Reasons to Celebrate! (April 20-28, 2011)

Wednesday morning was pretty uneventful and relaxed. We prepared lesson plans and read through some documents. However, our afternoon was the complete opposite of uneventful. A friend asked us if we wanted to climb the highest peak in Kabala, Mount Wada-Wada. Having not been really active all winter, we were craving to get our bodies moving. We were picked up at our house and walked to the base of the mountain where our friend lived-that in itself was a hike for us! Then we continued on with two friends up the mountain. We had something else come with us too. It was big, loud and engulfed us quickly and within seconds we were soaked...it was a thunderstorm! When it rains in Africa it is all or nothing, it POURED! We walked 10 meters and were soaked to the bone. With the rain came bolts of lightning and crashes of thunder. We asked our friends about the safeness of climbing a mountain in a thunderstorm and they said in Africa you do not have to worry about it, only in the months from September to November. So, we decided to trust them and go for it. While we were climbing up, it seemed like half of the mountain was running down. There were streams of mud and water that flowed past us which made it very difficult to maintain our balance and stamina. On the way up we passed mango, papaya, banana and avocado trees. Our friend picked us some fresh mangos for a small snack, but that was it because the rest of the fruit belonged to the two families that lived on the mountain.
After an hour of climbing we made it to the top- definitely something worth celebrating! Every step was well worth it! Mt. Wada-Wada’s peak is made up of sheer rock. When we reached the highest point the view was absolutely breath-taking. We saw all of Kabala, schools we are teaching in, the forests beyond and the peak of the highest mountain in West Africa, Mt. Bintumani.  We took lots of snaps (pictures), but unfortunately we could not stay for long because a second storm was coming our way. We hope to climb the other Mt. In Kabala this weekend and we are praying for better weather!

Thursday was a business day. In the morning Janis was on the computer sending emails and typing up notes, while Megan worked on flashcards and more math manipulatives. In the afternoon we switched roles until about 3. We headed to the market to pick up a few things, ate dinner, talked and then headed to bed.

The weekend brought on another reason to celebrate- Easter!
Romans 5:8- “But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Good Friday was overcast and cooler so we decided to wear our full African outfits. What we did not think about was our mode of transportation to church- a motorbike. Considering our skirts were floor length and heavier material getting onto the bike posed quite a problem. We had to hike up our skirts and throw ourselves onto the bike, sturdy enough to last us to church. This brought on a few chuckles as from our neighbours as they stood there watching us struggle. We headed to the church where we had a short service and then we were told that we were going to the town centre to have a joint service with all of the other churches in the area. It was a really neat experience and we loved being able to worship outside with so many people. The one downfall was that the sun still shone through the clouds and we both burned quite badly...if only we knew we were going to be outside for three hours we could have prevented the burns! Although, the burn will fade but this experience will stick with us forever. After church, we walked around town with one of our friends and then headed home for a relaxed afternoon. In the evening we had three friends over and we played Spoons for a very long time- definitely a hit!

Saturday, we went to church again. This was our Good Friday service because of the joint service yesterday. After church we were invited to go to the pastor’s home for a visit and lunch. We played with their three kids and the kids from the other pastor who lives on the same property and then enjoyed a delicious lunch made by his wife- plain potatoes, potatoes in a meat sauce and cooked cabbage and sweet peppers- yum! It was certainly a meal that we would eat again! In the afternoon we had some visitors and played more games with them. The evening was spent with just the two of us. We made diner, talked for a while and then went to bed to rest of for a busy day tomorrow.

