November 6th
So, today had an interesting start. Since Karen was gone getting
Tom and the other strangers Rebecca and I had to fend for
ourselves for breakfast. After eating I was doing the dishes and
had just finished up and went to rinse out the sink, I grabbed the
little knob that you turn and I hadn’t even applied enough
pressure for it to turn and it came off in my hand and water
started spewing out of the now broken faucet. I stood stunned for
a few second as the water got all over, and then I remembered the
shut off valve just outside the window so I ran and turned it off. I
went to find Samuel, who is an accountant, though he seems to
handle managing the employees and making sure a lot of the work
gets done around the hospital. He arranged to have the plumber
come by later so I went for a bit of a walk because it was nice and
cool this morning, part of the way downtown Samuel came by on
his motor bike and asked me if I wanted a ride, not that it was very
far or anything. I almost said no, the roads are pretty iffy and I was
afraid that if I got on one we would wreck and having no helmets I
figured it would be safer not to ride. But then I decided to suck it
up and ride, I spend so much time being afraid and worrying that I
decided I was sick of it and I just got on. It was fun, though we only
went a few hundred yards. I wandered the market a bit trying to
get over being annoyed about the whole faucet thing. I found a
nice dress shirt which was good, the two I have just weren’t
enough with how hot it is. Anyway, I was just grabbing some bread
for Rebecca and I to have for lunch when Samuel showed back up
and gave me a ride up to my house because he said the plumber
was there and needed in. It was fun but a little nerve-wracking in
places where the road has ruts the whole way across, but I
obviously made it safely. It was fun; I actually look forward to
getting to ride again. Abdul says he wants to teach me to drive
one, and Tom says he’s going to teach me to drive standard
because all the cars here are standard. After that I spent a few
hours working on school stuff, grading a quiz I gave and some
math assignments. While I was doing this Osman came by and
wanted me to play with him and his friends. He also brought me
four or five limes. I told him I had work to do so he left, but not
for long, about an hour later he was back and sat there with me
while I finished grading. After completing that Osman and I went
for a walk. I met his mother, Marion, his elder sister and saw his
younger sister who was apparently terrified of me because she did
not want to come near, speaking of terrifying, when I was at the
market earlier this little kid came up to me and asked “Matthew?”
I said, no, Ryan. And he immediately began bawling and ran to
hide behind his mom. Apparently there is a little kid who was
terrified of Matthew, who was 6’2” and before he left the kid
started warming up to him, but apparently a new white man was
too much for him. Haha. I felt bad that he was crying but I hadn’t
really done anything. Anyway, Osman’s mother is a nurse and is
trying to transfer from where she works in Freetown to here in
Kamakwie so she can be with her kids. She also had pretty grand
plans to build a house, but it’s going to cost a lot of money.
Anyway, from there Osman and I went to Pa Kanu’s to get a cold
Vimto, though cold doesn’t strictly apply in this case, it’s more of a
not warm. After that I sent Osman on his way and headed home,
where Saidu was waiting for me, he told me he would be there at
four to take me down to the field where they play soccer and he
was. So Rebecca, Saidu and I all went down there, I didn’t play
but I would like to sometime, though I will be absolutely awful
compared to them, since they play ALL the time. Rebecca and I
came back up to the house at about 5:30 to await the arrival of
Karen, Tom and the guests. We waited till nearly 7 and decided to
call, which was good, Karen gave us instructions to prepare food
since they wouldn’t be in until half nine as Rebecca would say
(9:30, it’s apparently a British thing). I always though half
*whatever number*, say 5, meant that it was half of five as in 4:30
but I was mistaken. It was fun getting to meet the work team who
have come to build bunk bed., Jeannine, Jessica, Bud, Judy, Carol,
Don and Jim were all over for dinner, apparently there is a man
named Todd but he wasn’t up for dinner. Anyway, that’s about it
for today’s adventures I hope things are going well for you all.
Greetings from Kamakwie,
Ryan
Saturday, November 6, 2010
November 5th
This is going to be a bit of a long one, lots happened today. So I
might as well start here, this morning I inadvertently referred to
Karen as old… though she didn’t make comment on it. I had been
explaining that Patches (cat) had killed a praying mantis (didn’t
even know they had them here) and was being very defensive,
growling if you even came near her. Karen said it was ok because
they aren’t endangered here, but when I said that it still made me
sad because I think they are really cool. Karen proceeded to tell
me that she hated them because when she was young she made a
bug collection for a project and hadn’t known they were
endangered. The teacher told her she should have known and
gave her a zero on the project. I proceeded to shove my foot in my
mouth, I said “praying mantises were endangered back when you
went to school” making it sound like it was a really long time ago…
so yeah… Anyway, yesterday after the march pass I was told I
should go to the school this morning at 8am because they were
going to have speakers and stuff for the celebration, so I went over
to the school to see random students milling around in plain
clothes. I was quite confused especially since I was already late
and there were only a few teachers there. I talked to Abdul and he
told me that the speeches and stuff were later in the day after
lunch and that being there at 8am was just to get the rice for the
meal they have to cook. The school provided all the rice that they
needed but they were responsible for everything else. These
teachers here keep telling me all kinds of things, it’s like they don’t
even communicate with each other on stuff. Whatever, anyway it
was ok because I just headed out from the school with them and
wandered around with them as they were completing some tasks
to get ready for the meal later. I spent about two hours with them
before coming back up to the hospital at 10 to run the Asher’s
generator for 2 hours. I’m the power master since she hates the
generator sound and Tom is busy most of the time at the hospital.
My students (both classes) have invited me to eat with them, but
the 3s asked first and I had already agreed, I didn’t feel like I
should go back on my word. If they had asked simultaneously I’m
not sure which group I would have chosen, because they are all
great kids. Ha, kids, listen to me, they are not that much younger
than me, about 5 or 6 years I suppose. I’m sad I can’t share this
with you today because it was a great experience, but what’s one
day matter. I went to the school around 1pm, with my students. I
ran into Daniel Bangura (I’m going to use last names in the case of
the Daniels, since there are two of them), he said he had been
looking for me, apparently we are going to be friends now even
though we just met yesterday, though who am I to comment on
that, one of my best friends is someone I’ve only know for like 8
weeks or something, haha. So he came to eat with me and my
students. As for the food, they made me a special dish (by they I
mean Saidu’s mom, who cooked all their food), why I’m not sure
because the only thing I told them was that I was not big on fish
and it still had fish in it. Anyway, it was pretty good, but like most
African food it had peppers in it, so it was hot and I don’t deal
with spicy well. I ate what I could but I could feel it was already
not sitting well. But we had crackers, bananas and popcorn which
really helped take away they burning sensation. After eating
some of them started telling stories about how certain things came
to be, like creation fables, most of the time I couldn’t follow very
well though. After story telling Daniel Turay (an SS 3 commercial
student though he‘s apparently good friends with my threes
because he helped them plan the meal, get the ingredients and ate
with us) said he wanted to go for a walk about the school and show
me around. We saw the field where the games will be early next
week, Tuesday I think, they have a basketball “court” which was half
paved and the other half was pitted grass and the pole had no hoop
on it. Then I saw the school chapel which needs some serious work,
it is in very poor condition. We wandered back into the school from
there to wait for the speaking to begin. We didn’t wait long, and
then Daniel Turay led me over to the table where the JSS and SSS
principals were sitting, and told me to sit… I was like WHAT?!?! I had
to sit in the middle of the area in front of many hundreds of the
students. (JSS has 700 and the SSS is at least 300) granted they
probably weren’t all there but I think we were pretty close to that.
