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