October 14th 11:37 (UTC +1:00)

I feel like there is an overwhelming number of things to share in this blog. Every time I sit down to write I think of a million different things I’ve seen and experienced already and I’ve only been here since Saturday. Though today does mark the end of my first week since I got onto the plane in Cleveland and set out for Africa. It still blows my mind that I’m sitting here in Sierra Leone writing to you. I had a conversation with Tom a few nights ago about how blessed I feel to have so much here, and how it actually makes me feel a little sick how much I take for granted and waste when I’m home. Even taking a hot shower for 5-10 minutes at home wastes more water than we use here in a day generally. And I’m including all the hot and cold water we go through. I could imagine having that much hot water here. We have 2-4 hours of electricity a day, we always get our two at night but it’s been hit or miss during the day. We have running water (it’s pumped into a water tower when the generator is on and then gravity fed into the houses) We have generally at least two meals a day. In this heat lunch is often a small snack because you don’t feel like eating a whole lot. I have a nice bed with a pillow and set of sheets. I have my computer for about 5-7 hours a day because I can store energy in the battery. There’s a lot more stuff we have food wise that the Ashers have shipped over from America, jello is amazing so good when it’s nice and cold in this heat. Anyway I told him how blessed I feel to have all of this and he told me something I found startling. He said if there was such a thing as a fourth world country it’s Sierra Leone. He said the other Wesleyan Hospital, I can’t remember where it is, it’s in another country, has 20 hours of power a day. They have meat shipped to their hospital, fresh meat. When he was there he said that the power went out for a few hours and they had a fit. He said that as far as missions go this one here in Kamakwie is pretty much the lowest of the low. Here if we have meat it’s from a can. It’s possible to get some fresh meat from Makeni but because of the shape of the roads it takes about three hours to get from here to there or visa versa. So they don’t do it that much. I just think that the other missions waste so much money on comforts that it makes me really sad. I know that without what we have here this would be so much harder but even in the short time I’ve been here I wish we had more to give. The people all around me have so little, they live in houses without screens, they have either a pitiful excuse for a bed or a floor to sleep on. It’s just so poor that it’s hard to describe. Anyway, enough pitying I guess, for all I feel they lack they are so nice. They love to greet you as you pass and think it’s great when you ask them how they are, especially when you attempt to do it in Creo, which is something like howdabody, all in one word. The children run up to me and just want a chance to grab my hand and say hi and think it’s so wonderful to see me. The people are so grateful that I’ve come to help them that they haven’t even waited to see if I’m actually going to be any good. Which I think I will because they know so little I could probably teach them just what I remember, which is generally not very much, haha. Anyway I’m having a great day so far. Abu took me to get some things from town and showed me around Kamakwie 1,2 and three. I got to see a large group of students who were marching and singing to advertise the new school being started, it hasn’t been built yet but one of the people in town has a big house and they are taught there until the school gets built. He took me along the back side of town to see some other things and we passed a Muslim school. There are so many mosques around here it’s crazy. Many people here are Muslim but the church is growing here too as God continues to work on the hearts of the people. It’s strange to buy water in little bags. The water you can get in town comes in little 250mL pouches for 500 Leones which is 12.5 cents, so it’s pretty cheap here. Other things are more expensive. Toilet paper is 3500 Leones, or 87.5 cents a roll. I don’t know what it is in the US, but at the same time paying 14000 Leones makes me cringe. I’m still getting used to the money amounts. I have a picture, but when I got into Freetown I exchanged $500 for Leones and received 2,150,000 Leones. They came in 5000 and 10000 increments so I have this huge bundle of money, I felt like I had robbed bank or something. It’s just crazy. Anyway that’s probably a lot to read and take in all at once, but I still have so much to share. I have to go back town later to buy some bread, it wasn’t ready when we went through earlier. If you were wondering, I still lose things left and right, the lady who washes our clothes has found my house key and my flashlight in my laundry already and I’ve only had it done twice. Anyway,
God’s Blessings from Africa.
Ryan Brooks

October 13th 9:09 pm (UTC +1:00)

