Paroikos

. . . you know there is a big disaster. I can’t remember the ever seeing my grandmother run anyway.

This is one of the Nigerian sayings that Pastor Bassey quoted as the introduction to his sermon this last week.

I spent the last week near the city of Badagari in Nigeria. Here most of the pastors from Nigeria, Ghana, and Togo gathered together for a joint West Africa pastoral conference. This was caused mainly by the political insecurity of Nigeria. Since it seemed abnormally unsafe for me to journey to Efa we brought all the pastors together near Lagos, Nigeria. (more…)

November 25, 2009 – 8:20pm – Lome Togo

Choir in Lome Togo singing in church

Leave it to the French to make things difficult. I arrived in Lome Togo today after only a very brief stint in Ghana. It really amazes me how different the two countries are although put together I do not think their combined width is even 150 miles. One of the differences is the outlets. Its true that everywhere I go has different outlets from the UK to Nigeria to India. Here in Togo I have found generally the same two round holes like in India, BUT they are inset into a round cavern with a single flat vertical protuberance coming out of the wall, so that they not only need the correct sized metal protuberances sticking out from your plug, but the shape of the rubber housing on the plug itself must all fit within certain parameters. This made me very doubtful as to the usefulness of my ingenious American made plug of all countries. However if I underestimated the French flare for uniqueness, I also underestimated American cleverness, my handy little international plug did indeed fit just fine without any problems. It seems France and America can indeed work together. (more…)