It's noisy on the streets outside. But, then, it's always noisy on the streets of Freetown. Except for the cool, dark nights passing by the lonely cemetery in Murray Town. Or when you climb the windy hills and sit amongst the gray and green cotton trees in Wilberforce and Hill Cott. Old, clapboard houses and long stone walls splashed with bright, advertising colors.
But the noises aren't all bad. Mangoes for sale. Sheeptoe, guinea, red cherry. Oh my mouth is watering; I will miss that sweet, juicy taste available morning, noon and night. Cold water, peanut cakes, pineapple, biscuits. All fresh produce! Everything you need so easy to pick up on the side of the road, just picked from fields in the provinces.
The sound of hard-working individuals. Men balancing twenty foot boards on their heads, weaving in and out of taxi and pedestrian traffic, women toting baskets of coal, two, three, four... no, seven baskets high! So graceful as they take care not to fall through the cracks in the cement slab sidewalk, into the running sewage below.
The splatter of rain. It rained today. The sound muffles the blare of honking horns and vendors announcing their goods. Soft blankets of water left us scurrying for shelter: a wooden bench offered by a crew of firemen seeming anxious for distraction. They ushered us to the junction, securing a taxi with a "fine price" for our desired destination. So willing to help; always a kind smile on the streets here, in response to our attempted Krio greetings.
A walk through Kroo Bay leaves a trail of squealing kids, all crying "Aporto! Aporto!" the Temini word for white person. If not "Aporto!" then "white man! white man!" Won't be hearing that sound again for awhile...
I love this city. I love its character. It is a part of me now, and I will never forget this town, nor this beautiful continent.
Our last weeks were awesome. For our final week of tutoring we gathered all the kids in the staff house on Dillet Street and showed them 6 episodes of the BBC series "Planet Earth." The films are stunning and it was so fun to see the kids' eyes widen in amazement at the totally unbelievable animals and insects and landscapes. They often shouted "Eh!" in unison as they saw clips of how big and diverse and stunning this world is. It was so cool.
And then, last week, the Servant Team took our debriefing retreat "upcountry." We went to a National Park called Outamba-Kilimi, past Kamakwie village on the Guinea border. It took about 10 hours and 3 modes of transport to get us there. We were IN THE JUNGLE. With white monkeys on our campsite, hippopotami, big crazy bugs straight from outer-space, and yes, MAMBA snakes (we just saw one). But it was awesome. We got the real upcountry experience, had good time to reflect on our four months here, and came home with literally hundreds of bites on our legs. ;)
And last night, we said good-bye at Lighthouse. The kids gathered round and took pictures with us, prayed for us, and said "thank you" in various ways. It's so difficult saying good-bye. I didn't really know what to say, because I don't really know if I believe that I won't be seeing them again.
Now, I'm about to fly off! I must go, but I am so glad that my leaving won't mean I am cut off from Freetown. I have friends here now, and there's no way I can forget this place, because it has blessed me and, I hope, changed me!
Love, Katharine
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Burray Town Beach
The beauties of this country, and the beauty of the relationships built here.
On Sunday, WMF celebrated "Princess Day" with five of the Lighthouse girls. The title sounded silly to some of us, that is, until our team leader reminded us that "girls are never [normally] treated nice here." A sobering reminder!
The teenage Lighthouse girls, for the second year in a row, were treated to a wonderful full-day beach outing. Eleven of us hopped in a chartered poda-poda at 8:30am and headed to Burray Town, a beach further town on the Freetown peninsula, about 2 hours away. The luxory of a paved road made the ride smooth(er) and problem-free. (Well, there were those two times our driver almost rammed into oncoming traffic and some people's hearts jumped into their throats, but whatever! ;)
At the beach, Cami shared the Bible story of Hagar, Abraham and Sarah's Egyptian slave, reminding us of God's ever-present love for us. He is the God who sees us (Genesis 16).
