I have now arrived home and have slowly begun to readjust to American culture. The last couple of months on the ship were very full and busy, which is my excuse for taking so long to blog (even if that is a poor excuse). So now that I am back with lots of time on my hands, I will try to give some updates of those last couple of months.
During the last week of October I had the opportunity to take a week off from the ship and travel Upcountry. This is basically anywhere outside of Freetown and the peninsula. The link below shows where we went. http://maps.google.com/maps/sierraleone
I went with 3 other nurses from the ship Kate, Brenda, and Maaike. We took public transport most of the time which usually consists of being squished into a vehicle with more people than the car is made for.
I went with 3 other nurses from the ship Kate, Brenda, and Maaike. We took public transport most of the time which usually consists of being squished into a vehicle with more people than the car is made for.
The first day we made it to the town of Makeni. We stayed at The Bridge for a couple of nights (http://www.thebridgeofhope.us/index.html ). It was here that we were met by Pastor Alfred, who is a very gentle caring man. He has a large heart for helping the people in Sierra Leone. Pastor Alfred and Abas, the director of the Bridge, took us on tour of the church and school that they help run. They also showed us Bambuna Falls. Our last day in Makeni we took a hike up Wusum Hill. As we were looking for the way up the hill, people who lived in the village below decided that we needed a guide. Which ended up being quite helpful.
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| On our way to Bambuna Falls |
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| We have arrived! There was a lot of water coming down. |
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| All four of us with Pastor Alfred. From Left: Maaike, Brenda, Alfred, Kate, Me |
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| We hiked up this hill, not much in the way of trails so we just went straight up. Thankfully it was very grippy lava rock! |
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| My guide from the local village. "Snap me" was a favorite phrase of his. So thats what I did. This is us from the top. |
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| At the top, it was very beautiful! |
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| More views from the top |
The next stage of the trip we traveled to Kamakwie. A nurse who we had met at the beginning of the year on the ship had been volunteering at the Wesleyan missionary hospital for 2 months. We decided it would be fun to go visit her. It is run by two missionary doctors, Tom and Karen Asher. They not only served as doctors, but educators as well. They held many classes for the local people as well as teaching the staff at the hospital.
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| The Poda Poda we rode in from Makeni to Kamakwie. All 4 of us sat in the back. The blue sacks on the bottom were filled with rice. |
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| They packed the poda quite well, thankfully there was a net holding everything in. Considering we had the belongings of 18+ people as well as whatever they were selling I think they did a good job of getting it all in. They even had a block of ice, which would explain our wet rears at the end of the trip |
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| Part way up we were stopped because this vehicle was unable to pass. It was 50 mile trip, and it took us 5 hours. Mainly because the road conditions, but also because we stopped for broken vehicles, to buy and sell food, and pick up suspected criminals. (They were handcuffed together and came with a police officer). |
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| The hospital in Kamakwie, beautiful grounds! |
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| The night we arrived we were able to observe an emergency c-section. Very exciting, it occurred shortly after we arrived, so we are still covered in dirt and sweat. |
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| The baby and mother were both healthy! |
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| Spent the afternoon walking around kamakwie, we found a couple of friends. |
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| The missionary couple that run the hospital, The Ashers with a missionary nurse Bethany and Melinda, our friend from the ship. |
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| After an 11 our drive from Kamakwie to Sussex beach near freetown, we were able to spend a couple of days relaxing on the beach. Fabulous! |
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| The end of our trip as we are coming up the gangway, back to the ship. |