I had a good day today, it was hot today, 84 degrees and 74% humidity, so it was very muggy. I can’t wait for the rainy season to end, then humidity drops and the temperature falls to the 60s and 70s for November through January. I got up this morning and had Rice Crispies for breakfast, imagine that, Rice Crispies in Africa, and it only costs 29,000 Leones for the whole big box (that’s about 7.75 so that’s actually a really awful price). I went to chapel with Tom at 8 this morning where I got introduced to a lot of the hospital staff. I’m struggling even worse with names here in Sierra Leone because the traditional names are hard. There is a Frank and a Michael, but many people have names like Liman and Nabi, and even more obscure ones that, here’s a shocker, I can’t remember, haha. Anyway I was supposed to get to meet the Paramount Chief today. He’s the traditional head of the Sella Limba. He is in charge of the land, works with the people, helps settle issues of justice, guides the development of the chiefdom. The Sella Limba Chiefdom, of which Kamakwie is part, has 8 sections and covers approximately 500 miles. However, he had a meeting today in Makeni so I was not able to meet him, hopefully tomorrow. I spent a lot of time reading When Life is Hard, I thought it particularly apt, and Treasures of a Transformed Life, thanks Fredro Presby! It has actually applied really well to me here in this situation so far. I also studied biology some today, looking over what I would be teaching in class today. Today I taught an hour of biology today, which went well other than the fact that we covered almost nothing. They know so little it is shocking. I was teaching people who are supposed to be SENIORS in science, the year before they go to university if they qualify and they were struggling to learn the concepts related to an animal cell, like organelles and stuff, like 9th grade biology. Then I had an hour of chemistry, which was in reality math. The math skills of my JUNIORS are at an elementary level, and I mean like elementary school. They struggled to solve 1024 divided by 32 and I had to do it for them in the end. They are really bad at math, lets leave it at that. On the way home we passed the Maher’s house and they invited us in for almost an hour and a half. It was nice to talk with them and I got to meet Zoey a nurse/midwife from England. We had said hello in passing but this was the first I got to talk to her. She’s really nice, she’s been here for almost a year, she came in January. We finally got home about 2 hours ago and while we were getting ready to do dinner Pastor Maurice and his wife Priscilla. He was the District superintendent of the church and now is the superintendent of the bible school where they teach pastors. They were very nice and are where I got my info on Sella Limba from. Tomorrow I am going to the market in Kamakwie with Abu to pick up some bread and maybe some other stuff to snack on. So that should be fun, I only have one class to teach tomorrow, a chemistry class which will be a math review like today probably. Anyway, I miss everyone of you who reads this blog, and the onse who don’t. I will be home sooner than you think and I don’t care who you are you can be sure to receive a hug from me.

God’s Blessings from Africa,
Ryan Brooks

October 12, 4:28 PM (UTC +1:00)

