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
Sunday, January 30, 2011
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
Jan 10th
When I got up this morning I went for a walk on the beach.
I was up a little too late to see the sunrise but it was quite
beautiful this morning anyway. After having breakfast
Lareena, Kate and I played soccer for a little bit with one kid
on the beach. We didn’t play long as it was pretty hot.
Lareena and I went out to the beach and swam for a little as
no one else wanted to go swimming. But we couldn’t stay long
and then had to get out and leave for the next hotel, back to
Lakka and the hard rock. A little while after we got there Tom,
Kate and I went for a swim. I like the beach at Sussex better
because it doesn’t get deep quickly. Here the beach drops
quickly and gets deep fast. After our swim we came back up
to the hotel to have lunch. Lunch was red snapper, the whole
entire fish. It was really creepy that it was staring at me so I
covered it’s face with a tissue. It was really good, which
surprised me since I don’t generally like fish. After lunch we
went back out to swim and this time everyone came along. It
was a lot of fun. After our swim we walked down to see a
new hotel place called the Villa Blanc. Tom and Karen are
always looking for new places to take people because most
of the hotels at the beach are pretty small and easily fill up.
After we returned from the Villa Blanca I stayed on the
beach and played with some kids, even spending a little
time teaching an African to swim (Rueben). It wasn’t so
much that he couldn’t do it but that he panics and sinks. I got
a beautiful sunset shot, and for dinner I had barracuda, had a
little lobster and even tried some shrimp. All of which was
good. I’m sad to be leaving in the morning because I’ve quite
enjoyed becoming friends with George and I’ll not likely see
him again for a while if at all. George had to stay up till 4am
watching the generator and since I wasn’t feeling very tired I
stayed up and talked to him till then. But I need to get some
sleep so good night.
Blessings from Lakka
Ryan Brooks
When I got up this morning I went for a walk on the beach.
I was up a little too late to see the sunrise but it was quite
beautiful this morning anyway. After having breakfast
Lareena, Kate and I played soccer for a little bit with one kid
on the beach. We didn’t play long as it was pretty hot.
Lareena and I went out to the beach and swam for a little as
no one else wanted to go swimming. But we couldn’t stay long
and then had to get out and leave for the next hotel, back to
Lakka and the hard rock. A little while after we got there Tom,
Kate and I went for a swim. I like the beach at Sussex better
because it doesn’t get deep quickly. Here the beach drops
quickly and gets deep fast. After our swim we came back up
to the hotel to have lunch. Lunch was red snapper, the whole
entire fish. It was really creepy that it was staring at me so I
covered it’s face with a tissue. It was really good, which
surprised me since I don’t generally like fish. After lunch we
went back out to swim and this time everyone came along. It
was a lot of fun. After our swim we walked down to see a
new hotel place called the Villa Blanc. Tom and Karen are
always looking for new places to take people because most
of the hotels at the beach are pretty small and easily fill up.
After we returned from the Villa Blanca I stayed on the
beach and played with some kids, even spending a little
time teaching an African to swim (Rueben). It wasn’t so
much that he couldn’t do it but that he panics and sinks. I got
a beautiful sunset shot, and for dinner I had barracuda, had a
little lobster and even tried some shrimp. All of which was
good. I’m sad to be leaving in the morning because I’ve quite
enjoyed becoming friends with George and I’ll not likely see
him again for a while if at all. George had to stay up till 4am
watching the generator and since I wasn’t feeling very tired I
stayed up and talked to him till then. But I need to get some
sleep so good night.
Blessings from Lakka
Ryan Brooks
January 9th
I got up this morning at around 8 or so. It hadn’t been a very
good night’s sleep, it was pretty hot and very humid. We had
breakfast at around 8:30-9. Right before breakfast a guy
came with stuff to buy. African sculptures, paintings, baskets
and some other trinkets. I had to buy an African Hammock,
they had one at the hotel and it was really nice. I’ve always
thought it would be nice to have a hammock but I’ve never
had one. And it didn’t cost very much considering it was made
from hand woven cloth and it had obviously taken some work.
The nursing students went crazy over the stuff he had, they
bought quite a bit of it. We had to leave at about 10:30 to
take the nurses to the dock. We met up with the other group
at the dock. They had brought the nursing students luggage
with them. We only wanted to come in with the one car so all
they brought was the stuff for the one night. We were really
glad when they showed up with the luggage because we were
worried they weren’t going to make it. They had set out from
Kamakwie that morning and that’s a long trip. After we saw
the nurses off we headed back to Sussex beach. I spent
somewhere between an hour or two playing with Moses,
Charles and some other kids in the ocean. We started out
playing a game with a ball. We were throwing it from the
water to the beach where some kids were trying to be the
first to it, then whoever got it would throw it back at us and
we would try and get it. (I know, not much of a game but it
was really fun) After we got done swimming at the beach we
headed up to the hotel (we are staying here for the night) to
get ready for dinner. People who own places like the hotel at
Sussex hire off duty Sierra Leonean soldiers for security; they
have their military issue weapon and everything. It would have
been more intimidating if I hadn’t seen a smile on the guards
face every time I looked at him. I got a picture with a Sierra
Leonean soldier, I got his name but I can’t remember it now.
