March 6th
Last night was not a good night for sleep. It was
miserably hot and even with a fan I just couldn’t
get comfortable enough to go to sleep until
somewhere around 1:30. I finally made it to sleep
only to be woken up at a little after 2:30 by a
thunderous rainstorm. It’s not supposed to be
raining, it’s dry season, but I guess the weather
wasn’t quite aware of that fact. It helped cool off
the air considerably but it was raining so hard and
was so loud that I couldn’t sleep anyway, it took
me almost another hour to get to sleep. We went
to Katherie church this morning. It was the first
service for the churches new pastor that I attended.
I believe he began last week but we were at the
mother church and so we missed his first
appearance there as pastor. It wasn’t terribly
different than any other service I’ve been to,
though his sermon wasn’t so much a lecture on a
topic using a selected passage as a repeated
re-iteration of lines from the text over and over.
(I couldn’t think of more ways to coherently
include any other references to the repetitive
nature of the sermon in that last sentence, but be
assured, I tried). Anyway, it wasn’t the most
enlightening of sermons, though the intention was
there and that made it somewhat better for all its’
incidental shallowness. I have to say, I would give
quite a bit for a nice calm quiet reserved traditional
worship service, I’m about sick of all of the (what I
feel anyway) excessive noise. After church I walked
over to Kamakwie 2, then back to Kamakwie 1
where I had to stop in the market to pick up some
fabric for Karen that was “African” which meant it
needed to have images that evoked African settings.
I managed to find two types of fabric. I did go out
for a walk this afternoon after it had gotten to be
late afternoon and the sun was on its’ way down.
I was going to go map out the abandoned
president’s house (which is now used as the Muslim
junior secondary school). I think I’ve told you about
it in the past, but it was going to be the pre-civil war
president’s retreat, but it never got finished due to
the war. It would look spectacular if it were finished
I think and I wanted to draw it (to measurement)
cause I think it would be fun. However, as I
approached the school I saw some kids were
congregating for an evening class so I scrapped that
idea and decided to just continue walking, I’ll have
to go back next Saturday probably, it will be my only
available time. Anyway, that’s about all for my
Sunday.
“Every day is that special day you’ve been waiting
for. Seize it!”
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Sunday, March 13, 2011
March 5th
It was 112 degrees today, and it felt like it too. It
was a miserably hot day and it was hard to feel
like doing much of anything. I did make a massive
batch of bread, six loaves, for Karen. She has been
on a real kick to have home baked bread lately,
which is ok by me because I love making bread
almost as much as I love eating it. Not too long
after I had finished making the bread Saidu and
Foday stopped by and wanted me to go with
them to the games but it was too hot to go out
in the sun and I had already gone yesterday and
Abu told me most of the events would be
repeated today. Also, I didn’t want to be there
when they concluded because I was told that
the games had led to fighting and general
disorder on the part of the losing house since
only the fourth place house won nothing, the
other three houses got money I guess was
supposed to go to the house masters to pay for
food for a celebration, I could never get a clear
answer so I refused to give anything to it. I have
a sinking suspicion that most of the money that
goes to the house masters stays there, based on
the other things I’ve seen here. Now, I may be
mistaken, and I would be glad to be mistaken,
but I couldn’t be certain and I didn’t want to see
money that I might use to help go there. Anyway,
this afternoon was not the most productive
afternoon. I laid down to rest for a little bit, and
managed to sleep for around three hours instead.
Unintentional but it occurred nonetheless and so
I didn’t do a whole lot. With Solomon gone and
the 6 girls pretty much sequestering themselves
over in their house I don’t have a whole lot to do
at night so it was a relatively short day.
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ”
-Philippians 1:2
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brook
It was 112 degrees today, and it felt like it too. It
was a miserably hot day and it was hard to feel
like doing much of anything. I did make a massive
batch of bread, six loaves, for Karen. She has been
on a real kick to have home baked bread lately,
which is ok by me because I love making bread
almost as much as I love eating it. Not too long
after I had finished making the bread Saidu and
Foday stopped by and wanted me to go with
them to the games but it was too hot to go out
in the sun and I had already gone yesterday and
Abu told me most of the events would be
repeated today. Also, I didn’t want to be there
when they concluded because I was told that
the games had led to fighting and general
disorder on the part of the losing house since
only the fourth place house won nothing, the
other three houses got money I guess was
supposed to go to the house masters to pay for
food for a celebration, I could never get a clear
answer so I refused to give anything to it. I have
a sinking suspicion that most of the money that
goes to the house masters stays there, based on
the other things I’ve seen here. Now, I may be
mistaken, and I would be glad to be mistaken,
but I couldn’t be certain and I didn’t want to see
money that I might use to help go there. Anyway,
this afternoon was not the most productive
afternoon. I laid down to rest for a little bit, and
managed to sleep for around three hours instead.
Unintentional but it occurred nonetheless and so
I didn’t do a whole lot. With Solomon gone and
the 6 girls pretty much sequestering themselves
over in their house I don’t have a whole lot to do
at night so it was a relatively short day.
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ”
-Philippians 1:2
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brook
February 21st – March 4th
Wow, I’ve really gotten behind. As I write this it is March 4th. These last two weeks were long weeks largely in part due to the lack of classes to teach
due to the sporting events that take place on the 4th and the 5th (today and tomorrow). It wasn’t a bad week, just slower. We had three German
engineers come in on Monday. They are Johannes, Sebastian and Jacob. They’ve come to work on the SVoc center, the Sella Vocational center. They are
installing solar panels into the center in order to supply power for an internet café. Things are moving at a pretty fast rate here in Kamakwie all
things considered. The hospital is constantly trying to grow and improve, the town always has something new going on and now the town vocational center has undergone a big upgrade. They installed 20 solar panels on the roof and huge
batteries to store their power. They have also come to teach classes on electricity and computers (very basic ones of course) and they are meeting
with much of the same frustrations I have. Lack of knowledge in general added to poor problem solving and critical thinking skills as well as abysmal
math skills just to name a few of their biggest frustrations. Anyway, I’m sure you’ve heard enough of those complaints from me that you don’t want
to hear more of them from their perspective. I got to observe another C-section, but that’s not really new news either. As for teaching, like I said I haven’t
had a whole lot in that department. I spent so much time ranting to other people about my unhappiness with the situation that I forgot to write it here.
Monday last week they decided that they were going to cancel school for two weeks so that the students could practice for the upcoming games, which made
me very unhappy to say the least, so I decided I was going to try and arrange some classes myself with my students. That didn’t go terribly well. I arranged
for my SS 3s to meet with me on Tuesday, one came. Then I made arrangements for my SS 1s to meet with me on Wednesday, 4 out of 30 kids turned up so I just did a review with them. I thought about teaching them but I knew that I would end
up just having to re-explain everything again, and decided a review would be most beneficial to the few who came. Thursday was supposed to be my
SS 2s, but 3 of 23 showed up for that. Friday I had class with my SS 3s again, one showed, a different one but only one nonetheless. This week I tried to
have class with the SS 2s on Monday and no one came, so I gave up on them for this week and just focused on the SS 3s, who need it more anyway. I managed to get 4 to come around this time. We worked on some problems of the type they will
have to face on the WASSCE. This past Saturday the engineers, the med students and I went to the game park. They wanted to go and Tom wasn’t feeling up to it so I escorted them and made sure they got where they were supposed to be and all
that jazz. It was ok, I waited around for two hours by myself while they were out on the river to see the hippos. I explored a little bit and sat playing
solitaire for a little while, nothing too exciting. After they returned we had lunch. While we were eating we decided to go on the elephant safari
they have. You have to cross the river and then you walk around the countryside and finally going up on a hilltop. We were not fortunate enough to see elephants however, but the countryside was quite beautiful (if dried and shriveled). I don’t
know if I’ve mentioned it lately but it hasn’t rained since mid-December, it’s getting quite dry here. The vegetation around here is really hardy though,
it has to be really, because some of the trees and other plants are still going strong and green. I’m hoping we’ll return to school on Monday, I’ve seen
some of my students and made comments about having class on Monday and the responses I’ve gotten haven’t been the most reassuring. I can imagine that even if they do have classes attendance will not be exactly stellar. Karen left this Monday to Freetown for a day to pick up three new medical students, Katy, Courtney and
Aileen. While Karen was gone I did the cooking for lunch and dinner, which I find quite enjoyable. Cooking is a fine leisure activity as far as I’m concerned and I know I don’t cook as much as I would like to even at home, but that will change
if I ever get my own place, we’ll see how that goes, one step at a time. During this time I baked some bread that, everyone loved I might add. I was even
impressed with the result, and those of you who know me very well know that that sometimes I can be very hard on the outcomes of things I do, thinking that I should have done better, and this is especially true when I cook. But in this case I think
I could hardly have done better (minus the small addition of some bugs in the flour, oh the luxury of buying bags of flour at a supermarket). With the addition of these new students that makes 6 medical students here. Sadly, Laura, Emily and Sara
are leaving in 5 days. I still don’t like that about being here, getting to meet all manner of people and just getting to know them only to have them leave. I get attached too easily I know, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier. Things here are more complicated than I could ever want in my life. I can make it 12 more weeks here but this is not something I could see myself doing long term. I was doing really good after the first two months, then time started flying by almost too fast, but now it’s seemed to slow since I passed month four or so. On top of that the frustrations seem to just build up, people wanting things, wanting you to do things, always placing expectations on us (anyone who has come here to help really).
I’ve been working on getting the Kakamba church project going, they have made 800+ of the 1500 bricks they decided they needed for the church. Hopefully tomorrow they will do some or all of the rest. There has been some political nonsense going
on around this project. It’s a youth project, they came up with it and have done almost all of the legwork involved in getting the foot in the door, starting having church services there even without a church and everything else involved. However,
a particular member of the church leadership has been trying to edge in and take the project out of their hands and getting it into his. He’s got an unfortunate need to receive credit. The Asher’s have received some instruments to be donated
to the Katherie church. However this person has two problems, one there is no drums, and he almost demanded that they get some, which is outrageous considering what they’ve already given. Also, one of the instruments is with someone else because they are the only one who can use it and he pretty much demanded that he be given possession of it. So it’s causing some problems right now but hopefully the
church will handle it. The Asher’s and I have already talked to some other church leadership about it. Unfortunately it’s an attitude that’s not restricted to just a few members of the church, or even people not in the church. The desire to
lay claim to anything and everything they can. Sorry, I’ve gone griping again… I don’t mean to. My frustration level is just a little high with this
whole sports thing. Anyway, things are going ok beyond that I think, I’ve spent these last two weeks playing plumber, electrician, chef, baker, teacher, bike mechanic and probably a few other things as well. There’s always something to do,
never a dull moment.
“We can do no great things, only small things with
great love”
-Mother Teresa
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Wow, I’ve really gotten behind. As I write this it is March 4th. These last two weeks were long weeks largely in part due to the lack of classes to teach
due to the sporting events that take place on the 4th and the 5th (today and tomorrow). It wasn’t a bad week, just slower. We had three German
engineers come in on Monday. They are Johannes, Sebastian and Jacob. They’ve come to work on the SVoc center, the Sella Vocational center. They are
installing solar panels into the center in order to supply power for an internet café. Things are moving at a pretty fast rate here in Kamakwie all
things considered. The hospital is constantly trying to grow and improve, the town always has something new going on and now the town vocational center has undergone a big upgrade. They installed 20 solar panels on the roof and huge
batteries to store their power. They have also come to teach classes on electricity and computers (very basic ones of course) and they are meeting
with much of the same frustrations I have. Lack of knowledge in general added to poor problem solving and critical thinking skills as well as abysmal
math skills just to name a few of their biggest frustrations. Anyway, I’m sure you’ve heard enough of those complaints from me that you don’t want
to hear more of them from their perspective. I got to observe another C-section, but that’s not really new news either. As for teaching, like I said I haven’t
had a whole lot in that department. I spent so much time ranting to other people about my unhappiness with the situation that I forgot to write it here.
Monday last week they decided that they were going to cancel school for two weeks so that the students could practice for the upcoming games, which made
me very unhappy to say the least, so I decided I was going to try and arrange some classes myself with my students. That didn’t go terribly well. I arranged
for my SS 3s to meet with me on Tuesday, one came. Then I made arrangements for my SS 1s to meet with me on Wednesday, 4 out of 30 kids turned up so I just did a review with them. I thought about teaching them but I knew that I would end
up just having to re-explain everything again, and decided a review would be most beneficial to the few who came. Thursday was supposed to be my
SS 2s, but 3 of 23 showed up for that. Friday I had class with my SS 3s again, one showed, a different one but only one nonetheless. This week I tried to
have class with the SS 2s on Monday and no one came, so I gave up on them for this week and just focused on the SS 3s, who need it more anyway. I managed to get 4 to come around this time. We worked on some problems of the type they will
have to face on the WASSCE. This past Saturday the engineers, the med students and I went to the game park. They wanted to go and Tom wasn’t feeling up to it so I escorted them and made sure they got where they were supposed to be and all
that jazz. It was ok, I waited around for two hours by myself while they were out on the river to see the hippos. I explored a little bit and sat playing
solitaire for a little while, nothing too exciting. After they returned we had lunch. While we were eating we decided to go on the elephant safari
they have. You have to cross the river and then you walk around the countryside and finally going up on a hilltop. We were not fortunate enough to see elephants however, but the countryside was quite beautiful (if dried and shriveled). I don’t
know if I’ve mentioned it lately but it hasn’t rained since mid-December, it’s getting quite dry here. The vegetation around here is really hardy though,
it has to be really, because some of the trees and other plants are still going strong and green. I’m hoping we’ll return to school on Monday, I’ve seen
some of my students and made comments about having class on Monday and the responses I’ve gotten haven’t been the most reassuring. I can imagine that even if they do have classes attendance will not be exactly stellar. Karen left this Monday to Freetown for a day to pick up three new medical students, Katy, Courtney and
Aileen. While Karen was gone I did the cooking for lunch and dinner, which I find quite enjoyable. Cooking is a fine leisure activity as far as I’m concerned and I know I don’t cook as much as I would like to even at home, but that will change
if I ever get my own place, we’ll see how that goes, one step at a time. During this time I baked some bread that, everyone loved I might add. I was even
impressed with the result, and those of you who know me very well know that that sometimes I can be very hard on the outcomes of things I do, thinking that I should have done better, and this is especially true when I cook. But in this case I think
I could hardly have done better (minus the small addition of some bugs in the flour, oh the luxury of buying bags of flour at a supermarket). With the addition of these new students that makes 6 medical students here. Sadly, Laura, Emily and Sara
are leaving in 5 days. I still don’t like that about being here, getting to meet all manner of people and just getting to know them only to have them leave. I get attached too easily I know, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier. Things here are more complicated than I could ever want in my life. I can make it 12 more weeks here but this is not something I could see myself doing long term. I was doing really good after the first two months, then time started flying by almost too fast, but now it’s seemed to slow since I passed month four or so. On top of that the frustrations seem to just build up, people wanting things, wanting you to do things, always placing expectations on us (anyone who has come here to help really).
I’ve been working on getting the Kakamba church project going, they have made 800+ of the 1500 bricks they decided they needed for the church. Hopefully tomorrow they will do some or all of the rest. There has been some political nonsense going
on around this project. It’s a youth project, they came up with it and have done almost all of the legwork involved in getting the foot in the door, starting having church services there even without a church and everything else involved. However,
a particular member of the church leadership has been trying to edge in and take the project out of their hands and getting it into his. He’s got an unfortunate need to receive credit. The Asher’s have received some instruments to be donated
to the Katherie church. However this person has two problems, one there is no drums, and he almost demanded that they get some, which is outrageous considering what they’ve already given. Also, one of the instruments is with someone else because they are the only one who can use it and he pretty much demanded that he be given possession of it. So it’s causing some problems right now but hopefully the
church will handle it. The Asher’s and I have already talked to some other church leadership about it. Unfortunately it’s an attitude that’s not restricted to just a few members of the church, or even people not in the church. The desire to
lay claim to anything and everything they can. Sorry, I’ve gone griping again… I don’t mean to. My frustration level is just a little high with this
whole sports thing. Anyway, things are going ok beyond that I think, I’ve spent these last two weeks playing plumber, electrician, chef, baker, teacher, bike mechanic and probably a few other things as well. There’s always something to do,
never a dull moment.
“We can do no great things, only small things with
great love”
-Mother Teresa
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Sunday, March 6, 2011
February 19th – 20th
Not the most exciting weekend ever.
We were going to go to the animal park
Saturday but Tom was supposed to drive
and he was too tired so we decided to
postpone it for next weekend. So I spent
most of my time just doing some reading
and some other stuff. On Sunday we drove
to Kagboray (where I’ve gone a couple
times with Solomon) to go to church there.
With the Asher’s, the medical students,
pastor Alfred (the DS) and I there were too
many people for one trip so Tom and I
waited at the house for Karen to take the
other then come back and get us. It’s not
very far, like 7 miles, but it still takes about
25 minutes or so due to road conditions.
The district superintendant was pastor
there and now he’s coming to be a pastor
here at Katherie church and so he invited
us to his last service there. They made us
all sit at the front, which still makes me
uncomfortable and just a little bit annoyed,
I know it’s out of respect and all but I hate
being treated with deference, especially since
they kicked a bunch of kids off the bench to
make room for us. It was a different service
due to the handing over to the new pastor.
After the service they invited us over to eat
at the parsonage. The wife of the new pastor
made the food and it was pretty good. After
we finished, Tom, the med students and I all
headed back and Karen waited there to speak
with pastor Alfred. The rest of the day was
pretty uneventful as a whole, with a lot of
downtime, but with the heat lately it makes it
hard to want to do much. We finished up the
evening with a game night.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Not the most exciting weekend ever.
We were going to go to the animal park
Saturday but Tom was supposed to drive
and he was too tired so we decided to
postpone it for next weekend. So I spent
most of my time just doing some reading
and some other stuff. On Sunday we drove
to Kagboray (where I’ve gone a couple
times with Solomon) to go to church there.
With the Asher’s, the medical students,
pastor Alfred (the DS) and I there were too
many people for one trip so Tom and I
waited at the house for Karen to take the
other then come back and get us. It’s not
very far, like 7 miles, but it still takes about
25 minutes or so due to road conditions.
