Ok, thanks again to everyone who plegded - I AM actually going to bike. We start tomorrow. Positive thoughts, prayers, crossed fingers or whatever are welcome as we bike down country. I'm looking forward to the part where we ford a river (like Oregon Trail!).

Our estimated arrival date in Lome is November 27th, the day before the 45th anniversary celebration. There are only three of us doing the whole route (all Savanes volunteers, because we're clearly the most hard-core - disregard my frequent bouts of illness). I'm trying to think positive - "Don't get sick, don't get sick." So, fingers crossed.

I was hardly in village long enough this week for anything exciting to happen. We had another club meeting and started the AIDS section in my "Life Skills" manual. We played a Myths and Realities game, where a student read a statement (poorly translated into French by yours truly and the compact Larousse English-French dictionary) about AIDS, then decided if it was true or false. They got all the questions right and the statements spurred some interesting discussions ("If a mosquito bites someone with AIDS and then bites someone negative, can they get AIDS?" "If a HIV-positive woman cuts herself while preparing juice and you drink the juice with the blood in it, can you get AIDS?"). Fortunately, the teacher working with me during meetings is great, knowledgeable and enthusiastic enough, so I don't have to run meetings completely alone. I also don't know how well I could control a classroom full of teenagers, so I'm happy to have him there.

After the meeting, several students stayed to discuss running. When I get back in December, we'll start meeting between 5:30 and 6 on Saturday mornings to run. We'll see if this goes anywhere.

Hope everyone is well and I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.