The return.

I'm back from Benin and what an amazing experience. We did so much in 5 days time that every day felt like two. The men put the roof on the new dorm and cemented the walls inside and out and started laying down the sand and cement for the floors. Everything had to be done by hand, there were no power tools.
The ladies on the team taught the girls crochet, jewelry making, accounting and health and hygiene. It's amazing how quickly you can bond with people. I only knew those girls for 5 days but I cried when I had to leave them.
Everything was better than we thought it would be. The temperature was in the low 80s most of the time. A lot of humidity but they are in their winter so it was almost pleasant out a few days. The travel time from Paris to Cotonou was shorter than what I had been told. The plane had empty seats going and coming so we were able to stretch out and sleep. We rode around in Benin in Speed the Light SUVs that had AIR-CONDITIONING. We stayed at another denominations mission compound while we worked at the women's center. We had running water, western style toilets and mosquito netting. In Cotonou we stayed in the Romans home, which was formerly an AG missions house where each missionary couple had their own room, but the Romans are the only missionaries from the AG in Benin currently so the large house is theirs. They had air-conditioning units in the rooms so sleeping was actually very pleasant.
Voodoo is still very prevalent in Benin and we saw several huts and fetishes dedicated to voodoo. We also went to a stilt village where many witchdoctors were congregating and we heard voodoo drums and passed a hut where there was something going on, I wasn't too curious to find out exactly what it was.
We also visited an orphanage for a morning while we were there. Over 60 kids and no bathroom, but my church paid to have ten latrines dug the week after we were there. They have a problem with cleanliness and less than a year ago they lost three babies within a month of each other because of a sickness that spread through the group. The kids were all just like any other kids though and they wanted very much to be touched and noticed and to have someone to play with.
We also got to spend a little leisure time in Benin because of having to wait for flights out of the country, they run three planes out to Paris a week. We got to go to the beach at a resort and see the ocean. You can't swim in it because of the undertow but we did get wet collecting shells from the surf.
I had to stick close to Brenda Roman, the missionary we worked with, when we were out in public. She became a little worried about me ending up in the human trafficking ring. Being out in crowds became a headache, I felt like I was about 10 years old.
Then we stayed overnight in France waiting for the team from the Congo to get to Paris so we could all head home together. We got a fast-track tour of the Normandy province in France. We stayed at a chateau owned by a church in Roeun. We saw Arromanches, the port for D-day and the American cemetery. We got to go to a French church service and my pastor preached. They fed us but unfortunately my belly was a little shaky and one of the other women had amoebic dysentery. Lots of fun for her to travel! I felt so bad for her.
The chateau was very cool. It had been occupied by the Nazis during WWII and is currently having some work done in it's bathroom to update it a little. Built in the late 1600s and was a very cool place to get to stay. It was also a very cold place to get to stay and I ended up under three wool blankets to make it through the night.

I'm still on my malaria medication and will be until the end of the month. It's a pain remembering to take it.

On the fundraising side I had three pledges from team members in Benin taking my current total for my monthly budget over $700, which means I have a third of that raised. I've also done two church services in the week I've been home so I have $1,125 towards my cash budget. Yeah! Things keep moving along.