Greetings from Sierra Leone.
I'm not sure if there will be pictures on this Blog Post, as the server is so slow... I can't imagine they will ever upload - but anything can happen, I guess.
We arrived in late on Tuesday night and the Ferry refused to go. It wanted to be a full capacity and though we were only a few cars short, it would not set sail. So we had to find an alternate way to Freetown. We tried to drive around but were interrupted so we ended up finding a place to stay for the night and making the trip to Freetown by Ferry the next day.
This is Africa (T. I.A.), things don't go when you expect and once on African soil you are on African time. It's a big lesson on patience. You don't get ready to go, you get ready to Wait! Waiting is a way of life.
We are happy to be back with our Sierra Leone Nazareth House Family and are thankful to see they are all in reasonably good health.
We are not pushing things, as they will get done as we get them done. There is so much to do and so much to interrupt us - We live in the moment.
James and Fr. Seraphim enjoyed some goatlip tea on the porch of St. Laurence House while Kadijah, Emily and I visited the market to stock up on food supply.
I had hoped to post more often this trip, but I'm not so sure this will happen. The server is so slow that it seems impossible. I will try to give brief text updates as I can, rather than full scale posts. This may be easier. Everything is harder for those who live in Africa. Grocery shopping in the hot sun takes all day, washing laundry by hand takes all morning, nothing is easy. You can't just say, "I'm going to run to store and grab what I need" Its an all day procedure. You have arrange transportation, fight the perpetual traffic jammed streets of Freetown, make sure that the people at the place you are going have showed up. It's not easy.
Today, the heat has cast a spell on us all. We all are very sluggish, falling asleep in various places throughout the house. Roo fell over asleep sitting up in a chair, Fr. Seraphim and Emily have retired to their respective rooms. Kadijah and I have taken over the living room couch and chairs. Both girls just came home from school and straight to bed. It is very hot and our energy has been zapped. When you must wait for everything to coordinate in order to do your work, and the heat is extreme, the waiting gives way to sleep.
We'll take this day in rest, and kick it in again tomorrow.