Then, we played some beach games, coordinated by the U.S. Servant Team ladies - one game I learned in the comfy and laughter-filled environs of my college apartment (the clapping animal game!) and the other I played once at my Trinity youth group. It involved human pyramids and making shapes in the sand with our bodies. Lots of laughter and squealing involved!
Florence (the girls' Bible study leader) coordinated the food - we ate shwarmas and pepper chicken for "snack" and then soda, juice, water and *delicious* couscous and vegetable salad and more chicken for lunch. We played in the ocean, helping the girls stay afloat and dive under waves and splashed around in the river. We did live like royalty for the day!
It all culminated in the "dressing of the princesses." Each girl modeled their new African dresses that the Lighthouse tailors had sown for them, and jewelry purchased with Florence. They looked so beautiful and were having so much fun.
Again, elements of this may sound cheesy, but it really is true - how often are girls appreciated here? Told that they're beautiful and valued and given a chance to just enjoy a full day like this? Even as the day was closing some grown men were hanging around our post and asking if they could "take" one of the girls as a wife. I was so disgusted I wanted to scream.
But they were given a day to be appreciated and loved. And I loved that WMF's heart and mission is to pour into these girls' lives; to encourage and love them despite all they have been through.
On Sunday, WMF celebrated "Princess Day" with five of the Lighthouse girls. The title sounded silly to some of us, that is, until our team leader reminded us that "girls are never [normally] treated nice here." A sobering reminder!
The teenage Lighthouse girls, for the second year in a row, were treated to a wonderful full-day beach outing. Eleven of us hopped in a chartered poda-poda at 8:30am and headed to Burray Town, a beach further town on the Freetown peninsula, about 2 hours away. The luxory of a paved road made the ride smooth(er) and problem-free. (Well, there were those two times our driver almost rammed into oncoming traffic and some people's hearts jumped into their throats, but whatever! ;)
At the beach, Cami shared the Bible story of Hagar, Abraham and Sarah's Egyptian slave, reminding us of God's ever-present love for us. He is the God who sees us (Genesis 16).
Then, we played some beach games, coordinated by the U.S. Servant Team ladies - one game I learned in the comfy and laughter-filled environs of my college apartment (the clapping animal game!) and the other I played once at my Trinity youth group. It involved human pyramids and making shapes in the sand with our bodies. Lots of laughter and squealing involved!
Florence (the girls' Bible study leader) coordinated the food - we ate shwarmas and pepper chicken for "snack" and then soda, juice, water and *delicious* couscous and vegetable salad and more chicken for lunch. We played in the ocean, helping the girls stay afloat and dive under waves and splashed around in the river. We did live like royalty for the day!
It all culminated in the "dressing of the princesses." Each girl modeled their new African dresses that the Lighthouse tailors had sown for them, and jewelry purchased with Florence. They looked so beautiful and were having so much fun.
Again, elements of this may sound cheesy, but it really is true - how often are girls appreciated here? Told that they're beautiful and valued and given a chance to just enjoy a full day like this? Even as the day was closing some grown men were hanging around our post and asking if they could "take" one of the girls as a wife. I was so disgusted I wanted to scream.
But they were given a day to be appreciated and loved. And I loved that WMF's heart and mission is to pour into these girls' lives; to encourage and love them despite all they have been through.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
On the streets
Two weeks ago, Word Made Flesh hosted a seminar entitled "Children in Crisis." A man from Britain delivered the 5-day conference, and WMF invited the parents or guardians of each of the Lightouse kids to attend, creating an opportunity to give them tools for raising their own kids who have lived through traumatic experiences and also allowing WMF to deepen their relationships with the Lighthouse kids' families. It was a good, enriching week.
Sitting on hard wooden benches at Robert Street Baptist Church from 8am to 4:30pm, serving tea and coffee, and mingling with Lighthouse parents, I was able to learn about the fragility of children, how formative their first years are, and the immense impact and power each adult in their life holds over them.
