Mrs. Deinhammer's class - I failed you!
I am now about 1.5 weeks removed from Sierra Leone and already life has consumed me. I should have finished my blog before I ever left SL and I did not (thanks to an unexpected sinus infection on the way home). As expected, the more time that passed, the easier it became not to finish the task at hand. For this, I failed you.
So, I owe you a lot - at least my final 3 days. And I intend on finishing my blog this week. Hang in there with me - the last days were amazing and I can't wait to share them with you.
Very soon - the rest of the trip...seriously, worth the wait...
Monday, October 17, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
To be continued...
Unfortunately I probably won't have time to finish days 9 - 11 before we depart tomorrow (sorry Mrs. Deinhammer's class - the cool brain surgery story will have to wait). However I will finish it when I return. So, check back Monday for the ending of the trip to Africa!
A few things to look forward to:
Last day of painting for the eye clinic
The polio clinic
The awesome African beach
The funeral procession
I am so sad I am leaving Africa but also can't wait to get home.
Ethan - can't wait to see you this weekend. I love you and miss you!
A few things to look forward to:
Last day of painting for the eye clinic
The polio clinic
The awesome African beach
The funeral procession
I am so sad I am leaving Africa but also can't wait to get home.
Ethan - can't wait to see you this weekend. I love you and miss you!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Thank you Morgan!
Morgan was kind enough to reply to you guys today (even though it credits me). She did not feel well today and stayed behind on the ship. I really wanted you guys to get another perspective on the trip, so yay and thank you Morgan! :)
Monday, October 3, 2011
To Mrs. Deinhammer's Class - regarding the photo on Day 5
Hello Mrs. Deinhammer's Class! Thanks for all your questions - hopefully I will have a chance to answer them soon.
Many of you have asked about the photo on Day 5. Morgan took that photo and yes, that is skin that was just 'shaved' off the patient for a skin graph.
Mercy Ships treats a lot of burns here with the majority being already healed burns. If not properly treated at the time of the burn, they heal with scar tissue which causes the skin to contract and become immobile. So for example, your hand gets burned really bad and you just allow it to heal on its own. What happens is the scar tissue curls your fingers into a fist. What Mercy Ships is doing is opening the fingers, cutting out the scar tissue, and grafting on new tissue. Then they put metal rods into the finger tips to keep the fingers from moving so the graft heals properly. From there they will remove the rods and splint the hand. Each finger will get an individual splint with Velcro over each knuckle. They do a lot of OT with them during this time. The OT person we spoke with this afternoon was about to splint a 5 year old's hand as he had the metal rods removed today. She said he would scream the whole time. :(
Most of the burns are from falling into fire or hot water or boiling oil. Some are even old war burns.
Per Morgan with some more detail on the photo: Once they peel the skin off the body, they put it through the machine in the photo and that machine pokes lots of holes in the skin (Morgan called it the cheese grater) so it will stretch and fit over the wound. The nurse showed Morgan the skin before the machine and after. Morgan said after it looked like netting afterwards. They put a moist dressing over the area where they took the skin off and then wrap it up. The moist dressing attaches itself to the wound and eventually comes off when the skin regrows. After that they staple the graft over the wound. Very cool.
Tomorrow I have another cool brain surgery story for you!
Many of you have asked about the photo on Day 5. Morgan took that photo and yes, that is skin that was just 'shaved' off the patient for a skin graph.
Mercy Ships treats a lot of burns here with the majority being already healed burns. If not properly treated at the time of the burn, they heal with scar tissue which causes the skin to contract and become immobile. So for example, your hand gets burned really bad and you just allow it to heal on its own. What happens is the scar tissue curls your fingers into a fist. What Mercy Ships is doing is opening the fingers, cutting out the scar tissue, and grafting on new tissue. Then they put metal rods into the finger tips to keep the fingers from moving so the graft heals properly. From there they will remove the rods and splint the hand. Each finger will get an individual splint with Velcro over each knuckle. They do a lot of OT with them during this time. The OT person we spoke with this afternoon was about to splint a 5 year old's hand as he had the metal rods removed today. She said he would scream the whole time. :(
Most of the burns are from falling into fire or hot water or boiling oil. Some are even old war burns.
Per Morgan with some more detail on the photo: Once they peel the skin off the body, they put it through the machine in the photo and that machine pokes lots of holes in the skin (Morgan called it the cheese grater) so it will stretch and fit over the wound. The nurse showed Morgan the skin before the machine and after. Morgan said after it looked like netting afterwards. They put a moist dressing over the area where they took the skin off and then wrap it up. The moist dressing attaches itself to the wound and eventually comes off when the skin regrows. After that they staple the graft over the wound. Very cool.
Tomorrow I have another cool brain surgery story for you!
Day 8 - Oct 2
We left for The Hope Center at our usual 6:30 time. Since it was Sunday and since we had church twice today, we all decided today would be the day we wore our skirts and dresses. And let me tell you, we looked super nice! Especially after wearing painting clothes all week. Dressing up was a nice change and we were all excited about seeing The Hope Center.
