December 29th
So, I discovered today what has been making me feel so bad
in the mornings. Evidently coffee (aka the caffeine within it)
is causing the stomach problems I’ve been having. I skipped
coffee with breakfast this morning and I felt significantly
better than I have for the last two weeks. I don’t know why
it has started bothering me like it has; I’ve been drinking it
every morning pretty much since I got here. But it is, sadly
because I love coffee in the morning. This morning I did
rounds of men’s ward with Tom, another short morning we
finished at around 9:30. I went over to the “library” and read
for a little bit before going down town to get some bread for
lunch and for dinner this evening when the guests get here.
There were 10 coming (9 nursing students and their
instructor) with the 8 people I go to pick up tomorrow we are
going to have 18 guests and at dinner Karen will be feeding
24 people. That’ll be exciting. At some point this morning or
afternoon Tom and I went over to the guest house and put
up the last bed net. Either way, in the afternoon I walked all
the way to the orphan school (not ideal considering it’s over
100 in the sun) to visit Alusine because I wanted to let him
know that tonight would not be a good night to visit with the
strangers coming in and I wasn’t sure how crazy it would be.
I got there only to find out that he wasn’t there and had in
fact gone to Kagbory for a soccer match. So I sat there for a
little and talked to Kaba and another kid, I know his name
but don’t know how to spell it. Kaba is another one of the
kids there that I talk to some times. He’s a great kid, he’s
about the same age as Alusine (they would be freshman in
high school at home, here they are JSS 3). I didn’t stay long
so that I would be back in time to not miss Karen coming in
with the guests. Kaba told me he would come visit tomorrow
if he didn’t have to work. After I got home Tom and I just sat
around in the living room talking for a little while. It’s nice to
just sit and talk with no feeling of needing to get anything
done. Sadly it could not last, we had to start preparing for
dinner, we had just started when suddenly Karen was arriving
with the guests so we had to go over to welcome them and
help unload their luggage from the vehicles, and man did
they have a lot of luggage. They brought over 1000 pairs of
glasses, which is great and definitely gives us the 1000
Karen said we need to have to have a good inventory. That
gives us somewhere around 1500 pairs of glasses. After
getting them all settled in I went back over to the house to
prepare the spaghetti sauce and boil the noodles. The
stranger’s first meal in Kamakwie was a candle lit dinner as
the battery for the 12v lights was not holding power. Some
of them seemed to think it was great, having a candlelight
dinner in Africa. After dinner they all headed over to their
house to get settled in. I waited around at the house just
long enough to heat the hot water for tomorrow then I went
down to visit Solomon. I couldn’t get ahold of him so on the
way down I checked in the hospital just in case he was there,
and he was. He was in the OB ward which was good because
I wanted to check on a lady Tom and I had seen earlier in the
afternoon. She is pre-eclamptic. (Eclampsia is a disorder that
is categorized by the symptoms exhibited, they don’t know
how or why it happens just that it’s related to the placenta).
Being only pre-eclamptic they could wait till morning to do
the C-section unless her condition worsened and I was
curious to see. She was doing fine, and so were her twins.
The lady had a belly the size of a basketball, it easily doubled
her waist size. I sat and talked to Solomon for a while and
Tom and Karen came by to see the lady while we were there
and said she was doing well and was fine to wait till morning
to do the surgery. They wanted to wait till the husband was
around, because he has to get permission to do the procedure
from the woman’s parents because if he allowed it without
their permission and something happened to her he could
face murder charges, pretty extreme I would say. Anyway,
Solomon and I went down to his house for a little bit but I
had a headache and was pretty tired so I headed up home
and went to bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Thursday, December 30, 2010
December 28th
I did rounds again this morning in the men’s ward
with LA, who is hospital administrator I guess, I’m
not sure what he is medically. Rounds flew by and
we were done by about 9am. I went over to the
administrative office meeting room where they
have a bunch of medical texts and a few other
books. I spent a few hours working on getting it
ready to be a reference library. We were putting
the little card holders in the books so that the book
could be checked out and we would know who has
it. Since Karen was gone Tom and I were on our
own for lunch, but we managed. After lunch we
went over to the guest house to finish hanging the
bug nets over the beds since the nursing student
group arrives the next day. While we were working
on it Alusine showed up and he helped me hang
two of the nets while Tom talked with Samuel and
Solomon who also stopped by, talk about leaving me
hanging (haha, poor joke I know). After we finished
up there we came home for dinner and Alusine
waited around till I was done. Him and I just sat on
the front porch for a little while until he decided he
was too cold (silly African, he doesn’t even have an
idea of what it means to be cold) and was going
home. I spent a few hours reading a really interesting
book about a girl who had been in the Hitler’s Youth
when she was younger. It was a story about her
growing up with God, losing him during her time in
Hitler’s Youth, and how she came to return to him
over her life. It was really good. Anyway, I was waiting
for Solomon to call so we could hang out but when he
didn’t by 10 I decided I was going to bed since I was
really tired.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I did rounds again this morning in the men’s ward
with LA, who is hospital administrator I guess, I’m
not sure what he is medically. Rounds flew by and
we were done by about 9am. I went over to the
administrative office meeting room where they
have a bunch of medical texts and a few other
books. I spent a few hours working on getting it
ready to be a reference library. We were putting
the little card holders in the books so that the book
could be checked out and we would know who has
it. Since Karen was gone Tom and I were on our
own for lunch, but we managed. After lunch we
went over to the guest house to finish hanging the
bug nets over the beds since the nursing student
group arrives the next day. While we were working
on it Alusine showed up and he helped me hang
two of the nets while Tom talked with Samuel and
Solomon who also stopped by, talk about leaving me
hanging (haha, poor joke I know). After we finished
up there we came home for dinner and Alusine
waited around till I was done. Him and I just sat on
the front porch for a little while until he decided he
was too cold (silly African, he doesn’t even have an
idea of what it means to be cold) and was going
home. I spent a few hours reading a really interesting
book about a girl who had been in the Hitler’s Youth
when she was younger. It was a story about her
growing up with God, losing him during her time in
Hitler’s Youth, and how she came to return to him
over her life. It was really good. Anyway, I was waiting
for Solomon to call so we could hang out but when he
didn’t by 10 I decided I was going to bed since I was
really tired.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
December 27th
Solomon was busy handling deposits patients had made and dealing with police reports (at least 10 probably more, sadly Boxing Day takes on quite a literal meaning for some of the people who get drunk). Alcohol is a huge problem here, especially on holidays, which is really sad. Since he was busy I went on rounds in Women’s and Men’s with Linda. Women’s ward only had two patients, one with a possible ulcer and the other an older lady who was unresponsive to verbal command. We spent a while trying to figure out what was wrong and Linda ended up ordering a bunch of different tests because she couldn’t come up with anything definitive from the physical exam. There were more patients on Men’s but it went by pretty fast as most of them are long term patients still there just waiting to heal or for treatment to finish. We discharged a few people today which is good since that means they are better (or at least as good as they can be depending on their condition, not everything can be fully treated here). I was really not feeling well after rounds so I went home to rest but didn’t manage to, I did a couple things at the house then had lunch. After lunch Karen gave me a haircut (we cut it pretty short, half an inch). After that Karen and I went downtown to try and get some supplies to hang some bed nets in the guest house. We need to have it ready by Wednesday because a group of 10 is coming and will be staying there, 9 nursing students and their instructor. There are 8 girls and one guy so Tom and Karen of course keep teasing me about it. Of course I have to laugh too, Tom told me I need to go with the 8 girls to Pa Kanu’s. I’m sure he’d have a laugh and congratulate me on finding 8 wives. (When I told that to Solomon he laughed and told me that if I had 8 wives I would be a chief) When we returned to the house I went down and visited Solomon. He had to go to Kagbory to do an errand so I rode along with him. I love riding on the Hondas, which is a switch from when I got here. I said I’d never ride one because I was afraid to. When I got back I went to the guest house and helped Tom and Karen put up some bed nets. We got four up, only 6 more to go to meet our needs for space, but we are going to get them all up so that we don’t have to do it at a later time. We had quite an extravagant dinner tonight. We had fondue, we dipped bread, chicken, apple, and pepperoni into the cheese sauce, and then for dessert we dipped cubed pound cake, banana, and pineapple into chocolate. It was really good. I watched and episode of CSI with Tom and Karen after dinner. Then I went down to Pa Kanu’s and met Solomon to watch the end of a soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea (on a TV not live) Pa Kanu has a satellite dish and shows soccer games almost every day. It’s only 1000 leones but many people go so he
makes quite a bit from that I imagine. Though keeping that satellite is probably pretty expensive. After the game (Arsenal won if anyone was interested) Solomon and I just relaxed for a bit at Pa Kanu’s and had some coke before returning home and going to bed. Karen leaves in the morning to go get the nursing students, though considering she’ll be back Wednesday you’ll probably not notice the gao considering how slow I’ve been with my blog lately. Anyway, g’night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Solomon was busy handling deposits patients had made and dealing with police reports (at least 10 probably more, sadly Boxing Day takes on quite a literal meaning for some of the people who get drunk). Alcohol is a huge problem here, especially on holidays, which is really sad. Since he was busy I went on rounds in Women’s and Men’s with Linda. Women’s ward only had two patients, one with a possible ulcer and the other an older lady who was unresponsive to verbal command. We spent a while trying to figure out what was wrong and Linda ended up ordering a bunch of different tests because she couldn’t come up with anything definitive from the physical exam. There were more patients on Men’s but it went by pretty fast as most of them are long term patients still there just waiting to heal or for treatment to finish. We discharged a few people today which is good since that means they are better (or at least as good as they can be depending on their condition, not everything can be fully treated here). I was really not feeling well after rounds so I went home to rest but didn’t manage to, I did a couple things at the house then had lunch. After lunch Karen gave me a haircut (we cut it pretty short, half an inch). After that Karen and I went downtown to try and get some supplies to hang some bed nets in the guest house. We need to have it ready by Wednesday because a group of 10 is coming and will be staying there, 9 nursing students and their instructor. There are 8 girls and one guy so Tom and Karen of course keep teasing me about it. Of course I have to laugh too, Tom told me I need to go with the 8 girls to Pa Kanu’s. I’m sure he’d have a laugh and congratulate me on finding 8 wives. (When I told that to Solomon he laughed and told me that if I had 8 wives I would be a chief) When we returned to the house I went down and visited Solomon. He had to go to Kagbory to do an errand so I rode along with him. I love riding on the Hondas, which is a switch from when I got here. I said I’d never ride one because I was afraid to. When I got back I went to the guest house and helped Tom and Karen put up some bed nets. We got four up, only 6 more to go to meet our needs for space, but we are going to get them all up so that we don’t have to do it at a later time. We had quite an extravagant dinner tonight. We had fondue, we dipped bread, chicken, apple, and pepperoni into the cheese sauce, and then for dessert we dipped cubed pound cake, banana, and pineapple into chocolate. It was really good. I watched and episode of CSI with Tom and Karen after dinner. Then I went down to Pa Kanu’s and met Solomon to watch the end of a soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea (on a TV not live) Pa Kanu has a satellite dish and shows soccer games almost every day. It’s only 1000 leones but many people go so he
makes quite a bit from that I imagine. Though keeping that satellite is probably pretty expensive. After the game (Arsenal won if anyone was interested) Solomon and I just relaxed for a bit at Pa Kanu’s and had some coke before returning home and going to bed. Karen leaves in the morning to go get the nursing students, though considering she’ll be back Wednesday you’ll probably not notice the gao considering how slow I’ve been with my blog lately. Anyway, g’night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 26th
This morning I went to church with Alusine to the DDM. I will not likely do so again. I try to be open to the different ways people express their faith, and I love passionate expression, but this place seemed more like a madhouse… First off, they screamed their worship songs… I don’t think there was any reason for them to scream so loud, I know that I’ve sung pretty loudly before especially at things like the mass worship sessions at Cru events, you know caught in the moment and all. They talked prior to their worship about making a joyful noise before the Lord, not to be sacrilegious or anything, but I think if I were God listening to that I would be covering my ears (presuming He has them). It just did not feel like worship. But I thought, ok, so they do things a little different (they also dance like epileptics…). Moving beyond that, I was ok during the offering time but then the person giving the message came forward. (he was a guest speaker) He really turned me off to wanting to attend there. He almost immediately began speaking at the top of his voice, practically shouting, and it went a little bit like this (mind you it was krio and while I don’t know a lot yet I can usually get the gist of it) “gibberish words *gasp for breath* gibberish word *gasp* gibberish *gasp* gibberish”. I even asked Alusine what he was saying and he told me he couldn’t understand all of it. I can understand being passionate and speaking forcefully but not psychotic madman, don’t yell and certainly don’t scream at us, there is just no need. On top of that he was jumping around the platform, walking around the room, throwing his arms around, throwing his body around. I just don’t think any of that was necessary and I did not enjoy it one bit. The regular pastor would get up from time to time and dance around behind him while he was speaking. She wandered back and forth and around. The thing that made me decide I don’t want to go again was that the people loved it the whole time, which says to me it’s a pretty common occurrence. At the end of his nearly hour long message (of which I got zilch) he started doing deliverance, a woman came forward who hadn’t been feeling well and he apparently was attempting to cast out demons. And a boy who couldn’t open one eye came forward and he told him in 72 hours it would open. Don’t get me wrong, I totally believe that God can bring miraculous healing, but I guarantee these people have been praying about it and if it hasn’t happened, GO TO THE HOSPITAL. I wanted to get up and tell the kid in 72 hours if he wasn’t better he’d better come to the hospital. Then, a bunch of people had brought bottles of water and he did a blessing and said that if they drink the water then it would heal them of any bodily or spiritual ailments. It just seemed too strange to me, and a
little too presumptuous. Hopefully my assessment doesn’t offend anyone, if it does… oh well, that’s how I feel about it. I came home and rested for a little while, still not feeling well, I don’t know why, still stomach issues. At around 4:30 Tom, Karen and I went to this thing called “The Outing” that they have on Boxing day (day after Christmas, it’s a British thing). It was basically an outdoor dance but getting in was dangerous. These people were being brought in on Hondas and they were coming down this narrow path that people were walking on and the Hondas didn’t care. To not get hit you had to dodge into the weeds along the side. They almost hit Karen and I was getting very mad because it was unsafe and more than one of them was driving under the influence, one guy was out of his mind and driving his Honda, not good. There were other drunks too, one was harassing Karen about needing to get a ticket, which we knew so he didn’t need to say anything, but he probably didn’t even know where he was for sure he was so out of it. Once inside the garden where it was being held I saw a few people I knew (some of my students). There was music and not much else, other than people selling food and drinks. We didn’t stay long, maybe 15 minute and then we left, not really out type of thing. On the way back I stopped and visited
Solomon who was cooking dinner for him and some friends. I stayed for a little bit and told him about my church experience, he found it rather amusing as I used various sound effects when describing the psycho pastor guy. After getting home and having dinner I watched part of a movie with Tom and Karen until Alusine stopped by. He had been at the outing and had a lot of fun, different tastes in entertainment I guess. He left to go home and clean up as there was a boxing day dance at the community center, so I went to Pa Kanu’s to wait for him and Solomon to meet me there. We had a couple sodas and then I walked Alusine to a friend’s house (he wanted me to go to the dance, but not my thing). From there Solomon and I walked home and I went to bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
This morning I went to church with Alusine to the DDM. I will not likely do so again. I try to be open to the different ways people express their faith, and I love passionate expression, but this place seemed more like a madhouse… First off, they screamed their worship songs… I don’t think there was any reason for them to scream so loud, I know that I’ve sung pretty loudly before especially at things like the mass worship sessions at Cru events, you know caught in the moment and all. They talked prior to their worship about making a joyful noise before the Lord, not to be sacrilegious or anything, but I think if I were God listening to that I would be covering my ears (presuming He has them). It just did not feel like worship. But I thought, ok, so they do things a little different (they also dance like epileptics…). Moving beyond that, I was ok during the offering time but then the person giving the message came forward. (he was a guest speaker) He really turned me off to wanting to attend there. He almost immediately began speaking at the top of his voice, practically shouting, and it went a little bit like this (mind you it was krio and while I don’t know a lot yet I can usually get the gist of it) “gibberish words *gasp for breath* gibberish word *gasp* gibberish *gasp* gibberish”. I even asked Alusine what he was saying and he told me he couldn’t understand all of it. I can understand being passionate and speaking forcefully but not psychotic madman, don’t yell and certainly don’t scream at us, there is just no need. On top of that he was jumping around the platform, walking around the room, throwing his arms around, throwing his body around. I just don’t think any of that was necessary and I did not enjoy it one bit. The regular pastor would get up from time to time and dance around behind him while he was speaking. She wandered back and forth and around. The thing that made me decide I don’t want to go again was that the people loved it the whole time, which says to me it’s a pretty common occurrence. At the end of his nearly hour long message (of which I got zilch) he started doing deliverance, a woman came forward who hadn’t been feeling well and he apparently was attempting to cast out demons. And a boy who couldn’t open one eye came forward and he told him in 72 hours it would open. Don’t get me wrong, I totally believe that God can bring miraculous healing, but I guarantee these people have been praying about it and if it hasn’t happened, GO TO THE HOSPITAL. I wanted to get up and tell the kid in 72 hours if he wasn’t better he’d better come to the hospital. Then, a bunch of people had brought bottles of water and he did a blessing and said that if they drink the water then it would heal them of any bodily or spiritual ailments. It just seemed too strange to me, and a
little too presumptuous. Hopefully my assessment doesn’t offend anyone, if it does… oh well, that’s how I feel about it. I came home and rested for a little while, still not feeling well, I don’t know why, still stomach issues. At around 4:30 Tom, Karen and I went to this thing called “The Outing” that they have on Boxing day (day after Christmas, it’s a British thing). It was basically an outdoor dance but getting in was dangerous. These people were being brought in on Hondas and they were coming down this narrow path that people were walking on and the Hondas didn’t care. To not get hit you had to dodge into the weeds along the side. They almost hit Karen and I was getting very mad because it was unsafe and more than one of them was driving under the influence, one guy was out of his mind and driving his Honda, not good. There were other drunks too, one was harassing Karen about needing to get a ticket, which we knew so he didn’t need to say anything, but he probably didn’t even know where he was for sure he was so out of it. Once inside the garden where it was being held I saw a few people I knew (some of my students). There was music and not much else, other than people selling food and drinks. We didn’t stay long, maybe 15 minute and then we left, not really out type of thing. On the way back I stopped and visited
Solomon who was cooking dinner for him and some friends. I stayed for a little bit and told him about my church experience, he found it rather amusing as I used various sound effects when describing the psycho pastor guy. After getting home and having dinner I watched part of a movie with Tom and Karen until Alusine stopped by. He had been at the outing and had a lot of fun, different tastes in entertainment I guess. He left to go home and clean up as there was a boxing day dance at the community center, so I went to Pa Kanu’s to wait for him and Solomon to meet me there. We had a couple sodas and then I walked Alusine to a friend’s house (he wanted me to go to the dance, but not my thing). From there Solomon and I walked home and I went to bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 25th
This morning I was going to go to Alusine’s church, the DDM (Disciple
Deliverance Ministries) but he didn’t get to the house till almost 11 so we went
over to the Katherie church for the Christmas service because I figure by the
time we walked to where the church was (a little past Kamakwie 2) the service
would be over. We made it to about half the service but I enjoyed it and I got
to listen to Solomon speak, he does really well. I tease him sometimes calling
him CHO, Midwife, chef, pastor Solomon because he is quite talented at a variety
of things. Since we missed the beginningI don’t know if the service was much
different from a normal service as the message comes pretty close to the end.