The district superintendant was pastor
there and now he’s coming to be a pastor
here at Katherie church and so he invited
us to his last service there. They made us
all sit at the front, which still makes me
uncomfortable and just a little bit annoyed,
I know it’s out of respect and all but I hate
being treated with deference, especially since
they kicked a bunch of kids off the bench to
make room for us. It was a different service
due to the handing over to the new pastor.
After the service they invited us over to eat
at the parsonage. The wife of the new pastor
made the food and it was pretty good. After
we finished, Tom, the med students and I all
headed back and Karen waited there to speak
with pastor Alfred. The rest of the day was
pretty uneventful as a whole, with a lot of
downtime, but with the heat lately it makes it
hard to want to do much. We finished up the
evening with a game night.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
February 13th – February 18th
So, I’ve gotten a little behind on my blog so I’m going to do the
best to recall and catch you up on anything interesting. Church
was fine on Sunday, we went to Katherie since Tom and the
medical students had been at the hospital pretty late and it’s the
closest church to the hospital. It doesn’t hurt that it’s my favorite
church. School this past week was ok. I didn’t have school on
Monday on account of there being some holiday. I hope there
aren’t too many of those. It doesn’t help that when there is a
Muslim holiday, no school, a Christian holiday, no school, a public
holiday, no school. On Tuesday I had a discussion on witchcraft
with my SS 3s (I know it’s not biology but then I have a bad habit of
getting off subject). It was an interesting discussion, but in
retrospect I wish it hadn’t taken place. It’s not that I don’t believe
in witchcraft, God wouldn’t say to avoid it if it wasn’t real, but they
ascribe way too many things to witchcraft. They give it too much
power by their readiness to believe it impacts so many things.
They tried to tell me that people who invent revolutionary things
(for example Bill Gates inventing Windows) are, if not witches,
some way the product of witchcraft, as well as a bunch of other
things. Then on Wednesday we (my SS 3s and I) had a discussion
about destiny versus predestination. This time I didn’t let them get
out of learning. I made sure to get all the notes on the board
before class started. I think they know that they can get me off
track with a discussion. I try to stay on task but always get drawn
into it. Classes are going pretty well in all other cases. I have said
before and I will say again, I much prefer teaching the SS 1 and 2
students; they are much more attentive and interested in actually
learning than my 3s. The 3s are more interested in doing things
their own way and having what they want. On Monday we
neutered our cats, Patches and Snowball. We had hoped that it
would calm them down but they seem to be just as annoying. I
spent Wednesday and Thursday morning at the house so I could
oversee the plumbing project so I didn’t get to go down to the
hospital. Then today (Friday) I had no school again due to a public
holiday again. When I made a comment about it to some of my
students, they seemed confused as to why I thought it was
excessive. They told me that it was ONLY two this week. Like two
holidays in one week wasn’t that many. I just shook my head
incredulously. Anyway, that’s about all the news I have from this
week. It was pretty slow for the most part. Anyway, have a great
night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So, I’ve gotten a little behind on my blog so I’m going to do the
best to recall and catch you up on anything interesting. Church
was fine on Sunday, we went to Katherie since Tom and the
medical students had been at the hospital pretty late and it’s the
closest church to the hospital. It doesn’t hurt that it’s my favorite
church. School this past week was ok. I didn’t have school on
Monday on account of there being some holiday. I hope there
aren’t too many of those. It doesn’t help that when there is a
Muslim holiday, no school, a Christian holiday, no school, a public
holiday, no school. On Tuesday I had a discussion on witchcraft
with my SS 3s (I know it’s not biology but then I have a bad habit of
getting off subject). It was an interesting discussion, but in
retrospect I wish it hadn’t taken place. It’s not that I don’t believe
in witchcraft, God wouldn’t say to avoid it if it wasn’t real, but they
ascribe way too many things to witchcraft. They give it too much
power by their readiness to believe it impacts so many things.
They tried to tell me that people who invent revolutionary things
(for example Bill Gates inventing Windows) are, if not witches,
some way the product of witchcraft, as well as a bunch of other
things. Then on Wednesday we (my SS 3s and I) had a discussion
about destiny versus predestination. This time I didn’t let them get
out of learning. I made sure to get all the notes on the board
before class started. I think they know that they can get me off
track with a discussion. I try to stay on task but always get drawn
into it. Classes are going pretty well in all other cases. I have said
before and I will say again, I much prefer teaching the SS 1 and 2
students; they are much more attentive and interested in actually
learning than my 3s. The 3s are more interested in doing things
their own way and having what they want. On Monday we
neutered our cats, Patches and Snowball. We had hoped that it
would calm them down but they seem to be just as annoying. I
spent Wednesday and Thursday morning at the house so I could
oversee the plumbing project so I didn’t get to go down to the
hospital. Then today (Friday) I had no school again due to a public
holiday again. When I made a comment about it to some of my
students, they seemed confused as to why I thought it was
excessive. They told me that it was ONLY two this week. Like two
holidays in one week wasn’t that many. I just shook my head
incredulously. Anyway, that’s about all the news I have from this
week. It was pretty slow for the most part. Anyway, have a great
night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
February 11th and 12th
I set out this morning with Steven for Freetown
at about 8am. I’m pretty sure I state this every
time I make a trip to Freetown, but I’m going to
reiterate it anyway, I hate the road from here to
Makeni. It makes me so sick it’s just not fun.
Anyway, that part aside the journey went pretty
well. We made record time getting to Makeni,
only 2.5 hours. The trip to Freetown from there
flew by and we were there by 2pm. Our first
stop was a road called Ecowas, there they have
all sorts of hardware and plumbing stores. I was
trying to find a new bathroom sink for the
plumbing renovation Tom and Karen want to do,
I did not succeed, they wanted one without the
holes drilled for the faucet and they were all
already drilled. So from there we headed to the
supermarket and picked up some groceries.
After that we went to go get some food at a
place called Basha’s Bakery. They serve really
good chicken, along with fried rice. I think if I get
to go again however I’m gonna order a pizza. It’s
been so long since I’ve had a real pizza. Anyway,
from there we proceeded down to the docks
arriving a little after 5. Since the medical student,
Sarah, was even landing till 7:45 I decided to
explore a little bit. Right near the dock is a place
called the “big market” and they have all manner
of things there. Carving, dyed fabrics, traditional
clothes, etc… I just wanted to look but they were
closing. I did manage to get to see a few people’s
shops but even though I told them that I wasn’t
interested in buying anything they still offered to
show me their shops, then just short of
demanded that I buy something, which really
annoyed me but I should have expected that. The
Sierra Leoneans don’t really understand browsing,
they just go, buy, return home. Anyway, after I
toured there I went down to the dock to sit at a
table and read, which I didn’t get to do any of, no
sooner did I sit down then I got mobbed by guys
selling DVDs. I was nice and looked, but got
annoyed when two different guys started fighting
over showing me their DVDs. No sooner than I was
finally done with that did another guy come sit
with me to talk, which was ok, then another guy
joined the table and started begging, which
started a whole “discussion” of begging and some
other things. It was kind of fun to be honest. Anyway,
me and the first guy were trying to persuade the
second guy that begging was a poor way to live and
that he needed to find a job. He didn’t disagree but
I don’t think he agreed, begging doesn’t pay super
well but it is an easy job I guess. Anyway, he used
everything he could think of, from promising Allah
would bless me (…) to he was sick and needed to go
to the hospital (which would have been more
believable if it hadn’t been a resort strategy after
other attempts). I did give him a little because we
had given him a hard time about it. Not in a bad
way, but the first guy was knew him pretty well and
another guy had come along and was teasing him
too. After the second guy finally left I spent some
time getting to know the first guy, whose name was
Jimmy. We talked all the way up to the time that
Sarah arrived, so for about 5 hours or so. Once Sarah
arrived we packed her in and after saying a quick
goodbye to Jimmy we set off for the Compañero. I
gave Jimmy my number and he said he’d call me
once he got a new phone. We got to the Compañero
where Emanuel got us settled in and then we talked
for a little while before Sarah went to bed. He and I
sat for a bit and talked, I was tired but I won’t get to
see Emanuel for a while so I wanted to talk some.
However, before long I had to go to bed because I
was just too tired. I got up at about 7:30; Emanuel
was already up so I talked to him for a while before
Sarah joined us at 8 for breakfast. We chatted with a
guy from the UK (can’t remember his name now)
about healthcare, politics and a few other things, all in
all not the most exciting topics but interesting
nonetheless. Steven showed up at about 9:15, he was a
little late because he said there was an accident on the
way out of Freetown that slowed traffic down. We set
out from there and headed back to Kamakwie. We
stopped for lunch in Makeni, then went to the grocery
store to get some things for Sarah. When we finished I
went to call Steven only to notice that my phone
wasn’t working. So I borrowed a phone from one of the
guys at the store and called him. I offered to pay him
for the phone call but he said I shamed him. I felt bad
and apologized and thanked him for allowing me to call.
We sat outside and waited for Steven to arrive, all the
while the beggars who hang around St. Mary’s
supermarket watched us waiting. Steven arrived after a
little bit and we set out on the final part of our journey
to Kamakwie. We managed to arrive in Kamakwie at
around 3 or so. Once we got Sarah settled in there
wasn’t a whole lot more to do. That trip is exhausting so
I don’t feel like doing anything either, so that’s about all
for now.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I set out this morning with Steven for Freetown
at about 8am. I’m pretty sure I state this every
time I make a trip to Freetown, but I’m going to
reiterate it anyway, I hate the road from here to
Makeni. It makes me so sick it’s just not fun.
Anyway, that part aside the journey went pretty
well. We made record time getting to Makeni,
only 2.5 hours. The trip to Freetown from there
flew by and we were there by 2pm. Our first
stop was a road called Ecowas, there they have
all sorts of hardware and plumbing stores. I was
trying to find a new bathroom sink for the
plumbing renovation Tom and Karen want to do,
I did not succeed, they wanted one without the
holes drilled for the faucet and they were all
already drilled. So from there we headed to the
supermarket and picked up some groceries.
After that we went to go get some food at a
place called Basha’s Bakery. They serve really
good chicken, along with fried rice. I think if I get
to go again however I’m gonna order a pizza. It’s
been so long since I’ve had a real pizza. Anyway,
from there we proceeded down to the docks
arriving a little after 5. Since the medical student,
Sarah, was even landing till 7:45 I decided to
explore a little bit. Right near the dock is a place
called the “big market” and they have all manner
of things there. Carving, dyed fabrics, traditional
clothes, etc… I just wanted to look but they were
closing. I did manage to get to see a few people’s
shops but even though I told them that I wasn’t
interested in buying anything they still offered to
show me their shops, then just short of
demanded that I buy something, which really
annoyed me but I should have expected that. The
Sierra Leoneans don’t really understand browsing,
they just go, buy, return home. Anyway, after I
toured there I went down to the dock to sit at a
table and read, which I didn’t get to do any of, no
sooner did I sit down then I got mobbed by guys
selling DVDs. I was nice and looked, but got
annoyed when two different guys started fighting
over showing me their DVDs. No sooner than I was
finally done with that did another guy come sit
with me to talk, which was ok, then another guy
joined the table and started begging, which
started a whole “discussion” of begging and some
other things. It was kind of fun to be honest. Anyway,
me and the first guy were trying to persuade the
second guy that begging was a poor way to live and
that he needed to find a job. He didn’t disagree but
I don’t think he agreed, begging doesn’t pay super
well but it is an easy job I guess. Anyway, he used
everything he could think of, from promising Allah
would bless me (…) to he was sick and needed to go
to the hospital (which would have been more
believable if it hadn’t been a resort strategy after
other attempts). I did give him a little because we
had given him a hard time about it. Not in a bad
way, but the first guy was knew him pretty well and
another guy had come along and was teasing him
too. After the second guy finally left I spent some
time getting to know the first guy, whose name was
Jimmy. We talked all the way up to the time that
Sarah arrived, so for about 5 hours or so. Once Sarah
arrived we packed her in and after saying a quick
goodbye to Jimmy we set off for the Compañero. I
gave Jimmy my number and he said he’d call me
once he got a new phone. We got to the Compañero
where Emanuel got us settled in and then we talked
for a little while before Sarah went to bed. He and I
sat for a bit and talked, I was tired but I won’t get to
see Emanuel for a while so I wanted to talk some.
However, before long I had to go to bed because I
was just too tired. I got up at about 7:30; Emanuel
was already up so I talked to him for a while before
Sarah joined us at 8 for breakfast. We chatted with a
guy from the UK (can’t remember his name now)
about healthcare, politics and a few other things, all in
all not the most exciting topics but interesting
nonetheless. Steven showed up at about 9:15, he was a
little late because he said there was an accident on the
way out of Freetown that slowed traffic down. We set
out from there and headed back to Kamakwie. We
stopped for lunch in Makeni, then went to the grocery
store to get some things for Sarah. When we finished I
went to call Steven only to notice that my phone
wasn’t working. So I borrowed a phone from one of the
guys at the store and called him. I offered to pay him
for the phone call but he said I shamed him. I felt bad
and apologized and thanked him for allowing me to call.
We sat outside and waited for Steven to arrive, all the
while the beggars who hang around St. Mary’s
supermarket watched us waiting. Steven arrived after a
little bit and we set out on the final part of our journey
to Kamakwie. We managed to arrive in Kamakwie at
around 3 or so. Once we got Sarah settled in there
wasn’t a whole lot more to do. That trip is exhausting so
I don’t feel like doing anything either, so that’s about all
for now.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Friday, February 11, 2011
February 10th
Another exciting day in Africa. I went on rounds with Laura again
this morning. There is nothing like firsthand experience. I’m still
not 100% certain, and probably won’t be until I actually do it, but
I think medicine could be for me. I really like it, and I love getting
to know I’m helping someone. I love to serve and help people but
I have trouble seeing the big picture and like to know right away
what I’ve accomplished, instant gratification if you will. While
medicine isn’t always simple instant results, it can often be.
Rounds went pretty well this morning, nothing really new. After
finishing up rounds, I followed Tom and the medical students to
one of the procedure rooms where they were going to look at
some ulcers on a diabetic ladies feet (sparing the gross details)
and they confirmed that they will have to do some amputation as
long as the woman consents, if she doesn’t she’s gonna lose a lot
more than part of her foot because from what they said it’s
getting worse fast. After that we headed up to the house to await
lunch, not a pleasant prospect following what I just experienced.
After lunch I headed off to school for a few periods with my favorite
students, the SS 1s. I drew some pictures on the board of a butterfly,
caterpillar and a pupa. By no means are they works of art but I was
proud of them nonetheless. The kids were worried I was going to ask
them to draw them on a test, they all think that they have horrible
drawing skills and while in some cases I’m inclined to agree, they
could be worse. After classes I headed back to the hospital. My task
for this afternoon was to assemble two of the bike from my church,
which just meant put the handle bars back on. They’ve been around
for a while but you can’t imagine how hard it is to get the
handlebars and the rest of the bikes together when they are stored
separately. There is always just so much going on we never got
around to it. It would have probably been a while longer if not for
the fact that the medical students want to ride them. So I got the
handlebars on (one was missing the bolt so I had to find a substitute)
and aired up the tires. They are fit for riding, but they need adjusted
for size, which I’m not going to be able to do for Saturday which is
when they wanted to go riding. I’ll explain in a second so as not to
further disturb the chronology of events as I already do badly enough.
After I got that done I had to go to the market to pick up some beer
for beer battered fish. Karen has a guy who she provided fishing lures
for and so he occasionally brings her fish (monstrous fish) and she
likes to prepare them that way. Reverend Usman came for dinner
this evening, he didn’t stay too long after dinner, but it was
interesting to see him outside of a formal setting. After dinner I
decided to read some more. Tomorrow I have to go to Freetown to
pick up an incoming medical student. Karen just found out tonight
that she comes in tomorrow, until tonight she thought the student
was coming Monday, good thing she double checked tonight. We
almost stranded the poor girl. I will be back Saturday, but that will
be too late to prepare the bikes for Laura and Emily (see, I explained
why I can’t do the bikes without interrupting the chronology).
Anyway, that’s about it for tonight, I hope everyone has a great
evening and a great Friday.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Another exciting day in Africa. I went on rounds with Laura again
this morning. There is nothing like firsthand experience. I’m still
not 100% certain, and probably won’t be until I actually do it, but
I think medicine could be for me. I really like it, and I love getting
to know I’m helping someone. I love to serve and help people but
I have trouble seeing the big picture and like to know right away
what I’ve accomplished, instant gratification if you will. While
medicine isn’t always simple instant results, it can often be.
Rounds went pretty well this morning, nothing really new. After
finishing up rounds, I followed Tom and the medical students to
one of the procedure rooms where they were going to look at
some ulcers on a diabetic ladies feet (sparing the gross details)
and they confirmed that they will have to do some amputation as
long as the woman consents, if she doesn’t she’s gonna lose a lot
more than part of her foot because from what they said it’s
getting worse fast. After that we headed up to the house to await
lunch, not a pleasant prospect following what I just experienced.
After lunch I headed off to school for a few periods with my favorite
students, the SS 1s. I drew some pictures on the board of a butterfly,
caterpillar and a pupa. By no means are they works of art but I was
proud of them nonetheless. The kids were worried I was going to ask
them to draw them on a test, they all think that they have horrible
drawing skills and while in some cases I’m inclined to agree, they
could be worse. After classes I headed back to the hospital. My task
for this afternoon was to assemble two of the bike from my church,
which just meant put the handle bars back on. They’ve been around
for a while but you can’t imagine how hard it is to get the
handlebars and the rest of the bikes together when they are stored
separately. There is always just so much going on we never got
around to it. It would have probably been a while longer if not for
the fact that the medical students want to ride them. So I got the
handlebars on (one was missing the bolt so I had to find a substitute)
and aired up the tires. They are fit for riding, but they need adjusted
for size, which I’m not going to be able to do for Saturday which is
when they wanted to go riding. I’ll explain in a second so as not to
further disturb the chronology of events as I already do badly enough.
After I got that done I had to go to the market to pick up some beer
for beer battered fish. Karen has a guy who she provided fishing lures
for and so he occasionally brings her fish (monstrous fish) and she
likes to prepare them that way. Reverend Usman came for dinner
this evening, he didn’t stay too long after dinner, but it was
interesting to see him outside of a formal setting. After dinner I
decided to read some more. Tomorrow I have to go to Freetown to
pick up an incoming medical student. Karen just found out tonight
that she comes in tomorrow, until tonight she thought the student
was coming Monday, good thing she double checked tonight. We
almost stranded the poor girl. I will be back Saturday, but that will
be too late to prepare the bikes for Laura and Emily (see, I explained
why I can’t do the bikes without interrupting the chronology).