Two boys, both entering the Lighthouse program but without sponsors from America, were on my heart and mind. Best friends, they attended the seminar together, as they had no guardian willing or able to come on their behalf. One of them, I learned, still sleeps on the street; the other just came off the streets as his father invited him to live with him again. Neither are in school
I won't share too much about the boys right here, but I've known them since my first week in Freetown, and only during the seminar did I learn of their current situation. Through the seminar's content I began to understand how a life of poverty weighs on a child's mind and soul, subconciously feeding them all kinds of lies about their value and worth as dearly loved human beings.
All of the Lighthouse youth, except for these boys, have monthly sponsors. The sponsors' contributions to WMF enable the staff here to enroll the kids in school, pay for their lunches for the week, and organize meaningful outings, opportunities to have fun and grow, and to feel affirmed by WMF mentors.
One of these boys gives me joy from his bright smile, the other has quite a tough exterior from all he's gone through and reminds me of the sorrow and hardships in this place - both weigh on my heart and I hope some people some potential sponsors will soon show interest in them.
Another WARM Freetown day - gray clouds announce the enroaching rainy season. I've heard that Sierra Leone gets the most rainfall of any place in the world. Their rainy season lasts from May to October. Sierra Leone also has some of the most nutrient-rich soil on earth. And it's also the poorest, or perhaps second-poorest, country there is. It doesn't make sense does it? No; and it is tragic.
More from me later - just about one month to go before we leave; wow! Much love to you all!
Sitting on hard wooden benches at Robert Street Baptist Church from 8am to 4:30pm, serving tea and coffee, and mingling with Lighthouse parents, I was able to learn about the fragility of children, how formative their first years are, and the immense impact and power each adult in their life holds over them.
Two boys, both entering the Lighthouse program but without sponsors from America, were on my heart and mind. Best friends, they attended the seminar together, as they had no guardian willing or able to come on their behalf. One of them, I learned, still sleeps on the street; the other just came off the streets as his father invited him to live with him again. Neither are in school
I won't share too much about the boys right here, but I've known them since my first week in Freetown, and only during the seminar did I learn of their current situation. Through the seminar's content I began to understand how a life of poverty weighs on a child's mind and soul, subconciously feeding them all kinds of lies about their value and worth as dearly loved human beings.
All of the Lighthouse youth, except for these boys, have monthly sponsors. The sponsors' contributions to WMF enable the staff here to enroll the kids in school, pay for their lunches for the week, and organize meaningful outings, opportunities to have fun and grow, and to feel affirmed by WMF mentors.
One of these boys gives me joy from his bright smile, the other has quite a tough exterior from all he's gone through and reminds me of the sorrow and hardships in this place - both weigh on my heart and I hope some people some potential sponsors will soon show interest in them.
Another WARM Freetown day - gray clouds announce the enroaching rainy season. I've heard that Sierra Leone gets the most rainfall of any place in the world. Their rainy season lasts from May to October. Sierra Leone also has some of the most nutrient-rich soil on earth. And it's also the poorest, or perhaps second-poorest, country there is. It doesn't make sense does it? No; and it is tragic.
More from me later - just about one month to go before we leave; wow! Much love to you all!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Receiving a piece of bread
The foundational "lifestyle celebration" in the Word Made Flesh community is intimacy. Intimacy with God. We recognize this as our highest and deepest calling, the reason we were created, to know Christ and thus worship Him. I realize that may sound a little sentimental to some, but over and again during my time in Africa this draw towards intimacy with Jesus has been a continuous, underlying theme of each day.
One Sunday in Nairobi, the lyrics of a worship song from church stuck in my head and resonated within me: "My Comfort, my Shelter, Tower of refuge and strength, Let every breath, all that I have, never cease to worship You...My Saviour, my closest Friend, I will worship You until the very end.
As I left church, I asked myself if that is really true in my life. Do I truly consider Jesus my One and only Saviour, and my closest, most treasured Friend? I want to. I want Him to be my All.
