Two days until the national election

This is the Kpallah school cafeteria kitchen. You adjust the heat by shoveling more charcoal in. Everyday the menu is rice with something mixed into it. The food is provided by a charity from America. Without the free lunch School attendance would be a lot lower.

 We returned to the Kpallah school to put our sign on the building we constructed. The kids all wanted to be in the picture.

We had another closing ceremony at Gloria children home orphanage. We remodeled the two dormitory buildings with new electrical, ceilings and roof repair

This is the completed cafeteria and food storage area.

We constructed a three toilet bathroom. You flush the toilets by pouring a bucket of water into the commode. The old toilet filled up and became so decrepid that no one would use it.

We also fixed one of their two wells that had become non-operative.

Here is a close up of our sign. We make sure we state who will maintain the building.  Otherwise people forget that our commitment was for the construction only.

This was our departing group picture with about 1/2 of the children. The little guy in front has a birth defect and only has very short legs.

I am always impressed with the spirit of kindness that I feel here. I think every child at this orphanage feels that they're loved.

Today is 2 days before the national election. It's a big thing here. It's the first election since the Civil War 20 years ago that hasn't been supervised by the United Nations. There are about 20 political parties. If no one gets 50% on the first ballot then the top two have a runoff. Today is the final day of campaigning and the day has been assigned to the ruling party for their final campaign rally.  The rally marched past the end of our street.

These two party supporters are dressed in outfits that have the candidates pictures all over them. Everyone attending the rally will have some sort of matching hat or t-shirt.

The church mission here is taking a lot of precautions for the safety of the missionaries during this election season. It is expected that the event will be without violence but you never know in a country like this. The missionaries who are located far away have been brought closer to civilization and the mission home. The missionaries have all been directed to have extra food and supplies in case they need to stay in their apartment for a few days. I took these pictures from a distance because we have been directed not to approach any of the rallies.

All of the young missionaries have been directed to stay in their apartments on election day and the day after. After that it depends on what happens. It'll take about a week for the election results to be tabulated and so not too much is expected before then. The parties that lose will automatically claim fraud and manipulation of the vote counting. If no one wins outright the second election will be in about a month.  

So, it should be an interesting week. Cheryl and I stocked up on extra food supplies. We are probably living in one of the safest places to be in the country. We have a high wall around our compound. We always have two professional security guards on site. We are on the third floor with the only access to our apartment through a very secure front door. We may be spending a lot of time at the pool and exercise room the next couple of weeks.

Aside from the unfortunate prospects of violence there is remarkable amount of enthusiasm for the election. Everyone is excited. Everyone is talking about it. A lot of people attend the rallies. Everybody has an opinion on it.