Home Again.

The last week was spent in Freetown on the beach. We slept in a tent which we borrowed from a friend for the few days we stayed at the resort under a grass hut right on the beach – it was wonderful! We fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves. Sierra Leone remains to be place where few tourists come and visit however, the industry is slowly growing and development is being made. There were several times where we were the only ones out on the beach either sitting writing our report or walking along. It felt serial as nowhere else in the world with a white sandy beach like that one would you be the only one roaming. We were able to get a good start on our report, but there was still much to do and see in Freetown.

Monday was a relaxing day spent on the beach, swimming, report writing, meeting new people and shopping!

Tuesday we went into Freetown for the day with some new friends and toured around. We saw the famous Cotton Tree which is said to be over 100 years old, the government warf, visited the national museum, saw the national courts, visited the markets, went out for lunch etc. In the evening we played games with friends and chilled on the beach.

Wednesday was spent relaxing, packing and getting our hair planted one last time. We bought the products in the market the day before and our friend ended up braiding our hair for us.

Thursday morning we walked the beach and swam one last time before packing up the last few things and heading to the airport. We were dropped off at a dock where we took a speed boat across the peninsula, but once the boat reached the other side, the tide had gone too far out that the speed boast was unable to pull up close so we could all get off. To solve the problem, they had about seven workers carrying passengers on shoulders back and forth – never have we gotten off a boat like that before! All of our luggage was carried for us from the dock to the vans waiting for us further up on shore. We arrived at the Lungi airport without trouble and customs went smoothly as well. We were a little early for our flight so we went to the lounge, enjoyed some drinks and played more games. We flew to Banjul, Senegal for a short layover (crew change and to pick up more passengers) before carrying on to Brussels. We arrived in Brussels at 5.30 AM and enjoyed our 30+ layover as our flight was not scheduled to leave until 10.15AM the next day (Sat.). We locked up our luggage in the airport lockers, bought a train ticket and went into the city centre. We saw the Grand Place and enjoyed waffles for breakfast! It was delicious After savouring the sugary taste we visited an information centre, got our map and walked around the city seeing all of the highlighted buildings and places to visit. Before heading back to the airport at the end of the day we bought some fresh Belgium chocolate – it just melted in your mouth…yum! We slept in the airport for the night and then caught our flight the next morning were we arrived safely again in Toronto.

 It’s good to be home again, but we would have liked to have a few more days as it was hard to leave the people we have met. We each have learned so much and have grown to appreciate the education and infrastructure even more so here in Canada.

Thanks for reading along over these past 6.5 weeks and hope you enjoyed gaining some insight to our experiences had in one of Africa’s western countries, Sierra Leone.

All the best, Janis and Megan

The Last Few Weeks in Kabala

We have been crazy busy these last few weeks which is why we have neglected to update our blog in so long! By the time that we get home from school the generator is just about to be turned off and there is barely enough time to turn on the computer! But, we figured better late than never!

The last weekend in April, we climbed the other mountain in Kabala, Mt. Illbetira (we spelt it the way it sounds-I’ll-be-tired- but not sure if it is correct!) with a few of our friends. Before we go on, we should let you know that the mountain we climbed last time was not called Mt. Wada-Wada, but actually Mt. Wara-Wara…oops! Mt. Illbetira is climbed every year by thousands of people as it is the place to celebrate New Years. Apparently it can hold up to 10,000 people! It took us about an hour to climb and by the top we definitely understood how this mountain got it’s name! When we got to the top though the view was beautiful! It wasn’t much different from last weekend, except for the fact that this time there were clear skies and no thunderstorms!  We stayed on the top of the mountain for about an hour and then headed down for a relaxing afternoon at home.