So I was pretty stressed, considering how bad they’ve been about
springing things on me I was terrified they were going to make me say
something. I may have shared my testimony in front of 300 people but
that was hard enough knowing it was coming. But the JSS principal HB
assuaged my fears by telling me they just had me sit there because
most of the guests they’d invited didn’t turn up. I was still pretty
uncomfortable but manageably so. It was really cool, they had speakers
and a couple of groups of students sing few songs, then we saw a
traditional dance called the Samba, it was very… interesting. Daniel
Turay spoke and talked about the schools past and the principals, it was
a good history lesson, and he said he likes to call the Ashers the blessed
ones, because of everything they’ve done here. And the JSS principal
commented on how much the Ashers have helped. I wish they could
have been there to hear the praise, because they really deserve it,
it’s God’s work and His plan, but the fact that they are so open and
willing to follow Him is inspirational. The celebration ended not long
after the JSS principal spoke and I finally returned home at about
4:30ish and then had to take care of some things. I got a call from
Karen telling me they had some trouble getting the vehicles across to
the airport via the ferry, namely because of unforeseen circumstances
cost them and hour and a half in Makeni and only one vehicle made it
onto the ferry, one vehicle to pick up 9 people and their luggage…
they needed vehicles because it’s about a 15 minute drive from the
airport to the ferry, I couldn’t imagine walking the distance with luggage
after a 24 hour trip, I know I was exhausted. So I had to let the Mahrs
know just in case Tom called them for some reason. At about 6:15
Rebecca and I went down to meet Zoey and Isha (a lady Zoey works
with at Health Poverty Action) to go eat at a place in town since
Karen and Tom are both gone. We had some grilled meat, presumably
beef from the flavor but I’m not going to put too much thought into
that subject. We got bread with mayonnaise and made sandwiches
which were good and then we had something akin to peanut brittle,
but not hard and not as sweet, and it was really good! We walked down
this store where they sell cold drinks after we finished eating, and had
my first experience with cider, which is apparently not the same in
England (and therefore here). I had thought of apple cider, but it’s
actually a fermented apple drink with low alcohol content, again not
what I really expected. It was ok but not particularly good. I’d much
rather have apple cider. On the way from the place we got food to
the place we got drinks I picked up a tag-a-long. This little kid named
Osman (pronounce oos-man) seems to find me everywhere, he was
with me at the celebration today and then found me tonight. We
talked a lot, he attends one of the Muslim primary schools.
but next year he moves up to secondary level and he wants to
go to the Wesleyan school, which made me happy, because it’s
a good place to get a strong Christian influence. He likes me a
lot apparently and I’m hoping I will be able to make a positive
impact on his life. His father was a soldier and died in the war,
and one of his mothers brothers was killed by the rebels during the
war. I can’t even imagine what that would be like and he said it
like it was just a fact of life, which made me sad. To think of a ten
year old who didn’t even appear the least bit phased talking about the
death of his father and uncle, but life is hard here for many people,
they grow up or they don’t make it I suppose. He told me his mom
wants to get him a bike because he travels a bit of a way to get to
school, but they don’t have enough money. He said a bike is about
100,000 Leones, or 25 dollars. I know there are many needs here,
and one kid getting a bike isn’t all that impactful, but I’m
contemplating doing something about it, but I don’t know if it would
be fair, because I can’t help them all, how can I just choose one or even
a few to help to the exclusion of others? I just feel this need to love on
this kid, I can’t explain it because I’ve met many kids and I haven’t felt
like this with any of the others. I just asked nonchalantly, so it’s not
like I have any sort of obligation. I have to pray about it. I don’t want
to be known for giving things away because I already draw crowds of
children just because I’m white. I already helped out my 3s with 20,000
Leones to help them pay for the food they prepared today. I brought some
personal cash but I’m only a month into my stay and I don’t want to
end up without any personal funds in a couple of months, because
who knows what’s going to happen. Anyway, after we got back to the
house I waited for Daniel Turay to come by, he was taking me down
to a dance at the community center; they have dances pretty often
there but tonight was supposed to be a special one as part of the
school celebration. You can hear the music up here at the house and
it’s about a 7 to 10 minute walk if that tells you anything about how
loud the music was. We got there about 9:30 and a bunch of people
were milling about outside. We went inside where there were only
a few people dancing, I asked him why (at a very loud shout) and he
explained that most people wouldn’t come till after 11pm and then
they would dance until daybreak at about 6am. We sat inside for a
little while but it was too loud to talk. So loud I couldn’t understand
the words, not because they were in Krio because I’m pretty sure
they were English songs, but because the sound was so distorted.
Not that their sound system was all that good anyway, it was a
bunch of mismatched speakers piled precariously high wrapped
in white Christmas lights that probably served a dual purpose, the
first being light and the second holding the stack of speakers
together. It was kind of cool sitting at the back of the room with
the light on the other side of the kids dancing from me; it was like
watching a dance of shadows. I’m pretty sure many of you know,
but I hate loud noise (it was noise more than music) and I hate big
crowds. I went to get the experience and to see what kind of go
people I was ready to go by about 10pm because I was quickly
getting a headache. Well, that pretty much wraps up my Friday.
I keep wondering that if I keep telling you everything that happens
what will I have to share when I get back, but if I don’t share it
as it happens so much will get lost over the time that I’m here,
because even if I journal there’s no possible way I could share
this all with someone when I get back, would take days. So I’m
going to keep writing even if everyone stops reading, because
this is like a journal I can’t lose. Anyway, I wish you all the best
as I continue my time over here. I can’t believe a month has
passed already, coming home is still far off but time is moving
pretty quickly. I miss you all and think of you all constantly, you’re
all in my thoughts, prayers and occasionally dreams, haha.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
This is going to be a bit of a long one, lots happened today. So I
might as well start here, this morning I inadvertently referred to
Karen as old… though she didn’t make comment on it. I had been
explaining that Patches (cat) had killed a praying mantis (didn’t
even know they had them here) and was being very defensive,
growling if you even came near her. Karen said it was ok because
they aren’t endangered here, but when I said that it still made me
sad because I think they are really cool. Karen proceeded to tell
me that she hated them because when she was young she made a
bug collection for a project and hadn’t known they were
endangered. The teacher told her she should have known and
gave her a zero on the project. I proceeded to shove my foot in my
mouth, I said “praying mantises were endangered back when you
went to school” making it sound like it was a really long time ago…
so yeah… Anyway, yesterday after the march pass I was told I
should go to the school this morning at 8am because they were
going to have speakers and stuff for the celebration, so I went over
to the school to see random students milling around in plain
clothes. I was quite confused especially since I was already late
and there were only a few teachers there. I talked to Abdul and he
told me that the speeches and stuff were later in the day after
lunch and that being there at 8am was just to get the rice for the
meal they have to cook. The school provided all the rice that they
needed but they were responsible for everything else. These
teachers here keep telling me all kinds of things, it’s like they don’t
even communicate with each other on stuff. Whatever, anyway it
was ok because I just headed out from the school with them and
wandered around with them as they were completing some tasks
to get ready for the meal later. I spent about two hours with them
before coming back up to the hospital at 10 to run the Asher’s
generator for 2 hours. I’m the power master since she hates the
generator sound and Tom is busy most of the time at the hospital.