After church Alusine and I came up to the house and we worked on math for a
little while and I let him type some on my computer. Let’s just say that we have
a lot of work to do on his writing. Karen invited him to come have lunch with
us, we had receive several gifts of African food this morning and so we had some
food to spare. After lunch I rested outside with Alusine and we did a little
more math. After it had cooled off some we walked to the orphanage where they
were having a Christmas party. Mostly it consisted of them getting a little bit
of food and then dancing. It was a lot of fun and I took a bunch of pictures,
I’ll try to get some more pictures up on my facebook. I need to put some up
because I haven’t put any up in a while. The Aunties were all thrilled I visited
and the kids loved it too. They kept trying to get me to dance and I tried my
best. I’m not much of a dancer so I felt like a bit of a fool. Unfortunately I
couldn’t stay very long because I had to be home by 6 for dinner. After dinner
we went down to the hospital because Tom was showing a newer and very well done
version of the nativity story. It was quite amazing in not only its production
but the depth of detail in the telling of the story. I hope the Africans enjoyed
it as much as I did. I went to bed at a little before 12. I received a call at
5:45 in the morning to ask how my sleep was… I told him not done yet and went
back to sleep.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
This morning I was going to go to Alusine’s church, the DDM (Disciple
Deliverance Ministries) but he didn’t get to the house till almost 11 so we went
over to the Katherie church for the Christmas service because I figure by the
time we walked to where the church was (a little past Kamakwie 2) the service
would be over. We made it to about half the service but I enjoyed it and I got
to listen to Solomon speak, he does really well. I tease him sometimes calling
him CHO, Midwife, chef, pastor Solomon because he is quite talented at a variety
of things. Since we missed the beginningI don’t know if the service was much
different from a normal service as the message comes pretty close to the end.
After church Alusine and I came up to the house and we worked on math for a
little while and I let him type some on my computer. Let’s just say that we have
a lot of work to do on his writing. Karen invited him to come have lunch with
us, we had receive several gifts of African food this morning and so we had some
food to spare. After lunch I rested outside with Alusine and we did a little
more math. After it had cooled off some we walked to the orphanage where they
were having a Christmas party. Mostly it consisted of them getting a little bit
of food and then dancing. It was a lot of fun and I took a bunch of pictures,
I’ll try to get some more pictures up on my facebook. I need to put some up
because I haven’t put any up in a while. The Aunties were all thrilled I visited
and the kids loved it too. They kept trying to get me to dance and I tried my
best. I’m not much of a dancer so I felt like a bit of a fool. Unfortunately I
couldn’t stay very long because I had to be home by 6 for dinner. After dinner
we went down to the hospital because Tom was showing a newer and very well done
version of the nativity story. It was quite amazing in not only its production
but the depth of detail in the telling of the story. I hope the Africans enjoyed
it as much as I did. I went to bed at a little before 12. I received a call at
5:45 in the morning to ask how my sleep was… I told him not done yet and went
back to sleep.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 24th
This morning I did rounds in the men’s ward with Solomon, I really enjoy doing
it and if I would trade in an instant to work in the hospital rather than teach.
I can do the teaching, but I don’t like it and do not plan on making it a
career. However medical missions could be an interesting. It’s way early to
speculate that but I think I could be happy doing it. I don’t know about doing
medicine in the US because from what I’ve heard from Tom, Karen, and other
visiting doctors being a medical professional in the US is just way more
difficult than necessary, and mostly because of the patients and the things that
they had/have to deal with. After lunch I was going to visit the orphanage to
see Alusine but I ran into him downtown. He had to go back to the orphanage so I
went with him and we retrieved his bike and brought it back to Kamakwie to get
repairs done on it. They really use things here until they can’t possibly be
used again, his tire tube had at least five patches on it. After getting it done
Alusine left to go play in a soccer match at some village and I returned home
and rested for a while. I haven’t been feeling very well lately. My stomach has
been really irritated and the heat didn’t help any. We had walked to and from
the orphanage during the hottest part of the day. It was definitely over 100
degrees in the sun, I’ve never ever been that hot before. This evening I watched
a movie called Faith Like Potatoes with Tom and Karen, it’s a pretty good movie.
After that I went down and visited Solomon for a little while before coming home
and going to bed. Alusine called me at 4 am to apologize for not coming to visit
this evening after the soccer match. I told him it was ok, I hadn’t expected
he’d make it that far after a soccer game anyway. Good night!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
This morning I did rounds in the men’s ward with Solomon, I really enjoy doing
it and if I would trade in an instant to work in the hospital rather than teach.
I can do the teaching, but I don’t like it and do not plan on making it a
career. However medical missions could be an interesting. It’s way early to
speculate that but I think I could be happy doing it. I don’t know about doing
medicine in the US because from what I’ve heard from Tom, Karen, and other
visiting doctors being a medical professional in the US is just way more
difficult than necessary, and mostly because of the patients and the things that
they had/have to deal with. After lunch I was going to visit the orphanage to
see Alusine but I ran into him downtown. He had to go back to the orphanage so I
went with him and we retrieved his bike and brought it back to Kamakwie to get
repairs done on it. They really use things here until they can’t possibly be
used again, his tire tube had at least five patches on it. After getting it done
Alusine left to go play in a soccer match at some village and I returned home
and rested for a while. I haven’t been feeling very well lately. My stomach has
been really irritated and the heat didn’t help any. We had walked to and from
the orphanage during the hottest part of the day. It was definitely over 100
degrees in the sun, I’ve never ever been that hot before. This evening I watched
a movie called Faith Like Potatoes with Tom and Karen, it’s a pretty good movie.
After that I went down and visited Solomon for a little while before coming home
and going to bed. Alusine called me at 4 am to apologize for not coming to visit
this evening after the soccer match. I told him it was ok, I hadn’t expected
he’d make it that far after a soccer game anyway. Good night!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 23rd
I finally made it down to chapel on time and there was no one
there. Well, one of the hospital’s brown men was there and I
asked where everyone was. He responded with “no one done
come”. I didn’t know why but he wanted to lock up the room
so I left and went over to Solomon’s to wait for him to start
rounds. I asked him why no one was there and he told me
pastors Jarr and JBT had gone to help slaughter the cow for
the staff’s gift from the hospital (real meat, though to them real
meat is fish). I started rounds in the men’s medical ward with
Solomon, but while I was waiting I saw one of the hospital staff
walk by with a black plastic bag, sticking out of the bag was a
cow leg… it was so absurd it made me laugh. Rounds went well,
a new patient but the usual, malaria with possible typhoid. We
did about half the medical side then he had to go so Tom
finished up the medical side and then Linda did the surgical
side (with me tagging along of course) I didn’t finish out the
rounds because Karen called me to go with her to take some
Africans to Kakamba (we thought Kabombo which is on the
way). We only found out Kakamba as we entered Kabombo
but at least it was only two villages farther along. They needed
to go to collect some wood they had gathered and bring it back
to Kamakwie for a church youth president conference coming
up in January. They told us the wood was getting stolen there
and they wanted to bring it here to lock it up in their office in
Kamakwie. While we were there they took us to meet with the
eldest village elder who was in town for the holidays (he stays
mostly in Freetown now). While meeting with us he told us
that he wants to let us have the school and to build the church
there. He thinks will be good for the village to have both
mosque and a church. Anyway, we collected finished talking
with him, gathered up the wood, and headed home. We
dropped the Africans and their wood off at their office and
then went over to the field next to the school. Karen was
helping me learn to drive a manual (since that’s what their
vehicle is). It’s really hard but considering the road conditions
here, if I can learn how here it will be a walk in the park at
home. After lunch I went out to the Orphanage to visit Alusine
and the rest of the kids. I got there and found out that the ball
I had given them was not very good. (I suspected that so I
brought another ball along to give them just in case) I didn’t stay
there long, Alusine and the others cleaned up while I waited and
then we walked over to Kamakwie to go to the soccer final match
between the Kamakwie town team and the Fullah team. (Fullahs
are one of the tribes here and a lot of them live in Kamakwie 2
and 3 so it was sort of Kamakwie 1 versus Kamakwie 2 and 3) It
was quite rowdy and these three guys in front of us tried to beat
up Alusine because he made some comment about how the
Fullahs were only here in Kamakwie because the Limbas brought
them here. Granted exactly nice but these guys were just itching
to fight. Then they made a comment about how Alusine should
go back to his daddy (Alusine is an orphan) so he got mad at
them. Luckily Solomon and Samuel were there with us and kept
anyone from fighting. I had to leave half time to make it home
for dinner so I didn’t get to see the end but I did find out that
the Kamakwie 1 team won the game 1 to 0. In the evening I
went down and visited Solomon for a little while before
coming home and heading off to bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan brooks
I finally made it down to chapel on time and there was no one
there. Well, one of the hospital’s brown men was there and I
asked where everyone was. He responded with “no one done
come”. I didn’t know why but he wanted to lock up the room
so I left and went over to Solomon’s to wait for him to start
rounds. I asked him why no one was there and he told me
pastors Jarr and JBT had gone to help slaughter the cow for
the staff’s gift from the hospital (real meat, though to them real
meat is fish). I started rounds in the men’s medical ward with
Solomon, but while I was waiting I saw one of the hospital staff
walk by with a black plastic bag, sticking out of the bag was a
cow leg… it was so absurd it made me laugh. Rounds went well,
a new patient but the usual, malaria with possible typhoid. We
did about half the medical side then he had to go so Tom
finished up the medical side and then Linda did the surgical
side (with me tagging along of course) I didn’t finish out the
rounds because Karen called me to go with her to take some
Africans to Kakamba (we thought Kabombo which is on the
way). We only found out Kakamba as we entered Kabombo
but at least it was only two villages farther along. They needed
to go to collect some wood they had gathered and bring it back
to Kamakwie for a church youth president conference coming
up in January. They told us the wood was getting stolen there
and they wanted to bring it here to lock it up in their office in
Kamakwie. While we were there they took us to meet with the
eldest village elder who was in town for the holidays (he stays
mostly in Freetown now). While meeting with us he told us
that he wants to let us have the school and to build the church
there. He thinks will be good for the village to have both
mosque and a church. Anyway, we collected finished talking
with him, gathered up the wood, and headed home. We
dropped the Africans and their wood off at their office and
then went over to the field next to the school. Karen was
helping me learn to drive a manual (since that’s what their
vehicle is). It’s really hard but considering the road conditions
here, if I can learn how here it will be a walk in the park at
home. After lunch I went out to the Orphanage to visit Alusine
and the rest of the kids. I got there and found out that the ball
I had given them was not very good. (I suspected that so I
brought another ball along to give them just in case) I didn’t stay
there long, Alusine and the others cleaned up while I waited and
then we walked over to Kamakwie to go to the soccer final match
between the Kamakwie town team and the Fullah team. (Fullahs
are one of the tribes here and a lot of them live in Kamakwie 2
and 3 so it was sort of Kamakwie 1 versus Kamakwie 2 and 3) It
was quite rowdy and these three guys in front of us tried to beat
up Alusine because he made some comment about how the
Fullahs were only here in Kamakwie because the Limbas brought
them here. Granted exactly nice but these guys were just itching
to fight. Then they made a comment about how Alusine should
go back to his daddy (Alusine is an orphan) so he got mad at
them. Luckily Solomon and Samuel were there with us and kept
anyone from fighting. I had to leave half time to make it home
for dinner so I didn’t get to see the end but I did find out that
the Kamakwie 1 team won the game 1 to 0. In the evening I
went down and visited Solomon for a little while before
coming home and heading off to bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan brooks
December 22nd
I went to Kakamba this morning; Solomon took me on his Honda.
I had to go there as a missionary representative I guess, not quite
certain, Karen and Tom just volunteered me to go. Not that I’m
complaining I’m glad I get to be an active part in getting this
church in Kakamba going. I got there at around 10, but Reverend
Alfred (the district superintendant for the Wesleyan church) came
late, arriving at around 11. He apparently had a flat. We had a
meeting with the chief elder and some of the other important
people in the village. We discussed some terms and such, as well
as the future of the village concerning the placement of the church.
We saw the land they want to give us for the church, they are
willing to give us a pretty good sized tract of land for the church,
parsonage and a small farm if the pastor (when they get one, but
they won’t have one until the church and parsonage are both built)
decides he wants to farm. They want to let us have the school and
to build a church but the Muslims are also interested in acquiring
the school and the village has said that they want to see some
action soon and whoever shows the action first will be the ones
they give the school to. When we got back to the hospital Solomon
went to finish the work that he was missing because he took me to
the village. Having the hospital’s community health officer take me
was probably not the best option, but the only one since there are
three people who could have taken me, one was in Freetown,
Samuel the accountant (BS wouldn’t let him go) and Solomon.
When he was done we went downtown on a borrowed Honda to
try and find him a pair of shoes (which is what I wanted to get him
for Christmas but the pair I got were the “right size” but too small
anyways. Here gifts are given before Christmas so that they can
have them to wear on Christmas day. We were done looking,
couldn’t find a pair, and we tried to go but the ignition was stuck
in the off position, so Solomon had to push the bike over to a
mechanic. We got it turned to the on position finally and headed
up to the hospital. As soon as I got back I had to head to the
outpatient clinic where we spent two hours setting up the gifts
for the staff kids. Each staff member got to go through and select
a few gifts for their kids. It took three hours helping staff member
get the gifts. It was a very long process in a hot room and not a
lot of fun but at least their kids will have some “new” things and
that made the whole thing worthwhile. After we got that done
we had a very late dinner (after 8pm) and then I went over to
Solomon’s for about an hour before going to bed. Have a great
night!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I went to Kakamba this morning; Solomon took me on his Honda.
I had to go there as a missionary representative I guess, not quite
certain, Karen and Tom just volunteered me to go. Not that I’m
complaining I’m glad I get to be an active part in getting this
church in Kakamba going. I got there at around 10, but Reverend
Alfred (the district superintendant for the Wesleyan church) came
late, arriving at around 11. He apparently had a flat. We had a
meeting with the chief elder and some of the other important
people in the village. We discussed some terms and such, as well
as the future of the village concerning the placement of the church.
We saw the land they want to give us for the church, they are
willing to give us a pretty good sized tract of land for the church,
parsonage and a small farm if the pastor (when they get one, but
they won’t have one until the church and parsonage are both built)
decides he wants to farm. They want to let us have the school and
to build a church but the Muslims are also interested in acquiring
the school and the village has said that they want to see some
action soon and whoever shows the action first will be the ones
they give the school to. When we got back to the hospital Solomon
went to finish the work that he was missing because he took me to
the village. Having the hospital’s community health officer take me
was probably not the best option, but the only one since there are
three people who could have taken me, one was in Freetown,
Samuel the accountant (BS wouldn’t let him go) and Solomon.
When he was done we went downtown on a borrowed Honda to
try and find him a pair of shoes (which is what I wanted to get him
for Christmas but the pair I got were the “right size” but too small
anyways. Here gifts are given before Christmas so that they can
have them to wear on Christmas day. We were done looking,
couldn’t find a pair, and we tried to go but the ignition was stuck
in the off position, so Solomon had to push the bike over to a
mechanic. We got it turned to the on position finally and headed
up to the hospital. As soon as I got back I had to head to the
outpatient clinic where we spent two hours setting up the gifts
for the staff kids. Each staff member got to go through and select
a few gifts for their kids. It took three hours helping staff member
get the gifts. It was a very long process in a hot room and not a
lot of fun but at least their kids will have some “new” things and
that made the whole thing worthwhile. After we got that done
we had a very late dinner (after 8pm) and then I went over to
Solomon’s for about an hour before going to bed. Have a great
night!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 21st
Today I went to the hospital again to do rounds. I did rounds with
Tom as Solomon had to go help with the outpatient clinic. We did
both men’s medical and surgical wards. Nothing too exciting
today, most of the patients were the same ones from yesterday so
we just observed them and if they were improving moved on if not
Tom made any decisions necessary to try and make them improve.
I went to observe a natural birth with Solomon because they were
going to try and do a vacuum extraction (they attach a little cup by
vacuum to the baby’s head and try to assist the mother by pulling
the baby out if the mother isn’t contracting strong enough). But
they didn’t need it so Solomon called me to come along with him.
So I still haven’t gotten to observe a birth, but I will soon hopefully.
After we finished up rounds I went to the pharmacy to help Tom
sort some medications that BS had bought and brought with him
when he came from Freetown. Tom and I went to visit the kids at
the orphanage. I took them a soccer ball (which every single kid
along the way wanted and one kid even swore at me when I told
him no). They loved it and practically mobbed me trying to thank
me, several of the little kids tried climbing on me. Such a small
thing brought them such happiness. One of the things that I love
about being here and working with these kids is that while I can’t
do very much, even the littlest thing I do means an enormous
amount to them. You would never see such gratefulness at home.
