Dinner with Mr President

Tuesday 17th November, 11pm: This evening we had dinner with His Excellency Yayi Boni, the President of Benin; just me and Sally and our kids, oh and 320 other Africa Mercy crew. He invited us all to the Presidential Palace, which is rather...er...presidential (in a 1970s kind of way). The evening was mixed: 2 hours of sitting in a suit in a very hot big room whilst buses ferried the rest of the crew from the ship to the Palace; then a stampede for drinks (where both glasses and soft drinks actually ran-out), followed by half an hour of speeches in French, repeated in English, and an award ceremony where he recognised some of the crew...followed by an excellent buffet meal whilst we watched some traditional Beninoise dancing. The kids (in fact, all the ship kids) were awake and well behaved and with us throughout...they have only just fallen asleep now (11pm)...A long evening, but quite pleasant, and very special; it is not often that all the crew are in their best clothes and on their best behaviour, and tonight was that night! Thank you Mr President! Olly