Dinner was Italian style (Franco, the guy who owns it is Italian)
I had Carbonara for dinner; It was wonderful (if a little heavy
on the oil). They had pasta or fish (considering I had Barracuda
and I expect Barracuda tomorrow night I decided to skip the
fish). I got to talk to my mom for almost an hour tonight,
which was really nice. After I got off the phone with her I the
internet for a little bit (Karen brought the modem) to update
things a bit since I was behind (again). When I went to return
the modem I heard some singing coming from the pavilion
where they have their meals. I went to check it out and here
it was Lareena and Kate hanging out with four older Italian
gentlemen (one of which was Franco). The Italians were singing
(in Italian since they didn’t know much English). Lareena was
communicating to them via Spanish since one of them (at least)
spoke Spanish. It was fun listening to them singing and
occasionally they would dance and Lareena would dance with
them. The things you experience in Africa can be quite
surprising. Anyway, have a good night.
Blessings from Sussex beach,
Ryan Brooks
I got up this morning at around 8 or so. It hadn’t been a very
good night’s sleep, it was pretty hot and very humid. We had
breakfast at around 8:30-9. Right before breakfast a guy
came with stuff to buy. African sculptures, paintings, baskets
and some other trinkets. I had to buy an African Hammock,
they had one at the hotel and it was really nice. I’ve always
thought it would be nice to have a hammock but I’ve never
had one. And it didn’t cost very much considering it was made
from hand woven cloth and it had obviously taken some work.
The nursing students went crazy over the stuff he had, they
bought quite a bit of it. We had to leave at about 10:30 to
take the nurses to the dock. We met up with the other group
at the dock. They had brought the nursing students luggage
with them. We only wanted to come in with the one car so all
they brought was the stuff for the one night. We were really
glad when they showed up with the luggage because we were
worried they weren’t going to make it. They had set out from
Kamakwie that morning and that’s a long trip. After we saw
the nurses off we headed back to Sussex beach. I spent
somewhere between an hour or two playing with Moses,
Charles and some other kids in the ocean. We started out
playing a game with a ball. We were throwing it from the
water to the beach where some kids were trying to be the
first to it, then whoever got it would throw it back at us and
we would try and get it. (I know, not much of a game but it
was really fun) After we got done swimming at the beach we
headed up to the hotel (we are staying here for the night) to
get ready for dinner. People who own places like the hotel at
Sussex hire off duty Sierra Leonean soldiers for security; they
have their military issue weapon and everything. It would have
been more intimidating if I hadn’t seen a smile on the guards
face every time I looked at him. I got a picture with a Sierra
Leonean soldier, I got his name but I can’t remember it now.
Dinner was Italian style (Franco, the guy who owns it is Italian)
I had Carbonara for dinner; It was wonderful (if a little heavy
on the oil). They had pasta or fish (considering I had Barracuda
and I expect Barracuda tomorrow night I decided to skip the
fish). I got to talk to my mom for almost an hour tonight,
which was really nice. After I got off the phone with her I the
internet for a little bit (Karen brought the modem) to update
things a bit since I was behind (again). When I went to return
the modem I heard some singing coming from the pavilion
where they have their meals. I went to check it out and here
it was Lareena and Kate hanging out with four older Italian
gentlemen (one of which was Franco). The Italians were singing
(in Italian since they didn’t know much English). Lareena was
communicating to them via Spanish since one of them (at least)
spoke Spanish. It was fun listening to them singing and
occasionally they would dance and Lareena would dance with
them. The things you experience in Africa can be quite
surprising. Anyway, have a good night.
Blessings from Sussex beach,
Ryan Brooks
Monday, January 10, 2011
January 8th
We set out for Freetown with the nursing students and
Tom this morning at about 7:30. It was quite an
adventure, we had crammed 9 people into the back of
the car we were riding in. so it wasn’t too crowded but
we were still very close together. The Kamakwie to
Makeni road was as awful as usual, it’s not something
you can really get used to. We got to Makeni around
10:30 and met with Reverend Osman, superintendant of
the Wesleyan Church of Sierra Leone. After that we
stopped for some snacks and set out for Freetown. We
made it to our destination at about 2:30. What was our
destination you might ask? Why none other than Sussex
beach (not that you know it but you really should) the
most beautiful place I have ever been. Words can’t even
describe it. It’s a super clean beach, almost no shells to
possibly cut your feet on along the shore, it’s almost
completely surrounded by mountains covered with
tropical foliage. There is little to no development, there
is only on hotel on the whole beach and it only has one
room (we didn’t stay here tonight). While we were
swimming I met some kids, first Moses then Charles,
and then a bunch of other kids who I can’t remember
all their names. Moses and Charles live in a village near
the beach, which I’m jealous of, what I’m not jealous of
is that they have to walk 8 miles to school every day. I
think if I had to do that I’d find something else to do
and forget school. That shows some dedication to me.
On top of that for being only middle school students (JSS 1
and 3 respectively) they spoke English pretty well and
they don’t even have a teacher for English at their school.
I spent a while hanging out with the nursing students
and some time hanging out with the Sierra Leoneans. It
made for a great time. After we finished up swimming we
went up to the hotel and had ice cream. It was so amazing
but then I haven’t had it in three months so I think that it
would have had to be pretty awful ice cream for it to not
be amazing. Since the hotel here was full we set out for
the one we would be staying at. It’s at another beach,
Lakka beach, and it’s called the Hard Rock. It’s not
related to the Hard Rock café, it’s called the hard rock
because it’s literally built on a hard rock. It sits out into
the ocean and when the tide is high its actually
completely surrounded by water. It’s really cool. I also
loved that the entire hotel interior was all sand. Needless
to say I took advantage of that and went around barefoot.
It was quite wonderful. It was pretty late when we got
there so we didn’t swim there even though the beach
was very nice there too. For dinner I had barracuda, it was
quite amazing. I was even adventurous, I tried lobster and
it was also quite good. This trip is kind of a treat, a way to
relax and de-stress. My last trip to Freetown was quite
stressful so I’m glad to get this opportunity It’s only about
10 now but we are all whipped and going to bed. Night all.