Tom and I stated for a little bit and he talked with the Aunties
(women who help take care of the kids) while I mostly talked with
my friend Alusine. I’m sure these names are all getting confused
for you since there are so many people with the same names,
but I try to only include the names of people I think are going to
show up again to try and keep the confusion down. We had to
leave after only a little bit to head home so we wouldn’t be late
for dinner. Alusine came part of the way with us but told me that
he was too dirty and didn’t want to walk into Kamakwie like that.
We were right next to some water so I picked him up and
pretended like I was going to throw him into it. He thought that
was really funny and was surprised I could pick him up (he’s 16 I
think so not exactly little but Sierra Leoneans as a whole don’t
weigh a lot considering they don’t eat a lot). Tom and I continued
on and got home without being late. After dinner Karen asked me
to play a round of Settler’s of Catan (a card game version I didn’t
know existed) and I ended up beating her. I’ve played the board
game a lot so I understand the principles pretty well. Anyway,
after we finished I went down and talked to Solomon for a little
while before bed, big surprise no? Haha, anyway I hope you are
all doing well.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Today I went to the hospital again to do rounds. I did rounds with
Tom as Solomon had to go help with the outpatient clinic. We did
both men’s medical and surgical wards. Nothing too exciting
today, most of the patients were the same ones from yesterday so
we just observed them and if they were improving moved on if not
Tom made any decisions necessary to try and make them improve.
I went to observe a natural birth with Solomon because they were
going to try and do a vacuum extraction (they attach a little cup by
vacuum to the baby’s head and try to assist the mother by pulling
the baby out if the mother isn’t contracting strong enough). But
they didn’t need it so Solomon called me to come along with him.
So I still haven’t gotten to observe a birth, but I will soon hopefully.
After we finished up rounds I went to the pharmacy to help Tom
sort some medications that BS had bought and brought with him
when he came from Freetown. Tom and I went to visit the kids at
the orphanage. I took them a soccer ball (which every single kid
along the way wanted and one kid even swore at me when I told
him no). They loved it and practically mobbed me trying to thank
me, several of the little kids tried climbing on me. Such a small
thing brought them such happiness. One of the things that I love
about being here and working with these kids is that while I can’t
do very much, even the littlest thing I do means an enormous
amount to them. You would never see such gratefulness at home.
Tom and I stated for a little bit and he talked with the Aunties
(women who help take care of the kids) while I mostly talked with
my friend Alusine. I’m sure these names are all getting confused
for you since there are so many people with the same names,
but I try to only include the names of people I think are going to
show up again to try and keep the confusion down. We had to
leave after only a little bit to head home so we wouldn’t be late
for dinner. Alusine came part of the way with us but told me that
he was too dirty and didn’t want to walk into Kamakwie like that.
We were right next to some water so I picked him up and
pretended like I was going to throw him into it. He thought that
was really funny and was surprised I could pick him up (he’s 16 I
think so not exactly little but Sierra Leoneans as a whole don’t
weigh a lot considering they don’t eat a lot). Tom and I continued
on and got home without being late. After dinner Karen asked me
to play a round of Settler’s of Catan (a card game version I didn’t
know existed) and I ended up beating her. I’ve played the board
game a lot so I understand the principles pretty well. Anyway,
after we finished I went down and talked to Solomon for a little
while before bed, big surprise no? Haha, anyway I hope you are
all doing well.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
December 19th and 20th
Church Sunday was not much different than usual, though more
people wore African clothing than normal. This Sunday was
Africana Sunday at Katherie church so everyone was supposed to
wear African stuff. The youth sang a song they made up about
Africans and serving the Lord and such. They did a really good job
considering they had only started working on it two days before.
These two little kids sat next to me. I don’t mind that they want to
be friends but they always want play around during the service
and it’s hard enough to understand the Krio anyway. I’m getting
there, I’m working on my Krio with Solomon, Samuel and some
other people. After church I didn’t do a whole lot, spent most of
the time just relaxing waiting for Tom to decide when he wanted
to go down to the hospital to start packing the staff gifts. Linda,
Jordan, Philip, Karen, Tom and I all went down to work on it.
People send things (clothing, shoes, hygiene items, etc) and they
pack them into bags as gifts for all the staff members. We had to
sort through boxes of stuff and then we packed 53 gift bags with
an assortment of things. We stopped a little after six to have
dinner and then Tom and I went back down to the room to finish
sorting things and putting all the boxes stuff away (we were
working in the outpatient/dispensary room and it needed to be
free for the clinic the next morning. After that I went to hang out
with Solomon for a little bit and then went to bed. Monday I went
on ward rounds in the hospital with Samuel. Rounds consist of
going through the wards, checking on the progress of previous
patients and seeing to any new ones. It’s quite interesting and it
gives me something constructive and useful to do during the
Christmas holiday when I don’t have any teaching to do. I will see
how this goes and then I might spend some time even after school
starts again doing it if I continue to find it interesting. I only teach
in the afternoon so my mornings are free and since that’s when
they do the ward rounds I think it could work. The very first
patient we saw was pretty sick, on top of that when they gave him
a transfusion of blood the day before they accidently punctured
his vein so some of the blood entered the tissues rather than
entering the blood stream where it belongs. Solomon wanted his
BP and since his right arm was swollen and sore from the botched
transfusion he needed him to sit up and turn so he could use his
left arm. He then proceeded to vomit on the floor. Surprisingly I
didn’t find it in the least disturbing and just went on listening to
Solomon explaining what he was doing and such. We saw the
rest of the patients without any real incidents. Solomon did a
really good job explaining, though at times he explained a little
more than he would have needed to, I know a little bit about
some of the things from studying biochemistry. But that’s ok,
I couldn’t expect him to know what I do and don’t know and I’d
rather get too much explanation rather than not enough. When
we came back in the afternoon to see some people who we
were waiting on lab results for we found out two people decided
they wanted to leave to pursue traditional medicine. The first
patient (who is very sick and we’ll not likely see again unless
he is very lucky if he isn’t he will likely die) and the other was a
guy who got beaten and had an upper arm fracture. Tom says
it’s likely we’ll see him again, to do an amputation. They try to
persuade these people to stay but if they want to go they have
to let them or if something where to happen they people could
place the blame on the hospital (sadly law suits happen here
too). When we had finished that Solomon and I were standing
just outside the medical wing talking about things I’d seen
today and he was explaining some other stuff. While we were
out there the brown men (they wear brown uniforms and go
by the brown men, they do a lot of the manual labor around
the hospital) came out carrying a stretcher with a young girl
on it who had died. They then proceeded to tie the girl to this
one lady’s back and then got onto a Honda and another woman
got on behind to help keep the girl on the bike. With the driver
there were four people on the Honda. This would be quite a
grim task. I don’t think I would feel comfortable doing that. But
if they don’t have much money then this is the only way, a car
is expensive and the only other alternative would be to carry
her (in this case 12 miles). I spent a little while hanging out with
Solomon and then I headed home. Karen has been sick and still
wasn’t feeling very well yesterday so I volunteered to make
dinner (nothing fancy, just spaghetti). After dinner Tom and I
went to the pharmacy and sorted some medications people had
sent over. A note, if you send spare medications and such,
don’t send a bottle with one or two pills in it. It serves no
purpose here if there isn’t even enough for a treatment. It
doesn’t do any good to start someone on a drug we don’t
have any more of. It would be better to send it as an
empty pill bottle so we don’t have to spend time trying to
sort out bottles of one or two pills. We need empty pill
bottles for putting specimens in (stool, urine, etc…). After
we finished there I went and watched the end of the Jesus
film in Loko, which was just as much gibberish to me as it
was in Limba. BS (the hospital administrator) returned this
evening, so I went there with Solomon and Samuel. BS is
Solomon’s cousin, so Solomon goes there a lot when he is
around to do things for BS. From there we went to a 40
day wake celebrations for a staff member at the hospitals
older brother. It’s a lot like a party, loud music, dancing
and other stuff. On the way there we came across a line
of driver ants we didn’t see until we were pretty much on
them, Solomon stopped me from walking right into them
but he got some of them on him. Not badly at least,
because they can be really bad in large numbers. We
didn’t stay very long, Solomon just went to be seen since
the youth asked him to be there. After we left he walked
me up to the house before heading to bed himself. I had
just laid down for bed at a little before 12 and was just
about asleep when I heard, not singing, but screaming
carolers. They were literally screaming out, ironically, Silent
Night. I don’t mind carols, but midnight and screaming? I
was quite irritated; I gave them some money, told them
to come early next year and sent them off. There is
something to be said about quality over volume but I don’t
think Sierra Leoneans understand that concept at all. For
them louder is always better. Anyway, that’s about all for
tonight. Good night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Church Sunday was not much different than usual, though more
people wore African clothing than normal. This Sunday was
Africana Sunday at Katherie church so everyone was supposed to
wear African stuff. The youth sang a song they made up about
Africans and serving the Lord and such. They did a really good job
considering they had only started working on it two days before.
These two little kids sat next to me. I don’t mind that they want to
be friends but they always want play around during the service
and it’s hard enough to understand the Krio anyway. I’m getting
there, I’m working on my Krio with Solomon, Samuel and some
other people. After church I didn’t do a whole lot, spent most of
the time just relaxing waiting for Tom to decide when he wanted
to go down to the hospital to start packing the staff gifts. Linda,
Jordan, Philip, Karen, Tom and I all went down to work on it.
People send things (clothing, shoes, hygiene items, etc) and they
pack them into bags as gifts for all the staff members. We had to
sort through boxes of stuff and then we packed 53 gift bags with
an assortment of things. We stopped a little after six to have
dinner and then Tom and I went back down to the room to finish
sorting things and putting all the boxes stuff away (we were
working in the outpatient/dispensary room and it needed to be
free for the clinic the next morning. After that I went to hang out
with Solomon for a little bit and then went to bed. Monday I went
on ward rounds in the hospital with Samuel. Rounds consist of
going through the wards, checking on the progress of previous
patients and seeing to any new ones. It’s quite interesting and it
gives me something constructive and useful to do during the
Christmas holiday when I don’t have any teaching to do. I will see
how this goes and then I might spend some time even after school
starts again doing it if I continue to find it interesting. I only teach
in the afternoon so my mornings are free and since that’s when
they do the ward rounds I think it could work. The very first
patient we saw was pretty sick, on top of that when they gave him
a transfusion of blood the day before they accidently punctured
his vein so some of the blood entered the tissues rather than
entering the blood stream where it belongs. Solomon wanted his
BP and since his right arm was swollen and sore from the botched
transfusion he needed him to sit up and turn so he could use his
left arm. He then proceeded to vomit on the floor. Surprisingly I
didn’t find it in the least disturbing and just went on listening to
Solomon explaining what he was doing and such. We saw the
rest of the patients without any real incidents. Solomon did a
really good job explaining, though at times he explained a little
more than he would have needed to, I know a little bit about
some of the things from studying biochemistry. But that’s ok,
I couldn’t expect him to know what I do and don’t know and I’d
rather get too much explanation rather than not enough. When
we came back in the afternoon to see some people who we
were waiting on lab results for we found out two people decided
they wanted to leave to pursue traditional medicine. The first
patient (who is very sick and we’ll not likely see again unless
he is very lucky if he isn’t he will likely die) and the other was a
guy who got beaten and had an upper arm fracture. Tom says
it’s likely we’ll see him again, to do an amputation. They try to
persuade these people to stay but if they want to go they have
to let them or if something where to happen they people could
place the blame on the hospital (sadly law suits happen here
too). When we had finished that Solomon and I were standing
just outside the medical wing talking about things I’d seen
today and he was explaining some other stuff. While we were
out there the brown men (they wear brown uniforms and go
by the brown men, they do a lot of the manual labor around
the hospital) came out carrying a stretcher with a young girl
on it who had died. They then proceeded to tie the girl to this
one lady’s back and then got onto a Honda and another woman
got on behind to help keep the girl on the bike. With the driver
there were four people on the Honda. This would be quite a
grim task. I don’t think I would feel comfortable doing that. But
if they don’t have much money then this is the only way, a car
is expensive and the only other alternative would be to carry
her (in this case 12 miles). I spent a little while hanging out with
Solomon and then I headed home. Karen has been sick and still
wasn’t feeling very well yesterday so I volunteered to make
dinner (nothing fancy, just spaghetti). After dinner Tom and I
went to the pharmacy and sorted some medications people had
sent over. A note, if you send spare medications and such,
don’t send a bottle with one or two pills in it. It serves no
purpose here if there isn’t even enough for a treatment. It
doesn’t do any good to start someone on a drug we don’t
have any more of. It would be better to send it as an
empty pill bottle so we don’t have to spend time trying to
sort out bottles of one or two pills. We need empty pill
bottles for putting specimens in (stool, urine, etc…). After
we finished there I went and watched the end of the Jesus
film in Loko, which was just as much gibberish to me as it
was in Limba. BS (the hospital administrator) returned this
evening, so I went there with Solomon and Samuel. BS is
Solomon’s cousin, so Solomon goes there a lot when he is
around to do things for BS. From there we went to a 40
day wake celebrations for a staff member at the hospitals
older brother. It’s a lot like a party, loud music, dancing
and other stuff. On the way there we came across a line
of driver ants we didn’t see until we were pretty much on
them, Solomon stopped me from walking right into them
but he got some of them on him. Not badly at least,
because they can be really bad in large numbers. We
didn’t stay very long, Solomon just went to be seen since
the youth asked him to be there. After we left he walked
me up to the house before heading to bed himself. I had
just laid down for bed at a little before 12 and was just
about asleep when I heard, not singing, but screaming
carolers. They were literally screaming out, ironically, Silent
Night. I don’t mind carols, but midnight and screaming? I
was quite irritated; I gave them some money, told them
to come early next year and sent them off. There is
something to be said about quality over volume but I don’t
think Sierra Leoneans understand that concept at all. For
them louder is always better. Anyway, that’s about all for
tonight. Good night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 17th and 18th
I don’t think I did enough (or don’t remember enough) make this
two separate blog entries. I know that I spent a lot of time with
Solomon, which is always entertaining. Yesterday I spent a lot of
the morning at the house doing a variety of things, reading,
cleaning, etc… time goes by so fast when you are busy. Then I
spent the afternoon hanging out with Solomon and Samuel in
Samuel’s office. Then I went with Solomon and watched him do his
laundry. Not the most thrilling experience ever but it was
interesting to see how they do their laundry, and makes me so
thankful for our washing machine at home (and the lady who does
our laundry here). After that I went with them to Katherie church
for a planning meeting for the church service tomorrow. I’m glad I
went, I got to see them coming up with a song to sing for the
service tomorrow. The church is having a special African Sunday
tomorrow and it should be interesting I hope. Then Solomon and I
went down town to try and find him some soup (African type). His
cousin Fatu usually cooks for him but because she is gone right
now for a wedding some young girls at her house made the soup,
Solomon told me it would be better to just put butter on the rice
and eat it than to use the soup that they made. Anyway, they
didn’t have any so he just bought a can of sardines. I had him and
Samuel come up to the house so I didn’t have to sit and eat dinner
alone, but they didn’t stay long since Samuel had to pack to leave
in the morning to go to a village and Solomon was dead set on
getting a bunch of sleep since he had Saturday off. Today
(Saturday) I didn’t do much different than yesterday, some
reading, cleaning and other stuff. Tom and Karen were coming
back tonight so I wanted to prepare food for them and I decided to
follow Karen’s meal plan, dinner and a dessert. I tried to make a
cake from scratch (I wanted to prove I could cook since Karen
doesn’t believe I can) which was an adventure. I went through
over 40 eggs because they were all bad. Karen had 15 here, bad, I
went and bought 12 at pa Kanu’s, bad, I had Solomon help me find
somewhere to buy eggs, bought 12 more, bad. I finally borrowed
some from the Mahr’s. They were ok but I ended up with a fail for
a cake. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong. The cake had
frothed up and went all over the place. Solomon came by and I
was showing him the recipe I used and I discovered I had
accidently used baking soda instead of baking powder. That
figured out Solomon found me some more eggs and we redid the
cake. However I managed to tell him to put in three tablespoons
of baking powder instead of three teaspoons… That ally didn’t
seem to affect too much, the cake took an hour and 20 minutes
to make rather than 45 but it actually turned out ok. It’s not
great by any means, but hey, I baked cake in Africa, not many
people can say that. Dinner went better. I made chicken chili and
it was really good. After having spent over two and a half hours to
make a cake (not including the baking time on the second cake)
I’m really glad I decided to make a simple meal, I literally put it
all together in 15 min and just had to let it heat. Anyway, Tom and
Karen came back with all the stuff for the plumbing overhaul, this
could be fun. Night all!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I don’t think I did enough (or don’t remember enough) make this
two separate blog entries. I know that I spent a lot of time with
Solomon, which is always entertaining. Yesterday I spent a lot of
the morning at the house doing a variety of things, reading,
cleaning, etc… time goes by so fast when you are busy. Then I
spent the afternoon hanging out with Solomon and Samuel in
Samuel’s office. Then I went with Solomon and watched him do his
laundry. Not the most thrilling experience ever but it was
interesting to see how they do their laundry, and makes me so
thankful for our washing machine at home (and the lady who does
our laundry here). After that I went with them to Katherie church
for a planning meeting for the church service tomorrow. I’m glad I
went, I got to see them coming up with a song to sing for the
service tomorrow. The church is having a special African Sunday
tomorrow and it should be interesting I hope. Then Solomon and I
went down town to try and find him some soup (African type). His
cousin Fatu usually cooks for him but because she is gone right
now for a wedding some young girls at her house made the soup,
Solomon told me it would be better to just put butter on the rice
and eat it than to use the soup that they made. Anyway, they
didn’t have any so he just bought a can of sardines. I had him and
Samuel come up to the house so I didn’t have to sit and eat dinner
alone, but they didn’t stay long since Samuel had to pack to leave
in the morning to go to a village and Solomon was dead set on
getting a bunch of sleep since he had Saturday off. Today
(Saturday) I didn’t do much different than yesterday, some
reading, cleaning and other stuff. Tom and Karen were coming
back tonight so I wanted to prepare food for them and I decided to
follow Karen’s meal plan, dinner and a dessert. I tried to make a
cake from scratch (I wanted to prove I could cook since Karen
doesn’t believe I can) which was an adventure. I went through
over 40 eggs because they were all bad. Karen had 15 here, bad, I
went and bought 12 at pa Kanu’s, bad, I had Solomon help me find
somewhere to buy eggs, bought 12 more, bad. I finally borrowed
some from the Mahr’s. They were ok but I ended up with a fail for
a cake. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong. The cake had
frothed up and went all over the place. Solomon came by and I
was showing him the recipe I used and I discovered I had
accidently used baking soda instead of baking powder. That
figured out Solomon found me some more eggs and we redid the
cake. However I managed to tell him to put in three tablespoons
of baking powder instead of three teaspoons… That ally didn’t
seem to affect too much, the cake took an hour and 20 minutes
to make rather than 45 but it actually turned out ok. It’s not
great by any means, but hey, I baked cake in Africa, not many
people can say that. Dinner went better. I made chicken chili and
it was really good. After having spent over two and a half hours to
make a cake (not including the baking time on the second cake)
I’m really glad I decided to make a simple meal, I literally put it
all together in 15 min and just had to let it heat. Anyway, Tom and
Karen came back with all the stuff for the plumbing overhaul, this
could be fun. Night all!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 16th
For my reading today I finished up Job, reading verses 38-42. I only
mention this because it seems particularly applicable this morning.