The Hope Center is where Mercy Ships initially did all the screenings for the surgical patients, plus house the pre and post-op patients. I am not sure if I have mentioned that Mercy Africa sets sail for Togo in December, so their time in Sierra Leone is quickly coming to a close. Because of this, they are already completely full for surgeries until they leave; therefore, The Hope Center only has the patients now. No more screenings.
As expected, the kids were super excited to see us. One in particular, Omara, was especially spunky and immediately made friends with all of us. She is on crutches for a bum foot but gets around extremely well. However, with new people she uses her charm to get you to hold her and carry her everywhere. That trick worked for the first few hours.
Mom immediately befriended a toddler, Alpha. He was pretty withdrawn when we first met him and just stared at us. Most African kids are pretty shy. They are also extremely well-behaved. Mom took a particular liking to him and it wasn't long before she had him mimicking her motions and engaging her a bit. When she saw him a few hours later, he smiled at her. Another time he motioned for her to pick him up. That was the best part of Mom's day.
About an hour after we arrived, they had a church service with the residents. It was in English and translated to Creole. The man that gave the sermon is a food service worker on the ship, originally from Cameroon. He was a very good speaker and Mercy Ships is very good about not only physically healing these people, but also reaching them on a spiritual level. Preaching Christianity in a Muslim dominant society is not very easy, but Mercy Ships does an excellent job. The residents were quite lively and it reminds me of the predominately black churches in the states - lots of singing and clapping and that very contagious environment where you get right into with them. The kids especially love to sing and clap. Most of them slept during the sermon part, as young kids typically do. It was really hot in there which I know doesn't help with keeping them awake. At the end, they made a special point of welcoming the strangers and the white people. None of us were the least bit offended but the culture difference in that statement was what caught my attention. Can you imagine if a predominately white church in the states made a point of welcoming the black people? I really like that race isn't an issue here. Although they frequently point out we are white, they are not being racist or negative about it. It is just a fact to them and no one tip-toes around it like they do in the states. They are black, we are white. No one cares. It's nice. Ok, I will get off my soapbox now...
After church it was back to playing with the kids. I showed them how to stack dominoes where when you push one, the subsequent ones fall down. They really liked that. We also played jenga (now my specialty thanks to my time in central supply); however, they weren't the best at taking turns. It was like 5 different little hands all pulling pieces at once. It didn't take long to topple when you play that way. Peggy played UNO with the moms - even the adults want to "play" when new people show up. The men were typical men in that they sat together in their corner talking. We saw a lot of the women doing laundry throughout the day (they scrub everything by hand and hang dry it) and one mom did it all with a baby on her back.
Most of the kids were there for a variety of ailments. Some were siblings of the ones receiving treatment but most were injured in some way. Burns, facial tumors or trauma, amputations. Despite all of this, none of it slowed them down or made them any different from any other kid. Especially Osman. What an amazing kid. He only has one leg and he was treated by Mercy Ships because his original amputation was badly infected. He is the happiest kid and quite the soccer (or football as they call it) player. Seriously. He is great at playing with the kids despite his impairment. He also sings amazingly well and knows a bunch of old school church songs as well as contemporary Christian songs. I have video to post of him as soon as I can. He is such a delight and inspiration to be around and truly is living proof to anyone with a disability that disabilities don't define people.
My little shadow all day was a little boy with some facial trauma - in fact he is Alpha's older brother. I am not sure what was wrong with him, but whatever it was it didn't seem to bother him. He didn't speak much English so we just played and read and he sat in my lap a lot. He was content to just be held and receive attention. They were all so sweet. The real fun came when the cameras came out. They were immediately, "snap me, snap me!!" They loved having their picture taken. The adults wanted theirs taken as much as the kids however they all asked that I send them the picture. Since I promised them all I would send them their pictures, I will have to mail them to Dulce when I return. One little boy was especially interested in shooting video with my camera so I let him do that until the batteries ran out. I then put the video on the iPad and they loved seeing and hearing themselves on the "computer."
For lunch we ate with The Hope Center residents. They have locals do the cooking so their diet doesn't variate from what they are accustomed to eating. Lunch was a whole fish (scales, head, eyes and all) deep fried, rice, and ground nut soup (pronounced graw-nut all run together). The soup was very spicy. I could not eat the fish with the eyes and head and scales still on. I know I am supposed to branch out and eat local food, but I had to draw the line at eating something that still had a face. Mom was a better sport than me and at least attempted to eat the fish but couldn't do it after the first attempt. She really enjoyed the soup but it didn't set well with her later. She feels better today.
Morgan had her hair braided like the locals while at The Hope Center. Dulce knows a lady that owns a salon in town and had her come out to braid her hair. They have to add a bunch of fake hair to make the zillion tiny braids and the process was fascinating. It took about 3 hours and I have never seen someone braid so fast. It was amazing. She could braid from scalp to bottom (about 12 inches) in about 10 seconds. When the zillion braids are in, they section the hair into three large braids and soak them in boiling hot water. This seals the ends and curls the ends. I will make sure to send pictures. The lady that was braiding her hair has probably been braiding since she was a small child as we frequently see the little girls braiding hair. In fact, when we first arrived, the little girls kept braiding my and mom's hair.
