Rain Rain Go Away

One of our first posts was about the rain in Ghana. Here we go again.

We drove to church in the rain today. It has been raining off and on for a couple of weeks.

These are members of our ward walking home from church. The reason they are not in our car is because we had nine passengers in our seven passenger car including two babies and the oldest man in the ward.

This is the road we drove through going to and from church. We drive a kilometer or two on road like this. 

The members walk to church in this. Despite the mud the spirit is strong once we arrive. 

When the path is not clear you have to make do.

Nevertheless, the inconvenience of walking to church in the rain and in the mud is far outweighed by what the weather has done to other Ghanaians. A week and a half ago it rained four inches in one day and flooded significant parts of Accra. Depending on which news report you believe between 150 and 250 people lost their lives as a result of the weather.

Compare this boy's plight to that of our neighbor, above. 

The streets were flooded.

The parking was flooded.

The drainage system was flooded.

Some of the senior missionaries' cars were flooded.

Some of the senior missionaries' apartments were flooded. After the Heckels ground floor apartment was flooded they were moved to an apartment at the temple complex on the second floor where a pipe burst and flooded them again. Then they moved up to the third floor.

We are only at the beginning of the rainy season. Hopefully we will not experience further damage.

Dakar

The northern most country in the Africa West Area is Senegal. Senegal is 90% Muslim but prides itself on tolerance and hospitality. Recently we went to visit the saints in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

Dakar has the style and feel of a Saharan City. It has 1.9 million residents.

It is also the most westerly point in Africa.

"The saints" in Dakar consist of a family whose father is assigned to the U.S. Embassy, the Petersons, six native Africans, none of whom is native Senegalese, and one Chinese expatriate. They form a Group and meet in the family's home.

The Senegalese pride themselves on being physically fit. 

They are regularly seen running on the street or the beach and wrestling.

In front of the high rise hotels these Senegalese are using their beach.

Not all beach front residences are high rises.

Senegal was a French colony and French cuisine lingers, gratefully. 

These are the best pastries we have had in Africa.

The restaurant where we had dinner is reminiscent of Mediterranean Italy.

Dakar's most prominent landmark is this statue of a father, mother, and child escaping slavery, a gift to the Senegalese from the people of North Korea.

Senegal has a stable government. We felt safe the whole time we were there.

In the bay of Dakar is Goree Island which was used hundreds of years ago to hold slaves before they were shipped from Africa.

The architecture gives you get the feeling that Goree could have been used as the model for Adventureland.

You could spend the whole day taking pictures on Goree.

Artisans on Goree are famous for their sand paintings.

There are also merchants anxious to sell you their wares. These three women followed Sister Wilde for half of our excursion to Goree.

There are artisans on the mainland as well. The craftsmen in this shop paint on the back of glass.

We loved Dakar and hope to see the Church formally recognized there soon.