So this morning has been pretty come and go, sometimes I feel at peace with what I am doing here and in the next moment I suddenly feel sad. But it’s been getting better every day and I’m hoping as I draw nearer to God and begin to shed my doubts and fears that by the end of a week that I will be at peace more often than not. We had dinner last night with a family who just arrived last night, the Mahers. There are four of them, Linda and Peter who are both doctors and their two kids Jordan and Philip who are 10 and 8 respectively. They are really nice and they are going to be here for 4 months. I couldn’t believe how well their kids are taking it. I understand that their parents are here but my first night here was devastating so figured they would be cranky or at least a little down but they are doing remarkably well, all excited about getting to go to school with all the African kids. We helped them set up their fridge and stove today. And I got to see the primary school where their kids will be going. It’s so crowded with little kids who are all so adorable, we peeked into one room and the kids just came flooding over just want to touch me or shake my hand, saying all kinds of stuff from their names to a bunch of stuff I couldn’t understand. It was really cool. Anyway, I taught for the first time today, that was an adventure that went from bad to worse. I started out feeling really good about it. I got ready to go and at 12 I started heading to the school with my loaded backpack and a box with 14 biology books in it, now that’s heavy. And because it’s hot here I was immediately dripping with sweat. Anyway, I got lost, I thought I knew where I was going but definitely not. Thankfully I ran into two students Siman and Nabi from the school getting ready to go and they led me there. Once I got there I met with principal Kimaro. He got me my schedule and I was getting ready to teach when I realized I hadn’t brought any water, I had to walk back to the hospital the long way because I still don’t know how to go the short way. I got my water and headed back. I had to teach two hours of chemistry to the Senior Secondary 3 class, which is like the seniors. This started off bad because I couldn’t get them to talk about what they know, then they suggested I work on radioactivity which basically turned out to be a math tutoring session as I attempted to teach them about radioactive half lives. But I held on and felt ok once that ended. Then came the two hours of biology with the SS2 class, the juniors. Well that didn’t go so well. I fumbled for a bit trying to find what they knew, got no response so I tried to begin teaching about the skeleton system but that was going well either. They know English but it’s not good and when three or four of them are trying to explain how they were taught before you pretty much cant understand anything. I got so overwhelmed by the feelings of being inadequate and worrying about how I was going to last 8 months when I wanted to give up on my first day. Eventually we decided to end class early and I left and cried part of the way back to the hospital. God must have some serious growth plan for me. There is no way I can handle this with what I have, I need Him so bad. Please pray that I can focus on Him and somehow manage to teach the 19 hours of class I’m scheduled for, because the 19 hours of class doesn’t cover any of the planning I have to do or anything and I’m just feeling seriously overwhelmed right now. I’m finally getting adjusted and now I have this. I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into but I know God is the only one who can pull me through this.

October 11th 10:53 (UTC +1:00)

Hey, getting to freetown was crazy. I had to fly for what felt like forever. First to Brussels which was eh, I didn't do anything there because I had no Euros so I couldn't get food, really glad for those snacks. So I pretty much went right to my gate. The Brussels airport sucked because they didn't offer free internet or anything like that. I was hoping to write a few letters and stuff but I didn't bother since I couldn't send them. After brussels my flight had to stop in a place called Dakar in Africa. That was about a five hour flight. Then a little more than an hour to freetown. Once in Freetown things didn't get much better. I got off the plane and it took so long to get my lugagge I was sure I lost it. It finally came out and the guy from the airport helping me led me out to the pelican taxi, then he took me off into a side room, asked for the ticket money, then a 20 dollar tip, then he said he needed one for himself, so I gave him 10 because I was just overwhelmed and a bit scared. So I'm starting out $30 I hadn't expected to use. Anyway, I had to wait forever to get on the water taxi but once I got on that was scary too, the water wash very choppy and the boat kept bouncing up and slamming down, I thought for sure we were gonna sink. But we made it, I met Dr. Asher and then we proceeded to wait another two hours because we thought there was a family coming, two doctors with two kids sadly 8 and 10 so not really good friend material. They never came and here they had other arrangements. So we left and stayed at a place in freetown for the night, I didn't have to pay at least, which wouldn't have mattered cause the place we stayed was only 10,000 Leones, or 2.50 for the night. I'm having some trouble with sticker shock when I see something marked 36,000 leones I keep forgetting thats only like nine dollars. Anyway, so we set out in the morning for Kamakwie. The road to Makeni wasn't bad, it's paved and so we made good time. When we got to Makeni we did some grocery shopping, I didn't get anything that I feel like snacking on because my stomach is in a foul mood with all this stress. Anyway, then we ate at this place, chicken in fries. It was good but spicy so my mouth hurt. From there we headed to Kamakwie, which was the worst part of the ride. It took forever to get here because the road is dirt and has so many ruts and trenches we had to slow down a lot and all the bouncing gave me a killer headache. I haven't had a headache since arriving which is good, though it's only been three days. It's crazy here, the hospital is a big campus with several houses, I'm staying at the doctors at least for now instead of my own place because I couldn't take it, being alone and in the dark is what triggered my panic attack on Saturday evening, which was my first night here. I got to see the village some which was interesting. It's very poor, everything built of wood and mud brick. I got to see the house of the former president, the one in power before the war. They never finished building it which is sad because I think it could have really been nice, instead it's pretty much a dump. Anyway, thats about all I have for now.
By His grace
Ryan Brooks

