ay no J.C.!

"ay no J.C.!" - meaning: "I did not just come!"

This phrase is useful when bartering for a taxi price, or when buying anything on the street.  "I'm from Salone! How dare you charge me that ridiculous price!"  This past week I have truly felt like this phrase is becoming true for me.  I haven't just been that "white girl" on the street, but I have felt like I belong here.  In the last week, I have ran into 3 past patients out on the crazy, chaotic Freetown streets!
     My favorite moment was when I ran into Esther, a breast tumor/cancer patient I mentioned last week.  It started out as a fantastic afternoon, because I was with some friends of mine, a local married couple who work on the ship, and we were headed to their house for the afternoon.  We were walking up the mountain side through the busy residential mountain streets, when I heard my name being called from behind.  I was thinking, "surely they do not mean me.. I don't know anyone here!" and I turned around and saw Esther running up the hill calling after us, with half of her hair braided, half in a fro.  I was so surprised and excited to see her, I ran down to meet her and gave her a huge hug!  I don't know about you fellow acute-care nurses out there, but I have never ran into an old patient on the street and had such a great reception!  She was in the process of getting her hair braided when she saw me, and ran out of the hair salon!  It meant so much to me to be able to see her again, she is such a special lady!  For those of you who have been praying for her- her screening for the other breast is next week, so continue to pray that she won't need another surgery!
     Seeing Esther was only the start of a great evening.  I spent the day with my 2 friends, just relaxing and chatting in their house, and walking around their neighborhood.  I now know how international students feel when they go to school in the US-- it means so much to be invited home with a local!  To be able to experience home life in a new culture, and just to feel  more like family in a new country, rather than a visitor.  Ay no J.C.!
      I also had another home-life experience this weekend.  It was by far my best weekend so far in Sierra Leone!  2 of my friends, (1 Canadian and 1 American) and I went with 3 of our local friends up to the "provinces"- we went to Koidu city in Kono.  If you know anything about the Sierra Leonian war, or if you have seen Blood Diamond, then you may have heard of Koidu City.  Kono is one of the richest areas in diamonds, and because of that, it was the central location of the war.  The rebels basically took of Koidu and used it as their base camp.  2 of the guys, Israel and Abdulai have family in Koidu, which is why we went there.  It is a 9 hour bus ride across the country, so we made it a long weekend and traveled on Friday and Sunday, and had Saturday to spend in Koidu.   Let me give you a little play by play of the weekend..

First off, here is the crew I traveled with:  

Israel

Sahr and Abdulai

Johanna, Anjali, and I.  notice the zero-sleep look I'm rockin..

best way to sleep in the middle of a bus!

So to start off the trip on the right foot, 4 of the 6 of us worked night shift all week.  So we were coming straight off night shift, and going to the bus station, where the bus was NOT very patiently waiting for us!  At first glance, it looks like a nice spacious coach bus... but no, no, my friend.  That was not the case.  In classic Sierra Leone fashion, they fill every seat in the bus. twice. and then just when you think there is no way another bread crumb could fit in, they somehow squeeze 50 more people in.  We were fortunate enough to get seats.. small rubber stools in the isle way that is.  So as you can imagine, my brilliant plan to sleep all the way to Kono was NOT going to happen!  Over bumpy jungle-y roads for 9 hours, with zero air conditioning, it was definitely a journey that we won't soon forget!  But we of course made the most of it and laughed our way to Kono.. or maybe that was the lack of sleep talking.. not sure!

After arriving in Kono, we separated from the boys, and us girls went to our hotel and relaxed for the evening!  Saturday was our day to live like locals!  The guys took us to the market and we bought all of the ingredients we would need to make an amazing Leonian feast!  Then we walked to meet Abdulai's mom at her fabric shop and spent some time talking with and praying for her.  She insisted that we return later so she could prepare us some food!  We respectfully accepted (it is very rude here to refuse anything that is offered to you here!)  even though we knew our stomachs would be popping by the end of the night!

arrived at the hotel.. and I passed out

We headed to Israel's home, met the whole fam, and then started cooking!  I imagine the women of the compound were quite bewildered as 3 Sierra Leonian men taught 3 white girls how to cook :) We made Casava leaf and rice, and fufu with an okra sauce.  It was DELICIOUS!  I will let the photos describe our experience...

At the market shopping for our ingredients!

stinky smoked fish. mountains of it.

Our kitchen!  The lunch making crew, plus a few observers.

Center of the market.. filled with fish. stinky stinky fish.

2 chickens freshly killed in a bucket! start the plucking!

Smashing Okra and peppers for the fufu sauce

Israel and Anjali roasting the last of the feathers off the chicky's

I cut off the chicken head! Can you believe it mom?!

"picking" the rice. We were actually just playing in it. don't tell.

 So, funny story.. you never see cats here, only the rare kitten.  We made the mistake of asking where all the cats were.  Turns out cats are a rather tasty entree.  In fact, my friend Israel has eaten 5!  Would you care to know how they kill them?  Neither did I, but they told me anyway, so I figure I should share with all of you in case you ever need to know this handy skill:
          1.  place cat in bag.
          2.  smash bag on ground until it stops moving.
          3.  remove dead cat from bag.
          4.  soak cat in carosene.
          5.  light on fire.
          6.  easily peel away the skin.
          7.  cut up meat and cook as desired!

I'm  not even joking.. this is serious.

Just doing my best to help!  Cooking the rice.

Casava leaf!  staple food item in Sierra Leone!

Finally enjoying our delicious meal!  Casava leaf and rice!

Enjoying our second entree- Fufu and Okra sauce

On our way from Israel's house to Abdulai's

Later we walked back into town, walked around town a bit, and then went to Abdulai's moms house.  There we had ANOTHER amazing feast of chicken and fried plantains.  Now if you are paying attention, you will see that we ate THREE chickens.  This may be no big deal in America, but the fact that 3 chickens were killed for us is so huge.  A family will only kill and eat a chicken on very special occasions, as they are not cheap!  We were so humbled and honored by their generosity.  As an American, my first reaction would be to refuse these gifts of generosity and insist that they don't kill 3 chickens for us!  But culturally, it is extremely rude to refuse gifts or hospitality that is offered to you.  If someone invites you over for dinner, you better go!  Or if someone gives you a live goat, you better accept it! (thank goodness this hasn't happened to me yet!)  It has taken some getting use to, because as an American I don't like to receive gifts, especially when I see how big of a sacrifice it is for the other person.

