Leaving Liberia, on the way to Freetown

Friday, November 3, 2017

We departed for the airport at 1:30 PM, a very short ride by hotel shuttle for our flight to Sierra Leone.  It is nice not to be worried about any more cancelled flights.  Our fancy hotel bed was a bit hard…I think I will leave them a little note, just in case we ever get to come back!  But, our travels tire us because of the oppressive heat in the afternoon of the day, so we are exhausted enough to sleep anyway, propping pillows around our hips.  This was a nice respite from the grueling look-see work.  It would not be at all difficult, except for the heat.

When we arrived at the breakfast buffet this morning we were surprised to see how minimal it was—no hot food.  After all, this was a very fancy hotel.  But as soon as we sat down they brought us the hot eggs and things menu, ordered what we wanted, and it arrived very quickly.

Yesterday we had seen the only other White person out by the hotel pools besides us.  This morning I saw him emerge from the back where they cook the food.  Ah, he is not an NGO, he is the hotel owner or manager.  With him was a man who looked Italian?  Other than that, this hotel was being used by local people on Thanksgiving holiday, most of them with their little kids.  They probably just purchased day passes to swim and eat lunch; there were a ton of people there.

As for NGO’s, we were interested to hear from the Teerlink’s that most are leaving the country.  They discovered this as they visited with a man who owned a stationery store.  He was shutting down since his business was no longer being supported by all the NGO’s who used to be here.  This is surprising to us.  In Sierra Leone this is not the case.

Thanksgiving here is a bit different.  We asked Morris what is the most typical: they usually visit friends or relatives and maybe go to the park or something else that doesn’t cost money to do.  Food is not part of it considering most Africans typically eat one meal a day.  Once while Teerlink's were  talking about Fast Sunday and how  we skip two meals, they had shocked looks on their faces—they thought that meant they couldn’t eat for two days!  It appears that they fast just about every day unless they happen to get lucky and get a couple of meals.

Jim and I enjoyed a nice swim in the youth hotel pool Friday before we left because no one was there but us.  Bathtub water, almost, just slightly refreshing.  I went back to the room and took a shower and washed my hair so I wouldn’t look too travel weary by the time we got to the other side of the water in Freetown.

Our favorite quote from yesterday was from the little gal who was requesting a hand pump for their area.  The population is high and even though they have enough dip wells, still, clean water usually comes from hand pumps, and the closest one in their area always has a long cue.  When we asked how long it takes to get water in this line she remarked, “The lines often extend into the night and our girls come back pregnant…”  Okay, we had not heard this one before—laughing, crying?!!!  If we had said this we’d be joking, using exaggeration to make our point.  Africans are not known for their joking…

Our flight departed at 3:10 PM, and even though it is the shortest of all the flights, it takes so much time getting to our hotel because of the bay we have to motor over.  E/S Carley picked us up at the boat dock and we went directly to the hotel, washed our hands, had them take up our luggage, and visited and ate dinner with the Carley’s.  We have a somewhat plan, which we will no doubt play by ear.  The Carley’s will be leaving for home in a week, and they have no replacement—any takers for an unusual adventure??  We could use a lot of new couples everywhere.  They are beginning to lose senior couples in all the missions we are familiar with.

We are happy to be in Freetown at the Brooksfield Hotel and finally be able to fully unpack.  This always makes me extraordinarily happy!  Yesterday was the only time I felt I had time to do some wash and get it dry before we left.  Now I can wash whenever I want, and I always need to.  I’m so happy to be here!  I love this bed!  I love that we’ll be here for almost a week before we go home.

 

Sister Teerlink was upset that little girls only had broken White dolls to use as their babies.  I told her about our project a few years ago when the Relief Society made 100 African dolls to pass out.  Since she has started a sewing project, she wants me to send her the pattern and also pictures of the dolls.  She will give this order to the new sewing group.  The only problem is what to stuff them with, as there won't be much batting available; we discussed different ways that she could do it--a fun experiment.

Note the little generator sitting there.  Everyone was hooking up their phones to charge them.  I don't know if they had to pay for this service or not.

This is a dip well that does not go dry.  The owner said he would be glad to donate it to the community if we would transform it into a hand pump and that the water committee would take care of the running of the well.

This is at the boarding school home that is being remodeled.  One of the things we liked about this place as that this humanitarian makes sure that everyone works.  This little girl was sweeping out this area.

At the same boarding school--a girl was washing a lot of clothes.

These homes are across the river from the Farmington Hotel.  I think that the area looks lovely with all the vegetation.  When we were at the Royal Grand Hotel in Monrovia, I thought the contrast was terrible--out of every window the streets were ugly with old, dirty buildings and streets