Anyway, that’s about it for tonight, I hope everyone has a great
evening and a great Friday.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
February 9th
I went down to the hospital this morning about 8 or so to join
Laura on rounds. Emily does the pediatric ward, so I’m not really
chomping at the bit to go on rounds with her considering my
love/hate relationship with that ward. Rounds went pretty good
albeit a little slow, the medical students are very thorough, which
is good, but when trying to see over 40 patients that means it
takes a while. We made it to men’s ward and saw most of the
cases before I had to leave to get ready for school. Since they
hadn’t even gone back over the wards with Tom and Karen was
still down at the hospital I just grabbed a couple of snacks for
lunch. Classes went ok. I’m still struggling with the SS 3s, they are
the ones who need the most work and the ones seemed the least
interested in learning. Part of their problem is their study habits,
staying up all night and then only sleeping maybe a few hours a
day so when they come to me at or near the end of the day they
are too mentally fatigued to do anything. I’ve tried and tried to
convince them that this won’t work, to no avail. The others are
doing better at least. We are still making progress a little bit at a
time. After I got home from classes I got to listen to Emily and
Laura go over some of the common intestinal parasites here,
going over transmission, symptoms and treatment. It was
interesting to hear but before Tom allowed me to listen he made
me promise one thing, that I wouldn’t immediately decide that I
had any or all of them, haha. I told him that I am the type of person
who watches a drug commercial and after hearing the symptoms
thinks I have what it treats. A bit silly, I know and I don’t really think
I have it, just a first thought before I discount it. After that I spent
most of the evening relaxing. The weather here is killing me. Not
that it’s really that hot, but the temperature will drop (relatively)
low and then spike back up and I guess it’s not making my body very
happy because I haven’t had much energy lately. On the bright side
I am getting a lot of reading done, which I love so it’s not too
horrible. Nothing else much is really going on.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I went down to the hospital this morning about 8 or so to join
Laura on rounds. Emily does the pediatric ward, so I’m not really
chomping at the bit to go on rounds with her considering my
love/hate relationship with that ward. Rounds went pretty good
albeit a little slow, the medical students are very thorough, which
is good, but when trying to see over 40 patients that means it
takes a while. We made it to men’s ward and saw most of the
cases before I had to leave to get ready for school. Since they
hadn’t even gone back over the wards with Tom and Karen was
still down at the hospital I just grabbed a couple of snacks for
lunch. Classes went ok. I’m still struggling with the SS 3s, they are
the ones who need the most work and the ones seemed the least
interested in learning. Part of their problem is their study habits,
staying up all night and then only sleeping maybe a few hours a
day so when they come to me at or near the end of the day they
are too mentally fatigued to do anything. I’ve tried and tried to
convince them that this won’t work, to no avail. The others are
doing better at least. We are still making progress a little bit at a
time. After I got home from classes I got to listen to Emily and
Laura go over some of the common intestinal parasites here,
going over transmission, symptoms and treatment. It was
interesting to hear but before Tom allowed me to listen he made
me promise one thing, that I wouldn’t immediately decide that I
had any or all of them, haha. I told him that I am the type of person
who watches a drug commercial and after hearing the symptoms
thinks I have what it treats. A bit silly, I know and I don’t really think
I have it, just a first thought before I discount it. After that I spent
most of the evening relaxing. The weather here is killing me. Not
that it’s really that hot, but the temperature will drop (relatively)
low and then spike back up and I guess it’s not making my body very
happy because I haven’t had much energy lately. On the bright side
I am getting a lot of reading done, which I love so it’s not too
horrible. Nothing else much is really going on.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
February 8th
This morning the girls decided to go ahead and eat with us. Tom made
pancakes, they were really good. After we finished eating, Emily, Laura
and I all headed down to the hospital. This morning I rounded on the
women’s ward and then men’s ward with Laura. It was quite a good
experience. She’s going to be a good doctor and it also helped me get
a little more input into the situations. The morning went pretty smoothly
I think. Not too bad overall. I had to leave before we finished rounding on
men’s ward to go get ready for school and to grab something to eat. While
I was going to the restroom I noticed in the mirror that they had missed
some hair around the crown of my skull, and it was sticking straight up…
So I took the clippers and trimmed it down myself. It wasn’t very hard, I
could probably give myself a haircut if I cared to try, which I don’t mind you.
School was again not too exciting. With the SS 3s I did some practical stuff,
identifying chemicals by the way they react to other chemicals, doing serial
dilutions and a couple other things. Then I had the SS 2s for biology. I gave
them their test and then just finished out the period teaching. When I got
back home Tom wasn’t here. So I headed down to the hospital and found
Tom there with Laura and Emily finishing up the clinic. After they finished
up there we headed over to the wards and found things weren’t quite all in
order. So we spent (we being they with me watching) a little over an hour
sorting things out. By the time it was all done with and everything was
sorted out we had set up a patient with meds that desperately needed
them but didn’t have them (the surgery case I observed on the 6th),
ordered some tests on a man likely to die very soon (we don’t know what
he has and they suspect that even if we figure it out his chances aren’t good,
another case of waiting too long) and a little girl with meningitis was gone,
taken home by her parent’s and is pretty much guaranteed to die now. We
have no idea why they left. They were just simply gone. So it was overall
not a very good evening. We all headed down to Pa Kanu’s for a soft drink.
I love Fanta, I was never partial to it at home but it’s such a wonderful
treat here that I think it’s amazing. After that we headed home, prepared
dinner and waited for Karen to arrive. It was nice to see her again (and of
course regain access to the internet, haha). After dinner I went down to
the hospital with the medical students to check on two cases and make
sure they were doing as well as possible, things were ok so we headed back
up and that puts me here, so with that I’ll wrap this up. Have a great evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
This morning the girls decided to go ahead and eat with us. Tom made
pancakes, they were really good. After we finished eating, Emily, Laura
and I all headed down to the hospital. This morning I rounded on the
women’s ward and then men’s ward with Laura. It was quite a good
experience. She’s going to be a good doctor and it also helped me get
a little more input into the situations. The morning went pretty smoothly
I think. Not too bad overall. I had to leave before we finished rounding on
men’s ward to go get ready for school and to grab something to eat. While
I was going to the restroom I noticed in the mirror that they had missed
some hair around the crown of my skull, and it was sticking straight up…
So I took the clippers and trimmed it down myself. It wasn’t very hard, I
could probably give myself a haircut if I cared to try, which I don’t mind you.
School was again not too exciting. With the SS 3s I did some practical stuff,
identifying chemicals by the way they react to other chemicals, doing serial
dilutions and a couple other things. Then I had the SS 2s for biology. I gave
them their test and then just finished out the period teaching. When I got
back home Tom wasn’t here. So I headed down to the hospital and found
Tom there with Laura and Emily finishing up the clinic. After they finished
up there we headed over to the wards and found things weren’t quite all in
order. So we spent (we being they with me watching) a little over an hour
sorting things out. By the time it was all done with and everything was
sorted out we had set up a patient with meds that desperately needed
them but didn’t have them (the surgery case I observed on the 6th),
ordered some tests on a man likely to die very soon (we don’t know what
he has and they suspect that even if we figure it out his chances aren’t good,
another case of waiting too long) and a little girl with meningitis was gone,
taken home by her parent’s and is pretty much guaranteed to die now. We
have no idea why they left. They were just simply gone. So it was overall
not a very good evening. We all headed down to Pa Kanu’s for a soft drink.
I love Fanta, I was never partial to it at home but it’s such a wonderful
treat here that I think it’s amazing. After that we headed home, prepared
dinner and waited for Karen to arrive. It was nice to see her again (and of
course regain access to the internet, haha). After dinner I went down to
the hospital with the medical students to check on two cases and make
sure they were doing as well as possible, things were ok so we headed back
up and that puts me here, so with that I’ll wrap this up. Have a great evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
February 7th
This morning it was just Tom and I for breakfast. The medical students
decided to go down to the hospital and skip breakfast to start on
preliminary rounds. They wanted to have a chance to have more input
on the patients and if Tom is there it would be harder. Anyway, after
finishing breakfast, I headed down to the hospital because I didn’t want
to miss too much of the preliminary rounds because once Tom goes
back around to see the patients that the medical students have already
reviewed I would miss my favorite part, the diagnosing. I love to hear
the symptoms, see how the patient looks and do my best to try and
figure out what’s going on. Not that I can do a whole lot considering I
have no medical training but I have seen many cases and so I try. I think
I may over voice my opinion, I haven’t really asked, but Laura and Emily
say that they think I have a good thought process for medicine, that I ask
good questions. So that makes me feel good. I went with Tom and Emily
to review the Pediatric and OB wards. That went ok then we moved
onto women’s ward where it was the three of us and Laura was leading
through the patients. We got through women’s and moved onto men’s,
we finished men’s medical side and then I had to head up to the house to
make lunch. I also did some prep work for classes today. After lunch I
headed off to school. School went well, except that I forgot it was the first
Monday of the month and so they have their chapel session and the first
two classes of the day are essentially canceled. I only miss one period
since I don’t start till the second period but I was mildly annoyed
(couldn’t be too upset, I did forget) because I was planning on giving the
SS 2s a test but that had to be put off until tomorrow. The SS 3s and 1s
got their tests today. Other than that classes went fine today, still making
small progress. After classes I headed back up to the house to prepare
dinner. I had offered to do so since they would be in the hospital all day
and teaching isn’t all that stressful. I made a new dish this evening; it was
called Impossible Cheeseburger Pie. It came out real good but the whole
time I was cooking it stressed me out because things were just not going
as they were supposed to. But the end result was good so I’m happy. After
dinner I had Emily and Laura take a stab at cutting my hair. They just used
an electric trimmer so it wasn’t exactly complicated. They did a pretty good
job. Emily did the rough job cutting off most of the hair then Laura did the
fine trimming and such. They had fun doing it interestingly enough. I’m glad
it came out ok but I didn’t care that much, I just wanted the hair gone; it’s too
hot for long hair (not that it was really that long, probably just over an inch).
And that brings me to where I
sit, writing this entry, so I guess that’s all. Have a great evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
This morning it was just Tom and I for breakfast. The medical students
decided to go down to the hospital and skip breakfast to start on
preliminary rounds. They wanted to have a chance to have more input
on the patients and if Tom is there it would be harder. Anyway, after
finishing breakfast, I headed down to the hospital because I didn’t want
to miss too much of the preliminary rounds because once Tom goes
back around to see the patients that the medical students have already
reviewed I would miss my favorite part, the diagnosing. I love to hear
the symptoms, see how the patient looks and do my best to try and
figure out what’s going on. Not that I can do a whole lot considering I
have no medical training but I have seen many cases and so I try. I think
I may over voice my opinion, I haven’t really asked, but Laura and Emily
say that they think I have a good thought process for medicine, that I ask
good questions. So that makes me feel good. I went with Tom and Emily
to review the Pediatric and OB wards. That went ok then we moved
onto women’s ward where it was the three of us and Laura was leading
through the patients. We got through women’s and moved onto men’s,
we finished men’s medical side and then I had to head up to the house to
make lunch. I also did some prep work for classes today. After lunch I
headed off to school. School went well, except that I forgot it was the first
Monday of the month and so they have their chapel session and the first
two classes of the day are essentially canceled. I only miss one period
since I don’t start till the second period but I was mildly annoyed
(couldn’t be too upset, I did forget) because I was planning on giving the
SS 2s a test but that had to be put off until tomorrow. The SS 3s and 1s
got their tests today. Other than that classes went fine today, still making
small progress. After classes I headed back up to the house to prepare
dinner. I had offered to do so since they would be in the hospital all day
and teaching isn’t all that stressful. I made a new dish this evening; it was
called Impossible Cheeseburger Pie. It came out real good but the whole
time I was cooking it stressed me out because things were just not going
as they were supposed to. But the end result was good so I’m happy. After
dinner I had Emily and Laura take a stab at cutting my hair. They just used
an electric trimmer so it wasn’t exactly complicated. They did a pretty good
job. Emily did the rough job cutting off most of the hair then Laura did the
fine trimming and such. They had fun doing it interestingly enough. I’m glad
it came out ok but I didn’t care that much, I just wanted the hair gone; it’s too
hot for long hair (not that it was really that long, probably just over an inch).
And that brings me to where I
sit, writing this entry, so I guess that’s all. Have a great evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
February 6th
Today was a nice day, in a way. We had breakfast at about 7:15ish
(normally we do it later on the weekend but the engineers were
leaving this morning). After they finished up and headed out I gave
Kelsey, Kim, and her sons a tour of the team house and the hospital
before seeing them off. After they left I did the breakfast dishes
then moved the fold out beds from the house where Kim and the
others stayed. Tom, Emily and Laura were too busy at the hospital
to go to church. Later, I decided to read my bible, while I was
reading my bible I accidently fell asleep for a little over an hour and
only woke up when Emily and Laura got to the house for lunch. So I
had to get up and get lunch made really quickly. I just made some
chicken soup and threw in a can of mixed vegetables, it was actually
really good. After lunch we went down to the hospital because there
was a man who had symptoms suggesting a possible bowel
perforation. So Tom was going to do an exploratory laparotomy
(sorry to the squeamish) which is where they cut into the abdomen
and “explore” the abdominal region to determine the source of
abdominal problems. I got to observe and it was absolutely
fascinating. I had less trouble watching this procedure than
watching a c-section. I won’t give the details for the sake of all of
you who don’t want to know, but I really enjoyed it (as morbid as
that might be). He did have a hole in his intestine. I just hope now
that he makes it alright after having to go through the operation,
but that’s to be seen. The procedure finished around 5:30 so after
getting him all settled in the men’s ward we headed back to the
house. I made dinner for us tonight. I made chicken chili, I think
it’s really good and everyone told me that they enjoyed it. After we
ate we spent a while just sitting around the table talking. At about
8 or so we headed down to the hospital to see the man and check
on how he is doing. Not much change since earlier other than that
he had woken up and was aware. They checked on a couple other
patients while we were down there. We stopped in the pediatric
ward. Still not a ward I like very much, there is a little girl with
malaria and meningitis and not doing very well, that always make
me sad. I know, I’m a glutton for punishment, going there knowing
how it makes me feel, but it’s also too interesting to avoid. After
that we headed back up to the house where Tom and I spent a
while talking. Then we realized we’d forgotten to clean the water
filter and so we took care of that. That’s about all for my day today;
it was pretty interesting but not too busy. Have a great night!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Today was a nice day, in a way. We had breakfast at about 7:15ish
(normally we do it later on the weekend but the engineers were
leaving this morning). After they finished up and headed out I gave
Kelsey, Kim, and her sons a tour of the team house and the hospital
before seeing them off. After they left I did the breakfast dishes
then moved the fold out beds from the house where Kim and the
others stayed. Tom, Emily and Laura were too busy at the hospital
to go to church. Later, I decided to read my bible, while I was
reading my bible I accidently fell asleep for a little over an hour and
only woke up when Emily and Laura got to the house for lunch. So I
had to get up and get lunch made really quickly. I just made some
chicken soup and threw in a can of mixed vegetables, it was actually
really good. After lunch we went down to the hospital because there
was a man who had symptoms suggesting a possible bowel
perforation. So Tom was going to do an exploratory laparotomy
(sorry to the squeamish) which is where they cut into the abdomen
and “explore” the abdominal region to determine the source of
abdominal problems. I got to observe and it was absolutely
fascinating. I had less trouble watching this procedure than
watching a c-section. I won’t give the details for the sake of all of
you who don’t want to know, but I really enjoyed it (as morbid as
that might be). He did have a hole in his intestine. I just hope now
that he makes it alright after having to go through the operation,
but that’s to be seen. The procedure finished around 5:30 so after
getting him all settled in the men’s ward we headed back to the
house. I made dinner for us tonight. I made chicken chili, I think
it’s really good and everyone told me that they enjoyed it. After we
ate we spent a while just sitting around the table talking. At about
8 or so we headed down to the hospital to see the man and check
on how he is doing. Not much change since earlier other than that
he had woken up and was aware. They checked on a couple other
patients while we were down there. We stopped in the pediatric
ward. Still not a ward I like very much, there is a little girl with
malaria and meningitis and not doing very well, that always make
me sad. I know, I’m a glutton for punishment, going there knowing
how it makes me feel, but it’s also too interesting to avoid. After
that we headed back up to the house where Tom and I spent a
while talking. Then we realized we’d forgotten to clean the water
filter and so we took care of that. That’s about all for my day today;
it was pretty interesting but not too busy. Have a great night!
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
February 5th
So, today was a pretty fun day. I went for a little walk this
morning around 10:30, not very far because then I thought
maybe Laura and Emily might like to go since they haven’t
really gotten off hospital grounds since they arrived. But I
got back to find that they were doing some things at the
hospital and couldn’t go. So Tom and I went downtown in
the car to try and find some tomatoes at the market and to
get some bread. We were unable to get any tomatoes, all
they had were these little ones that look like cherry
tomatoes but are very sour, not very good. So we grabbed
some bread and headed up to the house. Around the time
we got back to the house a van came up to the house. It
was Kim from the Women’s Hope group. With her were
two of her kids, Tiana and Jeremiah as well as Kelsey.
Kelsey helps her with the program in some way, I’m afraid
I’ve forgotten what she does exactly. I met her once before
but I don’t remember if I wrote about it. That was back in
October. Anyway, Kim was coming to have a small operation
done. We had to arrange lunch while Tom and Karen were
the procedure which was interesting. We made some of the
Kraft macaroni and cheese the medical students brought
which was wonderful. It’s been so long since I’ve had
macaroni and cheese like that, since before I left for here I
know for sure. After lunch I took Kelsey and the two kids
downtown to see Kamakwie since they had never been
here. We stopped at Pa Kanu’s and one of the guys working
referred to me as Jeremiah’s father. They are pretty quick
to make assumptions. When they see me with a girl near my
age she must be my wife. An older woman or man must be
my father or mother and a kid must be my kid. Oh well.