Blessings from Freetown,
Ryan Brooks
We set out for Freetown with the nursing students and
Tom this morning at about 7:30. It was quite an
adventure, we had crammed 9 people into the back of
the car we were riding in. so it wasn’t too crowded but
we were still very close together. The Kamakwie to
Makeni road was as awful as usual, it’s not something
you can really get used to. We got to Makeni around
10:30 and met with Reverend Osman, superintendant of
the Wesleyan Church of Sierra Leone. After that we
stopped for some snacks and set out for Freetown. We
made it to our destination at about 2:30. What was our
destination you might ask? Why none other than Sussex
beach (not that you know it but you really should) the
most beautiful place I have ever been. Words can’t even
describe it. It’s a super clean beach, almost no shells to
possibly cut your feet on along the shore, it’s almost
completely surrounded by mountains covered with
tropical foliage. There is little to no development, there
is only on hotel on the whole beach and it only has one
room (we didn’t stay here tonight). While we were
swimming I met some kids, first Moses then Charles,
and then a bunch of other kids who I can’t remember
all their names. Moses and Charles live in a village near
the beach, which I’m jealous of, what I’m not jealous of
is that they have to walk 8 miles to school every day. I
think if I had to do that I’d find something else to do
and forget school. That shows some dedication to me.
On top of that for being only middle school students (JSS 1
and 3 respectively) they spoke English pretty well and
they don’t even have a teacher for English at their school.
I spent a while hanging out with the nursing students
and some time hanging out with the Sierra Leoneans. It
made for a great time. After we finished up swimming we
went up to the hotel and had ice cream. It was so amazing
but then I haven’t had it in three months so I think that it
would have had to be pretty awful ice cream for it to not
be amazing. Since the hotel here was full we set out for
the one we would be staying at. It’s at another beach,
Lakka beach, and it’s called the Hard Rock. It’s not
related to the Hard Rock café, it’s called the hard rock
because it’s literally built on a hard rock. It sits out into
the ocean and when the tide is high its actually
completely surrounded by water. It’s really cool. I also
loved that the entire hotel interior was all sand. Needless
to say I took advantage of that and went around barefoot.
It was quite wonderful. It was pretty late when we got
there so we didn’t swim there even though the beach
was very nice there too. For dinner I had barracuda, it was
quite amazing. I was even adventurous, I tried lobster and
it was also quite good. This trip is kind of a treat, a way to
relax and de-stress. My last trip to Freetown was quite
stressful so I’m glad to get this opportunity It’s only about
10 now but we are all whipped and going to bed. Night all.
Blessings from Freetown,
Ryan Brooks
January 5th – 7TH
I haven’t been good about writing my blog and I haven’t
taken any notes so I don’t really remember the specifics
of the last few days, but I’ll do my best. I did rounds both
Wednesday and Thursday with Solomon on the men’s
ward. It’s been a lot of the same patients who are just
waiting until they get better enough to move on. There
were a few more fatalities. It’s sadly just a fact of life here.
Friday I didn’t do rounds because the administration
decided to change the way rounds are done on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. Now Tom, Solomon and LA have
to do rounds all together one ward at a time. With Ryan
the medical student rounding with them as well I just
decided I wouldn’t bother because I was just going to be
in the way. Classes are going pretty well, attendance hasn’t
been real great but I don’t care, it’s easier to teach a
smaller group and most of the kids who I think have a
chance anyway are the ones coming. Maybe that’s why
the ones who aren’t coming now aren’t doing so well,
because they don’t attend class like they should. I
haven’t had any more chances to practice driving the
Honda, it’s just been too busy. I didn’t even get a chance
to go visit the Orphan school at all this week. One night
we went to a village for a clinic. I had to teach until after
they left so I rode with Solomon on the Honda to the village.
Lareena (one of the people from the church group) had been
teaching some kids and was still around as well and so she
rode on a Honda with Abdul to the village as well. We got
there as they were wrapping up the clinic and just in time for
dinner (chili since it’s pretty portable in a bowl that holds
heat. After that they showed the Jesus film and while that
was going on I got to talk with one of the medical students.
It was an interesting experience getting back, I rode in the
car with bench seats parallel to the length of the car, and
no seatbelts. It was a jolting experience in every literal
sense of the word. Other than that I can’t think of anything
really remarkable that occurred, so that’s where I’ll wrap
up this entry. You might want to skip reading the next couple
of days if you are bitter about the cold, because it might
make you more so.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I haven’t been good about writing my blog and I haven’t
taken any notes so I don’t really remember the specifics
of the last few days, but I’ll do my best. I did rounds both
Wednesday and Thursday with Solomon on the men’s
ward. It’s been a lot of the same patients who are just
waiting until they get better enough to move on. There
were a few more fatalities. It’s sadly just a fact of life here.
Friday I didn’t do rounds because the administration
decided to change the way rounds are done on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. Now Tom, Solomon and LA have
to do rounds all together one ward at a time. With Ryan
the medical student rounding with them as well I just
decided I wouldn’t bother because I was just going to be
in the way. Classes are going pretty well, attendance hasn’t
been real great but I don’t care, it’s easier to teach a
smaller group and most of the kids who I think have a
chance anyway are the ones coming. Maybe that’s why
the ones who aren’t coming now aren’t doing so well,
because they don’t attend class like they should. I
haven’t had any more chances to practice driving the
Honda, it’s just been too busy. I didn’t even get a chance
to go visit the Orphan school at all this week. One night
we went to a village for a clinic. I had to teach until after
they left so I rode with Solomon on the Honda to the village.