After an amazing day of walking through town, eating RIDICULOUS amounts of food, and feeling so welcomed by our friends' families.. we headed back to our hotel to catch a few hours of shut eye before getting up at 3 to catch a 4am bus!  Lucky for us we actually got real seats on this bus :)  All in all it was an amazing trip!

All of us with Abdulai's mom

Lessons learned while in Kono:
    - Don't question what part of the chicken you are eating.. just chew.
     - Don't eat with your left hand, its rude.
     - Don't drink anything if you don't want to squat in the road to pee like the locals
     - it IS possible for Sierra Leonians to sleep on the roughest, bumpiest road ever.
     - Africa loves Celine Dion.


When I got back to the ship, my relaxing weekend was put to an abrupt stop, and I spent the rest of the week torturing small children.  It has been a very busy few weeks in the ward, because all of our plastic patients have pretty intense dressing changes.  Hands that were melted shut and are now reopened, and feet that were deformed that have been straightened, and arms that were contracted have been released.. etc.  There are lots of skin grafts and therefore lots of pain and long dressing changes!  This week was a big k-wire removal week as well.  I pulled lots of k-wires out of little children's hands and arms.  Just youtube it... you will see what I'm talking about.  It is sometimes hard to remember that we are actually doing good things for these people when I make them scream and cry as if there leg was being sliced off.  It has been very mentally exhausting for me this week to cause so much pain.  Luckily I can retreat to the Hope Center- where the plastics-patients who are nearly healed are staying, and I can laugh and play with them and be reminded of the amazing changes we are making in their lives!

Prayer requests:
- Continued prayer for Esther that she won't need further surgery
- For the small children in the ward who are convinced I'm trying to kill them.. that the pain will be short lived and not remembered!
- For my local friends who are trying to go to school in US-- pray that doors will open and it will be obvious if it is in God's will for them to go or not.
-  For my friend Abdulai (I think I called him Andy in an older post)-- He is so eager to learn more typing and computer skills, but I don't have access to any programs unless we are online.  Anyone have a CD-ROM version of typing lessons??
- Some of my friends have left for Togo already to prepare for the ships arrival in January.  Pray for their safety in travel and for things to come easily, such as securing a parking spot in the port!

Love and miss you all! Keep in touch, as always I love to have updates from home! Even if it's just, "I washed my car today, and mowed the lawn. and then I peed."  :)

Love and Hugs all around


Danelley. 

Ay di com!

            Half way through week 6 in Sierra Leone… crazy.  I have been planning to write this blog for a long time, but my mind has just been all over the place and I couldn’t decide what to write about!  I titled this blog “Ay di com!” because that is a very common phrase here, and I find myself saying it a lot!  It means, “I’m coming!” or “I will come!”  When you are in Africa, and you see someone you know on the street, or when you leave a friend’s house, or when you leave church, or when you see anyone that you wish you had time to have a longer conversation with (which is everyone), you say “ay di com!” This phrase permanently commits you to return and enjoy your friends company again soon!  Unlike in America, when we say, “See you soon!”... it doesn’t actually mean see you soon.  We just say that to be nice, and then never actually plan on seeing them again, right?! Well not so in Africa my friend!   When you say good bye to a friend, and they ask you if you will return tomorrow, they are serious!  So don’t just agree and say, “O yes yes ay di com!” 

Relationships and community are so huge here.  They thrive on being inter-dependent, sharing deep conversation, and caring for others.  In the ward, it is a struggle to keep the patients off each other’s beds, keep babies with the right mom, and keep them from sharing food, cups, and toothbrushes!  As frustrating as it can be sometimes to maintain some reasonable infection control, it is just beautiful to see how much they care for each other!  

The more time I spend here in Sierra Leone, the more I WANT to say “ay di com!” because everyone I meet and everywhere I go, I really do want to go back and have more conversations and spend more time with them!  I’ve never been a fan of having to say good-bye, and I’m sure getting some practice here!   Staff turn-over on the ship is pretty high, and many of the people I arrived with will be leaving soon.   As I dread the thought of having to say good-bye to them, I realize that this is going to be a pretty regular thing for me as I will see many people come and go.  

 The bittersweet good-byes also apply to my patients!  There are only 3 patients left out of the 15 or so long-term patients that were here for 2-3 months.  One of the ladies, Esther, had a very large breast cancer tumor that was removed and skin-grafted over.  She has become such a close friend, and she left today.  She was looking for me before she left, and I found out too late, so I ran outside onto the dock and caught her before she left!  (it was just like in the office, when Pam ran to catch Michael at the airport!)  I had been through a lot with her over the past month of so.  I remember when I first got here, her wound was not healing well, and she had a very deep wound that was infected.  She was very sad and quiet and didn’t talk much.  As the weeks went on, something changed in her, and she started to think more positively, and listened to Gospel music all the time. The ward was like a juke box 24/7!  Her wound started to heal amazingly well.  I use to love dressing change time with her, because we would go into a separate room, and it gave us time to talk and be real with each other.  She had just finished her final nursing exams before she came in for surgery, and she will have to finish up clinicals now that she is out.  I am so excited for her to be a nurse- she will be incredible!  One of the last dressing changes I did on her, she was very quiet and I didn’t know why.  When we got into the dressing change room, she started to cry, and said she was just thinking about everything she had been through the past few months- the surgery, the pain—but then over all of that was the joy of meeting us, and making close friends, and relying on the Lord. I felt so blessed to be able to have that moment of tears and laughter with her as she recalled her experiences the last few months!  I am so excited that she is going home, but I have an URGENT prayer need for all of you—Esther is currently having her other breast screened, as we found another lump before she left.  She is very scared and frustrated, so PLEASE pray that the screening will come back clear, and she is breast cancer free!!

Another difficult good-bye was to a patient named Alpha.  He had also been here since I first arrived.  He started out as a very quiet, shy man, but eventually opened up and laughed and joked, and was the sweetest, most loving man on the ward.  I had gone down to the ward one day and saw that his bed was empty.  My heart dropped, because I had no idea he was leaving and I hadn't said good-bye.  Luckily I found out he had gone to stay at the Hope Center for a while.  The Hope Center is a home run by Mercy Ships.  Discharged patients who still need outpatient care, but live too far away can stay there as long as they need to.  New patients can also stay there before surgery if they live far away, or if they need heavy nutritional support before they are ready for surgery.  It is an amazing place, and it is so much fun to go hang out there on off days to visit old patients and get to know new ones.  