Instead of writing day by day, we decided to lump the next 2 weeks together as much of our time was spent doing the same things with the exception of a few special events . From May 2-May 11, we have been spending our mornings at our schools, Janis at RC Primary and Megan at MCA primary, and our afternoons have been spent sitting in on different classrooms at CRC Primary and Junior School and May 12-13 we spent all day at CRC. Janis has been consistently teaching Language Arts at her school and Megan has been teaching Language Arts, Number Work and occasionally Religious and Moral Education. Megan also had the opportunity to teach all of MCA primary a new song, “Allelu, Allelu”, during the morning assembly! We have also had the opportunity to teach at CRC a few times in Class 2, 4 and 6. At CRC, we taught Language Arts in all three classes and the song “Allelu, Allelu” to the classes 2 and 4. We have also been keeping busy with making more teaching aids, such as number strips and math manipulatives. When we get home from school there are always people to greet us, workers at CES and lots of little children around our compound. We tell the children that we have to work, but they don’t mind sitting there, playing their own card games or watching us and counting the numbers or letters that we write down.

Last week Saturday, we had the opportunity to be a part of Class 6 National exams. This exam is taken in each major village and they designate a certain number of schools to host all the Class 6 students. In Kabala, they had 3 highschools. In one school, where CRC was assigned, there were 24 other schools. This exam started at 7:30 AM and lasted until 4:00 PM…and we thought our exams were long! It had six different sections and in between each section there would be a short 5 minute break, except for their lunch break that lasted 20 minutes. We arrived at the school around 11:00AM and we were surprised to see hundreds of people outside the school compound. All the parents, brothers and sisters, some aunts and uncles and friends of the students all had come to offer their support and be there when the students came out for breaks, lunch and the end of the exam. It was incredible to see- everyone was sitting on the ground, on rocks or standing all day long just to offer their support!

Another special event was Megan’s birthday on Tuesday, May 10. Janis had spoiled her all day long, by making her breakfast, giving a gift and passing on a card from back home (thanks pink house J- I’ve listened to your message like 30 times already, so awesome)! Then at my school, Jan came early to join Meg class for singing “Allelu” and she got them to sing Happy Birthday. We headed to CRC and Jan got class 2 to sing for Meg and she schemed with the teachers at CRC to meet at a local restaurant for a birthday celebration in the evening. Every time someone new came to the restaurant they had to sing Megan a song which was very funny, but very special! After a couple of hours, we closed with a word of thanks and prayer and a short thank-you speech from Megan. Also, Jan and a friend secretly organized a radio message with two of our favourite songs that was heard across Kabala! So cool!

On Thursday, May 12, 2011, we had a very special meeting with representatives from RC primary, MCA primary and CRC primary and junior schools. The schools where we spent most of our teaching time spoiled us with a word of thanks and appreciation and with a couple of gifts for us to remember them! We were also asked to give a little speech for a thank-you and farewell. The people that we worked with have been absolutely amazing! It was tough to say good-bye to them at the end of the meeting, but they and their schools will forever be remembered! 

Friday, May 13, 2001, was our final day at CRC. All the students dressed in their ceremonial uniforms- their uniforms with hats and ties for both boys and girls. We were able to see their morning assembly and then we presented the school with part of their gift from us. As well (for a third time this week) Jan and Meg had to give a speech. It was tough to think of new things to say especially since a number of the teachers had already heard our other speeches. The day was spent in Form 1 (Grade 7) and Class 4 and finishing with a short staff meeting to talk about comparative education and to say our final good-byes. CRC has been such an incredible support system and host school and we couldn’t say thank-you enough to all the teachers and especially the headmaster for everything they have done for us. We will always remember this school.  Please keep all of these schools in your prayers that they may continue to be a blessing to Kabala and Sierra Leone and that they will also be showered with God’s blessings in the years to come.

We are heading to Freetown tomorrow afternoon and then spending our last days in Africa touring the town, relaxing and working on our final report before we head home on Thursday. We are very excited to be able to spend a full day in Belgium on Friday as well. We will be arriving back in Canada on the 21^st and we eagerly await the time when we get to see all of our family and friends again!