First day in Sierra Leone

This man was weaving at the compound for War Wounded.  Carley's added wheelchair ramps to all parts of the school, including the latrines below, which they also added.  They even have the bars around the walls to make it easier for the people to use.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

E/S Carley were to pick us up at 10 AM, which seems late, but they got home late and have to come for an hour out of Grafton to pick us up.  They called about 10 telling us they had almost gotten to our hotel when they realized they couldn’t get through (roadwork) and had to go up and around another way, so we got a late start.  This didn’t matter as today we decided not to pack that much in.

Today we spent time looking at a few of their local area initiatives, some of which are water projects. 

One of these projects we were involved in from the beginning (from home) at the request of the Area office—a latrine for the handicapped in the polio camp area. It will be a bio-fil design (bugs eat the bad stuff) with a place to shower and of course handicapped accessible.  No one is allowed to live in this area unless they are handicapped by polio. 

The handicapped latrine in progress; Jim is standing where the shower will be, the toilets on the right side, digesters on the right below  The construction looks good.

The room addition on the back of another building that our church purchased and fixed up to be a chapel.  In the back it is fenced in by bamboo.  The front of the building looks more typical, being painted white.  This is also in the handicapped area.

The handicapped school that didn't quite get finished (the school was doing this project) because they ran out of money.  The funny thing was the handicapped ramp.  I found it hard to walk up and down it because it was so steep.  I tried to picture someone with crutches or a wheelchair navigating this ramp and living through it.  I hope they have help!

This is also the place where a few years ago we saw the heartbreaking building where they keep the young polio victims, children that have been abandoned by their parents in most cases.  The woman and her daughter, both handicapped but not as seriously as the children, take them in.  They usually have 18-20 children at a time.  Years ago we left some dresses for them.  An even sadder note is that it appears that the children are only fed once a day (possibly twice) and mostly with rice.  There are several people here that know that the lady is a schemer.  She has these sad children and does sort of take care of them, but doesn’t use all the money she gets for the children.  Things (wheelchairs, beds, furniture, etc.) that have been given to them are broken or unseen anymore.  We are not sure what she does with the money, but it does seem that she only does the bare minimum for the children; and yet no one else is taking them in, so she does serve some purpose, even if it is mostly for her own good.  It also must be hard for her to take care of them well even though she has use of her upper body.  It is just the saddest place you would ever visit, and nothing ever changes there. 

You can’t tell from this picture, but there is a decent road here.  It rained a lot last night, so the road still doesn’t solve the mud problem next to the road where sometimes the shops are back a ways from the pavement.  Lots of new roads have been completed since last August, including the one in front of our hotel. 

After checking out several places we had a cheap chicken dinner (it was kind of like going to Kentucky Fried Chicken).  We ran into Toi Clawson (mission president’s wife) at the chicken place.  She is arranging for Jim to get a white shirt for church for the next two Sundays since he forget his, and a ride for tomorrow.  Everyone one here loves the Clawson’s.

We made a quick run to the store and then returned to the hotel.  It is under new management, which is sad because there have been a few changes—we only get clean water the first day; they no longer have ironing boards and irons in the room, forcing me to pay for their services.  This is annoying to me.  I never want someone to charge me a lot of money to do my clothes.  We continue at least to wash the clothes, but now we will have to let them iron some of them—irritating.  But it is a nice hotel, comfortable bed, American standards, etc.  I’ll try not to be annoyed…  

This was an area project to help a school.  They were to charge money for the water to improve their school.  The water committee head was there, but when we asked for the caretaker of the well, they had to go and find her.  It turned out she was a teenager that they had 'put in charge'.  This was not her fault.  It was also obvious that no one was paying for water and that the 'training' didn't 'take'.  Elder Carley will go back and train them some more, but if they don't change, not only will they not have money to improve their school, they won't even have clean water when it breaks.

This is an old well, and the reason it is broken off is because they came and added gutter to the road and the well was in the way.  Jim found a man who was in charge.  Jim pumped at the well and discovered it was a cheap fix--the chain had fallen off.  Elder Carley gave him his card and told him he would send an honest man to fix it for very cheap.  He asked Jim to fix it, but we told him that he had to collect money to fix it and then he would have water again for a very low price.  It is a hard sell to people with little education (14 year war) and culture, that doesn't seem to allow them to think beyond 'today.'  And, they always want someone else to solve their problems for them, always looking for a handout.

This is an area water project with a hand drilled well.  This is a little more primitive than the one in Liberia.  These guys (the NGO) are out of Oregon and train teams and eventually want them to learn business skills so that they can go out on their own.  They work very hard doing this, but it is actually faster to drill than to dig a well.

This is one of the team removing some of the clay from the digging parts.  We hope they find good water.  

In the picture below the smiling man in the dungarees is the owner of this building.  He wanted to build his house on top of his business.  He is the District President and has been a member for about 7 years.  He likes to employ lots of young men and teach them skills and give them work and he is a great businessman.

It was fun watching another group of very hard-working men.  They mixed the cement together and it made a whooshing sound--it was pretty cool.  At the same time the men on the ladder are taking up the containers with the concrete mix in it.   It was an impressive display of working together.