And here in Freetown, at our Monday meetings we have been looking at Scripture and sharing about whole-hearted devotion, having an undivided heart. It has been so good for my soul to reflect on how deep God's love is, and challenging to consider that He alone is worthy of my praise.
A few weeks ago at First Presbyterian Church we took communion. At this church, the whole congregation walks forward, is handed a wafer and cup of grape juice and then remains standing by the stage, waiting for everyone to join the group and partake in communion together.
As I came forward, Pastor Zizer (my host dad) took a wafer in his hand, made the sign of the cross with it, and held it out for me. I reached forward to take it, but he pulled it back. Confused, I tried to take it from his hand again, but he subtly shook his head, motioned for me to stand still and hold out my hand so that he could hand me the waver, placing it in my open palm.
I started to cry a little as I thought about the picture I was just given of God's love. He gives it freely. It is not something I need to snatch or reach out and grab for myself. God comes down and lavishes His grace upon us (1 John 3:1) though we have hang-ups and make mistakes and can never really get our act together. And that's the point - that we cannot clean ourselves up before coming to God. He is the one that washes us clean, and pours His love and saving grace upon us.
Salone update: Am loving Freetown. Today we return to our "regular" schedule. I have tutoring and my weekly visit to Kroo Bay with Erin to do medical check-ups. We are visiting one woman who had a serious stroke but is walking with a cane now that Erin has been working with her, and a little boy named Ibrahim who has cerebral palsy. And then, I shall return home to do some serious laundry! :) More on last week's "Children in Crisis" conference later...
One Sunday in Nairobi, the lyrics of a worship song from church stuck in my head and resonated within me: "My Comfort, my Shelter, Tower of refuge and strength, Let every breath, all that I have, never cease to worship You...My Saviour, my closest Friend, I will worship You until the very end.
As I left church, I asked myself if that is really true in my life. Do I truly consider Jesus my One and only Saviour, and my closest, most treasured Friend? I want to. I want Him to be my All.
And here in Freetown, at our Monday meetings we have been looking at Scripture and sharing about whole-hearted devotion, having an undivided heart. It has been so good for my soul to reflect on how deep God's love is, and challenging to consider that He alone is worthy of my praise.
A few weeks ago at First Presbyterian Church we took communion. At this church, the whole congregation walks forward, is handed a wafer and cup of grape juice and then remains standing by the stage, waiting for everyone to join the group and partake in communion together.
As I came forward, Pastor Zizer (my host dad) took a wafer in his hand, made the sign of the cross with it, and held it out for me. I reached forward to take it, but he pulled it back. Confused, I tried to take it from his hand again, but he subtly shook his head, motioned for me to stand still and hold out my hand so that he could hand me the waver, placing it in my open palm.
I started to cry a little as I thought about the picture I was just given of God's love. He gives it freely. It is not something I need to snatch or reach out and grab for myself. God comes down and lavishes His grace upon us (1 John 3:1) though we have hang-ups and make mistakes and can never really get our act together. And that's the point - that we cannot clean ourselves up before coming to God. He is the one that washes us clean, and pours His love and saving grace upon us.
Salone update: Am loving Freetown. Today we return to our "regular" schedule. I have tutoring and my weekly visit to Kroo Bay with Erin to do medical check-ups. We are visiting one woman who had a serious stroke but is walking with a cane now that Erin has been working with her, and a little boy named Ibrahim who has cerebral palsy. And then, I shall return home to do some serious laundry! :) More on last week's "Children in Crisis" conference later...
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Embroidered African elephants
Oh, Freetown! This morning my team returned from Banana Island where we spent 3 days of relaxation and reflection. This mini-retreat was planned to mark the 2 month anniversary of our trip; we are now officially half way done with our Servant Team. Banana Island is not far; it took us a one and a half hour car ride to get to the wharf at Kent beach, and a 20 minute boat ride to reach the island shore. We stayed at Dalton's Banana Guest House (pretty neat huh??). It rained the first night, and the roofs leaked :) But the beach was beautiful and Dalton and his wife and kids treated us so kindly. Being on an island, they catch a fair amount of seafood every day. So yes, yours truly tried for the first time and truly enjoyed lobster, crab and barracuda! I could barely believe it myself!
