6.9.16…This is the Stuff…

Today was a pretty busy day.  The clouds were very heavy and low all day, but we never got more than a light shower.  Some people we hired were busy working on projects around the orphanage that we weren't physically able to do ourselves.  Two men spent most of the day pressure washing the walls so that we can paint tomorrow.  Pressure washing here is much different than in the U.S.  There wasn’t a water source to hook into.  Instead, they were going outside of the center and filling buckets with water from a nearby stream, carrying them in, and filtering the water through a towel into a large trashcan with a hose stuck in it.  I’m not sure how many times this process had to be repeated, but they worked all day long.  While they were working on that, two other men were removing broken glass from all the windows and replacing those with the new pieces purchased yesterday.

Pressure washing the rest of the walls…

All the kids enjoyed watching while on a break from school…

Aside from that, we started out the day by piling into the poda to go to the market.  Going to the market is always an experience.  There were at least twelve shops set up selling basically the same things, with their owners calling you their friend and wanting you to buy from them.  I really didn't plan to buy anything, but did walk out with a pair of salad tongs.  We needed them and I figured maybe I’ll eat more salad if I can look forward to using my African salad tongs.

Piled into the poda…

After the market we took the Prep 6 kids out for ice cream at Gina’s in Freetown.  The Prep 6 kids passed a big test recently and are headed to class 7.  That was certainly cause for celebration!  The kiddos enjoyed cold milkshakes and time outside the center with their friends.

Milkshakes!

What can beat ice cream in Africa on a hot day?  Ice cream in Africa on a hot day, twice!  We also took our sponsored kids out for ice cream at the same place later this afternoon.  Memunatu went with the Prep 6 kids, but Kandeh, Zainab and Isha joined us for ice cream with twenty eight others.  Thinking back, that may be partly the reason our waitress left in a taxi before she finished getting all of our order out… We may have nearly ran Gina’s out of ice cream today.  I know for a fact we ate them out of Snickers.  Both trips were fun.  The kids always dress in their nicest clothes when they leave the center.  I think that is something that is very culturally important here.  People always seem to be dressed so nice.

All ready to go for our ice cream date…

 

This evening we had a basketball tournament against the older boys.  Somehow I became the ref.  I wasn't very good at it, but I did manage to call a few jump balls.  The little boys played at half time, although it looked more like tackle basketball.  I guess everyone has to start somewhere, right?  The older boys did a great job and even had matching uniforms.

Coach Laune ready to go…

Kandeh and his auntie…she is an amazing woman!

Aside from blowing exhaust out of my nose when we returned from the market, it was a great day.  I love how every trip has its own unique features.

Oh, and…

Kandeh wore this shirt tonight.  Not sure how a little boy nearly halfway across the world got an Ashland-Greenwood basketball t-shirt, but he did….and my heart melted a little.

{The Launes}

6.8.16...Project Day

Today was our designated project day at the center.  We bit off a little more than we could chew.  Our goal was to repair 60 or so broken windows, get the special needs kids out and moving and to scrape a fungus that grows during the raining season off the wall surrounding the compound, and possibly paint those walls.

In the end, we scraped the walls with wire brushes before deciding to hire someone to pressure wash the rest and we bought glass to repair all of the broken windows.  Our fingers are crossed that we will be able to paint tomorrow.

Scraping was hard, dirty work…

One of our projects today was to get the special needs kids out and moving.  They all need a lot of one on one attention, so it is hard for the aunties to get them out of the apartment very often.  I worked with Joshua and he was a ball of energy!  For the first time all week I finally hit 10,000 steps thanks to Joshua.  He walked (or should I say ran) around picking up leaves to place in everyone's hands.  He also had great aim when he would get ahold of a rock.  At that point it became more of a defensive game.

This evening we had more time to hang with the kids.  Zainab tried to teach me some Krio,  I felt like Joey on Friends when Phoebe tries to teach him French.  I found if I said something similar and matched my facial expressions to Zainab’s then she told me I was correct. :)  I think I’m going to try to Google some Krio phrases.  It would be much easier to hear and see it.

We ended the night with full group devotions.  I always love it when the entire staff and children come together to worship.  There are no words to describe its beauty.

Oh, and for dinner tonight I had French fries and ice cream.  All in all, it was a good day.

{The Launes}

6.7.16…Another Journey Begins…

After nearly two years away, we finally made it back on African soil and it feels oh so good…And hot, but that’s a given right?

Going into this trip I had a mixture of emotions.  I was mostly excited, but there is always that sense of fear and what ifs? that replay over and over in my mind.  Shortly after we decided to go the Brussels terrorist attack took place (we fly through Brussels) and I was nearly paralyzed with fear.  Without much thought, I had already decided I wasn’t going. 

Then Trent sent me this…

Security is mostly superstition.  It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.  Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Helen Keller, from The Open Door (1957)

I’m so thankful that Trent knows how to nudge me at just the right time to get a little bit outside of my comfort zone.  He knows my limits when I’ve set boundaries.  He’s never going to put me in harms way, but he’s also not going to just let me sit back and only do what is is my comfort zone.  It’s safe to say that because of this I’ve already experienced some great things in traveling  and in the great outdoors.

More than 200 pounds of luggage ready to go…

So many of my first impressions remain familiar.  The sound of horns honking, the scent so distinct that I cannot describe it, but it’s Africa and an abundantly friendly culture.

