Clinic 3 in Gola and Getting a New Adopted Granddaughter

The day started off with like yesterday with a few people waiting for Debi outside the canteen a little after 7 AM.  She took care of everyone and we got medicine for each one.  After breakfast, Rebecca offered the devotion and then we packed up again planning to go to Gola in the morning and Bo in the afternoon.  However, flexibility is so important on this trip.  For example, we know that we are supposed to have power from 7-9 AM and then again from 7 PM-1 AM but some days that doesn’t happen.  Water should be available 24 hours each day but I got to take my first “bucket bath” on this evening.  Then, of course, we must not forget transportation. Most trips via the bus involve at least one stop for water to put in the radiator.  And then there are hikes to our clinics that are only a tenth of a mile, give or take 2 -3 miles.  Speaking of clinics, flexibility is imperative.  While all of them lack the creature comforts Americans are accustomed to, no two spaces are the same.  Each clinic begins with deciding how to work within the constraints.  However, I really love the challenge.  The only difficult thing for me is rushing to open because moms and children have been waiting so long.  In the end, God works it all out. Also, there are clinics that are expected to last a few hours but go longer because there are so many sick children and adults.

On this day, Debi had been asked to see the President of Njala to prescribe medicine to help him.  We all ended up going in and were there much longer than originally planned which meant we arrived late at Gola.  As before, the clinic was overflowing with babies, children, mothers, and grandmothers. We quickly set up the pharmacy and began measuring out medicines so we could get started.

The Chief welcomed us and the people were so kind and warm.  And the children…I cannot say enough about how special they are.   In addition to the children of Gola, mothers and grandmothers from the village of Mokaba walked their sick children almost 3 miles to be seen.  As we were about to get on the bus to leave after the 3-1/2 hr. clinic, I looked down and saw a young girl who obviously had a serious eye infection.  She had not been brought to the clinic but we were able to get her medicine before we departed.  About this same time, a father and a grandmother approached us with three sick children.  They had actually walked over two miles earlier in the day and returned home because they thought we were not coming. He got word that we were there so they walked back to the clinic. We treated his children before leaving.   It had been a good day thus far.  We treated about 130 children at this clinic and done what we could to help them.

Tom's Shoes really Do Make It to Africa & to Remote Villages

Our next stop was in Bo, the second largest town/city in Sierra Leone.  We picked up a few medicines from the pharmacy and got to see and play with the pharmacist’s beautiful, healthy, nine-month old girl names Amelia.  Next stop was a Catholic orphanage.  Even before exiting the bus, I met Doris, Sally, and Josephine.  Debbie Jelks had brought each child rosary beads.  We presented the director with two soccer balls. Tonya and Laura passed out beanie babies and toys that had been donated by good people in Paris.  We also passed out candy and sunglasses with UVA protection that were purchased with a $200 donation from a couple from Knoxville, Tennessee. We played with the children for a few minutes, showing them how to play the musical instruments and games they had been given.  Visiting and giving to this orphanage has become a tradition ever since one team “stumbled” upon it several years ago.  Fourteen-year-old Doris stayed close by my side during the time I was there.  I loved getting to talk to her.  She did not know how long she had lived at the orphanage but she told me that she liked it and did well in school.  She doesn’t know what she will do in the future or when she will have to leave the orphanage.  Before we left, she went to her room and got a photograph of herself in her school uniform.  On the back, she wrote “To my grandmother” and signed it.  She asked me to come back before I left but she accepted the fact that I would not be able to return. She did run beside the bus to open the gate for us and we held hands for a moment before saying farewell.  I wanted to bring her with me but, of course, I recognized that could not happen.  I said a little prayer hoping she will rise to be someone great, that her sweet little soul will be protected.  In just a few minutes, she touched my life. I will write her, hoping my letters reach her.

We returned to Bo and had a wonderful dinner at Doho’s.  I ate roasted goat for the first time and it was delicious.  I also tasted some of Tonya’s Keppe which is a spicy beef meatball.  I love being adventuresome and trying new foods.  I am glad that I liked both of them.

As we journeyed back to Njala, I gazed out of the window into the darkness—pitch black.  I could see absolutely nothing.  I know there were huts along the way and probably people sitting outside talking and closing out their day but I could see nothing.  We just traveled on past in the bus with the wind blowing on our faces.  I searched the skies for stars and the moon but the thick dust from the roads blocks out the starry skies that I am accustomed to seeing at home.  What a metaphor for how I have lived up until now—these people were invisible to me.  I wonder how many of the people in Sierra Leone have felt hopeless.  They know little about the outside world for they have never ventured past their village and maybe another one or two.   So much of their lives are spent just trying to survive.  They are such beautiful people; they deserve an easier life.  I am grateful that our team is here to “see” them and do what we can to help them.

We returned to the Njala and unloaded all the suitcases so Carol, Debbie J., & I could reorganize and restock them.  We are always in a rush to pack up and leave after a clinic concludes so everything often gets just thrown into different suitcases and boxes.  It took a few hours but tomorrow will be a good day. 

This was the night that we had no water so I got to take my first cold water, bucket bath.  Another adventure.  Finally, I am calling it a night.  The clock has already rolled over to the next day and the power is off so I must make my way to bed by flashlight.  Thanks be to God for a wonderful day and the opportunity to touch and help so many people.