After lunch we left The Hope Center around 2:00 and went back and spent the afternoon on the ship. We were all extremely hot and tired. It was nice having some down time. Dinner starts at 5:00 around here so by the time we took showers, it was almost time for dinner. Have I mentioned the showers on the ship? 1 minute to rinse, then turn the water off. Soap head to toe. One minute to rinse again and then you are done. 2 minutes total for water. We don't care though - we are just happy to have hot water.
After dinner we had church for an hour and then back to The Hope Center for one more hour. Morgan and I arm wrestled with three of the boys including Osman. We truly put all our strength into it and did not let them win and they still won. The 10 year old boys here are really strong! They did cheat a bit by putting their body weight into it, but they are still really strong. They start very early with the manual labor so I am sure they have been lifting since they were old enough to walk. We also had them guess our ages. Clearly judging the ages of white women is not easy for them as they guessed I was 20. :) That made my day (for those of you that don't know, I am 36). What made me really sad was when I asked the three boys when their birthdays were, none of them knew. They had no idea what month or day. Many of the children here have no idea how old they are. Apparently birthdays are not really celebrated around here.
After The Hope Center, is was home to the hostel. I forgot to mention that the other night as we were headed to the hostel, we saw the 'Secret Society' also known as the 'Devil's Society.' They are the voodoo people of SL and are known to be very evil. They have a person dressed up in costume and mask and the others dance around them with sticks and such. I couldn't photograph it as they will chase you down for your camera and take it. They do not wish to be photographed. They were very animated and seemed to be terrorizing the others by getting in their faces and waiving their sticks. It was super creepy.
I will end this on a happy note by saying it was awesome seeing The Hope Center and Mercy Ships is doing an amazing thing for these people, especially the children. I am super happy to be a tiny part of it. :)
Sorry - I toggled between past and present tense as I wrote this over 2 days. Good thing I am not a professional writer!
The Hope Center is where Mercy Ships initially did all the screenings for the surgical patients, plus house the pre and post-op patients. I am not sure if I have mentioned that Mercy Africa sets sail for Togo in December, so their time in Sierra Leone is quickly coming to a close. Because of this, they are already completely full for surgeries until they leave; therefore, The Hope Center only has the patients now. No more screenings.
As expected, the kids were super excited to see us. One in particular, Omara, was especially spunky and immediately made friends with all of us. She is on crutches for a bum foot but gets around extremely well. However, with new people she uses her charm to get you to hold her and carry her everywhere. That trick worked for the first few hours.
Mom immediately befriended a toddler, Alpha. He was pretty withdrawn when we first met him and just stared at us. Most African kids are pretty shy. They are also extremely well-behaved. Mom took a particular liking to him and it wasn't long before she had him mimicking her motions and engaging her a bit. When she saw him a few hours later, he smiled at her. Another time he motioned for her to pick him up. That was the best part of Mom's day.
About an hour after we arrived, they had a church service with the residents. It was in English and translated to Creole. The man that gave the sermon is a food service worker on the ship, originally from Cameroon. He was a very good speaker and Mercy Ships is very good about not only physically healing these people, but also reaching them on a spiritual level. Preaching Christianity in a Muslim dominant society is not very easy, but Mercy Ships does an excellent job. The residents were quite lively and it reminds me of the predominately black churches in the states - lots of singing and clapping and that very contagious environment where you get right into with them. The kids especially love to sing and clap. Most of them slept during the sermon part, as young kids typically do. It was really hot in there which I know doesn't help with keeping them awake. At the end, they made a special point of welcoming the strangers and the white people. None of us were the least bit offended but the culture difference in that statement was what caught my attention. Can you imagine if a predominately white church in the states made a point of welcoming the black people? I really like that race isn't an issue here. Although they frequently point out we are white, they are not being racist or negative about it. It is just a fact to them and no one tip-toes around it like they do in the states. They are black, we are white. No one cares. It's nice. Ok, I will get off my soapbox now...
After church it was back to playing with the kids. I showed them how to stack dominoes where when you push one, the subsequent ones fall down. They really liked that. We also played jenga (now my specialty thanks to my time in central supply); however, they weren't the best at taking turns. It was like 5 different little hands all pulling pieces at once. It didn't take long to topple when you play that way. Peggy played UNO with the moms - even the adults want to "play" when new people show up. The men were typical men in that they sat together in their corner talking. We saw a lot of the women doing laundry throughout the day (they scrub everything by hand and hang dry it) and one mom did it all with a baby on her back.