It’s a little different this time around because we are staying in a hotel instead of at the orphanage.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that we are in Africa.  We have air conditioning, cable TV and what I suspect is faster Wi-Fi than what Trent and I have at home.

The trip here was fairly uneventful (other than me getting sick from Chicago to Brussels and momentarily losing out group in the Brussels airport).  Three planes, a poda, speed boat, car ride and 24 hours later, we were officially in Freetown settling in at the hotel.  The best part was having an ocean view from our hotel room and the amazing sunset that first night.

After a good night’s sleep, we headed over to the center for the welcoming ceremony and to get reacquainted with the kids and staff.   As we walked up to the center the kids and staff lined the sides of the road serenading us with a welcome song.  It was so good to see all their faces and hear their sweet voices.  It was nice just spending the day with all the kids.  It was amazing the little details they remembered from our other trips.  Many of the kids remembered me as Auntie Megan even though it had been two years since they had seen me.

The welcoming ceremony…

It was so, so good to see these four again…

Today was our community outreach day.  We started by packing bags of rice to pass out.  Then we headed out into the nearby community with Pastor Daniel and some of the older kids from the center.  We stopped along the way and talked to a few families.  And we saw a blue goat, but that’s another story.

Then we walked on to a nearby school that the Raining Season helps to support.  We visited it on our last trip, too.  As we walked up it sounded like bees buzzing from all the noise the kids were making.  We were most likely a teacher’s nightmare as we entered.  The kids were so excited and any sense of organization went right out the window.  God bless those teachers!

Faith International School…

After lunch we got ready to head to Auntie Margaret’s orphanage in Grafton, a village just outside of Freetown.  This is another regular stop for teams when they travel.  After our first trip in 2013 Trent and I felt a strong connection to Auntie Margaret’s mission.  This orphanage was started after the war.  Auntie Margaret’s husband was killed in the war and after she fled to safety she was asked to take in these orphans of the war.  There are 20 children in all and they are mostly older now, as they’ve been with her for over fifteen years.  Many of them have even went on to college.

This is Lulu.  We met her on both of our previous trips to the village where Auntie Margaret’s orphanage is.  She is not an orphan, but we were just so happy to see that she is finally in school!

This is Lulu in 2014…

This is Auntie Margaret.  She is an amazing woman!

It was interesting sitting and talking with Osseh and Auntie Margaret.  Grafton was deeply affected by Ebola with more than 500 deaths.  By the grace of God, Auntie Margaret and her children escaped untouched. 

It is hard to picture the streets of Freetown that are so busy and bustling each day quiet and empty. Ebola tore through Sierra Leone in some of the worst ways imaginable. The economy has taken a hard hit, but the country continues to come back. For the people of Sierra Leone, life goes on. It has to. There is no other option. The only sign of Ebola today are signs that are painted and posted throughout the city.

After a long day in the community we finally headed back to the center to spend some time with the kids.  Kandeh and Zainab love to color so we brought along some coloring books for them to use.  At the end of playtime I went to nightly devotions with the middle girls.  It still stands to be one of my favorite things listening to them pray and sing.  It is so pure.  So genuine.  So real.

To end the evening we jumped in some cabs and headed to a restaurant at Lumley Beach for dinner.  Lumley Beach is an area that has seen a lot of development since the last time we were there.  The trash has been cleaned up, walkways created and quite a bit of development.  The restaurant was really nice and right on the ocean.  It was the perfect way to cap off our second day in Sierra Leone.    

 

{The Launes}

 

Thirty Something…

This has been the year that I have literally gotten to celebrate turning thirty one all month long!  Although I don’t really like to think of it as thirty one.  I think I will just tell people that I am thirty something when they ask how old I am.  Or twenty five.  One of the two…

I discovered that getting to celebrate all month long is the fun thing about birthdays and living far away.  The only fun thing about birthdays and living far away. I even got to make a trip home to Nebraska for some of the festivities.

The fun actually started at the end of September when Jamie came to visit and took me out for a birthday lunch and gave me an early birthday gift…

Then Trent planned a night out the Friday before my birthday.  We went to St. Louis with Will and Taylor and ate at PW Pizza followed by a lovely princess cake that Trent picked out himself.  All I know is that Ariel aside, that cake had lots of frosting and tasted good!

My fall flowers from Trent…

And my fun new shirt from Sara.  I didn’t get a collective picture of all the fun birthday surprises I got this year because it was so spread out over the month.

On October 21 I finally got to head to Nebraska for my first time since July.

And I got a selfie stick…thanks mom!  Among other lovely surprises.  :)

On Thursday morning Jamie, Audrey and I headed to the zoo.

Audrey was tough to keep up with because all she wanted to do was run, run, run…

On Friday night I got to get together with these girls.  It was fun catching up, if only for a little bit…

Most of my time was consumed by this little pip.  I even got to babysit her (with a little assistance from Paco) on Saturday while Jamie and Brian went to the Nebraska football game.

Go big red!  Although the Huskers didn’t fare so well.  Thankfully Greenville came out on top that weekend!

Country roads, take me home to the place I belong…

This little girl has big shoes to fill!

Where’s Audrey?

Peek-a-boo!

This became Audrey’s favorite game while I was visiting.  She would position herself behind the table and yell, “May May!”  until I would come over and play peek-a-boo with her under and over the table.  Silly girl…

This is her ornery smile…

All in all, it was a great month!  Thirty something won’t be so bad.  It was fun celebrating from beginning to end.  Until thirty two…

 

{The Launes}