After breakfast we went to church at the chapel on the compound today – they call it the Chapel of Blessing. The service was like those I had attended in Jos in 2004 – singing from SS&S (Sankey’s Sacred Songs), dancing to give the offering, etc. The offering bowl was on the front table and row and row would walk/dance to the front to give their offering. The service here is in English and this is where Mark and Abby attend. The service ran about an hour and a half but Abby says that they typically run about 2 hours. The music at the beginning was a little hard to get into, but later it was better. There will definitely be a cultural adjustment here for me as I really love the music portion of worship.
After the service we came back and had a little time before lunch, so we just hung out and chatted. After lunch I read some and then took a short nap before the Oyinbo Tour scheduled for 3pm. Don’t recall if I’ve explained this Yoruba word before. It means “peeled skin” and is the name the Yoruba use for white people. Everywhere you go in town you are greeted with “Oyinbo, you are welcome” or a slight variation. “Well done is also another phrase commonly heard. Enok (one of the drivers) says that “well done” is just a way of saying hello.
The Oyinbo tour was a motor bike tour of Ebge. Five of us went – it was fun. Abby’s helper Ronke sets this us and warned the drivers not to hurt the Oyinbos. We drove around to various parts of the town. We ended up on a back road that makes a big circle that goes by the HELP compound, by the reservoirs, and then back to the hospital. This took about 45 minutes or so. Motorcycles are used for taxis here in Egbe, so they are everywhere. Got some great pictures and video during the tour.
After this we went down to hang out with the HELP boys who typically come over on Sunday afternoons to play basketball and soccer on the hospital compound. They have a tennis court here as well, but it needs some work. The sand gnats were pretty bad down there – had to spray with some bug spray that Mark had with him – had sprayed earlier but I guess it wore off. The gnats are mean little things! The boys eventually left and I made my way back up to the guest house.
Rested for a bit in my room before dinner. After dinner we sat around and talked some but I eventually decided to head down to the computer room. I got up, went to the guest house to get my computer, and was going to go down to the computer room when Abby said – “Is it time for crepes?” They had cooked some crepes and frozen a batch a while back but had defrosted some that morning. They put nutella and bananas in them – very good!
Headed down to the computer room to check email and do a little work
McAlhaneys on Mission 