from a letter home April 13, 1971
| I did go hiking on Good Friday. Carter, Ellen, David (Ellen’s cousin) and I set out at 6:30 a.m. There were many skeptical and amazed people in Sinyea. Most thought we wouldn’t make it and the others wondered why we bothered. Carter and I had packs, the other two carried boxes on their heads. I haven’t learned to do that yet, though I try. My neck gets so sore just trying to balance. Add some weight and I am impaired. We passed though Balama and Gbowoquellie in fairly good time. It was a good 1½ hour walk to the next village of Patawe. This little town is way upon the top of a hill. It is in high bush - very beautiful, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Besides being three hours off the road, they have completely cleared the top of the mountain so it’s hot and the town water supply is down a stiff 200 - 300 foot climb. Our destination, Goe, was another four hours away. Again it was very high bush - real rainforest - tall trees with flanked bases, vines everywhere, mosses and orchids all over tree trunks, loads of butterflies, etc., but I thought we would never make it. My feet hurt and we were about out of water. It was hot work and everything was soaked with sweat. But we made it! We stayed in the two teachers' rooms provided in the school building. A man in the village took charge of us and let us use his kitchen. That evening we watched the kids playing games and singing and we went to bed early. Saturday we visited a cocoa farm and then walked to the Saint Paul River - beautiful. Great for swimming, but for schistosomiasis and they say, in some places, crocodiles. We didn’t see any! In the afternoon we lazed around, strolled a bit. That night we attended a native Methodist Easter service. Because we were guests we had to lead a prayer. Ellen translated the sermon for us. The next day we relaxed. I was able to stay awake until 7:00 that night before I dropped to sleep. |
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