We made it!

Yes, after two and a half months extra in Benin, we at last got on a plane to France. With amazing timing, Simon finished school the week before we left, and his brother and sister finished four days before we left Parakou. What a weight off our minds! Our suitcases were lighter too ... or they would have been if we hadn't been given presents which nearly filled the space!

Marc's dental treatment was only completed the day before we left - that too was a relief to have done.

We stocked up on masks before we left - some throwaway and some which I made myself. We knew we'd have to wear them all day on the Tuesday as we travelled in a minibus down to Cotonou, and again all day Thursday for our flight.

Here we are ready to leave Parakou:

Here are our washed masks drying in Cotonou:

On the plane:

Marc's parents and sister met us at the airport on Thursday evening, not getting too close to us, to pick up eight of our ten suitcases and to give us some food supplies. Here's Marc eating breakfast at our airport hotel the next morning:

Just after having been dropped off to our Airbnb by a taxi:

Views from the Airbnb:

Simon's writing corner all very well organised;

Technology's getting me down...

Perhaps we shouldn't have got so used to technology. Or perhaps we just shouldn't have believed in its promises of making life problem-free. Because I have to admit that even since I visited Benin in 2002, life has been made much easier because of mobile phones and the internet. In 2003 when I was visiting Pèdè, we had to drive into the nearest town (Kandi) to even be able to use a landline, and even then the call wouldn't go through and I had to call someone else to ask them to pass on a message!

However, these "tools" do depress me a bit when they let us down. During the time we've been living in Parakou, Marc's computer broke down and he had to transfer his emails to my newer computer and use a really ancient battery-less computer for some of the kids' schoolwork. Then my older computer broke down - it's the power cable which is the problem - and so I no longer have my emails on a computer at all. Marc is brilliant at doing back-ups to an external hard drive, so I haven't lost anything, and also we still have the internal hard drive, so it is at least frustrating rather than distastrous!

On top of all of this, there is some problem with Paratext - the translation software - and this week my Swiss colleague hasn't been able to pick up the latest version of our work. But the internet connection is so bad that I haven't been able to get help from Paratext!

The internet connection has also made schoolwork harder, and made it more difficult to organise our travel back to France. But by the grace of God we've had a few hiccups of good internet which have meant we've managed to book our flights and an Airbnb to self-isolate when we get there.

There is a silver lining however, which is that I now won't carry my old computer back to Europe, only its hard drive, which will make my hand luggage much lighter!