My students (both classes) have invited me to eat with them, but
the 3s asked first and I had already agreed, I didn’t feel like I
should go back on my word. If they had asked simultaneously I’m
not sure which group I would have chosen, because they are all
great kids. Ha, kids, listen to me, they are not that much younger
than me, about 5 or 6 years I suppose. I’m sad I can’t share this
with you today because it was a great experience, but what’s one
day matter. I went to the school around 1pm, with my students. I
ran into Daniel Bangura (I’m going to use last names in the case of
the Daniels, since there are two of them), he said he had been
looking for me, apparently we are going to be friends now even
though we just met yesterday, though who am I to comment on
that, one of my best friends is someone I’ve only know for like 8
weeks or something, haha. So he came to eat with me and my
students. As for the food, they made me a special dish (by they I
mean Saidu’s mom, who cooked all their food), why I’m not sure
because the only thing I told them was that I was not big on fish
and it still had fish in it. Anyway, it was pretty good, but like most
African food it had peppers in it, so it was hot and I don’t deal
with spicy well. I ate what I could but I could feel it was already
not sitting well. But we had crackers, bananas and popcorn which
really helped take away they burning sensation. After eating
some of them started telling stories about how certain things came
to be, like creation fables, most of the time I couldn’t follow very
well though. After story telling Daniel Turay (an SS 3 commercial
student though he‘s apparently good friends with my threes
because he helped them plan the meal, get the ingredients and ate
with us) said he wanted to go for a walk about the school and show
me around. We saw the field where the games will be early next
week, Tuesday I think, they have a basketball “court” which was half
paved and the other half was pitted grass and the pole had no hoop
on it. Then I saw the school chapel which needs some serious work,
it is in very poor condition. We wandered back into the school from
there to wait for the speaking to begin. We didn’t wait long, and
then Daniel Turay led me over to the table where the JSS and SSS
principals were sitting, and told me to sit… I was like WHAT?!?! I had
to sit in the middle of the area in front of many hundreds of the
students. (JSS has 700 and the SSS is at least 300) granted they
probably weren’t all there but I think we were pretty close to that.
So I was pretty stressed, considering how bad they’ve been about
springing things on me I was terrified they were going to make me say
something. I may have shared my testimony in front of 300 people but
that was hard enough knowing it was coming. But the JSS principal HB
assuaged my fears by telling me they just had me sit there because
most of the guests they’d invited didn’t turn up. I was still pretty
uncomfortable but manageably so. It was really cool, they had speakers
and a couple of groups of students sing few songs, then we saw a
traditional dance called the Samba, it was very… interesting. Daniel
Turay spoke and talked about the schools past and the principals, it was
a good history lesson, and he said he likes to call the Ashers the blessed
ones, because of everything they’ve done here. And the JSS principal
commented on how much the Ashers have helped. I wish they could
have been there to hear the praise, because they really deserve it,
it’s God’s work and His plan, but the fact that they are so open and
willing to follow Him is inspirational. The celebration ended not long
after the JSS principal spoke and I finally returned home at about
4:30ish and then had to take care of some things. I got a call from
Karen telling me they had some trouble getting the vehicles across to
the airport via the ferry, namely because of unforeseen circumstances
cost them and hour and a half in Makeni and only one vehicle made it
onto the ferry, one vehicle to pick up 9 people and their luggage…
they needed vehicles because it’s about a 15 minute drive from the
airport to the ferry, I couldn’t imagine walking the distance with luggage
after a 24 hour trip, I know I was exhausted. So I had to let the Mahrs
know just in case Tom called them for some reason. At about 6:15
Rebecca and I went down to meet Zoey and Isha (a lady Zoey works
with at Health Poverty Action) to go eat at a place in town since
Karen and Tom are both gone. We had some grilled meat, presumably
beef from the flavor but I’m not going to put too much thought into
that subject. We got bread with mayonnaise and made sandwiches
which were good and then we had something akin to peanut brittle,
but not hard and not as sweet, and it was really good! We walked down
this store where they sell cold drinks after we finished eating, and had
my first experience with cider, which is apparently not the same in
England (and therefore here). I had thought of apple cider, but it’s
actually a fermented apple drink with low alcohol content, again not
what I really expected. It was ok but not particularly good. I’d much
rather have apple cider. On the way from the place we got food to
the place we got drinks I picked up a tag-a-long. This little kid named
Osman (pronounce oos-man) seems to find me everywhere, he was
with me at the celebration today and then found me tonight. We
talked a lot, he attends one of the Muslim primary schools.
but next year he moves up to secondary level and he wants to
go to the Wesleyan school, which made me happy, because it’s
a good place to get a strong Christian influence. He likes me a
lot apparently and I’m hoping I will be able to make a positive
impact on his life. His father was a soldier and died in the war,
and one of his mothers brothers was killed by the rebels during the
war. I can’t even imagine what that would be like and he said it
like it was just a fact of life, which made me sad. To think of a ten
year old who didn’t even appear the least bit phased talking about the
death of his father and uncle, but life is hard here for many people,
they grow up or they don’t make it I suppose. He told me his mom
wants to get him a bike because he travels a bit of a way to get to
school, but they don’t have enough money. He said a bike is about
100,000 Leones, or 25 dollars. I know there are many needs here,
and one kid getting a bike isn’t all that impactful, but I’m
contemplating doing something about it, but I don’t know if it would
be fair, because I can’t help them all, how can I just choose one or even
a few to help to the exclusion of others? I just feel this need to love on
this kid, I can’t explain it because I’ve met many kids and I haven’t felt
like this with any of the others. I just asked nonchalantly, so it’s not
like I have any sort of obligation. I have to pray about it. I don’t want
to be known for giving things away because I already draw crowds of
children just because I’m white. I already helped out my 3s with 20,000
Leones to help them pay for the food they prepared today. I brought some
personal cash but I’m only a month into my stay and I don’t want to
end up without any personal funds in a couple of months, because
who knows what’s going to happen. Anyway, after we got back to the
house I waited for Daniel Turay to come by, he was taking me down
to a dance at the community center; they have dances pretty often
there but tonight was supposed to be a special one as part of the
school celebration. You can hear the music up here at the house and
it’s about a 7 to 10 minute walk if that tells you anything about how
loud the music was. We got there about 9:30 and a bunch of people
were milling about outside. We went inside where there were only
a few people dancing, I asked him why (at a very loud shout) and he
explained that most people wouldn’t come till after 11pm and then
they would dance until daybreak at about 6am. We sat inside for a
little while but it was too loud to talk. So loud I couldn’t understand
the words, not because they were in Krio because I’m pretty sure
they were English songs, but because the sound was so distorted.
