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!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
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
Monday, February 25, 2008
"Aw da bodi" everyone?
Week one has officially passed here in Freetown. I'm still feeling fine, though this is still definitely a foreign place for me!
Homestay: The Zizers continue to be very gracious and accomodating hosts. The 11-year-old, Marvin, is always anxious to know what we're up to, or to help us bruk (wash our clothes) in the bathtub. The arrangement is that Auntie Marvel cooks for us Sunday lunch, Monday and Thursday evening, and her meals are delicious. My main problems have been with the spiciness and fishiness of Sierra Leonean food. But I've found that I can close off my nasal passage while eating, scarf down the slimy fish & greens sauce and then stick a piece of gum in my mouth to erase the memory of the taste from my mouth!
Team time: We had some great team time to start our Servant Team off. Word Made Flesh (now WMF) is really intentional about the quality time we spend with each other, and the quality down time we each have to spend with God. This is great, because our team leader, Stephanie (different from my roommate Stephenie!), tried hard to not overwhelm us with activities right away. The six of us (our team plus Stephanie) meet every morning but Sunday for breakfast, and then devotional or Krio lesson (which is 3 x per week). We will alternate who provides the food and who leads the devotionals, but on Wednesdays we will all discuss the "Lifestyle Celebrations" of WMF, focusing on each one for 2 weeks at a time. The first celebration we are meditating on is intimacy with Christ, as this is our highest calling.
Retreat: Last friday night, we all drove up (in an old station wagon taxi) to Mount Leicester. the highest hill in Freetown. We spent the night there at this pretty retreat center. From there we were able to spend lots of time together. We began our discussion on "what is poverty?" and learned more about the Servant Team and our own leader, Stephanie. And then we stayed up late swapping hilarious and embarassing stories - my teammates are FUN and funny and I had a great time laughing with the group. On Saturday morning, we had our first book discussion. We are currently reading through Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger a few chapters at a time. The conversation was really good (as this is a dense book that is hard to read without sharing reactions and thoughts with others), and it looks like we'll continue our weekly dicussions every Saturday.
Walking tour and Lighthouse: As part of our orientation last week, we each went on a 2-hour walking tour of, really, the most impoverished parts of Freetown. What made this tour so unique is that we were split into groups of 2 or 3, and led around by one of the Lighthouse boys. Lighthouse is a youth discipleship and vocational training center run by WMF here in Freetown. The youth involved come from really troubled circumstances. Some were forced to fight in the war, others still live in refugee camps or lived on the streets for many years. Every Thursday night we will attend their youth program, and each of us will tutor some of the kids regularly.
So, back to that walking tour. Our guide and friend took us to 3 different wharfs, leading us through the dilapadated, smelly and wet slum housing. Trash covered the wharfs and drifted in and out of the water. Something about these conditions were way worse than Kibera in Nairobi. Stopping at the first "government wharf," our guide told me the story about this being the point where thousands of slaves were chained and forced aboard slaving ships bound for Europe and the Americas. This is also the place, he said, where the freed slaves returned to settle Freetown in the 19th century. As I looked around at the suffering in that place, and then reflected even for one second on the incredible history of suffering in that one place. it overwhelmed me.
After lunch our guide also took us to the Sierra Leone museum were there was an impressive Amistad exhibit lent out by the U.S. The Amistad was a slaving ship that left from Sierra Leone and was bound for Cuba, but a man on board overthrew the captain on the ship and attempted to steer everyone back to West Africa. That failed, and they ended up in New England, where a prison sentence and trial awaited them. I didn't realize when I saw the movie Amistad that the soon-to-be slaves on board were Sierra Leonean!
Okay, enough of my history enthusiasm for now...
Heart: At our all WMF Monday morning meetings we have been reading scripture relating to the heart. We are doing a similar program Thursday nights at Lighthouse. I really appreciate this exercise of reading and thinking about scripture and hearing each other's reflections. Again, I am thankful for WMF's emphasis on recognizing our relationship with Christ as number one importance. From there, our service to each other and the community will flow. And it can only flow from there.
Service: After all, this is the Servant Team! Our service here is meant to be relational at the core. Like I mentioned above, we will each tutor some amount per week with the same kids. I would also like to shadow/assist one of the staff here, Erin, on her medical checkup rounds in Kroo Bay (another slum area where WMF runs a Saturday afternoon kid program). As for my "main" activity, I am considering volunteering at City of Rest. City of Rest is a home for mentally challenged adults, as well as recovering drug addicts. The conditions are far from adequate, but they would love for some people to come and interact with the guests. I'm feeling a little unsure because I don't have creative ideas for what to do with the guests (like some of my teammates do), but I also know that that isn't the main point. The main point is just spending time with the people, and Ben and Kristina have this cool mural project idea that I think would be fun to be a part of.
