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!"