that trash on the side of the road somewhere. My paper recycling friends will be happy to know that Marilyn gives her paper to the neighbor sheep - to eat.


We finally began our drive into Dakar - a 3 hour tour (so to speak). Traffic issues are hillarious a unimaginable at the same time. We encountered a cement truck coming toward us in our lane, there were buses stopping to pick up and drop off passengers - from the back of the bus. There were all sort of hawkers of wares, and even those who wanted to wash our windshield-without our consent. It is challenging for any driver, but we saw only one accident.


We finally arrive at the school and Darwin meets with the translators to look at last minute french corrections. Oops. we need to boot up the computer and printer and reprint the 20 pages.......





But we made it, and here Darwin is with one of his translators. Sigh of relief.