Written 27.05.09

I don't think I said in my last blog post that the journey went ever so smoothly.
It helped that my parents and sister Ali took the train from Bedford to Gatwick with us, to help with the 7 suitcases, 4
pieces of hand luggage, buggy, car seat and 2 children! We flew from Gatwick to Tripoli, and the staff of Afriqiyah were
brilliant. There were mainly Libyan men as air stewards, and they totally cracked for Benjy. Each time one of them went
past us he greeted Benjy and tried to make him smile! We had room at our feet for Benjy's car seat and each had a
screen to watch films, cartoons or listen to music. At Tripoli the heat hit us. It was 30°C when it had been only about 20°C in
the UK. We just had a couple of hours in Tripoli, which went quickly. The airport felt like the setting of a role play on
culture shock when we first arrived, with confusing queues, signs all in Arabic and so on. With kids though, we were rushed
through to the front of all the queues!

Ours were the only children in the departure lounge, and Simon seemed to sense that this was his opportunity to burn some
energy, and ran about happily. The second plane was less luxurious, but only about a third full, so we could take up 6
seats without worrying about it. There were no TV screens this time, but since we wanted Simon to sleep that was a good
thing!

As we stepped out of the plane at Cotonou, at 10pm, it was the humidity we really noticed compared to Tripoli. Like stepping
into a steam room with all our clothes on! We got through passport control quickly, and through Customs with only 2 of our
suitcases being searched. Roger, a Beninese man who works for SIM was waiting for us with Don, a Canadian missionary who
we'll be working with up in the North of the country after our time in Parakou.

We had originally thought we'd spend a while in Cotonou, but since Don was driving up to Parakou on Saturday and had enough
room in his pick-up for all of us and our luggage, it seemed logical to go with him then. Our crates don't reach the Port
of Cotonou until the 29th, and Roger may be able to get them for us. There is no point us going to try to buy our car, as we
would never be able to negociate a good price, so there again we will probably get someone Beninese to act on our behalf.

We also wanted to come up to Parakou as the Guesthouse in Cotonou is quite small, doesn't have much outside space, and is located
in a very noisy road. In Parakou there is a very big compound ... which to Simon's delight has a wooden adventure playground
in it! This was also our opportunity to meet Erin, Don's wife, and their little girl Hayley (who will be 2 in July) before
they went back up to the North of the country on Tuesday. Grace, the missionary translator I stayed with in 2003, had also
come down with them, and it was great to see her again!

We are still in the Guesthouse at the moment, but should probably be moving into our Parakou house on Friday (today, by the time this is posted!). It is in the
other mission compound in Parakou, where there is a school for missionary children and a radio station. There are also 4 (I
think!) other missionary houses there. There is a Swiss-German family with 3 children a bit older than ours, including a
10 year old girl who is very sensible and loves looking after Simon for us (we love it too!).

It is hard to know how I feel about being here, as we are very much living in the here and now and looking at the things that
need to be done straight away. (Though we did meet with the Director of SIM Benin-Togo, Clara, yesterday to talk a bit about
the future.) I feel I have been here in Parakou so often in my head that actually being here again just feels quite normal!
It was really good to see the Matchoudo family again too - a Beninese family I stayed with for 2 weeks in 2002.

The boys are doing very well. Both of them have been affected a bit by the heat, mainly with prickly heat rash, and they are
both waking in the night thirsty. Benjy has been feeding every 2 hours or so, so we have him in our (fortunately enormous)
bed with us so that I can easily feed him then go straight back to sleep again. Simon loves being somewhere where he can
spend a lot of his waking hours outside, and he has been trying to make friends with some of the Beninese kids who play on
the compound. He hasn't yet figured out that they are more likely to understand him if he speaks to them in French instead
of English!

internet frustration!

Despite always having let me do it before, blogger won't let me cut and paste into a post! So I have a post waiting to be put here, and can't get it in!! I have tried from both a Word document, and a simple text file. Aargh!

Still, yesterday I spent half an hour on-line and couldn't get into either of my email accounts or do anything on blogger, so I suppose today is better!

We are safely moved into our new home, and I will attempt to write again soon!

out of africa

I am writing this lying on the bed in our room in the Parakou Guesthouse, under the mosquito net and by candlelight! This is the first power cut of any length we've had since getting here, and tonight will be a bit of a challenge if the power remains off, as it is so hot and sticky that we have had the ceiling fan going in our room every night since we got here. Yesterday it was 29°C by breakfast, and 35°C later in the day.

We have been extremely well welcomed by the missionaries here. Especially Grace, Don and Erin, who we will eventually be working with up in the North of Benin. Don came all the way down to Cotonou, 6 hours drive from Parakou and 9 altogether from where they live, just so he could meet us at the airport and drive us up to Parakou.

We saw our Parakou house today, which we will be living in for the next few months. We'll be in the guesthouse for a little longer though - the advantages being that meals are provided and there is a washing machine we can use. The disadvantage is that there is no point unpacking properly, so we are living out of our seven suitcases and four bags, which of course means lots of potential for losing things!