So when I found out Alpha was staying there, I stopped over one day to see him.  I was sitting out in the court yard with a group of children, when he came running up to me and gave me a big hug with tears in his eyes, so excited to see me!  If you had seen this man a few months prior- a quiet mechanic who kept to himself- you wouldn't recognize him!  Attempting to separate myself from my work here and not get personally involved with patients is absolutely impossible here. It is moments like this that make me realize just how powerful the work is that we are doing here!

So this past week I have named myself Danielle-the tear-maker.  Hopefully my good-bye to Esther will be the last person I will make cry for a while!  In total over the past week, I have made 6 people cry! Call me a jerk.  So let me explain:

1st is a friend of mine here on the ship.  She is from Africa, and we were talking one night, when I realized I know absolutely nothing about her past.  I started asking questions, and she shared a little, but skated around many questions.  Finally, she said, "you will make me cry, it is too hard to talk about".  I am slowly starting to realize the amount of pain that many African's have gone through.  She started to tear, and I didn't press any further.  Wars and famines and true suffering have infiltrated this continent, and I don't think we could ever truly realize what pain and suffering is when compared to what most  people here have been through.  A few of us American's were chatting in the galley one night (while waiting for banana bread to cook, Mmmm!) and we started listing the luxuries that we have in America that would be just insane requests here.  It really puts things in perspective.  I was ashamed to admit that if a friend of mine from Sierra Leone were to visit me in the US, I would not want to pick them up in my car, or take them to my house because I would be embarrassed of luxuries I have.  Here is some of our list:

        - I have crazy electronis- a computer, Ipod, GPS, camera.. and I'm not even technologically intelligent!

        - I can instantly cook food in my house- in a microwave, stove, or oven

        - I have a mattress. not only that I have blankets.  AND, I am the only person who sleeps in my twin-size bed.  Not my sister, or my cousin, or my grandma. just me.

        - I have the ability to keep food cold, or even frozen

        - I can have a "snack" if I want

        - I can push a lever, and my poo will instantly disappear

        - I can wash my clothes without going to a river. and instantly dry them.

        - If I'm cold, I can turn on a heater. If I'm hot, I can turn on an A/C.

        - If it rains, I can shut the rain out of my house.

        - I have electricity..in my house! 

        - I own a car.

        - If I burn myself, or get sick, or accidentally cut off my finger, I can go to a hospital and get it fixed.

OK, I think you get the point.  Seriously think about these luxuries.. do you take them for granted?!  Back to the list of cry-ers..

2nd is a patient of mine named Hassan.  He is a sweet little 12 year old boy who had 2 hands deformed from a fire.  One hand we are unable to repair- his fingers are gone and only has his palm.  The other hand was contracted, so we released his fingers and used skin grafts to open up his hand.  I did his dressing change yesterday, which you could imagine is pretty painful on fresh,  new skin.  He is a quiet, sweet, boy, and was shedding some seriously painful tears. (3rd-) His dad started crying because of the pain that his son was in, and unable to avoid the chain reaction, I started tearing up as well! It was not a pretty situation, but at the end, the dad said, "I am so grateful for what you do, I tell God Tenki."  

4th was another patient, Sally.  She is 28 and had a burn to the arm with contractures that we released.  I was doing her dressing change the other day and asked her how the burn happened.  She started to tear up and said that she was escaping from her village with her mom in a car full of people when the rebels through a bomb at their car.  She was able to escape, but her mom did not.  She was 13 at the time.  Unfortunately, over half of the burn patients here have similar stories.  And 15 years later now, they are finally getting treatment.   

and 5th was Esther and 6th was Alpha, which I already explained to you!

There is a ministry here in Freetown called Missionaries of Charity.  I thought I had talked about it before, but I can't find it in any of my old blogs.  It is a home that was developed under the tradition of Mother Teresa.  It is run by 4 nuns who all trained in Calcutta at Mother Teresa's ministry there.  Every Wednesday morning a group of Mercy Ship-ers go there.  I have gone quite a few weeks in a row now, and I fall in love with the people more each time!  The have a wide range of illnesses, some with TB, HIV, Malaria, malnutrition, etc.  And some are just handicapped or developmentally disabled, and have been abandoned their by their families.  The sisters are amazing, and the 2 hours we spend there give them a bit of a rest, since they are caring for the people 24/7.  There is a girl named Sadimba there who is a bit younger than me, and lost her arm in the war.  Every week we play memory, and she kicks my butt every time.  Last week she wrote  a song about having Hope in God.  After all she has been through, her faith is incredible.  

2 weeks ago, I held a tiny 4 month old baby.  You know the little skin-and-bone babies and children that you see on TV?  Well it is a much more humbling and heart-breaking experience when you actually hold one.  Some of the babies and children here are so malnourished when they get to Missionaries of Charity that they have no energy to laugh, cry, play.. nothing.  I could feel every rib in the 4 month old, and I felt like I was going to break him with every move I made.  He just laid on my chest with his eyes open, too tired to even sleep.  Last week I was holding a 5 year old boy that was about the size of a 2 year old.  His arm was the size of my thumb.  I was trying to color with him as he sat on my lap, and I would put the crayon in his hand and lift it to the paper.  He would scribble for about 10 seconds before he would get too tired, and resort to just staring at the paper.  I just want to hold them and take them home and love them!    What the sisters are doing is absolutely incredible.  Taking hopeless, ill people and giving them life again!

 

This little boy I have plans to steal.  His mother had surgery to release on her chest and let for burns.  She is in a lot of pain and it is hard for her to care for him, so us nurses have been taking turns!  He is a little crabby pants unless he is being carried!  Carrying babies on your back is the thing to do in Africa! It is called a Po-Po.  It is incredible, and I'm not sure why we don't do it in America!  It is super comfortable, the baby is happy, and your hands are free!  I can give medications, do charting, check vital signs, etc. with this little monkey on my back!  (The only risk is that you have to pray for no diarrhea-explosions, or it could be bad news for you..)  

