A Mother's Day like no Other!

What to do on Mother's Day in Freetown, Sierra Leone??? I didn't receive any gifts this year (although Andrew informs me that he asked a day worker to find him some fresh flowers, which he couldn't) and my day was decidedly different to any other Mother's Day before it. We booked a land rover to go out and went out as a family. "Alone" for the first time since Janurary! We tried to find somewhere to eat but nothing was open but we found a supermarket open and I got a Snickers ice cream-Happy Mother's Day to me! Then as we were driving around and we witnessed and photographed the poverty surrounding us, it occured to me that to the mothers of Freetown I am incredibly rich and incredibly fortunate and have had more gifts than they could ever dream about!

A typical street in Freetown.

Almost wherever we go in Freetown from the ship we have to go through this junction. It is always chaotic and there is always something to look at!

Street vendors.

Gotta get the washing dry somehow!

Don't know of you can really call this a park. Grass is in short supply in Freetown. The only grass we have seen is some brown, crunchy stuff at the golf course.

Traffic mayhem.

A calmer, more open street. Streets that contain Government buildings are usually more well maintained.

You saw this famous landmark-"The Big Cotton Tree" in a previous blog post but here it is, undecorated, in all it's glory. It is huge!

Everywhere we go there is evidence of Sierra Leone's British heritage. Above is an old British phone booth. Spotted around the place are a British post box, British taxi cab and British buildings.

Street vendors are everywhere! The dismal traffic conditions prove to be a bonus for these vendors as they peddle their wares alongside your car window. Everything from seasame cakes to pirated televison series.

How about some nice new furniture?

So many buildings are in a state of disrepair.

On the way back to the ship we encountered a house fire. This lane is the way back to the port. The fire drew the stares of several hundred onlookers making it impossible for us to get through. Luckily a crew member was walking past and helped us do a ten point turn in the land rover so we could turn around and go another way. The whole journey ended up taking us around three hours and all we ended up doing was going to the supermarket. TIA! (This is Africa)

The Lap of Luxury....or not.

So this looks like a really nice pool at some fancy smanchy hotel right?? This is the Country Lodge Hotel in Freetown and unfortunately there is not too much fancy about it. We spent a day using the pool which was pleasant and relaxing enough but beneath the tranquil setting the hotel's self stared rating of five stars and overpriced rooms were evidence of it's former glory days.

There was a nice terrace overlooking Freetown where we ate our distinctly Western lunch.

Yum-burger and fries!



Just over the edge of the terrace the barbed wire runs in coils around the Hotel.



Run Jess Run!

Welcome to Running Club. What do you do with a bunch of energetic kids of all ages whose physical activites are limited? You get them to run!! The Acadmey teachers are hugely dedicated and the Principal, Miss Nikki from South Africa conducts the Running Club every Thursday evening in her own time. All the kids love it and take it pretty seriously. The night begins with some running games (as above) then progresses to laps on the dock. The kids have a big laminated, cardboard shoe print that gets a footprint punch every two laps. It is the Sierra Leone Marathon. Running Club has finished for the year now and each child was congratulated and given a small treat for their amazing efforts in the heat and dust. Jess ran a total of 24 kilometres!!

Run Jess Run!!!

Miss Nikki punching Jessica's shoe print.

Thirsty work!

Around and around they go......

Our youngest runner- one year old Emma gets down and dirty. Playing in the dirt is more fun than running right??

The Gift of life.........

This letter comes from seven year old Salma Janjua, a recent orthopedic patient on board the Africa Mercy. Not only do the patients bear physical ailments and injurys but they also carry the emotional scars of isolation, rejection and torment. In countires such as Sierra Leone conditions such a tumours, club feet, cleft lips and bowed legs are seen as a sign of being cursed. People afflicted with these conditions are often ostracised from their schools and communitys and live in great shame. It is very common to see people with large facial tumours covering them with cloths and head coverings. Surgery brings freedom, surgery brings healing, surgery brings restoration, surgery gives life...... 

Wedding of the Century!

The ship came to a bit of a standstill on the morning of Friday 29th April, 2011. It didn't seem to matter if you were a Brit, an Aussie or an Amercian. The draw of two beautiful, rich and very famous people tying the knot in front of the world was too alluring. For those of us who were working (like me) and were not able to veiw the royal wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William live, a special recorded version was played at the Africa Mercy's very own "Kate and Wills" party on Friday evening, put on by a Brit, of course! It was a lovely evening of cupcakes, tea and sarcastic remarks about Beatrice and Eugene's hats!

An Amercian switching sides-lol.

All things patriotic came out.

There were even cut out Kate and Wills paper dolls for the kids. Jess is getting busy here!

Paper Kate and Wills.

A lovely hot cuppa.....

The crowd watches with great anticipation...



And what a lovely ceremony it was too. A great sermon and very wise words for the newlyweds and the millions around the world who tuned in.



Unity, Freedom, Justice!

Untiy, Freedom, Justice-the proud motto of Sierra Leone and it's people whom we were honoured to share in their celebrations of Sierra Leone's 50th Independence Day on April 27th. This day marked Sierra Leone's 50 years of independence from the British. Celebrations are going on all year but special celebrations were conducted during the week 24th-30th April. Above is an icon of downtown Freetown, The Cotton Tree. It is HUGE and here it is all decked out with the colours of the Sierra Leone flag. Below are celebrations at the Freetown National Stadium (where the first screening was held). We were advised not to attend these celebrations due to the high risk of theft. Traffic flow was even worse than ever with many parades through the city and an expected influx of approximately 300,000 people into Freetown.

Inside the Africa Mercy dining room where the dining and galley staff went all out. They even made several huge cakes in the flag colours of green, white and blue.



The crew surprised the Sierra Leone day workers by spontaneously singing their national anthem over lunch. The day workers joined in with great enthusiasm and gutso. After we sung, the day workers continued to passionately sing another patriotic song for us!

SIERRA LEONE NATIONAL ANTHEM


High we exalt thee, realm of the free;
Great is the love we have for thee;
Firmly united ever we stand,
Singing thy praise, o native land.
We raise up our hearts and our voices on high,
The hills and the valleys re-echo our cry;
Blessing and peace be ever thine own,
Land that we love, our Sierra Leone!



Colours of the flag dominated everywhere as the crew and day workers came to the party.

This guy really went all out!

1000 Thanks!

We have had over 1000 hits!! We just wanted to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to all those who have looked at our blog! Thanks to our family, friends, supporters, prayer warriors and the people we don't even know, who have invested in our journey with their time, A special mention to our two followers; Stationview Cottage and Pete's Views! Our heart's desire is to highlight the great work of Mercy Ships and it's volunteers through our eyes, interwoven with stories and events that define our lives in West Africa.We are honoured to share our lives with you and hope that we can continue to provide you with moments of laughter, tears, anger, passion, heartache and joy.