Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Journal entry on Sunday, December 28

Ruth's House, Douala

We've been here a little over 24 hours. How can I possibly describe everything? The flight from Brussels to Douala passed pretty uneventfully – except that we were kept on the ground for nearly an hour, so we were late getting into Douala. I slept several times, much better than the night before. My seat mate was a young Cameroonian man who has settled in Chicago. He wants to bring his whole family to the U.S. He was very angry at Cameroon and all its corruption and just wanted to get out. Such a contrast to Ruth and Raphael who want to help make it different.

When we finally landed in Douala, I signaled across the aisle to Joe and Barbara to hurry with me off the plane. I was so excited to see Ruth, and I didn't want her to wait too long. So we were among the first off the plane. Then they remembered that they had not filled out their disembarkment card, so we had to stop to do that. By the time they finished we were at the end of the line! First we moved slowly up a line to show our passports and yellow fever card. Then we had to wait again in a long line to show them to another person. Finally we were able to move on to the place where we greeted Ruth. We were the very last to come out. First we hugged and hugged, and she laughed and laughed. She said she had started to worry that we had missed that plane or something. Then we had to collect our nine bags plus our “personal” bags. Fortunately, Ruth had brought a man with her to help and he was a genius. For awhile we couldn't find several of the bags, but eventually every one was accounted for. Then we realized there was another long line, and maybe our suitcases would be opened. Before we knew it, Paul and Ruth were saying, “Come this way.” We were ushered out a side door and outside without even going through that other line! It was obvious that Paul and Ruth were well known by airport personnel. Paul got several porters to help carry our suitcases down some pretty steep steps to the parking lot. All around me were the colors and smells and sights of Africa! I still could hardly believe it.

When we got to Ruth's home, Ruth and Raphael had to rush off to a wedding party, so the three of us were served dinner by ourselves. It was beef well-prepared, delicious, with a fresh fruit cup for dessert, complete with papaya. Finally we went to bed and we all slept well. I can't believe I have not been more affected by jet lag.

Ruth woke us all up this morning when it was time to get ready to go to church. She had explained that their assistant pastor was having his baby baptized in a brand new church recently started by their church. Again we had a lovely meal of papaya and a scone. Then we drove quite a distance to this new church. The traffic was absolutely anarchic! But Victor, the driver, was extremely competent. Paved roads soon turned into dirt roads, even while we were still in Douala. When we got there, I couldn't believe it. It looked like all the pictures I've ever seen of African churches. There were four walls and a roof in this case, but all the windows were wide open to the outdoors, and even though it was only recently built, we could see where the rain had come in and stained the wood. The floors were cement. The chancel area had a plain table and lectern, and there was a pulpit the preacher had to climb many steps to get up into.

I'm getting sleepy. I'll have to explain this magnificent day more tomorrow. Hopefully we'll go at a bit slower pace.

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