The Arrival

        On paper we were looking at an 8 hour flight, 5 hour layover in Paris, another 8 hour flight to Sierra Leone, a 1 hour ferry ride, 1 night in Freetown, and a 5 hour ride to the CRC the next day. But in reality, it was just a little worse than that. I'm not too good with traveling so I probably complained a little too much. Our second flight was slightly delayed and when we landed in Sierra Leone, we landed into a little trouble.  Some big dude decided he was going to start yelling at Les (my team member) screaming "you got a problem!" "say something!", then say just kidding, then start yelling again, it was pretty weird.  He did push ups and kissed the ground when we got off the plane, lets just say he was pretty "pumped" to be back in his country.  Poor Les, as soon as we get in the airport, he borrows an Lungi airport employee's pen and looses it. This guy starts freaking out and cussing at Les saying he is disrespecting him causing a whole scene at the airport. People were surrounding us yelling, others were trying to grab our bags so they could get a tip to carry them 15 feet outside. It was a little scary for the beginning of the trip but the airport is just a chaotic place.  After all that mess, we were on our way to the ferry.  

     The ferry ride was only 1 hour so it wasn't bad except for their bathrooms...wow (possibly the worst smell known to man).  When we arrived in Freetown, we tried to get off the ferry but our car died.  I was a little worried considering we were driving the same bus for 5 hours the next day. Sure enough the next day 2 hours into our ride, the car died again. I was freaking out at this point thinking we're about to be stuck in the middle of nowhere in Africa. Not like we could call AAA. Fortunately they were able to take care of it pretty quickly.  2 hours later, we arrived at the CRC.  As soon as we walked in, there a ceremony prepared for our arrival.  The girls were dressed up in grass skirts, face and arms painted in white clay, guys playing the drums, it was amazing. I reunited with the kids I had shared such special memories with just two years ago. They all acted as if I had only been gone for a week, hugging me, holding my hand, asking me how I am while we listened to the beautiful voices of the girls and the incredible drum playing by the boys.

The Beginning of VBS

     After two days of traveling and one night at the CRC, today we began with vacation bible school (VBS). Deb, one of our team leaders set it up, and when I say she set it up, she really set it up. It was a caterpillar/butterfly themed VBS based after the movie "Hermie." We must of had every craft available for this theme. We watched the first 15 minutes of the movie and then spilt into four different stations: crafts, games, drama, and snacks. I was at crafts with Kathryn and Emily. We made caterpillar cocoons and butterfly fans that they could use at church. I forgot how into crafts little kids get, it was really fun. All the little ones screaming "Jeremy Jeremy help me!" "No help me, How I do this?" When the older reunified kids got to our station, we decided to make visor hats with them. I created a Chelsea (english soccer team) visor which fired them all up to make Manchester United hats.  They are all huge Manchester United fans, they all love "futbol" so much. After VBS, we played a soccer match, the teams were pretty even.  One team had Me, Les, and a CRC kid Mustapha who did most of the work.  The other team had Kelvin who is 16 and is all they needed. He is straight nasty, barefoot too. I don't think the ball has ever been stolen from this kids feet. I had to say first one to 10 wins cause they wouldn't stop and I was about to collapse. We lost 10-9. 

       After, Moinina, Lansana and Faidu wanted to show us their "stretching." They were walking with their knees while their legs were indian style, walking on their hands, doing backflips, it was ridiculous. I was letting Saffie take the pictures and videos, who is the cutest 8 year old in the entire world and quietly one of my favorite kids at the CRC. She doesn't talk much but she does nothing but giggle and enjoy your company. She was having a great time but we had to say bye for dinner.  We came back after for vespers, which is a nightly routine of praying, singing hymns, and dancing. They do it every night which makes me wonder how I only praise God like that once a week at most in church. How can I get tired sitting through a sermon or singing hymns while these kids are legitimately having a blast worshiping God every single night. I'm telling you, you learn alot from these kids.

The New Year

      December 31, 2011. Our second day of VBS. It was the same as usual, we watched another 15 mintues of Hermie, and divided into our stations.  When we first arrived at the CRC, we were told that everything the kids did during the ceremony, we would be performing for them on Saturday (today).  I was a little worried considering they were wearing grass skirts, painted in white clay and were dancing like crazy (definitely not me). But apparently the girls would be the ones in the grass skirts and we just had to play the drums.  Our beat was sub-par to say the least but the girls did a great job dancing.  Then of course...it was the guys turn to dance, I really did not want to join in but had no choice.  Turns out guys dancing in Africa isn't too embarrassing, its more like defensive basketball drills. We chopped our feet and occasionally threw our arms up haha, it was pretty weird.
        We had a long day ahead of us so we rested after. We sat and talked back at the MTC (where we stay. Right next to the CRC separated by a wall), it got pretty funny. I think we were all getting a little crazy at this point.  Our team was gelling really nicely. I have been on a couple mission teams but this one was really special and extremely fun. We left for New Years Eve service at 10. I didn't understand a word that was said the whole 2 hours we were there but the dancing and singing was nice. They speak Krio and English in Sierra Leone and at this point I couldn't tell if the sermon was in Krio or it was just the thick accent. We all danced up our offering and gave 6000 leone's each ($1.50). People really have fun dancing with the offerings even though most of them have so little. Really makes you think. Towards midnight, I was pretty exhausted. Memunatu and Faidu took turns sleeping on my lap during service. They were out cold. We celebrated at midnight and walked as a group back to the CRC to say goodnight.  We were pretty out of it, so the guys stayed up laughing in bed. It got kind of out of hand, the girls had to tell us to shut up like 3 times.  But really it was our team leader Tim that kept us going. Another team staying with us even slammed their door a couple times...oops.

