Wednesday April 2nd

Hello, readers.  Today we had three groups active simultaneously.  Deb, Judy and Sarah spend the whole day conducting a seminar on starting a business and making it a success on a small initial budget.  There were sixteen women attending, and they were really excited to have the chance to talk together and get great advice.  Bonnie, Catherine, Chloe and Ella went to the church and worked with children there on learning English through games and art projects.  It was energy-packed and a joyful noise!  Karl, Nancy and I were upstairs in the church helping the local pastors understand some key aspects of the UM Book of Discipline in governing the local church and handling conflict within a congregation.  Ours was nearly an entire day, too.  Carol floated between the sessions taking pictures and also talking with others in the church about activities tomorrow and Friday.

Mike was ill today and could not participate - nothing serious, just a sore throat and sinus headache.  Mike had been instrumental in assembling the materials for the meeting with the pastors, so it was unfortunate that he could not participate.  He was back on his feet in the very late afternoon, and we don't expect him to miss dinner. 8)

At the end of the day, Judy, Deb, Sarah, Carol and I went for a walk on the beach - which was covered with youth playing soccer.  Several times, we found ourselves in the midst of a game without knowing how it happened.  The players did a very good job of avoiding us (like the referee) and no one was hurt and no goals disallowed due to interference.

Tomorrow we are planning to go down the coast about 50 miles to Mbour and visit the congregation there.  We will also bring materials to the women's skills center there.

-- Tom