Arrival in Togo!

Posted by Mercy Ships crew on Feb 10, 2010 at 11:47 am

Wednesday 10th February, 11am: We have just arrived safely in Togo. As I write this, the long and hot arrival ceremony is still underway. Here are some photos of our arrival: Below, Libby and her friend Esther in their best African outfits, with the Togolese flag they made in school this morning:

Below: ships in the port discharging oil and cement. The port is well equiped, with even a conveyor-belt to take cement clinker straight to the cement works.

Below: The fishing port and small ships. On the right is the covered conveyor-belt and cement factory.

Below: a car carrier and the container dock complete with shore cranes. I reckon you can always tell the wealth of a country via the number of shore cranes in it's port. Liberia has none; Benin has 2 and Togo has at least 3, even though the port in Togo is less busy than in Benin. Sure enough, Togo is higher on the UN's human development index than Benin, thus supporting my shore crane/country wealth theory!

Below: our welcoming party, including the Assemblies of God marching brass band, some local staff, and some crew who have been living ashore and preparing for the ship's arrival in Togo.

Below: the dock - our home (and my workplace) for the next 6 months. It will take a lot of work to clean it up and make it sanitary.

Below: the view from our cabin window. Very nice. Must be our nicest view yet.

That's all for now,

Olly

Posted by The Peet Family

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