Not that their sound system was all that good anyway, it was a
bunch of mismatched speakers piled precariously high wrapped
in white Christmas lights that probably served a dual purpose, the
first being light and the second holding the stack of speakers
together. It was kind of cool sitting at the back of the room with
the light on the other side of the kids dancing from me; it was like
watching a dance of shadows. I’m pretty sure many of you know,
but I hate loud noise (it was noise more than music) and I hate big
crowds. I went to get the experience and to see what kind of go
people I was ready to go by about 10pm because I was quickly
getting a headache. Well, that pretty much wraps up my Friday.
I keep wondering that if I keep telling you everything that happens
what will I have to share when I get back, but if I don’t share it
as it happens so much will get lost over the time that I’m here,
because even if I journal there’s no possible way I could share
this all with someone when I get back, would take days. So I’m
going to keep writing even if everyone stops reading, because
this is like a journal I can’t lose. Anyway, I wish you all the best
as I continue my time over here. I can’t believe a month has
passed already, coming home is still far off but time is moving
pretty quickly. I miss you all and think of you all constantly, you’re
all in my thoughts, prayers and occasionally dreams, haha.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Sorry everybody I missed this one in my email. It will be out of order especially considering how things ended with Hunter but I wanted to post it anyway.
Sorry again
Connie
November 1st
I don’t know why, but I really love that it get’s totally dark here. I walked
around the house in the dark the other night, it was an interesting experience.
It’s hard to get absolute pitch black in the US because of all the street
lights, or factory lights or whatever. Pitch black even after your eyes adjust
is so cool, and for some reason it reminded me very much of walking with Christ,
you can’t see the path, but you know that there is a way to go as long as you
are willing to trust in Him. You may stop occasionally, afraid that you’ll run
into something, but you just have to keep trusting and push on. It’s not really
a good example, at least I can’t explain it very well, but I thought of the
comparison regardless. It’s still raining here, though everyone here swears it
shouldn’t be, it just goes to show weather isn’t something to be predicted. The
people have been filling in the holes in the road getting ready for the hospital
celebration that begins Thursday, sadly this rain has already washed a lot of
the dirt out of the ruts and holes they’ve filled, so they’ll have to do it
again. Today I was pretty stressed out, it started really well when I got
Hunter, my new rabbit, but he doesn’t seem to be doing well and I don’t really
know what to do, a friends mom said to feed him sugar water so I’ll be trying
that once he calms down some more. I got him because Abu captured him at one of
the agricultural project farms and rode a BIKE several miles from there to the
house with the poor thing in his HAND. The thing is practically shell-shocked.
I’m hoping it recovers and survives because it would make me very happy. Also, I
saw a dead body today, which kind of threw me a bit since I don’t much like
seeing the dead. Someone died in the hospital today but neither Karen nor
Rebecca knew what had happened. Update: I got little Hunter to drink some sugar
water, it makes me feel much better. I don’t want to get my hopes up, especially
not until I’ve at least gotten him to eat something substantial. But it’s a
relief regardless. I think that’s all I have for today really, it’s been a
pretty good day overall I think.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Sorry again
Connie
November 1st
I don’t know why, but I really love that it get’s totally dark here. I walked
around the house in the dark the other night, it was an interesting experience.
It’s hard to get absolute pitch black in the US because of all the street
lights, or factory lights or whatever. Pitch black even after your eyes adjust
is so cool, and for some reason it reminded me very much of walking with Christ,
you can’t see the path, but you know that there is a way to go as long as you
are willing to trust in Him. You may stop occasionally, afraid that you’ll run
into something, but you just have to keep trusting and push on. It’s not really
a good example, at least I can’t explain it very well, but I thought of the
comparison regardless. It’s still raining here, though everyone here swears it
shouldn’t be, it just goes to show weather isn’t something to be predicted. The
people have been filling in the holes in the road getting ready for the hospital
celebration that begins Thursday, sadly this rain has already washed a lot of
the dirt out of the ruts and holes they’ve filled, so they’ll have to do it
again. Today I was pretty stressed out, it started really well when I got
Hunter, my new rabbit, but he doesn’t seem to be doing well and I don’t really
know what to do, a friends mom said to feed him sugar water so I’ll be trying
that once he calms down some more. I got him because Abu captured him at one of
the agricultural project farms and rode a BIKE several miles from there to the
house with the poor thing in his HAND. The thing is practically shell-shocked.
I’m hoping it recovers and survives because it would make me very happy. Also, I
saw a dead body today, which kind of threw me a bit since I don’t much like
seeing the dead. Someone died in the hospital today but neither Karen nor
Rebecca knew what had happened. Update: I got little Hunter to drink some sugar
water, it makes me feel much better. I don’t want to get my hopes up, especially
not until I’ve at least gotten him to eat something substantial. But it’s a
relief regardless. I think that’s all I have for today really, it’s been a
pretty good day overall I think.
Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
November 4th
So, today has been a day full of interesting, albeit not always
good occurrences. I got up this morning and tried to feed
Hunter, he didn’t seem hungry but he drank a little bit, so I
just figured it was too early since I had woke him up when I
got him out to feed him. After breakfast I headed over to the
school to be there for something called the “march pass” all
the students gather at the school in order to march in big long
lines from the school through Kamakwie 1,2 and 3, and about
four miles there and back, but it took two hours because the
lines kept slowing down as kids dodged out to pick up water,
oranges, or anything else they wanted as we marched past all
the vendors. I spent most of the time speaking with Daniel Issa
Bangura, an English teacher at the Junior Secondary School. He
is in the progress of finishing his teaching certificate, when he
finishes he will spend the next few years teaching at the school,
it’s mandatory apparently, then he wants to go back to university
to continue his education and maybe get into politics. It was
kind of amusing, we were talking about female heads of state
and I mentioned Germany’sChancellor Angela Merkel, and I
proceeded to spend the next several minutes trying to get him
to say chancellor, instead he sounded like he was saying
chanshellor. When we started the march pass there were
probably 50 or so Senior Secondary students, but when we
finished there were at least double if not triple that. As we
marched around all the kids who were late kept joining us.
Several of the Africans have told me that here they run on
BMT, black man time. This means that if someone tells you
something starts at 8am don’t bother going until at least 9,
because they won’t be there till then. Anyway, the march
pass was fun and it was a cool experience. But I got home
and found heartbreak. I went to get Hunter to try and feed
him since he hadn’t eaten yet and he was lying listlessly on
his side, barely moving and his breathing was very labored.