Tomorrow I am going to the American Embassy!  I am taking some of my Sierra Leonian friends there to get information on studying in the US.  I have been helping them find information online, but I think we will find more information at the Embassy.  At first, I thought it was cliche and silly for Africans to want to study in the US.  They can just get an education in Sierra Leone, why does everyone want to go to America??  But unfortunately, with a degree from a local university, majority of people cannot get a job.  Most of these universities have been re-established in the 5 years since the war, and are still growing.  Businesses here highly respect education from western countries, so with a degree from the US, a job is pretty much guaranteed.  If anyone has any information on scholarships or grants for Africans studying in the US, let me know!  They have to take the TOEFL (Test Of English as Foreign Language) before even applying, and the test cost $160 USD, which is basically a lifetime savings over here, so it is quite a decision to make, and they need to have a good idea of a place to study before dishing out that kind of money.  So keep them in your prayers!

My accomplishment of the week: I went on an adventure into town- solo!  You may think this is nothing, but trust me, in Freetown, going out alone is huge!  I wasn't completely alone, because I met up with one of my local friends, but I had to get to his house by myself, and I succeeded!  I took an Okata (motorcycle taxi) and didn't even get ripped off in my price!  Some people find Okata transport to be crazy, but I think it's the way to go!  You get places so much faster, because the motos drive anywhere they want!  Right down the center line in bad traffic, on the sidewalks, anywhere!  :)  And so far, no wipe-outs!

More stories and adventures to come!  I currently have a dress being made at a local tailor (He is no Suzi George, but I'm excited!)  So I will be sure to share a picture when I get my new African-garb!

Love and hugs to all!

Prayer requests for this week:

- for Esther- that her scan for more cancer will come back negative

- For the children at Missionaries of charity- to put on weight quickly and get energy to be a real kid!

- For my local friends hoping to study in the US, that they will get promising information at the embassy, and hope for scholarships and grants!

- Post-op day 15 for many patients, and skin grafts are healing well! Continue to pray for ZERO infection!!

Night shift to remember!

  

Countryside

     I worked night shift this past weekend, which was a lot more thrilling than one could imagine!  There is generally not a whole lot to do on night shift apart from treating pain and checking a few vital signs.  Some of the day-workers sneak away to hide and sleep, but I can convince some of them to stay and talk with me!  This weekend I spent hours talking to one man (we will call him Andy) about his experiences in the war.  What a sad and humbling experience to sit and listen to him share his stories with me.  He spent a good chunk of his childhood, roughly age 10-20 living in constant fear because of the rebels.  He explained to me how the rebels would scout the villages, sneak in, and ambush the town, killing anyone who ran away or refused to give money, or sometimes just killing and torturing people for no reason. 
     Andy's family was continually picking up and moving to new villages to try to avoid the rebel attacks, and try to find food.  Once when a city they were staying in was ambushed, they fled to the bush (jungle) and hid there for 3 months.  For 3 months they lived in the jungle eating only wild yam roots, and making small fires at night to cook and give light.  (He said at night the animals would stand around them in the jungle watching them- mostly monkeys, baboons, bush cows, etc.  The animals got so use to them being in there that the kids started playing little games of tag with the monkeys!)  They would sneak into town to find food and to get information on where the rebels were.  He also recalled a story of a young boy that he befriended and played football (soccer) with.  They became good friends, selling things on the street together and playing soccer in the evenings.  After a few weeks, the young boy told Andy in secret that he was a rebel.  He was sent to their village as a spy to find out who the wealthy and powerful were in the city.  The boy told Andy that the rebels would be attacking in 3 days, and he needed to get his family out of the village.  The boy said, "don't tell me where you are going or when you are going, because I will have to lead my people to you and kill you then.  Just leave and don't let me see you."  God had definitely blessed Andy in this situation and saved his family, because the rebels attacked the village just as the young boy had warned.  (Side note: crazy thing is that this boy is now living in Freetown driving Poda-Poda's (public transportation) for a living!  I hadn't thought about the fact that people I pass on the street every day, or people who drive my Poda-Poda's..could be past rebels)
     I was enthralled by his stories for hours, both heart broken and impressed to see how he has coped.  I won't share most of his stories with you, as they are way to horrific and graphic.  He is 27, and has seen and experienced things in his life that I could not imagine. His father and brother were both killed by rebels in the war, and he is the sole provider for his 2 sisters here in Freetown.  Despite all of this, he has such a positive and encouraging outlook on life.  It is a real lesson on learning to depend on Christ for your joy and comfort and not on your feelings and circumstances.
   
     Working night shift turned out to be more of a blessing than I had expected.  (Besides the fact that I slept for only 4 hours combine the whole weekend.. of which some of those hours were spent in a squishy shag-wagon!)  My Sierra Leonian friend Andy worked night shift with me again last night- my last of 3 nights in a row.  I was considerably tired due to my lack of sleep all weekend.  I was afraid he was going to sleep the night away and leave me by myself fighting to keep my eyes open.  I couldn't think of any exciting topics to discuss, so I figured I was SOL.  At the beginning of the shift I was sending an e-mail, and he sat down next to me, jaw dropped, and started laughing.  I looked at him, wondering what I did that was so funny, and he said, "look how fast you type! You're not even looking!"  It hadn't even crossed my mind that Sierra Leonians do not have the access to computers that we do.
     As Andy and I talked, I quickly learned that he has only been in front of a computer 7 times in his entire life.  A friend of his helped him set up an e-mail account 2 weeks before this, but he had no idea how to use it.  He went to the internet cafe by himself and took an hour just to login to his e-mail.  I decided that to occupy my night, we would do computer lessons!  Now I'm no computer wiz-- far from it actually.  In the US I would be considered computer illiterate, but to my friend Andy, I was Bill Gates!   Now, I thought helping my Mom and Dad on the computer was difficult (sorry Mom and Dad!), but I had to start at ground zero with Andy.  For instance- where do you type a web address?  What IS a web address??  how to open/close the internet, what is a search engine and how do you use it?  It was such a great experience for me to teach him.  Andy was so excited to learn, he was more awake that night than I have ever seen him during the day!
     7 hours later, He was searching information about his favorite soccer teams online, sending e-mails, and using Facebook!  Since it took him 10 minutes just to type a web address in, I decided we needed to do some typing tutorials. I opened a free online tutorial, and he spent 2 hours practicing how to type!  2 hours of, "fjfjfj kd kd lllgh..." etc.  I dozed off watching him, but he was thrilled!
     So many missionaries go overseas and spend so much time teaching computer classes.  I never fully understood why that was so important until now.  I hate to admit that computers rule our world, but it is true.  And when an entire country has virtually no access to or ability to use a computer, it makes it that much harder for them to get out of poverty and catch up to the advancing world.  Andy had been through school and graduated college with a degree in finance, and still had no access to computers.  Even the education system here looks so different because of the lack of computer access.

