Thursday, September 4th

We made the 8-hour drive up-country to Torogo (toe-ROW-go) today with an African passenger whose name translates to "Moses." The poor guy just sat in the back while we talked in English the whole time, but he didn't seem to mind too much. Hey, it was a free ride!

The drive was a great way to start the trip. What a wonderful opportunity to see the land and the people and have some time to process before jumping into the week! Before we even got out of Abidjan I was well aware of my different surroundings. Sometimes it feels like there aren't any rules (especially when driving!) but then I realize that there are rules, I just don't know them. Yet. Children form the lines between lanes of traffic in the hopes that you might feel like buying a map of the country on your way into work this morning. Women's heads are piled high, competing with the overloaded trucks to see who can be the most gracefully top-heavy. I learned that they can do this because they walk differently. They swing from their hips and their head doesn't move. We bounce when we walk. They bounce when they drive!! : )

Robin did an impressive job of navigating the potholes, goats, dogs, and slow trucks! She just plows on through!! I would love to see her driving when she is 80 years old. She will blow every stereotype out of the water!!

There was a boy on the side of the road selling bushrats. They were HUGE!!

Robin and I had some good time to talk between breaths of diesel fuel. She told me her story about how she got here, how she always felt she was headed here. Her parents never encouraged nor discouraged her. They simply knew that they wanted her to be wherever God led and that he would reveal that to her when the time came.

I asked her quite a bit about her family. She didn't find out about her dad's death until 10 days after he died. They had already had the funeral and everything. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. She was with her mom when she died. We talked a bit about how hard it is for me to think about being away from my family. It is by far the biggest barrier I face when I think about the possibility of being overseas for a longer period of time. It tears me apart to think about not being a part of whatever they are doing. Robin made an interesting statement about how she feels like her work actually brought her family closer together because her parents and brothers were so involved in her mission and took an active role in her work. Something to think about, I guess.

One other thing she said that stuck with me was how we, as Americans, like to "claim our rights" and get what's "fair," but we need to realize that we don't have rights. What we have are God's time and God's strength and he can do with that what he pleases.

We stopped in Bouke (BWAH-kay) for an African lunch and I had cous-cous with pepper sauce and mutton. It was VERY good.

I wasn't too sure what kind of atmosphere to expect as far as the war goes. I had read a bunch before I came about the split between north and south, how there was this "buffer zone" that was supposed to be monitored by French troops and whatnot. I asked Robin about it early in the day and she said that closer to the crisis (2002-4ish) it was hard to get through but that things have been loosening up lately. Later on, in the middle of our conversation, Robin said, "Oh by the way, we're in 'rebel territory' now." I hadn't noticed. I guess it was an easy line to cross.

They do have these little military stops every so often with a spiked bar on wheels laying across the road. They make you stop and apparently they ask most people for bribes in order to let them by, but they usually just waved us through. Robin said that most of them recognize her or the dispensary's car (there's a little sign in the windshield) and they know that she doesn't pay the bribes so they've stopped asking!

We got to the dispensary mid-evening and were pretty exhausted considering that all we had done was sat in the car all day. The missionary housing is on the same grounds as the dispensary. There are two houses, but the missionary who lives in the other house is in the U.S. for home assignment, so Robin is the only one here right now. We ate dinner and now Robin is reading while I write. I will be heading to bed very shortly. We'll be off to the dispensary in the morning!



I wrote a poem about the trip up. You can read it here.

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