MEHANNA ROAD

Post by Dave Adcox (June/July 2009 Trip - Village K)

I write this less than a month after returning from Village K and other towns along the Mehanna Road. During our time there we experienced Songhai hospitality, a broken-down bush taxi, camping in the village, and having our personal space invaded by crowds in pursuit of gospel tapes.

We painted two of the four classrooms in the Village K school. Cindy Tyndall and Laurie White created beautiful murals of river scenes in both rooms between windows overlooking the Niger River. Each of the three days we worked on the school , Paul, provided us with a traditional lunch of either noodles or rice, and a spicy fish sauce. By the third day he had even found three spoons for eight of us to share. While this sounds primitive by Western standards, he offered us the best his family had, sacrificing food they would otherwise have eaten in a hungry and thirsty land.

Our team shared stories with many people in Kduring the Sunday market day, our first day in the village. These Bible stories focus on the love of God and his forgiveness through Jesus. Breaking into two sub-teams we were able to speak with more than 200 people and distribute tapes that included the gospel of John and stories from Songhai believers. When we returned to share more stories on Tuesday, however, we found the town nearly deserted, with most people having left to plant their crops outside of town because of the rains that arrived shortly before our team. We found the same situation in Village Y the following day.