Monday morning, the poda-podas went on strike in Freetown(podas are the main mode of transport, exactly like the matatus in Nairobi, for those of you that have been faithfully reading this blog of mine!) Steph, Chris and I go into town for a Monday morning all-staff meeting and breakfast, and yesterday was our turn to get there early and buy bread, fruit, oats, sardines (I admit they're not that bad) and boiled eggs for everyone, but because of the strike, we walked a full hour from Murray Town to downtown, with guitar in tow!
But what was really neat is that everyone was walking. The various crowds of school kids - distinguishable by their different bright uniform styles and patterns - fruit sellers and bread sellers, carpenters and tailors, everyone on their way to work. It kind of felt like a community event! It's typical for people to yell "white man! white girl!" or make "Sssss" noises with their teeth until we look their way, but yesterday morning we were also approached by friendly faces, some friends of ours and some new acquaintances.
Memories of the war are never far from what you see day to day. Though it has been easy to forget the war, for me, as a visitor. Meaning, it's not on my mind all the time. Yet, you do wonder with each Sierra Leonean that you meet where they were and how they fared during the war. Just today our Krio teacher shared some of her war experiences with us. The bullets firing, homes and people burning, it's too much to imagine living through. (Read "A Long Way Gone" for a boy's retelling of his life during the civil war). Even with the youth I tutor, as I meet with Papane, Santigie and Victoria during the week, I cannot assume anything about their current and past situations - whether their parents and siblings are alive or the degree of harmony in their home lives. All I know is that the war has left deep scars inside each of them, and I am thankful we get to see each other on such a regular basis. I am trying still to be as effective a teacher I can be. Please keep praying for us in this endeavor!
One of the Lighthouse boys, Sheku, is a tailor and loves to make bags. I asked him to repair my Indian elephant bag a few weeks ago, and he came up with an amazing creation - a new bag with a whole new elephant etched into it, using African colors and patterns to fill in the body of the elephant. I could tell he was very pleased with the work he did. I love having this memento of how WMF (Word Made Flesh) has helped these kids through vocational training, allowing them to make a living and do work they enjoy and can take pride in.
Returning to the bustle of the city definitely left an impression this morning. The loud music, traffic, wheelbarrows tumbling along the uneven roads coming straight for you every other second... It felt like our first couple days here in Freetown! We haven't gone back to the Zizers yet, but please keep praying for us, for peace and strength coming from the Lord every part of every day.
Thank you all ~ "We go see back!" (See you later! in Krio) :)
Freetown
Monday morning, the poda-podas went on strike in Freetown(podas are the main mode of transport, exactly like the matatus in Nairobi, for those of you that have been faithfully reading this blog of mine!) Steph, Chris and I go into town for a Monday morning all-staff meeting and breakfast, and yesterday was our turn to get there early and buy bread, fruit, oats, sardines (I admit they're not that bad) and boiled eggs for everyone, but because of the strike, we walked a full hour from Murray Town to downtown, with guitar in tow!
But what was really neat is that everyone was walking. The various crowds of school kids - distinguishable by their different bright uniform styles and patterns - fruit sellers and bread sellers, carpenters and tailors, everyone on their way to work. It kind of felt like a community event! It's typical for people to yell "white man! white girl!" or make "Sssss" noises with their teeth until we look their way, but yesterday morning we were also approached by friendly faces, some friends of ours and some new acquaintances.