     By the end of night shift, I should have been exhausted, but it was hard for me to sleep because I was so excited for Andy.  I never realized how much of a blessing a simple computer lesson could be to him.  I feel like I just unlocked the world for him.

The rest of my weekend was nothing compared to my experiences with Andy, but I will sum them up quickly:



River #2 beach- absolutely beautiful! Just like the TV show LOST!







     - Took a 3 hour journey to the most tropical beach ever, taking Poda-Poda's, taxis, and motorcycles over roads that should not even be passable by pack mules. 

     - Floated down a real-life lazy river that was warm, clear blue, and lined with the softest white sand in the world.



     - Took an Okata (motorcycle taxi) to church.  Got lost and tried to help my driver find the way, and ended up driving through the middle of a soccer game.  Motorcycle apparel:  skirt, sandles, bicycle helmet.  (sorry Mom and Dad)

     - Drank a Sprite out of a glass bottle served to me by the pastor on Sunday-- it was filled with unidentified floaties.  Still not sick. fingers crossed.

   - Watched the most spectacular sunset yet from the top deck of the ship with an amazing African breeze cooling the hot air :)

Sorry for the lack of pictures this time!  My stories were all about night shift, where a camera is not exactly appropriate..

Prayer requests:

     - My patient, Lonny, who I talked about in past blogs went home today!  Pray for a welcomed return home for him, and continued wound healing with NO infection!

     - For Andy, that he can continue to mentally/spiritually heal from his war experiences, and that his new computer knowledge will open up a window of opportunity for him!

     - For our new plastics patients who just arrived today!  There are some very sweet children that I am excited to work with!

Love and miss you all! Continue to update me on your lives! I love to know what is going on State-side!

 

Seke! (Hello in Temne)

     I have passed my 3 week mark with Mercy Ships, can you believe it?!  It is flying past, and I am already getting sad about having to say good-bye to Sierra Leone in 3 months.  But lets skip that subject and talk about my latest African adventures this past week! 

     We are slowly dwindling our patient numbers as we prepare for a our new plastics patients to come in next week.  Most of our large hernia/hydrocele wounds have been stitched up this week for hopefully the last time!  We have an amazing general surgeon here who is doing an amazing job of healing these men and getting them home.  Unfortunately he leaves on Monday, so we need URGENT prayers that these last few patients will heal quickly, and no one will return with complications!  We will not have a general surgeon for 2 weeks, so our Max Fax surgeon or Plastic surgeon would have to step up to the plate.  Please pray for quick healing and no problems!!

    


just a picture of everyday life!



As badly as I want to get these men home, they have become very dear to my heart, especially 2 of them.  They have been here since I first arrived, and were my first patients.  I have seen their pain and their joy, and I have seen how they have learned to depend on the Lord and on prayer for their comfort.  It is such an incredible process to watch.  A few days ago I had a very moving day at work, and it started with my dear friend, we will call him Lonny.  He was very concerned about being in the hospital because his wife and children had no access to money without him and he had no way to get money for them.  A few days before this was the first time he had seen his wife in 5 weeks.  He came into the hospital with wound complications, and hadn't talked to or seen his wife because her phone had recently been disconnected.  I asked him if I could pray for him and his family, and we sat and prayed for his families safety for a while.  Afterward, he said, "last time a women prayed for me because I hadn't heard from my wife, she got a ride to the ship the next day and I finally got to see her!  So I know that prayer works, and God will take care of my family because of this prayer."  It is so amazing to see how God has been showing himself to these men who have been hospitalized for months!

     That same evening we played some worship music at change of shift, and our last little plastics girl, I will call her Annie, sat on my lap while we sang.  Annie is a 5 year old girl who was badly burnt in a kitchen fire, and her final wounds are almost healed.  She is the worlds best snuggler, and I absolutely love holding a tiny little miracle in my arms as I worship Christ :)

   These adorable characters are some of patients who really touched my heart.  The little girl on the left is Annie, always full of smiles!  The man in the middle just went home 2 days ago!  He had bad foot wounds left over from the war.  He had a lot of skin grafting and wound care, and was finally able to leave the ship, but still returns daily for wound care.  He is a very sweet man who lost his wife and children during the war, and is still dealing with physical injuries and handicaps, but he is just spilling over with joy, and you can't help but smile when you are around him!  It is amazing to see, despite horrible circumstances, how much joy a person can have if they choose to!  The little boy on the far right is my little buddy who I played countless hours of tag with before he went home!

       If you recall in my last blog, I was going to attend my friend Frances' church on Sunday, which I did!  It was pouring rain but 2 friends and I made our way to the tiny church.  It turned out to be an amazing experience!  African church is so upbeat and energetic!  At the beginning of the service, they have a time for testimonies, where people can go up front and share share how they have experienced God's blessings.  Frances went up front and shared the story of how we met him, and how excited he was to see us at church and how much of a blessing we were to him!  The entire church came up to greet us and talk with us at the end of the service- they were a very welcoming, devoted, and family-like fellowship.  I look forward to going back! 

     One of the common threads I have seen in Sierra Leone churches is their terrible PA systems!  They already sing and talk loud enough, I don't know why they even need one!  Word of advice for anyone going to an African church: take ear plugs!

Hiking Sugarloaf!

     My latest adventure this week was a trip to Sugarloaf mountain.  5 other friends and I decided to take a day and hike the mountain!  We heard from several others who had hiked it before that it was "primitive"..to say the least.  I was thinking, "heck, I hike through the Quetico every year, it certainly can't be that bad!"  When we got there, we were simply guessing, based on some sketchy directions given to us by a friend, as to where the trail was.  Although we didn't find the correct trail on our first hike.. (or more like our first 4 hikes..) we did have an enjoyable time brush-crushing in a beautiful green jungle!  We hiked a few different trails for about 2 hours before we decided to to back-track and start from square one!  By the time we were all beaten raw by the jungle bushes, and dripping sweat from the humidity, we found the correct trail!  The hike was absolutely gorgeous, but it was very tough!  We were basically climbing up a huge pile of rocks that had a layer of vaseline on all of them, just to add to the challenge!  By the time we reached the summit (or what I call the summit at least--makes me feel less defeated that we didn't actually get to the top!) a rain cloud came pouring over the backside of the mountain and drenched us!  The rain was so refreshing, but it did add to the slippery rocks, and we decided it was too dangerous to go on.  Besides, we had a great view set before us already!  I felt like I was in the TV show lost as we were hiking through the jungle with a warm rain pouring down on us!  When we finally got back to the Land Rover, everyone was bleeding from somewhere, and we looked like we had been out for weeks!  I would share a picture of my legs and how cut up they are from the underbrush and rocks, but I think I will spare you the pain!  Lets just put it this way-- I convinced one of my day workers that I was attacked by a shark!