Try as I might I couldn’t get him to even sit in my hands, he
just kept rolling over, so I sat with him for a while but I
couldn’t take it. I think the worst thing is that he seemed
so well yesterday and I had decided that it would be safe to
let my guard down and not be expecting the worst. I had to
go downtown to get Karen some sandals since she accidently
spilled black paint all over the ones she had, and I ran into
a group of my SS2 students, I talked with them a bit and they
helped me find a pair of sandals that fit, I was looking for
some because walking long distances in flip flops is
uncomfortable. It was a pleasant distraction and then I ran
into some of my SS3 students and then walked around the
town a bit, they were trying to find the things they will need
to cook their meal tomorrow, each class (SS2 art, SS2 science,
SS2 commercial, and the same for the 3s) has to prepare their
own food as part of the school 50th anniversary celebration
(they were founded in 1961 so it’s technically next year but
don’t try to tell them that). Then I ran around like a mad man
trying to finish some errands before dinner, burying Hunter,
helping the Mahr’s with their “new” well used bikes, they are
pretty iffy at best, trying to help get some things done for the
showing of the Jesus film, I didn’t even finish. We hosted the
Mahr’s for dinner tonight which was good, a big 9 person
dinner is always fun. After that I headed with the projector
over to the school where they were going to be showing the
film. I must admit I read through the movie because listening
to the Krio makes my head hurt. That and there were a ton
of people there, so many you couldn’t even hear it at the
back of the group, so that was pretty cool. The people spent
the whole two hours standing because there were pretty
much no seats. Just a couple chairs. So now I sit here, I think
other than losing Hunter today was a pretty good day. I think
that losing him now is better than in several months when I’d
really become attached. Anyway, Karen leaves tomorrow
morning to go to Freetown to pick up Tom and the team. That
means I won’t have internet until Saturday night, which won’t
be too bad. But write me anyway, I love to hear from people.
You guys get to read what I’m doing here but no one blogs
about life in little Fredericksburg or wherever you may be.
By His grace,
Ryan Brooks
So, today has been a day full of interesting, albeit not always
good occurrences. I got up this morning and tried to feed
Hunter, he didn’t seem hungry but he drank a little bit, so I
just figured it was too early since I had woke him up when I
got him out to feed him. After breakfast I headed over to the
school to be there for something called the “march pass” all
the students gather at the school in order to march in big long
lines from the school through Kamakwie 1,2 and 3, and about
four miles there and back, but it took two hours because the
lines kept slowing down as kids dodged out to pick up water,
oranges, or anything else they wanted as we marched past all
the vendors. I spent most of the time speaking with Daniel Issa
Bangura, an English teacher at the Junior Secondary School. He
is in the progress of finishing his teaching certificate, when he
finishes he will spend the next few years teaching at the school,
it’s mandatory apparently, then he wants to go back to university
to continue his education and maybe get into politics. It was
kind of amusing, we were talking about female heads of state
and I mentioned Germany’sChancellor Angela Merkel, and I
proceeded to spend the next several minutes trying to get him
to say chancellor, instead he sounded like he was saying
chanshellor. When we started the march pass there were
probably 50 or so Senior Secondary students, but when we
finished there were at least double if not triple that. As we
marched around all the kids who were late kept joining us.
Several of the Africans have told me that here they run on
BMT, black man time. This means that if someone tells you
something starts at 8am don’t bother going until at least 9,
because they won’t be there till then. Anyway, the march
pass was fun and it was a cool experience. But I got home
and found heartbreak. I went to get Hunter to try and feed
him since he hadn’t eaten yet and he was lying listlessly on
his side, barely moving and his breathing was very labored.
Try as I might I couldn’t get him to even sit in my hands, he
just kept rolling over, so I sat with him for a while but I
couldn’t take it. I think the worst thing is that he seemed
so well yesterday and I had decided that it would be safe to
let my guard down and not be expecting the worst. I had to
go downtown to get Karen some sandals since she accidently
spilled black paint all over the ones she had, and I ran into
a group of my SS2 students, I talked with them a bit and they
helped me find a pair of sandals that fit, I was looking for
some because walking long distances in flip flops is
uncomfortable. It was a pleasant distraction and then I ran
into some of my SS3 students and then walked around the
town a bit, they were trying to find the things they will need
to cook their meal tomorrow, each class (SS2 art, SS2 science,
SS2 commercial, and the same for the 3s) has to prepare their
own food as part of the school 50th anniversary celebration
(they were founded in 1961 so it’s technically next year but
don’t try to tell them that). Then I ran around like a mad man
trying to finish some errands before dinner, burying Hunter,
helping the Mahr’s with their “new” well used bikes, they are
pretty iffy at best, trying to help get some things done for the
showing of the Jesus film, I didn’t even finish. We hosted the
Mahr’s for dinner tonight which was good, a big 9 person
dinner is always fun. After that I headed with the projector
over to the school where they were going to be showing the
film. I must admit I read through the movie because listening
to the Krio makes my head hurt. That and there were a ton
of people there, so many you couldn’t even hear it at the
back of the group, so that was pretty cool. The people spent
the whole two hours standing because there were pretty
much no seats. Just a couple chairs. So now I sit here, I think
other than losing Hunter today was a pretty good day. I think
that losing him now is better than in several months when I’d
really become attached. Anyway, Karen leaves tomorrow
morning to go to Freetown to pick up Tom and the team. That
means I won’t have internet until Saturday night, which won’t
be too bad. But write me anyway, I love to hear from people.
You guys get to read what I’m doing here but no one blogs
about life in little Fredericksburg or wherever you may be.
By His grace,
Ryan Brooks
November 3rd
So, not really too much exciting today, I didn’t have class because
the principal decided that since the 50th anniversary celebration of
the school is tomorrow they were going to have a “cleaning” day.
Which annoyed me, I came to teach let me teach already, especially
since there are no classes until next Monday. So today, I went to the
school during class hours, about 2pm or so, classes go from 1pm to
6pm, to paint the blackboards, especially the one in my classroom
cause it’s horrible, and NO ONE WAS THERE. On top of that the place
is still a mess, with trash all over. I was really not happy, I could
understand wanting to clean the school, but to cancel class to have
a work day and then not be working during class hours so I could have
had another day with some of my students… utterly frustrating.
Oh well, I just don’t understand, they want the students to pass the
WASSCE and then spend so much time canceling class. Moving on
before I really begin ranting. I got my black-board holes filled and the
board painted, I’m going to have to put on another coat because we
used caulking to fill the holes and the blackboard paint didn’t stick
to it very well. Right now there is a little rabbit sleeping on my lap. I
know I keep going on about Hunter but he is SO adorable, and he
seems to be recovering nicely, he had such an appetite this evening, it
made me really happy. He still has a sore leg, he doesn’t move around
real well, but I’ve examined his bones but they seem intact so I’m
hoping it’s just a temporary soreness. I got really mad at Abu tonight
because he grabbed Hunter and was not being very careful with him.