Memories of the war are never far from what you see day to day. Though it has been easy to forget the war, for me, as a visitor. Meaning, it's not on my mind all the time. Yet, you do wonder with each Sierra Leonean that you meet where they were and how they fared during the war. Just today our Krio teacher shared some of her war experiences with us. The bullets firing, homes and people burning, it's too much to imagine living through. (Read "A Long Way Gone" for a boy's retelling of his life during the civil war). Even with the youth I tutor, as I meet with Papane, Santigie and Victoria during the week, I cannot assume anything about their current and past situations - whether their parents and siblings are alive or the degree of harmony in their home lives. All I know is that the war has left deep scars inside each of them, and I am thankful we get to see each other on such a regular basis. I am trying still to be as effective a teacher I can be. Please keep praying for us in this endeavor!
One of the Lighthouse boys, Sheku, is a tailor and loves to make bags. I asked him to repair my Indian elephant bag a few weeks ago, and he came up with an amazing creation - a new bag with a whole new elephant etched into it, using African colors and patterns to fill in the body of the elephant. I could tell he was very pleased with the work he did. I love having this memento of how WMF (Word Made Flesh) has helped these kids through vocational training, allowing them to make a living and do work they enjoy and can take pride in.
Returning to the bustle of the city definitely left an impression this morning. The loud music, traffic, wheelbarrows tumbling along the uneven roads coming straight for you every other second... It felt like our first couple days here in Freetown! We haven't gone back to the Zizers yet, but please keep praying for us, for peace and strength coming from the Lord every part of every day.
Thank you all ~ "We go see back!" (See you later! in Krio) :)
Freetown
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
"Kol wata de!"
That's just one of the phrases I hear being called out on the streets of Freetown each and every day. Little kids with buckets of cold water pouches yell "Kol wata de," which means "cold water is here!" repeatedly until people buy.
It's now been 6 whole weeks since I landed in Sierra Leone. My team celebrated our one month "anniversary" by eating pizza - something we didn't know existed here until our team leader surprised us for lunch. :)
Our schedules are now pretty much set here. No week is ever fully predictable, but we have our tutoring and Lighthouse schedules, and we now all know when and where our group meetings and Bible studies fall.
I tutor three youth here. They are *drum roll please* - Papane: Papane is about 18 years old. He attends a Christian school and aspires to be a missionary one day. With Papane I try to work on reading, writing, geography (which I get most excited about, pouring over the world map and listening to his questions about different countries and their histories -so fun!). He just had exams these past 2 weeks so we spent a lot of our time cram studying for those too.
Victoria: I would guess Victoria is 16 or so. She attends a catering school, so we work on practical math, reading, grammar, etc. Finding somewhat creative ways to present these lessons is something I'm working on and want to do well. I meet her, and Papane, at the home of Auntie P, a friend of WMF who provides lunches for the kids and runs a catering business. Needless to say, I eat a lot of her yummy home-cooked food throughout the week - a whole plate of food (which is so big that I split it with Stephenie) costs us 2,500 Leons ... that's about 80 cents!
Lastly, Santigie: Santigie is the most advanced of the three, a really bright, friendly guy who has a knack for showing up late and says "ya man" a lot. He also likes looking at the world map, and he posed the very complicated and confusing question last week, "Katharine, how many races are there in the world?" Hm, no easy answer to that one! (As I'm thinking about my freshman year cultural anthro class where we spent 4 weeks asking "what is race really?") But it'll give us a lot to talk about!
I meet with each of these guys for 3 hours a week, one hour a day. Last week I also got my first opportunity to visit a medical clinic in Kroo Bay with a staff worker Erin. Erin is a Physical Therapist, and she is going to meet patients at the clinic weekly. I'd love to observe and learn from her - I did her note-taking last week and learned some new Krio phrases like "squeeze your leg tight," "don't drop your foot down" and "stand up" and "sit down." :) It was so sad to see these elderly people that have been living with body pains for years without anyone to get professional advice from.
