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