hope house and the beach.

We've been in Gabon for a little more than a day now, and I'm finding it difficult to describe all of the things we're seeing. Its not that its overwhelming, exactly, but it is very different.

There are both paved and dirt roads in Libreville, but unlike the US, there's no specific lay-out to them. The buildings are much like what I pictured, from pictures I've seen of Africa - I don't know what the sides of the houses are (cement, stucco maybe?), but the roofs are metal. Occasionally, a mango will fall and hit the metal roof, which startled me the first time, but I'm getting used to it.

The most different thing, at least to me, is that there are people everywhere you look. I don't know if this is because there are so many more of them, if there isn't enough housing, or if the Gabonese just tend to be outside more.

Yesterday morning we went to Hope House, a local orphanage started by a pastor and his wife who were unable to have children of their own. They're used to visitors here, and the minute you step out of the car, there are kids running up to hug you or shake your hand. Some of them are learning English in school, but even the ones that aren't know how to communicate anyway - they'll point, or grab your hand to pull you to where they want you to go.

We took some craft supplies - construction paper, colored pencils, and glue sticks - and spent some time just hanging out with the kids, drawing and hanging out with them. We'll go back again on Friday, so we're planning to take the soccer balls then (and our tennis shoes, so we can run around a little).

After lunch we went a local beach for a while (though I couldn't find shells, sorry Mary!). It was beautiful - I love standing by the ocean anyway, and it was a bit of surreal experience to be standing on the other side of the Atlantic. Anna (the college student from Washington who is joining us on our trip) was delayed a day getting in, so after a couple of hours at the beach, we headed to the airport to pick her up.

Today we'll be going to the base of operations for the mobile medical center. Kelli will actually be seeing patients, and I'll be working on a database to help those who run the clinic track patients and medications. Having records and measurements of the work that they're doing will hopefully allow them to secure government and other funding to help with their work.