Easter Sunday! We enjoyed our breakfast out on our veranda, got ready and took an okada to church.  The previous Sunday we were asked by a friend to make a contribution (we wrote more about this in a previous posting).  Well, this past week we were approached again to sing yet another song.  We were asked if we sang in a choir together...honestly, they are too kind!  We told them no, but had to think of another song.  Since it was Easter, we tried brainstorming song reflecting the holiday.  We decided to sing “In Christ Alone.”  There were also fifteen people who were baptized as well.  We were told the day before that the service was to start an hour earlier than usual since there was communion and the baptisms.  So we arrived at 9:00 AM only to discover we were the first people to arrive and church actually didn’t start until 10:00.  We filled the time by talking with people and interacting with the children.  It wasn’t until 5 hours later than the service came to a close.  By then we were very hot, sweaty and eager to get to the beach where the baptisms were to happen.  The beach however, is about forty minutes away.  Several motorcycles went and in addition about three large vehicles.  These vehicles were cramped with people, even having younger children and lighter weight individuals sitting on laps, creating more room for people to fit in.  This way, more people were able to come to the beach and support their friends and family.  We didn’t get home until dinner hour and by that time we were exhausted.  After dinner we were both not feeling well.  Meg had a cold developing and Jan had an upset stomach to the point where her dinner came up and no other food was staying down.  We were a little concerned as we really had no idea how much attention we should give to the way we were feeling.  After reading through the medial papers we brought along from the travel clinics, all the possible conditions we could get had similar symptoms.  This wasn’t overly helpful so we decided that it wasn’t anything serious as Janis didn’t have a fever at all. 

Monday morning Janis was feeling better, but Megan’s cold persisted.  We didn’t have anything planned all day so we lay low and did some reading, lesson plan preparation, napped and played a few games.  Tuesday was much the same with the exception of going into town to the market to get more food. 

Wednesday was Sierra Leone’s 50^th Anniversary of Independence – their Golden Year.  They have been a country for 50 years now and their slogan for the day was “Moving Forward.”  Presidents from around the world came to Freetown to help celebrate this milestone.  Late last week before Easter, we made hats resembling the national flag (green, white and blue horizontal strips).  We learned that the green represents agriculture, white for purity and blue for beauty.  We also had beaded necklaces made from the same colours which were given to us as gifts from a friend.  In addition we also had scarves consisting of green, white and blue that we wore which we purchased from a young girl last week.  We were invited by the headmaster at CRC Primary School (our host school) to join him and some of the students in the parade march.  Everyone who was in the parade met at 8:00 AM at the RC Primary School (the school Janis is teaching at).  The parade was led by a number of soldiers followed by students from different schools in Kabala.  Students from CRC were the first group who followed behind the soldiers.  We walked with the students.  There were also trucks with many speakers strapped to it blasting African music – it was party central!   We first approached the city centre and then continued on our way throughout the streets slowly making our way to the large sport field.  Once at the field, the ceremonies continued.  There were many speeches, presentations, reciting of the national pledge and accompanying the raising of the flag, we sang the national anthem.  Then we went to “Choices” (a popular restaurant) for a nice cold drink of fanta.  After we rested for a bit, we wanted to head again to the market.  Our friend was going home in that same direction so we caught a ride to the city centre on the back of his motorcycle.  We walked home after we got what we needed from the market and relaxed.  In the afternoon another friend came to visit us.  She helped Megan take out her plants (braids) since the braids were falling out and getting messy.  By early evening another rainstorm was settling in.  After dinner someone else stopped by to pay a visit.  We played some games and once our friend went home we went to bed. 

This morning we hoped to get more work done as school resumes on Monday and we head back into the classroom.  However, we had many visitors, making for a great morning but it was not too productive.  One of our friends that came to visit us told us she was listening to the radio this morning and during the reports on yesterday’s celebrations, heard that they said (and we quote) “Two white ladies from Canada were walking the streets in the parade with the students and helped celebrate Independence Day and they did good.  They had a good time! “ We were told by many yesterday “thanks” for the support and it was well received.  We didn’t mind joining in with the festivities, but the thankfulness we received was overwhelming – who knew something we perceive as being “small” could make such an impact!  We plan to make dinner pretty soon and then probably play more games – who knows who will stop by tonight!

Wishing you all well back in Canada,

Janis and Megan

PS. We would like to extend
 our congratulations to the Education Students on officially being DONE!!!

Us soaked on top of Mount Wada-Wada

Celebrating Independence Day with Students from CRC Primary School