heading out of town, past and future

Tomorrow after Lighthouse we’re heading off to the far edges of Sierra Leone to spend 10 days camping in a national park close to the border with Guinea. 10 days is a really long time, so it will be a great opportunity to reflect, process, ask questions, ponder those big questions of purpose and calling, and again enjoy the the beautiful countryside here in Sierra Leone. I think it will be nice to escape from the hustle & bustle of Freetown, something I’ve done only a few times before.

The first time I left town was to go with Faye and the Servant Team to an Internally Displaced Persons camp a half-hour out of Freetown. These people, belonging to the Timne tribe, had been moved during the war and had settled here. Our goal was two-fold: to give basic medecine (for issues like malaria, worms, headaches – nothing too technical) and to pray for the people there, spend time with them and let them tell us our story.

All things considered, it went off to an OK start. The “Chief” of the village – or, so he said he was – spent a good deal of time negotiating with a few pastors from Freetown who went out with us. Eventually, the issues (politics, Faye later informed me) were settled and everyone gathered together in a large group. Pastor Paul prayed for the group, introduced the white people among them, and why they’re here. It was a very warm atmosphere – lots of smiles, people clapping, a general good mood. When we were ready to get to work, we divided up the volunteers into two groups – one to help with the medecine and the other to listen to the people & pray for them.

Then, the mood changed. Everyone immediately started pushing, crowding, shouting, and we quickly had to call over the people praying to help with the medecine. So, for the next few hours, we counted & bagged medecine while the pastors tried to hand it out to people, yelling out medecine and watching people snatch it from them. The “chief” was calling out names on his megaphone, making it impossible to hear anything else. The crowd didn’t die down (or even get smaller, it seemed) until we finally ran out of medecine.

The trip’s mood changed in an instant. It started as an amicable, friendly, even joyful, meeting of two groups who were interested in sharing with encouraging each other in faith and perseverance. Once we got in the position to hand out the stuff, though, any sense of equality vanished. We were no longer people interested in learning our mutual identity as children of God, with each person able to contribute and help another. It became a story of the “Haves” trying to help the “Have-nots,” and, there was no possible way for us to effectively reach out and interact with each other in any meaningful way.

Part of me thinks, “Well, at least we were able to help the people’s health in a small way. Since they’re feeling a little bit better, we still did a good thing.” But, I wonder if these actiosn really only enable the same attitude that so many people here have with aid organizations – that they have nothing valuable of their own to contribute, so they should instead accept whatever the NGOs can give. So, the good intentions of humanitarian aid has an indirect, unintended result: further implicating that the poor are unable to contribute anything to the society at large.

And the second time I left Freetown – I went to the most spectacular beach I’ve ever seen. After an hour’s ride south on a terribly bumpy road lies “River No. 2 Beach.” While it may never win any awards for most creative name, it does have a quiet atmosphere, crystal clear water, and a nearby river leading into a mangrove swamp with thousands of crabs, beautiful birds, and a great view of the mountains all around. Pure, unspoiled beauty.

A bird’s eye view

Gotta love the internet. Just saw a site that can show you exactly where I’m staying… Right in the center of the screen, on the coast is a beige-white house with a fenced-in compound. Down and to the right is a house with a dark brown roof – that’s our place.

I’m in the house with the brown roof – we’re right by the Sierra Leone River. If you head East from that spot, you head into Freetown proper. West, and you go towards Aberdeen (and Lumley beach, which is about a 10 minute cab ride away…). Look around the city to get a feel for how big it is – 2+ million people are all in this area.

For those who haven’t read a Hallmark card recently

Sorry, I’ve been fasting from the Internet the past week, and even now, I’m trying to only ease my way back into it in bits and pieces. This update, then, is short and sweet.

Walking around town here can be dangerous. The path is often difficult: the dirt roads here are horribly uneven, and on the cement roads, you have to worry about gaps in the pavement, broken gutters (and the big drop into them), and piles of dirt and garbage. Beyond that, there are the cars – flying by only inches away. Wherever there’s heavy foot traffic, you have to plan your route ahead – which side of the road to walk on, whether to give way for the person ahead or to jump ahead, and whether that driver is signaling for you to cross or only batting a mosquito in front of him. There’s a lot to worry about- tripping and falling on my face (which I’ve already done a few times here) or getting hit by a car (which almost happens all too often).

I think because of that worry, I often spend too much time looking down – watching my steps, making sure I’m stepping in the right spot. Case in point: tonight, I’m heading home, planning my route down a particular hill, when I see a boy in front of me stop on the spot. He looks up at me, smiles (like all the other boys do when they see an apoto, or white man) and waves. Then, he points behind me. I stop and turn around, and above the skyline, above the smoke and smog of Freetown, there’s a big, full rainbow standing right behind me.

Yeah, it’s cheesy, but it made me stop and think – there’s a lot of beauty here that I’m missing by watching out where I’m walking. Of course, I don’t think walking with my head straight up to admire the beautiful skies here (and, indeed, they are gorgeous – every sunset is picture-perfect) is going to keep me healthy here – taxi drivers here are crazy – but nonetheless, I should keep my eyes open too much to the beauty all around me.

The first few days here, Faye told us that beauty is something you have to actively seek out and choose to embrace, in a place like this, otherwise you’ll end up cynical, depressed and feel like the situation is helpless. I’m slowly realizing that’s something that I struggle with wherever I am – at home, at school, in the US, in Africa. No matter where I am, when I’ve got some task to do, someone to meet, some deadline to keep, I immerse myself in that relatively small issue without stopping to see everything going on around me, the big picture. I just hope, eventually, I will be able to see them regularly – I won’t always need other people (yes, even little boys) to point those moments out to me.

Our visitor

Time here flies by. We’ve all noticed that it seems like our schedule is wide-open, that we have lots of free time. As each day plays out, though, I end up lamenting the lack of downtime in each day (especially when I have to wash my clothes – what a pain!). It’s a good thing Thursdays are our off days, where I can check Internet, catch up on reading, or take a nap.

We’re even busier now because we’ve begun tutoring some kids in Kroo Bay on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. They come home from school, and we help them with homework or to fill in any gaps they missed in the lessons. That makes for a long day – we have Lighthouse in the morning, then tutoring, then Krio class – so we’ll see how this busier schedule goes.

Last week, the entire city didn’t have water. That’s not too uncommon, especially in corrupt countries like this. So, when Jeremy and I got back in the evening after hearing everyone talk about the lack of water, we went straight to the bathroom to check the faucet. Jeremy got there first, and was reaching for the faucet, when something….unusual caught my eye.
Spiders are fairly common here, inside houses and out. But, I had never seen a puppy that big before. The pictures don’t do a good job of showing scale, but I’d say he’s a good 4 inches across. With massive legs. I’d bet he’s quick.

So we stared at that guy for a good 5 minutes, debating who would have to kill it. Eventually, we told James (our host) about the spider in the bathroom. He walked over, and as soon as he saw that spider, he burst out laughing. Apparently, he’s just a small one. They get much bigger than that. So, he killed it with ease, and went back to bed.

Really, though, there isn’t too much to worry about here when it comes to the creepy-crawly things I hear so much about. Yes, we have a few spiders in the house, but they’re only doing their part keeping the mosquito population down. And I’d much rather shower with spiders than with mosquitoes that could give me malaria again.

I’ve finally put up a few pictures on the internet – click here to see them. If you bookmark that link, you’ll see all the newest updates there, as I put up more photos. Sorry to not have that many yet, but more are coming on the way.