The journey finally took place in a remarkable way, without adventure, the planes were on time and arrived on time. One of our suitcases seemed to be not arrived when it was already there but out of the treadmill. The passage to customs and registration with the police of the borders took place without any difficulty,

it must be said that the password « we are priests », worked very well so as not to be forced to open our bags. Firmin, our confrere was waiting for us with his car at 4 o’clock in the morning, the hour of our arrival.

Leaving at 4 pm from Lyon, we made a long stopoverof 6 hours in Casablanca. We left Casa at midnight. After the take-off, we were given the time to fall asleep, again to wake up at 2 am for the dinner with small dishes of hot meal.

I did not feel like having a change of weather on coming down of our flight, it is true that the temperature was barely 24 degrees due to a refreshing rain. The road that leads from the airport to the capital is rather narrow one recalling a country road. There is barely little light, it took us an hour to arrive at St Mulumba parish in Paynsville, one of the neighborhoods of Monrovia. We woke up Fr. Daniel Lou, sma, the brand new parish priest.

The morning seemed to be long to wait for the public offices to be opened, we took advantage of a small sleep. Above all, we had to get a visa for Sierra Leone (air tickets have already been taken by Firmin, the flight is scheduled for 9th December) and obtain accreditation from the Ministry of Culture and Information to carry out our report according to the rules.

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For the visa, direction of the embassy of Sierra Leone, we entered through a small gate where several guards were sitting. The visa officer has not yet arrived, probably because of the traffic jams.

Formalities almost fulfilled, but we have to pay 100 US dollars and to avoid the diversion of money, we have to go to a bank to make the payment and report the receipt.

This made us to go to bank, where we found long queues in front of deposits and withdrawal counters. The longest and slowest line is that of withdrawals in US dollars. For an hour of our presence in this bank we did not see its movement. The receipt obtained after an hour of patience, we are back at the embassy. We have our visa waiting only for the signature of the ambassador who is absent today. We will have that on Monday.

The morning is coming to an end, but we still have a quarter of an hour to go to the Ministry of Culture and Information. Same rate, 100 US dollars but no need to go through the Bank. On the other hand in this ministry, for our great surprise, there is no printer at all !!! The incharge comes with us in the car to a shopping area (small shops that touch and offer a multitude of products) or one of the small shops which had a printer. Our official paper was printed, our correspondant signs and stamps it in the car and handed it over to us. We left him there. One wonders if this small shop does not belong to him because we crossed more than one printing and photocopy shops before reaching this shop.

It’s half past noon, we still have half an hour to reach the newly built regional house. Its out of town, in a neighborhood that will certainly develop in the near future, but for now, the bush dominates and no electricity. A kind of outer ringroad is being traced, but for now it is a track freshly cleaned and the rain has spoiled it already. Its all muddy and slippery place. In one of the climbings, a truck slipped and literally sat on a car that was passing next to it. Road was almost blocked and so also with it our lunch too. But the skill of Firmin and the 4X4 car, we were able pass through the hole of a needle.

Finally as we reached home a good meal was waiting for us: cassava, rice, chicken sauce with palm seeds, and all the flavors of the past came back to me. We are soaked in with sweat, yes we have well arrived in Africa …

Gérard et Guvvala