Jeremiah wasn’t too happy about it but I just laughed. We
got some drinks and after we finished them I showed them
a little more of Kamakwie and then we headed up to the
house. We got back a little before four, when we were
supposed to meet Emily and Laura and then go on another
walk. We saw them there and they said they had stuff to
do at the hospital so they couldn’t go, which was ok since
I was tired. So I spent some time talking to Kelsey. About
five or so she and I took her stuff down to their room where
they were going to be staying only to find out we had been
given the wrong key. So we called for the right one and just
sat waiting for it to come talking, about life, music,
anything really. About 20 minutes later the lady came with
the key so we had to go in only to find out that the second
bed supposed to be in the room had been moved. So we
had the second bed from one of the other rooms back to
where it belonged. It was quite an adventure trying to
maneuver it through all the doorways, the bedroom door,
the outside door, into the other room and finally into the
other room’s bedroom. Once we got that done we got
everything moved in and got the fold out beds set up for
the two kids. By time we got everything done and set up it
was dinner time so we headed up to the house. After
dinner I talked with Kelsey a bit more before we headed
into the living room where a game of four-way monkey in
the middle ensued. Those two kids had way too much
energy but it was really fun. We played for probably about
an hour. But at about 8:30 they had to head down to their
place to get ready for bed. After they left I talked with Tom
and Karen for a bit before heading over to the team house
to get the internet stick so I could send this blog out
tonight, on time for once, since Karen leaves in the morning
for a few days. I got over there and had to wait while they
finished up a few things and while I waited Gary showed me
a few videos on his computer. One was hilarious it was a
rabbit attacking and chasing a snake off. It was great! Once
they were done I walked home only to be asked to carry
some suitcases over to the team house. After I finished that
I sat down to write this blog, so that’s about it. I hope you
are all ok. I’m going to try and stay on top of my blogs so
you don’t have to wait so much anymore. I’m sorry I’ve
been so bad about it. Have a great week. I’ll write again
when Karen gets back.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So, today was a pretty fun day. I went for a little walk this
morning around 10:30, not very far because then I thought
maybe Laura and Emily might like to go since they haven’t
really gotten off hospital grounds since they arrived. But I
got back to find that they were doing some things at the
hospital and couldn’t go. So Tom and I went downtown in
the car to try and find some tomatoes at the market and to
get some bread. We were unable to get any tomatoes, all
they had were these little ones that look like cherry
tomatoes but are very sour, not very good. So we grabbed
some bread and headed up to the house. Around the time
we got back to the house a van came up to the house. It
was Kim from the Women’s Hope group. With her were
two of her kids, Tiana and Jeremiah as well as Kelsey.
Kelsey helps her with the program in some way, I’m afraid
I’ve forgotten what she does exactly. I met her once before
but I don’t remember if I wrote about it. That was back in
October. Anyway, Kim was coming to have a small operation
done. We had to arrange lunch while Tom and Karen were
the procedure which was interesting. We made some of the
Kraft macaroni and cheese the medical students brought
which was wonderful. It’s been so long since I’ve had
macaroni and cheese like that, since before I left for here I
know for sure. After lunch I took Kelsey and the two kids
downtown to see Kamakwie since they had never been
here. We stopped at Pa Kanu’s and one of the guys working
referred to me as Jeremiah’s father. They are pretty quick
to make assumptions. When they see me with a girl near my
age she must be my wife. An older woman or man must be
my father or mother and a kid must be my kid. Oh well.
Jeremiah wasn’t too happy about it but I just laughed. We
got some drinks and after we finished them I showed them
a little more of Kamakwie and then we headed up to the
house. We got back a little before four, when we were
supposed to meet Emily and Laura and then go on another
walk. We saw them there and they said they had stuff to
do at the hospital so they couldn’t go, which was ok since
I was tired. So I spent some time talking to Kelsey. About
five or so she and I took her stuff down to their room where
they were going to be staying only to find out we had been
given the wrong key. So we called for the right one and just
sat waiting for it to come talking, about life, music,
anything really. About 20 minutes later the lady came with
the key so we had to go in only to find out that the second
bed supposed to be in the room had been moved. So we
had the second bed from one of the other rooms back to
where it belonged. It was quite an adventure trying to
maneuver it through all the doorways, the bedroom door,
the outside door, into the other room and finally into the
other room’s bedroom. Once we got that done we got
everything moved in and got the fold out beds set up for
the two kids. By time we got everything done and set up it
was dinner time so we headed up to the house. After
dinner I talked with Kelsey a bit more before we headed
into the living room where a game of four-way monkey in
the middle ensued. Those two kids had way too much
energy but it was really fun. We played for probably about
an hour. But at about 8:30 they had to head down to their
place to get ready for bed. After they left I talked with Tom
and Karen for a bit before heading over to the team house
to get the internet stick so I could send this blog out
tonight, on time for once, since Karen leaves in the morning
for a few days. I got over there and had to wait while they
finished up a few things and while I waited Gary showed me
a few videos on his computer. One was hilarious it was a
rabbit attacking and chasing a snake off. It was great! Once
they were done I walked home only to be asked to carry
some suitcases over to the team house. After I finished that
I sat down to write this blog, so that’s about it. I hope you
are all ok. I’m going to try and stay on top of my blogs so
you don’t have to wait so much anymore. I’m sorry I’ve
been so bad about it. Have a great week. I’ll write again
when Karen gets back.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
February 4th
Another less than exciting morning, I decided I wasn’t up to going
down to the hospital. I just felt like writing so I spent some time
working on a story, got four pages in and then decided I didn’t like
it and it wasn’t turning out how it had in my mind so I decided to
stop writing it. Classes today were ok, I only had two of my three
classes. They canceled the last class of the day to pass out report
cards from first term, four weeks into second term. Talk about
slow. With the SS 1s I just finished going over cockroaches. I tried
to draw a cockroach but I don’t think I did a very good job. The
students thought so though, so I guess that’s ok. I tried to at least
give them an idea of part placement on the cockroach even if I
couldn’t show them what the parts actually look like. I had to give
them a little talking to about studying before the test so that if
they have any questions they can ask me. The day of the test is
too late for that. Class with my SS 2s wasn’t so good. I was not
very happy with them. The majority of them failed my quiz/test.
Only one kid obtained a passing grade before I curved it. I was
worried maybe it was too hard but when I asked who studied
only half the kids said they had at all, and the ones who had said
they’d studied only on Wednesday. So I had to have a chat with
them about what they should be and what their current level
of effort was going to get them, absolutely nothing. I told them
if they didn’t start working NOW then when WASSCE time
comes for them next year they would fail. They seemed to
understand, but we’ll see. I’ve had similar talks with them
before. I also explained the advantages of studying before the
day of the test with them. After class I visited Solomon for a
little bit. He told me about a guy who had come in last night
unable to pass urine. The guy told him that it hurt so much that
he prayed to die, then thought about how painful dying could
be then prayed that he wouldn’t die. I guess that doesn’t seem
very humorous, but it did a little when Solomon told me. After
dinner I waited until 8 to take a board game over to where
the two nursing students and the guys from Itech are staying,
Settlers of Catan. When I got there I heard they went to the
hospital to see a snake-bite victim. When I got there they told
me the boy had died. He was fourteen years old. A death is
never easy, but it seems particularly hard when it’s someone
that young. I mean I literally watched a man die before my
eyes and that wasn’t as hard as just hearing about the death
of someone that young. And it’s not like he was careless or
anything. He had been in his home, reached into a cupboard
to get something and wham, done. Every time I see or hear
about someone dying here it’s like somebody plunges a
dagger into my heart. It makes me so sad. Not only does it
seem fair to die (especially so young) but life is hard enough,
but it also leaves the family to go on without the person. I
can’t by any means fathom that is easy by any margin. One
of my college friends died last year and that was hard enough,
but to lose a family member so prematurely, I can’t imagine.
Karen told me it would be hard, and it is. I don’t think it’s too
hard to deal with but it takes a little time for the occurrence
to settle. Anyway, I don’t mean to be a downer. I don’t know
if those of you who read this do this regularly. But these
people need all the prayers they can get, so the more the
better. Thanks. Anyway, after that we returned to the house
and set up the board game and played a game. Emily ended
up winning. I did pretty poorly. I hedged my bets around a
couple of numbers of high probability numbers but they didn’t
roll much and I couldn’t get the resources I needed. I only had
four points by the games end. Well, that about wraps up the
fluffy bunny, rainbow experiences for the day. Night all.
God bless,
Ryan Brooks
Another less than exciting morning, I decided I wasn’t up to going
down to the hospital. I just felt like writing so I spent some time
working on a story, got four pages in and then decided I didn’t like
it and it wasn’t turning out how it had in my mind so I decided to
stop writing it. Classes today were ok, I only had two of my three
classes. They canceled the last class of the day to pass out report
cards from first term, four weeks into second term. Talk about
slow. With the SS 1s I just finished going over cockroaches. I tried
to draw a cockroach but I don’t think I did a very good job. The
students thought so though, so I guess that’s ok. I tried to at least
give them an idea of part placement on the cockroach even if I
couldn’t show them what the parts actually look like. I had to give
them a little talking to about studying before the test so that if
they have any questions they can ask me. The day of the test is
too late for that. Class with my SS 2s wasn’t so good. I was not
very happy with them. The majority of them failed my quiz/test.
Only one kid obtained a passing grade before I curved it. I was
worried maybe it was too hard but when I asked who studied
only half the kids said they had at all, and the ones who had said
they’d studied only on Wednesday. So I had to have a chat with
them about what they should be and what their current level
of effort was going to get them, absolutely nothing. I told them
if they didn’t start working NOW then when WASSCE time
comes for them next year they would fail. They seemed to
understand, but we’ll see. I’ve had similar talks with them
before. I also explained the advantages of studying before the
day of the test with them. After class I visited Solomon for a
little bit. He told me about a guy who had come in last night
unable to pass urine. The guy told him that it hurt so much that
he prayed to die, then thought about how painful dying could
be then prayed that he wouldn’t die. I guess that doesn’t seem
very humorous, but it did a little when Solomon told me. After
dinner I waited until 8 to take a board game over to where
the two nursing students and the guys from Itech are staying,
Settlers of Catan. When I got there I heard they went to the
hospital to see a snake-bite victim. When I got there they told
me the boy had died. He was fourteen years old. A death is
never easy, but it seems particularly hard when it’s someone
that young. I mean I literally watched a man die before my
eyes and that wasn’t as hard as just hearing about the death
of someone that young. And it’s not like he was careless or
anything. He had been in his home, reached into a cupboard
to get something and wham, done. Every time I see or hear
about someone dying here it’s like somebody plunges a
dagger into my heart. It makes me so sad. Not only does it
seem fair to die (especially so young) but life is hard enough,
but it also leaves the family to go on without the person. I
can’t by any means fathom that is easy by any margin. One
of my college friends died last year and that was hard enough,
but to lose a family member so prematurely, I can’t imagine.
Karen told me it would be hard, and it is. I don’t think it’s too
hard to deal with but it takes a little time for the occurrence
to settle. Anyway, I don’t mean to be a downer. I don’t know
if those of you who read this do this regularly. But these
people need all the prayers they can get, so the more the
better. Thanks. Anyway, after that we returned to the house
and set up the board game and played a game. Emily ended
up winning. I did pretty poorly. I hedged my bets around a
couple of numbers of high probability numbers but they didn’t
roll much and I couldn’t get the resources I needed. I only had
four points by the games end. Well, that about wraps up the
fluffy bunny, rainbow experiences for the day. Night all.
God bless,
Ryan Brooks
February 3rd
So today went pretty well. I started out the morning going around
the women’s ward with Dr. Tom and part way through the medical
student Laura joined us. One lady has what is called
spleenomegaly, which is an enlarged spleen, and hers was huge.
It was so large you could see it bulging all the way down her side.
Normally you can’t see it at all but hers was clearly visible. Usually
here it’s due to prolonged malaria which attacks the red blood
cells and the destroyed red blood cells get stored there. Sure, you
probably don’t care to know about that, but it’s my blog and I can
do what I want so there. Haha, anyway, we continued on in the
ward but then I had to go help Alusine out. He’s been sick the last
couple of days but doesn’t have the means to pay for a visit to the
hospital. When he gets sick his method is to scrape together
whatever little he can run to one of the town pharmacy’s, buy
some Tylenol and take it. Not gonna work when you likely have
stomach parasites. So I got him registered to see the outpatient
nurse then returned to the wards. I went with Tom and Emily to
see the pediatric ward. I still have a love hate relationship with
that ward. The kids are cute but I can’t stand to see them sick.
Anyway, today wasn’t too bad, most of the kids were healthy.
Just as we were about to finish Alusine let me know he was done
so I went over to help him get his medicines. He also had to give
the lab a sample to test for parasites, which he couldn’t do until
the afternoon. Since I had to be teaching then I left the money
with Tom for anything he might need to get. I was right about
him having parasites but they set him up with the meds and that
should be all handled. Overall paying for his visit, lab test, and
medicine cost me very little (I wish I could get health care that
cheap) but he could never have paid that himself since his only
living family is his grandmother and she doesn’t work. He is at
the orphanage but I guess they don’t have provisions for the
kid’s healthcare because he said he’s not been to the hospital
since he was a very small child. Anyway, teaching went ok today.
I took the cockroach I had caught before to school to show to the
SS 1s, they laughed that I had actually caught one. I passed it
around but most of them didn’t want to hold it so I’m not sure
how much they saw it. I didn’t pay attention as I kept teaching as
they passed it around. I was two periods into my three with them
when they told me that it was time to go. They had to go up to
the school proper and register for their “house” one of four
groups they break the kids up into for spring sports. They do
track type stuff for their spring sports. It could be interesting
but I’m hoping they don’t let it interfere with school too
much. The teacher’s tell me it is part of their curriculum that
the kids do spring sports. So I let them go do that and headed
home and finished off the book I was reading. It was really
good. After dinner Laura, Emily and I were playing a game
called Bananagrams. I did really bad the first game. Then
Karen joined us. I proceeded to win the second one, lost a few
more and then won the last two. I don’t know if you know what
the game is, but it’s like speed scrabble. Each person has their
own tiles and has to make their own words. You work your way
through the tiles one at a time and the first person to use all
their tiles after they’ve all been taken wins. You have to keep
the words all connected just like traditional scrabble. It was fun.
I am particularly proud of my words I used to win the last game.
I had most of the letters to spell the word triumvirate and so I
decided I was going to build my puzzle around it. I made some
other words, like zealot, winnow, and fie. All four of which
were contested and I had to use a dictionary to prove it. I didn’t
even care if I won, I just wanted to spell triumvirate (part of my
obsession with Ancient Rome I guess). I didn’t have the T I
needed but I kept waiting and it paid off, I got it and ended up
winning. Of course, due to my use of several bigger words I
several pitiful words like pig, gum and so. Anyway, that was the
finisher for this evening (other than that we just learned that
our two cats are not in fact female but male, four months after
we got them…). Oh, and I called and talked to my dad which was
really nice but I didn’t get to say bye because I wasn’t paying
attention to how long the call was going and used up all my time.
Which makes me sad since it’s my Grandpa’s birthday and I don’t
have any credit left with which to call him. I’ll just have to call him
tomorrow after I’ve gotten some credit. Anyway, that will actually
wrap this entry in my adventure up. I wish you all a good evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So today went pretty well. I started out the morning going around
the women’s ward with Dr. Tom and part way through the medical
student Laura joined us. One lady has what is called
spleenomegaly, which is an enlarged spleen, and hers was huge.
It was so large you could see it bulging all the way down her side.
Normally you can’t see it at all but hers was clearly visible. Usually
here it’s due to prolonged malaria which attacks the red blood
cells and the destroyed red blood cells get stored there. Sure, you
probably don’t care to know about that, but it’s my blog and I can
do what I want so there. Haha, anyway, we continued on in the
ward but then I had to go help Alusine out. He’s been sick the last
couple of days but doesn’t have the means to pay for a visit to the
hospital. When he gets sick his method is to scrape together
whatever little he can run to one of the town pharmacy’s, buy
some Tylenol and take it. Not gonna work when you likely have
stomach parasites. So I got him registered to see the outpatient
nurse then returned to the wards. I went with Tom and Emily to
see the pediatric ward. I still have a love hate relationship with
that ward. The kids are cute but I can’t stand to see them sick.
Anyway, today wasn’t too bad, most of the kids were healthy.
Just as we were about to finish Alusine let me know he was done
so I went over to help him get his medicines. He also had to give
the lab a sample to test for parasites, which he couldn’t do until
the afternoon. Since I had to be teaching then I left the money
with Tom for anything he might need to get. I was right about
him having parasites but they set him up with the meds and that
should be all handled. Overall paying for his visit, lab test, and
medicine cost me very little (I wish I could get health care that
cheap) but he could never have paid that himself since his only
living family is his grandmother and she doesn’t work. He is at
the orphanage but I guess they don’t have provisions for the
kid’s healthcare because he said he’s not been to the hospital
since he was a very small child. Anyway, teaching went ok today.
I took the cockroach I had caught before to school to show to the
SS 1s, they laughed that I had actually caught one. I passed it
around but most of them didn’t want to hold it so I’m not sure
how much they saw it. I didn’t pay attention as I kept teaching as
they passed it around. I was two periods into my three with them
when they told me that it was time to go. They had to go up to
the school proper and register for their “house” one of four
groups they break the kids up into for spring sports. They do
track type stuff for their spring sports. It could be interesting
but I’m hoping they don’t let it interfere with school too
much. The teacher’s tell me it is part of their curriculum that
the kids do spring sports. So I let them go do that and headed
home and finished off the book I was reading. It was really
good. After dinner Laura, Emily and I were playing a game
called Bananagrams. I did really bad the first game. Then
Karen joined us. I proceeded to win the second one, lost a few
more and then won the last two. I don’t know if you know what
the game is, but it’s like speed scrabble. Each person has their
own tiles and has to make their own words. You work your way
through the tiles one at a time and the first person to use all
their tiles after they’ve all been taken wins. You have to keep
the words all connected just like traditional scrabble. It was fun.
I am particularly proud of my words I used to win the last game.
I had most of the letters to spell the word triumvirate and so I
decided I was going to build my puzzle around it. I made some
other words, like zealot, winnow, and fie. All four of which
were contested and I had to use a dictionary to prove it. I didn’t
even care if I won, I just wanted to spell triumvirate (part of my
obsession with Ancient Rome I guess). I didn’t have the T I
needed but I kept waiting and it paid off, I got it and ended up
winning. Of course, due to my use of several bigger words I
several pitiful words like pig, gum and so. Anyway, that was the
finisher for this evening (other than that we just learned that
our two cats are not in fact female but male, four months after
we got them…). Oh, and I called and talked to my dad which was
really nice but I didn’t get to say bye because I wasn’t paying
attention to how long the call was going and used up all my time.