Lareena (one of the people from the church group) had been
teaching some kids and was still around as well and so she
rode on a Honda with Abdul to the village as well. We got
there as they were wrapping up the clinic and just in time for
dinner (chili since it’s pretty portable in a bowl that holds
heat. After that they showed the Jesus film and while that
was going on I got to talk with one of the medical students.
It was an interesting experience getting back, I rode in the
car with bench seats parallel to the length of the car, and
no seatbelts. It was a jolting experience in every literal
sense of the word. Other than that I can’t think of anything
really remarkable that occurred, so that’s where I’ll wrap
up this entry. You might want to skip reading the next couple
of days if you are bitter about the cold, because it might
make you more so.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
January 4th
Rounds this morning mostly consisted of patient review,
nothing really exciting. There was one patient of interest
however, he a cut half an inch into his heel from a Honda
accident. It looked pretty painful. After having finished
rounds I was on the way to house when I decided to stop
by the operating theater and saw them just starting a
procedure. A woman had a serious cut into her heel, and
had bisected her Achilles tendon. I got to watch them sew
it back together and then sew the rest of the ankle back
together. It was a little gross to watch but very fascinating.
The resiliency of human skin and other tissues just amazes
me. We may be pretty fragile in many ways, but God knew
what he was doing when he made us. I find it a little
disconcerting to watch them working on a patient who is
still somewhat awake since they can’t put them to sleep.
They have no way to manage their breathing. She was
restless and kept trying to move around. I think those two
cases were God’s way of saying be very careful on the
Honda, and I plan on paying attention. It’s not hard to do,
but you have to be careful and pay attention, if you get
distracted it would be very easy to have an accident. I
went back to the house after that to run the generator
and grade some exams. I went to school at one for my
first day of classes since the break started. It wasn’t too
bad, I managed to get right back into it almost like we had
never had a break. I got done at and went 4 went home to
change into something cooler and more comfortable and
at 5 I had a second Honda lesson with Solomon. I think it
went well, I drove to the house and back to the school with
Solomon then back to the house. Then Solomon had me
drive from the house to the school and back to the house
by myself, I was a little nervous but I’m getting the hang of
it pretty quick. This place has changed me in quite a few
ways, one of which is being a little more open to adventure.
I used to swear I would never ride on a motorcycle, while
Solomon’s bike is more like a dirt bike it’s still a motor
bike and I think if someone told me three months ago I
would be doing it I would have said they were crazy. On
the way back up to the house the bike died on me, I had
managed to run out of fuel, haha. So Solomon took the
bike to get fuel and I went up to the house to have dinner.
On the way I met Tom and he told me to be very careful,
which I can understand, he sees all the people who come in
after having accidents. I intend to be very careful. For dinner
we had my favorite African dish, jolof (not sure on the
spelling) rice, it’s a lot like fried rice, only better. I love love
love it. After dinner I went over to the nursing students
residence and we played a game for a little while. Saidu and
Foday were there as well. I don’t know what the game is
called but there is a prompt like “Something harder than it
looks” and everyone write an answer and passes them to
one person. That person reads them and then everyone
takes turns around the circle trying to figure out who said
what. If you get the person right they are out and you get
a point. This goes until there is only one person left and
then the round ends and a new round with a new prompt
starts. It’s a game where it pays to know the people you
are playing it with. After that I paid Solomon a little visit
and now I’m home for bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Rounds this morning mostly consisted of patient review,
nothing really exciting. There was one patient of interest
however, he a cut half an inch into his heel from a Honda
accident. It looked pretty painful. After having finished
rounds I was on the way to house when I decided to stop
by the operating theater and saw them just starting a
procedure. A woman had a serious cut into her heel, and
had bisected her Achilles tendon. I got to watch them sew
it back together and then sew the rest of the ankle back
together. It was a little gross to watch but very fascinating.
The resiliency of human skin and other tissues just amazes
me. We may be pretty fragile in many ways, but God knew
what he was doing when he made us. I find it a little
disconcerting to watch them working on a patient who is
still somewhat awake since they can’t put them to sleep.
They have no way to manage their breathing. She was
restless and kept trying to move around. I think those two
cases were God’s way of saying be very careful on the
Honda, and I plan on paying attention. It’s not hard to do,
but you have to be careful and pay attention, if you get
distracted it would be very easy to have an accident. I
went back to the house after that to run the generator
and grade some exams. I went to school at one for my
first day of classes since the break started. It wasn’t too
bad, I managed to get right back into it almost like we had
never had a break. I got done at and went 4 went home to
change into something cooler and more comfortable and
at 5 I had a second Honda lesson with Solomon. I think it
went well, I drove to the house and back to the school with
Solomon then back to the house. Then Solomon had me
drive from the house to the school and back to the house
by myself, I was a little nervous but I’m getting the hang of
it pretty quick. This place has changed me in quite a few
ways, one of which is being a little more open to adventure.
I used to swear I would never ride on a motorcycle, while
Solomon’s bike is more like a dirt bike it’s still a motor
bike and I think if someone told me three months ago I
would be doing it I would have said they were crazy. On
the way back up to the house the bike died on me, I had
managed to run out of fuel, haha. So Solomon took the
bike to get fuel and I went up to the house to have dinner.
