Ossouelle

Ossouelle, 4-5/4/09

The weekend of the 4^th -5^th April saw Fulbert, Noline and I heading off across the Plateaux to Ossouelle, the village 80km/3 ½ hours away with the largest annexe of the Léconi EAC&MG church. We were going partly simply because it had been a while since I had last visited and we wanted to give some encouragement and teaching, but also particularly to celebrate with a couple who had finally got married, at least with the traditional ceremony, a while ago. Sadly marriage is such a rare thing here that the church often ends up appointing in its annexes leaders who are co-habiting, as has been the case in Ossouelle for a number of years. Even when these young Christians begin to understand the importance of marriage in God's eyes the (sometimes high) bride-price and lack of income and sometimes opposition from one or both families (it is culturally just about impossible to get married without the agreement of both families) can make it difficult and it may take years for a couple to finally be married. Frederick and Sophie did so back in February so I proposed we should take a trip out there and share a celebration meal with them. In the end we made it a joint event for Florent and Francoise as well since no-one from the Léconi church had made any effort to acknowledge their marriage while I was in England in 2007.

A positive weekend, but..... Well, I may have said a few weeks ago that I hope not to be seeing the inside of a final drive assembly for my truck again for a long time but I should perhaps have added "or any other major part". On the drive to and from Ossouelle I detected a slight grinding sound, as though some cog was turning without proper lubrication. There's not much you can do about that while you're on the road (well, ok, no road exactly) but back in Léconi I crawled underneath the truck and spotted the tell-tale sign of oil-soaked sand sticking to the outside of the transfer case. I cleaned it up to be sure it really was oil-soaked and that the oil really was coming from the transfer case. A short drive round Léconi soon proved that. Arrgh! No point taking it apart as I don't have the relevant replacement seal. Instead a planned weekend visit to Dzogo had to be cancelled while I wait to buy the oil seal on my next trip to Libreville (in May). I'll leave the truck key with my mechanic in Franceville so that he can take the transfer case apart and check it is ONLY the seal I need – in addition, of course, to a new steering column lock, which has all but given up the ghost too.