The hiking crew!  From left, Michael from Ghana, James from US, Jes from UK, Rachel from US, Julie from Canada, and me!

     It has been such an amazing past few weeks, and the rain clouds are finally starting to break up and each day there is more and more sunshine!  I'm excited for dry season, but at the same time, I' afraid the heat is going to be too intense!

   

Prayer requests this week:

 - For our general surgery patients- that they will be all stitched up and healed up before our Surgeon leaves on Monday!

-  We have a load of new nurses coming in next week, so pray for rapid acclimation and comfort!

-  For little Annie, that her wounds will finish healing and she will be able to go home!  (she is currently on bedrest to help heal her wounds more quickly..which you can imagine how easy that is for a 5 year old!)

-  For my friend Lonny, that his family will be safe, healthy, and have full bellies while he is still in the hopsital!

 Love and miss you all!  Send e-mails and snail mail!  I love updates from home :)

-Danelley (as the African's call me!) 

Tell PapaGod Tenki!

  


  KUSHE from Sierra Leone!



    




      The West-African adventures keep getting sweeter and sweeter, and it's only been 2.5 weeks!  I am continuing to become more comfortable with ship life, enjoying more excursions off-ship, and building deeper relationships with my patients everyday!

Fighting the crowds

The Cotton tree!

     Last week on my day off I went for a walk into town- my 3rd attempt at finding the "cotton tree", and this time I was DETERMINED to find it!  Another nurse and I walked through town in an attempt to finally make it to the downtown area.  We fought our way through the market, enjoying the wide array of smells that change every step you take, skipping over flowing rivers of festering garbage, turning down marriage proposals at every corner, and attempting to NOT get hit by a shag-wagon full of people!
I literally almost got wonked in the melon by a poda-poda mirror, but was saved by a kind man pushing my head out of the way!  After about an hour and a half, we finally saw light at the end of the tunnel and saw the immensely tall and beautiful cotton tree towering over the chaotic city!     
     After we saw the tree, the excitement was gone, and we didn't know where to lead our adventure next, when all of a sudden a kind young gentleman came out of nowhere and started talking to us! (I exaggerate when I say "out of nowhere"..everyone tries to talk to the "white babies").  At first we tried to shake him, but he said he had the day off from school, and would like to show us the government buildings, so instead of fighting it, we decided to see what would come of it!

Freetown view from the mountains!

Sierra Leone's parliament building

Frances walked us around State Avenue, and showed us all of the government building and explained what they did there.  He even payed off a security guard to walk us around the parliament!  It was a fun filled afternoon of touring, eating coconuts, meeting his family, and seeing his house.  It is so sad to see how they live.  Frances was fortunate enough to have a concrete house, even though we had to walk through a dirty, rocky, small alley to get there.  A lot of people are living in small shanties made of scrap metal with rocks on the roof to hold it on.
     I asked Frances if we could see his church, and he was very excited to take us down the block to meet his pastor and pastor's wife.  They were soooo sweet and welcoming and treated me as though I were a long lost daughter.  Tomorrow I plan to attend service at their church and I am very excited to get involved in their community! Look for updates later :)

Pastor Amara's church

     This past week was my 2nd week working on the ward, and I am becoming much more comfortable and excited about it.  It is hard to even consider it work when I enjoy it so much.  But I guess that's what I came here for!  The patients are absolutely amazing- they are so kind, and hilarious, and thankful.  We haven't been doing as many surgeries lately, and are instead focusing on healing the wounds and infections from the last round of general surgeries.  This past month as been filled with hernia and hydrocele surgeries, which many of them unfortunately did not heal well and became  infected.  It is so heart breaking to see these men sit in the hospital for 40+ days, but at the same time they have become like family to each other, as well as to me.  I know that God has a plan for them being here so long, and I just pray that they are able to see that.
     Last week I had a sweet lady in her mid 30's who had a huge goiter.  I had her all prepared for surgery, and took her down to the OR (or "operating theater" as they call it here!).  I was embarassed to realize that I hadn't gotten a pregnancy test on her before surgery, and was about to run get a test kit when she stopped me.  She said there is no way that she could be pregnant because after she got this huge goiter (literally the size of her head), her husband left her, which has been over 5 years.  The OR nurse and I decided we would trust her rather than make her feel worse and force her to be tested.  It was so sad to hear her stories because the life of a single woman is not easy here in West Africa.  People are rejected by their families and villages when they have these large deforming tumors, and it is just heart breaking to see what happens to them, but at the same time it is so rewarding to know that we are able to help.
   

Our private paradise island!

     After a long weekend of work and little time of the ship, I was going stir crazy!  It was "ship-holiday" this weekend, so most people had Friday off. 4 other girls and I decided we needed a few days of relaxation, and a night off of the ship!  We found a place to stay at one of the local beaches called "Tommy's paradise Island Guesthouse" on Lakka beach.  There was one picture online, and no reviews, but we decided to be adventurous and book a room!  The whole weekend was very eventful, starting with the taxi ride there!  Public transportation of any sort here in Africa is always an experience!  Lucky for us we had the assistance of an African friend to hale us a cab and barter a price for us!  Unfortunately there are "black prices" and "white prices" here, and as you could imagine the white prices are at least double!  After 2 hours of waiting for a cab, we packed 5 girls into a tiny nissan, and headed for the beach!  I thought my old car Buttercup was getting a little rickity, but that was nothing compared to what they drive around here!  I don't know how they make it over these terrible, rocky and muddy roads!  The fact that he had to restart the car every 5 minutes, whenever he took his foot off the gas, would have normally concerned me, but not in Africa!  We made our way down through Lakka village, and as we got closer to the water, everyone's nerves began to grow.  we were surrounded by small shanties, little civilization, and barely-passable roads.  We came to a gate which supposedly lead to "Tommy's" according to the locals, and the gate keeper told us the taxi couldn't go through, that we would have to walk in.  5 white girls in a small village far away from Freetown, walking through a gate that supposedly lead to a "guesthouse"... slightly scary!  We told the gatekeeper we wanted to see Tommy first, and we didn't let our new fond friend, Umar the Taxi driver, leave until we saw our lodging!  Our worst nightmares were quickly erased when we met Tommy, a very kind Lakka village man, and we walked down to the  with the company of Umar, who made sure we were safe before leaving us!