On the way I met Tom and he told me to be very careful,
which I can understand, he sees all the people who come in
after having accidents. I intend to be very careful. For dinner
we had my favorite African dish, jolof (not sure on the
spelling) rice, it’s a lot like fried rice, only better. I love love
love it. After dinner I went over to the nursing students
residence and we played a game for a little while. Saidu and
Foday were there as well. I don’t know what the game is
called but there is a prompt like “Something harder than it
looks” and everyone write an answer and passes them to
one person. That person reads them and then everyone
takes turns around the circle trying to figure out who said
what. If you get the person right they are out and you get
a point. This goes until there is only one person left and
then the round ends and a new round with a new prompt
starts. It’s a game where it pays to know the people you
are playing it with. After that I paid Solomon a little visit
and now I’m home for bed.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 3rd
I rounded in the hospital in the men’s ward again this
morning (I’ll probably stop saying that since that’s where
I usually round and just let you know when something
interesting occurs). Solomon was so cold he was shivering
this morning, literally. I could even see his teeth chattering.
Sadly one of the patients I had been seeing in the ward died
this morning as we were preparing to do rounds. I don’t
know why, he apparently deteriorated over the weekend. I
didn’t do rounds this weekend (I was in Freetown Friday and
Saturday and yesterday was Sunday so I was at church). It
was really hard I think because he was only 22, barely younger
than me. He had come in vomiting blood, but they got it under
control and he seemed to have been making some progress
through Thursday when I last saw him. I think that’s part of
what makes him dying harder; and of course the mourning of
the family, especially the mother. It’s always very heart
wrenching. We sort of just moved on after we declared him
dead, there wasn’t really anything to do at that point. Other
than the sad loss of two men (another one died but I hadn’t
seen him) rounds went pretty well. I didn’t have school today,
apparently it was a holiday. I don’t know if it was the actual
reason but Karen made a comment about it being a “holiday”
due to the fact that Christmas and the New Year fell on the
weekend so they didn’t have a day off from school. Another
afternoon where I’m not sure really what I did, I rested some
due to it being really hot this afternoon. I don’t think it was
really any hotter than normal but these cold mornings make
the hot afternoon seem really hot. I had my first Honda
lesson today. In less than half an hour I was driving the
Honda by myself (not very far of course). To finish up my
lesson Solomon had me drive up to the house from the school
(not even a mile). Alusine showed up as I was returning to the
house for dinner. The kid has the worst timing; I had him wait
for me while I had dinner. I felt bad but I told him not to come
before 7 and he came at 6. After dinner I went with him to visit
the orphan school to get some of his books to study (notebooks
with notes in them) and walked back to the house. It’s kind of
early, about 10:30, but I’m tired so it’s bed time. Night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I rounded in the hospital in the men’s ward again this
morning (I’ll probably stop saying that since that’s where
I usually round and just let you know when something
interesting occurs). Solomon was so cold he was shivering
this morning, literally. I could even see his teeth chattering.
Sadly one of the patients I had been seeing in the ward died
this morning as we were preparing to do rounds. I don’t
know why, he apparently deteriorated over the weekend. I
didn’t do rounds this weekend (I was in Freetown Friday and
Saturday and yesterday was Sunday so I was at church). It
was really hard I think because he was only 22, barely younger
than me. He had come in vomiting blood, but they got it under
control and he seemed to have been making some progress
through Thursday when I last saw him. I think that’s part of
what makes him dying harder; and of course the mourning of
the family, especially the mother. It’s always very heart
wrenching. We sort of just moved on after we declared him
dead, there wasn’t really anything to do at that point. Other
than the sad loss of two men (another one died but I hadn’t
seen him) rounds went pretty well. I didn’t have school today,
apparently it was a holiday. I don’t know if it was the actual
reason but Karen made a comment about it being a “holiday”
due to the fact that Christmas and the New Year fell on the
weekend so they didn’t have a day off from school. Another
afternoon where I’m not sure really what I did, I rested some
due to it being really hot this afternoon. I don’t think it was
really any hotter than normal but these cold mornings make
the hot afternoon seem really hot. I had my first Honda
lesson today. In less than half an hour I was driving the
Honda by myself (not very far of course). To finish up my
lesson Solomon had me drive up to the house from the school
(not even a mile). Alusine showed up as I was returning to the
house for dinner. The kid has the worst timing; I had him wait
for me while I had dinner. I felt bad but I told him not to come
before 7 and he came at 6. After dinner I went with him to visit
the orphan school to get some of his books to study (notebooks
with notes in them) and walked back to the house. It’s kind of
early, about 10:30, but I’m tired so it’s bed time. Night all.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
January 2nd
I woke up this morning freezing (mind you it was probably
in the mid 60s, again not to rub it in your faces, just sharing
my experience). This morning we went to the mother
church (the group I brought as well as the nursing students
and Karen) Tom and the Sprouses (a married couple who
are both medical students) were at the hospital, they had a
C-section at 4 am and then a hernia repair after that. They
were so busy that when they came up to the house for lunch
at around 2 they still hadn’t even finished up rounds at the
hospital. The service was relatively brief, only lasting about
two hours. We had communion today, the first time I’ve had
communion since I arrived here. It’s not something they do
often I guess. Someone was telling me they only have
communion at the Katherie church the Sunday before Good
Friday. This afternoon some of the nursing students and two
of the girls from the church group I picked up were playing
with some kids (about 30). It was quite entertaining, they
are very good with kids. They were teaching them different
games and some songs. Other than that, I don’t even know
where this afternoon went, it seemed to just slide by without
my noticing it. Suddenly it was dinner time and after dinner
we spent quite a while talking at our house. I think one of my
favorite parts of having people come visit is just getting to
learn about the things they’ve done and experienced. After
that I went on a walk with Daniel Kamara, Sheka (both of
them are students Tom and Karen support at university),
Abdul and Lareena one of the girls from the church group. I
think I start classes tomorrow but I heard it might be a holiday,
not sure. Not really ready to start again but I had to eventually.