The First Day of 2012

The day began with a trip to the Sunday service at Leader UMC.  I was nervous because last time around in 2009, the service ran extremely long. I'm talking like 4 hours and counting.  But when we got there, we started off singing and dancing and it was actually really fun, no lie. There was a blind man sitting in the front, and right when we were asked to greet those around us, one of our team members Kelly walked to the front to shake his hand. She was the only one I saw do it, and I thought that was a really touching moment that day. I was sitting next to Auntie Cecilia who is probably in her late twenties.  She is too cool, she guided me through the service pointing out pages and helping me understand what the pastor was saying. She's always making jokes and laughing, it was really funny dancing next to her when she would show me the moves and I would fail miserably. When the people in the church prayed, they all prayed out loud together so it was just a bunch of people talking.  It was really cool and amazing hearing how thankful everyone is just to get from 2011 to 2012. They are so thankful to God just to get by another year. The country's life expectancy is 45, and I'm just sitting there realizing almost everything I'm thankful are things these people don't even have, including my family, It really made me realize how blessed I am to have my parents, especially the ones I have.

       After church, we gathered with a bunch of the kids for a walk around Bo.  I grabbed Olson’s hand and we walked probably 5 miles through the town. She is too funny, she was eating like drink mix straight up, just the sugar.  She says its sweet and her favorite, she bought it for 1000 leones (0.50 cents). We saw the boys school, which has an alligator, caged up in the back of it.  Apparently when the boys get it trouble, they have to go in and clean the cage or feed the alligator. They say they feed it stray dogs sometimes but they get a kick out of lying sometimes so i'm still skeptical. Johanese says "no, fish", I believe that. One things for sure though, no chance I'd ever do that, I'd be the most behaved kid in that school for sure.  We saw another school some of the kids attend and a lot of the town. There were plenty of places selling all sorts of things. We probably were walking in a group of 30 so I am glad we had some of the older kids touring us around because we were getting some funny looks.  It is a real eye opener to take a walk around Bo and see the condition the majority of the city is living in everyday. But some of the kids expressed to me how they love Bo, they really are the hope and future of this city and their country.

The Projects and My Devotion

Monday, We got back to VBS. The drama station was getting more intense because the children would be performing a play the last night of our visit.  After lunch, we began our first project. We would be painting the children’s playground.  It was really rusty and gross looking. Some of us weren't very excited about it. We wanted to complete some of the more impactful projects. But we realized, this is what the kids play on everyday, its for the kids, and that is what it is all about. It got pretty messy especially since a lot of the kids jumped in to help. We had to use kerosene to get the paint off since it was oil based (pretty nasty stuff). The next day we completed the playground. We wrote CRC on all the seats and our names on the back side of the slide so the kids can remember us forever. We moved on to the other project which was to paint the outside bathrooms and showers.  This was a little more impactful because they were pretty nasty inside and out. It took a lot of nose covering and sometimes eye closing but we got it done. It looked so much better than it had before. I was proud because I don't want these kids using a bathroom or shower everyday that looks beat up and disgusting. The facilities manager was pretty pleased with me since I was the "project leader" and all haha.  He really enjoyed what we did with the playground though. 

       We ended the night with my devotion. I have the tendency to find God through these trips and let it slip away as the months pass.  Last time I came, Abdul made me promise me I would never forget his name.  So I had everyone talk about their favorite moments they would "never forget" hopefully keeping these memories and experiences with us for the rest of our lives. It got pretty emotional as we shared some of our favorite moments.  Mine was when Lansana sat me down to write a letter to our whole team. He's about 8 years old but has more love in him than you could imagine. “Thank you for visiting the CRC compound. I wish you many many Christmas. I wish to see you all again. I love you. I love you all. Goodbye to all. May God bless you all.” We also talked about Alieu who was struck on the head with a machete during the the civil war. Some of the rebels poured cocaine in the cut to see what would happen. He lost a lot as a result. It's hard to explain but it almost seems as if he has always been mentally challenged but you can tell he's still in there. He doesn't communicate back much but he does in a way because he is ALWAYS smiling and laughing. The kids say people in town beat him and steal his stuff sometimes because he doesn't know better. That being true, another one of my favorite moments was to watch how well the kids at the CRC treat him and cheer for him when he enters the CRC. He lives outside the compound but they let him enter during the day anyways, the kids all love him and greet him with high fives, it's really touching to witness. Everyone of these kids has a story behind them growing up in a war torn country. I won't ever know them all, but I think about they way they still love everyday and pray, and how I can apply half of that to my own life back home.