I forgot to tell you last night about going to the pediatric ward last
night. A small girl came into the hospital last night with severe
malaria, barely responsive and in great respiratory distress. I
helped Solomon last night while he treated her (not greatly but
what little I could do I did). She was so little, I can’t think much
more than 1 if that. This morning I was thinking about her so I
went down to check and see how she was doing, sadly she did not
make it through the night. Peter (who does rounds on the
pediatric ward in the morning) said that they had done everything
that they should and could do but it was too little too late. It’s
always very sad when someone young dies, but a girl that young is
so sad. It could be easy to question God and wonder why He
would let someone so young die, but as He says in Job, we can’t
possibly understand His ways. It’s hard to accept at times but He is
so far beyond us that we just can’t grasp His purpose. This hospital
is the last stop for all manner of critical patients, most of the
people here don’t (or can’t afford to come) until they are really
sick and many times it’s too late. Please pray for the patients and
pray for the staff, they all need it very much. This afternoon
Solomon took me on his/Samuel’s but really the hospital’s Honda
to go visit Kagboray, a village where some of his family lives. BS
(Brimah Samura), the hospital administrator, owns a rather large
garden where he grows mostly palm oil but also some other
things, guava, banana, pineapple and a few other things. It was fun
getting to see the place but I forgot to take my camera. I told
Solomon that he’ll just have to take me again some time. We came
back and I did dinner for Abdul, Abu and I. At around 8:30 Solomon
came over and we watched a film. Now it’s time for some sleep,
good night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
For my reading today I finished up Job, reading verses 38-42. I only
mention this because it seems particularly applicable this morning.
I forgot to tell you last night about going to the pediatric ward last
night. A small girl came into the hospital last night with severe
malaria, barely responsive and in great respiratory distress. I
helped Solomon last night while he treated her (not greatly but
what little I could do I did). She was so little, I can’t think much
more than 1 if that. This morning I was thinking about her so I
went down to check and see how she was doing, sadly she did not
make it through the night. Peter (who does rounds on the
pediatric ward in the morning) said that they had done everything
that they should and could do but it was too little too late. It’s
always very sad when someone young dies, but a girl that young is
so sad. It could be easy to question God and wonder why He
would let someone so young die, but as He says in Job, we can’t
possibly understand His ways. It’s hard to accept at times but He is
so far beyond us that we just can’t grasp His purpose. This hospital
is the last stop for all manner of critical patients, most of the
people here don’t (or can’t afford to come) until they are really
sick and many times it’s too late. Please pray for the patients and
pray for the staff, they all need it very much. This afternoon
Solomon took me on his/Samuel’s but really the hospital’s Honda
to go visit Kagboray, a village where some of his family lives. BS
(Brimah Samura), the hospital administrator, owns a rather large
garden where he grows mostly palm oil but also some other
things, guava, banana, pineapple and a few other things. It was fun
getting to see the place but I forgot to take my camera. I told
Solomon that he’ll just have to take me again some time. We came
back and I did dinner for Abdul, Abu and I. At around 8:30 Solomon
came over and we watched a film. Now it’s time for some sleep,
good night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
December 15th
So Emma, Tom, Karen and the Emmits all left this morning so Im
alone with the Africans for the next four days (excluding the Mahrs
but I see them very little) but that’s ok by me. I enjoy spending
time with Samuel, Solomon and the other couple of Africans I
generally see around. I spent the morning reading then I went
down to the market to try and find some gifts for some people
here. I was told that the closer you get to Christmas the higher
prices in town climb so I wanted to get them now. I was not feeling
well so I went back up to the house and lay down for several hours
to wait for Solomon to get done working so we could go to the
village at two. I’m not sure what’s up but I just haven’t been
feeling well the last couple of days. I went down a little after 2 and
found him but he couldn’t go because he had to stay at the
hospital because the guy who was supposed to be on this
afternoon left town because his uncle passed away. So I just talked
with him for a while before returning home to make dinner (not
that I really made it, Karen had it prepared and in the freezer).
Some Christmas carolers were supposed to come by at 7 but after
waiting around for a while I decided to leave and go hang out with
Solomon for a little while. He didn’t want to go for a walk but he
needed some phone credits so we went for a short walk, which
turned into a long walk as we tried to find a place that had credits.
On the way back we ran into the people who were supposed to
carol at the house, apparently Karen was misinformed as to the
time. So we listened to them sing a few songs, it was weird to be
sweating and listening to Christmas carols, it just doesn’t feel like 9
days to Christmas. Anyway, that’s about it for today, good night
all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So Emma, Tom, Karen and the Emmits all left this morning so Im
alone with the Africans for the next four days (excluding the Mahrs
but I see them very little) but that’s ok by me. I enjoy spending
time with Samuel, Solomon and the other couple of Africans I
generally see around. I spent the morning reading then I went
down to the market to try and find some gifts for some people
here. I was told that the closer you get to Christmas the higher
prices in town climb so I wanted to get them now. I was not feeling
well so I went back up to the house and lay down for several hours
to wait for Solomon to get done working so we could go to the
village at two. I’m not sure what’s up but I just haven’t been
feeling well the last couple of days. I went down a little after 2 and
found him but he couldn’t go because he had to stay at the
hospital because the guy who was supposed to be on this
afternoon left town because his uncle passed away. So I just talked
with him for a while before returning home to make dinner (not
that I really made it, Karen had it prepared and in the freezer).
Some Christmas carolers were supposed to come by at 7 but after
waiting around for a while I decided to leave and go hang out with
Solomon for a little while. He didn’t want to go for a walk but he
needed some phone credits so we went for a short walk, which
turned into a long walk as we tried to find a place that had credits.
On the way back we ran into the people who were supposed to
carol at the house, apparently Karen was misinformed as to the
time. So we listened to them sing a few songs, it was weird to be
sweating and listening to Christmas carols, it just doesn’t feel like 9
days to Christmas. Anyway, that’s about it for today, good night
all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 14th
So, this morning I really wasn’t feeling well so I spent most of the
morning relaxing in bed. I had to go over to the school to take
them a list of the chemicals they need for the WASSCE. On the way
there Solomon saw me and took me over on his Honda, then he
brought me back to the house. I waited there for a little bit then
Solomon called me to go down to the market with him to up the
things we would need for dinner tonight. We rode his Honda of
course, I walk more than they do, haha. Anyway, we got peppers,
ground Cassava, ground nut paste, rice, and coconut oil (we
already had the meat for the dish, the chicken Emma killed). After
that he took me up to the house to wait for 4 when he was going
to start cooking. I just read for a little while and then headed down
when he called. He is actually a really good cook. The sauce for the
rice was a dubious green color but really it was great. We spent
the next several hours just hanging out and talking, then Solomon
had to go help his uncle and then ended up going to help with a C-
section so Samuel, Emma and I went on a night walk out to
Kamakwie 3 and back. It was nice, then I waited at the hospital for
Solomon to get done while Emma went and packed since the lights
were on due to the c-section. After he was done we went up and
visited with Emma one last time before she goes tomorrow. It’s
going to be quite sad to not have Rebecca or Emma anymore, and
as far as I know there won’t be any more English people coming
the rest of the time I’m here, just boring Americans (haha, just
kidding). As an aside as it wasn’t really something I did, but I have
to say that Solomon is just an awesome guy. We talked some today
about his working here and what he has given up to work here. Any
NGO (non-government organizations) would pay him 1.1-1.2 million
Leones a month and provide him with a Honda. Here in Kamakwie
he earns a third of that, 400 thousand Leones, that’s 100 dollars a
month. He does so because the hospital helped him go through
schooling and he believes that it is only right that he work here for
the next 6 years his part in them helping him get schooling. Not
only is he making so little compared to what he could but he lives
here in Kamakwie, which is not a very desirable place for anyone to
live. On top of that he works way more than he is required too and
does work beyond just his own role as a CHO. Despite having
agreements to work for the hospital other people have gone and
left for other places as soon as they finished their school. His
dedication to his work and commitments is just admirable. He
has a girlfriend in nursing school who understands and supports
his decision to work here and even plans to come live and work in
Kamakwie when she finishes, which is a really good sign for him I
think. Anyway, I had a wonderful day and I hope you all did as
well, night!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So, this morning I really wasn’t feeling well so I spent most of the
morning relaxing in bed. I had to go over to the school to take
them a list of the chemicals they need for the WASSCE. On the way
there Solomon saw me and took me over on his Honda, then he
brought me back to the house. I waited there for a little bit then
Solomon called me to go down to the market with him to up the
things we would need for dinner tonight. We rode his Honda of
course, I walk more than they do, haha. Anyway, we got peppers,
ground Cassava, ground nut paste, rice, and coconut oil (we
already had the meat for the dish, the chicken Emma killed). After
that he took me up to the house to wait for 4 when he was going
to start cooking. I just read for a little while and then headed down
when he called. He is actually a really good cook. The sauce for the
rice was a dubious green color but really it was great. We spent
the next several hours just hanging out and talking, then Solomon
had to go help his uncle and then ended up going to help with a C-
section so Samuel, Emma and I went on a night walk out to
Kamakwie 3 and back. It was nice, then I waited at the hospital for
Solomon to get done while Emma went and packed since the lights
were on due to the c-section. After he was done we went up and
visited with Emma one last time before she goes tomorrow. It’s
going to be quite sad to not have Rebecca or Emma anymore, and
as far as I know there won’t be any more English people coming
the rest of the time I’m here, just boring Americans (haha, just
kidding). As an aside as it wasn’t really something I did, but I have
to say that Solomon is just an awesome guy. We talked some today
about his working here and what he has given up to work here. Any
NGO (non-government organizations) would pay him 1.1-1.2 million
Leones a month and provide him with a Honda. Here in Kamakwie
he earns a third of that, 400 thousand Leones, that’s 100 dollars a
month. He does so because the hospital helped him go through
schooling and he believes that it is only right that he work here for
the next 6 years his part in them helping him get schooling. Not
only is he making so little compared to what he could but he lives
here in Kamakwie, which is not a very desirable place for anyone to
live. On top of that he works way more than he is required too and
does work beyond just his own role as a CHO. Despite having
agreements to work for the hospital other people have gone and
left for other places as soon as they finished their school. His
dedication to his work and commitments is just admirable. He
has a girlfriend in nursing school who understands and supports
his decision to work here and even plans to come live and work in
Kamakwie when she finishes, which is a really good sign for him I
think. Anyway, I had a wonderful day and I hope you all did as
well, night!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 13th
So I’m writing this two days later, the last two days have been
quite crazy what with Emma leaving on the 15th. Emma, Solomon,
Samuel and I have been spending quite a bit of time together. I
spent the morning finishing and printing my exams for my students.
Then after lunch Tom and I spent some time working on boxes in
the barn, we finally have opened them all but we didn’t find a
few things that should be there so Karen is hoping I just didn’t
recognize them, I am too, but I’m pretty I didn’t see them. After
lunch we moved some stuff around but then I wasn’t feeling very
well so I went and lay down a bit. At about 5 Emma and I went
down to Solomon’s so she could kill the chicken. It was funny,
after she killed it she asked Solomon if she was a real African
now and he said that African women won’t kill the chickens. It
was quite humorous how she reacted but you pretty much would have
to have been there. After we finished that up, we went to the
Emmit’s house where they had dinner for us since they leave
Wednesday as well. It was quite nice, it was Emma, the Ashers, the
Mahrs and the Emmits. After that I talked with Albert from the youth
movement more about the church project in Kakamba. Following that
Emma went down to the hospital lab where she found that she is not
in fact malaria positive which is good, but that leaves her current
illness a bit of a mystery. Emma and I went down to Pa Kanu to
wait for Solomon and Samuel who were watching a soccer game. After
they got done they came over (t very far as they were right next
door). We sat there for a couple hours before heading home and
going to bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So I’m writing this two days later, the last two days have been
quite crazy what with Emma leaving on the 15th. Emma, Solomon,
Samuel and I have been spending quite a bit of time together. I
spent the morning finishing and printing my exams for my students.
Then after lunch Tom and I spent some time working on boxes in
the barn, we finally have opened them all but we didn’t find a
few things that should be there so Karen is hoping I just didn’t
recognize them, I am too, but I’m pretty I didn’t see them. After
lunch we moved some stuff around but then I wasn’t feeling very
well so I went and lay down a bit. At about 5 Emma and I went
down to Solomon’s so she could kill the chicken. It was funny,
after she killed it she asked Solomon if she was a real African
now and he said that African women won’t kill the chickens. It
was quite humorous how she reacted but you pretty much would have
to have been there. After we finished that up, we went to the
Emmit’s house where they had dinner for us since they leave
Wednesday as well. It was quite nice, it was Emma, the Ashers, the
Mahrs and the Emmits. After that I talked with Albert from the youth
movement more about the church project in Kakamba. Following that
Emma went down to the hospital lab where she found that she is not
in fact malaria positive which is good, but that leaves her current
illness a bit of a mystery. Emma and I went down to Pa Kanu to
wait for Solomon and Samuel who were watching a soccer game. After
they got done they came over (t very far as they were right next
door). We sat there for a couple hours before heading home and
going to bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
December 12th
This morning was a bit different than usual, there was a morning
C-section so Tom and Emma were down at the hospital doing that
so breakfast was just Karen and I. Then she went down to the
hospital leaving me to fend for myself on going to church. I
decided to go to Katherie and that was good, because Samuel and
Emma ended up coming there too. Church was good this morning,
it wasn’t super hot and I am starting to understand Krio a little bit
so I actually understood some of the message. After church we
had a quick lunch then Emma and I walked to the men’s tailor, I
found some fabric for an African suit. Next Sunday is Africana
Sunday and Samuel said everyone was supposed to wear African,
no “white man” clothes. After the tailors we were walking up
towards the house when we saw Solomon. He came over to
Emma’s place and we just sat there and talked for a while until I
had to leave to get ready to go to Kakamba. We set out a little
after 5:20 to pick up some people to take along, Albert was already
there so he wasn’t one of them. We arrived in Kakamba a little
after six, set up the projector and generator and then just had to
wait for it to get dark enough. We had well over two hundred
people come by to watch, it was pretty cool. Many people even
stayed and watched the movie despite the dance going on not
very far away. There were these two guys who spent several
minutes calling one of their friends to come out but he didn’t, he
stayed and watched. During the film this girl gave me some ground
nuts, way more than I would want to eat as they were raw and
eating too many can make you sick according to Karen. So I used
them to try and bribe the small children. Unlike here in Kamakwie
where the little kids love the white people, the little kids in
Kakamba are afraid or at least nervous about the white man and
they flee when I try to approach. Anyway, the movie went along
pretty well with minimal interruption and following the movie a
local pastor got up and asked all who would like to give their life to
Christ to come forward. He had to say a couple times but finally a
young guy came forward and then several more and finally 53
people came forward and gave their life to Christ, how awesome!
We have all of their names and the youth intend to follow up with
them over the next week and begin to establish some discipleship
and such to help encourage them and to prevent them from
reverting to Islam. Leaving we had a considerably larger passenger
load, instead of 5 we had 9, four in the back seat, 3 in the truck
bed and Karen and I in the front. Albert rode on his bike ahead of
us the whole way to Kamakwie, he’s a crazy man. Anyway, we had
a great night and I had a good day, I can’t wait to see what more
God does as I continue on here.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
This morning was a bit different than usual, there was a morning
C-section so Tom and Emma were down at the hospital doing that
so breakfast was just Karen and I. Then she went down to the
hospital leaving me to fend for myself on going to church. I
decided to go to Katherie and that was good, because Samuel and
Emma ended up coming there too. Church was good this morning,
it wasn’t super hot and I am starting to understand Krio a little bit
so I actually understood some of the message. After church we
had a quick lunch then Emma and I walked to the men’s tailor, I
found some fabric for an African suit. Next Sunday is Africana
Sunday and Samuel said everyone was supposed to wear African,
no “white man” clothes. After the tailors we were walking up
towards the house when we saw Solomon. He came over to
Emma’s place and we just sat there and talked for a while until I
had to leave to get ready to go to Kakamba. We set out a little
after 5:20 to pick up some people to take along, Albert was already
there so he wasn’t one of them. We arrived in Kakamba a little
after six, set up the projector and generator and then just had to
wait for it to get dark enough. We had well over two hundred
people come by to watch, it was pretty cool. Many people even
stayed and watched the movie despite the dance going on not
very far away. There were these two guys who spent several
minutes calling one of their friends to come out but he didn’t, he
stayed and watched. During the film this girl gave me some ground
nuts, way more than I would want to eat as they were raw and
eating too many can make you sick according to Karen. So I used
them to try and bribe the small children. Unlike here in Kamakwie
where the little kids love the white people, the little kids in
Kakamba are afraid or at least nervous about the white man and
they flee when I try to approach. Anyway, the movie went along
pretty well with minimal interruption and following the movie a
local pastor got up and asked all who would like to give their life to
Christ to come forward. He had to say a couple times but finally a
young guy came forward and then several more and finally 53
people came forward and gave their life to Christ, how awesome!