Easter weekend! Easter weekend was wonderful - restful and fun, with so much to think about and be deeply grateful for. On Friday we watched The Passion movie. On Saturday the team celebrated by birthday with some yummy chocolate cake and a meal at Basha's - our favorite Lebanese restaurant, and I heard from some wonderful family and friends back home. Sunday morning we had a sunrise service at Aberdeen beach with all the Lighthouse youth. It was a new concept for them all, but I think they really had a good time. Our service wrapped up with a meal of "snapper" and bread -fish, just like Jesus cooked fish on the Galilee for his disciples, after his resurrection, ha! A bunch of the kids jumped in the water after that, or buried each other in the sand which was hilarious to watch.
And yesterday was a national holiday - Easter Monday - which everyone got off work and school. On that day we did something awesome. We climbed, with twenty of the Lighthouse kids, the highest peak on the Freetown peninsula - SugarLoaf Mountain! Haha, the climb was steep, and rocky and slippery with leaves and crazy branches hindering your sight half the way. At the very top two of the staff had hidden candy sweets for all the kids and everyone got to search for seven of them. And then we just enjoyed the amazing, green, mountainous, view from the top. Some kids climbed trees, others just sat and talked ... it was lovely! The day ended with a lunch of beans (which sounds like "bench" when Sierra Leoneans say it, causing some confusion for me) and bread (made by Auntie P) at the staff's house in town.
During this last week I've been very grateful for my team, for such interesting and fun and easy-to-be-around people. My birthday felt very special, and together we spent the last week focusing on the sacrifice and suffering of Christ. Christ, who makes all things new, in us and in this world. The cross somehow embodies that newness and I don't want to lose sight of that being the center of my salvation - what defines me and has given me life!
Thank you all so much for reading and for praying. I'll keep writing as life moves along here. Please pray for my team's relationship with our host family, the Zizers. And for time to process and live out what God's showing me here. Peace!
The group on Aberdeen beach for our Easter sunrise service
It's now been 6 whole weeks since I landed in Sierra Leone. My team celebrated our one month "anniversary" by eating pizza - something we didn't know existed here until our team leader surprised us for lunch. :)
Our schedules are now pretty much set here. No week is ever fully predictable, but we have our tutoring and Lighthouse schedules, and we now all know when and where our group meetings and Bible studies fall.
I tutor three youth here. They are *drum roll please* - Papane: Papane is about 18 years old. He attends a Christian school and aspires to be a missionary one day. With Papane I try to work on reading, writing, geography (which I get most excited about, pouring over the world map and listening to his questions about different countries and their histories -so fun!). He just had exams these past 2 weeks so we spent a lot of our time cram studying for those too.
Victoria: I would guess Victoria is 16 or so. She attends a catering school, so we work on practical math, reading, grammar, etc. Finding somewhat creative ways to present these lessons is something I'm working on and want to do well. I meet her, and Papane, at the home of Auntie P, a friend of WMF who provides lunches for the kids and runs a catering business. Needless to say, I eat a lot of her yummy home-cooked food throughout the week - a whole plate of food (which is so big that I split it with Stephenie) costs us 2,500 Leons ... that's about 80 cents!
Lastly, Santigie: Santigie is the most advanced of the three, a really bright, friendly guy who has a knack for showing up late and says "ya man" a lot. He also likes looking at the world map, and he posed the very complicated and confusing question last week, "Katharine, how many races are there in the world?" Hm, no easy answer to that one! (As I'm thinking about my freshman year cultural anthro class where we spent 4 weeks asking "what is race really?") But it'll give us a lot to talk about!
I meet with each of these guys for 3 hours a week, one hour a day. Last week I also got my first opportunity to visit a medical clinic in Kroo Bay with a staff worker Erin. Erin is a Physical Therapist, and she is going to meet patients at the clinic weekly. I'd love to observe and learn from her - I did her note-taking last week and learned some new Krio phrases like "squeeze your leg tight," "don't drop your foot down" and "stand up" and "sit down." :) It was so sad to see these elderly people that have been living with body pains for years without anyone to get professional advice from.
