One Week in Sierra Leone

One Week in Sierra Leone!

One week ago Lori, Patty, Kenyan, Ana Marie and I arrived in Lungi, Sierra Leone. We met up in Brussels, then flew on Brussells Airlines to Lungi, a peninsula near Freetown where the airport is. We met up with Maxwell, Daniel, Titus and Joseph all traveling from other parts of Africa. After dinner at Gregory’s house and a night at the guest house, we set off for Bo the next day.

Travel to Bo involved 2 jeeps and 1 taxi to carry all of us and our things. We took the Ferry from Lungi to Freetown. Enroute to Bo, the one jeep had two breakdowns. Each time, we were at a village. At each village Gregory spoke to the elder and found out of a need. At the first village, Gregory talked to them about building a nursery school if they donated the land. We handed out candy and cookies to the children. At the second village they need a cover for the well. Time will see how God will use these Breakdowns to bring his word to the villages.

In Bo, we are staying at the Sahara Hotel. Gregory has us there because the water and electric are more consistent. When the government electric is off, then the hotel has a generator start. So far we’ve had some rain each day and as the rain comes the electric goes off. So at some point each day we’ve been without. Note: always carry your flashlight with you!

We have completed the first week of training for the International Primer Construction Institute. We have a large, airy room at the Catholic Centre. The LCD projector doesn’t like the power, so we’ve gone back to the basics: chalk and chalkboard.

We have 13 participants (9 from Sierra Leone, and 4 from other countries). During the first week, myself, Lori, Ana Marie, and Daniel have been teaching the basics of primer construction and desktop publishing. Kenyan has been documenting the class with his with video and camera. This is the first time for Patty, Lori and Ana Marie to be in Africa.

We travel to and from the Catholic Centre by motorbike. For 1000 Leones (about 25 cents) we can go just about anywhere in town!

Monday we begin the practical section of the training. We begin development of the 82 lesson literacy materials for the Mende and Themne languages. The writing teams have been part of the training this week.

Internet is spotty and slow, even at the Internet Café where they have Wi-Fi. So, hopefully we can update again next week. Please keep praying for us, our health (we tend to wilt a bit in the heat, temps about 93 in the shade with humidex of about 300). Pray for the trainees as they learn, and prepare the primers. Pray for good contacts with local churches and national organizations who can help implement the Sierra Leone Literacy Vision – from 39% to 70% literacy by 2015.