weekend update

another weekend is halfway gone, and i can hardly believe it. i'm one week closer to leaving this place, with its amazing highs, desperate lows, and plenty-plenty mediocrity in between. there have for sure been enough days that were just hum-drum, but then i wake up every morning and realize that i'm in freetown, sierra leone! i'm doing what i want to do, and it's such a blessing. the biggest surprise this summer has been the amazing-ness of the people i have been so blessed to meet. people working in all sorts of non-profits and ngos that have such incredible visions for the future and passions for their work.

on friday, i got to go with stefani and geraldine (one of her co-workers) to see various places doing physio work. we stopped by the military hospital in the wilberforce barracks, right next to where i go to church; handicap international, which, having been handed over to the ministry of health, is now called the national rehabilitation centre; and emergency, a hospital run by an italian ngo. at emergency i met a really neat swiss nurse who has worked for quite some time in afghanistan, in the northern bit of the country, where emergency actually opened the first official maternity centre. michaela, the nurse, was telling me how incredible it was to be providing healthcare for and celebrating the lives of women who had never stepped foot into a formal healthcare facility or doctor's office ever before. just being able to value these women as they participated in the great mystery of life...there is a seed growing within me, and i already feel the gentle tugging of my next big adventure. :)

today, we hosted an emotional awareness workshop for the nursing staff at the centre. i actually didn't participate very much. stefani and i spent most of the morning on lumley beach, watching the scrimmages of the single leg amputee sports club, a football (soccer) team which is comprised of all amputees. they are so absolutely incredible, and it was such an honor to watch these men defying the fate which had been handed out to them during the civil war. they are all absolutely determined to still have life on their own terms!

then we spent the rest of the day on the ward with the patients so that the nurses on duty could participate as well. it was a quiet afternoon on the ward, and the women passed their time rolling balls of wool that they will receive next week, and i worked on putting some thoughts together for the bible study that i'm leading next week. another person in the group was scheduled, but something came up and some things shifted, and i was willing. it really was a beautiful day for that sort of thing. there was a good breeze blowing the whole day, especially on the beach, and the rain came right in the middle of the day to cool everything off. it was absolutely glorious to sit in the courtyard in between the wards and just read...

there was a funny moment, when we stopped by freetown supermarket on the way home. as we pulled up, we noticed how busy it was. the wee, small parking lot in front of the store front was jam-packed with cars. upon going inside, we realized that the store was also full of people. it was the most white people that i have seen in one place in such a long time! i was completely overwhelmed. especially by hearing english. i had just forgotten how to interact with a white stranger. one older english chap whom i had passed a few times in the aisles finally addressed me, "how are you, ma'am?" and i was so totally taken aback. i think i ended up mumbling something like, "hello, thank you," and scurrying past. getting back in the car after a few minutes, i thought back on that encounter and felt like a complete idiot. but then i had to laugh at myself. you know you're in africa when...

but it was a good day, and i think it will be a good weekend. monday is stefani's birthday, so we are making dinner for her tomorrow night. i've kind of spear-headed the whole thing, and decided to make her some of the good tex-mex she has been missing ever since leaving east texas. so on the menu for tomorrow is: tortilla chips, pico de gallo, guacamole, enchiladas suizas (although we are renaming them enchiladas salone), black beans, and mexican rice. only we are in west africa, so we've had to be creative with some of the recipes. how do you make salsa verde, for example, without green chiles or tomatillos? how do you make enchiladas without tortillas? i'll let you know how it goes! :)