Which makes me sad since it’s my Grandpa’s birthday and I don’t
have any credit left with which to call him. I’ll just have to call him
tomorrow after I’ve gotten some credit. Anyway, that will actually
wrap this entry in my adventure up. I wish you all a good evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
February 2nd
Today was not the most terribly exciting of days today.
I spent the morning writing some chemistry exams for
my SS 1s and 2s. After I finished that I spent some time
reading some article on Wikipedia. The internet here
isn’t great but it is good enough to let me load Wikipedia.
Some people may dispute the information there but it is
well cited and so I think it’s pretty correct. Lately I’ve
been reading about the Ancient Romans, their kingdom,
republic, empire and finally the fall. I love Ancient Rome,
which is why getting to go there was like a dream come
true. I went for a mission’s trip which was great but being
in Rome was just awesome! I am so going back one day,
for longer, and hopefully I can arrange some friends to go
with me. I know some who would like to go. Anyway, back
to now and Africa. I administered tests to my SS 1s and my
SS 2s. They were far from thrilled but one can’t fault them
for that, I always hated tests. My SS 3s still have theirs
coming up. Three guys from Itech arrived today, Tom (who
was hear back in November for the celebration) Gary and
Gene. They are all three pretty nice. They came for a
couple of days to work on the electrical systems he
hopefully they can do some stuff now too. They are trying
to make plans for an upcoming renovation to the hospital.
The hospital wants to grow but currently power is the
limiting factor. Anyway, I had a pretty relaxed evening
reading. I don’t what’s up exactly but I haven’t felt much
like going out at night like I used to. I think I’m just feeling
a little homesick. While it has seemed like the past four
months has gone fast, thinking about the roughly four
more to come has me a little down. I love the people here
but I am going to be so glad to see all of you when I come
home. Plus I think I’m just a little stressed out by everything.
I really need to work on some practical stuff for classes and I
don’t have any idea what to do really. I haven’t done this
type of lab stuff since general chemistry. The lab work I’ve
done over the last few years at school is way too complex
for here so I just need to try and figure out what I’m doing.
Anyway, not to make it seem like I’m too down. I’m not
really, it’s just a little bit and I’m not surprised in the least
bit. Anyway, have a good evening. I hope you are all well.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Today was not the most terribly exciting of days today.
I spent the morning writing some chemistry exams for
my SS 1s and 2s. After I finished that I spent some time
reading some article on Wikipedia. The internet here
isn’t great but it is good enough to let me load Wikipedia.
Some people may dispute the information there but it is
well cited and so I think it’s pretty correct. Lately I’ve
been reading about the Ancient Romans, their kingdom,
republic, empire and finally the fall. I love Ancient Rome,
which is why getting to go there was like a dream come
true. I went for a mission’s trip which was great but being
in Rome was just awesome! I am so going back one day,
for longer, and hopefully I can arrange some friends to go
with me. I know some who would like to go. Anyway, back
to now and Africa. I administered tests to my SS 1s and my
SS 2s. They were far from thrilled but one can’t fault them
for that, I always hated tests. My SS 3s still have theirs
coming up. Three guys from Itech arrived today, Tom (who
was hear back in November for the celebration) Gary and
Gene. They are all three pretty nice. They came for a
couple of days to work on the electrical systems he
hopefully they can do some stuff now too. They are trying
to make plans for an upcoming renovation to the hospital.
The hospital wants to grow but currently power is the
limiting factor. Anyway, I had a pretty relaxed evening
reading. I don’t what’s up exactly but I haven’t felt much
like going out at night like I used to. I think I’m just feeling
a little homesick. While it has seemed like the past four
months has gone fast, thinking about the roughly four
more to come has me a little down. I love the people here
but I am going to be so glad to see all of you when I come
home. Plus I think I’m just a little stressed out by everything.
I really need to work on some practical stuff for classes and I
don’t have any idea what to do really. I haven’t done this
type of lab stuff since general chemistry. The lab work I’ve
done over the last few years at school is way too complex
for here so I just need to try and figure out what I’m doing.
Anyway, not to make it seem like I’m too down. I’m not
really, it’s just a little bit and I’m not surprised in the least
bit. Anyway, have a good evening. I hope you are all well.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
February 1st
Boy did it get hot today. It hit 102 degrees today during
the afternoon. I didn’t know it was that hot but I totally
believe it. I felt really faint in the middle of class. I was
sweating badly so I thought maybe I was getting sick
again. Classes were ok other than that. But after I got
home and got some water after classes and I started to
feel much better. I did go on rounds today, I miss going
on rounds everyday because I really enjoy it but it’s not
why I’m here so I can’t let it interfere with teaching and
any preparations that go along with that. After classes at
around 5 I got to have another lesson on the bike. I went
all the way to Kamakwie 3 and back, and went around
Kamakwie 1 a little bit. I think I’m getting better at
starting the bike and getting going without stalling. The
clutch is very touchy so as you try to let it go to get
moving you have to release it very slowly or you stall. As
I was passing a roundabout this guy comes flying down a
hill on a bicycle and he sort of just stared at me shortly
before slamming into a cement retaining wall. He flew off
the bike, over the wall and between two metal signs. He
got very lucky overall I would say. The wall was short so
the crash didn’t throw him into it and there could have
been serious injury if he had hit one of the signs. As it was
his knee got messed up and his bike was totaled (the front
fork bent back so far the tire actually touches the frame
of the bike. Plus the front wheel is mangled. At first I felt
bad thinking I had distracted him (not that that would be
my fault anyway. It’s not my responsibility to keep people
from staring at me just for being white). But I found out he
hit the wall because his breaks gave out (poor planning on
his part so I didn’t really feel like I was at fault anymore.
Solomon took him to the hospital and then gave him a ride
home. He’s a really nice guy to do that. After that fiasco I
returned to the house for dinner. After dinner I was in my
room reading when I heard a “whack” sound several times.
I came to investigate and found that Abdul had just
finished killing a black mamba in the back yard. That was a
real comforting thought. Black mamba in the back yard,
great… Anyway, that’s about all for my evening. Hope you
all have a great night.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Boy did it get hot today. It hit 102 degrees today during
the afternoon. I didn’t know it was that hot but I totally
believe it. I felt really faint in the middle of class. I was
sweating badly so I thought maybe I was getting sick
again. Classes were ok other than that. But after I got
home and got some water after classes and I started to
feel much better. I did go on rounds today, I miss going
on rounds everyday because I really enjoy it but it’s not
why I’m here so I can’t let it interfere with teaching and
any preparations that go along with that. After classes at
around 5 I got to have another lesson on the bike. I went
all the way to Kamakwie 3 and back, and went around
Kamakwie 1 a little bit. I think I’m getting better at
starting the bike and getting going without stalling. The
clutch is very touchy so as you try to let it go to get
moving you have to release it very slowly or you stall. As
I was passing a roundabout this guy comes flying down a
hill on a bicycle and he sort of just stared at me shortly
before slamming into a cement retaining wall. He flew off
the bike, over the wall and between two metal signs. He
got very lucky overall I would say. The wall was short so
the crash didn’t throw him into it and there could have
been serious injury if he had hit one of the signs. As it was
his knee got messed up and his bike was totaled (the front
fork bent back so far the tire actually touches the frame
of the bike. Plus the front wheel is mangled. At first I felt
bad thinking I had distracted him (not that that would be
my fault anyway. It’s not my responsibility to keep people
from staring at me just for being white). But I found out he
hit the wall because his breaks gave out (poor planning on
his part so I didn’t really feel like I was at fault anymore.
Solomon took him to the hospital and then gave him a ride
home. He’s a really nice guy to do that. After that fiasco I
returned to the house for dinner. After dinner I was in my
room reading when I heard a “whack” sound several times.
I came to investigate and found that Abdul had just
finished killing a black mamba in the back yard. That was a
real comforting thought. Black mamba in the back yard,
great… Anyway, that’s about all for my evening. Hope you
all have a great night.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 31st
Today was Monday, so I didn’t go on rounds today. Not
only do I not like going on the ground rounds (when Tom,
Solomon and LA go together) but I also had some
preparing to do for classes and stuff. Mostly I was
preparing some biology notes for the SS 2 students. For the
1s I use Tom’s old notes and the 3s I use a text book now. I’ve
just started trying to do so. Giving them reading assignments
and comprehension questions. But for the SS2s they already
had Tom and I have to prepare my own notes for them.
Classes went fine, today is my long day but it didn’t seem too
bad today. After classes I (shocker) read some more. I’ve
started reading a very interesting book and I just can’t
put it down. Well, I guess today is a pretty short entry. Not
a very interesting day as a whole. Anyway, night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Today was Monday, so I didn’t go on rounds today. Not
only do I not like going on the ground rounds (when Tom,
Solomon and LA go together) but I also had some
preparing to do for classes and stuff. Mostly I was
preparing some biology notes for the SS 2 students. For the
1s I use Tom’s old notes and the 3s I use a text book now. I’ve
just started trying to do so. Giving them reading assignments
and comprehension questions. But for the SS2s they already
had Tom and I have to prepare my own notes for them.
Classes went fine, today is my long day but it didn’t seem too
bad today. After classes I (shocker) read some more. I’ve
started reading a very interesting book and I just can’t
put it down. Well, I guess today is a pretty short entry. Not
a very interesting day as a whole. Anyway, night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 30th
We went to church in Kakamba today (Tom, Emily, Laura and I).
In kakamba there was some sort of mourning session going on.
I guess two people had passed away, one last night one today.
So attendance at church was a little low. I really enjoyed the
service. It’s small and it’s actually quite cool watching the
beginning of a church. I feel like Kakamba is “my village” what
with the church project I’m hoping to be able to help with. I’m
definitely continuing to pray that funding can be found to help
establish an official church here. After church we headed back
to Kamakwie for lunch and then after lunch I decided to go
walking for a while. I took my camera but unfortunately the
battery was dead. I thought I had just charged it but I guess not
well enough. After my little walk I decided to walk to the school
and worked there some more on cleaning up my lab and
preparing to do labs, I really need to get onto doing lab
practical stuff. It should be easy now what with all the new
glassware and chemicals that came in the shipment and the
chemicals I’ve identified from what they had. After returning
home and have dinner I spent a lot of the night reading for a
while. I’ve just been in the mood to read a lot lately, not that
it’s a bad thing. I love reading and I definitely haven’t been
doing enough of it. Well, that’s about all. Have a pleasant
evening and try not to freeze.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
We went to church in Kakamba today (Tom, Emily, Laura and I).
In kakamba there was some sort of mourning session going on.
I guess two people had passed away, one last night one today.
So attendance at church was a little low. I really enjoyed the
service. It’s small and it’s actually quite cool watching the
beginning of a church. I feel like Kakamba is “my village” what
with the church project I’m hoping to be able to help with. I’m
definitely continuing to pray that funding can be found to help
establish an official church here. After church we headed back
to Kamakwie for lunch and then after lunch I decided to go
walking for a while. I took my camera but unfortunately the
battery was dead. I thought I had just charged it but I guess not
well enough. After my little walk I decided to walk to the school
and worked there some more on cleaning up my lab and
preparing to do labs, I really need to get onto doing lab
practical stuff. It should be easy now what with all the new
glassware and chemicals that came in the shipment and the
chemicals I’ve identified from what they had. After returning
home and have dinner I spent a lot of the night reading for a
while. I’ve just been in the mood to read a lot lately, not that
it’s a bad thing. I love reading and I definitely haven’t been
doing enough of it. Well, that’s about all. Have a pleasant
evening and try not to freeze.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 28th and 29th
Friday morning was ok, I helped at the hospital, going on rounds
in men’s ward with Solomon. Every day I learn a little something
new. Classes went pretty good today. They usually do on Friday
because I know that they are almost over for the week. Haha. I
had a pretty laid back evening to end my Friday. Saturday I spent
most of the morning working on sorting out some unknown
chemicals. I spent a couple hours in the afternoon wandering
around the Kamakwie area. I ended up by the baker and went
to buy some bread only to realize that I hadn’t brought any
money since I didn’t plan on getting anything. So I walked home
to get some money. On the way there I passed a big group of
kids who all wanted me to give them sweets. I told them that I
didn’t have any so they told me to send them some. And then
they told me to greet my pikin for them (pikin is child). I
immediately explained that I do not in fact have any children.
After I made it home and grabbed some money I went back
(taking with me some suckers for the kids) to the bakery and I
bought some fresh bread right from the oven, so wonderful. At
the same place I met the children I also met a lady who makes
this stuff called country cloth. It’s a hand woven fabric and it can
be quite nice. I was debating on buying some from her to help
her out since she said she sold everything and now doesn’t have
the money to buy any more stuff. I don’t know what she did with
that money but I thought maybe if I bought some I’d give her a
chance to actually make money. However, she wants 100,000
Leones (25 $) and I don’t even have any samples to see how she
does. I thought I give it as gifts since it is nice and you can do all
kinds of things with it but at that much I couldn’t buy many gifts.
I’m still not sure. After bringing the bread home I went back to
the school to work a little more. I got all the chemicals cleaned
up and identified what I could. There is still a good deal of
chemicals unidentified or too contaminated to be of use. I
returned home for dinner and just spent a relaxing evening
reading for a while. Now for bed, night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Friday morning was ok, I helped at the hospital, going on rounds
in men’s ward with Solomon. Every day I learn a little something
new. Classes went pretty good today. They usually do on Friday
because I know that they are almost over for the week. Haha. I
had a pretty laid back evening to end my Friday. Saturday I spent
most of the morning working on sorting out some unknown
chemicals. I spent a couple hours in the afternoon wandering
around the Kamakwie area. I ended up by the baker and went
to buy some bread only to realize that I hadn’t brought any
money since I didn’t plan on getting anything. So I walked home
to get some money. On the way there I passed a big group of
kids who all wanted me to give them sweets. I told them that I
didn’t have any so they told me to send them some. And then
they told me to greet my pikin for them (pikin is child). I
immediately explained that I do not in fact have any children.
After I made it home and grabbed some money I went back
(taking with me some suckers for the kids) to the bakery and I
bought some fresh bread right from the oven, so wonderful. At
the same place I met the children I also met a lady who makes
this stuff called country cloth. It’s a hand woven fabric and it can
be quite nice. I was debating on buying some from her to help
her out since she said she sold everything and now doesn’t have
the money to buy any more stuff. I don’t know what she did with
that money but I thought maybe if I bought some I’d give her a
chance to actually make money. However, she wants 100,000
Leones (25 $) and I don’t even have any samples to see how she
does. I thought I give it as gifts since it is nice and you can do all
kinds of things with it but at that much I couldn’t buy many gifts.
I’m still not sure. After bringing the bread home I went back to
the school to work a little more. I got all the chemicals cleaned
up and identified what I could. There is still a good deal of
chemicals unidentified or too contaminated to be of use. I
returned home for dinner and just spent a relaxing evening
reading for a while. Now for bed, night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Sunday, January 30, 2011
January 27th
So, today I went ahead and went on rounds with Solomon. We
started out in the pediatric ward and took care of them fairly
quickly. There was a lady with two children (twins) one was a boy
and the other was a girl. They were only nine days old and the boy
was literally almost twice the size of the girl. The girl was so small
but very cute. They referred them to the Alpha unit which is a
ward in the hospital that deals with malnutrition. The woman had
twins but only had the tool to feed one (if you catch my drift) and
so Solomon decided they should get some help with that. After
finishing up with the pediatric ward we moved on to the men’s
ward. I like this ward but I think that could be that I’m most
familiar with it and some of the patients who have been there
longer are quite friendly to me (and most of the ones who are new
cases are usually pretty friendly too). The cases are always
different. Even the people with malaria almost never present the
same way. It takes quite a familiarity with all the possible
presentations of malaria to be able to say (without a malaria test)
that a patient has malaria. My favorite part about helping in the
hospital is looking at the patients, their symptoms and trying to
come up with the possible ailment. I think the medical field
could be for me. Don’t quote me on that one but you never know.
After we finished up rounds I headed back up to the house. I
checked on my spliced together plant, all the leaf/branch things
are dying but there is a little new growth on the top so I’m hoping
it’s going to work. I also spent some time writing some of my past
blogs, I got a little behind (surprise surprise), until Tom came up at
a little after 12. By time we got done with lunch it was 1ish and so I
decided to relax for a little bit. I have an easy teaching day on
Thursdays, three periods with the SS 1s. Unfortunately there was a
small complication today, I had a migraine. Teaching went ok but I
had to keep on my sunglasses and continually ask the kids to try
and keep the noise down. I taught them bio for a period, then they
have a period in between my bio class and my chem class (they are
supposed to have physics but the teacher doesn’t come) so I
decided that I will try my best to help them with physics during
that period since I don’t have anything to do that period anyway.
We worked on the metric system and converting distances today. I
think we made good progress, but I need to check them when I see
them tomorrow. Then we had chemistry and by the end they were
pretty restless (I think just about anyone would be after 135
minutes of listening to me drone on about biology, chemistry and
physics). After class I called Solomon to see if we could practice on
the Honda some and he said he would have to check and call me
back. Which pretty much means no if I don’t call him myself so when
Tom asked if I wanted to go on a walk I said sure. We took some
petrol cans with us since we needed some and would be passing a
fuel station on the way to where we were going. We walked down to
one of the low areas near Kamakwie where they actually used to
mine diamonds. Now they gather sand there and use it to make
concrete blocks. It’s actually quite a laborious process. The sand is
actually dug out of an embankment into some water. One guy does
this and then once he has enough in his water pit he spends about an
hour stomping around in the pit to separate the dirt from the sand
(the dirt enters the water in suspension while the sand stays settled
out). Once he’s done with that the same guy uses a shovel to toss the
sand up onto the embankment (which is higher than his head so not
an easy task). Then some younger kids fill bags and big bowls with
sand and carry it on their heads up a little ways to a place where they
make the concrete blocks. They leave the sand there and someone
else mixes the sand with some cement to form the concrete, place it
into a mold and then set them up to dry. Once they dry the Sierra
Leoneans will come and take two blocks and carry them on their head
to wherever they are doing a building project. I haven’t picked one up
but I cannot imagine that they are even remotely light in any sense of
the word other than that they are a pale grey almost white. I plan on
going back once I’ve got my camera to take some pictures because
it’s absolutely fascinating and the place where they are cutting the
sand out of is actually quite beautiful in a way. After we got back we
finished watering some of the plants in the yard. Once we had
finished with that Tom and I decided to walk downtown to pick up
some bread for dinner. It was only a little after 7 but that’s already
dark. After dinner I spent some time looking at a map of Sierra Leone.
