Kroo Bay.

Kroo Bay

The shanti slums of Freetown.
The poorest of the poor.


Here, homes are built too close to the ocean in the lowest part of the city... when the rains come, this community is flooded over.

Word Made Flesh, a ministry that reaches out to street children in this community, holds an outreach every Saturday for a couple hundred children living here. Each week they bring the children into the church where they pray, sing songs, hear about Jesus with a Bible story, and memorize a scripture.

A few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to go. I was very touched by this ministry. The ones who help lead the program for the little kiddos, are the very ones that were ministered to off the streets. You see, Word Made Flesh takes these young men and women and mentors them. These youth grow in their faith and later help minister to the next generation. Pretty incredible to watch. At the end, they pass out one hard boiled egg and chewable vitamin to each child. They are made to eat it then and there, so as to prevent them from saving it and taking it home to their families or to be sold off the streets. Pretty sad. For some, this may be their only source of protein for the week.

I was most honored when I was asked to help pray for the children. Before the children are dismissed, the staff take a couple rows and pray with each child by name. These sweet children sat so still, bowing their head as I prayed for them.


Lord Jesus, please provide food for these children and their families. Protect them from harm and evil things. Give them each the means to go to school. Keep them healthy and strong. And most importantly, Father, may they come to KNOW you and your love.
Amen

Merry Christmas!

my african name

Being in charge of "all things medical" for the advance work to the ship's arrival, I frequent the Ministry of Health at least once a week. :)

On this last week's visit I ended up waiting extra long for my appointment. I was chatting with Mariatou. We soon started talking about names. Mariatou asked me what my african name was. Being that I didn't have one, she spouted off different names for me. Since the meaning of the names are significant here, I asked her the meanings. I wanted to like the meaning of my name.

She replied, "Okay, your name is Rouba. It means blessing." That's it. LOVE, love, love it! :) As a nurse, my prayer has always been to be a blessing to my patients and their families.

I then asked her what her name is. "Sina, it means Twin." (because she's a twin). I of course piped that I'm a twin also. :)

So, now I have two names... Rouba-Sina.


I think they're pretty fitting. :)

spreading the word.

For five screenings throughout the provinces... less than a month away!...

500 fliers dated and printed.

Check.

150 posters dated.

Check.

Whew!! :)

Now on to hand delivering them all... my work has only just begun :)

(Disclaimer, the fliers and posters were designed by our talented marketing team.
I am only the printing press and soon-to-be courier) :)

traffic woes.

My documentation of our life here would not be complete if I didn't mention the TRAFFIC. It would be a huge omission of Freetown. :) Plus, its just part of life here. And since a big chunk of our day is spent in the car because of this, I thought I'd dedicate a post exclusively on it.

I have concluded that there are four main contributing factors :)...

Number One. The narrow streets and pot-filled roads. After living here, I am that much more appreciated of our excellent Oregon roads. I have vowed never again to curse road construction. :) The streets are two-laned(one lane each direction). Its unbelievable, and sometimes nerve-wracking, how cars can squeeze around each other in such small spaces! During the rush hours of the morning and evening, the two-laned streets make for a very long and slow drive. The drive to town can take up to two or three hours!! Add an accident or broken down vehicle... there is no such thing as a towing agency, so if a vehicle breaks down in the middle of the road both directions go around it. Not to mention if cars are parked on the side of the narrow road. Driving is tricky! I'm so glad I'm not driving :)



Number Two. People. Freetown is a mini New York City in terms of its number of people! It is incredibly concentrated. People walk/run/dodge around or in front of your car everywhere. Of course there are no sidewalks. But its how the city ticks. You just drive through the crowd, honking your way through. And this is normal. Granted, for the most part, people drive slower here. You just never know when an oncoming car is going to come your way, or when a pedestrian will decide to cross the road. I'm amazed that there aren't more accidents or fatalities.





Number Three. Public transportation. The poda podas (taxi vans) and taxi cars stop at anytime in the middle of the road to pick up people. No, they do not pull over. They simply stop, pick up the person, and go on. It is the most frustrating thing when you are behind them. There is no warning. And you are just expected to drive right around them.



Number Four. Street vendors/markets. The streets are lined with vendors. I love these (in fact, I'm going to write a separate post about them), but they contribute to the traffic because if you see something you want, you stop in the middle of the road and purchase it real quick. :)

All this to say, the drive is certainly not boring! There is lots to see. :) You just have to laugh. And that's what we do. We plan our appointments around the rush hours or factor in the drive time, and try our best to avoid it whenever possible.
Thank God for air-conditioned vehicles! :)

chop chop sweet!

Plaintains are my most FAVE food in all of Africa! :) They are not the healthiest, being fried and all, but they sure are DELISH!

Or as they say here, "chop, chop sweet!"

our friend.

Meet our friend "Doxy."

Since we've moved on land, we meet every day for breakfast.

So far the relationship has gone well; no unpleasant results yet (thank God).

We are pleased to say that he's kept his end of the deal thus far (no malaria).

We, however, hope to never live a day here without each other!

Yet, somehow, he's one friend I'm not going to miss.

:)

broken world.

This past week I received bad news from home concerning those I loved. A family member's marriage is ending, along with a high school teacher that I admired.

A dear friend back home is still fighting a custody battle for her foster daughter.

Another friend's former husband just remarried.

We live in a broken and fallen world. In a world where the sacred bond of marriage is defiled and families are broken; where the foster system and orphanages exist because we have such thing as orphans. It's here and back home. My twin sis and bestie back home both have little students who go to bed hungry.

Its ugly. Its messy. Its uncomfortable.

One of the hardest and most uncomfortable things here, compared to the other West African countries that we've served, is the beggars.

Men, women, and children. Children who beg with their blind parent for money and food. Who aren't in school because they escort their relative around pleading for money.

I saw them in Benin and Togo. But not in these numbers. They are everywhere. Here, because of the war, there are so many war victims in wheel chairs or without a limb(s).

The hard part is that they come up to your window when it stops in traffic. Different ones. All the time. And especially because of my white skin (which signifies wealth here).

I struggle with this. The need is so great, how do you know which ones to give? I can't give to them all. Where do you draw the line when the need is everywhere? Some of them I assume (right or wrong) are doing it because they can, even though they are able-bodied to work. Consequently, because of the overwhelming need, I tend to swing to the extreme and rarely give at all; I smile, turn my head and look away until they leave, moving to the car behind me.

When Jesus said to feed the hungry and clothe the needy, what does that mean here? What does it look like?

Just some of my heart ponderings...


...but, I do know THIS!...

on a lighter note...

...We got serenaded last night with Christmas music by musicians from the local Police Division!! The band of six had one trombone, saxophone, tuba, and three trumpets and were going around the neighborhood bringing Christmas cheer and greetings. Having been in marching band through high school, I was quite impressed with the number of songs they had memorized! :)

Aren't they cute? :)

Can you believe it's December already?!


I just love this and had to snap a picture :)

Hope you have a great weekend!

muchas gracias.

Thanks dear friends for your sweet comments on my last post.

You have encouraged my heart so. I feel so loved. :)

Thanks, thanks, THANK YOU for your prayers... please keep them coming, they are truly carrying us through.

We couldn't do this without each of you!

Hugs,
Hannah (& Tim)