Only 11 days to go to Christmas and it's freezing cold again - we are north of the equator though, so maybe I should forgive the weather gods in this part of Africa!
Drove off with three sides down, rugged and sleeping bagged in the back. The uncomfortable, dusty and cold ride tossed us around like sacks of potatoes, but the scenery along the Niger River was a beautiful reward for our hardships. We saw few people other than tiny encampments of woven-mat huts in natural, black and red, and several low-slung sacking tents backed onto mud buildings, on the other side of the river. Long stretches of low sandhills reached to the water’s edge. There were no green strips of agriculture between the water and the desert.
Fantastic river-side lunch stop, opposite an island crowded with mud huts. A big herd of donkeys passed us as we were eating.
Washed my hair in the cold water, the wind too bitter for a full body clean. Back at the truck we had an audience: a husband, wife and four children with fine, angular noses, high cheekbones and beautiful eyes. The man wore a turban of sorts and the woman covered most of her face with her dusty wrap. The four beautiful children watched us with guarded interest. They stood and watched us and didn't object to us taking photographs so our cameras rattled.
Jeff, Julie and I yacked all afternoon, about growing up and childhood memories, and ended up discussing flying hippos in green Wellington boots and yellow mac. Our screams of laughter wafted up to the crows' nest; nearly hoarse by the end.
In camp Jeff tuned in Ben’s shortwave radio to try and find some reggae music and the evening turned into party with a short reggae burst followed by Voice of America news and then Ronnie Reagan’s address to the nation. Hi ramblings about taxation and Nicaragua and the grace of God et cetera prompted rapt attention from the Americans but groans from most, because we know what else he’s involved with. We flicked from there through the dial, hearing snippets of foreign-language station segments, from My Music “pick the country”, to Spanish, Italian, French, Canadaian, a ballgame in the USA, German, and then the dulcet tones of the BBC, which was broadcasting a fantastic Norwegian fairy story performed by a British cast.
The fairytale was about a poor woodcutter family who trade their daughter Helga for wealth from a white bear. Helga lives with the bear but is visited at night by a dream lover who she cannot see until, prompted by her mother, she sneaks a look at him by candlelight, burning him with tallow and sealing his fate to marry a troll. The bear leaves to seek his destiny but Helga follows, receiving enchanted golden gifts from three old women, who age as she travels. Four winds transport her: the Indian west wind, Irish east wind, Italian south wind, and Scottish north wind, the actors performing them having many good lines, including “All in a day’s blow.” Landing at last in the land east of the sun and west of the sun, she trades her golden gifts for nights with the prince who is unknowingly drugged by the trolls. Goodness and niceness prevail over nastiness and evil and the lovers are united, because only a Christian can wash the wax from the prince’s shirt because it was dropped by a Christian - Helga is the only Christian in the troll castle. The North wind leaves them in the blossoming kingdom, the stars and sun shining together. The lovers together at last. Gotta love a happy ending. Tune in next Saturday for the next exciting episode.
A great night. Large group around the radio like the old days. Never thought I’d be sitting in the middle of Africa listening to the voice of America and Ronald Reagan and enthralled by Saturday theatre with the BBC - can’t wait to tell my folks.
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