We will all hammer out our "schedules" this week. :)
So, I appreciate so much knowing that you people support me and care about what's going on here. I continue to want your prayers -for my team and our relationships here (Oh, we are also all attempting to learn Krio, and I'm slow to catch on so far!) I love and miss you all. ~ Katharine
(By the way, the title of my post is the typical greeting here, and it is pronounced "How da bOdy?" It's great.)
Homestay: The Zizers continue to be very gracious and accomodating hosts. The 11-year-old, Marvin, is always anxious to know what we're up to, or to help us bruk (wash our clothes) in the bathtub. The arrangement is that Auntie Marvel cooks for us Sunday lunch, Monday and Thursday evening, and her meals are delicious. My main problems have been with the spiciness and fishiness of Sierra Leonean food. But I've found that I can close off my nasal passage while eating, scarf down the slimy fish & greens sauce and then stick a piece of gum in my mouth to erase the memory of the taste from my mouth!
Team time: We had some great team time to start our Servant Team off. Word Made Flesh (now WMF) is really intentional about the quality time we spend with each other, and the quality down time we each have to spend with God. This is great, because our team leader, Stephanie (different from my roommate Stephenie!), tried hard to not overwhelm us with activities right away. The six of us (our team plus Stephanie) meet every morning but Sunday for breakfast, and then devotional or Krio lesson (which is 3 x per week). We will alternate who provides the food and who leads the devotionals, but on Wednesdays we will all discuss the "Lifestyle Celebrations" of WMF, focusing on each one for 2 weeks at a time. The first celebration we are meditating on is intimacy with Christ, as this is our highest calling.
Retreat: Last friday night, we all drove up (in an old station wagon taxi) to Mount Leicester. the highest hill in Freetown. We spent the night there at this pretty retreat center. From there we were able to spend lots of time together. We began our discussion on "what is poverty?" and learned more about the Servant Team and our own leader, Stephanie. And then we stayed up late swapping hilarious and embarassing stories - my teammates are FUN and funny and I had a great time laughing with the group. On Saturday morning, we had our first book discussion. We are currently reading through Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger a few chapters at a time. The conversation was really good (as this is a dense book that is hard to read without sharing reactions and thoughts with others), and it looks like we'll continue our weekly dicussions every Saturday.
Walking tour and Lighthouse: As part of our orientation last week, we each went on a 2-hour walking tour of, really, the most impoverished parts of Freetown. What made this tour so unique is that we were split into groups of 2 or 3, and led around by one of the Lighthouse boys. Lighthouse is a youth discipleship and vocational training center run by WMF here in Freetown. The youth involved come from really troubled circumstances. Some were forced to fight in the war, others still live in refugee camps or lived on the streets for many years. Every Thursday night we will attend their youth program, and each of us will tutor some of the kids regularly.
So, back to that walking tour. Our guide and friend took us to 3 different wharfs, leading us through the dilapadated, smelly and wet slum housing. Trash covered the wharfs and drifted in and out of the water. Something about these conditions were way worse than Kibera in Nairobi. Stopping at the first "government wharf," our guide told me the story about this being the point where thousands of slaves were chained and forced aboard slaving ships bound for Europe and the Americas. This is also the place, he said, where the freed slaves returned to settle Freetown in the 19th century. As I looked around at the suffering in that place, and then reflected even for one second on the incredible history of suffering in that one place. it overwhelmed me.
After lunch our guide also took us to the Sierra Leone museum were there was an impressive Amistad exhibit lent out by the U.S. The Amistad was a slaving ship that left from Sierra Leone and was bound for Cuba, but a man on board overthrew the captain on the ship and attempted to steer everyone back to West Africa. That failed, and they ended up in New England, where a prison sentence and trial awaited them. I didn't realize when I saw the movie Amistad that the soon-to-be slaves on board were Sierra Leonean!
Okay, enough of my history enthusiasm for now...
Heart: At our all WMF Monday morning meetings we have been reading scripture relating to the heart. We are doing a similar program Thursday nights at Lighthouse. I really appreciate this exercise of reading and thinking about scripture and hearing each other's reflections. Again, I am thankful for WMF's emphasis on recognizing our relationship with Christ as number one importance. From there, our service to each other and the community will flow. And it can only flow from there.