Most of the kids were there for a variety of ailments. Some were siblings of the ones receiving treatment but most were injured in some way. Burns, facial tumors or trauma, amputations. Despite all of this, none of it slowed them down or made them any different from any other kid. Especially Osman. What an amazing kid. He only has one leg and he was treated by Mercy Ships because his original amputation was badly infected. He is the happiest kid and quite the soccer (or football as they call it) player. Seriously. He is great at playing with the kids despite his impairment. He also sings amazingly well and knows a bunch of old school church songs as well as contemporary Christian songs. I have video to post of him as soon as I can. He is such a delight and inspiration to be around and truly is living proof to anyone with a disability that disabilities don't define people.
My little shadow all day was a little boy with some facial trauma - in fact he is Alpha's older brother. I am not sure what was wrong with him, but whatever it was it didn't seem to bother him. He didn't speak much English so we just played and read and he sat in my lap a lot. He was content to just be held and receive attention. They were all so sweet. The real fun came when the cameras came out. They were immediately, "snap me, snap me!!" They loved having their picture taken. The adults wanted theirs taken as much as the kids however they all asked that I send them the picture. Since I promised them all I would send them their pictures, I will have to mail them to Dulce when I return. One little boy was especially interested in shooting video with my camera so I let him do that until the batteries ran out. I then put the video on the iPad and they loved seeing and hearing themselves on the "computer."
For lunch we ate with The Hope Center residents. They have locals do the cooking so their diet doesn't variate from what they are accustomed to eating. Lunch was a whole fish (scales, head, eyes and all) deep fried, rice, and ground nut soup (pronounced graw-nut all run together). The soup was very spicy. I could not eat the fish with the eyes and head and scales still on. I know I am supposed to branch out and eat local food, but I had to draw the line at eating something that still had a face. Mom was a better sport than me and at least attempted to eat the fish but couldn't do it after the first attempt. She really enjoyed the soup but it didn't set well with her later. She feels better today.
Morgan had her hair braided like the locals while at The Hope Center. Dulce knows a lady that owns a salon in town and had her come out to braid her hair. They have to add a bunch of fake hair to make the zillion tiny braids and the process was fascinating. It took about 3 hours and I have never seen someone braid so fast. It was amazing. She could braid from scalp to bottom (about 12 inches) in about 10 seconds. When the zillion braids are in, they section the hair into three large braids and soak them in boiling hot water. This seals the ends and curls the ends. I will make sure to send pictures. The lady that was braiding her hair has probably been braiding since she was a small child as we frequently see the little girls braiding hair. In fact, when we first arrived, the little girls kept braiding my and mom's hair.
After lunch we left The Hope Center around 2:00 and went back and spent the afternoon on the ship. We were all extremely hot and tired. It was nice having some down time. Dinner starts at 5:00 around here so by the time we took showers, it was almost time for dinner. Have I mentioned the showers on the ship? 1 minute to rinse, then turn the water off. Soap head to toe. One minute to rinse again and then you are done. 2 minutes total for water. We don't care though - we are just happy to have hot water.
After dinner we had church for an hour and then back to The Hope Center for one more hour. Morgan and I arm wrestled with three of the boys including Osman. We truly put all our strength into it and did not let them win and they still won. The 10 year old boys here are really strong! They did cheat a bit by putting their body weight into it, but they are still really strong. They start very early with the manual labor so I am sure they have been lifting since they were old enough to walk. We also had them guess our ages. Clearly judging the ages of white women is not easy for them as they guessed I was 20. :) That made my day (for those of you that don't know, I am 36). What made me really sad was when I asked the three boys when their birthdays were, none of them knew. They had no idea what month or day. Many of the children here have no idea how old they are. Apparently birthdays are not really celebrated around here.
After The Hope Center, is was home to the hostel. I forgot to mention that the other night as we were headed to the hostel, we saw the 'Secret Society' also known as the 'Devil's Society.' They are the voodoo people of SL and are known to be very evil. They have a person dressed up in costume and mask and the others dance around them with sticks and such. I couldn't photograph it as they will chase you down for your camera and take it. They do not wish to be photographed. They were very animated and seemed to be terrorizing the others by getting in their faces and waiving their sticks. It was super creepy.
I will end this on a happy note by saying it was awesome seeing The Hope Center and Mercy Ships is doing an amazing thing for these people, especially the children. I am super happy to be a tiny part of it. :)
Sorry - I toggled between past and present tense as I wrote this over 2 days. Good thing I am not a professional writer!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Pictures
I just found out none of the pictures associated with the blog are labeled. I am not able to upload them from my iPad so Jodie has been kind enough to upload them for me; however, the labels I sent with them aren't accompanying the pictures. Between the two of us we should be able to get that corrected. Hopefully soon! :)
Days 6 & 7 - Sept 30/Oct 1
First and foremost, happy birthday to one of the best people in the whole wide world, my dear friend Michele. Wish I was there!
Day 6 was supposed to be spent painting the eye clinic all day. Instead we woke up to rain. So, we had to spend the day working on the ship. Friday was a hard day for all of us. We were all very tired and lacking in our usual energy and enthusiasm. The long days and lack of sleep were finally catching up tom us all.
