Participant Blogs

  We stood for no less than 10 minutes when a big 18 wheeler truck pulled up. That first day in Kaffrine things were looking tough for us but now it was happening fast!   We ran over to the truck and the driver was more than pleased to give us a lift. In fact he wanted to buy us breakfast as well. We couldn't believe it. A lift and food- truly a miracle. We sat at a roadside café enjoying a traditional African breakfast: very sweet tea and some white bread with butter.   Of course a truck is...

  (continued from A dream guides us ) In Kaffrine the World Vision guys dropped us of at the Catholic Mission saying we could try there for a place to sleep. I'm not a big fan of the Catholic Church, but one thing is sure, they have lots of infrastructure across the continent and they are usually very helpful.   During my road accident a year earlier we ended up at a Roman Catholic hospital, in Marrakesh they spoiled us with a meal, in St. Louis we got free accommodation and now once again in Kaffrine they gave us a...

That night Detlef had a dream that someone needed help driving a blue Land Rover all the way to the Mali border and that we agreed to help- which solved our transport issue!   We weren't sure if we needed to take it serious or not, but in any case would have to start moving. So we decided to take a local bus to the first big town on the road to Mali, which was Kaolack, 200km's from where there.   Our Senegalese bus was soon packed to the rafters and became quite unbearable. To make things worse it broke...

  The team was now gone somewhere in Senegal on their Luke 10 which left Detlef and myself alone back in Dakar. Because of Morocco being so expensive we were very short of funds. In fact we almost had no funds left at all. Which brought us to the conclusion that we would have to go on our own little Luke 10 as well.   Of course there was the infamous Bamako Express. A train running on a piece of track from Dakar to Bamako, Mali dating back to the colonial era. Stories of the train varied from horrifying to...

  Even though Senegal is mainly a Muslim nation the levels of persecution in the country are very low. The pressure we felt in Morocco, Egypt and Mauritania to stay under the radar was now suddenly relieved and it felt great!   But walking around St. Louis we felt other pressures mounting. Especially that of poverty. It was evident all around us, clearly seen in the big number of small children hanging around the streets begging. We then randomly met a Muslim man who was working with some of the children's homes in the area and took us to some...

  We had no set up ministry in Senegal. So nobody was waiting for us anywhere (Our next place of ministry was only 3 countries later in Zinder, Niger). This is quite a daunting feeling since you then have to find all the transport and accommodation on your own.   My plan was to travel to Dakar, the capital, and from there send the team out on their own following only the principles found in Luke chapter 10 in the Bible. Usually quite an adventure.   But now we were still on the border and the day was growing late....

Gone was the comfortable bus and train rides of Morocco and even to a degree Egypt. We were now in the land of trying to see how many people you can fit into small spaces. Our travels to Nouakchott was in two Mercedes-Benz taxi's. We would now complete the journey from the capital to the Senegalese border in one Renault station wagon! Including all our bags.   Somehow they convinced us it was an 8 seater. And it really was, just for very tiny people. Two or three bags fit in the back (of course the door had to be...

The long stretch of road across the desert to Nouakchott was very adventurous. It was exciting to think we were busy cruising across the Sahara.     Even though the landscape stayed pretty much constant, the people were changing. Their skin colour became darker as we moved south and soon it was obvious that we had left the European-like Morocco behind and we were entering into the more familiar images of Africa.   Nouakchott was so much African that the sudden change from Morocco was a shock on our systems. It didn't help that we arrived very late at night...

My parents, who are missionaries in Portugal, were also in Morocco for an outreach. We planned to work together in Tiznit with a contact they had. It was great to be able to join Explore Africa with my parents and we had a great time together!   Their contact worked especially with children with physical and mental disabilities. Which meant we could help her visit some of the children's families to build relationships and play with the children.   During this time we became friends with a young Muslim girl and her friend and finally had the opportunity to share...

During our whole time in Morocco I was thinking ahead to our next country: Mauritania. One thing bugged me: the visas. It was possible to get our Mauritanian visas in Rabat, Morocco, but according to the Mauritanian embassy in South Africa we would be able to get it on the border. Knowing of the disconnect that so often exists between embassies and border controls I wasn't entirely comforted. Especially since it was Mauritania, the border was in the middle of the Sahara and I had read stories on the internet of guys coming up against the fluctuating rules at that...