The biggest difference I have noticed in the country since I was last here in 2003 are all the adverts for mobile phones and internet providers. We bought a SIM card today and just need to get our handset unblocked now. Internet is dial-up, so I don't think we'll be using it much. When you are used to broadband it is so frustrating to wait a minute or so for every page to appear!

Today another missionary took Erin and me shopping with her. They both had shopping to do, and I went along to find out what can be bought where. No supermarkets here! Parakou is quite confusing too, but I expect I'll find my way around with experience.

Overall the boys are doing well. The heat has been a bit of a shock to their systems, and both of them have got prickly heat rashes (especially Benjy). We have also been bitten by mosquitos as soon as we forgot to put insect repellent on (or in places we didn't think to put it, like fingers and ears!).

There are lots of unknowns at the moment. We are hoping to get a car in the not-too-distant future, though there is a car we can borrow some of the time in the meantime. We don't have a very precise idea of when we'll move into our house, but it is reassuring to have been told that the two rooms we have in the guesthouse are ours as long as we need them. I feel ok about things being uncertain, but am looking forward to having a proper house and settling in, even if we know it will only be for a few months.

One encouraging thing is that there may be someone down here in Parakou who could give us some starter lessons in Monkolé. That is really good news - apart from anything else it will give us at least one definite focus during our time here.

out of

goodbye, our-car!

This afternoon we drove down to our old college in two cars, to give our car to a friend of ours who still studies there, and who needed a set of wheels! Since through other people's generosity we are going to be able to buy a car in Benin, we were only too glad to be the answer to someone else's prayer in this case.

And it's nice to know it's going to a good home!

(Our car outside our flat at college last year.)

well-supported!

Our church here in Bedford, Christ Church, had a Leaving Lunch for us on Sunday (though it wasn't our actual last Sunday). In fact we were briefly interviewed during the morning service, and then there was an open invitation for people to stay for a meal to hear about our work in more detail. After the service, several people apologised to me, saying that they weren't able to stay, and I wondered whether many would be able to be there. I needn't have worried, there were about a hundred people, including quite a lot of children. It was very encouraging to give our presentation to so many interested-looking people, and afterwards we were given bits of paper with people's prayers and good wishes written on them, and a generous offering which had been taken to help us with the expense of moving.

It is such a blessing to know that we aren't alone, and that we are going to be carried on the prayers of so many people, from Christ Church and elsewhere. It is such a tangible reminder that we are part of God's family, and that we have a mission that we are carrying out together, in different ways. Our part is to physically go, but others are giving, praying and encouraging so that that will be possible.

visa visa visa visa

Yesterday we drove down to London and got our visas. Fortunately the Benin Consulate is at the end of the M1, so it only took about an hour to get there. It is an office the size of a shoebox, but very efficient. We could have paid less for our visas at the Benin Embassy in Paris, but it would have taken 72 hours instead of 45 minutes! Marc just made a slight mistake filling in Simon's application form, as he accidentally wrote that Simon was married with two children :o) The consul noticed this and suggested it probably wasn't the case!

Another thing crossed off our to-do list! At the moment I feel that we have enough time to do everything left. I also feel that I am moving into "transition mode", starting to realise that we really are going to be leaving, and very soon. I'm trying hard not to get hung up on all the "lasts" ... but still had tears in my eyes when I realised that we were at our parent-and-toddler group for the second-to-last time yesterday morning. Oh dear! Hopefully I will manage not to be a complete emotional wreck our last week here!!

Mind you, it doesn't help that I'm still suffering from sleep deprivation. Benjy had got down to one feed per night, then had a bad cough and went back to 2 or 3. Now he seems to have got used to being back on several feeds a night, and I am feeling the consequences! Prayer for better sleep for him both at night and during the day (when he finds it very hard to drop off) would be appreciated! Thanks!

We had a great time at St John's, Hatfield, on Sunday. It had been our placement church from college last year, and we were warmly welcomed back again. We were encouraged by many people wishing us well and telling us they'd be praying for us. We then had lunch with the vicar, Philip, and his family, who have become good friends of ours. And we had afternoon tea (and coffee) with a couple of lecturers from college, before heading back to Bedford. A lovely fellowship-filled day!

Despite being very busy getting ready to leave, having children means that we do still get out for regular walks in the fresh Bedfordshire air! Here are a few photos from one of our favourite places, Moggerhanger Park:

headaches (the decision-making kind!)

It's no big scoop to say that being a parent is a big responsibility. Even if you are bringing a child up in your own culture, society changes and you will have to make decisions about things which your own parents never knew about (such as mobile phones and internet access). But we're beginning to realise some of the stress of bringing children up in a completely unfamiliar place ... and we aren't even there yet!

We've had to make decisions about which anti-malarial preventive treatments to take ourselves and to give to the boys. The difficult part is that each kind has good points and bad points, due to their effectiveness, their cost, their side effects and who they are suitable for.

Obviously it is just as important to try to avoid being bitten by mosquitos as much as possible, and we have also been stocking up on insect repellent, treated mosquito nets and so on.

At the end of the day, we have to do all we can, to the best of our knowledge, and then trust God. There is no point living in fear, and at least if any of us do get malaria we know that blood tests and very effective treatments are available. Please do pray for protection!