King George VI Home For The Elderly

I have known King George VI Home for the Elderly since my very first visit to Sierra Leone in 2006. Mission Direct used to have an office/team house in the King George compound so I would be there most days and got to know the residents very well.

 

King George was relocated to Grafton a few years ago when their compound in Kissy was purchased and redeveloped as an industrial site. I am not able to visit as much as I used to, but I try to get out to their site in Grafton at least every few weeks to see how everyone is doing.

 

King George has always been one of my favourite places to visit, and when I'm able to I love to spend time with some of the residents just chatting and passing time.

 

I popped in there yesterday to see how everyone is......worryingly some of the staff there told me 'Ebola don don' (Ebola is finished) - which is obviously not true as their near neighbours St George Foundation are currently under quarantine after losing one of their staff a few days ago to Ebola.

 

It was great to catch up with the staff and residents, including these two gentlemen, who I had a lovely chat with:

 

Mr Davis





Mr Joseph

Sadly since my last visit one long term resident Mr Prince has passed away. He was a lovely, friendly polite gentleman and he'll be missed by the other residents. RIP Mr Prince.

Rest in Perfect Peace Mr Prince

RIP Zainabu

Sadly King George have lost another resident - Zainabu.

 

She was a lovely, friendly lady who loved a good natter.......but she didn't like having her photo taken so I have no photo to remember her by.

 

She wasn't a lover of crowds, preferring to get to know people one to one, so she rarely joined in with group activities. If you visited the ladies ward, she was in the corner bed on the right hand side and I'm sure you will remember her. She had limited mobility and rarely left the ward.......but when there were visitors to the ward she would always call them over to say hello.

 

May her soul rest in perfect peace.

RIP Mr Dore

Ah, I'm so sad......my old friend Mr Charles Dore has passed away. He was a long term resident at the King George VI Home for the Elderly. If you have ever visited the home with me I'm sure you will remember him.

In the old days when the home was based in Kissy and we had our team house in their compound he and his friend and sparring partner Mr Roberts would come and talk to our teams about their lives and later he would play his guitar and Mr Roberts would play his harmonica and they would sing to us.....we joined in where we could. He never seemed to have the right number of strings on his guitar, but he could still get a tune out of it - I've lost count of the number of times people sent new strings for him.

Mr Dore had been sick in recent times - it was thought he had prostate cancer and he was hospitalised numerous times in 2013. Many times we thought we were going to lose him, even the doctor was amazed when he kept bouncing back.
More recently he had seemed well and he passed away peacefully.

Even though he was well into his 80's he quite enjoyed his stays in the hospital as it gave him the chance to flirt with the nurses.....who all loved him of course.

He would tell people I was his daughter. He was a great talker and I loved our chats, he had a great sense of humour too and he could always make me laugh. He was such an interesting man who'd lived  long and varied life. I'm going to miss him. Rest in peace my old friend. Goodnight my Sierra Leonean Papa xxx

RIP Mr Bangura

Sadly Mr Saidu Bangura, one of the residents at the King George VI Home for the Elderly, passed away at we weekend.

Many of our volunteers will remember Mr Bangura from the days when the King George home was in Kissy.

Mr Charles - Update

Charles has continued to improve and was discharged from the hospital on Saturday. He is now back at the King George VI Home for the Elderly who were able to send a vehicle to collect him.

 

They have promised to monitor him and to let us have regular updates on how he is doing. His friends at the home were very pleased to see him again.

 

The home tell us that he is slowly getting his apetite back and they see a big improvement in his condition.

 

Please pray that Charles continues to improve.

Mr Charles

Many of the Mission Direct volunteers will know Mr Dore, one of the residents at the King George VI Home for the Elderly - better known as Mr Charles. He is thought to be the oldest resident at the home with an estimated age of 84!

 

He has been quite poorly recently, he has an enlarged prostate and when I went to visit the home a few weeks ago he was in agony as he hadn't been able to urinate for around 5 days. The home had called the dispenser who treats the residents but he had been unable to insert a catheter. We arranged for Charles to go to the Adventist Hospital in Waterloo where they were able to catheterise him and make him comfortable. He spent almost a week at the hospital before being discharged again into the care of the King George VI home.

 

He still had the catheter in when he went back to the home and he was given an appointment to return to the hospital one week later. Unfortunately the King George vehicle was not available so he was unable to keep his appointment. On advice from the doctor the catheter was removed after a week.

 

Last week I went back to see how Charles was getting on and he was in the same situation again, unable to urinate and in a lot of pain. We took him to the hospital last Wednesday, where he was admitted again. When I went to see him on Thursday he was very poorly, he didn't recognise me, was very confused and agitated and he was obviously in a lot of pain - I was very worried about him.

 

I went back today not knowing what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. He very alert and chirpy, we had a nice chat and I've arranged to go and see him again in a couple of days.

 

I am concerned though about what will happen to Charles when he is discharged from the hospital, the home aren't able to give medical care and unless we can find a solution I can foresee him ending up in the same situation again and again. I am hoping to be able to contact his family so we can work out a care plan for him.

 

Please keep Charles in your prayers.

 

The photos below show Charles before he was admitted to the hospital and after he had been treated - he has given his permission for the photos to be used here.

