Still in Africa - Ready for Phase Three

We're now back in the city of Dakar, after completing the second phase of our Planting Together outreaches. This phase involved driving in a huge army truck to Mbar Toubab and the surrounding villages, way in the north of Senegal. There our teams slept on the floor, and worked every day to plant trees with the government project known as the Great Green Wall. After the first day of planting, we were astounded to hear that we had planted 2225 trees that day - even though our efforts had been cut short by a torrential rainfall. We managed to increase that number a little every day, even managing more than 3000 trees one day.

Those of us who were unable to plant for various reasons stayed back to help the village ladies who wee cooking for us. One day I sat on the ground under a tree and chopped onions for three hours solid; we began to wonder if the number of onions cut was equal to the number of trees planted !! Fortunately, we stuck with the vegetables and were not asked to kill a goat for the meal every day; that was the job of one of the men in the village.

We also had a small medical team who were able to treat more than 600 ill people in the villages of Widou and Mbar Toubab. The team included a gynaecologist, Dr Noel, which meant that they were able to consult with more than 70 pregnant ladies from the villages. The highlight of the trip for him was the night when they were able to see a lady through a long and rather complicated labour, and finally were able to deliver a healthy baby girl. The parents were so blessed by the doctor's intervention, that they called their new daughter Noelia.

Our contact with the village people, the army officers overseeing the planting project, and the ladies in the kitchen was all very positive and we were able to build some friendships despite the language barriers. It was an amazing testimony for them to watch our group, young and old, black and white, from several different nations, all living and working together in harmony, and this opened the door for some interesting conversations. We had a special meeting to honour them and give them gifts on the last day, and they all asked us to come back and bring more people with us next year.

Now we're getting ready for Phase Three - and all the teams are spreading out to different parts of Senegal for further outreach and ministry. The Spanish team is staying in Dakar, where we'll be partnering with two different ministries. One is a daily club and after-school programme for Wolof children; the other is an orphanage for children who used to spend their lives begging on the streets. We'd value your prayers for unity in our now much smaller team, and for God's enabling as we share His love with these children from poor and needy backgrounds. Thank you.