I would much rather help at the hospital and in fact I am going
to continue to as much as I can. I really like helping at the
hospital in the wards but I came to teach so that’s my main
focus and priority. Good night.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
I woke up this morning freezing (mind you it was probably
in the mid 60s, again not to rub it in your faces, just sharing
my experience). This morning we went to the mother
church (the group I brought as well as the nursing students
and Karen) Tom and the Sprouses (a married couple who
are both medical students) were at the hospital, they had a
C-section at 4 am and then a hernia repair after that. They
were so busy that when they came up to the house for lunch
at around 2 they still hadn’t even finished up rounds at the
hospital. The service was relatively brief, only lasting about
two hours. We had communion today, the first time I’ve had
communion since I arrived here. It’s not something they do
often I guess. Someone was telling me they only have
communion at the Katherie church the Sunday before Good
Friday. This afternoon some of the nursing students and two
of the girls from the church group I picked up were playing
with some kids (about 30). It was quite entertaining, they
are very good with kids. They were teaching them different
games and some songs. Other than that, I don’t even know
where this afternoon went, it seemed to just slide by without
my noticing it. Suddenly it was dinner time and after dinner
we spent quite a while talking at our house. I think one of my
favorite parts of having people come visit is just getting to
learn about the things they’ve done and experienced. After
that I went on a walk with Daniel Kamara, Sheka (both of
them are students Tom and Karen support at university),
Abdul and Lareena one of the girls from the church group. I
think I start classes tomorrow but I heard it might be a holiday,
not sure. Not really ready to start again but I had to eventually.
I would much rather help at the hospital and in fact I am going
to continue to as much as I can. I really like helping at the
hospital in the wards but I came to teach so that’s my main
focus and priority. Good night.
Blessings from Kamakwie
Ryan Brooks
Sunday, January 2, 2011
January 1st
I had to get up at around 6:40 to get everything all
packed up so we could set out by 7am to go pick the
guests up. We got to the hotel they were staying at by
7:30 and headed out of Freetown by 7:45. Steven said
if we didn’t get moving early traffic would be mad and
we would take forever getting out. So we took the back
way out of the city in order to avoid traffic as much as
possible though I think I would have rather face the
traffic as the back way out of the city was really rough.
We got to see the embassy, Karen told me in the past
that it’s an embarrassment. After seeing it myself, even
from a distance, I saw what she means. It’s a huge
compound on the surface and I was told that there is a
lot of it underground too. In a city as poor as Freetown
it’s just such an extravagant building, that money could
have done so much more used elsewhere. There is
absolutely no reason for a structure that large. Anyway,
we made pretty good time, going 150 miles from
Freetown to Makeni in about 2 and a half hours. We
stopped in Makeni to eat at the Wusum hotel. It’s a really
nice place and they even had cloth napkins. They have a
swimming pool that I’m told it’s safe to swim in, but I could
see the bottom of the little pool, let alone the full sized
pool. We stopped for fuel and since I had the money and
had to pay the other car with us set out before we did, on
top of that we had to go pick up some bread to bring home,
so they got back just a little before we did. We made it to
Kamakwie just shy of 4pm which was good because that
means it took us a little less than three hours to make the
journey (of which I slept a good bit of it again, good old
Dramamine, haha). Dinner was crazy, try feeding 24 people
using one stove and cramming them all in a single dining
room. We can do it but it’s not something you would want
to do long term. Alusine and Saidu both came to pay me a
visit. The three of us went over to the student nurses house
for their devotional time and it was really enjoyable again.
Saidu shared a couple of Sierra Leonean worship songs and
a pretty deep message about not being prideful related to
one of the songs. After that Alusine and Saidu headed out
for their respective homes. Time for bed I guess, so I wish
you all a good evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I had to get up at around 6:40 to get everything all
packed up so we could set out by 7am to go pick the
guests up. We got to the hotel they were staying at by
7:30 and headed out of Freetown by 7:45. Steven said
if we didn’t get moving early traffic would be mad and
we would take forever getting out. So we took the back
way out of the city in order to avoid traffic as much as
possible though I think I would have rather face the
traffic as the back way out of the city was really rough.
We got to see the embassy, Karen told me in the past
that it’s an embarrassment. After seeing it myself, even
from a distance, I saw what she means. It’s a huge
compound on the surface and I was told that there is a
lot of it underground too. In a city as poor as Freetown
it’s just such an extravagant building, that money could
have done so much more used elsewhere. There is
absolutely no reason for a structure that large. Anyway,
we made pretty good time, going 150 miles from
Freetown to Makeni in about 2 and a half hours. We
stopped in Makeni to eat at the Wusum hotel. It’s a really
nice place and they even had cloth napkins. They have a
swimming pool that I’m told it’s safe to swim in, but I could
see the bottom of the little pool, let alone the full sized
pool. We stopped for fuel and since I had the money and
had to pay the other car with us set out before we did, on
top of that we had to go pick up some bread to bring home,
so they got back just a little before we did. We made it to
Kamakwie just shy of 4pm which was good because that
means it took us a little less than three hours to make the
journey (of which I slept a good bit of it again, good old
Dramamine, haha). Dinner was crazy, try feeding 24 people
using one stove and cramming them all in a single dining
room. We can do it but it’s not something you would want
to do long term. Alusine and Saidu both came to pay me a
visit. The three of us went over to the student nurses house
for their devotional time and it was really enjoyable again.