A view of our room

     Tommy's guesthouse turned out to be the best kept secret of Sierra Leone!  There were 6 guesthouses on this tiny little island on Lakka beach that you can walk to when the tide is low. (and wade to when the tide is high!)  We had an amazing evening laying on the sunny beach, having our pride damaged  by the massive waves that drove us in to the sand (...or maybe that was just me!)  It was like a tropical paradise that we had all to ourselves!  We were the only people staying on the island, and the staff became like family! (which seems to be a common occurance around here!)

The veranda where we ate

     They asked us when we wanted dinner, and made us an amazing candle lit dinner on the beach, where we enjoyed freshly caught barracuda and rice!  Prepared and served by the cook himself.  It was by far the best food I have had in Africa yet.  That night we sat and watched the stars, brighter than ever, and to top it off we saw a huge dead whale float into shore!  And mark it down, after only 2 weeks, I have crossed the Poop-barrier with my new friends!  (for those of you who understand this, I know you feel my joy! and those who don't understand, please erase this strange sentence from your minds)

My hammock bed :(

     The only thing that would have made the evening better is if I was able to sleep in the hammock on the veranda outside our room!  (I won't go into details, but lets just say I was scarred into sleeping in the room when my dear star-gazing friend, the night security guard, told me that "Jesus Christ told his heart that he should marry me"... As sweet as the proposal was, I decided to decline and sleep in the safety of a locked room!
     After an incredible weekend of relaxing in paradise, making new friends, and exciting travel, Umar came back to retrieve us and take us back to the ship!  More and more each day I am falling in love with Africa, and look forward to my next adventure and the stories I can share with you all!  Thank you for your prayers and thoughts!

Christina in our mosquito net bed!

Sipping bottled cokes in paradise!

Our beach entertainment

  Another amazing Sierra Leonian sunset

Prayer requests this week:
     -we are starting a new round of plastic surgeries soon.  We will be doing a lot of burn repairs, and Noma (flesh eating bacteria) repairs for people who have disfiguring and disabling problems that require extensive surgery and skin grafting.  Pray that the surgeries will be successful and free from infection, as we only have 3 months to heal and rehabilitate them.
     -For the old hernia and hydrocele infections to miraculously heal!
     -For my time at the local church tomorrow, that it will be an amazing community I can become involved in!

The sign says "Love from Sierra Leone!"

Mi gladi fo mit yu!

     Freetown, day 11.

My first Sierra Leonian sunset!  

     It's crazy I've been here this long already, but at the same time it feels like I have been here forever.  I have really melted in nicely to fun group of people here.  My transfer flight in Brussels, I met a few other Mercy Ship-ers and we really bonded and stuck together.  (I taught them Farkle and they love it so they are keepers!)  It's always intimidating to meet new people, especially when you don't have a safety blanket of friends to fall back on.  I have learned that the best place to meet people is at meal time, so I have been diligent about sitting with different people every time and it is working out well! (But note-to-self: look for mostly-full plates before you sit down!  It's not good on the ego when they leave 2 minutes after you sit down!)
      I was nervous at first to start working, but it has turned out to be the best part of my day.  They really rush you into it- with 2 days of "orientation" and then BAM you're on your own!  Although, surprisingly, I felt very ready to be on my own, and I have blended into the ward nicely.  Other nurses were commenting on how quickly I became comfortable and jumped right in to help.  I attribute it all to my 4EF- upbringing! I believe I have proved the motto true, "If you can work on 4EF, you can work anywhere!"
      The work here is very different than back home, as expected.  Most things are run by protocols and nursing pathways, and there's not much stray from the norm.  In contrast from home, where most things were driven by insurance and CMS!  All the charting is paper, and I have no CYA charting to take up my day! (CYA= Cover Your A**)  For instance, when I get a new admission, my one task is to place an IV.  THE END.  No asking 1 million questions, no calling the doctor for 5 million orders, etc.  It's amazing :)  Which in turn, this means that I can spend so much time talking with and getting to know my patients.
     I can't take pictures in the ward, but to give you a little picture, imagine 10 beds in a room, with 2ft max between them.  No walls.  It seems awful in our American mind set, but they actually love it.  If we have to put up a curtain to separate somebody who has an infection, they hate it!  The African culture is very focused on relationships.  In the hospital, they are always talking to each other, helping each other, and they practically cry when someone has to go home!
     One of my favorite aspects of the hospital is the "day volunteers".  There are day volunteers working all over the ship.  They are local Sierra Leonians who are payed to work with Mercy Ships- so it offers locals an income, and it helps us to be more integrated with the culture.  In the ward, they serve as translators for us, as housekeepers, patient educators, as well as a whole other list of duties.  We don't have nursing assistance so they partly serve in that role.  It is fun getting to know them, and they have been teaching me a lot about Freetown!  They also love to teach Krio, which has been a true blessing!  It is a pretty easy language to learn, as it is based on English.  One of my new local friends said, "Krio is a mixture of English, French, and some other language".  I asked him what the "other language" was, and he said, "Ahhh.. I don't know".  So I have decided the other language is gibberish. For example, the title of my blog is "mi gladi fo mit you!"  which means "nice to meet you!"  As you can see it's a phonetic version of English that utilizes some gibberish-like words!
     The day volunteers are also teaching me some cultural norms and helping me to blend in.  For example, I was whistling a little ditty the other day, and one of my local friends looked at me and laughed.  I said, "what's so funny?" and he said, "o nothing, I'm just surprised to see a girl whistling".  Uh oh! this is not a good sign!  I asked, "is it a bad thing?"--"no it's not bad.  but girls don't whistle here, it's only for men to do.  we think she is a man if she whistles".  NOTE TO SELF: don't whistle!  Which is very very depressing, as most of you know I just recently learned to whistle, and enjoy doing it ALL THE TIME!

fishing! Freetown style!

