WU 15 oct 07

Sorry everybody,

 

I typed it out on Saturday and forgot to send it. I will include a couple of pictures from the trip to visit with the orphans. The house they are staying in is rather nice. The woman who takes care of them is very dedicated. We lost the bball game by 18 points. We worked hard but they were very big and fast. We are getting better though.

 

Greetings from Cameroon,

 

I find myself at my desk at 2pm caught up on most work and reveling in the quiet. It is not typically quiet at 2pm on a Friday. The reason is that here in Cameroon there is a very high Muslim population. In Muslim tradition the last day of Ramadan is cause for celebration. I would probably celebrate too if I had been fasting for the better part of a month. Because the "Fête du Ramadan" is based on the observation of a full moon, it can not be declared ahead of time. The leader of the Islam community determines when it will be usually before first light on the day of the holiday. I found out today at 6am that it was going to be a holiday and school was closed. It is certainly nice to have a 3 day weekend but I had a lot of stuff planned for class today. It really throws a wrench in the lesson plans. Like the soccer coach says… "Awa". Africa wins again.

 

Other then that, things here are busy and we have a lot of things going on. Betsy has not been feeling well the past week and she is having some blood tests done next week. Hope fully we will find out what's up.

 

I am taking a group of students to an orphanage tomorrow morning in quartier Damas. Apparently the facility they were in was condemned and all the kids moved in with Madame Director until a new place could be found and situated. We will be just getting to know the kids and playing some games tomorrow and then start a bible lesson series every other Sat after that. I guess there are about a dozen kids from 2 to 11 and they are Anglophone / francophone. It should be fun.

 

After that we play FUSTEL bball at home and the girls soccer plays them at Newland. Apparently they had a big problem getting girls to play this year and they had to get the other teams to agree to play 8 on 8 soccer instead of 11 on 11. it's a big high school so I don't know what the story is. Our girls beat them pretty easily last time. Our boys bball team lost to them by 20 a few weeks ago. We did not play well at all and got stomped. We didn't play them last year (they didn't show up) and this year they have a very experienced team with some good players. I have 2 seniors and no other kid is over 16. We should be a lot better next year, I hope.

 

That's it from here. Hope all is well with everybody.

 

Take Care and God Bless

 

Brian & Betsy