October 14th 11:37 (UTC +1:00)

I feel like there is an overwhelming number of things to share in this blog. Every time I sit down to write I think of a million different things I’ve seen and experienced already and I’ve only been here since Saturday. Though today does mark the end of my first week since I got onto the plane in Cleveland and set out for Africa. It still blows my mind that I’m sitting here in Sierra Leone writing to you. I had a conversation with Tom a few nights ago about how blessed I feel to have so much here, and how it actually makes me feel a little sick how much I take for granted and waste when I’m home. Even taking a hot shower for 5-10 minutes at home wastes more water than we use here in a day generally. And I’m including all the hot and cold water we go through. I could imagine having that much hot water here. We have 2-4 hours of electricity a day, we always get our two at night but it’s been hit or miss during the day. We have running water (it’s pumped into a water tower when the generator is on and then gravity fed into the houses) We have generally at least two meals a day. In this heat lunch is often a small snack because you don’t feel like eating a whole lot. I have a nice bed with a pillow and set of sheets. I have my computer for about 5-7 hours a day because I can store energy in the battery. There’s a lot more stuff we have food wise that the Ashers have shipped over from America, jello is amazing so good when it’s nice and cold in this heat. Anyway I told him how blessed I feel to have all of this and he told me something I found startling. He said if there was such a thing as a fourth world country it’s Sierra Leone. He said the other Wesleyan Hospital, I can’t remember where it is, it’s in another country, has 20 hours of power a day. They have meat shipped to their hospital, fresh meat. When he was there he said that the power went out for a few hours and they had a fit. He said that as far as missions go this one here in Kamakwie is pretty much the lowest of the low. Here if we have meat it’s from a can. It’s possible to get some fresh meat from Makeni but because of the shape of the roads it takes about three hours to get from here to there or visa versa. So they don’t do it that much. I just think that the other missions waste so much money on comforts that it makes me really sad. I know that without what we have here this would be so much harder but even in the short time I’ve been here I wish we had more to give. The people all around me have so little, they live in houses without screens, they have either a pitiful excuse for a bed or a floor to sleep on. It’s just so poor that it’s hard to describe. Anyway, enough pitying I guess, for all I feel they lack they are so nice. They love to greet you as you pass and think it’s great when you ask them how they are, especially when you attempt to do it in Creo, which is something like howdabody, all in one word. The children run up to me and just want a chance to grab my hand and say hi and think it’s so wonderful to see me. The people are so grateful that I’ve come to help them that they haven’t even waited to see if I’m actually going to be any good. Which I think I will because they know so little I could probably teach them just what I remember, which is generally not very much, haha. Anyway I’m having a great day so far. Abu took me to get some things from town and showed me around Kamakwie 1,2 and three. I got to see a large group of students who were marching and singing to advertise the new school being started, it hasn’t been built yet but one of the people in town has a big house and they are taught there until the school gets built. He took me along the back side of town to see some other things and we passed a Muslim school. There are so many mosques around here it’s crazy. Many people here are Muslim but the church is growing here too as God continues to work on the hearts of the people. It’s strange to buy water in little bags. The water you can get in town comes in little 250mL pouches for 500 Leones which is 12.5 cents, so it’s pretty cheap here. Other things are more expensive. Toilet paper is 3500 Leones, or 87.5 cents a roll. I don’t know what it is in the US, but at the same time paying 14000 Leones makes me cringe. I’m still getting used to the money amounts. I have a picture, but when I got into Freetown I exchanged $500 for Leones and received 2,150,000 Leones. They came in 5000 and 10000 increments so I have this huge bundle of money, I felt like I had robbed bank or something. It’s just crazy. Anyway that’s probably a lot to read and take in all at once, but I still have so much to share. I have to go back town later to buy some bread, it wasn’t ready when we went through earlier. If you were wondering, I still lose things left and right, the lady who washes our clothes has found my house key and my flashlight in my laundry already and I’ve only had it done twice. Anyway,
God’s Blessings from Africa.
Ryan Brooks