Mom, Betty, and Peggy worked in the kitchen all day, while Morgan and I helped out at the ship shop. Dr. Stuart observed the shunt surgery and then he had to leave. We were all very sad to see him go but understood that his patients in Texas need him back home. Dr. Stuart - we miss you!
Morgan and I quickly discovered how important the ship shop is to the crew living on board and how much work it is to keep it stocked. All the necessities like toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, etc., are purchased at the shop. In addition, the crew can buy creature comforts like cake mix (they have a crew kitchen to bake in), candy, chips, etc. It is a vital part of the ship and Morgan and I spent several long, hot hours lugging boxes back and forth and unloading cargo. But we didn't mind. Supporting the Mercy Ships crew is a vital part of their existence.
That afternoon Morgan and I helped out central supply. At first we thought we had scored a really easy gig as he had us separate a zillion squares of gauze into small bags of 50. That kept us busy for about 30 minutes. After that, we had to move more boxes. Lots of them. Case after case of Lactated Ringer's and a gross (per the supply guy) protein juice. Cyle (the supply guy) told me I had to make sure and stack them where they wouldn't move. As the ship rocks, they can't have stacks falling down. You have to stack them all jenga-like in alternating conformations so the stack is more stable. The Lactated Ringer's was easy enough to figure out; however, I had a lot more trouble with the protein juice. Anyone that knows me knows that spatial relations are not my specialty. I never could figure out tetris. I stacked them one way and they wobbled. So, I tore them down. I stacked them another way and they still wobbled. I tore them down again. Poor Morgan was just bringing in box after box and I was in the cargo container sweating profusely, determined to figure it out. She couldn't believe I would build a three foot high stack of 20 boxes only to tear it down. Finally, on the third time, I solved protein juice tetris. That stack won't move even if a typhoon comes ashore. Cyle is not a real talkative, flowery language kind of guy, but I am pretty sure I saw a glimmer of approval when I insisted he try and knock my stack down. Take that protein juice!
Staying on the ship all day is actually harder than getting out amongst the people. You get a little stir crazy being inside all day; plus there is a certain degree of guilt being inside when you know what is right outside. Michael, our German dentist, said it best tonight. Inside the ship is America. Outside is Africa. Inside you have hot showers, TV, Internet, phone, Starbucks (the only one in West Africa I am told), buffet meals, etc. You really can very easily forget where you are when inside. I know the escape is important for the long-term people but since we are here for such a short time, I think by the end of the day we all wished would could have been at the eye clinic. However since that wasn't possible, we were happy to do our part in supporting the crew.
And that brings us to today...
We got to sleep in this morning and we all needed it. Instead of being up at 5:30, I got up about 7:50. It was wonderful.
We started the day at the craft market buying our African sussies (my mom's homemade word for souvenirs - great word, you all need to use it - singular = sussy). Dulce taught us the act of haggling with the locals and we all were pretty good at it. We bought a lot of jewelry, carved statues, purses, dresses, and scarves. It was a lot of fun. We then ate lunch at a restaurant in town (our first time to do that), the Crown Bakery. They served very 'western' type food - hamburgers, pizza, wraps, etc. Mom and I split a pizza as Dulce said it was the best in town. It was very good.
After lunch, Dulce took us for a drive in the mountains. While down in Freetown you can see all of these homes in the mountains, but can't tell much about them. Apparently this is where the other part of Freetown lives. Some of the homes were modest and some were flat out mansions. So different from the Freetown we have been in this past week. We got to see the American Embassy compound (it is quite large) and some amazing views of Freetown from high up. We stopped and took pictures and from high in the mountains, the city is quite beautiful. It looks like any other city - amazing how perspective changes everything.
Then came the hard part of the day. A visit to Kroo Bay slum. We joined the team from Word Made Flesh who run an after school program for the younger ones, a sponsorship program/schooling for the older kids, a discipleship program, and a 'The Good News Club' on Saturdays which is a feeding/Saturday only VBS for the kids of Kroo Bay. The Good News Club is what we helped with. There are about 3,000 kids that live there, amongst the 11,000 total population of the slum (at last estimate).
While walking to the church, the kids were shouting, "A-lay, A-lay" at us. We weren't sure why or what it meant. Later Dulce told us it is because they are trying to say, "hallelujah, hallelujah." Because of this, they have nicknamed them the "A-lay, A-lay Club." :) Also, while walking, the kids saw Dan, who they refer to as, 'Rasta Jesus.' He is a white man with a beard and some serious dreads. The kids adore him and once they saw him, they all started flocking to the group while we were walking. I was immediately joined by several kids who wanted to hold my hands. I ran out of hands, so more kids clung to my arms. They were the sweetest, most beautiful children. I was in heaven being surrounded by them. When we arrived at the church, they all started hugging me (and all of the team), which set off a hugging frenzy. I could have stayed there forever letting them all run up to hug me.
We left the kids outside while we went in to get our instructions for the church service. Basically they needed us to help keep the kids from talking, hitting, sleeping (the usual kid stuff) during the service. Then we were to feed them, pray for them, and send them on their way. Any that needed wound care, we were to send up front (several had sores on their feet or hands and they treat those minor wounds each Saturday). Easy enough, right?