It is ridiculous how attached I’ve become to this little rabbit, I was
very worried Abu was going to hurt him. Tomorrow night as part of
the celebration stuff for the school, they having speakers and stuff,
one of the kids, Daniel, told me he was a chaplain, for what I don’t
know, and he is speaking, but he wants to show is the Jesus film
tomorrow night for all the students, which made got me really
excited, since many of the students at the school are not Christians
according to Daniel, so I’m hoping we can work that out because
that would be awesome, showing the Jesus film and Daniel having a
chance to talk about Christ to the students. Overall it was a pretty
slow day, Karen leaves Friday to go pick up Tom in Freetown, so it
will be my first night without either of them here, so we’ll see how
that goes, I’m feeling pretty good so it should go ok. And they will
be returning Saturday night so it’s not like they’ll be gone long,
and they’ll be bringing back the work team of 8 or 9 as well, I’ve
heard both numbers so I’m not really sure. I’m feeling very conflicted
about something, I’ve been conflicted about it for a very long
time, but I don’t really want to share it at the moment, especially
in so public a forum, so if you could just pray for guidance and
wisdom for an unsaid prayer request that would be really great,
thanks. Well, I guess that’s about it for tonight. Missing you all.
Prayers and Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
So, not really too much exciting today, I didn’t have class because
the principal decided that since the 50th anniversary celebration of
the school is tomorrow they were going to have a “cleaning” day.
Which annoyed me, I came to teach let me teach already, especially
since there are no classes until next Monday. So today, I went to the
school during class hours, about 2pm or so, classes go from 1pm to
6pm, to paint the blackboards, especially the one in my classroom
cause it’s horrible, and NO ONE WAS THERE. On top of that the place
is still a mess, with trash all over. I was really not happy, I could
understand wanting to clean the school, but to cancel class to have
a work day and then not be working during class hours so I could have
had another day with some of my students… utterly frustrating.
Oh well, I just don’t understand, they want the students to pass the
WASSCE and then spend so much time canceling class. Moving on
before I really begin ranting. I got my black-board holes filled and the
board painted, I’m going to have to put on another coat because we
used caulking to fill the holes and the blackboard paint didn’t stick
to it very well. Right now there is a little rabbit sleeping on my lap. I
know I keep going on about Hunter but he is SO adorable, and he
seems to be recovering nicely, he had such an appetite this evening, it
made me really happy. He still has a sore leg, he doesn’t move around
real well, but I’ve examined his bones but they seem intact so I’m
hoping it’s just a temporary soreness. I got really mad at Abu tonight
because he grabbed Hunter and was not being very careful with him.
It is ridiculous how attached I’ve become to this little rabbit, I was
very worried Abu was going to hurt him. Tomorrow night as part of
the celebration stuff for the school, they having speakers and stuff,
one of the kids, Daniel, told me he was a chaplain, for what I don’t
know, and he is speaking, but he wants to show is the Jesus film
tomorrow night for all the students, which made got me really
excited, since many of the students at the school are not Christians
according to Daniel, so I’m hoping we can work that out because
that would be awesome, showing the Jesus film and Daniel having a
chance to talk about Christ to the students. Overall it was a pretty
slow day, Karen leaves Friday to go pick up Tom in Freetown, so it
will be my first night without either of them here, so we’ll see how
that goes, I’m feeling pretty good so it should go ok. And they will
be returning Saturday night so it’s not like they’ll be gone long,
and they’ll be bringing back the work team of 8 or 9 as well, I’ve
heard both numbers so I’m not really sure. I’m feeling very conflicted
about something, I’ve been conflicted about it for a very long
time, but I don’t really want to share it at the moment, especially
in so public a forum, so if you could just pray for guidance and
wisdom for an unsaid prayer request that would be really great,
thanks. Well, I guess that’s about it for tonight. Missing you all.
Prayers and Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
November 2nd
It’s so funny, ok… well not funny, that’s not the right word, but saying it’s
amusing doesn’t really work either, but I have observed several Africans as they
work, and they love to sing, well, more of a hum really as they work. But today,
Kadiatu, the lady Karen has come help cook, was doing so today. It was really
heart-warming in a way. She was singing that Jesus is her friend and things like
that and it actually moved me to tears. I know, lame. As most of you know I’m a
particularly emotional person, the intense mix of emotions from everything I’m
experiencing here moves me often to tears, sometimes it’s not good tears when
I’m missing people, but often the things here that just remind me particularly
of how wonderful God is brings me to tears too. Sometimes I wonder how the
people here are so thankful for what they have when they have so little, but I
also realize that I know I’m most thankful for what God has provided me when I’m
in a particularly hard place, so I think it has to do with that some. They know
that it could be worse, and are therefore happy with what they have. They want
more, yeah, everyone does, but they don’t let the wants drive them as much as we
do in America. Many of I the people want more money, but not mostly for stuff,
they would just like to have better food, better care, clothes that aren’t
filled with small holes because they are used so much.
There’s something I wasn’t sure if I was going to share, because I wondered if
it kind of made me racist, but as I’ve grown more used to it I guess I’m more
comfortable with it. The Africans here are always trying to help me do things,
like carry my stuff for me, when I moved in I carried almost nothing into my
room because they did it all for me. I was really worried that they thought that
I thought I was better than them or something stupid like that, which is not
something I ever wanted people to think. I kept this to myself for a while
before finally telling Tom about my worries. He told me that they do kind of
think that we are fragile, at least not quite as hardy as they are, but mostly
the reason they try to do things for us is that they know what we are doing here
and that we are giving up things to be here and help them and since they can’t
really repay us in any other way, which made me feel loads better.
On a great note, I am super pumped! Hunter ate some potato leaf today! He
demolished it in fact, eating like he hadn’t eaten before. Trying not to get too
excited because the sites I read about wild rabbit say that they can be fragile
and Hunter will need a lot of care to make sure he doesn’t get dehydrated. But
he’s loving the sugar water so hopefully that will help keep him hydrated. I
also need to find a source of high fiber for him, since there isn’t a pet store
where I can run and pick some up I was wondering if any rabbit (or other animal)
lovers out there know anything that grows wild and can be easily identified that
will work? The vegetation here is somewhat different but the “weeds” look pretty
much like the weeds at home, except these amazing little plants, I don’t know
what they are called but they call them shy plants here. If you touch them they
instantly pull away from you and the little fronds fold up. It’s so cool and
they grow all over the place here.
I’ve decided Africa is not a very good place to be when you are a mild to
moderate hypochondriac. I can’t watch a tv commercial for a medication without
going, oh my gosh! I so have *insert random illness*! With all the possible
illnesses here I have to keep telling myself, no Ryan, you do not have malaria,
parasites or onchocirciasis(sp?) which is river blindness, haha. The parasites I
know I don’t have because I haven’t been here long enough, they mostly take
months to manifest, so for at least a few months it will be easy to convince
myself, haha. I thought of this because today I’m feeling a bit under the
weather, and my hands are trembling really annoyingly today, especially annoying
when I’m trying to feed and handle Hunter. I think my body is just not taking
the weather well here. I was told the weather here is pretty constant but with
all the rains it keeps fluctuating between “oh my gosh it’s so hot I’m melting”
and “well at least it’s almost cool” which is a pretty big difference for here.