We have all of their names and the youth intend to follow up with
them over the next week and begin to establish some discipleship
and such to help encourage them and to prevent them from
reverting to Islam. Leaving we had a considerably larger passenger
load, instead of 5 we had 9, four in the back seat, 3 in the truck
bed and Karen and I in the front. Albert rode on his bike ahead of
us the whole way to Kamakwie, he’s a crazy man. Anyway, we had
a great night and I had a good day, I can’t wait to see what more
God does as I continue on here.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
Monday, December 13, 2010
December 11th
Today was a pretty interesting day. We didn’t do a whole lot in the
morning, but at around 11:20 we headed down to the Wesleyan
mother church for Pastor Saidu Sesay’s wedding. We were there a
little early so that we could choose our seating, right under one of
the ceiling mounted fans. I was sitting next to Samuel and Emma,
so we talked quite a bit during the ceremony. Normally I would be
very respectful during a wedding ceremony and not say anything,
but normally I’m not asked to sit in a hot crowded room for 2 and
a half hours. It was at least a nice ceremony, accompanied by a
church offering and an offering to help the newlywed couple start
out. I fell asleep at one point, it was just so hot and stuffy I
couldn’t help but be tired. Near the end it was so hot Samuel had
started to sweat, you know it’s hot when an African is sweating
profusely. Anyway, the ceremony ended with just about the whole
town signing the marriage certificate, it took about half an hour for
that alone. Afterwards Samuel, Emma and I went up to Pa Kanu’s
to get a cool drink because we knew we had to go to the reception
shortly after that and we were all so hot. The reception lasted for
about two hours. It was all speeches by friends and family, but I
couldn’t hear because there was over a thousand people crammed
into a room not meant for probably even 500 people, and they
were all talking and not paying the least bit of attention to what
was actually supposed to be going on. At this point between the
ceremony and the reception I had fully decided that Sierra
Leoneans are all deaf because they always have their sound
systems up so loud that the sound is distorted. I don’t mean to be
sounding all negative because it was a really cool experience, but it
just combines three of my least favorite things, large crowds, loud
noises, and heat (yes, I know I’m in Africa where it’s always hot).
At one point I had to escape the heat crowds and noise by going
outside for a little bit. They fed us right before the reception was
over (time two during all this wedding proceedings). After the
reception we went back up to the hospital and everyone but me
just wanted to relax, I tried to find Solomon but he and Samuel
had gone somewhere so I had to wait till they got back, then I
went over and hung out with them for a while. Emma eventually
came along and we managed to convince Solomon to come along
to the final part of the wedding proceedings. There was an after
party for family and close friends (including the Ashers and
therefore me and the hospital staff) at 8 pm. It was another two
hour affair, including another meal (my third African meal in two
days, it’s kind of starting to grow on me despite being spicy and
making my mouth hurt). The thing I really dislike about Sierra
Leonean celebrations is that all the adults get fed and then if there
is anything else left the kids of the people might get some food.
It makes me feel quite awful, though at least some of the Africans
give away part of their food, and I gave some too, but not nearly
enough to feed all the children. It’s awful but many many times
the children are the first to suffer in times of shortage. After about
three hours Samuel, Solomon, Emma and I decided we had
enough and went out. We (minus Emma) were ready for bed
but she said 11pm was too early to go to bed. I can’t really blame
her for wanting to do as much as possible considering she leaves
on Wednesday. So we went walking around Kamakwie at night for
about an hour before Solomon decided he had enough and wanted
to go up to bed so we all followed suit. It was a pretty good day and
I got to spend a fair amount of time with Solomon and Samuel who
are just really awesome guys. I look forward to hanging out with
them a lot over the rest of my time here. Anyway, I’m off to bed,
good night everyone.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Today was a pretty interesting day. We didn’t do a whole lot in the
morning, but at around 11:20 we headed down to the Wesleyan
mother church for Pastor Saidu Sesay’s wedding. We were there a
little early so that we could choose our seating, right under one of
the ceiling mounted fans. I was sitting next to Samuel and Emma,
so we talked quite a bit during the ceremony. Normally I would be
very respectful during a wedding ceremony and not say anything,
but normally I’m not asked to sit in a hot crowded room for 2 and
a half hours. It was at least a nice ceremony, accompanied by a
church offering and an offering to help the newlywed couple start
out. I fell asleep at one point, it was just so hot and stuffy I
couldn’t help but be tired. Near the end it was so hot Samuel had
started to sweat, you know it’s hot when an African is sweating
profusely. Anyway, the ceremony ended with just about the whole
town signing the marriage certificate, it took about half an hour for
that alone. Afterwards Samuel, Emma and I went up to Pa Kanu’s
to get a cool drink because we knew we had to go to the reception
shortly after that and we were all so hot. The reception lasted for
about two hours. It was all speeches by friends and family, but I
couldn’t hear because there was over a thousand people crammed
into a room not meant for probably even 500 people, and they
were all talking and not paying the least bit of attention to what
was actually supposed to be going on. At this point between the
ceremony and the reception I had fully decided that Sierra
Leoneans are all deaf because they always have their sound
systems up so loud that the sound is distorted. I don’t mean to be
sounding all negative because it was a really cool experience, but it
just combines three of my least favorite things, large crowds, loud
noises, and heat (yes, I know I’m in Africa where it’s always hot).
At one point I had to escape the heat crowds and noise by going
outside for a little bit. They fed us right before the reception was
over (time two during all this wedding proceedings). After the
reception we went back up to the hospital and everyone but me
just wanted to relax, I tried to find Solomon but he and Samuel
had gone somewhere so I had to wait till they got back, then I
went over and hung out with them for a while. Emma eventually
came along and we managed to convince Solomon to come along
to the final part of the wedding proceedings. There was an after
party for family and close friends (including the Ashers and
therefore me and the hospital staff) at 8 pm. It was another two
hour affair, including another meal (my third African meal in two
days, it’s kind of starting to grow on me despite being spicy and
making my mouth hurt). The thing I really dislike about Sierra
Leonean celebrations is that all the adults get fed and then if there
is anything else left the kids of the people might get some food.
It makes me feel quite awful, though at least some of the Africans
give away part of their food, and I gave some too, but not nearly
enough to feed all the children. It’s awful but many many times
the children are the first to suffer in times of shortage. After about
three hours Samuel, Solomon, Emma and I decided we had
enough and went out. We (minus Emma) were ready for bed
but she said 11pm was too early to go to bed. I can’t really blame
her for wanting to do as much as possible considering she leaves
on Wednesday. So we went walking around Kamakwie at night for
about an hour before Solomon decided he had enough and wanted
to go up to bed so we all followed suit. It was a pretty good day and
I got to spend a fair amount of time with Solomon and Samuel who
are just really awesome guys. I look forward to hanging out with
them a lot over the rest of my time here. Anyway, I’m off to bed,
good night everyone.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Saturday, December 11, 2010
December 10th
I quite enjoyed today on the whole. I got up at 5:15 and had to go
down to make sure Rebecca was up and getting around because
she accidently left her phone (and therefore her alarm) at the
house so Karen didn’t think she’d be up. It was still pitch black
outside at 5am. We had a quick breakfast and then Rebecca was
packed into the car and ready to go by a little past 6am. I am very
sad to see her go. I’ve been here 9 weeks and she was here for 7 of
them so she was here for a significant portion of my time here and
we spent quite a bit of time together. I laid back down after we
saw her of tried to sleep but I wasn’t feeling very well and so it
didn’t work out. So I got up and went to chapel 10 minutes early, I
was still late… she just kind of starts when she feels like it. Anyway,
afterwards I wandered down to the market to get a couple things
and failed on all counts. I needed bread, none for sale anywhere… I
wanted C batteries, hey only carry AA and D sizes here… Oh well, I
was going to take a break from doing boxes for the day but I
couldn’t help but feel like I was leaving a job unfinished so I did
some more boxes in the morning after the fail trip to the market.
At lunch time Emma came up and told us about how one of the
ladies from OB ward gave her a gift, a live chicken. Haha. So she
gave it to Solomon and Sunday we are going to have African
(courtesy of Solomon who is apparently a good cook) and chicken.
After lunch I went down to the hospital to try and find Solomon, I
don’t get to see him much because he spends so much time in the
hospital so I thought I’d pay him a visit there, of course, he wasn’t
there this time. Strike three on looking for something/ someone.
Anyway, so I went by his house to see if he was there, he wasn’t.
He had gone out to a village so I went up to the house and typed
for a little while and read some before going back down to try to
find him again. I needed to find him this time because him, Samuel
and I had been invited by Zoey (through Emma) to a little get
together tonight since Zoey and Laura leave for Freetown
tomorrow and won’t be back until January some time. After I
found him and invited him I had to get back to the house and
change. All the visitors (the Ashers, me, Emma) had been invited to
the engagement ceremony for Pastor Saidu Sesay. I have to say
that it’s the shortest engagement period I’ve ever heard of, the
ceremony was today and the wedding is tomorrow. The ceremony
was really about paying the bride price (African tradition) and just
plain having fun. And the ceremony/party was awesome and very
fun. It’s so hard to put into words, the joy just overflowed from
these people. So many of them have so little and I think they are
more joyous people than pretty much any American I have ever
met. This experience is priceless; I wouldn’t trade it for all the
diamonds in the world. If only you could come experience this for a
little bit, but even 7 weeks isn’t enough as Rebecca could attest, she
did not want to leave. After the ceremony part of the party they fed
us, it was really good. It was African without fish (YES!!!) though still
spicy I think I’m starting to get used to it because I didn’t mind so
much. Following that we watched them dance around a bit more and
then we left them to their party. After all the fun and joy it was
rather sobering as we reached the hospital, a lady had died and
many of her family were out front mourning. The women’s cries are
just heart-wrenching. The hospital staff tried but it was just too late
for her. We got home just in time to get ready to set up the projector
down at the hospital to show the Jesus film, this time in Limba. After
that I got a hold of Solomon and he told me he and Samuel were at
his house. So I went down there to meet them to head over to Zoey’s.
Solomon doesn’t have power in his house (the generator capable of
producing enough power for that is apparently broken again. I asked
why they were there instead of up at Samuel’s since he has power.
Solomon told me Samuel had come to visit him and since he was
sleeping Samuel decided to go to sleep too. The two of them are
just crazy. They are pretty much the closest friends I’ve ever met,
it’s pretty cool. Anyway, we walked down to Zoey’s (Emma already
being there). We spent a few hours there, Zoey fed us African (rice
with soup, and a fish but I gave that away). It was really great and I
got to talk a lot with Solomon and Samuel. I really like the both of
them, they got on well with Rebecca and Emma but they spend a lot
of time at the hospital, it’s harder for me because I have the teaching
and the other things that I do. But I hope to correct that in the future
because they are both really fun. Anyway, we left at just past 11 and
headed home. I had another wonderful night. I know I said I wanted
to leave a lot when I first got here and even until recently but I’m so
glad I didn’t because I am really loving it here. I already dread the
day that I leave and that’s quite a long time from now. How quickly
the tables turn.
Blessings from Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital,
Ryan Brooks
I quite enjoyed today on the whole. I got up at 5:15 and had to go
down to make sure Rebecca was up and getting around because
she accidently left her phone (and therefore her alarm) at the
house so Karen didn’t think she’d be up. It was still pitch black
outside at 5am. We had a quick breakfast and then Rebecca was
packed into the car and ready to go by a little past 6am. I am very
sad to see her go. I’ve been here 9 weeks and she was here for 7 of
them so she was here for a significant portion of my time here and
we spent quite a bit of time together. I laid back down after we
saw her of tried to sleep but I wasn’t feeling very well and so it
didn’t work out. So I got up and went to chapel 10 minutes early, I
was still late… she just kind of starts when she feels like it. Anyway,
afterwards I wandered down to the market to get a couple things
and failed on all counts. I needed bread, none for sale anywhere… I
wanted C batteries, hey only carry AA and D sizes here… Oh well, I
was going to take a break from doing boxes for the day but I
couldn’t help but feel like I was leaving a job unfinished so I did
some more boxes in the morning after the fail trip to the market.
At lunch time Emma came up and told us about how one of the
ladies from OB ward gave her a gift, a live chicken. Haha. So she
gave it to Solomon and Sunday we are going to have African
(courtesy of Solomon who is apparently a good cook) and chicken.
After lunch I went down to the hospital to try and find Solomon, I
don’t get to see him much because he spends so much time in the
hospital so I thought I’d pay him a visit there, of course, he wasn’t
there this time. Strike three on looking for something/ someone.
Anyway, so I went by his house to see if he was there, he wasn’t.
He had gone out to a village so I went up to the house and typed
for a little while and read some before going back down to try to
find him again. I needed to find him this time because him, Samuel
and I had been invited by Zoey (through Emma) to a little get
together tonight since Zoey and Laura leave for Freetown
tomorrow and won’t be back until January some time. After I
found him and invited him I had to get back to the house and
change. All the visitors (the Ashers, me, Emma) had been invited to
the engagement ceremony for Pastor Saidu Sesay. I have to say
that it’s the shortest engagement period I’ve ever heard of, the
ceremony was today and the wedding is tomorrow. The ceremony
was really about paying the bride price (African tradition) and just
plain having fun. And the ceremony/party was awesome and very
fun. It’s so hard to put into words, the joy just overflowed from
these people. So many of them have so little and I think they are
more joyous people than pretty much any American I have ever
met. This experience is priceless; I wouldn’t trade it for all the
diamonds in the world. If only you could come experience this for a
little bit, but even 7 weeks isn’t enough as Rebecca could attest, she
did not want to leave. After the ceremony part of the party they fed
us, it was really good. It was African without fish (YES!!!) though still
spicy I think I’m starting to get used to it because I didn’t mind so
much. Following that we watched them dance around a bit more and
then we left them to their party. After all the fun and joy it was
rather sobering as we reached the hospital, a lady had died and
many of her family were out front mourning. The women’s cries are
just heart-wrenching. The hospital staff tried but it was just too late
for her. We got home just in time to get ready to set up the projector
down at the hospital to show the Jesus film, this time in Limba. After
that I got a hold of Solomon and he told me he and Samuel were at
his house. So I went down there to meet them to head over to Zoey’s.
Solomon doesn’t have power in his house (the generator capable of
producing enough power for that is apparently broken again. I asked
why they were there instead of up at Samuel’s since he has power.
Solomon told me Samuel had come to visit him and since he was
sleeping Samuel decided to go to sleep too. The two of them are
just crazy. They are pretty much the closest friends I’ve ever met,
it’s pretty cool. Anyway, we walked down to Zoey’s (Emma already
being there). We spent a few hours there, Zoey fed us African (rice
with soup, and a fish but I gave that away). It was really great and I
got to talk a lot with Solomon and Samuel. I really like the both of
them, they got on well with Rebecca and Emma but they spend a lot
of time at the hospital, it’s harder for me because I have the teaching
and the other things that I do. But I hope to correct that in the future
because they are both really fun. Anyway, we left at just past 11 and
headed home. I had another wonderful night. I know I said I wanted
to leave a lot when I first got here and even until recently but I’m so
glad I didn’t because I am really loving it here. I already dread the
day that I leave and that’s quite a long time from now. How quickly
the tables turn.
Blessings from Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital,
Ryan Brooks
December 9th
Another exciting day of box sorting, I’ve done quite a bit and in a few days
time I should have it all done. It’s just crazy how much stuff people send, and
if any of you contemplate sending something to here, please if you don’t want it
because it’s broken, don’t send it here, it doesn’t work any better in Africa.
We had one last dinner together since Rebecca leaves tomorrow. Then Emma,
Rebecca and I went downtown to Pa Kanu’s store at about 7:30 or so, it’s the
only real place to go downtown at night that isn’t a dance club. Solomon and
Samuel joined us there eventually, Solomon had been busy at the hospital and
Samuel was coming back from Freetown (he had just left yesterday but he wanted
to be back to see Rebecca off). Zoey and Laura came along a little after that
and joined us. It was a proper party downtown. We had a great time and spent
several hours just talking and relaxing it was really nice. Samuel had brought
Emma and Rebecca a gift from Freetown, a dress for each of them. It was from him
and Solomon in appreciation of their coming here to serve at the hospital. Emma
got hers last night because she leaves Wednesday and Samuel will not get a
chance to go to Freetown again any time very soon. Apparently it was Laura’s
birthday tonight so we sang happy birthday to her, it was kind of strange to be
sitting downtown Kamakwie singing Happy Birthday to someone. We finally left
some time after 11, I’m not exactly certain of the time, I didn’t really look.
Solomon stopped at the hospital and stayed there because a lady who had started
going into labor in the morning was still in labor this evening and he wanted to
make sure it got sorted. He works so much more than he has to it’s really cool
the amount of time he puts into the hospital on a weekly basis, granted there
isn’t a whole lot to do here. It’s just shy of 1 now, and I have to be up by
5:15 since Rebecca leaves at 6am so she can make it to Freetown in time for her
flight. Going to be a very short night…
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Another exciting day of box sorting, I’ve done quite a bit and in a few days
time I should have it all done. It’s just crazy how much stuff people send, and
if any of you contemplate sending something to here, please if you don’t want it
because it’s broken, don’t send it here, it doesn’t work any better in Africa.
We had one last dinner together since Rebecca leaves tomorrow. Then Emma,
Rebecca and I went downtown to Pa Kanu’s store at about 7:30 or so, it’s the
only real place to go downtown at night that isn’t a dance club. Solomon and
Samuel joined us there eventually, Solomon had been busy at the hospital and
Samuel was coming back from Freetown (he had just left yesterday but he wanted
to be back to see Rebecca off). Zoey and Laura came along a little after that
and joined us. It was a proper party downtown. We had a great time and spent
several hours just talking and relaxing it was really nice. Samuel had brought
Emma and Rebecca a gift from Freetown, a dress for each of them. It was from him
and Solomon in appreciation of their coming here to serve at the hospital. Emma
got hers last night because she leaves Wednesday and Samuel will not get a
chance to go to Freetown again any time very soon. Apparently it was Laura’s
birthday tonight so we sang happy birthday to her, it was kind of strange to be
sitting downtown Kamakwie singing Happy Birthday to someone. We finally left
some time after 11, I’m not exactly certain of the time, I didn’t really look.
