Around Town

All around town the boutiques (little neighborhood stores) that sell meat (these boutiques are also called 'boucheries') from their little freezers, paint signs to show what they sell.  This boutique/boucherie has fancy doors, which are unusual, and quite a nice paint job.  It is on one of the main roads, so it is more 'high end.'  I haven't bought meat from one of these stores because with constant power outages, I always wonder how many times the meat has thawed/unthawded, etc.......

School is out July-September, and during this time we often see children selling things.  This is a type of frozen milk drink.
The children, like other salesmen and women, walk up and down high traffic areas selling to people in cars that are waiting to get through traffic.

During a recent District Meeting, Elder Wheatley arranged for a plumber to come and fix a leaky bathroom sink pipe.  He came and it took only a few minutes, so he was paid and left.  Not long after, one of the elders kept looking through the doorway into the bathroom and finally said that he thought it was leaking again...........no kidding, soon there was a constant stream of water which had to be mopped up continually until the water to the whole apartment/house areas could be stopped.  While fixing one piece, apparently the plumber broke some other major parts.  It took another plumber and 2 trips to the market to get parts before it was fixed!
Ironically, Elder Wheatley had remarked just a day or so before, that we had not had an 'emergency crisis' for  a few days........

  

We visited this parcel with some elders to check on someone who was ill.  This little boy had developed a football (soccer) game with bottle caps and old batteries, soda cans, etc.  He even had all the players named.  He was having a great time (and before we left the elders played for a few minutes).

On the sidelines, you can see his playing pieces.  The batteries were the goalies.  He would flip the bottle caps with his finger to move them.  We think the ball was a little colored marble or rock.  He would position the 'ball' in front of a bottle cap and flip his finger to hit the cap which would hit the 'ball.'

One day we stopped at this little outdoor booth to look at some fabric, which was woven rafia.  We bought the two pieces the artist and his wife are holding and the intricately carved wooden box, which has a pattern on it that he said was like the pattern on the cloth....The fabric was all hand pieced and sewn.  Even though we couldn't speak the same language, we communicated OK during the 'bartering' and then after I asked if I could take a picture, he showed me his notebook full of pictures of other carvings and fabric pieces he had made.  Several pictures were taken in his village, and one was of his father, in his rafia 'chiefs' clothing.  There were many pictures of large wooden boxes that he was very proud of.  I think he was one of the artisans who used to sell his wares at the craft marche that was by the waterfront, before they closed the area and made it into more storage yards for the port.  As we were leaving, the woman picked out another small wooden box and gave it to me as a gift - I was so touched by her generosity and kindness!  It was so unexpected and it is something I will never forget.  I will always treasure that box.  I made a copy of the picture for them, but we have not been able to find them at the booth again - we will keep trying.

When the gate was open the day we were taking our Zone Conference picture, this curious little boy couldn't resist a 'peek.'  Then President Cook couldn't resist giving him a piece  of candy for his little basket!  President and Sister Cook have a special love for children and he must have a deep pocket, because we have seen him give out candy and talk to kids more than once on this trip!