Samuel Update

Back in March I posted about a little boy called Samuel who had worms and was malnourished (see here). Here is a picture taken of him taken today, as the photo shows he's very much recovered now!

He's still not keen on me, but I did manage to get a smile out of him today.

Malaria

In less than two weeks 8 of the children who visit me have tested positive for Malaria (the p-falciparum type), luckily they have all been able to receive treatment and are on the mend now.

There are a lot of mosquitos around at the moment, so I'm being extra careful to ensure there are none inside my net at night. I was tested for malaria a few days ago and I'm happy to say that the result was negative!

I'm lucky that I have a mosquito net to sleep under, most of the people I know here don't have one and can't afford to get one. I need to investigate on the internet to see if I can find any charities who will provide mosquito nets free of charge to people who can't afford them

Goodbye / Hello

The first team of this campaign left us last Friday and we have a new team arriving tonight.

The first team did a lot of block making at the City Of Rest in Grafton in the mornings. David (our construction manager for the team) took a drum to the site and found a builder who could play, so each morning was started with the team singing worship songs with the builders accompanied by the drum - it was a lovely way to start the day and I hope we continue it when we have other teams working on the site.

Most afternoons we visited other partners in and around Freetown, an especially nice afternoon was spent with the residents of King George VI Home for the Elderly, decorating bags that one of the volunteers had provided - each resident got to keep their bag. It will be such a shame if the King George VI home is relocated as our teams get to build relationships with the people there due to having our meals in the compound - something we won't be able to do if (or more likely when) they move.

The team that arrive today are 6 retired teachers from the UK who will be working with Sierra Leonean teachers in 5 of the schools in Kissy

RIP Mr Coker

I have more sad news - Mr Coker, the husband of the matron of the King George VI home, passed away on Saturday 13th November. He had been poorly for a few months.

Mr and Mrs Coker had been together for 44 years - please pray for Mrs Coker and her family at this sad time.

Before and After - Men's Dorms

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The team have cleaned and painted part of the men's dormitories at the current City of Rest location in Fort Street in town.

The before and after photos are of one of the bedrooms, we will be returning next week to finish off and paint the ceilings.

A few of the residents helped us with the cleaning and painting. One of our volunteers is going to provide them with buckets, brushes and cleaning products so that they can keep the rooms clean.

A Very Long Night

The team arrived last night just over an hour late, so we were hopeful of getting the ferry. We raced to the ferry port, only to be told that the ferry had just left. Another ferry would run only if there were over 30 vehicles waiting for it - unforunately for us there were only 17 vehicles waiting. We had missed the last ferry and there wasn't another one running until 8.30 the next morning - 10 hours later!! We decided to drive around the peninsular. It was a very bumpy drive that took us around 6 hours - we finally arrived in Kissy and the team were able to check into their hotel around 5am! I think most of the team found the whole night to be a bit of an adventure.

We thought it best to give the team the morning off, so postponed the start of our day to 12 noon. The team will visit the City of Rest site at Grafton today and also visit Hastings Ladies Polio Association. We'll all meet or dinnner tonight before sorting out the aid and gifts the team have bought with them.

Tomorrow the team will get the chance to get started on some work at the site - making blocks.

Back in Africa

After the sponsorship trip I had a 4 week break in the UK and came back to Sierra Leone just over a week ago.

I've spent most of the past week getting ready for the team of Mission Direct volunteers who will be arriving tomorrow. On the staff team with me are Penny and David, and another Penny who will be arriving with the team tomorrow. We are just about ready for the team now and will be going over to the airport tomorrow afternoon to meet the team when they arrive in the evening. We will have 10 volunteers on the team and they will be continuing work on the City Of Rest site at Grafton.

I've been very suprised by the weather, it's rained almost every night since I arrived - I think it's the first time I've encountered rain here in November in all the years I've been coming. It's nice though as the nights are much cooler than usual which makes it much easier to sleep. The days are still hot and sunny, but not nearly as hot as it usually is in November.