The kids started coming in and they sat them in order or age. Little ones (around 3 or 4) up front, 5 - 6 year olds behind them, and so on. I was watching a couple of the 5 - 8 year old rows. While waiting for all the kids to come in, two little girls kept rubbing my arm and then sniffing their hands. I couldn't figure out why they were doing that because I was drenched with sweat at that point and I am pretty sure I smelled kinda funky. I asked the Word Made Flesh volunteer what they were doing and she asked me if I had lotion on. I told her I had hand sanitizer on and she picked up my arm and sniffed it and said, "yep, that's it - they are rubbing it on their hands so they can smell it." Apparently they are rarely around any kind of lotion or perfume, so when they are exposed to it, they love to smell it. She told me about a time they gave some kids sunscreen and they put it all over their faces without rubbing it in because it smelled good. She said they were running around with these white faces. :)
The service started (all was in Creole) and the leader Noah lectured the kids for about 30 minutes (maybe longer) about sitting still, not talking, not sleeping, etc., and if they did, they would be sent home ('ouse' as he pronounced it in Creole). Initially I thought that he was asking an awful lot of very small children to sit still and be good for that long and we had not even started yet. However, Dulce later explained that Noah's lecture is the only discipline they receive all week. After the 'talking to', Joseph, another one of the volunteers, started singing with the kids. It was difficult to understand the words, but very simple to understand the enthusiasm. They loved the singing and really got into the standing, clapping, shouting, and turning around. You couldn't help but smile and laugh with them.
The church was very hot and all of us were drenched in sweat. I marveled that none of the children appeared hot, despite a packed church with 300 kids, no a/c, and no breeze. Talk about acclimation! We spent the next hour quieting kids, removing hands from the backs of the pews, sitting them down, turning them around, and stopping all of the universal kid things kids do when forced to sit still and quiet for over an hour. It is obvious the kids love going there and love Dan and Noah. They learned about Joseph and his coat of many colors yesterday.
After the service was over, we fed the kids a product called 'Mana.' It is basically peanut butter with milk and vitamins in a paste form. It is very sweet. The product was developed for severely malnourished people. The kids had to eat half before they were allowed to leave. If we didn't make them do this, many of them would take it home and the siblings and/or parents would eat it and that would defeat the purpose of the program. Many were having a hard time eating it because it was so very sweet and they had no water. I had a couple try and cheat and leave with a glob in their mouths (probably to spit out as soon as they left the church) so I started making them open their mouths before they left.
The kids were all adorable and they were the best part of the day. Frankly, they have been the best part of the trip. I so enjoyed my couple of hours with them at Kroo Bay.
The children are the only part of Kroo Bay I wish to blog about. Anything more feels disrespectful to the people of Kroo Bay and it was also an experience I am not comfortable sharing in this kind of forum. I am not even sure I have really processed everything I saw today but I can tell you the memories will be with me forever.
With that being said, I would encourage all of you reading this to learn more about Word Made Flesh and the amazing things they are doing to support the children of Kroo Bay. They despretly need volunteers and financial support and anything you guys can do to help them would be awesome. Check out www.wordmadeflesh.org for more info. And special props to the Word Made Flesh Sierra Leone team - Noah, Dan, Jonathan, Brandon, Analisa, and Kristen! You guys are amazing!
In addition, the mana we served the kids was donated to Mercy Ships to give to Kroo Bay by a member of Dulce's first Mercy Team. She took that team to Kroo Bay as well and the man was so moved by his experience there, that he contacted the company that makes the mana and donated 14 pallets to the kids of Kroo Bay and some for Mercy Ships. All from his own money. That is a rock star in my book!!
We ended the evening by going to one of Dulce's favorite restaurants - a Senegalese place. We were going to eat there but there were only 4 tables inside and they were all full. It was also extremely hot inside as they have no a/c. Being that we were all covered in sweat, mud, and mana, we really didn't want to do hot anymore that day. We decided to place our order to-go, which turned out to be a good plan as the power went out right as the order came out. That is typical in Freetown - electricity comes and goes on a regular basis. We took our food back to the ship and the chicken and chips were delicious. They were served with a traditional african hot sauce that was really spicy but so good!
After that, it was home to the hostel for cold showers and bed. I slept ok except Bark and his buddies had a barking party sometime in the night that woke me up, but I went right back to sleep. I am starting to get used to the nighttime noises. Even the traffic isn't freaking me out as bad as it did (you all can probably tell since I haven't mentioned it in a few days). Keith told me what seemed so shocking at first would soon feel not so foreign. He is right. Now I just jump right under the mosquito netting and go to bed (after checking the sheets for critters of course).
Sunday it is all day at The Hope Center, which houses the pre and post-op patients and their caregivers. Can't wait!
Day 6 was supposed to be spent painting the eye clinic all day. Instead we woke up to rain. So, we had to spend the day working on the ship. Friday was a hard day for all of us. We were all very tired and lacking in our usual energy and enthusiasm. The long days and lack of sleep were finally catching up tom us all.
