Tuesday, May 11, 2010

"Gape Aloyi pt 1..."

Sunday was Mother's Day.  We had an expereinced that we will never forgot...little did we know what this day would hold when our alarm went off at 5:45 am. 

We (Captain Tim, his wife Sharon and son Nathaniel and the Jacobsen family) had been invited by a French Naval Officer, Eric, to visit the village Gape Aloyi about 3 hours out of Lome.   Eric is looking at helping to build a school in the village with other French ex-pats. who live in Lome.  As Mercy Ships Crew, we were curious about the villiage and if there was anything we could do to help.  So, our day began as we loaded our stuff and ourselves into one of the Nissans to head out to meet the rest of the people we were to travel with.  For the first hour, we wound our way in and out of Lome picking up different people. 
We then headed out of town. It does not take long to realize where Lome ends. The building become much more basic in structure.   The further out of town one travels, the more "rustic" the houses become...eventually you notice...no more power poles, no more phone lines...just mud huts with thatched palm roofs and lots of sand.
We crossed over abridge and journey brought us deeper into the heart of Togo. 
 As we continued on our journey, the roads become smaller and more rough. The vegetation was amazingly thick.  After drving for about 2 1/2 hours, we had a rest stop about 30 minutes outside of the village.
I was amazed at this tree and the root system.  We also saw termite mounds.
After our rest stop, we continued on up the road, where we had a motorcycle escort waiting for us to take us into the village. 
Waiting to welcome us was the whole village.  They had handcrafted a sign to honour us-welcoming us into their village.
We were welcomed with dancing, singing, and great shouts of jubilation!  This was just the start of the day...continued tomorrow...

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