Saidu shared a couple of Sierra Leonean worship songs and
a pretty deep message about not being prideful related to
one of the songs. After that Alusine and Saidu headed out
for their respective homes. Time for bed I guess, so I wish
you all a good evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
December 31st
I can’t believe it’s the last day of 2010, I feel like I graduated
not that long ago, and that was in May. We set out at a little
after 8 in the morning (after performing some maintenance).
We picked up Solomon at his house before heading
downtown and grabbing John the welder and some of his
equipment. Then on the way out of town we picked up two
more people I didn’t know. Poor Solomon was crammed in
the backseat of the car with three other people the whole
way to Makeni. I passed out on and off along the road. I
was tired and I had taken some Dramamine since that
road really makes me feel ill. On the way to Makeni we
stopped in Gbendembu (silent g) for what I don’t know.
Steven the driver just got out of the car and disappeared
for about 15 minutes. We got to Makeni at a little past 11
and dropped off the two people I didn’t know in town.
After that we stopped at BS’s house for a little. Solomon
and John at some food (African of course) and offered me
some but I was too nauseous from the road. From there we
went downtown to exchange some money (Karen had given
me $2000 to change since she said they needed a lot of
Leones). 2000 Leones comes out to be (at 4250:1) 8.5 million
Leones. I felt quite uncomfortable carrying that much money
but I didn’t have much choice. I kept it in a bag in my hands
at all times (or locked in the car when we had to get out).
After that we set out for Freetown, we made it there at around
3pm or so. We went first to the grocery store to pick up some
stuff and then we went to a restaurant called Basha’s Bakery.
They serve rotisserie chicken, which we had with some fried
rice. I was really excited to have real fresh chicken (as opposed
to canned chicken) but it was a little disappointing as it was
really dry. When we finished up there we went on to Aberdeen
where we were to pick up the incoming strangers, we made it
there at about 5:30. Since their flight didn’t come in until
almost 7 I was happy with the time we made. Since we had so
long to wait Solomon and I went for a walk and ended up
(accidently) at one of the beaches in Freetown. There are quite
a few and this one is known as Lumley beach. We couldn’t stay
there long, the sun was setting and I didn’t want to be walking
in the dark. I was careless and left my camera sitting in the car
by the dock so I couldn’t take a picture of the absolutely
beautiful sunset. It was simply amazing. I love the ocean, it is
just a huge visual expression to me of the vastness of God’s
creation (in a way that the night sky, as spectacular as it is, just
doesn’t compare) and the waves crashing on the shore just
remind me of how powerful He is. When I finally decide to live
somewhere I want the beach to not be too far away. Since I
forgot my camera and we didn’t get to stay long I told Solomon
we would just have to come again someday. We headed back
to the dock getting there just a little after the sunset (around
7:30). They had a TV at the little dock house so we just sat
down and watched part of the movie Alexander. While I was
watching it some people came in on boats. (A little note,
Karen told me my people were coming in on BMI and I had
told a woman who worked there that and when I started
looking around to see who had come over she told me they
came through Brussels) So I just sat there watching the TV
even though there was a group of 8 people kind of standing
aimlessly around just kind of waiting (8 being the number of
people I expected, 6 in a church group and two medical
students). Eventually one of them saw our car and we figured
out that they were in and so we got them all packed up but I
felt foolish and a little embarrassed having just sat there for a
little over 10 minutes or so watching them. We took them to
their hotel and got them all settled in (after making a run to
get them some water because in all the craziness and trying to
make sure we got to Aberdeen on time I had forgotten to by
some bottled water). The water in the room was $2 a bottle,
while that’s not bad for a 1.5 liter bottle, I bought 2packs of 6
bottles for $7.50 (about 62.5 cents per bottle) which is a lot
better. After getting them settled Solomon, Steven and I
headed over to the former Wesleyan office in Freetown called
the SHV (it’s now a place where we stay when we come in to
pick up people). It was not in very good condition. They hadn’t
changed the sheets on the bed (from where Karen was there
two days before) There was almost no water inside for
showering or using the toilet (the place has no running water
so they keep water in a barrel inside). It was basically just not
ready for us and I wasn’t very happy but too tired to care. I
made it to midnight, called my friend Rhett to wish him a
Happy New Year (though he still had 5 hours to wait). I tried to
call my grandparents but they didn’t answer the phone. I laid
down and was out before 12:30 (I know that because I found a
text from Karen at 12:28 and I know I wasn’t awake to receive it).
Solomon had laid down on the couch (I offered to pull it out into
a bed but he said it was fine) and didn’t move from there, just
passed out. Anyway , Happy New Year!
Wishing you all the best in 2011,
Ryan Brooks
I can’t believe it’s the last day of 2010, I feel like I graduated
not that long ago, and that was in May. We set out at a little
after 8 in the morning (after performing some maintenance).
We picked up Solomon at his house before heading
downtown and grabbing John the welder and some of his
equipment. Then on the way out of town we picked up two
more people I didn’t know. Poor Solomon was crammed in
the backseat of the car with three other people the whole
way to Makeni. I passed out on and off along the road. I
was tired and I had taken some Dramamine since that
road really makes me feel ill. On the way to Makeni we
stopped in Gbendembu (silent g) for what I don’t know.
Steven the driver just got out of the car and disappeared
for about 15 minutes. We got to Makeni at a little past 11
and dropped off the two people I didn’t know in town.
After that we stopped at BS’s house for a little. Solomon
and John at some food (African of course) and offered me
some but I was too nauseous from the road. From there we
went downtown to exchange some money (Karen had given
me $2000 to change since she said they needed a lot of
Leones). 2000 Leones comes out to be (at 4250:1) 8.5 million
Leones. I felt quite uncomfortable carrying that much money
but I didn’t have much choice. I kept it in a bag in my hands
at all times (or locked in the car when we had to get out).