October 9, 9:17 pm (Kamakwie UTC -1:00)

So I made it safely to Kamakwie after a long arduous 7ish hour trek across the country, the roads were so awful I think I am suffering brain damage from all the bouncing. But I’m here and the people have been nice. I met two of my students, Abu and Abdul. Abu wants to call me Mr. R.W.B. for some reason, I think he thinks it cool cause I said he can and he goes by A.K.K. among his friends, I don’t know for sure though. Sitting here in the dark because our two hours of evening electricity is over, so I don’t want to stay on too long so I don’t run down my laptop since for now they are only going to have the evening two hours of electricity, the two in the morning won’t come till later when more people have come here. I’m feeling a lot better, Abu and Abdul are really nice and want to show me around at some point. I miss everyone a lot and while I don’t think that will go away I am at least doing better now that I’ve met some people. It’s crazy hot here, it’s only in the 80s but the humidity is almost that high as well. My little house is nice but the bugs are going nuts over my candles and computer screen. Anyway, I will write more later.

October 9th, 12:55 am (UTC -1:00)

I’m in Sierra Leone now and can’t sleep because I spent all day sleeping on planes… Anyway I feel a lot better now that I’m with Dr. Tom Asher and am not all alone. My last flight to Sierra Leone went pretty well, it stopped over in Dakar before making its final one hour journey to Sierra Leone.
Once I got here it was crazy, it took forever to get my luggage and I was afraid it hadn’t made it but it did. Then I got outside and one of the airport workers led me to the water taxi to get across to the mainland. However he got me pretty good. He pulled me aside saying I shouldn’t pull money out in the open but he pulled me into this little room where I felt very intimidated. He asked for $40 for the taxi, then he wanted a $20 dollar tip and since he had been so nice, and I was freaking out, I gave it, then he wanted another tip saying it was for all his help, he told me the first one wasn’t for him. He wanted another 20 but I only gave him a 10. So basically I got swindled out of $30 because I was alone, never done this before, and very insecure. Crap… anyway.
I made it to the taxi thing where I waited for what felt like forever, though I got to see a crab wandering around which was cool. When I finally got on it I prayed the whole way across the thing didn’t sink because it wasn’t very big and the water was very choppy, every time the thing bounced I was sure it was going to either sink or fall apart. Upon arriving at the mainland I met Tom and we talked about a lot of things but especially what I’ll be doing and all the people waiting to meet me which really helped me feel better. I’m super excited for all the opportunities I have here to build up the people of Sierra Leone and God’s kingdom. I assure you I am doing well, just being a little melodramatic because I’m missing home and friends and feeling very much like I skipped the frying pan and just jumped in the fire. I promise that my updates are not all going to be like depressing. Oh, one more sad story, there are dogs everywhere and I’m not allowed to pet them because they might give me rabies, lame…

October 8th, 10:02 AM (UTC +1:00)

I’m currently sitting here in Brussels waiting for my last flight, from Brussels to Lungi International in Freetown, Sierra Leone and there are about a million things running through my mind. The biggest thing is that I was totally naïve thinking it would be no problem to leave everyone I know and love behind for eight months for a place where I don’t really know anyone, I was wrong. I currently feel ok but on the flight from DC to Brussels I cried for almost an hour doing the best I could to keep it under control, hopefully the low lighting helped but regardless I am sure at least some of the people around me noticed. I have not felt as torn inside as I did last night on the plane in a long time.
The last three years have been an incredible period of growth and change as I went from hurting anti-social introvert to somewhere closer to content super-social extrovert. In that period of time God has placed amazing people in my life that have helped me make that transition, however as I have realized for a while I really put too much of my faith in people, relying on people to help keep me sane as I’ve struggled through a lot of things in my past. I can’t help but find myself wondering if this may be part of God’s plan for me as I go to Kamakwie to teach for eight months, to break the bonds of needing people so much that by myself I get apathetic and quite frequently depressed.
I know moving from needing people in my life to help me deal to wanting people in my life because I love them is important because when I rely on the people in my life I don’t rely enough on God. This is going to be a hard experience regardless and I would ask for your prayers as I confront and deal with this during my time in Africa.