It’s got quite a variety of geological features. There are numerous
national forests, a few mountains (some exceeding a mile in height,
I’ve been up to 12500 feet (more than two miles) but that’s starting
from a higher height as well. These mountains come up from land not
too high about sea level. I think it would be amazing to go climb them.
After I got bore with that I decided that I should finish my other
blogs and write this one. But now that I’ve finished I’m heading for
bed, good night everyone.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So, today I went ahead and went on rounds with Solomon. We
started out in the pediatric ward and took care of them fairly
quickly. There was a lady with two children (twins) one was a boy
and the other was a girl. They were only nine days old and the boy
was literally almost twice the size of the girl. The girl was so small
but very cute. They referred them to the Alpha unit which is a
ward in the hospital that deals with malnutrition. The woman had
twins but only had the tool to feed one (if you catch my drift) and
so Solomon decided they should get some help with that. After
finishing up with the pediatric ward we moved on to the men’s
ward. I like this ward but I think that could be that I’m most
familiar with it and some of the patients who have been there
longer are quite friendly to me (and most of the ones who are new
cases are usually pretty friendly too). The cases are always
different. Even the people with malaria almost never present the
same way. It takes quite a familiarity with all the possible
presentations of malaria to be able to say (without a malaria test)
that a patient has malaria. My favorite part about helping in the
hospital is looking at the patients, their symptoms and trying to
come up with the possible ailment. I think the medical field
could be for me. Don’t quote me on that one but you never know.
After we finished up rounds I headed back up to the house. I
checked on my spliced together plant, all the leaf/branch things
are dying but there is a little new growth on the top so I’m hoping
it’s going to work. I also spent some time writing some of my past
blogs, I got a little behind (surprise surprise), until Tom came up at
a little after 12. By time we got done with lunch it was 1ish and so I
decided to relax for a little bit. I have an easy teaching day on
Thursdays, three periods with the SS 1s. Unfortunately there was a
small complication today, I had a migraine. Teaching went ok but I
had to keep on my sunglasses and continually ask the kids to try
and keep the noise down. I taught them bio for a period, then they
have a period in between my bio class and my chem class (they are
supposed to have physics but the teacher doesn’t come) so I
decided that I will try my best to help them with physics during
that period since I don’t have anything to do that period anyway.
We worked on the metric system and converting distances today. I
think we made good progress, but I need to check them when I see
them tomorrow. Then we had chemistry and by the end they were
pretty restless (I think just about anyone would be after 135
minutes of listening to me drone on about biology, chemistry and
physics). After class I called Solomon to see if we could practice on
the Honda some and he said he would have to check and call me
back. Which pretty much means no if I don’t call him myself so when
Tom asked if I wanted to go on a walk I said sure. We took some
petrol cans with us since we needed some and would be passing a
fuel station on the way to where we were going. We walked down to
one of the low areas near Kamakwie where they actually used to
mine diamonds. Now they gather sand there and use it to make
concrete blocks. It’s actually quite a laborious process. The sand is
actually dug out of an embankment into some water. One guy does
this and then once he has enough in his water pit he spends about an
hour stomping around in the pit to separate the dirt from the sand
(the dirt enters the water in suspension while the sand stays settled
out). Once he’s done with that the same guy uses a shovel to toss the
sand up onto the embankment (which is higher than his head so not
an easy task). Then some younger kids fill bags and big bowls with
sand and carry it on their heads up a little ways to a place where they
make the concrete blocks. They leave the sand there and someone
else mixes the sand with some cement to form the concrete, place it
into a mold and then set them up to dry. Once they dry the Sierra
Leoneans will come and take two blocks and carry them on their head
to wherever they are doing a building project. I haven’t picked one up
but I cannot imagine that they are even remotely light in any sense of
the word other than that they are a pale grey almost white. I plan on
going back once I’ve got my camera to take some pictures because
it’s absolutely fascinating and the place where they are cutting the
sand out of is actually quite beautiful in a way. After we got back we
finished watering some of the plants in the yard. Once we had
finished with that Tom and I decided to walk downtown to pick up
some bread for dinner. It was only a little after 7 but that’s already
dark. After dinner I spent some time looking at a map of Sierra Leone.
It’s got quite a variety of geological features. There are numerous
national forests, a few mountains (some exceeding a mile in height,
I’ve been up to 12500 feet (more than two miles) but that’s starting
from a higher height as well. These mountains come up from land not
too high about sea level. I think it would be amazing to go climb them.
After I got bore with that I decided that I should finish my other
blogs and write this one. But now that I’ve finished I’m heading for
bed, good night everyone.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 26th
This morning I went ahead and did rounds with Solomon even though it
was Wednesday and they are supposed to go “ground rounds” which is
when Tom, Solomon and the other most senior medical staff member,
LA, go around seeing each ward one at a time. Tom said he had other
things to do and didn’t have time to go through each ward which takes
about four hours depending on patient population. When we finished I
headed up to the house. When I got there I noticed that one of the
young papaya trees in the front had been snapped off at the middle. I
asked Pa what happened but he didn’t know. So I took some splints,
tape and a knife and I tried to splice it back together, I don’t know if it
will work but I think I did it the way you are supposed to. It’s been a
long time since Junior year of high school and that’s when I remember
reading about grafting and such things. That finished, I decided to
walk over to the tailor’s and I even I managed to get there in about
15 minutes. Normally it takes 25 to 30 but I was hurrying so I didn’t
waste a whole hour. I got there only to be told that his daughter had
left 30 minutes before meaning that if I had just been a little patient
she would have turned up. I went ahead and paid him and set out for
the house. I almost immediately called Tom and he told me that the girl
had just arrived. She would… Anyway, I walked back to the house as fast
as I could (making it in about 10 minutes) so that I could check and
make sure everything was there since I was the one who had taken all
the stuff for the three of us (Tom, Karen and I). Once I’d done that I set
about preparing lunch and Tom arrived not long after. Following lunch I
laid down for a little bit thinking I had until 1:50 to be at school, but at
about 1:25 I got a call from one of my SS 1s asking if we were having
class, I forgot that class today starts at 1:05 and it’s tomorrow where I
don’t have class until 1:50. Oops, haha. Anyway it ended up being ok
because they have a free period after our two periods so I just kept
teaching, which I will probably keep doing. My SS 1s are my favorites, I
may not know all of their names because there are so many (29 now)
but they pay attention the best, listen when I tell them to stop talking,
and they are the most forward about asking questions for clarification.
It’s easier teaching them as a whole because of their willingness to ask
questions. It makes explaining the material easier because I don’t have
to think of everything I think they need to know. After them comes my
SS 3s, of which I had one today. They are my least favorite to teach for a
few reasons. It’s not that I don’t like them but I think being their friends
inhibits my ability to teach them because they don’t respect me as much
as an authority figure. Also, they just plain are very good students. They
don’t pay attention very well, usually zoning out and they almost never
ask questions so I have no idea what they are and aren’t understanding.
When I think they should know something and so I don’t bother to
explain it they don’t ask if they don’t know. It’s just hard to teach that
way. After my one student left my SS 2s came. They are my middle
grade and are the middle of my scale of who I like teaching most. They
are more respectful but are frequently disruptive in class because they
have a problem with arguing with one another. But they are pretty good
students and ask some questions. But like I said, my SS 1s are my
favorites. After school I was supposed to get to do some Honda practice
but my phone had died on me and by time I got to the house, dropped
my stuff off and walked down to Solomon’s it was already 5:40or so and
at that point there wasn’t a whole lot of point in trying to start a lesson
that I would have to stop in 20 minutes to be back home. When I got to
the house Tom asked if I’d seen Abdul and I told him no, that he hadn’t
been at school so we decided to walk to his house to find out if he was
there and see if he was coming for dinner. We found him there and he
told us he hadn’t been at school because he had to go back to his
mother’s village to take the news that one of his uncles had died in
Freetown (his mother’s brother). He gets sent to the village pretty
regularly by his mother and when he does he pretty much never makes
it back for school. You’d think that the parent’s here would want to
keep from interfering in their kid’s education but here kids do a lot of
the work (which in turn their kids will do it when they have some). The
only problem with that is it often interferes with their studies which
they need as much of as they can do. We told him to come up for dinner
and he said he would. Tom and I walked back up to the house and
decided to water some of the papaya and pineapple trees in the yard
while we waited for Abdul to get here. It was a good thing we decided
to because he took over half an hour to arrive. His mother had asked
him to do something before coming up. After dinner Alusine turned up
to borrow my camera, and Saidu stopped by while he was here. We
talked for a little bit but then they left and I decided to read for a little
while. While I was reading I thought about something. I like it here. I
love to serve and have many different opportunities to serve here. I do
my teaching, but I can also help at the hospital. I can help in so many
ways here. I know from past experience from doing service in boy
scouts, with my fraternity in college, and with Campus Crusade for
Christ that I can do the worst of jobs and be happy doing them for
nothing as long as I know I’m in some way serving someone. But when
it comes to working for a paycheck I haven’t done anything that I don’t
dislike. I even got to work in a research lab and I didn’t enjoy it. I know
in a way I was helping people working there but I feel fulfilled when I’ve
done something I can see. I don’t like working to get money. It seems
like such a pointless pursuit. The money always goes and you have to
keep doing it again and again. Having only my needs met and serving
people is worth so much more to me than having a lot of things. I don’t
know if this is something I could do with my life though. I miss my family,
and many of my friends from college some of whom are like family to
me. It’s hard being away from them. That being said, I’ve been told
countless times that nothing worth doing is ever easy. I’m willing to
serve God wherever he sends me, but I can hope that in the future it’s
a little closer to my loved ones right? Anyway, before I babble on any
more I think I better put a halt to my meandering thoughts.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
This morning I went ahead and did rounds with Solomon even though it
was Wednesday and they are supposed to go “ground rounds” which is
when Tom, Solomon and the other most senior medical staff member,
LA, go around seeing each ward one at a time. Tom said he had other
things to do and didn’t have time to go through each ward which takes
about four hours depending on patient population. When we finished I
headed up to the house. When I got there I noticed that one of the
young papaya trees in the front had been snapped off at the middle. I
asked Pa what happened but he didn’t know. So I took some splints,
tape and a knife and I tried to splice it back together, I don’t know if it
will work but I think I did it the way you are supposed to. It’s been a
long time since Junior year of high school and that’s when I remember
reading about grafting and such things. That finished, I decided to
walk over to the tailor’s and I even I managed to get there in about
15 minutes. Normally it takes 25 to 30 but I was hurrying so I didn’t
waste a whole hour. I got there only to be told that his daughter had
left 30 minutes before meaning that if I had just been a little patient
she would have turned up. I went ahead and paid him and set out for
the house. I almost immediately called Tom and he told me that the girl
had just arrived. She would… Anyway, I walked back to the house as fast
as I could (making it in about 10 minutes) so that I could check and
make sure everything was there since I was the one who had taken all
the stuff for the three of us (Tom, Karen and I). Once I’d done that I set
about preparing lunch and Tom arrived not long after. Following lunch I
laid down for a little bit thinking I had until 1:50 to be at school, but at
about 1:25 I got a call from one of my SS 1s asking if we were having
class, I forgot that class today starts at 1:05 and it’s tomorrow where I
don’t have class until 1:50. Oops, haha. Anyway it ended up being ok
because they have a free period after our two periods so I just kept
teaching, which I will probably keep doing. My SS 1s are my favorites, I
may not know all of their names because there are so many (29 now)
but they pay attention the best, listen when I tell them to stop talking,
and they are the most forward about asking questions for clarification.
It’s easier teaching them as a whole because of their willingness to ask
questions. It makes explaining the material easier because I don’t have
to think of everything I think they need to know. After them comes my
SS 3s, of which I had one today. They are my least favorite to teach for a
few reasons. It’s not that I don’t like them but I think being their friends
inhibits my ability to teach them because they don’t respect me as much
as an authority figure. Also, they just plain are very good students. They
don’t pay attention very well, usually zoning out and they almost never
ask questions so I have no idea what they are and aren’t understanding.
When I think they should know something and so I don’t bother to
explain it they don’t ask if they don’t know. It’s just hard to teach that
way. After my one student left my SS 2s came. They are my middle
grade and are the middle of my scale of who I like teaching most. They
are more respectful but are frequently disruptive in class because they
have a problem with arguing with one another. But they are pretty good
students and ask some questions. But like I said, my SS 1s are my
favorites. After school I was supposed to get to do some Honda practice
but my phone had died on me and by time I got to the house, dropped
my stuff off and walked down to Solomon’s it was already 5:40or so and
at that point there wasn’t a whole lot of point in trying to start a lesson
that I would have to stop in 20 minutes to be back home. When I got to
the house Tom asked if I’d seen Abdul and I told him no, that he hadn’t
been at school so we decided to walk to his house to find out if he was
there and see if he was coming for dinner. We found him there and he
told us he hadn’t been at school because he had to go back to his
mother’s village to take the news that one of his uncles had died in
Freetown (his mother’s brother). He gets sent to the village pretty
regularly by his mother and when he does he pretty much never makes
it back for school. You’d think that the parent’s here would want to
keep from interfering in their kid’s education but here kids do a lot of
the work (which in turn their kids will do it when they have some). The
only problem with that is it often interferes with their studies which
they need as much of as they can do. We told him to come up for dinner
and he said he would. Tom and I walked back up to the house and
decided to water some of the papaya and pineapple trees in the yard
while we waited for Abdul to get here. It was a good thing we decided
to because he took over half an hour to arrive. His mother had asked
him to do something before coming up. After dinner Alusine turned up
to borrow my camera, and Saidu stopped by while he was here. We
talked for a little bit but then they left and I decided to read for a little
while. While I was reading I thought about something. I like it here. I
love to serve and have many different opportunities to serve here. I do
my teaching, but I can also help at the hospital. I can help in so many
ways here. I know from past experience from doing service in boy
scouts, with my fraternity in college, and with Campus Crusade for
Christ that I can do the worst of jobs and be happy doing them for
nothing as long as I know I’m in some way serving someone. But when
it comes to working for a paycheck I haven’t done anything that I don’t
dislike. I even got to work in a research lab and I didn’t enjoy it. I know
in a way I was helping people working there but I feel fulfilled when I’ve
done something I can see. I don’t like working to get money. It seems
like such a pointless pursuit. The money always goes and you have to
keep doing it again and again. Having only my needs met and serving
people is worth so much more to me than having a lot of things. I don’t
know if this is something I could do with my life though. I miss my family,
and many of my friends from college some of whom are like family to
me. It’s hard being away from them. That being said, I’ve been told
countless times that nothing worth doing is ever easy. I’m willing to
serve God wherever he sends me, but I can hope that in the future it’s
a little closer to my loved ones right? Anyway, before I babble on any
more I think I better put a halt to my meandering thoughts.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 25th
I went down to the hospital and did rounds this morning with
Tom. We ended up going around the whole hospital and seeing
every ward and almost every patient. I like seeing the pediatric
ward because that’s where all the little kids are and I love kids.
But it’s also a hard ward to do because it’s hard to see the little
kids sick, especially as sick as some of them are. But the kids
there today are all pretty healthy. They are all old cases who
are just waiting till they are well enough to go home. After we
finished rounds it was time for lunch so Tom and I headed up to
the house. Classes went ok, nothing really notable about them.
We are slowly but surely making progress in all areas. After
classes I met up with Solomon around 5:20 or so to take the
Honda over to see the tailor to pick up the stuff we had asked
him to make. I drove and it was an interesting experience. It
wasn’t too bad but I had to learn how to go up a hill, because I
stalled the bike going up my first hill. I didn’t know I needed to
lower the gears to get up a hill, and Solomon kept saying “raise
it” by which he meant accelerate and I thought he meant the
gears, so I raised the gear, and proceeded to stall. Then we had
a little conversation to sort out what he meant by the things he
was saying. Once we got that all sorted out things went fine.
We made it to the tailor’s but he wasn’t there and his kids
couldn’t find him so his daughter said if he came back she
would bring the stuff to the house. Since we had no more
reason to be there we headed back up to the house. I made it
successfully to the hospital which involved climbing two hills
and I managed both without stalling. Solomon said I did a good
job, which means he thinks I did a good job because if he
thought I did badly he would have definitely let me know. After
dinner Tom and I decided a movie would be good. So we
watched National Treasure 2. I love them so I’m glad they at
least have the second one here. Tom went to bed shortly after
the movie and I think I’m just about to do the same. Good night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I went down to the hospital and did rounds this morning with
Tom. We ended up going around the whole hospital and seeing
every ward and almost every patient. I like seeing the pediatric
ward because that’s where all the little kids are and I love kids.
But it’s also a hard ward to do because it’s hard to see the little
kids sick, especially as sick as some of them are. But the kids
there today are all pretty healthy. They are all old cases who
are just waiting till they are well enough to go home. After we
finished rounds it was time for lunch so Tom and I headed up to
the house. Classes went ok, nothing really notable about them.
We are slowly but surely making progress in all areas. After
classes I met up with Solomon around 5:20 or so to take the
Honda over to see the tailor to pick up the stuff we had asked
him to make. I drove and it was an interesting experience. It
wasn’t too bad but I had to learn how to go up a hill, because I
stalled the bike going up my first hill. I didn’t know I needed to
lower the gears to get up a hill, and Solomon kept saying “raise
it” by which he meant accelerate and I thought he meant the
gears, so I raised the gear, and proceeded to stall. Then we had
a little conversation to sort out what he meant by the things he
was saying. Once we got that all sorted out things went fine.
We made it to the tailor’s but he wasn’t there and his kids
couldn’t find him so his daughter said if he came back she
would bring the stuff to the house. Since we had no more
reason to be there we headed back up to the house. I made it
successfully to the hospital which involved climbing two hills
and I managed both without stalling. Solomon said I did a good
job, which means he thinks I did a good job because if he
thought I did badly he would have definitely let me know. After
dinner Tom and I decided a movie would be good. So we
watched National Treasure 2. I love them so I’m glad they at
least have the second one here. Tom went to bed shortly after
the movie and I think I’m just about to do the same. Good night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 24th
Poor Tom was up till 3 am last night doing a C – section. I spent
the morning preparing for classes so it wasn’t the most exciting
morning. I forgot to share a fun little occurrence. Karen has the
cook, Kadiatu prepare foods for dinner and one day she made a
chicken pot pie sort of thing and she left it in the oven since you
can’t store it hot in the fridge or it eats up the power in the
batteries trying to cool it. So later that night when it was time
for dinner we heated it up and were getting ready to eat it
when we discovered something that made us try not to look to
closely at the food we were eating. The ants had invaded the
oven and gotten in the food and were roasted when it was
heated back up. Not to waste anything we enjoyed the pot pie
while trying to ignore the extra protein bits. I don’t think,
scratch that, I would not have, before coming here, ever have
done that. It would have been dumped into the garbage faster
than you could blink. The things you just deal with in Africa.
