Chantalplomb's travel blogs:
- Bénin 2007...a quest to discover hospital life,... 2007
- My life so far 1984
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Out of Brousse
Entry 4 of 9 | show all | print this entry |
A quick update from Parakou, on a French keyboard which is particularily frustrating and difficult so who knows how long i,ll last!
We left Nikki yesterday afternoon in the pouring rain, with a dutch woman who lived here for 8 years in the 80's and is back for 8 more years. Really interesting lady. The trip was not that overly enjoyable though due to the state of the road...not at all overly solid in the rain!
We left on a high, spending 3 hours in the morning in the operating theatre, and then did a little tour of the hospital saying our goodbyes. I managed to stay composed, don't worry! So we arrived yesterday in Parakou and are staying with one of the med students. Last night we went with her to her church, as I was really interested to see a church here in Africa. And it was just as much of an experience as I expected. It was something i had never seen before in my life, or had even imagined. I have never seen faith expressed in the way they were. And as much as I tried to describe it in my journal, i was unsuccessful so I don't think i'll manage in email either. Just something totally intense and different, something powerful was in that room. I couldn't personally feel it, but I could see it through them.
We then had a delish chicken and chips dinner...I think the chickens had run a few marathons before being cooked! But the protein was a welcome change. Today we met up with Hamidou, a guy that works for the Red Cross here. We learnt a lot from him, he's a really wonderful person. He actually only volunteers at the red cross; he's the secretary general and teaches first aid there. The Beninese Red Cross doesn't have enough money to pây its staff. Otherwise he's the director of an ONG involved in socio-cultural development; he's built a library and inforamatics centre and offers courses and programs to people of all ages. A reallw cool little centre.
We're off tomorrow to Dassa at 7am, and more updates soon!
Lots of love, xoxoxoxooxo
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