     My first weekend here, I went with a group to a beach called Mama beach.  It is a local village beach that not many people go to.  It is a big fishing beach, and the local village was pulling in their nets when we got there, so we helped!  Unfortunately all they caught were thousands of 3in long fish and a few jellies.  Don't know if the Jellies were stingers, but I wasn't about to find out!
     The beach was all locals, so we stuck out like a sore thumb.  All the African kids just love white people for some reason- they all wave excitedly and say "hello!" and want to shake your hand- apparently white hands feel cool, not sure.  They kept running in front of my camera saying, "snap me! snap me!" which  means, "take my picture!".  So I have about a million pictures of these cuties!

the kids that wanted to be "snapped"

     The fishing boats are wooden, hand carved!  I asked one of the guys how they build it, and they carve and chisel it all out.  One of my goals "which probably won't come true" is to buy a boat so I can go canoeing on the bay!  They are all painted with their family names.  If they are lucky enough, they have a little outboard motor to tote them around.  If not, which the people from the Mama beach village were not, then they paddle their huge nets out about 1km, and then the people on the beach pull them in.
     I also made some pretty good friends on the beach.  I spent most of the afternoon playing with these 2 boys, Allie and Abdul.  They knew English fairly well and loved walking up and down the beach with me.

The hand-carved canoe I intend to buy ;)

my 2 buddies, Allie and Abdul

    
    







     My first Sunday here, I went to a local church with a group of Mercy Ship-ers who have been attending this church regularly since they arrived.  It was awesome to experience an African service.  It was about 2 hours long (which was apparently exceptionally fast!)  They sing and dance and have a lot of energy, similar to the Mexican churches I have experienced.  It's awesome to see how excited they are worship the Lord, especially when they have so little.  It was really humbling for me to see how strong their faith was compared to mine, when I have so many abundant blessings to be thankful for.

     This past Sunday I was working so I attended the ward church service.  Every Sunday morning they have a church service held in the hospital for all the patients and family members.  This was again very humbling to see a lot of the patients, all wrapped with gauze bandages, stitches, NG tubes, crutches, etc. smiling and praising the Lord for the surgeries they have had.  Many of the patients are Muslims, but they are experiencing Christ during their stay on the Ship. Lord willing, they will be able to see the incredible Grace and Peace that Christ gives and will surrender their life to Him as a result of Mercy Ships ministry.
     My favorite little buddy from the ward sat on my lap during the service and belted out all of the songs.  It was so heart-warming.  He is a 7 year-old boy who was badly burnt in a fire.  There are many burnt children here, mostly from cooking fires at home.  His hand was melted shut for many years, and the doctors here were able to open up his hand and give him most of his hand dexterity back.  It's amazing how much that can change a little boys life.  He is part of the family here, and it will be so sad to see him leave, although I know it will be such a blessing for him and his family to be back home!
     It has been such a blessing (but at times struggle) to live with so many nationalities on the Ship.  Last time they announced it, their were 37 countries represented here.  Most seem to be US, UK, Australian, or Netherlands, but still their are so many different cultures and languages here.  I didn't realize how different we can be in the way we think, speak, and act.  It has been a wonderful learning experience!  Last night I hung out with a friend from Ghana who works as a night watchman.  I did "rounds" with him which was awesome!  I got to see all the inner-workings of the ship, as well as the bridge (where they drive the ship- I held the steering wheel!), and the "control room" as I call it.  I don't know what it does, but there are lots of knobs and buttons and screens, and  there are people up all night working down in the belly of the ship! What a commitment!  As exciting as it was, it was still a challenge to work through our language barrier, as well as thought and humor barriers!  (I still haven't decided if the poo-conversations are acceptable here..)
     I have gone on a few excursions into town, just walking through the streets and the markets.  I think I would be fully satisfied if I never did any tourist attractions, but just walked through town everyday.  The streets are crowded, dirty, and noisy, and at times dangerous! (I almost lost my head to a Poda-Poda mirror the other day!  A Poda-Poda is a ghetto taxi-van that can shove incredible amounts of people in it!..as well as goats and chickens at times.)  The other day I went on a hunt for ice cream- knowing full well that I wouldn't find any.  And lo-and-behold I found a guy selling frozen-yogurt soft-serve out of a little machine!  It was the best frozen yogurt ever, and much to everyone's surprise, it has been 20 hours and I'm still not ill with the squirts!   
     unfortunately I am not able to take as many pictures as I had hoped.  Many people don't want to be "snapped", and it's safest not to take my camera out in public, because it will make me an even bigger target for pick-pocketing.  (as if my ghost-like skin doesn't already make me stick out!).  As soon as I develop a sneaky sunglass-camera I will post more!
    This is a pretty incredibly long blog, and I thank anyone who makes it all the way through!  I love sharing my stories with all of you at home, and thank you so much for your prayers and support!
     My prayer requests for this week:
          - To learn more Krio so I can communicate with my patients better!
          - For hernia and hydrocele patients who have been here for 60+ days due to infections and
            complications.  Pray that they will heal quickly and be able to return home.
          - For the burn-victim children who had surgery and skin grafts several weeks ago and are starting to go
            through therapy to get movement back!
          - For me to continue making good relationships with fellow crew on the ship!

     Love and miss you all- please write and e-mail to keep me in the loop!

    

I'M HERE!!!

      After only 23 hours of travel, I arrived dirty, hot, tired, hungry, and overwhelmed in Freetown, Sierra Leone!  But safely!  The last 24 hours have been filled with an overload of information that has left me in a daze.  The internet connection here is poor, and I don't have pictures loaded yet, so this first entry could be a bit sketchy, but I'm giving it a shot!  I decided to give a shout out to the lovely Lauren Slattery, and copy her blogging technique with a list of things I have learned in these first 24 hours:

1. If I don't get hit by a car or motorcycle on the streets of Freetown, it will be a miracle.

2. The internet speed on the ship is just about as fast as travel in West Africa.  (AKA slower than dial-up from the 1990's)

3. Leonians are multitaskers- they double the ocean as their garbage dump. saves on realty, what thinkers.

4. Leonian street laws that I have picked up on: blinkers don't exist, that's what the horn is for.  Half the cars have stearing wheels on the right, half on the left-- which also coincides with the side of the street they drive on.  It's OK to set up a table in the middle of the busy street to play cards. 

5. Just because a ship is in port doesn't mean you won't get sea sick!  I watched my water bottle roll back and forth across my bedroom floor today..

6.  The ship toilets will literally suck you in when you flush. so close the lid.

7.  "port side" is on the left. even though the port is on the right.

8.  There are no cows in Sierra Leone. = no milk!

9.  The sun sets at 8pm on the equator :(

10.  A mission hospital must reuse as many things as possible.. including bedpans and suction canisters.

Pictures and stories to come later!