Solomon stopped at the hospital and stayed there because a lady who had started
going into labor in the morning was still in labor this evening and he wanted to
make sure it got sorted. He works so much more than he has to it’s really cool
the amount of time he puts into the hospital on a weekly basis, granted there
isn’t a whole lot to do here. It’s just shy of 1 now, and I have to be up by
5:15 since Rebecca leaves at 6am so she can make it to Freetown in time for her
flight. Going to be a very short night…
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Thursday, December 9, 2010
December 8th
So I spent most of the day sorting and moving boxes. I told Tom
that by time I’m done with it all I’ll either be a body builder or a
cripple, I’m not really certain which yet. I spent the morning
moving boxes from the administration building to where they are
stored and then the afternoon sorting boxes the barn where the
majority of the shipment is kept. Then around 4:30 Karen came by
in the truck to pick me up so we could take some boxes of books to
Kakamba. I loaded them into the truck and then we went and
picked up Albert and two other guys to take along to help with the
boxes and also to make sure that it was ok, of course I don’t think
anyone in their right mind would refuse free stuff. When we got
there we unloaded the boxes, and by we I mean the Africans, I
tried to help move some boxes but they took them from me and
told me to stand aside that they would unload the truck. I think it
was because I had loaded all but a couple of the boxes into the
truck by myself and they wanted to do their part. The town elders
came to see the stuff, Karen said it’s tradition that any gifts to the
village must be given to the elders. I hadn’t counted boxes before
but we delivered 23 boxes of books, at least several hundred
books in all. They were very grateful and the kids all came around
and I took some pictures. It was really funny, the little kids tried to
help take them inside but a box of books was too heavy for one kid
and so these six little kids all banded together to carry a box, it was
really cute. This one little kid kept asking me something in Limba
and I found out from one of the guys with us that he wanted to
know if I wanted him to go find this one kid name Pamomo.
Apparently they decided that since the last time I was there and I
had asked his name we were best friends or something. I don’t
know, they were very small kids so I’m thinking they think all of
them are my friends. It was good though, and hopefully the books
will help a lot there at the school. On the way back we stopped a
couple of times for the Africans with us to greet friends or
relatives, and picked up a guy and his bike to bring him to
Kamakwie. Around here if you have open space in your vehicle and
someone wants a ride it’s very rude to turn them down. This
evening we spent a few hours putting together baby layettes,
which are basically a baby starter kit, an outfit and blanket, diapers
with pins, a hat and maybe a pair of sock when we have them. We
have so many but they go through 7-8 a week according to Karen,
and more than that when we hit baby season which is coming up
following harvest time. I kind of like getting to be at a hospital and
learning about everything that goes on but at the same time I’m
glad that I don’t have really any responsibility for what goes on at
the hospital because that would be pretty hard. This week two
ladies with twins came to the hospital. The first was yesterday, she
lost them both, but thankfully she’s alive. She had a ruptured uterus
and that usually doesn’t go well. She delivered her first baby almost
32 hours before she got here and delivered the second. Then another
lady came today, her first child didn’t make it and the second one is
not terribly healthy but alive. It’s just so crazy how many kids here
don’t make it. Anyway, before I get too depressing with sad tales of
hospital mishaps I will bid you all farewell.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So I spent most of the day sorting and moving boxes. I told Tom
that by time I’m done with it all I’ll either be a body builder or a
cripple, I’m not really certain which yet. I spent the morning
moving boxes from the administration building to where they are
stored and then the afternoon sorting boxes the barn where the
majority of the shipment is kept. Then around 4:30 Karen came by
in the truck to pick me up so we could take some boxes of books to
Kakamba. I loaded them into the truck and then we went and
picked up Albert and two other guys to take along to help with the
boxes and also to make sure that it was ok, of course I don’t think
anyone in their right mind would refuse free stuff. When we got
there we unloaded the boxes, and by we I mean the Africans, I
tried to help move some boxes but they took them from me and
told me to stand aside that they would unload the truck. I think it
was because I had loaded all but a couple of the boxes into the
truck by myself and they wanted to do their part. The town elders
came to see the stuff, Karen said it’s tradition that any gifts to the
village must be given to the elders. I hadn’t counted boxes before
but we delivered 23 boxes of books, at least several hundred
books in all. They were very grateful and the kids all came around
and I took some pictures. It was really funny, the little kids tried to
help take them inside but a box of books was too heavy for one kid
and so these six little kids all banded together to carry a box, it was
really cute. This one little kid kept asking me something in Limba
and I found out from one of the guys with us that he wanted to
know if I wanted him to go find this one kid name Pamomo.
Apparently they decided that since the last time I was there and I
had asked his name we were best friends or something. I don’t
know, they were very small kids so I’m thinking they think all of
them are my friends. It was good though, and hopefully the books
will help a lot there at the school. On the way back we stopped a
couple of times for the Africans with us to greet friends or
relatives, and picked up a guy and his bike to bring him to
Kamakwie. Around here if you have open space in your vehicle and
someone wants a ride it’s very rude to turn them down. This
evening we spent a few hours putting together baby layettes,
which are basically a baby starter kit, an outfit and blanket, diapers
with pins, a hat and maybe a pair of sock when we have them. We
have so many but they go through 7-8 a week according to Karen,
and more than that when we hit baby season which is coming up
following harvest time. I kind of like getting to be at a hospital and
learning about everything that goes on but at the same time I’m
glad that I don’t have really any responsibility for what goes on at
the hospital because that would be pretty hard. This week two
ladies with twins came to the hospital. The first was yesterday, she
lost them both, but thankfully she’s alive. She had a ruptured uterus
and that usually doesn’t go well. She delivered her first baby almost
32 hours before she got here and delivered the second. Then another
lady came today, her first child didn’t make it and the second one is
not terribly healthy but alive. It’s just so crazy how many kids here
don’t make it. Anyway, before I get too depressing with sad tales of
hospital mishaps I will bid you all farewell.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
December 7th
So today I don’t have a whole lot to tell you about. I spent the
whole morning sorting boxes with Karen and then a good part of
the afternoon putting some of the boxes into the places they go.
I did enjoy one of our finds. It was a whole box of Christian
literature and some of the books look quite good to read. Dinner
tonight was strawberry cake. Not much of a dinner but Tom and
Karen had a meeting until almost 7:30 tonight and so by time they
got back they didn’t feel like making anything, not that I could
blame them. That’s one thing about being here, home if we were
busy and didn’t have time to get dinner cooked you could just eat
out or run out and grab something to bring home, really not so
here. Tonight we tried to watch a movie using a big 12 volt car
battery (like they use here for the 12 volt lights). They attached an
inverter to bring it up to 220 since the projector cannot run off of
12 volts. It was working fine for about 40 minute then it suddenly
went off. So now we know that we can’t watch a movie off of a
battery, just not enough stored power. The reason they were
trying is because they wanted to be able to show films
(predominantly the Jesus film) out in the villages without running
their generator because it makes so much noise it just drowns out
the sound of the movie, which doesn’t do much good when it’s
really important to hear what is happening. Seeing this film can be
the first time some of these people have really gotten the scoop
about Jesus. This is especially pertinent because we are going out
Sunday in order to show the Jesus film in Kakamba this coming
Sunday, I’m pretty excited I must admit even though I don’t like
listening to the Jesus film in Krio. Though, I must admit I’m starting
to sort of understand Krio. Since the battery idea failed they are
going to try running the projector of the car battery of their diesel
truck, the truck will have to be running but it will be significantly
quieter than the generator would be. But we’ll be taking that along
too just in case. Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got for you all, have a
great night.
Greetings and blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So today I don’t have a whole lot to tell you about. I spent the
whole morning sorting boxes with Karen and then a good part of
the afternoon putting some of the boxes into the places they go.
I did enjoy one of our finds. It was a whole box of Christian
literature and some of the books look quite good to read. Dinner
tonight was strawberry cake. Not much of a dinner but Tom and
Karen had a meeting until almost 7:30 tonight and so by time they
got back they didn’t feel like making anything, not that I could
blame them. That’s one thing about being here, home if we were
busy and didn’t have time to get dinner cooked you could just eat
out or run out and grab something to bring home, really not so
here. Tonight we tried to watch a movie using a big 12 volt car
battery (like they use here for the 12 volt lights). They attached an
inverter to bring it up to 220 since the projector cannot run off of
12 volts. It was working fine for about 40 minute then it suddenly
went off. So now we know that we can’t watch a movie off of a
battery, just not enough stored power. The reason they were
trying is because they wanted to be able to show films
(predominantly the Jesus film) out in the villages without running
their generator because it makes so much noise it just drowns out
the sound of the movie, which doesn’t do much good when it’s
really important to hear what is happening. Seeing this film can be
the first time some of these people have really gotten the scoop
about Jesus. This is especially pertinent because we are going out
Sunday in order to show the Jesus film in Kakamba this coming
Sunday, I’m pretty excited I must admit even though I don’t like
listening to the Jesus film in Krio. Though, I must admit I’m starting
to sort of understand Krio. Since the battery idea failed they are
going to try running the projector of the car battery of their diesel
truck, the truck will have to be running but it will be significantly
quieter than the generator would be. But we’ll be taking that along
too just in case. Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got for you all, have a
great night.
Greetings and blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Monday, December 6, 2010
December 6th
I spent the whole morning stuck in the house typing up some stuff
including some of my chemistry exams. When I first got here I
stayed inside a lot because I didn’t want to be outside, now
whenever I have to stay inside I want nothing more than to be
outside. After lunch I walked down to the tailor’s to pick up quite
an array of items. I picked up two skirts for Rebecca, one skirt and
a wedding outfit for Emma, Tom and I’s shirts for the wedding, as
well as I shirt I had made. I wanted another shirt that I could wear
to teach in so I him copy one of my button up shirts but I used
African cloth, it’s quite a nice shirt, it turned out good. I returned
to the hospital and tracked Tom down so that I could get the key
to the barn/storage room where the shipment stuff is. Since I have
almost a whole month off I want to try and help them get as much
of it sorted as possible. Rebecca came down and helped me sort
stuff, we mostly did medical stuff because we know that there’s a
lot of it. We did a lot for only working for about an hour and a half.
After that we went for a little walk with Emma, Zoey and this
woman named Laura who is coming to take Zoey’s place as
program coordinator since Zoey is leaving in a little over a week. A
call came in for the ambulance and Rebecca went with it. So the
rest of us walked down to the place where Zoey stays to take some
stuff there. While we waited for Zoey and Laura to do some things
Emma and I walked from there to the edge of Kamakwie three and
back. Along the way I showed her the Kamakwie mansion. In
Kamakwie two there is this massive house, it even has a split level.
I imagine a lot of family members live in that house. Then we
travelled back to Zoey’s and collected her and Laura to come up to
the house for dinner. We had rice and ground nut (peanut) soup. It
was really good. I think I said it before, but soup is what they call
the sauce that they put over rice, it’s not really soup at all. After
dinner I went down with Tom to the hospital because I heard
Solomon was still down there and I wanted to go say hey and see
what he was up to since he should have been off some time this
afternoon having worked in the morning. Just as we were arriving
at the hospital Rebecca and the ambulance returned. There was
no woman. Apparently the people called both the Kamakwie
hospital and the Makeni hospital. Our ambulance got there first
but the one from Makeni arrived shortly after and the husband
insisted his wife go to Makeni since they wouldn’t have to pay
anything, so stupid. I mean, it makes sense I guess, but the worst
thing is that there isn’t currently any diesel in Kamakwie so the
diesel they used to try and get her was precious. Anyway, we
entered the hospital and went to the OB ward where Solomon
was (I found out he was there because the midwife in charge of
OB tonight was out in the ambulance that wasted fuel to go get
a woman and got nothing.) I saw that Samuel was there as well
so we all had a little sit down in the OB ward while waiting for
this lady who was very near going into labor to go into labor. Her
family came and dropped her off and then left, sometimes I
wonder what goes through these people’s minds. The worst
thing is that the girl is 16 and the guy who got her pregnant ran
off. While I think that if you don’t want to have a kid don’t be
fooling around, but I would love to just castrate the coward who
got her pregnant and then ran off. Sadly that’s life I guess, a guy
has very little to worry about, he can just run off leaving a poor
woman with a child and possibly no means to care for it. It just
makes me mad. I didn’t get to witness this birth but I hope to
get to observe one in the future. Anyway, after the baby was
born we all headed out, I think I’m pretty close to being ready
for bed myself. So since that’s about all that I have for today I’m
gonna say good night and God bless.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I spent the whole morning stuck in the house typing up some stuff
including some of my chemistry exams. When I first got here I
stayed inside a lot because I didn’t want to be outside, now
whenever I have to stay inside I want nothing more than to be
outside. After lunch I walked down to the tailor’s to pick up quite
an array of items. I picked up two skirts for Rebecca, one skirt and
a wedding outfit for Emma, Tom and I’s shirts for the wedding, as
well as I shirt I had made. I wanted another shirt that I could wear
to teach in so I him copy one of my button up shirts but I used
African cloth, it’s quite a nice shirt, it turned out good. I returned
to the hospital and tracked Tom down so that I could get the key
to the barn/storage room where the shipment stuff is. Since I have
almost a whole month off I want to try and help them get as much
of it sorted as possible. Rebecca came down and helped me sort
stuff, we mostly did medical stuff because we know that there’s a
lot of it. We did a lot for only working for about an hour and a half.
After that we went for a little walk with Emma, Zoey and this
woman named Laura who is coming to take Zoey’s place as
program coordinator since Zoey is leaving in a little over a week. A
call came in for the ambulance and Rebecca went with it. So the
rest of us walked down to the place where Zoey stays to take some
stuff there. While we waited for Zoey and Laura to do some things
Emma and I walked from there to the edge of Kamakwie three and
back. Along the way I showed her the Kamakwie mansion. In
Kamakwie two there is this massive house, it even has a split level.
I imagine a lot of family members live in that house. Then we
travelled back to Zoey’s and collected her and Laura to come up to
the house for dinner. We had rice and ground nut (peanut) soup. It
was really good. I think I said it before, but soup is what they call
the sauce that they put over rice, it’s not really soup at all. After
dinner I went down with Tom to the hospital because I heard
Solomon was still down there and I wanted to go say hey and see
what he was up to since he should have been off some time this
afternoon having worked in the morning. Just as we were arriving
at the hospital Rebecca and the ambulance returned. There was
no woman. Apparently the people called both the Kamakwie
hospital and the Makeni hospital. Our ambulance got there first
but the one from Makeni arrived shortly after and the husband
insisted his wife go to Makeni since they wouldn’t have to pay
anything, so stupid. I mean, it makes sense I guess, but the worst
thing is that there isn’t currently any diesel in Kamakwie so the
diesel they used to try and get her was precious. Anyway, we
entered the hospital and went to the OB ward where Solomon
was (I found out he was there because the midwife in charge of
OB tonight was out in the ambulance that wasted fuel to go get
a woman and got nothing.) I saw that Samuel was there as well
so we all had a little sit down in the OB ward while waiting for
this lady who was very near going into labor to go into labor. Her
family came and dropped her off and then left, sometimes I
wonder what goes through these people’s minds. The worst
thing is that the girl is 16 and the guy who got her pregnant ran
off. While I think that if you don’t want to have a kid don’t be
fooling around, but I would love to just castrate the coward who
got her pregnant and then ran off. Sadly that’s life I guess, a guy
has very little to worry about, he can just run off leaving a poor
woman with a child and possibly no means to care for it. It just
makes me mad. I didn’t get to witness this birth but I hope to
get to observe one in the future. Anyway, after the baby was
born we all headed out, I think I’m pretty close to being ready
for bed myself. So since that’s about all that I have for today I’m
gonna say good night and God bless.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 5th
This morning I ran some errands for Karen and the Emmitts before
breakfast. Tom and Rebecca went down to the hospital first so
that they could do rounds before breakfast. They did it that way
because today we were going to a village, Kakamba, to go to the
church there. They wanted to get rounds out of the way and then
eat breakfast in however much time was remaining rather than
putz around at breakfast and then have to try and hurry in the
hospital. We set out at a little after 10 or so. Emma, Karen,
Rebecca, Tom and I were inside the truck then Albert and another
guy rode inside the back of the truck. That had to have been quite
an adventure because the road was not very good they were
sitting in the back of the truck on a wooden bench they had just
set inside the truck. It’s only about 7 miles from here to there but
the road conditions made it take a while to get there. While
Kakamba is almost entirely Muslim, the Wesleyan church is
starting up a church there. Since it’s very new, about two months
in so far, the church service was held in what was little more than
a tent. It was a really nice service. It was overcast this morning till
almost 11:30 and so blessedly cool. The days start out cool but
once the haze lifts and the sun comes out it is ruthlessly hot. Near
the end of the service some of the important people in the town,
elders, teachers and even an Imam (somewhat like the Islamic
version of a priest or pastor) were introduced. It was quite
amazing because the village chief addressed us and said that they
are glad that they are glad the church is coming (mind you he is a
Muslim). He proceeded to tell us that while he and the other
adults were not likely to “cross the carpet” to Christianity, that
their children were free to believe what they choose and that
where their children were, their hearts were also. This I find
absolutely amazing because a lot of Muslims here believe that
their children must believe what they believe, to the point that
one can be disowned for converting. This is an absolutely amazing
opportunity to totally change this village. It can be hard make
progress when attempting to seed new churches in almost totally
Muslim villages, but these people want us there. They are still
cautiously hopeful, this is the third or fourth attempt to establish a
church in Kakamba but the past attempts always fell through in
the past. It’s an opportunity that we must not miss out on. We got
taken on a tour of the village. It’s about 500 or so people, maybe a
little more. It was approximately the size of Fredericksburg. It is
quite large for a village here. It was really cool. We are coming back
next Sunday to show the Jesus film in the village. I’m pretty excited
to go back, it should be pretty awesome. I think if it weren’t so far
away that I might try to attend the church there pretty often to
show the people, especially the elders, that the church will be
supported and won’t just fall through. Heading back to Kamakwie
we acquired a few passengers. The principal of the junior secondary
school there was with us. That’s another thing; they want to turn
over administration of the school over to the Wesleyan church.
