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