Senegal is quite far from Zambia and it was quite a flight to get there. I arrived towards the end of the afternoon on Wednesday January 22nd. The country is very dry and mainly semi-desert. I was surprised at the decent highways they have there, with viaducts and proper entrances and exits, something we don’t have here in Zambia. On Thursday we came together as a team, the event was a collaboration between OM and Ambassadors. We made sure the last things were in order so we could hit the road that Friday. Senegal is mainly a Muslim country mixed with traditional faith, there are very few Christians, something we also discovered during our bike ride.

The first day we cycled north over a distance of 85 kilometres. The cyclists who came by Ambassadors had bought second-hand bicycles in Senegal and they had not been properly checked before the trip. And along the way we discovered that there were quite a few things wrong with some of the bikes. I was kind of the bike mechanic of the group and had my hands full keeping everyone going. Not everyone was equally fit and therefore the trip took much longer than planned. We didn’t arrive at our destination until evening. The next day we had a shorter 42km ride to the city of Louga. A local pastor received us there. He leads a house church with a handful of members and they may be just the only Christians in a city of more than a hundred thousand inhabitants. We participated in a football match there in the evening and have the opportunity to share something of the gospel. That night we made camp in the middle of that town in a bit of an open enclosure. Late in the evening the local drum band came to give a concert, something we didn’t think was entirely necessary, but out of politeness we went to watch and listen.

The next day it was Sunday and we went to the local pastor’s house church. After the service we still had 80km to cover and we decided that only the strongest cyclists would start and the rest would join later. I also started from the beginning and we made quite some progress. It was the hottest part of the day and even though it is winter in Senegal it was still quite warm. We didn’t had any connections where we were staying and we were able to spend the night at a youth centre.

After this the trip to Touba was on the schedule. Touba is the holy city of the Muslims there and it is the second city in the country (after Dakar). The city is autonomous and has its own laws and rules. It was only a 30km ride that day. Despite more than 1 million people living in that city, we had no Christian connections there. But because some tourists come to the city to view the large mosque, there are some guides in the city to give a tour. The guide we had had offered that we could stay the night with him. Around noon we went to the mosque, we had to wear special clothes for this. It was very hot and it was my first time in a mosque and this mosque was quite big and there were thousands of people. It was interesting to see how the people worship there. Inside the mosque were tombs of saints where people throw money in to offer their prayers to Allah. All we could do there was pray for our God to make Himself known there. The houses in Senegal are built somewhat in the style of the Middle East with flat roofs that you can climb on. Towards evening we made camp on the roof of the guide’s house. The house itself was quite busy and the heat, different food and cycling started to take a bit of a toll on our group. We decided to skip one of our stops the next day so we could stay in one place for 2 nights. This would give us an extra long cycling day of 87km the next day. That evening we sat on the roof as a group and had good conversations about what we had seen and experienced and about our faith. Some of us, including myself, wanted to get an ice cream from a shop around the corner. One of the Senegalese ladies who is not from that city also wanted to come but was already wearing her pajamas and they were decent long pajamas. She went along anyway, but soon someone told her that if the authorities saw her like this she would be arrested. She quickly went back to wear something else. We’re not used to things like that. Sleeping on the roof in the middle of such a city was also a special experience.

Everyone got back on their bikes the next day, we first had to get through this busy city, when we finally got to the other side we had the wind at our backs and everything went smoothly. Cycling in a group also went better and better and despite the fact that it was our longest day, we arrived at our destination before lunch. It was very hot again, according to Google somewhere in the high 30s, but the thermometer on the bike of one of the participants even exceeded 40 degrees celcius. We stayed at a mission school where we really had some time for ourselves. We had a children’s program for the children in the neighbourhood. In the evening I went to pick up food and spoke to a local pastor there. He is Senegalese and talked about how difficult it is for people there to come to faith. Even though Senegal is an open and free country, things remain difficult. People who come to faith are often rejected from the family and people there are quite dependent on families. The pastor also told his story about how he came to faith, also from a Muslim background. He went to the spiritual leaders within Islam with his questions about faith and life, but never received good answers. He also went to the Catholic priest with his questions and did not get any good answers. But there was a missionary and when he went to him with his questions, he always opened the Bible and the answers were good. So he slowly came to faith and started reading the Bible to himself. During the rest day I was also a bit ill and could use the rest day well.

After the rest day we had about 60km to go and we were already quite close to our final destination. At the place where we spent the night we made some home visits and had the opportunity to share the gospel. The last cycling day was only about 25km and ended at the football center that Ambassadors is building there. We had a final lunch and then we went to our accommodation by the sea. The next day I went to Dakar with a few others to see what the city looks like and had a delicious lunch with fresh fish at the westernmost point of Africa. The last day for us there was a Sunday and we went to a local church with OMers. After this we came together as OMers to talk about our experiences. For OM, Senegal is a new country where we are starting to work. The team there is small and consists of a Zambian family and 2 local Senegalese. This bike ride was an encouragement for them and has generated valuable contacts. And especially for Zambians, it is sometimes quite difficult to work in such a country. There were even a few tears when we said bye. Also pray for the team there in Senegal, they can use your prayers. Even though it is an open and free country, missionary work there is very difficult. That Monday morning I flew the long way back to Zambia.