Easter weekend! Easter weekend was wonderful - restful and fun, with so much to think about and be deeply grateful for. On Friday we watched The Passion movie. On Saturday the team celebrated by birthday with some yummy chocolate cake and a meal at Basha's - our favorite Lebanese restaurant, and I heard from some wonderful family and friends back home. Sunday morning we had a sunrise service at Aberdeen beach with all the Lighthouse youth. It was a new concept for them all, but I think they really had a good time. Our service wrapped up with a meal of "snapper" and bread -fish, just like Jesus cooked fish on the Galilee for his disciples, after his resurrection, ha! A bunch of the kids jumped in the water after that, or buried each other in the sand which was hilarious to watch.
And yesterday was a national holiday - Easter Monday - which everyone got off work and school. On that day we did something awesome. We climbed, with twenty of the Lighthouse kids, the highest peak on the Freetown peninsula - SugarLoaf Mountain! Haha, the climb was steep, and rocky and slippery with leaves and crazy branches hindering your sight half the way. At the very top two of the staff had hidden candy sweets for all the kids and everyone got to search for seven of them. And then we just enjoyed the amazing, green, mountainous, view from the top. Some kids climbed trees, others just sat and talked ... it was lovely! The day ended with a lunch of beans (which sounds like "bench" when Sierra Leoneans say it, causing some confusion for me) and bread (made by Auntie P) at the staff's house in town.
During this last week I've been very grateful for my team, for such interesting and fun and easy-to-be-around people. My birthday felt very special, and together we spent the last week focusing on the sacrifice and suffering of Christ. Christ, who makes all things new, in us and in this world. The cross somehow embodies that newness and I don't want to lose sight of that being the center of my salvation - what defines me and has given me life!
Thank you all so much for reading and for praying. I'll keep writing as life moves along here. Please pray for my team's relationship with our host family, the Zizers. And for time to process and live out what God's showing me here. Peace!
The group on Aberdeen beach for our Easter sunrise service
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Kroo Bay and Tutoring
Freetown, a city of beautiful colors, chipped paint, beggars in wheelchairs, smooth reggae and hip hop, and awesome hair doos. Of little, smiling children, yelling "white man!" and spicy, peanut stew, and fried plantains (yum!) Bustling streets ... and more and more familiar faces as my time here continues!
We began volunteering this past week, and our days definitely felt more hectic! I will be tutoring two of the Lighthouse youth - Papanie and Victoria. I meet with them M, T, W - one hour each day, to review math, english, geography, and whatever else feels relevant. I'm excited for my time with each student, though I've never formally taught or tutored before. Papanie is going to read "Horse and His Boy" from C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia as one of his assignments! And we're going to have a little geography/culture lesson each week, seeing as how he wants to be a missionary someday!
As for the rest of my time - I will be around Kroo Bay and City of Rest. My official schedule won't be hammered out for another week or two. Thank you all for your prayers for me during this time. My team is doing well. We're all feeling strong and healthy, and enjoying each other very much.
Please check out this awesome link to see more of Kroo Bay! Explore Kroo Bay: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/kroobay/
A hog in Kroo Bay
We began volunteering this past week, and our days definitely felt more hectic! I will be tutoring two of the Lighthouse youth - Papanie and Victoria. I meet with them M, T, W - one hour each day, to review math, english, geography, and whatever else feels relevant. I'm excited for my time with each student, though I've never formally taught or tutored before. Papanie is going to read "Horse and His Boy" from C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia as one of his assignments! And we're going to have a little geography/culture lesson each week, seeing as how he wants to be a missionary someday!
As for the rest of my time - I will be around Kroo Bay and City of Rest. My official schedule won't be hammered out for another week or two. Thank you all for your prayers for me during this time. My team is doing well. We're all feeling strong and healthy, and enjoying each other very much.
Please check out this awesome link to see more of Kroo Bay! Explore Kroo Bay: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/kroobay/
A hog in Kroo Bay
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