I know I don’t do real well when the weather changes a lot at home, getting
headaches more frequently and similar other little things.
So last night I was terrorized by a very large beetle thing. We swatted it,
attempted to crush it with a by pinning it with the fly swatter then smashing it
with a flashlight, we sprayed it with bug spray and we still couldn’t kill it. I
finally managed to kill it by whacking it with my sandal, splitting it asunder
and ending its reign of terror. Then this evening we had a giant wasp thing that
was flying around. This giant bug also met its end at the end of my sandal.
For now, I’m doing what I came here to do, teach, but I’m trying to keep my mind
open for any opportunities that God might provide to do other work for Him. So
keep praying that I will be open and willing to take any opportunities that do
cross my path. The night I wanted to do my bible study there is already one.
Which they invited me to, but I forgot last night. I want to go and see how it
is, the people here have a passion for Christ and I want to see how their
theology is, but so far I’ve gotten a message about the importance of tithing
(it’s almost harvest time) choosing church leaders (the Wesleyan mother church
here just elected new leadership) and the first time I went to church I was too
absorbed in self-pity and I have no recollection of anything that was said.
Anyway, the other nights of the week we do the classes here at the house. So I’m
still trying to find a good time. Also, I’m hoping to disciple one of the kids
here, because he needs it. He loves Christ, but he struggles with honesty and
other things. But I don’t really know where to start or what to do, so pray that
God will give me guidance and wisdom in this circumstance.
Blessings from Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital,
Ryan Brooks
It’s so funny, ok… well not funny, that’s not the right word, but saying it’s
amusing doesn’t really work either, but I have observed several Africans as they
work, and they love to sing, well, more of a hum really as they work. But today,
Kadiatu, the lady Karen has come help cook, was doing so today. It was really
heart-warming in a way. She was singing that Jesus is her friend and things like
that and it actually moved me to tears. I know, lame. As most of you know I’m a
particularly emotional person, the intense mix of emotions from everything I’m
experiencing here moves me often to tears, sometimes it’s not good tears when
I’m missing people, but often the things here that just remind me particularly
of how wonderful God is brings me to tears too. Sometimes I wonder how the
people here are so thankful for what they have when they have so little, but I
also realize that I know I’m most thankful for what God has provided me when I’m
in a particularly hard place, so I think it has to do with that some. They know
that it could be worse, and are therefore happy with what they have. They want
more, yeah, everyone does, but they don’t let the wants drive them as much as we
do in America. Many of I the people want more money, but not mostly for stuff,
they would just like to have better food, better care, clothes that aren’t
filled with small holes because they are used so much.
There’s something I wasn’t sure if I was going to share, because I wondered if
it kind of made me racist, but as I’ve grown more used to it I guess I’m more
comfortable with it. The Africans here are always trying to help me do things,
like carry my stuff for me, when I moved in I carried almost nothing into my
room because they did it all for me. I was really worried that they thought that
I thought I was better than them or something stupid like that, which is not
something I ever wanted people to think. I kept this to myself for a while
before finally telling Tom about my worries. He told me that they do kind of
think that we are fragile, at least not quite as hardy as they are, but mostly
the reason they try to do things for us is that they know what we are doing here
and that we are giving up things to be here and help them and since they can’t
really repay us in any other way, which made me feel loads better.
On a great note, I am super pumped! Hunter ate some potato leaf today! He
demolished it in fact, eating like he hadn’t eaten before. Trying not to get too
excited because the sites I read about wild rabbit say that they can be fragile
and Hunter will need a lot of care to make sure he doesn’t get dehydrated. But
he’s loving the sugar water so hopefully that will help keep him hydrated. I
also need to find a source of high fiber for him, since there isn’t a pet store
where I can run and pick some up I was wondering if any rabbit (or other animal)
lovers out there know anything that grows wild and can be easily identified that
will work? The vegetation here is somewhat different but the “weeds” look pretty
much like the weeds at home, except these amazing little plants, I don’t know
what they are called but they call them shy plants here. If you touch them they
instantly pull away from you and the little fronds fold up. It’s so cool and
they grow all over the place here.
I’ve decided Africa is not a very good place to be when you are a mild to
moderate hypochondriac. I can’t watch a tv commercial for a medication without
going, oh my gosh! I so have *insert random illness*! With all the possible
illnesses here I have to keep telling myself, no Ryan, you do not have malaria,
parasites or onchocirciasis(sp?) which is river blindness, haha. The parasites I
know I don’t have because I haven’t been here long enough, they mostly take
months to manifest, so for at least a few months it will be easy to convince
myself, haha. I thought of this because today I’m feeling a bit under the
weather, and my hands are trembling really annoyingly today, especially annoying
when I’m trying to feed and handle Hunter. I think my body is just not taking
the weather well here. I was told the weather here is pretty constant but with
all the rains it keeps fluctuating between “oh my gosh it’s so hot I’m melting”
and “well at least it’s almost cool” which is a pretty big difference for here.
I know I don’t do real well when the weather changes a lot at home, getting
headaches more frequently and similar other little things.
So last night I was terrorized by a very large beetle thing. We swatted it,
attempted to crush it with a by pinning it with the fly swatter then smashing it
with a flashlight, we sprayed it with bug spray and we still couldn’t kill it. I
finally managed to kill it by whacking it with my sandal, splitting it asunder
and ending its reign of terror. Then this evening we had a giant wasp thing that
was flying around. This giant bug also met its end at the end of my sandal.
For now, I’m doing what I came here to do, teach, but I’m trying to keep my mind
open for any opportunities that God might provide to do other work for Him. So
keep praying that I will be open and willing to take any opportunities that do
cross my path. The night I wanted to do my bible study there is already one.
Which they invited me to, but I forgot last night. I want to go and see how it
is, the people here have a passion for Christ and I want to see how their
theology is, but so far I’ve gotten a message about the importance of tithing
(it’s almost harvest time) choosing church leaders (the Wesleyan mother church
here just elected new leadership) and the first time I went to church I was too
absorbed in self-pity and I have no recollection of anything that was said.
Anyway, the other nights of the week we do the classes here at the house. So I’m
still trying to find a good time. Also, I’m hoping to disciple one of the kids
here, because he needs it. He loves Christ, but he struggles with honesty and
other things. But I don’t really know where to start or what to do, so pray that
God will give me guidance and wisdom in this circumstance.
Blessings from Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital,
Ryan Brooks
Monday, November 1, 2010
October 31st
So I’m now five hours ahead of you all, since we don’t have daylight savings
time. I know it’s been a couple days since I’ve written, but it has been a
pretty good couple of days. Which I guess is why I haven’t felt the need to
write incessantly home which is good. I’ve been spending a lot of time hanging
out with Rebecca, learning a lot about England, what it’s like there, how the
medical system is and other stuff. We’ve also talked with Zoey quite a bit, I
don’t remember if I mentioned her, but she’s another woman from England who has
been here since January with Health Poverty Action (formerly Health Unlimited).