The Last Night

Although I couldn't blog about every single day, this day was easily the most special. It was last day of VBS and the last day at the CRC. For VBS, we just practiced the play we were getting ready to perform later that night.  The kids really would not listen and I was beginning to become worried this play wouldn't turn out too well for those coming to watch. After practice, I played soccer with Idrissa and Alusine.  Idrissa was goalie, me and Alusine played one on one.  I attempted to play in sperrys while he played barefoot and he still beat me 3 to 1 (I guess I'm just trash because he's like 13).  I was the one who ended up with more cuts on my foot, I don’t understand how they play with sandals and barefeet.  We hung around the kids as much as we could until it was time for the play and last night activities at eight.  I honestly thought the kids were too young, there was too many of them, and they had too many lines. But somehow they were literally amazing.  Nobody messed up and it looked like a real school play.  They exited singing “Marching in the Light of God.” They sing half the song in English and half in Zulu "Siya-Hamba Ekukhayeni Kwenkos." Whenever they sing the Siyahamba part, It's seriously the most beautiful sound I've ever heard.
        Then the goodbyes began.  Somehow I didn’t cry but we probably hugged everyone 100 times. Saffie is just 8 years old and asked me if I was going to cry laughing almost expecting it. She got a little teary eyed towards the end but I think the kids are just used to people coming and going although its harder for some of them. Moinina is probably my favorite kid who I could write an entire blog about. He really does feel like a little brother to me even though I've only spent two trips with him. You could tell he didn't like the goodbyes, he wasn't saying much, he was just standing still. We have a special handshake where we pound and then explode our hands. We did it one more time but most certainly not the last. The CRC takes incredible care of the kids. They're the fortunate ones who are guaranteed the shelter, education, and food. The older ones is what gets me though, saying goodbye to Johanese who was leaving the CRC, to be reunified with a foster family right after we left was the hardest. He's showed no emotion the whole trip, he was a tough kid. But tonight he broke down, I honestly couldn't look him in the eye as I said goodbye, It was too hard. I told him when he makes it to the pros in futbol, he better hook me up with some free tickets and take care of me. The older ones like him, I'm probably praying for the hardest, they're entering the real world where most people in their country struggle to survive. I have faith in the CRC kids though, they're proud to be from Sierra Leone and can seriously do great things for their country. Some people worry about "Brain Drain" in Africa, where people with real education and skill sets have goals to one day leave and take their talents elsewhere. I'm not worried about that here at the Child Rescue Centre. Mohamed Nabieu told me "I'm studying environmental science and agriculture because you know Sierra Leone, this country needs a lot of development." We asked Abdulai how's the university, how are your friends? He replied "My books are my friends."  They're staying in their beloved country. I really do hate saying goodbye to the kids after becoming so close with all of them.  I want to adopt them all as brothers and sisters and take them with me or mostly really just stay and work at the orphanage to be honest.

The Beach before home

        Today was a sad day.  We had to leave Bo, we ate breakfast and packed up the car. The kids came over to the MTC one more time to say goodbye and we headed to Freetown. After an easy 5 hour ride, we checked in our hotel and were off to the beach.  I wasn’t very excited but when we got there, it ended up being so cool.  Palm trees, incredible water, and exotic wooden chairs at the top of the sand.  Besides the trash, it was unbelievable, lol. But really, between the trees and just the beautiful views of the Freetown mountains, I wanted to just stay put and buy a house there. Most of us got in the water and I am so glad we did.  It was so nice, we stayed in for about an hour until a couple of us starting feeling some sketchy stuff swimming around us and immediately got out haha. We were probably just overreacting because my main mans Aruna assured me no sharks and probably not jellyfish at this time of year. We headed back to the hotel and most of us were real exhausted.  We hung out in our room and played mafia until we passed out around midnight. 

        

        Before heading to the Lungi Airport, we went shopping at the market. I got two bags for my sisters, and two wooden Sierra Leone decorations for the family. Bargaining was really fun, I got most of my prices down really low and spent about $20 (80,000 leones). This time, we took the water taxi instead of the Ferry to get to the airport, which was a phenomenal decision.  We basically had a long speed boat to ourselves that got us to the airport in half the time and double the luxury the Ferry would have.  We hung out in the airport for about five hours playing mafia, eating, and sleeping and took our 2 hour flight to Ghana.

       At the Ghana airport, we barely made our flight to Atlanta. Ghana is surprisingly pretty nice, we were guided through a very complex route and cut everyone to the immigration line just to make our flight on time (pretty stressful stuff).  The flight was 13 hours and usually I’d assume I would lose my mind but it went by extremely fast. Before I knew it, we were landing in ATL and immediately got on our flight home to Dulles. It felt great to be home.  As I logged on my computer Johanese Bans messaged me on Facebook “So how is your trip, I hope it went nice”, “ I want you to know I was happy to see you when you were here, I MISS YOU SO MUCH, I wont forget the time we had together”. 

Shoutout to my penpal Abu Bakarr if you get to read this!