Happy Birthday, Sam! Up before 7 this morning. Too noisy outside. Plus I thought I heard raindrops. And, yes, it was raining. But, by the time we were dressed and ready for breakfast the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to come out. Breakfast was omelets and toast again. That is pretty much what they serve in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. You can have just bread and butter with coffee/tea or you can add just fruit to it or you can add fruit and an omelet plus juice. The end. Cyrille said he’d be here to pick us up around 9:30ish so we were ready and waiting for his 10-10:30 arrival. Remember, it’s African time. We grabbed three of the JF soccer balls and a hand pump from the bag and climbed in the car with Cyrille and Samuel. But, on the way we had to stop at the restaurant we’d been at yesterday for Cyrille to make arrangements for us to return there today for a meal. Soon we were on our way to Tole where we were greeted with cheers from several of the older boys who were ready for games of football (soccer). On the far end of the village was a large soccer field. There were lots of young men there waiting to play and many children and adults waiting to watch and cheer on the teams. The teams were apparently already decided upon so it just took a little time for them to change into the right color of uniforms……shorts pulled over their pants and jersey shirts, all in the colors on the JF soccer ball (except for white). Then we watched the teams parade around the field stretching and getting warmed up. While they were doing all that we sat up on a hillside on a little concrete porch in plastic chairs with smaller kids gathered around us. You know….they had to stare at the “white man” and some wanted to touch.
Soon the teams were all ready and lined up on the field. Cyrille called the three of us to come down to the field with him. Then he gave a little pep talk to all the teams, they scattered to opposite sides, all of us walked across the center of the field a few feet and then they had Sam come back to the center and kick the ball. Then we were done and told to leave the field. Don’t know the significance of that except for tradition.
Going back up to our chairs we spent most of the rest of the time being surrounded by kids, crowded up as close as they could get. They all wanted pictures done. Earlier when there weren’t so many there I had passed out a few dum-dum suckers but stopped when there got to be so many kids I didn’t have enough for everyone. Johnny was mobbed when she passed out some balloons and stickers.
The chief’s brother was there also. He looked just like him and we thought, initially, that it was the chief. But, when he came over and sat next to me and started talking I knew it wasn’t the same person. This one couldn’t speak English very well and was very soft spoken, hard to hear and understand. I finally understood that he was wanting to know who we worked for that had paid for us to be there. So, I explained that we had volunteered and that we worked hard all year to be able to afford to come, but that we came because we loved Jesus. Then he asked me if we came to take back children with us. So, again I had to tell him no, that is not our purpose. That was all he wanted to know, I guess because then after he sat there a few more minutes he got up and said he would be back at night for the film and left.
Shortly thereafter, Cyrille came to get us to go to lunch. Early today..just 1:30. We went back to the restaurant. He said he had preordered the same food for us that we’d had yesterday. We also had a drink that was a mixed fruit “cocktail” with carbonation. It was bottled and was pretty good. After lunch he suggested we go back to the hotel for a couple of hours to rest while the soccer continued. He’d pick us up around 5 for the finals. When we got back to the hotel we were told at the desk that they were moving us to a different room. Apparently the room we were in was much more expensive than the one that had been booked for us but, I guess when we checked in they had lost the reservation and didn’t have two of the less expensive rooms. So, we had to move all our stuff out of our room to go downstairs next door to Johnnie. Much smaller room, but only for one night as we are moving to a different town tomorrow. However, I have a feeling that even though these rooms are not great that they are probably better than what we will be staying in the rest of our time here.
After a little rest time we were ready at 5 for Cyrille. Finally Samuel showed up to get us between 5:30 and 6 p.m. When we got back to Tole it was nearly dusk. The award ceremony started and Humphrey picked up a JF soccer ball and told about the three of us bringing the balls with us. He then showed the different colors of the JF ball and what they meant. Then the ball was placed on top of a big award trophy and presented to the winning team. Lots of cheering and prancing about. It was nearly dark when over. And then the JF team started to set up for the film showing…..while everybody who had been there for the soccer game left and went home. It was completely dark by the time they were set up and started showing the film. But, surprisingly several people came to watch, including the chief’s brother…who had watched the entire film the night before and who is not a Christian. He stayed until it started sprinkling then he left. It didn’t rain much and most of the people stayed the whole time. We were late getting back to the hotel and now it’s time for bed.
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