Anyway, she made it again this morning so we took a big
laundry bowl, put some water in it and placed the dish in it to
create a sort of water moat that the ants can’t and don’t cross
and so we enjoyed some ant free pot pie for lunch and dinner.
Teaching went ok today, though I gave a quiz today and the
results were less than desirable… The SS 1s told me that they
tried to study but couldn’t understand so we went back over
the material we’ve done this term so hopefully they’ll have a
better understanding. The SS 2s didn’t offer an excuse, they
just did poorly and I don’t know why. I don’t think my questions
were very hard, I just don’t think they study enough. They
apparently only really study right before a test (or in my classes
a quiz since they don’t have quizzes in any other classes) and
several of them said they weren’t aware that we were having a
quiz. Oh well, if they don’t pay attention I’m not going to take
pity on them. Anyway, after classes I came back to the house
for dinner around six. After dinner I spent a little bit reading
then Saidu showed up. We walked over to the school because
Saidu wanted to go for a walk. I saw Kabba there, he was there
for night classes along with many other students, at least 100
and definitely more. It was good to see them dedicated to their
studies even if they still know very little. I don’t know how they
know so little with the number of extra classes they take and the
studying they supposedly do. Anyway, after that we came back
to the house and then Saidu went off to go do some studying
and I read some. But now it’s time for me to get to sleep.
Good night and God bless,
Ryan Brooks
Poor Tom was up till 3 am last night doing a C – section. I spent
the morning preparing for classes so it wasn’t the most exciting
morning. I forgot to share a fun little occurrence. Karen has the
cook, Kadiatu prepare foods for dinner and one day she made a
chicken pot pie sort of thing and she left it in the oven since you
can’t store it hot in the fridge or it eats up the power in the
batteries trying to cool it. So later that night when it was time
for dinner we heated it up and were getting ready to eat it
when we discovered something that made us try not to look to
closely at the food we were eating. The ants had invaded the
oven and gotten in the food and were roasted when it was
heated back up. Not to waste anything we enjoyed the pot pie
while trying to ignore the extra protein bits. I don’t think,
scratch that, I would not have, before coming here, ever have
done that. It would have been dumped into the garbage faster
than you could blink. The things you just deal with in Africa.
Anyway, she made it again this morning so we took a big
laundry bowl, put some water in it and placed the dish in it to
create a sort of water moat that the ants can’t and don’t cross
and so we enjoyed some ant free pot pie for lunch and dinner.
Teaching went ok today, though I gave a quiz today and the
results were less than desirable… The SS 1s told me that they
tried to study but couldn’t understand so we went back over
the material we’ve done this term so hopefully they’ll have a
better understanding. The SS 2s didn’t offer an excuse, they
just did poorly and I don’t know why. I don’t think my questions
were very hard, I just don’t think they study enough. They
apparently only really study right before a test (or in my classes
a quiz since they don’t have quizzes in any other classes) and
several of them said they weren’t aware that we were having a
quiz. Oh well, if they don’t pay attention I’m not going to take
pity on them. Anyway, after classes I came back to the house
for dinner around six. After dinner I spent a little bit reading
then Saidu showed up. We walked over to the school because
Saidu wanted to go for a walk. I saw Kabba there, he was there
for night classes along with many other students, at least 100
and definitely more. It was good to see them dedicated to their
studies even if they still know very little. I don’t know how they
know so little with the number of extra classes they take and the
studying they supposedly do. Anyway, after that we came back
to the house and then Saidu went off to go do some studying
and I read some. But now it’s time for me to get to sleep.
Good night and God bless,
Ryan Brooks
January 23rd
Karen, Ryan and Gretchen (the two medical students we’ve had
for the last for weeks) set out for Freetown at a little after 9 this
morning. The medical students are spending a few days in and
around Freetown before they return to the United States on
Thursday. Then Karen will return Thursday evening with two
new medical students who I don’t know. After they left Tom
and I got ready and went to the Katherie church this morning.
It’s definitely my favorite church, small and no loud speakers to
make my poor ears hurt during worship. A little kid named
Jessie sat with me through the service, I’ve met him before but
I don’t know when but apparently he likes me because he came
right over to me and sat next to me (which required me to
move over as there was no space). The biggest drawback to the
service is that the message is in Krio and Limba, and I just don’t
know Krio well enough. I’m still working on that but it’s hard.
After church Tom and I wandered around the market. He
hadn’t gone down there in a while and he was looking at the
fabric available because he wants to maybe make some ties for
gifts. The medical students had some made and it gave him the
idea. I was also looking for some fabric for a dress for Karen
that matched some fabric she already had picked for it. What
made her trust me with that I have no idea, I didn’t even know
that pink and red shouldn’t go together (long story short a prom
date in HS was going to wear pink and I suggested a red dress
shirt and almost got attacked by the lady at the tux place she
responded no so forcefully). Tom and I spent the afternoon
inside resting out of the heat. It’s starting to get hot again in
the afternoons (not that it wasn’t before, I guess I should say
hotter). The “cool” time of the year has lasted less than a
month, I imagine it’ll be gone before the end of the first week
in February. The nights are starting to warm back up as well.
Anyway, around 4 or so Tom and I walked over to the tailor to
deliver the fabric I had found for Karen’s dress. I took a little
creative liberty so I hope she likes it. I think it will be nice but
like I said… After that we spent until 6 walking around exploring.
After dinner when the power came on we watched a movie
called Letter to Juliet. It was a pretty good movie, a good deal
of humor but not a comedy, my favorite type of humor I don’t
like most pure comedies. Anyway, that’s about all for today,
have a great night.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Karen, Ryan and Gretchen (the two medical students we’ve had
for the last for weeks) set out for Freetown at a little after 9 this
morning. The medical students are spending a few days in and
around Freetown before they return to the United States on
Thursday. Then Karen will return Thursday evening with two
new medical students who I don’t know. After they left Tom
and I got ready and went to the Katherie church this morning.
It’s definitely my favorite church, small and no loud speakers to
make my poor ears hurt during worship. A little kid named
Jessie sat with me through the service, I’ve met him before but
I don’t know when but apparently he likes me because he came
right over to me and sat next to me (which required me to
move over as there was no space). The biggest drawback to the
service is that the message is in Krio and Limba, and I just don’t
know Krio well enough. I’m still working on that but it’s hard.
After church Tom and I wandered around the market. He
hadn’t gone down there in a while and he was looking at the
fabric available because he wants to maybe make some ties for
gifts. The medical students had some made and it gave him the
idea. I was also looking for some fabric for a dress for Karen
that matched some fabric she already had picked for it. What
made her trust me with that I have no idea, I didn’t even know
that pink and red shouldn’t go together (long story short a prom
date in HS was going to wear pink and I suggested a red dress
shirt and almost got attacked by the lady at the tux place she
responded no so forcefully). Tom and I spent the afternoon
inside resting out of the heat. It’s starting to get hot again in
the afternoons (not that it wasn’t before, I guess I should say
hotter). The “cool” time of the year has lasted less than a
month, I imagine it’ll be gone before the end of the first week
in February. The nights are starting to warm back up as well.
Anyway, around 4 or so Tom and I walked over to the tailor to
deliver the fabric I had found for Karen’s dress. I took a little
creative liberty so I hope she likes it. I think it will be nice but
like I said… After that we spent until 6 walking around exploring.
After dinner when the power came on we watched a movie
called Letter to Juliet. It was a pretty good movie, a good deal
of humor but not a comedy, my favorite type of humor I don’t
like most pure comedies. Anyway, that’s about all for today,
have a great night.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Monday, January 24, 2011
December 18th – 22nd
I don’t know how often I’ll write daily blog posts anymore, I
struggle to find the energy and motivation anymore. Things are
pretty set for now and I doubt you all want to hear about the
daily grind every day. If anything special goes on I’ll be sure to
let you know but for the most part I get up and either do stuff
around the house or go to the hospital and help with rounds.
Have lunch, go teach till almost dinner time. Come home and
have dinner, then maybe do something with either Solomon or
some other friends. I still find it a pretty unique experience but
in writing without every minute detail of the things that
occurred throughout the day the days are going to seem pretty
similar. The lady I donated blood to on Sunday got another unit
of blood, this time from Tom. That’s her fourth unit of white
man blood and we were teasing one of the midwives, Mari,
that if the lady started turning white that it was ok because
she’s half white man now anyway. She got a kick out of that.
On Tuesday I got to do some more Honda practice. Solomon
let me drive from the house to the school and back around a
couple of times by myself. I’m hoping that we can start to go
farther soon. Until last night I hadn’t seen Alusine very much
during the week. He has class in the morning, I teach in the
afternoon and then he has class at night so it’s hard to interact
during the week. The Africans I met at the two beaches are still
getting me to call them pretty regularly. (they flash me and I
call them since they don’t have the money to call me).
Thursday night I went down to Pa Kanu’s with Solomon and
Samuel for the first time since Emma left. I feel bad because I
mostly hang out with Solomon and not much with Samuel
since when Rebecca and Emma were here we always hung out
with both of them. So I was glad for the chance. I got to watch
another c-section this week. The lady had twins (both boys but
not identical). Anyway, I think that’s about it. Karen leaves
tomorrow for Freetown for several days, then I’ll post again.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I don’t know how often I’ll write daily blog posts anymore, I
struggle to find the energy and motivation anymore. Things are
pretty set for now and I doubt you all want to hear about the
daily grind every day. If anything special goes on I’ll be sure to
let you know but for the most part I get up and either do stuff
around the house or go to the hospital and help with rounds.
Have lunch, go teach till almost dinner time. Come home and
have dinner, then maybe do something with either Solomon or
some other friends. I still find it a pretty unique experience but
in writing without every minute detail of the things that
occurred throughout the day the days are going to seem pretty
similar. The lady I donated blood to on Sunday got another unit
of blood, this time from Tom. That’s her fourth unit of white
man blood and we were teasing one of the midwives, Mari,
that if the lady started turning white that it was ok because
she’s half white man now anyway. She got a kick out of that.
On Tuesday I got to do some more Honda practice. Solomon
let me drive from the house to the school and back around a
couple of times by myself. I’m hoping that we can start to go
farther soon. Until last night I hadn’t seen Alusine very much
during the week. He has class in the morning, I teach in the
afternoon and then he has class at night so it’s hard to interact
during the week. The Africans I met at the two beaches are still
getting me to call them pretty regularly. (they flash me and I
call them since they don’t have the money to call me).
Thursday night I went down to Pa Kanu’s with Solomon and
Samuel for the first time since Emma left. I feel bad because I
mostly hang out with Solomon and not much with Samuel
since when Rebecca and Emma were here we always hung out
with both of them. So I was glad for the chance. I got to watch
another c-section this week. The lady had twins (both boys but
not identical). Anyway, I think that’s about it. Karen leaves
tomorrow for Freetown for several days, then I’ll post again.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Thursday, January 20, 2011
January 17th
Today was an ok day. I woke up feeling worse than yesterday,
but not as bad as Thursday, so I’m ok with that I suppose. I was
still so exhausted this morning that after breakfast I went back
to sleep for a little while. I had school today, I made it all the
way through all five periods but it was a struggle at the end.
The first period didn’t start well. I didn’t have any students. By
time I found them almost 30 of the 45 minute period was gone.
In their previous class their teacher kept them over until they
finished copying his notes. So I had a talk with him about not
writing more notes than the kids can take in one class period
because now I had lost 2/3 of my class period. I didn’t say it but
being geography and my kids being science students his class is
less important so it really annoyed me. They make these kids
take too many subjects. They let them choose a path but then
make them study parts from all over the place. It would be so
much better if they just gave them 6 to 7 subjects rather than
10 with 3 or 4 that they don’t even need. The next periods
went better, I had most of the kids and I got a good amount
done. I’m pretty happy with that. Anyway, that’s about all I
have for today, so I wish you all well and a good night’s sleep.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Today was an ok day. I woke up feeling worse than yesterday,
but not as bad as Thursday, so I’m ok with that I suppose. I was
still so exhausted this morning that after breakfast I went back
to sleep for a little while. I had school today, I made it all the
way through all five periods but it was a struggle at the end.
The first period didn’t start well. I didn’t have any students. By
time I found them almost 30 of the 45 minute period was gone.
In their previous class their teacher kept them over until they
finished copying his notes. So I had a talk with him about not
writing more notes than the kids can take in one class period
because now I had lost 2/3 of my class period. I didn’t say it but
being geography and my kids being science students his class is
less important so it really annoyed me. They make these kids
take too many subjects. They let them choose a path but then
make them study parts from all over the place. It would be so
much better if they just gave them 6 to 7 subjects rather than
10 with 3 or 4 that they don’t even need. The next periods
went better, I had most of the kids and I got a good amount
done. I’m pretty happy with that. Anyway, that’s about all I
have for today, so I wish you all well and a good night’s sleep.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 16th
So this morning I was feeling pretty good. I was all ready for
church when Karen asked me to go donate blood. There was a
lady in the OB ward who was not doing very well. She had
already lost her baby and was very near dying herself. I of
course agreed, I didn’t point out that I was sick since Tom and
Karen knew I was sick and asked me anyway, I figured it must
be alright. I headed down to the hospital and got a whole
battery of tests (Hep B and C, HIV and Syphilis) as well as
checking to make sure that I am indeed O+ like I said. I am
happy to report negatives in all areas (well, except blood type).
So they took me over to the OR and took out 450g of my blood.
It was a little less comforting than my usual donating but it
went well and I didn’t pass out or anything. I went over to OB
and watched them giving the lady my blood (it was kind of cool
seeing right where my blood was going rather than wondering
if anyone ever got my blood at all). On that front, she’s still
pretty ill and will likely need more blood but she’s improving
we think. My unit of blood was her 5th unit, one from each of
the medical students, two from their small supply, and then
mine. After giving blood I wasn’t in much of a mood to do
anything but Alusine had told me earlier that morning that he
was hurting (he fell out of a tree when he was young and he
said it hurts from time to time) so I went to pay him a
sympathy visit. When I got there he seemed to be doing ok, he
was walking with a little limp but not too noticeable. He had to
go to an afternoon class not long after I got there so I ended up
hanging out with Kabba (one of the other kids there) while he
did his laundry. I don’t know why but watching them do laundry
is always interesting because no two people I’ve seen do it the
same way. All methods involved lots of wear on the clothing
though. After he finished we walked over to the school where
Alusine was just finishing class and walked up to the house. We
sat for a little on the front porch but they were going off to
some other class so they had to leave. Between all of their
classes and me teaching I don’t think I’ll be able to see them
much except on the weekends. Speaking of all the classes they
take, they should be geniuses. They go to school in the morning,
then have afternoon classes and then night classes. Something
is wrong somewhere, with that much class they should be doing
much better, I don’t understand. Anyway, not to get back on
that old argument, I didn’t do much else this evening, feeling
pretty tired, so I’m gonna hit the hay. Good night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So this morning I was feeling pretty good. I was all ready for
church when Karen asked me to go donate blood. There was a
lady in the OB ward who was not doing very well. She had
already lost her baby and was very near dying herself. I of
course agreed, I didn’t point out that I was sick since Tom and
Karen knew I was sick and asked me anyway, I figured it must
be alright. I headed down to the hospital and got a whole
battery of tests (Hep B and C, HIV and Syphilis) as well as
checking to make sure that I am indeed O+ like I said. I am
happy to report negatives in all areas (well, except blood type).
So they took me over to the OR and took out 450g of my blood.