Mom, Betty, and Peggy worked in the kitchen all day, while Morgan and I helped out at the ship shop. Dr. Stuart observed the shunt surgery and then he had to leave. We were all very sad to see him go but understood that his patients in Texas need him back home. Dr. Stuart - we miss you!
Morgan and I quickly discovered how important the ship shop is to the crew living on board and how much work it is to keep it stocked. All the necessities like toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, etc., are purchased at the shop. In addition, the crew can buy creature comforts like cake mix (they have a crew kitchen to bake in), candy, chips, etc. It is a vital part of the ship and Morgan and I spent several long, hot hours lugging boxes back and forth and unloading cargo. But we didn't mind. Supporting the Mercy Ships crew is a vital part of their existence.
That afternoon Morgan and I helped out central supply. At first we thought we had scored a really easy gig as he had us separate a zillion squares of gauze into small bags of 50. That kept us busy for about 30 minutes. After that, we had to move more boxes. Lots of them. Case after case of Lactated Ringer's and a gross (per the supply guy) protein juice. Cyle (the supply guy) told me I had to make sure and stack them where they wouldn't move. As the ship rocks, they can't have stacks falling down. You have to stack them all jenga-like in alternating conformations so the stack is more stable. The Lactated Ringer's was easy enough to figure out; however, I had a lot more trouble with the protein juice. Anyone that knows me knows that spatial relations are not my specialty. I never could figure out tetris. I stacked them one way and they wobbled. So, I tore them down. I stacked them another way and they still wobbled. I tore them down again. Poor Morgan was just bringing in box after box and I was in the cargo container sweating profusely, determined to figure it out. She couldn't believe I would build a three foot high stack of 20 boxes only to tear it down. Finally, on the third time, I solved protein juice tetris. That stack won't move even if a typhoon comes ashore. Cyle is not a real talkative, flowery language kind of guy, but I am pretty sure I saw a glimmer of approval when I insisted he try and knock my stack down. Take that protein juice!
Staying on the ship all day is actually harder than getting out amongst the people. You get a little stir crazy being inside all day; plus there is a certain degree of guilt being inside when you know what is right outside. Michael, our German dentist, said it best tonight. Inside the ship is America. Outside is Africa. Inside you have hot showers, TV, Internet, phone, Starbucks (the only one in West Africa I am told), buffet meals, etc. You really can very easily forget where you are when inside. I know the escape is important for the long-term people but since we are here for such a short time, I think by the end of the day we all wished would could have been at the eye clinic. However since that wasn't possible, we were happy to do our part in supporting the crew.
And that brings us to today...
We got to sleep in this morning and we all needed it. Instead of being up at 5:30, I got up about 7:50. It was wonderful.
We started the day at the craft market buying our African sussies (my mom's homemade word for souvenirs - great word, you all need to use it - singular = sussy). Dulce taught us the act of haggling with the locals and we all were pretty good at it. We bought a lot of jewelry, carved statues, purses, dresses, and scarves. It was a lot of fun. We then ate lunch at a restaurant in town (our first time to do that), the Crown Bakery. They served very 'western' type food - hamburgers, pizza, wraps, etc. Mom and I split a pizza as Dulce said it was the best in town. It was very good.
After lunch, Dulce took us for a drive in the mountains. While down in Freetown you can see all of these homes in the mountains, but can't tell much about them. Apparently this is where the other part of Freetown lives. Some of the homes were modest and some were flat out mansions. So different from the Freetown we have been in this past week. We got to see the American Embassy compound (it is quite large) and some amazing views of Freetown from high up. We stopped and took pictures and from high in the mountains, the city is quite beautiful. It looks like any other city - amazing how perspective changes everything.
Then came the hard part of the day. A visit to Kroo Bay slum. We joined the team from Word Made Flesh who run an after school program for the younger ones, a sponsorship program/schooling for the older kids, a discipleship program, and a 'The Good News Club' on Saturdays which is a feeding/Saturday only VBS for the kids of Kroo Bay. The Good News Club is what we helped with. There are about 3,000 kids that live there, amongst the 11,000 total population of the slum (at last estimate).
While walking to the church, the kids were shouting, "A-lay, A-lay" at us. We weren't sure why or what it meant. Later Dulce told us it is because they are trying to say, "hallelujah, hallelujah." Because of this, they have nicknamed them the "A-lay, A-lay Club." :) Also, while walking, the kids saw Dan, who they refer to as, 'Rasta Jesus.' He is a white man with a beard and some serious dreads. The kids adore him and once they saw him, they all started flocking to the group while we were walking. I was immediately joined by several kids who wanted to hold my hands. I ran out of hands, so more kids clung to my arms. They were the sweetest, most beautiful children. I was in heaven being surrounded by them. When we arrived at the church, they all started hugging me (and all of the team), which set off a hugging frenzy. I could have stayed there forever letting them all run up to hug me.
