Today was my second day off and this week we went to Dakar! This was my second visit to the capital (excluding my initial arrival) and it was great fun. The Senegalese are a very friendly people (although often in the towns it's because they want your money). We got a ride in with the father of two of our weekly boarders on his way home from dropping off his sons. Unfortunately his car was having problems and he had to stop in Keur Massar (spelling??) on the outskirts of Dakar to see a mechanic so we got a bus from there to the town centre. Buses are one of the more normal forms of transport from a western point of view but they are still very African. After quite a wait to get on it we couldn't find any seats and had to stand up for what should have been maybe a half an hour journey on a good day. This was ok at first as the bus was no more full than your average English service bus on a busy school route, however as time went on more and more people quickly joined us and soon I was literally cheek to cheek (of the lower variety) with my fellow passengers. The sweat was dripping from my elbow onto the poor guy sat below me and I was growing steadily weaker and more tired as I had to refrain from drinking the ice cold water in my bag I so sorely needed out of care and respect for the bus full of Muslims around me who are now fasting for Ramadan. The journey took nearly two hours and after an hour and I half I seriously thought I could faint but I found my strength renewed as I contemplated the free gift of salvation I have in Jesus and the fact that he has paid the ultimate price so that I don't need to fast for a month and pray four times a day to earn salvation because it cannot be earnt. I spent the rest of the journey singing to myself and proclaiming this truth to myself in song (I couldn't muster the courage to proclaim it to a bus full of fasting Muslims and they wouldn't have understood the words anyway!). It's been a long but great day, one which has refreshed me, if not physically, at least spiritually, for the week ahead.
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