Where Are My Clothes??

Well, I arrived back in Sierra Leone ok....but unfortunately one of my cases didn't arrive......the case with most of my clothes in. This wouldn't usually be too much of a problem as I have a wardrobe of clothes at home in Freetown - unfortunately I over indulged rather a lot while I was in the UK and have gone up over a dress size since I was last here and so none of my clothes here fit (the reason for having to bring new clothes over!!).

The journey was fine, after an early start from Heathrow I flew to Brussels, then onto Senegal then Guinea, then finally onto Sierra Leone. On the flight to Brussels I sat with an interesting man working for DFID - it was good to hear a little about their work. On the flights from Brussels to Freetown I sat with a nice lady from CDC (Centre for Disease Control) who is over to work on rolling out a vaccine when it becomes available.

'Gone Girl' a film that I'd seen advertised in the UK that looked quite good was showing on the in flight entertainment so I whiled away a couple of hours watching that - this tuned out to be a mistake as there is intrusive music playing the whole way through the film which makes it hard to concentrate on the dialogue and ended up leaving me with a corking headache.......and the film wasn't much cop either!! It wasn't just me - the lady next to me thought the same, but she had the sense to turn it off after half an hour!

We landed in Freetown around half 7 and as is now usual went through chlorine handwash and temperature checks. I headed over to the baggage carousel and spotted one bag right away, then waited and waited for the other one to come......until eventually the carousel was stopped and it sank in that my bag wasn't coming. I had to fill in a report about the missing bag and everyone I spoke to seemed hopeful that the missing bag will arrive on the next flight which is on Sunday - I should find out tomorrow if the bag has been tracked down or not.

My friend who works at the airport was waiting for me with a ticket for the water taxi and he kindly supplied headache tablets and water for me too!! It was very chopping on the water taxi ride to Aberdeen and the wonderful evening breeze soon cleared my headache.

My Sierra Leonean son was waiting for me at Aberdeen with a big smile on his face that soon made me forget my worries about the missing luggage!

When I got home I had a lovely surprise, a young lady I know had cooked me some irish potatoes to welcome me!!

I've been trying to work out what is in the missing bag apart from my new clothes (in the bag that did arrive there were a pair of jeans and one top so all is not completely lost!!). There was a soup machine in there, a battery charger, hand sanitisers, school supplies - I'm wracking my brain for what else I packed!!

If you pray I'd appreciate prayers that I will be reunited with my missing bag, if you are not a prayer I would appreciate you sending your good thoughts my way!!

I had a quiet day today unpacking, chasing my lost case, into town to pick up groceries and tonight I cooked chicken and pasta as Aunty had the day off.

Town was quiet, but everything seemed a lot more normal than it has the last few months. The main topic of conversation seems to be the investigation into the suspected misuse of funds sent for Ebola.........One of the reasons I love the way we work is that people know that any money given through us will reach its intended destination and not be swallowed up by bureaucracy or corruption.

It's great to back. Word certainly travels fast - I told very few people the date that I would be arriving, but my phone has been going almost non-stop today with people calling to welcome me back!