It was a little less comforting than my usual donating but it
went well and I didn’t pass out or anything. I went over to OB
and watched them giving the lady my blood (it was kind of cool
seeing right where my blood was going rather than wondering
if anyone ever got my blood at all). On that front, she’s still
pretty ill and will likely need more blood but she’s improving
we think. My unit of blood was her 5th unit, one from each of
the medical students, two from their small supply, and then
mine. After giving blood I wasn’t in much of a mood to do
anything but Alusine had told me earlier that morning that he
was hurting (he fell out of a tree when he was young and he
said it hurts from time to time) so I went to pay him a
sympathy visit. When I got there he seemed to be doing ok, he
was walking with a little limp but not too noticeable. He had to
go to an afternoon class not long after I got there so I ended up
hanging out with Kabba (one of the other kids there) while he
did his laundry. I don’t know why but watching them do laundry
is always interesting because no two people I’ve seen do it the
same way. All methods involved lots of wear on the clothing
though. After he finished we walked over to the school where
Alusine was just finishing class and walked up to the house. We
sat for a little on the front porch but they were going off to
some other class so they had to leave. Between all of their
classes and me teaching I don’t think I’ll be able to see them
much except on the weekends. Speaking of all the classes they
take, they should be geniuses. They go to school in the morning,
then have afternoon classes and then night classes. Something
is wrong somewhere, with that much class they should be doing
much better, I don’t understand. Anyway, not to get back on
that old argument, I didn’t do much else this evening, feeling
pretty tired, so I’m gonna hit the hay. Good night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 13th - 15th
I finally made it back to Kamakwie and expected to go teach,
however my body felt differently. I woke up in the morning
feeling not well at all. I got up long enough to eat breakfast and
then laid back down. I spent the whole day in bed going back
and forth between being cold and hot. I was too weak to do
much of anything else. I haven’t been that sick in a while. Tom
says it’s because I stayed up too late Monday night and the
Sierra Leonean’s say it’s because it is so cold. I don’t think it’s
either (especially considering that it barely drops below 70 at
the coolest. Regardless of what it’s cause may have been (I
think one of the nursing students must have brought it over
and was so ever kind enough to share it) I was down for the
count. Friday was a little better, I tried to go to school and
teach but after one period I was so exhausted I just couldn’t
handle any more so I went home and laid down. I was pretty
much not feeling very well Saturday either so I didn’t do much
of anything. Thursday, Friday and Saturday night I had some
visitors and we watched movies each night I did go Saturday
afternoon to the orphanage and tried to play football. I needed
to do something active since I was spending so much time
doing so little, but I didn’t do very good on account of the fact
that I couldn’t breathe very well being still sick. That was
mostly what I was able to do following my break. Not overall
my best three days here.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I finally made it back to Kamakwie and expected to go teach,
however my body felt differently. I woke up in the morning
feeling not well at all. I got up long enough to eat breakfast and
then laid back down. I spent the whole day in bed going back
and forth between being cold and hot. I was too weak to do
much of anything else. I haven’t been that sick in a while. Tom
says it’s because I stayed up too late Monday night and the
Sierra Leonean’s say it’s because it is so cold. I don’t think it’s
either (especially considering that it barely drops below 70 at
the coolest. Regardless of what it’s cause may have been (I
think one of the nursing students must have brought it over
and was so ever kind enough to share it) I was down for the
count. Friday was a little better, I tried to go to school and
teach but after one period I was so exhausted I just couldn’t
handle any more so I went home and laid down. I was pretty
much not feeling very well Saturday either so I didn’t do much
of anything. Thursday, Friday and Saturday night I had some
visitors and we watched movies each night I did go Saturday
afternoon to the orphanage and tried to play football. I needed
to do something active since I was spending so much time
doing so little, but I didn’t do very good on account of the fact
that I couldn’t breathe very well being still sick. That was
mostly what I was able to do following my break. Not overall
my best three days here.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 12th
We set out from the Compañero at about 8am for Makeni. We
arrived in Makeni at just after 10 and while Tom and Karen
went meet with Reverend Usman at the Wesleyan office I went
off to explore Makeni for a little bit until just after 11. We went
out to lunch at the Wusum hotel at 12 and returned to the
office for the Healthcare Board Meeting at 2. Since I was again
not involved I went with Steven to go change some money. I
was only changing $1000 dollars but I had $2600 on hand so I
felt pretty uncomfortable. That’s the most money I’ve ever held
in my hands at once. Before that it was $2000. We got it
changed successfully and I sent Steven back to the office with
all the money while I wandered around the area. There are so
many little shops with all kinds of books, shoes, music, etc…
Some places there are so many little shops set up you can’t get
through. I wasn’t looking for anything, I just wanted to look
around since I’d never had the chance. I figured that it wouldn’t
be as bad in Makeni because the number of non-nationals
around is much higher there than here in Kamakwie, but not
really. They still hounded me relentlessly, asking what I needed,
what I wanted. I spent around three hours wandering around,
it’s a big place, and I still hadn’t been all over and that’s just
one part of the town. Granted that is the largest market district
as far as I know. I got back to the office a little after 5 hoping
that they would be done. No such luck. Since I was standing
around bored I decided to go walk over to the nearby water
pump and make friends with some of the people there. It
worked. It’s pretty easy when it comes to making friends here.
Just about everyone wants to be your friend. I talked a lot to
this guy who goes by Jah Prist, his real name is Alhassan. He
showed me his house which has 9 rooms and none less than
three people sleep in. It look like a big house but when you
have more 30 people in it you can fill up space pretty fast. As I
was leaving I saw Steven waving me over, they were finally
done. We got into the car to head back to Kamakwie and that’s
when I really realized that I was getting ill. I had been feeling a
bit stuffy but I had put that to being out in the dry heat, sadly
not so. The ride back to Kamakwie was quite miserable, it’s not
a fun road and being sick does not improve the experience no
matter how I wish it otherwise. Anyway, I’m exhausted and
ready for bed, so I wish you all well.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
We set out from the Compañero at about 8am for Makeni. We
arrived in Makeni at just after 10 and while Tom and Karen
went meet with Reverend Usman at the Wesleyan office I went
off to explore Makeni for a little bit until just after 11. We went
out to lunch at the Wusum hotel at 12 and returned to the
office for the Healthcare Board Meeting at 2. Since I was again
not involved I went with Steven to go change some money. I
was only changing $1000 dollars but I had $2600 on hand so I
felt pretty uncomfortable. That’s the most money I’ve ever held
in my hands at once. Before that it was $2000. We got it
changed successfully and I sent Steven back to the office with
all the money while I wandered around the area. There are so
many little shops with all kinds of books, shoes, music, etc…
Some places there are so many little shops set up you can’t get
through. I wasn’t looking for anything, I just wanted to look
around since I’d never had the chance. I figured that it wouldn’t
be as bad in Makeni because the number of non-nationals
around is much higher there than here in Kamakwie, but not
really. They still hounded me relentlessly, asking what I needed,
what I wanted. I spent around three hours wandering around,
it’s a big place, and I still hadn’t been all over and that’s just
one part of the town. Granted that is the largest market district
as far as I know. I got back to the office a little after 5 hoping
that they would be done. No such luck. Since I was standing
around bored I decided to go walk over to the nearby water
pump and make friends with some of the people there. It
worked. It’s pretty easy when it comes to making friends here.
Just about everyone wants to be your friend. I talked a lot to
this guy who goes by Jah Prist, his real name is Alhassan. He
showed me his house which has 9 rooms and none less than
three people sleep in. It look like a big house but when you
have more 30 people in it you can fill up space pretty fast. As I
was leaving I saw Steven waving me over, they were finally
done. We got into the car to head back to Kamakwie and that’s
when I really realized that I was getting ill. I had been feeling a
bit stuffy but I had put that to being out in the dry heat, sadly
not so. The ride back to Kamakwie was quite miserable, it’s not
a fun road and being sick does not improve the experience no
matter how I wish it otherwise. Anyway, I’m exhausted and
ready for bed, so I wish you all well.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Post Trip Assessment
I have to say that I was feeling really guilty coming into this
trip I figured it would be all sunshine and beaches and I felt
like it wasn’t really appropriate, but Tom and Karen said that
sometimes you just have to get out in order to not explode or
some worse fate. (exaggeration of course) but meeting so
many kids and seeing so many needs and being able to help
with some showed me that even a break can have a purpose.
On this three day excursion to Freetown I’ve seen so much
need that it breaks my heart, kids who don’t have money to
eat, kids who don’t have money for school. Things you would
almost never see in America come to you in the form of tens
of children coming to you asking you for help, asking you for
money or food or books. But one thing that I’ve learned and
take from this trip is hope. Let me explain. I met a boy named
Tamba at the beach with some of his friends. They were
shoveling sand into bags for one of the boy’s families. They
were doing so with no real expectation of getting anything for
it. I imagine they were hoping that by helping they might get
some food or money for food. Working with no promise of
anything is not something many people will do, and when
they do it’s after they’ve done their regular work for money.
These kids could chose to not do it and try to find some work
to do that promised them money but because it was for a
friend’s family they choose to do it anyway. My friend George
who I met at the Hard Rock had worked there from the time
he was 6 and didn’t start getting paid until three years ago,
he is now 17. He did the work he had to in the hopes that one
day they would pay him. I would call that working sacrificially.
He didn’t have much choice, his father died when he was
young, his mother ran off and he lived alone with his
grandmother (whose husband ran off). She couldn’t support
him alone. While he does get paid now he gets paid 20,000
Leones for two weeks. That’s less than 50 cents a day. 50 cents
would buy him two pieces of bread (not exactly big pieces) or
a cup of rice some pepper and a flavoring called Maggie (similar
to Ramen flavoring). Could you imagine living on that? He
fishes in the ocean and he likes to fish, which is good because
that’s his only other source of food, and often he sells the fish
to earn more money. He can get 500 Leones (12.5 cents) for
two fish. He said often he gets few fish, sometimes even none.
On top of providing for himself he has to provide for his
grandmother who is too old to work. Emmanuel, the owner
of the Compañero is a Sierra Leonean who lived in America for
11 years, he could easily have stayed there and continued to
work for more and live a more comfortable life in America
but he felt compelled to return to his country of birth to put
in his efforts here. There are so many people without enough
here. But there are people like Tamba and his friends who are
willing to work for each other. There are people like George
who have such enormous potential and such an outstanding
work ethic but don’t have the resources to capitalize on it.
There are people like Emmanuel who have advantages and
could use them elsewhere and instead come back here and
stay in Sierra Leone. His hotel may not be practical for many
Sierra Leoneans, but it draws the foreign nationals and their
money provides jobs for Sierra Leoneans. There is such abject
poverty here, and great suffering, but there is true potential
in the people of Sierra Leone. With the proper education and
given the right assistance the people of this country could do
great things.
I have to say that I was feeling really guilty coming into this
trip I figured it would be all sunshine and beaches and I felt
like it wasn’t really appropriate, but Tom and Karen said that
sometimes you just have to get out in order to not explode or
some worse fate. (exaggeration of course) but meeting so
many kids and seeing so many needs and being able to help
with some showed me that even a break can have a purpose.
On this three day excursion to Freetown I’ve seen so much
need that it breaks my heart, kids who don’t have money to
eat, kids who don’t have money for school. Things you would
almost never see in America come to you in the form of tens
of children coming to you asking you for help, asking you for
money or food or books. But one thing that I’ve learned and
take from this trip is hope. Let me explain. I met a boy named
Tamba at the beach with some of his friends. They were
shoveling sand into bags for one of the boy’s families. They
were doing so with no real expectation of getting anything for
it. I imagine they were hoping that by helping they might get
some food or money for food. Working with no promise of
anything is not something many people will do, and when
they do it’s after they’ve done their regular work for money.
These kids could chose to not do it and try to find some work
to do that promised them money but because it was for a
friend’s family they choose to do it anyway. My friend George
who I met at the Hard Rock had worked there from the time
he was 6 and didn’t start getting paid until three years ago,
he is now 17. He did the work he had to in the hopes that one
day they would pay him. I would call that working sacrificially.
He didn’t have much choice, his father died when he was
young, his mother ran off and he lived alone with his
grandmother (whose husband ran off). She couldn’t support
him alone. While he does get paid now he gets paid 20,000
Leones for two weeks. That’s less than 50 cents a day. 50 cents
would buy him two pieces of bread (not exactly big pieces) or
a cup of rice some pepper and a flavoring called Maggie (similar
to Ramen flavoring). Could you imagine living on that? He
fishes in the ocean and he likes to fish, which is good because
that’s his only other source of food, and often he sells the fish
to earn more money. He can get 500 Leones (12.5 cents) for
two fish. He said often he gets few fish, sometimes even none.
On top of providing for himself he has to provide for his
grandmother who is too old to work. Emmanuel, the owner
of the Compañero is a Sierra Leonean who lived in America for
11 years, he could easily have stayed there and continued to
work for more and live a more comfortable life in America
but he felt compelled to return to his country of birth to put
in his efforts here. There are so many people without enough
here. But there are people like Tamba and his friends who are
willing to work for each other. There are people like George
who have such enormous potential and such an outstanding
work ethic but don’t have the resources to capitalize on it.
There are people like Emmanuel who have advantages and
could use them elsewhere and instead come back here and
stay in Sierra Leone. His hotel may not be practical for many
Sierra Leoneans, but it draws the foreign nationals and their
money provides jobs for Sierra Leoneans. There is such abject
poverty here, and great suffering, but there is true potential
in the people of Sierra Leone. With the proper education and
given the right assistance the people of this country could do
great things.
January 11th
Morning came really quick today (guess that’s what happens
when you stay up till 4 am). I got up at 7 because I wanted to
be able to spend some more time with George. He had to
clean the place first so I waited and then it was time for
breakfast so I had to wait till that was over. We talked for a little
bit but we didn’t have a whole lot of time because we had to
leave by 10:30 to get the group to the marina in time for them
to make their boat. We traded phone numbers (though I think
considering his financial situation that I’ll be doing the calling)
and then he helped me carry my stuff to the car to load it in. I
learned to be prepared as a boy scout but not to pack efficiently
so I can never pack lightly. Rueben came along as well. I’m
gonna miss him too, he’s a good kid and I hope that things get
better for him but I don’t know how likely that is. We left just
before 10:30 and as we were pulling out we drove past a man
we had been waiting for (he was bringing one of the guests
some soccer jerseys). As we were driving by we recognized him
and all started almost yelling at our driver, Sheku, to stop the
car. We got the jerseys and then continued on our way. It was a
good thing we left early (they didn’t have to be at the dock until
1) because we sat forever in traffic that wound off into the
distance in front and behind us. It was ok though because I
wasn’t quite ready for them to leave. The nurses already left
and I was quite sad about that because they were very nice.
While we were in the car we had a little impromptu worship
session. One of them was talking about the Newsboys song He
Reigns but they could remember the words so I pulled out my
computer and played it for them, and then proceeded to play
everyone’s favorite worship songs (the ones I had at least). We
did manage to arrive at the dock at about 12:30 so we actually
managed to make pretty good time considering the length of
time spent sitting in traffic. If we had been a little later it would
have been ok because though they were supposed to be there
by 1 that’s an hour before the boat leaves they just want them
there early. We got our last photos and said our goodbyes
before Tom, Karen, Steven and I set off to go do some errands.
We spent the afternoon weaving through traffic to various
grocery stores trying to replenish the foods that we had gone
through feeding 24 people for almost two weeks. It took quite a
while we set out at 1:30 and weren’t done until a little after 5.
We didn’t spend much time in the stores; the traffic in the city
is just bad. One thing I took note of is that when I get home it
will be strange not seeing mobile junk piles on the streets. Some
of the cars people drive here would have been made into scrap
at least a good 10 years ago. I know I’ve been in Freetown but I
never really thought about that. I think with all the people
leaving it kind of made me think about America. Not that I want
to go home any time soon, I love the people here and the place
itself isn’t too bad either. After we finished out shopping (and
got some more glasses from an English eye doctor who
practices here) we set out for a hotel outside Freetown called
the Compañero Hotel which is located in a place called Rokel.
Karen said they had never been there before. In fact it’s not
even all finished but they’ve started taking guests. That’s one
thing about projects here, they don’t get the money and build,
they build as they get the money. I met the owner, his name is
Emmanuel Sesay. He was a really nice guy and I spent several
hours talking with him about the hotel and his time in America
and other things. He went to America with most of his family
when he was 10 or 11. He attended school there and worked
there for some years until he was about 23, then 5 years ago
he returned to Sierra Leone since his father was here and he
felt that he wanted to do some part to help his own country.
When I asked why his father had stayed here he told me it was
because he was a policeman, in fact he’s the third highest
ranked police officer in the country. He started the hotel when
he got here 5 years ago and has been building it as he has had
the money. Last year in the fall (not really any fall here but fall
time at home) he had a group of engineers come and he had 30
people stay at his hotel for 3 months straight. He has used that
money to complete a good portion of his hotel. He almost has
three stories finished and once that’s done he plans on adding
one more floor with a meeting room and some other things.
But it’s getting pretty late, and I’ve babbled on for long enough
so I’m going to call it a night.
Blessings from Rokel
Ryan Brooks
Morning came really quick today (guess that’s what happens
when you stay up till 4 am). I got up at 7 because I wanted to
be able to spend some more time with George. He had to
clean the place first so I waited and then it was time for
breakfast so I had to wait till that was over. We talked for a little
bit but we didn’t have a whole lot of time because we had to
leave by 10:30 to get the group to the marina in time for them
to make their boat. We traded phone numbers (though I think
considering his financial situation that I’ll be doing the calling)
and then he helped me carry my stuff to the car to load it in. I
learned to be prepared as a boy scout but not to pack efficiently
so I can never pack lightly. Rueben came along as well. I’m
gonna miss him too, he’s a good kid and I hope that things get
better for him but I don’t know how likely that is. We left just
before 10:30 and as we were pulling out we drove past a man
we had been waiting for (he was bringing one of the guests
some soccer jerseys). As we were driving by we recognized him
and all started almost yelling at our driver, Sheku, to stop the
car. We got the jerseys and then continued on our way. It was a
good thing we left early (they didn’t have to be at the dock until
1) because we sat forever in traffic that wound off into the
distance in front and behind us. It was ok though because I
wasn’t quite ready for them to leave. The nurses already left
and I was quite sad about that because they were very nice.
While we were in the car we had a little impromptu worship
session. One of them was talking about the Newsboys song He
Reigns but they could remember the words so I pulled out my
computer and played it for them, and then proceeded to play
everyone’s favorite worship songs (the ones I had at least). We
did manage to arrive at the dock at about 12:30 so we actually
managed to make pretty good time considering the length of
time spent sitting in traffic. If we had been a little later it would
have been ok because though they were supposed to be there
by 1 that’s an hour before the boat leaves they just want them
there early. We got our last photos and said our goodbyes
before Tom, Karen, Steven and I set off to go do some errands.
We spent the afternoon weaving through traffic to various
grocery stores trying to replenish the foods that we had gone
through feeding 24 people for almost two weeks. It took quite a
while we set out at 1:30 and weren’t done until a little after 5.
We didn’t spend much time in the stores; the traffic in the city
is just bad. One thing I took note of is that when I get home it
will be strange not seeing mobile junk piles on the streets. Some
of the cars people drive here would have been made into scrap
at least a good 10 years ago. I know I’ve been in Freetown but I
never really thought about that. I think with all the people
leaving it kind of made me think about America. Not that I want
to go home any time soon, I love the people here and the place
itself isn’t too bad either. After we finished out shopping (and
got some more glasses from an English eye doctor who
practices here) we set out for a hotel outside Freetown called
the Compañero Hotel which is located in a place called Rokel.
Karen said they had never been there before. In fact it’s not
even all finished but they’ve started taking guests. That’s one
thing about projects here, they don’t get the money and build,
they build as they get the money. I met the owner, his name is
Emmanuel Sesay. He was a really nice guy and I spent several
hours talking with him about the hotel and his time in America
and other things. He went to America with most of his family
when he was 10 or 11. He attended school there and worked
there for some years until he was about 23, then 5 years ago
he returned to Sierra Leone since his father was here and he
felt that he wanted to do some part to help his own country.
When I asked why his father had stayed here he told me it was
because he was a policeman, in fact he’s the third highest
ranked police officer in the country. He started the hotel when
he got here 5 years ago and has been building it as he has had
the money. Last year in the fall (not really any fall here but fall
time at home) he had a group of engineers come and he had 30
people stay at his hotel for 3 months straight. He has used that
money to complete a good portion of his hotel. He almost has
three stories finished and once that’s done he plans on adding
one more floor with a meeting room and some other things.
But it’s getting pretty late, and I’ve babbled on for long enough
so I’m going to call it a night.
Blessings from Rokel
Ryan Brooks
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