Part of this whole thing with having the church come in is financial,
Karen says that they figure getting the church to come in and getting
it involved in the village will draw some money and other benefits to
the village, I say hey, why not. If it gets us in why question why they
want us there. We also had a few more riders in the back of the truck.
But Albert picked his bike up that he had left there and rode all the
way back to Kamakwie in the mid-day sun, he rides all over the place
so it was no big deal for him but I think riding a bike in that heat 7
miles would be the end of me. We had a late lunch when we got back
and afterwards Rebecca, Emma, Samuel and I set out for a walk. We
ran into Zoey who just got back this evening, but she leaves tomorrow
to go out to some of the villages. After that we stopped at the tailor
to pick up some things for the girls and to drop of Tom and I’s wedding
outfits to get them made since it’s Saturday. However we got there
and he hadn’t finished with their stuff so he told us to come back
tomorrow. He said that he would finish Tom and I’s wedding outfits
tomorrow by one so he must plan on putting in some serious hours.
Then we walked back to Kamakwie 1, Rebecca hasn’t been feeling
well so she peeled off and headed home. The rest of us walked out to
the orphan school, it’s about a 35 to 40 minute walk from the hospital
to there. We got there and unfortunately, none of them were there,
but I asked them to let Alusine know that I would be coming tomorrow
because I really wanted to talk to him some more and find out what
things are like for the kids at the orphan school and other things. So
we headed back to the house only to find Karen and Tom not there.
So we walked down to the hospital to see if they were there. They
weren’t and that was when I realized that I could just give them a call.
They were out for a walk and let us know that dinner was PB and J
sandwiches and we could eat whenever. While we were there we
found out something quite sad. A mother died in birth last week and
her infant survived her. They apparently named it Emma (who had
worked very hard to save the mom). Well today, the infant passed
away. After that awful news Emma and Rebecca went off for a bit of a
walk and I laid down for a while because I wasn’t feeling well. Rebecca
went out in the ambulance to pick up a lady, it was a three hour trip
which could not have been all that exciting. When she got back in they
were bringing a lady who needed a C-section. I went down and got into
scrubs and got all ready and observed the removal of the baby. Up to
that point I was feeling quite nauseous and having seen the baby (a girl,
super cute) I decided I’d better head out just as a precaution so I didn’t
contaminate the semi-sterile environment. It was a cool experience
and I think I will do it again and try to get through the whole thing
because it is quite interesting, there is just a mite more blood than I was
comfortable with for seeing my first surgery. Anyway, that’s my day in a
rather large nutshell. Pretty crazy overall but a really good day.
Blessings from Kamakwie, Ryan Brooks
This morning I ran some errands for Karen and the Emmitts before
breakfast. Tom and Rebecca went down to the hospital first so
that they could do rounds before breakfast. They did it that way
because today we were going to a village, Kakamba, to go to the
church there. They wanted to get rounds out of the way and then
eat breakfast in however much time was remaining rather than
putz around at breakfast and then have to try and hurry in the
hospital. We set out at a little after 10 or so. Emma, Karen,
Rebecca, Tom and I were inside the truck then Albert and another
guy rode inside the back of the truck. That had to have been quite
an adventure because the road was not very good they were
sitting in the back of the truck on a wooden bench they had just
set inside the truck. It’s only about 7 miles from here to there but
the road conditions made it take a while to get there. While
Kakamba is almost entirely Muslim, the Wesleyan church is
starting up a church there. Since it’s very new, about two months
in so far, the church service was held in what was little more than
a tent. It was a really nice service. It was overcast this morning till
almost 11:30 and so blessedly cool. The days start out cool but
once the haze lifts and the sun comes out it is ruthlessly hot. Near
the end of the service some of the important people in the town,
elders, teachers and even an Imam (somewhat like the Islamic
version of a priest or pastor) were introduced. It was quite
amazing because the village chief addressed us and said that they
are glad that they are glad the church is coming (mind you he is a
Muslim). He proceeded to tell us that while he and the other
adults were not likely to “cross the carpet” to Christianity, that
their children were free to believe what they choose and that
where their children were, their hearts were also. This I find
absolutely amazing because a lot of Muslims here believe that
their children must believe what they believe, to the point that
one can be disowned for converting. This is an absolutely amazing
opportunity to totally change this village. It can be hard make
progress when attempting to seed new churches in almost totally
Muslim villages, but these people want us there. They are still
cautiously hopeful, this is the third or fourth attempt to establish a
church in Kakamba but the past attempts always fell through in
the past. It’s an opportunity that we must not miss out on. We got
taken on a tour of the village. It’s about 500 or so people, maybe a
little more. It was approximately the size of Fredericksburg. It is
quite large for a village here. It was really cool. We are coming back
next Sunday to show the Jesus film in the village. I’m pretty excited
to go back, it should be pretty awesome. I think if it weren’t so far
away that I might try to attend the church there pretty often to
show the people, especially the elders, that the church will be
supported and won’t just fall through. Heading back to Kamakwie
we acquired a few passengers. The principal of the junior secondary
school there was with us. That’s another thing; they want to turn
over administration of the school over to the Wesleyan church.
Part of this whole thing with having the church come in is financial,
Karen says that they figure getting the church to come in and getting
it involved in the village will draw some money and other benefits to
the village, I say hey, why not. If it gets us in why question why they
want us there. We also had a few more riders in the back of the truck.
But Albert picked his bike up that he had left there and rode all the
way back to Kamakwie in the mid-day sun, he rides all over the place
so it was no big deal for him but I think riding a bike in that heat 7
miles would be the end of me. We had a late lunch when we got back
and afterwards Rebecca, Emma, Samuel and I set out for a walk. We
ran into Zoey who just got back this evening, but she leaves tomorrow
to go out to some of the villages. After that we stopped at the tailor
to pick up some things for the girls and to drop of Tom and I’s wedding
outfits to get them made since it’s Saturday. However we got there
and he hadn’t finished with their stuff so he told us to come back
tomorrow. He said that he would finish Tom and I’s wedding outfits
tomorrow by one so he must plan on putting in some serious hours.
Then we walked back to Kamakwie 1, Rebecca hasn’t been feeling
well so she peeled off and headed home. The rest of us walked out to
the orphan school, it’s about a 35 to 40 minute walk from the hospital
to there. We got there and unfortunately, none of them were there,
but I asked them to let Alusine know that I would be coming tomorrow
because I really wanted to talk to him some more and find out what
things are like for the kids at the orphan school and other things. So
we headed back to the house only to find Karen and Tom not there.
So we walked down to the hospital to see if they were there. They
weren’t and that was when I realized that I could just give them a call.
They were out for a walk and let us know that dinner was PB and J
sandwiches and we could eat whenever. While we were there we
found out something quite sad. A mother died in birth last week and
her infant survived her. They apparently named it Emma (who had
worked very hard to save the mom). Well today, the infant passed
away. After that awful news Emma and Rebecca went off for a bit of a
walk and I laid down for a while because I wasn’t feeling well. Rebecca
went out in the ambulance to pick up a lady, it was a three hour trip
which could not have been all that exciting. When she got back in they
were bringing a lady who needed a C-section. I went down and got into
scrubs and got all ready and observed the removal of the baby. Up to
that point I was feeling quite nauseous and having seen the baby (a girl,
super cute) I decided I’d better head out just as a precaution so I didn’t
contaminate the semi-sterile environment. It was a cool experience
and I think I will do it again and try to get through the whole thing
because it is quite interesting, there is just a mite more blood than I was
comfortable with for seeing my first surgery. Anyway, that’s my day in a
rather large nutshell. Pretty crazy overall but a really good day.
Blessings from Kamakwie, Ryan Brooks
Sunday, December 5, 2010
December 4th
Today was nice, breakfast wasn’t until 8 this morning and I made
sure to take advantage of that. (I got out of bed exactly at 8). It
was a really nice morning; we sat around just chatting till almost
10:30. It was a day off for Tom, Karen, Emma, and Rebecca so
there was just no rush. Being Saturday it is pretty much
automatically my day off. After breakfast, Emma, Rebecca and I
went down to the market to see if we could find them some
fabrics they like, some material to make the wedding outfits for
next Saturday and a large bowl for the laundry lady as we gave two
to the hospital so they could do laundry in something not full of
holes. We succeeded on the last one but not the first two. By time
we were done we headed back up to the house for lunch. After
lunch I managed to break the brand new faucet the Asher’s just
finished installing. The material is just plain junk here. They really
need to just bring over some faucets and things from the US. The
whole water system in the house is in poor shape and so just after
Christmas they are having it all pulled out and replace. They
already have done the consulting; they just have to pick up the bits
in Freetown at some point. Then I helped Karen install antivirus
software on to her computer and a computer of one of the
hospital staff. I pretty much did odd jobs all afternoon. About 5
Rebecca came by and she, Emma and I went for a walk. We went
through Kamakwie two, around past the Muslim secondary school
over to where the orphan school is. We met a whole bunch of the
kids, one of whom was a kid named Alusine. He seems like a pretty
great kid, he’s JSS 3 and thinks that he wants to go into the
sciences and ultimately do engineering. He wants me to come back
by tomorrow and I think we might pass by that way on a walk
tomorrow evening. I hope to go over there some because there is
a whole bunch of kids there at the school that have no parents and
I think it would be a great opportunity to really interact with some
kids who need it. I feel like I haven’t done a whole lot of direct
evangelism. I’m here with multiple purposes and while all I do, say
and teach is part of my personal ministry here I feel like I need to
be doing some more direct things. We finished our walk a little late
for dinner but that was ok because Karen was just finishing up
anyway when we got home. After dinner I took some food down
to the OB ward because while we were walking we ran into two of
the women who came here with one of the patients (relatives
come in with patients all the time to handle feeding, cleaning and
a variety of other tasks for the patient). After that, Rebecca, Emma,
Samuel and I went down to Pa Kanu to get a few drinks. It was fun
though they were playing music there so it was kind of hard to talk
very easily. There were many kids there dancing to the music, it was
quite amusing. Pa Kanu brought this one girl over and made her
dance for us, it was slightly disturbing, almost any mother in
America would have a heart attack if their little girl (at most seven)
dancing the way she danced. The little kids really copy what the
older kids do. Samuel expressed deep gratitude for those of us who
come here to help the people, but he expressed how much he was
glad for the three of us especially. He said he really enjoyed getting
to come downtown with us and enjoy drinks together, I guess the
other people who come haven’t really done that with him. I don’t
feel like I’ve done anything particularly special but he really was
quite appreciative and it made me feel good. Many of the people
here don’t know what it’s really like back home but he seems to
understand quite well what we leave behind to come here and it
really means a lot to him. Though, as I’ve said before I really
(beyond the sweltering mid-day heat) am quite comfortable here.
I really wouldn’t mind living here if there weren’t so many people
that I would just miss too badly. Granted, that might be different
if I were here longer term, as it is I know that it really won’t be
much time at all and I’ll be home. I already know I’m going to miss
it here when I go to leave. Anyway, we stayed there for quite a
while, a bit over two hours. Then we went back and sat outside
Emma and Rebecca’s house thing for about an hour and a half,
Samuel retired a bit earlier. Just as a side note, the stars here are
just absolutely amazing. Without all the light pollution it makes for
such a beautiful sight and there are just so many of them you can
actually see here. Anyway, I’m off to bed, have a great day.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Today was nice, breakfast wasn’t until 8 this morning and I made
sure to take advantage of that. (I got out of bed exactly at 8). It
was a really nice morning; we sat around just chatting till almost
10:30. It was a day off for Tom, Karen, Emma, and Rebecca so
there was just no rush. Being Saturday it is pretty much
automatically my day off. After breakfast, Emma, Rebecca and I
went down to the market to see if we could find them some
fabrics they like, some material to make the wedding outfits for
next Saturday and a large bowl for the laundry lady as we gave two
to the hospital so they could do laundry in something not full of
holes. We succeeded on the last one but not the first two. By time
we were done we headed back up to the house for lunch. After
lunch I managed to break the brand new faucet the Asher’s just
finished installing. The material is just plain junk here. They really
need to just bring over some faucets and things from the US. The
whole water system in the house is in poor shape and so just after
Christmas they are having it all pulled out and replace. They
already have done the consulting; they just have to pick up the bits
in Freetown at some point. Then I helped Karen install antivirus
software on to her computer and a computer of one of the
hospital staff. I pretty much did odd jobs all afternoon. About 5
Rebecca came by and she, Emma and I went for a walk. We went
through Kamakwie two, around past the Muslim secondary school
over to where the orphan school is. We met a whole bunch of the
kids, one of whom was a kid named Alusine. He seems like a pretty
great kid, he’s JSS 3 and thinks that he wants to go into the
sciences and ultimately do engineering. He wants me to come back
by tomorrow and I think we might pass by that way on a walk
tomorrow evening. I hope to go over there some because there is
a whole bunch of kids there at the school that have no parents and
I think it would be a great opportunity to really interact with some
kids who need it. I feel like I haven’t done a whole lot of direct
evangelism. I’m here with multiple purposes and while all I do, say
and teach is part of my personal ministry here I feel like I need to
be doing some more direct things. We finished our walk a little late
for dinner but that was ok because Karen was just finishing up
anyway when we got home. After dinner I took some food down
to the OB ward because while we were walking we ran into two of
the women who came here with one of the patients (relatives
come in with patients all the time to handle feeding, cleaning and
a variety of other tasks for the patient). After that, Rebecca, Emma,
Samuel and I went down to Pa Kanu to get a few drinks. It was fun
though they were playing music there so it was kind of hard to talk
very easily. There were many kids there dancing to the music, it was
quite amusing. Pa Kanu brought this one girl over and made her
dance for us, it was slightly disturbing, almost any mother in
America would have a heart attack if their little girl (at most seven)
dancing the way she danced. The little kids really copy what the
older kids do. Samuel expressed deep gratitude for those of us who
come here to help the people, but he expressed how much he was
glad for the three of us especially. He said he really enjoyed getting
to come downtown with us and enjoy drinks together, I guess the
other people who come haven’t really done that with him. I don’t
feel like I’ve done anything particularly special but he really was
quite appreciative and it made me feel good. Many of the people
here don’t know what it’s really like back home but he seems to
understand quite well what we leave behind to come here and it
really means a lot to him. Though, as I’ve said before I really
(beyond the sweltering mid-day heat) am quite comfortable here.