After that we set out for Freetown, we made it there at around
3pm or so. We went first to the grocery store to pick up some
stuff and then we went to a restaurant called Basha’s Bakery.
They serve rotisserie chicken, which we had with some fried
rice. I was really excited to have real fresh chicken (as opposed
to canned chicken) but it was a little disappointing as it was
really dry. When we finished up there we went on to Aberdeen
where we were to pick up the incoming strangers, we made it
there at about 5:30. Since their flight didn’t come in until
almost 7 I was happy with the time we made. Since we had so
long to wait Solomon and I went for a walk and ended up
(accidently) at one of the beaches in Freetown. There are quite
a few and this one is known as Lumley beach. We couldn’t stay
there long, the sun was setting and I didn’t want to be walking
in the dark. I was careless and left my camera sitting in the car
by the dock so I couldn’t take a picture of the absolutely
beautiful sunset. It was simply amazing. I love the ocean, it is
just a huge visual expression to me of the vastness of God’s
creation (in a way that the night sky, as spectacular as it is, just
doesn’t compare) and the waves crashing on the shore just
remind me of how powerful He is. When I finally decide to live
somewhere I want the beach to not be too far away. Since I
forgot my camera and we didn’t get to stay long I told Solomon
we would just have to come again someday. We headed back
to the dock getting there just a little after the sunset (around
7:30). They had a TV at the little dock house so we just sat
down and watched part of the movie Alexander. While I was
watching it some people came in on boats. (A little note,
Karen told me my people were coming in on BMI and I had
told a woman who worked there that and when I started
looking around to see who had come over she told me they
came through Brussels) So I just sat there watching the TV
even though there was a group of 8 people kind of standing
aimlessly around just kind of waiting (8 being the number of
people I expected, 6 in a church group and two medical
students). Eventually one of them saw our car and we figured
out that they were in and so we got them all packed up but I
felt foolish and a little embarrassed having just sat there for a
little over 10 minutes or so watching them. We took them to
their hotel and got them all settled in (after making a run to
get them some water because in all the craziness and trying to
make sure we got to Aberdeen on time I had forgotten to by
some bottled water). The water in the room was $2 a bottle,
while that’s not bad for a 1.5 liter bottle, I bought 2packs of 6
bottles for $7.50 (about 62.5 cents per bottle) which is a lot
better. After getting them settled Solomon, Steven and I
headed over to the former Wesleyan office in Freetown called
the SHV (it’s now a place where we stay when we come in to
pick up people). It was not in very good condition. They hadn’t
changed the sheets on the bed (from where Karen was there
two days before) There was almost no water inside for
showering or using the toilet (the place has no running water
so they keep water in a barrel inside). It was basically just not
ready for us and I wasn’t very happy but too tired to care. I
made it to midnight, called my friend Rhett to wish him a
Happy New Year (though he still had 5 hours to wait). I tried to
call my grandparents but they didn’t answer the phone. I laid
down and was out before 12:30 (I know that because I found a
text from Karen at 12:28 and I know I wasn’t awake to receive it).
Solomon had laid down on the couch (I offered to pull it out into
a bed but he said it was fine) and didn’t move from there, just
passed out. Anyway , Happy New Year!
Wishing you all the best in 2011,
Ryan Brooks
December 30th
I did rounds on the men’s ward with Solomon and Andrew
(one of the nursing students). Then Tom came, and two of
the girl nursing students, I can’t remember their names
quite yet. We finished up the rounds by a little after 10:30.
After lunch there was a c-section on a lady with twins. I
went and watched it and made it through the whole
procedure (from opening to the final stitch) with minimal
nausea. I’m hoping to get to watch some other procedures
in the future. Alusine was supposed to come and visit but
he never turned up. This evening the instructor of the
nursing students invited me over to their place of residence
to join them for their evening devotionals. It was nice to
have some people near my age who are from America and
understand the type of experiences I’m used to as far as
that sort of thing goes. I ended up staying there until almost
11 because I was waiting for a call from Solomon and wasn’t
watching the time. When I realized how late it was I went
down to his house to find he had gone to sleep. I had to
wake him up because I needed to make sure he knew when
to be up at the house in the morning since we were leaving
for Freetown. I came back up and now I’m going to bed, we
aren’t leaving till 8 but I know I need to be up early enough
to get ready before everyone turns up for breakfast. So with
that I wish you all well and a good evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
I did rounds on the men’s ward with Solomon and Andrew
(one of the nursing students). Then Tom came, and two of
the girl nursing students, I can’t remember their names
quite yet. We finished up the rounds by a little after 10:30.
After lunch there was a c-section on a lady with twins. I
went and watched it and made it through the whole
procedure (from opening to the final stitch) with minimal
nausea. I’m hoping to get to watch some other procedures
in the future. Alusine was supposed to come and visit but
he never turned up. This evening the instructor of the
nursing students invited me over to their place of residence
to join them for their evening devotionals. It was nice to
have some people near my age who are from America and
understand the type of experiences I’m used to as far as
that sort of thing goes. I ended up staying there until almost
11 because I was waiting for a call from Solomon and wasn’t
watching the time. When I realized how late it was I went
down to his house to find he had gone to sleep. I had to
wake him up because I needed to make sure he knew when
to be up at the house in the morning since we were leaving
for Freetown. I came back up and now I’m going to bed, we
aren’t leaving till 8 but I know I need to be up early enough
to get ready before everyone turns up for breakfast. So with
that I wish you all well and a good evening.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
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