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