This follow up blog has been haunting me. I’ve thought about
it almost daily. Maybe not the blog as much as just thinking about Sierra Leone
and the people who we shared life with for three months. How do I summarize
into what can be read in five minutes an experience that changed my life? How
can I captivate you with what has captivated my heart, my thoughts?
Since being back, most people have asked:
“Hey! How was your vacation
in Africa? You look so tan!”
Legitimate
question. True observation.
(Haha! Anyone would
look tan when compared to what winter does to the skin of Oregonians).
My
mind races…what to say…what to say… Well,
first, every time, I want to clarify that it was not a vacation, and we
actually worked full time hours (darn my pride). But, my serious side always
kicks in and I
want to share about what really mattered.
Then, I ask myself, “Self? Do I tell them about:
- The incredible people we met and worked alongside?
- Do I tell them the ridiculous, hilarious, and miraculous (medical) clinic stories?
- Should I tell them about the work of Children of the Nations, in particular, one of the children’s stories? Each with their own account of being saved from malnutrition and homelessness and are now thriving, healthy, and learning?
- Maybe I should share about my own personal growth, and how Tyler and I consider our marriage better than ever because of what we experienced together?
- Where do I even begin about the culture except to say remove all you know from living in America and the ways you’re used to doing things….lets just start from scratch on how you approach life…
- What can I communicate about my faith? About Jesus?...”
And as my mind searches for words to describe the beauty of
the last three months, the time has passed, the person gets called away (phone
rings-I mean, texts, call light goes off at work…) and I just tell them “it was
amazing.” And, it was amazing. But it was so much more.
The things that didn’t
matter:
·
Bathing daily with buckets of cold water
(actually refreshing when you go to bed and it’s still 80 degrees).
·
Eating way more spam, white bread with skippy
peanut butter and nutella than I thought possible (you all know my Cardiac
Nurse heart would not recommend this diet).
·
The diarrhea…..oh the diarrhea (blame the doxycycline).
·
Having electricity for 3 hours a day only
(generator)-or our longest stent without any
electricity at all I think was about 1 to 2 weeks (can’t remember exactly).
·
Rotation of 6 shirts or tank tops with my array
of 7 skirts. That’s it. (turns out one actually can live quit well with very
limited clothing options).
·
Sweating ALL THE TIME. NO AC.
·
Walking everywhere you go.
As I write this blog, I think about you. I pray for you. What
do I want you to remember from this blog? It isn’t me. Not even my super hot,
intelligent, funny, and awesome husband Tyler. The two main things I want you to remember are:
1. Sierra Leone. It’s
a country in mid-west Africa. It is beautiful. It is real. People are there
right now, living their life. They’re happy. But, their lives are hard. Some
problems we saw people face daily:
·
No easy access to clean water.
·
Malaria
·
Hunger and malnutrition.
·
Need for greater medical care and opportunities
for people to get an education.
2. Children of the Nations.
A non-profit, Christian organization. (www.cotni.org)
Currently working to address the hardships that 3rd world Sierra
Leone faces. What has COTN done? I will list a
few things:
·
There is a well on the property (where
the 100 orphans live, along with Sierra Leonean staff, and staff like us) with
clean water.
·
COTN
has built a school that serves the 100 kids on the property as well as the
hundreds of kids that come from the surrounding villages (yep. Villages with no
clean water. They do live in huts. No electricity). The Sierra Leoneans in that region of
the country now have access to an education. *Of note, all the kids that come to the school get a
nutrient dense meal daily with the clean water.
·
COTN has built a medical clinic (on
the same property as the school and the homes of the 100 kids and staff. This
is where we worked). ALL people can come to the clinic and get
treatment for their illnesses.
3. (Oopsy. I wanted to add one more thing). Jesus.
I know that not everyone believes in God. It’s cool, I get it. This blog
is not my platform for evangelism. But I will tell you, I believe in Jesus, and
that He is God. I believe His love was and is the driving force for the incredible
work being done presently to transform the lives in Sierra Leone. There are people sacrificing everything to make sure these people in
Sierra Leone have roofs over their head, access to clean water, education, and
medical care, and I believe it’s because their lives were radically touched
first by the incredible love of God (which to me is incomparable
to any love I’ve known).
In Summary, Tyler and I: Worked
in the clinic. We gathered hundreds of pages of data/observations/records that
will help serve COTN to write a guideline book for the clinic to enable the
Sierra Leonean nurses to deliver the best medical care possible (evidenced based
treatments). We did wound care, community health surveys, and more. We taught
in the school. Art club. Soccer games. Led Bible Studies. Lots of hanging out
with kids. Lots of straight up hanging out with peeps.
PERSPECTIVE. I’d
say I gained some. What matters in life? Do you think about that? Tyler says I
am too serious, but, I think about it all the time. If I die today, what is my
legacy? I’m pretty sure if I died today you won’t remember that I ate organic,
you don’t really care. You wouldn’t remember that my apartment had vintage
decor. You won’t remember that I wore pretty red lipstick to that wedding (not gonna lie, I’m getting old-I’m starting to like
lipstick!! Crazy. Never thought that day would come). You might remember that I was a nurse. You would
definitely remember Ava, my dog---hands down. She rocks.
Well,
if I could pick- I’d want you to remember what kind of person I was. Sierra Leone has left me with a hunger for investing my time
into what really matters. I want
my personhood to scream: Love. Honesty. Loyalty. Compassion. Mercy. Justice.
Jesus (whether you believe he was God or not, you have to admit-he was all
about social justice and compassion). I want my husband to have the best
life possible. I want my family to feel cared about. I want to bless my
friends. I want to be that co-worker that makes your day better, not worse. And
so every day, I want to have PERSPECTIVE. I’m not saying eating organic is bad
(I do it). I’m not saying decorating your home is bad (I do it). What I’m
saying is, each morning I want to wake up and have my day be grounded on what
matters: People. Love. Relationships. Faith. Boy, do I have a lot of room for
growth in all of this. I’m flawed, a work in progress.
As
always, this blog was more than what you bargained for. Thanks for reading it.
If
you want to hear Sierra Leone stories, hit Tyler and I up. We love talking
about it.
Will
we go back? As the answer was phrased in Sierra Leone:
“God
in power, Yes.”
-Here is a link to a video our friend made (we lived in
Sierra Leone with her). She was a teacher, and you can see that focus in the
video. But, it really captures a lot of our day to day life. Check it out!
Check this out: Azonto.The song is ridiculous. BUT-we
heard it EVERY SINGLE DAY in Banta-it was the hit song while we were there. Actually, to say it was the hit is an
understatement.
Fatima, from Monekowee villlage. Tyler and I were involved in a project that collaborated with COTN staff to get her these crutches!
From left to right: Aunty Fatmata, Aunty Florence, Stud, Rock star, Mama Jombla
**The Sierra Leonean nurses we partnered with.
Kids at the school receiving a shoe donation
Left to right: Mark, Sarah, Muscles, Babe, Dave
Dear friends we worked with that aren't pictured: John and Carrie
Sunrise over the hut where all our food was cooked.
Construction crew friends and their mode of transportation.
Aunty Christiana preparing a meal for her daughter.
Theresa, Alice, Aunty Francess (who cooked for us! She's the best), Ngardy
Sunset.
Love.
i dig this blog post. well done.
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