Sunday - first full day of activities

  Lomé, Togo
Monday, August 18, 2008

Today was quite a day; full of ups and downs as we started the activities of this mini-camp.
 
Pierre Kloutsé was right on time to pick us up at 8:00. We drove through the quiet streets (Sunday is a slow day) of Lomé to the Church hall. We started at 9:00 with our Christian Living class. I took the first part. Since most of our campers have never had their own Bible before, I decided to give them a brief introduction to the Holy Book. Using PowerPoint slides to illustrate (using an AV projector brought along on this trip), I gave an overview of the timeline of its writing, the structure and parts of the Old and New Testaments, and encouragement to take advantage of the privilege of having their own copy now. 
 
Bernard Hongerloot took the second half hour, using Proverbs to illustrate principles to help get the most out of the camp.

Bernard Hongleroot in the Christian Living Class

 
At 10:00 we started some team-building activities in the courtyard of the Church complex.

Campers and staff in their camp shirts

A team-building activity

The 14 campers had to work together on games that helped them learn each other's names and learn to work together. They had a great time, until Pauline, one of our older campers, stumbled during one activity, took several steps and then fell backwards hitting her head on a compound wall. This was a frightening moment. We had her taken right away to a nearby clinic, and gathered all the campers inside so we could pray together and ask God to intervene for her. We had word over a cell phone call soon that she needed a couple of stitches, but that there was nothing more serious than that. We are very thankful that things turned out so well.
 
The 13 others climbed in the back of Mr. Fiaboés pickup truck to go to a nearby high school football (soccer) field to play football. Those of us on the staff had a separate car for transportation.

Camp transportation

The sky was cloudy enough to hide the sun and there was enough of a breeze blowing that we had very pleasant temperatures (for the tropics) in which to play. It was a very active match and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Football!

 
After the football activity it was time for lunch, so we drove the 5 minutes back to the Church hall and had a very nice lunch of Tilapia and fries or cornmeal.
 
At 2:00 I held the journalism class, which is a little bit journalism and a lot about reflection on life. Each camper will write a short "article" on a topic which invites some thought about how he or she wants life to go. Suggested topics included "What I would most like to change in the world is...", "What I most want to accomplish with my life is..." and "How is camp different from school?" We'll print them all in a paper which will be sent to them all after the camp.
 
At 3:00 we headed back to the school yard which was now full of adult football teams playing in uniforms and with quite a crowd watching. Daniel and Cindy Harper explained the rules of "Ultimate Frisbee" a cross between football and soccer, but using a Frisbee, which none of the campers had ever seen or thrown before.

Learning to play Ultimate Frisbee

It took a little while to get the hang of it; they tended to fall back on football tactics (which don't work too well in this sport), but once they started getting it, they really went at it. I got into the action on this one since I can throw a pretty mean Frisbee, and this game (at least with beginners) is more about thinking than strength or stamina....
 
We were all soaked with sweat and a dusted in a burnt-orange color before long. And we had attracted a small crowd of children curious about this strange activity. We had to watch out for motorcycles riding through our playing field on the way to the big football matches farther over, but we had a great time and had no accidents.
 
After Frisbee, the campers started learning volleyball techniques. Both Daniel and Cindy are very accomplished players. They were able to get the campers off to a good start on learning to play the game correctly.

Learning to bump

 
We left the field about 5:15, and were ready for dinner by 6:00. It was a little late since Mr. Fiaboé had gone out to purchase more sacs of water. Water sacs are small plastic bags about the size of a large sandwich bag, sealed full of clean water. It's the same kind we drink out of plastic bottles but the little sacs are less expensive. It's the way most Africans who can afford to drink purified or spring water will drink it.
 
Dinner was spicy fried rice with beef, with bananas for desert. It was quite hot and really delicious. Our Q&A Bible Study was scheduled for 7:00 pm, but just as we were preparing to start the power went out. The whole place went dark and we were informed that it would probably be that way for the rest of the night. A small generator will be provided tomorrow incase that happens again, but there was nothing further we could do tonight. So we said goodnight to everyone and came back to the hotel.
 
Tomorrow morning there will be workday traffic and what took us 25 minutes to drive yesterday and today will take an hour or so, so we plan to leave at 7:30 tomorrow morning.