Monday, January 4, 2010

Over the hill to Uli's house we go!

This past Sabbath afternoon the younger pathfinders, (that is, those doing the Friend level), headed out to Uli and Toussaint’s house for a night of camping. We all met at the church and with our gear, took a hike. We walked through town, past the main mosque, up by the Baptist church, through the old cemetery, across the Dasgartes primary school campus, then down the other side of the hill to the homestead. I bought 20 big plastic woven sacks, like those burlap potato sacks, which you can buy at the market, for 75 cents a piece, and Suzy sowed them together to make 5 tarps. These we used to make tents with big sticks cut from the trees surrounding the property (they started collecting two weeks in advance because there aren’t many trees!). The kids enjoyed putting up their tents, and in an hour or so, we had four nice tents, I used the last tarp to make a short of one pole shelter for myself. The kids played a bit of soccer, then we built the campfire, and had supper. The house is right down the road from an orphanage/dorm where I preached a few weeks ago, so those kids joined us as well for our evening worship and activities. We sang, and then I shared about fire in the Bible, and specifically about Elijah and the worship of God and how God is a refining fire, using the illustration of the silversmith. Then we did some charades, very interesting and enjoyable. We had a special treat too, Uli made the dough for campfire bread (I usually cheat and buy that Pillsbury stuff in the cardboard ready made). We had a lot, so the kids all made some great thick pieces and enjoyed them muchly. I tried the India version, as mentioned by John Baxter in the Frontiers magazine a few months ago, just making a dough ball and putting it in the coals, except without using cow dung as fuel, that might take too much courage for me! It was a wee bit hot and so the outside burned hard before the inside could cook well, but I let it burn, and cracked it open to eat, okay it was a little raw, but tasty. On Sunday morning some kids were up at 5AM, making a little too much noise, which they received a talking to for after. The property is down near a creek and so the evenings this time of year are quite chilly, so that drove some kids up out of bed to revive the fire which was still smoldering. Eventually after sending them back to their tents at 6AM, everyone was up by 6:45, and we got ready for the day, taking the tents down, and warming by the fire. We had a devotional based on Psalm 91 talking about God as our shelter, then had breakfast. Some played soccer after that, then we did some requirements, on knife, ax, saw, pick safety, and what to do when you get lost. Now we were up for a hike to the river, and went exploring for a half hour. It is already 11AM and the kids spent the rest of the time playing soccer or a new game Uli received of I Spy.
Lunch of rice and beans was served then, and was enjoyed by all. Some rest and all too soon at 3Pm it was time to hit the trail again. The kids had left with a quick pace and ready to go, now on our way back, after much activity, they dragged their feet a bit, but we eventually with some pushing from me, made it over the mountain and then each headed in the direction of their particular home.

1 comment:

Florence said...

That sounded lovely. Never thought of camping out in Africa in the open, too many bugs, snakes and other scary creatures, but hey, obvioulsy benin is different.

Should have sang the Rise and Shine cAmp song:

Chorus:
Rise and shine,
and give God the glory, glory
Rise and shine,
And give God the glory, glory,
Rise and shine and, (clap),
Give God the glory, glory,
Children of the Lord.