BECA Travels: Sunday, Sweet Sunday

Sunday, Sweet Sunday

This is the only Sunday we will spend in Kpando, given our travel schedule.  We had hoped to get footage of the children going to church.  They attend the large Catholic church in the center of town.  For some reason, there was no mass today so the children, all dressed up, came over to the compound where we are living – their future home – and we got to see them in their Sunday best.  Church is a big thing here in Kpando.  People are expected to go to church or to observe the Sabbath in some way. There is a church across the road from the HardtHaven compound, and another next to the building that houses United, so we got a feel for the Protestant churches.

Instead of going to church ourselves, however, several of us washed our clothes!  Here, we need to do so by hand.  We are to soak the clothes in the detergent for an hour and then wash and rinse them, and hang them out to try. And even though we hope for rain any other time, because it is such a relief from the heat and humidity, once your clothes are on the line, you hope it doesn’t rain!

Big excitement!  There was running water for awhile today!  That meant a “real” shower for those who were able to take advantage of it!

We used the day to get two interviews of Edem – one for the United video and one for the HardtHaven one.  The settings and the questions were different for each. Edem speaks easily and he talks a lot.  He is constantly animated, so the interviews were good.  Then we walked around town with Edem, getting B-roll of him for both videos.  That gave us a chance to see what the town was like when most of the businesses were closed.  A lot of people sit and watch the town go by – something we have forgotten how to do in the U.S..