Blogs from Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa - page 4

6 AM runs; fresh, organic cucumber and mango breakfasts; glorious Lebanese za'atar lunches or local bread and beans; and an abundance of mouthwatering jelly (baby coconut) or pia (avocado) as snacks! Life is good!! All is well here and my research is coming just fine. I am making some interesting progress including meetings / interviews with the Social Development Officer of Child Welfare Secretariat; Assistant Director of Junior and Senior Secondary Schools; students, principals and teachers around Freetown and just a couple weeks ago I met Sierra Leone's former Vice President! When I'm not doing interviews, traveling around town, or meetings with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), I am spending my days exploring more of the country, culture, learning Krio, and cooking African dishes. I am currently writing another blog all about the chop (food) here and a ... read more

Kusheh I am still loving my time in Salone and my Krio is, slowly but surely, improving! I am also transitioning and taking on the "roles" of a proper African. I am doing my cooking outside with a coal pot above an open fire, handwashing my clothes in a big bucket, and yelling my destination into the taxi's rolled down windows. I have yet to carry something on my head but the time will surely come! Over the weekend, I cruised around the Western Area Peninsula visiting places such as Waterloo and Tombo. Tombo is really nice but reminds me a lot of Smokey Mountain and Hapilan (two slums outside of Manila) in the Philippines. Tombo has a bit more structure though (with a plethora of well-built mosques), and is not located "on top" of the ... read more

Some shots from my recent visit to Sierra Leone. I just realized that I put these up here ages ago but I never wrote any provocative and witty text like I usually do! I don't actually have the energy for that so I will let the photos speak for themselves....if a photo is worth 1,000 words, then you should be able to come up with about 90,000 words of your own after seeing all these pictures. I was there to conduct a health and nutrition workshop and took a few field trips to visit sites where my friend Joan Williams runs a ministry called Joshua International http://joshuaintl.org//index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 . I took these photos for her. She runs Sunday schools, feeding programs and is in the process of building a regular school and medical clinics. The church in ... read more

I skal ikke snydes for de 3 sidste uger af mit ophold, så her kommer det allersidste sidste indlæg. Tirsdag den 13/5 - 08 Havde en enkelt pc-time. Erik var i Makeni, så tog den alene. Det var en af de hårde dage, for de var ikke lige hurtige, og derfor var der næsten hele tiden en, der ventede på at få hjælp. Eleverne var Susan, Solomon og James og de er nu endelig blevet færdige med deres kursus. Det regner og tordner her til aften så der har ingen strøm været. Til gengæld har vi siddet på terrassen hele aftenen og talt om løst og fast. Chaufføren i morgen bliver hverken Brima eller David. Brima er for syg, og David arbejder på et guldgravningsprojekt et sted i nærheden af Bombuna, så det er umuligt at ... read more

ELCSL: A Beacon Light In The Community From September 19 to 28, 2007; I visited Sierra Leone and met with the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone, to review the mission and priorities of the church, and learn the best way to accompany the ELCSL in mission. During this visit, I stopped at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church (CELC) which is one of the 16 congregations of ELCSL. The Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church and school is located at Up Mountain Peak Cock Farm, Wellington, Sierra Leone. Overlooking the city of Freetown from the Up Peak Mountain, the Calvary church embodies literally the Good News that we found in the 5th chapter of the Gospel of Mathew (see Mathew 5: 14-16 -NIV). The CELC is a beacon light in this community of about 2,000 peoples. ... read more