For a quick review of the last several days, things have been pretty busy with
classes and such. I got to meet this 80 year old lady named Mary Lane, she used
to be a nurse and delivered hundreds of babies at the hospital. She’s kind of
like the town matron, she is well liked and respected. She is pretty well off so
she takes in some kids from the neighborhood and cares for them. Karen also
showed me places around town where I can get good prices and won’t get ripped
off, also by doing so she established me as “one of hers” which should get me
fair prices. As for my classes, they are going better, though I’m still
struggling with my expectations of progress. Friday was good, the kids actually
showed that they knew some things and made me really happy. They are also making
progress on their math, which is good. Slow but steady, not what I’d like, but
again it is still progress. I finally got my emails, there for a few days I
wasn’t getting anything and I was getting really upset, especially since I had
been in such constant contact that my mom was worried about not hearing from me
and I had no real way to let her know I was fine the internet was just bad. But
she knows that it happens sometimes now and it should be ok in the future. That
pretty much brings up to today. Tom left for America today to take a big test to
get his Tropical Medicine certification, and he won’t be returning until Friday
or Saturday, I’m not quite sure. Karen has to go get him and when he returns
she’ll have a work team of nine people coming to build beds. We tried to go to a
youth church service today. Abdul was supposed to come at about 8am to lead
Rebecca and I the service, however he never showed and so we set out at about
8:20ish hoping to meet him on the way. We walked for a little over 40 minutes
without meeting him and decided to turn back a little after 9 to come back to
Kamakwie since the service started at nine and we hadn’t a clue where we were
going. On the way back we stopped at the place where Zoey stays and chatted for
about 2 hours. I learned a lot about how the University system works in England,
which was really interesting. Then she took us to see where there is good tailor
who does good work and does it quickly. After that we sorted some more boxes,
the crazy things people send… A George Foreman grill cleaner, literally hundreds
of wash rags, those disposable packages of plastic silverware with a napkin,
like you get from a restaurant, one use coffee servings from hotels and all
sorts of other stuff. We have been finding some of the stuff from my church for
the bikes they sent, today we found the tires. We’ve found other things that are
random but useful like an air compressor, bags of marshmallows, tins of ham
(Karen packed them to be shipped but it was still funny to find like 20 canned
hams). After that, Rebecca and I played scrabble, and I lost, though I blame it
on having at least 5 vowels the whole game. After dinner Rebecca Karen and I
played monopoly deal, several times. It’s a short but really fun version of
monopoly. The Mahr’s, who had gone to Makeni for the weekend, returned this
evening. They came over with costumes on and so Karen gave them candy. She said
that it was her first trick-or-treaters. The Samuel the hospital accountant was
over to get software for his new computer, just as he was leaving a storm blew
in and there was a lightning strike very near to the house, I actually got a
little shock from my computer, but their house is well grounded so it didn’t do
any damage to the electric system of the house. It was really loud and scared
the three of us. But the storm passed pretty quickly. Other than that not much
really happened today. As I get more used to things my posts will be less
frequent, but I will write at least once every week, hopefully more, because
there is still so much to see and do here. I will make sure to track what I’ve
been doing better, I’ve just been a little busy lately. Anyway,
Blessings from Africa,
Ryan Brooks
So I’m now five hours ahead of you all, since we don’t have daylight savings
time. I know it’s been a couple days since I’ve written, but it has been a
pretty good couple of days. Which I guess is why I haven’t felt the need to
write incessantly home which is good. I’ve been spending a lot of time hanging
out with Rebecca, learning a lot about England, what it’s like there, how the
medical system is and other stuff. We’ve also talked with Zoey quite a bit, I
don’t remember if I mentioned her, but she’s another woman from England who has
been here since January with Health Poverty Action (formerly Health Unlimited).
For a quick review of the last several days, things have been pretty busy with
classes and such. I got to meet this 80 year old lady named Mary Lane, she used
to be a nurse and delivered hundreds of babies at the hospital. She’s kind of
like the town matron, she is well liked and respected. She is pretty well off so
she takes in some kids from the neighborhood and cares for them. Karen also
showed me places around town where I can get good prices and won’t get ripped
off, also by doing so she established me as “one of hers” which should get me
fair prices. As for my classes, they are going better, though I’m still
struggling with my expectations of progress. Friday was good, the kids actually
showed that they knew some things and made me really happy. They are also making
progress on their math, which is good. Slow but steady, not what I’d like, but
again it is still progress. I finally got my emails, there for a few days I
wasn’t getting anything and I was getting really upset, especially since I had
been in such constant contact that my mom was worried about not hearing from me
and I had no real way to let her know I was fine the internet was just bad. But
she knows that it happens sometimes now and it should be ok in the future. That
pretty much brings up to today. Tom left for America today to take a big test to
get his Tropical Medicine certification, and he won’t be returning until Friday
or Saturday, I’m not quite sure. Karen has to go get him and when he returns
she’ll have a work team of nine people coming to build beds. We tried to go to a
youth church service today. Abdul was supposed to come at about 8am to lead
Rebecca and I the service, however he never showed and so we set out at about
8:20ish hoping to meet him on the way. We walked for a little over 40 minutes
without meeting him and decided to turn back a little after 9 to come back to
Kamakwie since the service started at nine and we hadn’t a clue where we were
going. On the way back we stopped at the place where Zoey stays and chatted for
about 2 hours. I learned a lot about how the University system works in England,
which was really interesting. Then she took us to see where there is good tailor
who does good work and does it quickly. After that we sorted some more boxes,
the crazy things people send… A George Foreman grill cleaner, literally hundreds
of wash rags, those disposable packages of plastic silverware with a napkin,
like you get from a restaurant, one use coffee servings from hotels and all
sorts of other stuff. We have been finding some of the stuff from my church for
the bikes they sent, today we found the tires. We’ve found other things that are
random but useful like an air compressor, bags of marshmallows, tins of ham
(Karen packed them to be shipped but it was still funny to find like 20 canned
hams). After that, Rebecca and I played scrabble, and I lost, though I blame it
on having at least 5 vowels the whole game. After dinner Rebecca Karen and I
played monopoly deal, several times. It’s a short but really fun version of
monopoly. The Mahr’s, who had gone to Makeni for the weekend, returned this
evening. They came over with costumes on and so Karen gave them candy. She said
that it was her first trick-or-treaters. The Samuel the hospital accountant was
over to get software for his new computer, just as he was leaving a storm blew
in and there was a lightning strike very near to the house, I actually got a
little shock from my computer, but their house is well grounded so it didn’t do
any damage to the electric system of the house. It was really loud and scared
the three of us. But the storm passed pretty quickly. Other than that not much
really happened today. As I get more used to things my posts will be less
frequent, but I will write at least once every week, hopefully more, because
there is still so much to see and do here. I will make sure to track what I’ve
been doing better, I’ve just been a little busy lately. Anyway,
Blessings from Africa,
Ryan Brooks
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