Hello all,
It is customary for one of the visitors to write the Yendi Notes while here and I (John Colgan) have been drafted.
We had eaten dinner last night and retired quickly in preparation for a somewhat early departure from Mole heading back to Yendi. Steve Carr and I had settled in, happy to have a room with not only air conditioning but also a ceiling fan and refrigerator. Then at just about 10 PM we were both awakened not by a noise, but by a sudden silence. I reached over and turned on a light switch and the room lit up, but we soon figured out the lights were the only things that still had electricity. A circuit had gone down taking out the AC, fan, fridge and even the electrical outlets! We couldn’t even charge our phones. I was wearing scrubs for pajamas, so it wasn’t much trouble for me to slip on some shoes and head down to the front desk to tell them of the issue. The young man was genuinely upset we were having trouble, but incapable of fixing it himself. He came down to the room to verify the problem was with the equipment and not the operator, and then he tried unsuccessfully to contact a technician who lives nearby to come and investigate. It became obvious that the repair efforts could take an extended time and we needed to get some rest, so Steve and I decided that the room would be bearable without AC, I told the young man and we settled in again. The hotel staff was not happy that our air conditioner wasn’t working, so even though we told them not to bother, they attempted a repair and then came back by in about 15 minutes to see if it worked. It hadn’t – and we once again told them we would be fine and settled in. About 20 minutes later two young men knocked and wanted to move us down two rooms to one with a working air-conditioner, while somewhat intrigued I really didn’t feel like packing everything up to haul it 30 feet and unpack again, so I tried to decline when they then told me we could have both rooms for the night so we could leave our things where they were and still sleep in comfort. That idea was a winner. We settled into our nice cool room and got some rest.
We arose and got another view of the elephant at the watering hole before having breakfast and getting on the road. As mentioned yesterday we had received word that the “White Volta” River Bridge would close to all traffic at 10:00 AM and we needed to be across before then as to go around involves a 5 hour drive over bad roads. We made good time and would have arrived at the bridge by 9:15, but before we even got close we encountered a backup of tractor trailer trucks that stretched for miles, with no traffic at all other than motorcycles in the opposite travel lanes. We crossed into the opposing lanes and snaked past all the stopped semi-trucks and at the head of the line, came to a road block manned by armed soldiers and police. This was still several miles away from the bridge. After discussing our options, Steve Taylor and our driver Red went to talk to the men at the road block. The conversation was drawn out and the police called for one of their superiors, who informed them the block had been set up here as the road ahead was overly congested and we would not be able to cross the bridge, even if we managed to get through the traffic jam ahead. No one knew why the bridge had been closed early, nor when it would be open again. After further discussion the police decided it wouldn’t hurt anything to let us through their checkpoint, but assured us the best we could hope for would be to drive up to the bridge, walk across and get a taxi on the other side. While not desirable, we could leave the van with the driver and walk across if necessary, so we proceeded down the road. After a couple of mile we came to another line of semi trucks stopped in the road, with many of the drivers lying on the road in the shade of their trucks. We were still a mile from the bridge. Steve Taylor, Steve Carr and Red set out on foot to see if they could get any more information or see a way through. They called after a time that seemed insufficient to even have allowed them to walk to the bridge. They said to get the van around all the trucks and come to them as quickly as possible. So I hopped in the driver seat, got in the left lane and started passing trucks while avoiding the motorcycles and pedestrians. In a couple of minutes we saw our men ahead at another checkpoint. When we got there, they piled in and after a couple of minutes an officer walked up and started yelling at everyone near the checkpoint barrier. People scattered. He walked over to the barrier and pulled it out of the way allowing us to pass! As we proceeded, the men told us that they had been told we would come to another checkpoint, where we would likely be stopped as the soldiers thought only small sedans were allowed to cross the bridge. We continued along and instead of another checkpoint the next thing we came to was the bridge and it was open with no work in progress or machinery anywhere. We drove across and went on our way!
We drove on to Tamale, got the tires balanced to try and fix our vibration problem, ran some errands and bought some airline tickets for the domestic portion of our return trip in a week and a half. We drove on to Yendi (vibration free) arrived at the mission house, unpacked and got cleaned up. Kandie made us a fine spaghetti dinner with some yellow melon for dessert. The yellow mellow was like cantaloupe only sweeter and crisper. Then we headed out to Yawodo village for bible study. It looked like the entire village turned out. We met outdoors, and there were no lights – I suspect there is no electricity in the village. My best estimate is there were over 50 people in attendance. They sang in the crowd and then I was asked to lead the opening prayer. Then Steve Carr did a bible class on the Sower and the Seed. Timothy Niligrini translated for us both. The lesson was well received and understood as the villagers are farmers, so there were few questions afterward.
We traveled back to Yendi and have settled in at the mission house. I have been told we will hit the ground running tomorrow morning and won’t check up until we head back home Sunday week.
Thank you for all the love, prayers and support.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
John & Steve