I really wouldn’t mind living here if there weren’t so many people
that I would just miss too badly. Granted, that might be different
if I were here longer term, as it is I know that it really won’t be
much time at all and I’ll be home. I already know I’m going to miss
it here when I go to leave. Anyway, we stayed there for quite a
while, a bit over two hours. Then we went back and sat outside
Emma and Rebecca’s house thing for about an hour and a half,
Samuel retired a bit earlier. Just as a side note, the stars here are
just absolutely amazing. Without all the light pollution it makes for
such a beautiful sight and there are just so many of them you can
actually see here. Anyway, I’m off to bed, have a great day.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 3rd
This morning I cranked out three of my exams for my students, my
biology exams. The chemistry one’s will be a little harder but it’s
not like I have to worry, the chemistry and biology exams are not
until next week anyway. I ran a couple of other errands and stuff
this morning and that about finished it off. I had a class at 2:35,
they were running late so I didn’t get them until about 2:55. But I
kept them for the rest of the period and the next one since they
didn’t have another class. Then they left for the “lunch” break at
4:05. I was supposed to have the SS2 kids for science the last two
periods of the day but after waiting 15 minutes or so I went up and
there was almost no one there. They let them go after the lunch
break to start preparing for their exams. Letting my kids come to
the last two periods before exams started would have been far
better. I was going to review and make sure they understood stuff
before I turned them loose to study on their own. On the way back
I caught Tom and Rebecca on the way down to the hospital in the
truck with some boxes of stuff so I rode back down with them to
help unload it. After that we went back up to the house and grilled
some burgers. It was wonderful, it’s not very easy to get beef here
in Kamakwie. It’s only about two dollars a pound in Makeni, but
with the drive here exceeding three hours and having to keep it
frozen it’s a huge hassle to deal with. We also had fries made from
potatoes that are a cross between a regular potato and a sweet
potato, it was quite good. As a side note, the pineapple here is
absolutely wonderful, pineapple in the US just pales in
comparison. We had some with dinner. After dinner I went down
to the hospital with Tom and Rebecca. There was a lady who had a
c-section and was continuing to bleed from the wound three days
later and they thought they might have to do surgery and I asked if
I could observe. We got down there and Tom checked her out. Her
bleeding has been decreasing and her hemoglobin levels have
been pretty constant so Tom decided not to go through with it
since it appears to not be an emergency situation. Opening
someone up is not something one does likely especially under the
conditions that must be dealt with here. Tom apologized that they
weren’t going to do surgery but I told him that there will be plenty
of opportunities and I’m glad that they don’t have to open her
back up. I find the hospital and all contained within quite
fascinating and I like listening to the various doctors here as they
talk about cases at the hospital though often it’s quite over my
head. Anyway, after that I sat in the OB ward with Emma and
Rebecca while Tom returned to the house. Solomon came back
while we were there and spent a while sitting with us talking about
all manner of things. He had been gone for about two weeks in
Makeni, first taking an OB training course and then the next week
teaching at it. Emma had been in the ward from 8am till 10pm
when one of the nurse/midwives finally came to take over. This
conference thing going on has really depleted the nursing staff for
the last few days. Anyway, she finally got off and I headed up with
Solomon to pick his phone up which had been charging up at
Samuel’s and had intended to walk back with him to his house to
talk some more, because he’s been gone quite a while and I don’t
see him around a whole lot when he’s around. He’s pretty cool and
fun to talk to. Tomorrow some of us are supposed to go see a
gold/diamond mine tomorrow but only if the guy who owns it,
Richard, is feeling well. Someone said he has malaria which doesn’t
go away real fast so we’ll see. If not tomorrow there will be other
chances. Anyway, that’s about it for today. I hope all is well on the
home front.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
This morning I cranked out three of my exams for my students, my
biology exams. The chemistry one’s will be a little harder but it’s
not like I have to worry, the chemistry and biology exams are not
until next week anyway. I ran a couple of other errands and stuff
this morning and that about finished it off. I had a class at 2:35,
they were running late so I didn’t get them until about 2:55. But I
kept them for the rest of the period and the next one since they
didn’t have another class. Then they left for the “lunch” break at
4:05. I was supposed to have the SS2 kids for science the last two
periods of the day but after waiting 15 minutes or so I went up and
there was almost no one there. They let them go after the lunch
break to start preparing for their exams. Letting my kids come to
the last two periods before exams started would have been far
better. I was going to review and make sure they understood stuff
before I turned them loose to study on their own. On the way back
I caught Tom and Rebecca on the way down to the hospital in the
truck with some boxes of stuff so I rode back down with them to
help unload it. After that we went back up to the house and grilled
some burgers. It was wonderful, it’s not very easy to get beef here
in Kamakwie. It’s only about two dollars a pound in Makeni, but
with the drive here exceeding three hours and having to keep it
frozen it’s a huge hassle to deal with. We also had fries made from
potatoes that are a cross between a regular potato and a sweet
potato, it was quite good. As a side note, the pineapple here is
absolutely wonderful, pineapple in the US just pales in
comparison. We had some with dinner. After dinner I went down
to the hospital with Tom and Rebecca. There was a lady who had a
c-section and was continuing to bleed from the wound three days
later and they thought they might have to do surgery and I asked if
I could observe. We got down there and Tom checked her out. Her
bleeding has been decreasing and her hemoglobin levels have
been pretty constant so Tom decided not to go through with it
since it appears to not be an emergency situation. Opening
someone up is not something one does likely especially under the
conditions that must be dealt with here. Tom apologized that they
weren’t going to do surgery but I told him that there will be plenty
of opportunities and I’m glad that they don’t have to open her
back up. I find the hospital and all contained within quite
fascinating and I like listening to the various doctors here as they
talk about cases at the hospital though often it’s quite over my
head. Anyway, after that I sat in the OB ward with Emma and
Rebecca while Tom returned to the house. Solomon came back
while we were there and spent a while sitting with us talking about
all manner of things. He had been gone for about two weeks in
Makeni, first taking an OB training course and then the next week
teaching at it. Emma had been in the ward from 8am till 10pm
when one of the nurse/midwives finally came to take over. This
conference thing going on has really depleted the nursing staff for
the last few days. Anyway, she finally got off and I headed up with
Solomon to pick his phone up which had been charging up at
Samuel’s and had intended to walk back with him to his house to
talk some more, because he’s been gone quite a while and I don’t
see him around a whole lot when he’s around. He’s pretty cool and
fun to talk to. Tomorrow some of us are supposed to go see a
gold/diamond mine tomorrow but only if the guy who owns it,
Richard, is feeling well. Someone said he has malaria which doesn’t
go away real fast so we’ll see. If not tomorrow there will be other
chances. Anyway, that’s about it for today. I hope all is well on the
home front.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
Thursday, December 2, 2010
December 2nd
Today was not the most exciting day, but it was a pretty good one
nonetheless. For starters, today is over a week since the last time I
cried over being homesick. I still miss people but it’s not quite so
bad now. God’s helped me keep pretty focused on being here in
Africa and on my task here as opposed to spending so much time
dwelling on all the things I’m missing stateside and all the people I
miss there. I spent some time reading this book I borrowed from
Mrs. Emmett called Vanished by Alton Gansky. It was a pretty cool
mix of science fiction and Christian literature. I had just about
finished when Foday came by. He was just copying some notes and
so I finished reading it. Karen came home shortly after and so she
could stay in the house with Foday so I could finally get to the
market like I had planned to before I sat down to read a little bit of
Vanished, obviously I got a little carried away. When I get a good
book I struggle to put it down. I had to go down to the market to
try and find a piece of fabric for Karen. One of the Pastors Karen
and Tom know is getting married on the 11th of December and all
the hospital staff have to wear the same color scheme, really
supposed to be the same fabric but the fabric they chose is this
really waxed fabric that would just be so hot. So Karen wants some
other fabric to make the majority of the outfits from so it’s not as
hot. I got roped into having to wear it because I’m with them.
Otherwise I would have been allowed to wear whatever I chose.
Anyway, I failed on my quest for a blue fabric to match the color in
the material given to us. After lunch Karen and I went to the school
for the CTA meeting. It was not very exciting; it was in Krio so I
didn’t understand a good part of it. By time they went through all
the previous meetings minutes and all the stuff they had for this
time it had been about three and a half hours. One thing I was not
happy with was their idea for trying to get the kids to come back
school January 3rd when the school opens up for the second term.
There has been a big problem with the students not returning to
school for two or more weeks after school starts again. Anyway,
they said that if the kids aren’t there on the first day of school they
will receive a MONTH suspension followed by a week of hard labor
(meaning another week out) for a total of five weeks where they
don’t get to come to school. Tell me that doesn’t sound counter-
productive to the aim of getting the students educated. I don’t
know about their method of discipline here… I tried to talk to the
principal about it, and told him that there must be some other
way but he just told me that I don’t understand their discipline
system and that this will work. I hope so, I’m concerned that a
bunch of students won’t show and I’ll be teaching a small group
for a while. Tom and Karen both say that would be ok since it will
be the serious ones that really want to learn, but I am just not so
sure about that. Next Monday exams start, so soon I have to
write my exams for the students to take. The exams go two
weeks, Monday to Friday with a work day each Wednesday.
That makes tomorrow my last teaching day for an entire month.
After the meeting I went for a walk with Foday for a little while.
Post-dinner wasn’t very exciting, I read some and then Foday
came by for night class but Karen wasn’t back yet to teach so I
talked to him for a bit, then I sat with him and Saidu for about
an hour after the class was over. Anyway, I had a pretty good
day today, missing you all, have a great day.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Today was not the most exciting day, but it was a pretty good one
nonetheless. For starters, today is over a week since the last time I
cried over being homesick. I still miss people but it’s not quite so
bad now. God’s helped me keep pretty focused on being here in
Africa and on my task here as opposed to spending so much time
dwelling on all the things I’m missing stateside and all the people I
miss there. I spent some time reading this book I borrowed from
Mrs. Emmett called Vanished by Alton Gansky. It was a pretty cool
mix of science fiction and Christian literature. I had just about
finished when Foday came by. He was just copying some notes and
so I finished reading it. Karen came home shortly after and so she
could stay in the house with Foday so I could finally get to the
market like I had planned to before I sat down to read a little bit of
Vanished, obviously I got a little carried away. When I get a good
book I struggle to put it down. I had to go down to the market to
try and find a piece of fabric for Karen. One of the Pastors Karen
and Tom know is getting married on the 11th of December and all
the hospital staff have to wear the same color scheme, really
supposed to be the same fabric but the fabric they chose is this
really waxed fabric that would just be so hot. So Karen wants some
other fabric to make the majority of the outfits from so it’s not as
hot. I got roped into having to wear it because I’m with them.
Otherwise I would have been allowed to wear whatever I chose.
Anyway, I failed on my quest for a blue fabric to match the color in
the material given to us. After lunch Karen and I went to the school
for the CTA meeting. It was not very exciting; it was in Krio so I
didn’t understand a good part of it. By time they went through all
the previous meetings minutes and all the stuff they had for this
time it had been about three and a half hours. One thing I was not
happy with was their idea for trying to get the kids to come back
school January 3rd when the school opens up for the second term.
There has been a big problem with the students not returning to
school for two or more weeks after school starts again. Anyway,
they said that if the kids aren’t there on the first day of school they
will receive a MONTH suspension followed by a week of hard labor
(meaning another week out) for a total of five weeks where they
don’t get to come to school. Tell me that doesn’t sound counter-
productive to the aim of getting the students educated. I don’t
know about their method of discipline here… I tried to talk to the
principal about it, and told him that there must be some other
way but he just told me that I don’t understand their discipline
system and that this will work. I hope so, I’m concerned that a
bunch of students won’t show and I’ll be teaching a small group
for a while. Tom and Karen both say that would be ok since it will
be the serious ones that really want to learn, but I am just not so
sure about that. Next Monday exams start, so soon I have to
write my exams for the students to take. The exams go two
weeks, Monday to Friday with a work day each Wednesday.
That makes tomorrow my last teaching day for an entire month.
After the meeting I went for a walk with Foday for a little while.
Post-dinner wasn’t very exciting, I read some and then Foday
came by for night class but Karen wasn’t back yet to teach so I
talked to him for a bit, then I sat with him and Saidu for about
an hour after the class was over. Anyway, I had a pretty good
day today, missing you all, have a great day.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 1st
Wow, December … It’s hard to believe that it’s December already.
Time is going really fast. In less than a month it will be Christmas,
four weeks. Anyway, today was pretty uneventful. I went to the
tailor this morning and got my new shirt. A brand new hand-made
shirt cost me 16000 Leones, four dollars. That includes buying the
material and paying the tailor. You just can’t beat that anywhere.
It’s very nice but I think next time rather than just drop of a shirt to
copy I think I’m going to have him take my measurements because
it came out a little bigger than I would like, it’s kind of billowy. I
know that’s an advantage here because it’s cooler to have loose
clothing but I don’t quite like it like that. Foday went with me and
we stopped by Pa Kanu’s and got a semi-cold coke. I like hanging
out with Foday. He’s a great kid and he is a Muslim so it’s good to
spend time with him. I spent some time reading because I didn’t
really have much to do today. School went pretty good today, I
gave a bio quiz to the SS1s, I don’t think some of them paid
attention to the fact that I changed some of the questions since
they answered some of the multiple choice questions the same
way they had the first time. After their class they waited around in
my room since they had physics but the teacher wasn’t around, he
almost never is. Saidu was trying to teach them physics from some
notes he had but they weren’t very good and I kept correcting him.
The SS1s asked why I don’t teach them physics and I explained that
not only am I not very good at physics I just wouldn’t have time. I
teach for over 15 hours a week and that doesn’t include any of the
time that I spend preparing for classes. I couldn’t handle another 6
hours of class to be teaching physics. I already feel stretched quite
thin at times. Anyway, by time classes were over I was pretty tired
but I went downtown with Rebecca and Emma who were going to
the tailors, mostly because I just wanted to walk a bit. I get quite
restless sitting at the house. We got there only to find that he was
closed. Surprise surprise… A lady died at the hospital today, she
gave birth to her baby in her village but she continued to bleed.
When they couldn’t get it stopped they called for the hospital
ambulance which took almost two hours to get there and get back.
By time she got back she was in such a poor state that she didn’t
make it very long. This was her 11th child, the 8th that is currently
alive. That’s so many, but also Emma and Rebecca said that likely
contributed to her complications with birthing, apparently each time
the woman has a baby the placenta scars the uterine wall leading to
increased chance of bleeding each time (I’m sure you all want to
know about that but this is part of my experience here). This
evening I helped Foday write a letter to Jon Prinsell, who came for
the hospital celebration. I think that about sums everything up for
today. Tomorrow I have to go to a CTA (community teachers
association) meeting tomorrow at 1pm because I agreed to be
Foday’s representative since all kids have to have someone come
for them or they will be in trouble (what kind I don’t know but better
to not find out considering their discipline system here). I’m going
for him because he doesn’t have a parent here in Kamakwie since
he isn’t really from Kamakwie but a village some distance away. He
just stays here for school with his father’s friend. I told him I’m way
to young to have a 16 year-old son but I’ll do it anyway. But yeah,
that’s about all, good night.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
Wow, December … It’s hard to believe that it’s December already.
Time is going really fast. In less than a month it will be Christmas,
four weeks. Anyway, today was pretty uneventful. I went to the
tailor this morning and got my new shirt. A brand new hand-made
shirt cost me 16000 Leones, four dollars. That includes buying the
material and paying the tailor. You just can’t beat that anywhere.
It’s very nice but I think next time rather than just drop of a shirt to
copy I think I’m going to have him take my measurements because
it came out a little bigger than I would like, it’s kind of billowy. I
know that’s an advantage here because it’s cooler to have loose
clothing but I don’t quite like it like that. Foday went with me and
we stopped by Pa Kanu’s and got a semi-cold coke. I like hanging
out with Foday. He’s a great kid and he is a Muslim so it’s good to
spend time with him. I spent some time reading because I didn’t
really have much to do today. School went pretty good today, I
gave a bio quiz to the SS1s, I don’t think some of them paid
attention to the fact that I changed some of the questions since
they answered some of the multiple choice questions the same
way they had the first time. After their class they waited around in
my room since they had physics but the teacher wasn’t around, he
almost never is. Saidu was trying to teach them physics from some
notes he had but they weren’t very good and I kept correcting him.
The SS1s asked why I don’t teach them physics and I explained that
not only am I not very good at physics I just wouldn’t have time. I
teach for over 15 hours a week and that doesn’t include any of the
time that I spend preparing for classes. I couldn’t handle another 6
hours of class to be teaching physics. I already feel stretched quite
thin at times. Anyway, by time classes were over I was pretty tired
but I went downtown with Rebecca and Emma who were going to
the tailors, mostly because I just wanted to walk a bit. I get quite
restless sitting at the house. We got there only to find that he was
closed. Surprise surprise… A lady died at the hospital today, she
gave birth to her baby in her village but she continued to bleed.
When they couldn’t get it stopped they called for the hospital
ambulance which took almost two hours to get there and get back.
By time she got back she was in such a poor state that she didn’t
make it very long. This was her 11th child, the 8th that is currently
alive. That’s so many, but also Emma and Rebecca said that likely
contributed to her complications with birthing, apparently each time
the woman has a baby the placenta scars the uterine wall leading to
increased chance of bleeding each time (I’m sure you all want to
know about that but this is part of my experience here). This
evening I helped Foday write a letter to Jon Prinsell, who came for
the hospital celebration. I think that about sums everything up for
today. Tomorrow I have to go to a CTA (community teachers
association) meeting tomorrow at 1pm because I agreed to be
Foday’s representative since all kids have to have someone come
for them or they will be in trouble (what kind I don’t know but better
to not find out considering their discipline system here). I’m going
for him because he doesn’t have a parent here in Kamakwie since
he isn’t really from Kamakwie but a village some distance away. He
just stays here for school with his father’s friend. I told him I’m way
to young to have a 16 year-old son but I’ll do it anyway. But yeah,
that’s about all, good night.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
November 30th
I killed my first scorpion tonight. That brings the scorpion count to
two. This morning I had grade some quizzes, not my favorite thing
ever, but that’s all I had to do to get ready for school today which
is ok by me. Randy came over and we went to Kamakwie two to
take Megan’s material and my material for my shirt to the tailor’s.
Our trip met with success finally, I told him that there was rush on
my shirt as I would be here a while but he told me that he wanted
to do it today and I was pretty ok with that. We walked back and I
spent some time reading. After lunch I went to school, today I had
the SS3s for science and the SS2s for biology, each for two periods.
Class went pretty well on the whole. I think I’m finally starting to
enjoy teaching but don’t think for a minute that I want to be a
teacher, I hate all the planning and preparing I have to do out of
class. After class I got back to the house and helped sort some
more boxes, we’ve done quite a bit this week which is good
because we are still looking for the chemistry supplies that the
Asher’s had sent over. At about 5:30 or so Rebecca and I walked
over to the tailors to pick up Megan’s bags, her skirt, and my shirt.
When we got there we were given Rebecca’s skirt, and after
waiting for about 20 minutes we got Megan’s bags. He told me
that he would be done by 10am tomorrow. Rebecca’s skirt was
pretty complicated so I’m guessing it took him longer than he
expected. We were a little late for dinner which was ok because
we had to get Megan’s bags since she leaves in the morning and
would not be able to. Not long after dinner we found a scorpion in
Tom and Karen’s room and I killed it. I’m hoping to not find many
more in the house. Tom said they don’t usually get in but this one
was pretty small and obviously found a way in. Anyway, the
power’s not come on yet and it’s already 8pm, so I don’t know if
we’ll be getting it tonight. I’m quite bored since everyone’s out
doing something, well Karen’s in her room reading. So I think
that’s what I’m going to do. Peace out all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I killed my first scorpion tonight. That brings the scorpion count to
two. This morning I had grade some quizzes, not my favorite thing
ever, but that’s all I had to do to get ready for school today which
is ok by me. Randy came over and we went to Kamakwie two to
take Megan’s material and my material for my shirt to the tailor’s.
Our trip met with success finally, I told him that there was rush on
my shirt as I would be here a while but he told me that he wanted
to do it today and I was pretty ok with that. We walked back and I
spent some time reading. After lunch I went to school, today I had
the SS3s for science and the SS2s for biology, each for two periods.
Class went pretty well on the whole. I think I’m finally starting to
enjoy teaching but don’t think for a minute that I want to be a
teacher, I hate all the planning and preparing I have to do out of
class. After class I got back to the house and helped sort some
more boxes, we’ve done quite a bit this week which is good
because we are still looking for the chemistry supplies that the
Asher’s had sent over. At about 5:30 or so Rebecca and I walked
over to the tailors to pick up Megan’s bags, her skirt, and my shirt.
When we got there we were given Rebecca’s skirt, and after
waiting for about 20 minutes we got Megan’s bags. He told me
that he would be done by 10am tomorrow. Rebecca’s skirt was
pretty complicated so I’m guessing it took him longer than he
expected. We were a little late for dinner which was ok because
we had to get Megan’s bags since she leaves in the morning and
would not be able to. Not long after dinner we found a scorpion in
Tom and Karen’s room and I killed it. I’m hoping to not find many
more in the house. Tom said they don’t usually get in but this one
was pretty small and obviously found a way in. Anyway, the
power’s not come on yet and it’s already 8pm, so I don’t know if
we’ll be getting it tonight. I’m quite bored since everyone’s out
doing something, well Karen’s in her room reading. So I think
that’s what I’m going to do. Peace out all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
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