I am going to be teaching on board Mercy Ship's Africa Mercy for a second school year. This is just my thoughts and feelings on what I see and experience.
ship
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Easter Weekend
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
well, why not really?
April, 13th 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
an afternoon out in freetown
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Screening Day.





This past weekend was a pretty ordinary one for around here lazy morning, going to the beach and a day of movies. At the end of last week I was feeling pretty sick and spent a lot of time in bed reading. It was kind of nice, I am feeling lots better but still a little congested. Friday night was pretty ordinary, dinner, babysat my favorites so Megan could play Frisbee a little Barbie Repunzel will lift anyone’s mood. Watched a movie with a friend and then some cards. Saturday I had breakfast and packed stuff for lunch, lunch is not served on weekends so that galley and dinning room teams can have time off as well. I read for a bit then ate lunch with my girls and got ready for the beach.
There were about 45 of us going to the beach. One lady had organized it all she had arranged the mini buses for us, and the food and drink. It was a no thinking day just show up and enjoy. But this is Africa, so as the sayings go TIA (this is Africa) or my new favorite WAWA ( West Africa Wins Again) . Only one bus was there, imagine the little miss sunshine bus where they have to push it to start, ya a little like that. Now cram in 15 of us and you have an idea of what it was like. A group of us crammed into the first one, and thought well here we go, but no instead we sit for 20 minutes in the port in the bus waiting for the other buses. We did finally start going and as this is Freetown we were able to experience traffic.The traffic here is like nothing I would have ever imagined. I don’t really think I can explain it but I will try. Imagine a one lane road with traffic going both ways. Now add in shops/shacks on both sides of the road with goods and people spilling out, then there are people selling things of the side of the road, not just every once in a while but the entire length of the road on both sides. There are no sidewalks instead there are large gutters that are about two feet wide and three feet deep full of junk. There are some boards over these or cement bricks that you can use to cross it, from the road to the shops. So now with all the people and sellers the road is the width of a one lane road, but with two ways of traffic going and motorbikes going where ever they please. If you stop long enough people will set up stalls under your vehicle for shade. That is what driving through the market it like now also add in the sounds of people yelling for you to buy there goods and saying Mercy Ship and coming up to the car so you can see their teeth cause they think you can help them right there. At one point we were going so slow a bunch of us bought apples from a man walking along the car. Thank goodness for an iPhone and a trivial pursuit app. That kept a few of us entertained for most of the way.
It is a strange feeling driving through the market while playing a game on a phone that costs the same as what people here get paid in a year. It drives in the fact that we are the lucky ones. To be well fed and cared for, to be safe and healthy and to have the world at our feet. To have so many options and possibilities in front of us it can be daunting. People here don’t have those choices their choice is to try and survive and keep those close to them well also. Driving you come across slums. Keep in mind that most of Freetown is bombed out buildings from the war that are being rebuilt slowly. But the slums are ditches under a bridge where all the garbage ends up. But people live there and you will always see kids picking through the trash to see what they can find. It makes you sad to see people living in such fifth and have no way to change their situation. It makes it feel so trivial and that all the aid in the world is a drop in the bucket for what is really needed to help people.
We did make it to the beach and it was beautiful. There was a large African hip hop dance party taking place at the restaurant next to us it was nice to have the music but they play the same 5 songs on loop but that was ok, because we learned those songs. The water was warm and clear but with a strong current. The beach dropped so fast and you had to get passed the break to float peacefully. We all enjoyed the water and played games just relaxing. The tide was high and we had to keep moving our chairs back, at one point a wave still came up under a chair and picked it up and washed out a bag, a pair of shoes and a water bottle. Well I got to pretend I was on Baywatch; I chased that bag down and got it out. But then I could not get out. Because of the drop of the beach I would try to swim in and get smashed to the ground, not only this but at this point my shorts where pulled down around my ankles and I did not want to stand up with out them on. I threw the bag to a friend and a man in the water helped me up and out. I was surprised how hard it was to get out. I had swam earlier and had been fine but at the break it was pretty bad. From being thrown around so much I had sand everywhere, I still have sand in my hair and I have washed it twice since then.
The evening was really nice, reading and talking with friends. The food was great and it was beautiful under the stars with so few lights on. The stars seemed so bright and the sky so large. I could not help but stare at them and think to myself how the hell I ended up here. Of all the places I could have ended up what caused it to be Sierra Leone with Mercy Ships. With the dance party next door we all felt the need to dance as well. A group of us girls went over to join, bad idea. We had a group of guys around us far to fast, we went back across the fence to our restaurant and they stayed and just watched, still creepy but less creepy. At one point a friend said we are dancing under the stars, how great. It was; we had wine and music and the waves crashing at our feet. It was one of those moments that you store away. That moment in time when you are young and free and can do what you please. That when you have a job at a desk 20 years from now you can look back on and think that was a damn good night!
Sunday was spent watching movies in the room with friends and reading in midships area. Midships is like the living room of the ship there are chairs and sofas, it is nice on Sunday morning cause it is so quite and it feels homey.
When I first started talking to a rep about coming here last August they asked for a two year commitment, I said I could not do it, that one year was all I could commit to. I had gone back and forth for a long while about staying another year, I talked to my principle about it and let her know that I wanted to but that I would need help financially. Well, they have had a donor from Australia commit to pay my crew fees for August to May of next year if I were to stay. I still have stuff I need to figure out about the time at home I would have. I do not want to spend time in the states in Texas to train how to live and work someplace where I have already lived and worked for ten months. Maybe that sounds selfish but I want to spend that time at home with my friends and family in the time I have to do it. If I commit for a second year there is a good chance I would not be home again till summer of 2012. I have so enjoyed my time here so far and would love to stay for longer but not at the expense of relationships at home which is my fear if I stay for longer with out time at home. I have already had relationships become week from my time here, maybe that is natural maybe they where not meant to last but it is still sad. It is sad to see friendships become week and break apart because I am away and it one of my worries for spending a second year here. If I stay I would probably be missing a wedding of a good friend from college who is one I feel distant from here. What would missing her wedding do to our friendship, certainty not strengthen it. I just worry that this is a big commitment that I am doing again and although I feel cetin I want to I do not always feel certain that I should. Sorry for the ramblings, love and miss you all. Ang