Service: After all, this is the Servant Team! Our service here is meant to be relational at the core. Like I mentioned above, we will each tutor some amount per week with the same kids. I would also like to shadow/assist one of the staff here, Erin, on her medical checkup rounds in Kroo Bay (another slum area where WMF runs a Saturday afternoon kid program). As for my "main" activity, I am considering volunteering at City of Rest. City of Rest is a home for mentally challenged adults, as well as recovering drug addicts. The conditions are far from adequate, but they would love for some people to come and interact with the guests. I'm feeling a little unsure because I don't have creative ideas for what to do with the guests (like some of my teammates do), but I also know that that isn't the main point. The main point is just spending time with the people, and Ben and Kristina have this cool mural project idea that I think would be fun to be a part of.
We will all hammer out our "schedules" this week. :)
So, I appreciate so much knowing that you people support me and care about what's going on here. I continue to want your prayers -for my team and our relationships here (Oh, we are also all attempting to learn Krio, and I'm slow to catch on so far!) I love and miss you all. ~ Katharine
(By the way, the title of my post is the typical greeting here, and it is pronounced "How da bOdy?" It's great.)
Saturday, February 16, 2008
I'm in Sierra Leone!
I just wanted to write a journal post, saying that I made it to Freetown!! All my flight connections were smooth-- everything passed with no problem, and my teammates and I did indeed take a HELICOPTER ride late last night to get into the city!! It was pretty darn cool, and *interesting* as it was clearly an old military helicopter from somewhere. Our "flight attendant" had a lovely little speech for us which started with, "Hello gentlepeople, welcome to the helicopter." :)
My teammates are all great people - the married couple, Ben and Kristina, are from Indiapolis, but just got back from teaching in Korea for 6 months. They're young too, both are missionary kids and they are intentionally looking into full-time missions. My roommate, Stephenie, is super sweet and tons of fun to talk to and listen to! She is 29, getting married in September, and is an elementary school teacher. Get this, she just moved to Oceanside 6 months ago! And that's where she met her fiance and everything. So crazy! And then there's Chris. Chris just graduated from college in Tennessee, and he's from Virginia. He's taught in Vietnam and spent 8 weeks in northern Kenya before. He's also interested in long term missions.
Stephenie and I are staying with a Pastor Victor Zizer and his family. He and his wife, Auntie Marvel, have 3 children. Their names are Marvick, Marvin and Marvina! All combinations of the parents' names! :) The kids are really sweet and helpful and everyone is very gracious to us. Stephanie and I are sharing a room - there is a HUGE KING size bed, and then a twin, and we don't even need a sheet to sleep under cause it's so hot and humid and here!
Today we have just had a brief introduction to Freetown. We ate lunch and are about to visit the Kroo Bay children's center - a ministry that WMF works closely with. There are something like 300 children there. Tomorrow we will have our first team meeting to really start to get to know each other and discuss the plan for this first week... more later! God has really gotten me here safely, and our team is filled with really neat people. More later!
The two Stephanies outside of the Zizer's home, the place I will be staying!
The team! (Taken our last week in Freetown). It goes: Katharine, Stephanie, Ben, Kristina, Stephenie, Chris
My teammates are all great people - the married couple, Ben and Kristina, are from Indiapolis, but just got back from teaching in Korea for 6 months. They're young too, both are missionary kids and they are intentionally looking into full-time missions. My roommate, Stephenie, is super sweet and tons of fun to talk to and listen to! She is 29, getting married in September, and is an elementary school teacher. Get this, she just moved to Oceanside 6 months ago! And that's where she met her fiance and everything. So crazy! And then there's Chris. Chris just graduated from college in Tennessee, and he's from Virginia. He's taught in Vietnam and spent 8 weeks in northern Kenya before. He's also interested in long term missions.
Stephenie and I are staying with a Pastor Victor Zizer and his family. He and his wife, Auntie Marvel, have 3 children. Their names are Marvick, Marvin and Marvina! All combinations of the parents' names! :) The kids are really sweet and helpful and everyone is very gracious to us. Stephanie and I are sharing a room - there is a HUGE KING size bed, and then a twin, and we don't even need a sheet to sleep under cause it's so hot and humid and here!
Today we have just had a brief introduction to Freetown. We ate lunch and are about to visit the Kroo Bay children's center - a ministry that WMF works closely with. There are something like 300 children there. Tomorrow we will have our first team meeting to really start to get to know each other and discuss the plan for this first week... more later! God has really gotten me here safely, and our team is filled with really neat people. More later!
The two Stephanies outside of the Zizer's home, the place I will be staying!
The team! (Taken our last week in Freetown). It goes: Katharine, Stephanie, Ben, Kristina, Stephenie, Chris
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