We left the kids outside while we went in to get our instructions for the church service. Basically they needed us to help keep the kids from talking, hitting, sleeping (the usual kid stuff) during the service. Then we were to feed them, pray for them, and send them on their way. Any that needed wound care, we were to send up front (several had sores on their feet or hands and they treat those minor wounds each Saturday). Easy enough, right?
The kids started coming in and they sat them in order or age. Little ones (around 3 or 4) up front, 5 - 6 year olds behind them, and so on. I was watching a couple of the 5 - 8 year old rows. While waiting for all the kids to come in, two little girls kept rubbing my arm and then sniffing their hands. I couldn't figure out why they were doing that because I was drenched with sweat at that point and I am pretty sure I smelled kinda funky. I asked the Word Made Flesh volunteer what they were doing and she asked me if I had lotion on. I told her I had hand sanitizer on and she picked up my arm and sniffed it and said, "yep, that's it - they are rubbing it on their hands so they can smell it." Apparently they are rarely around any kind of lotion or perfume, so when they are exposed to it, they love to smell it. She told me about a time they gave some kids sunscreen and they put it all over their faces without rubbing it in because it smelled good. She said they were running around with these white faces. :)
The service started (all was in Creole) and the leader Noah lectured the kids for about 30 minutes (maybe longer) about sitting still, not talking, not sleeping, etc., and if they did, they would be sent home ('ouse' as he pronounced it in Creole). Initially I thought that he was asking an awful lot of very small children to sit still and be good for that long and we had not even started yet. However, Dulce later explained that Noah's lecture is the only discipline they receive all week. After the 'talking to', Joseph, another one of the volunteers, started singing with the kids. It was difficult to understand the words, but very simple to understand the enthusiasm. They loved the singing and really got into the standing, clapping, shouting, and turning around. You couldn't help but smile and laugh with them.
The church was very hot and all of us were drenched in sweat. I marveled that none of the children appeared hot, despite a packed church with 300 kids, no a/c, and no breeze. Talk about acclimation! We spent the next hour quieting kids, removing hands from the backs of the pews, sitting them down, turning them around, and stopping all of the universal kid things kids do when forced to sit still and quiet for over an hour. It is obvious the kids love going there and love Dan and Noah. They learned about Joseph and his coat of many colors yesterday.
After the service was over, we fed the kids a product called 'Mana.' It is basically peanut butter with milk and vitamins in a paste form. It is very sweet. The product was developed for severely malnourished people. The kids had to eat half before they were allowed to leave. If we didn't make them do this, many of them would take it home and the siblings and/or parents would eat it and that would defeat the purpose of the program. Many were having a hard time eating it because it was so very sweet and they had no water. I had a couple try and cheat and leave with a glob in their mouths (probably to spit out as soon as they left the church) so I started making them open their mouths before they left.
The kids were all adorable and they were the best part of the day. Frankly, they have been the best part of the trip. I so enjoyed my couple of hours with them at Kroo Bay.
The children are the only part of Kroo Bay I wish to blog about. Anything more feels disrespectful to the people of Kroo Bay and it was also an experience I am not comfortable sharing in this kind of forum. I am not even sure I have really processed everything I saw today but I can tell you the memories will be with me forever.
With that being said, I would encourage all of you reading this to learn more about Word Made Flesh and the amazing things they are doing to support the children of Kroo Bay. They despretly need volunteers and financial support and anything you guys can do to help them would be awesome. Check out www.wordmadeflesh.org for more info. And special props to the Word Made Flesh Sierra Leone team - Noah, Dan, Jonathan, Brandon, Analisa, and Kristen! You guys are amazing!
In addition, the mana we served the kids was donated to Mercy Ships to give to Kroo Bay by a member of Dulce's first Mercy Team. She took that team to Kroo Bay as well and the man was so moved by his experience there, that he contacted the company that makes the mana and donated 14 pallets to the kids of Kroo Bay and some for Mercy Ships. All from his own money. That is a rock star in my book!!
We ended the evening by going to one of Dulce's favorite restaurants - a Senegalese place. We were going to eat there but there were only 4 tables inside and they were all full. It was also extremely hot inside as they have no a/c. Being that we were all covered in sweat, mud, and mana, we really didn't want to do hot anymore that day. We decided to place our order to-go, which turned out to be a good plan as the power went out right as the order came out. That is typical in Freetown - electricity comes and goes on a regular basis. We took our food back to the ship and the chicken and chips were delicious. They were served with a traditional african hot sauce that was really spicy but so good!
After that, it was home to the hostel for cold showers and bed. I slept ok except Bark and his buddies had a barking party sometime in the night that woke me up, but I went right back to sleep. I am starting to get used to the nighttime noises. Even the traffic isn't freaking me out as bad as it did (you all can probably tell since I haven't mentioned it in a few days). Keith told me what seemed so shocking at first would soon feel not so foreign. He is right. Now I just jump right under the mosquito netting and go to bed (after checking the sheets for critters of course).
Sunday it is all day at The Hope Center, which houses the pre and post-op patients and their caregivers. Can't wait!
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