 

Before admission to hospital

 

After treatment

 

 

King George VI Update

The residents of the King George VI home have been in their new location at Grafton (right next door to our City of Rest site) for some time now.

 

Sadly quite a few residents that Mission Direct volunteers will remember from the days that they were in Kissy have passed away over the last year or so.

 

Mrs Edwards, a lady with very bad eyesight who used to be in one of the beds at the far end of the womens ward passed away last week (below bottom left)

 

Other residents who have also gone to be with the Lord include:

 

• Kadi - the friendly youngish woman who used to often sit outside the womens ward
• Fatmata - she had the bed just inside the door of the womens ward and a very strong grip when she held your hand (below top left)
• Mr Roberts - the blind man who played the harmonica and sometimes came with Mr Charles to talk to the teams
• Mr Paul - the old soldier
• Onekai - the deaf lady who often sat on the wall opposite the team house (below top right)
• Mariama - the small lady with gray hair who used to enjoy singing and talking to the children (below bottom right)

 

RIP Mr Roberts

Mr Roberts

Sadly Mr Roberts (also known as Blind Daniel) passed away in January. Mr Roberts was a long time resident at King George VI Home for the Elderly

Team members will have fond memories of him playing his harmonical for us, singing with us and telling us about his life and working on the railways when he was younger.

He will be especially missed by his parner in crime Mr Charles.

Mrs Coker

Sadly Mrs Coker, the Matron of King George VI home for the elderly, passed away lasy night (19/02/11).

Mrs Coker

I visited her in hospital last week and she was very poorly, but in good spirits. I went to see her again on Monday and she had deteriorated a lot and was very confused. I've just spoken to her brother who told me the sad news.

May she rest in peace.

King George Relocation

This used to be the Glorious Community Primary School

Ever since I first started coming to Sierra Leone Mission Direct have used the King George VI home for the elderly as a base for work - but that's all about to change. One of the gas companies here has purchased the King George compound to redevelop it as an industrial area.

The home for the elderly is being relocation to Grafton. The Glorious Community Primary School in the compound are looking for new premises, and we have to find somewhere else to work out of.

The school has already been demolished (see photo above), they are currently holding lessons in the church building in the compound until they can find new premises. A lot of the trees have been chopped down, and the big store that was next to the school has been demolished. The have also started work on a new building in front of the bakery - where the kids used to play football.

The new site at Grafton is next door to the new City of Rest site, the foundations are in and work is progressing quickly on the building. It's expected that the residents will move to the new place before the rainy season.

I'm sad about the move, it will mean big changes for the local community as well as the residents....and for us too.

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.

RIP Mr One Tooth

One of the King George residents died during the night. I don't know his real name but everyone here affectionately referred to him as 'One Tooth' (because he only had one tooth).

As I arrived at work this morning his body, washed and wrapped in a sheet by some of the workers, was loaded onto a handcart and wheeled out of the compound to be taken to the cemetery for a paupers burial.

I was impressed by how respectful most of the children were, they just stood silently and watched One Tooth go on his way.

RIP Mrs Bangura

The wife of Pa Saidu, one of the security guards at the King George VI home, has passed away.

Anyone who has been to Sierra Leone with Mission Direct will know Saidu - he's the larger of the security guards.

Please pray for Saidu and his family as they come to terms with their loss.

RIP Sally

Sadly, Sally, one of the King George VI residents passed away yesterday. She had been suffering from cancer of the liver.

I've had some lovely chats with her and I'll miss seeing her at King George.

She is the second resident to have passed away since I arrived a couple of weeks ago - this time of year is tough for the old folks.

Salman's Fan

Salman lives in the King George VI home for the elderly in Kissy - he was shot during the rebel war and is paralized, he still has 6 bullets in his back that cannot be removed as to do so could cause further damage or be fatal for him.

His electric fan had recently broken, he let us know that he REALLY needed a new one. One of our Mission Direct volunteers purchased a fan for him with a donation given to her by friends in the UK, here's a very happy Salman receiving his fan.

A small gesture like this can mean so much to someone like Salman and help to make his life a little more comfortable.

King George VI Home for the Elderly

King George VI Home for the Elderly in Kissy, East Freetown, Sierra Leone is where the Mission Direct team house is based. When there is a team of Mission Direct volunteers in country most of the meals are taken there. There are currently 44 residents living at the home for the elderly.

There had been no running water at King Georges for over 6 months, so one of our projects was to resolve the water situation and to provide new toilets and showers for the residents. It was hard work, first scraping down the buildings with wire brushes on the outside and cleaning on the inside, then painting the blocks. The buildings were re-tiled inside, the windows were replaced and new toilet seats were made and fitted. As you can see from the photos the end result is a big improvement.

Before....................and..................After!




During the time we were there our teams also helped with cleaning the wards Some of the teams of volunteers spent time with the residents at the home reading to them, playing games and doing craftwork. Part of he program for the short term teams is to have a culteral talk so for the smaller teams we arranged for two of the King George men to come along for an evening and talk to the teams about their lives and the history of Sierra Leone, they were great fun.


Here are some of the King George VI residents:

The Glorious Community Primary school is also in the same compound.

Also posted at minklemar.com