The sounds of Oditel

We are all situated in the wonderful village of Oditel. We arrived
yesterday afternoon and were able to unpack our gear into our room and
Christine (the woman who is helping us with our food) was able to get
her kitchen organized. We are staying in a small room with two small
twin beds with mosquito nets draped over them and a wall of shelves
separating them, a small table where we can eat our meals and play
cribbage and a sink in the corner where wee can brush our teeth. The
bathroom and the shower are outside of our room but very close.

Luke's first second impression last night was "Wow what a difference 3
months makes". Everything is so green and lush from the recent rains,
the temp is about 15 degrees cooler and the road is very muddy, a
start difference from the dry dusty road of january. The people seem
like they are in good health and it was great to see that many of them
remembered Luke and he noticed many familiar faces. We took a short
stroll through the village to look at the garden and the ground that
will be our project area and we both realized that we have very much
work to do.

After getting unpacked we each sat down on our beds to do a little
reading (i'm polishing off "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Hemingway")
and wind down after the long and bumpy car ride to the village.
Speaking of the car ride...it was amazing that David (who wouldn't go
over 30 KPH on the highway) was able to drive 70KPH down a muddy
stretch of dirt that could barely be called a road. We must have
bottomed out at least 50 times and i really hope that he has a skid
plate on his vehicle.

While we were relaxing we were suddenly startled to hear loud chanting
and singing all around us. We are staying in a Catholic mission and
they were having a service. But the sound was so unmistakably Africa.
The sounds of animals making noise, the drone of millions of insects,
and the rythmic beat of drums and chanting of the African praise songs
being sung in the chapel next to us. Luke and I both looked at each
other, smiled and said in unison "we will have to go to the next
service".

The singing and yelling continued well into the night as Luke and I
played a game of cribbage and both read our books. We are truly in
another world here. A world that is entirely different from everything
that we know back home.

Peace and Love,

Mzungu's

Katie: Luke wanted you to know that as we walk around the village the
kids follow us singing "all i need", the song you taught them last
time you were here.