Pam Parish

Journey to Sierra Leone: Day 3

Posted on 07 November 2008
Tags: Christianity, Inspiration

Monday arrived bright and blurry-eyed with the generator kicking on outside my window at 5:00 a.m. - giving me a little time to drift in and out of sleep until 5:45 when Bridget and I needed to get up and get ready for devotions. One good thing was that I didn’t have to take much time to consider my clothes, I had brought one standard type of attire, khakis, t-shirt and vest with pockets to hold my small notebook and camera lenses. After putting on my clothes and make-up (I’m sorry, I just couldn’t part with a little bit of make-up) it was time to begin devotions.

Our morning devotions were held in a central upstairs meeting room, where all of our bedrooms were (the guys stayed downstairs and the central room there was used for eating). Our time of devotion began with a few praise & worship songs, prayer and Darrell sharing an encouraging word on Faith. Then it was time for breakfast.

For our first Sierra Leone breakfast, we were served scrambled eggs, rolls and little “sausages” which were more like tiny hot dogs. I ate a little and drank some hot tea with milk powder. Not too bad, I thought, but I’m really glad I brought a box of instant oatmeal and several boxes of granola bars with me. It was nice gathering as a team around the breakfast tables to enjoy a few laughs and get to know one another.

After breakfast, I had my first opportunity to go outside on the deck to take in the view of Freetown in the daylight. Javouhey House sits on the very top of a hill overlooking Freetown, directly above the U.S. Embassy. From there, we were blessed with spectacular breezes off of the ocean and amazing views of the city. Freetown from this vantage point is completely gorgeous. I probably stood there for 10 minutes taking in the view and silently asking God how such tragedy could befall a place as beautiful and abundant looking as this; a question that I would find myself pondering on more than one occasion during the week to come.

In the picture below, the large with building with white fence is the U.S. Embassy.

It was time to load up the military vehicles and head through Freetown toward our first destination.

Traveling through Freetown on that first day, I was captivated by the crowds of people on the streets; women with children on their backs, people carrying everything you can imagine on their heads, children playing and vendors selling all sorts of wares at every point along the way. Along the way, I saw many families gathered around singe bowls of food, eating their morning meal together - the whole family would share the same bowl dipping in and eating directly from their hands. On a busy street in Freetown, I saw one mother giving her son his morning bath using a bucket of water right out beside the street - it was a little funny because the kid was not happy to be getting clean, however mom was completely oblivious to his objections.

Driving, or in our case riding, through Freetown is an experience all on its on because there are no obvious “street rules” people drive and walk wherever they find a free spot and weave in and out with less than organized chaos. Our team issued their fare share of gasps and groans as our drivers swerved around cars, carts, donkeys and children on our way through town. Later in the week, after one particularly harrowing two-hour journey through Freetown at night, I informed the soldier driving our jeep, much to his amusement, that the ride was better than any adventure movie I’d ever watched, I was literally gripping my seat the whole time. *whew*

As we traveled through Freetown, I was seized by thoughts of what I would experience when we arrived at our destination, Grafton: the location of Joshua International’s Grafton Medical Clinic & School. I found myself experiencing excitement that I would finally be able to go to the place that I had been praying for and learning about for so very long.

Grafton Village is a community with a population of 12,000. A place that the Sierra Leonean government used as a settlement site following the devastating civil war that tore apart the country, dividing the people into four distinct camps: The War-Wounded Camp, The Amputee Camp, The Polio Camp and the Internally Displaced People Camp. Of its 12,000 residents, 7,000 (58%) are school-aged children. Only 2,600 children (37%) of this number attend school due to the high cost associated with education. 90% of the children not attending school are involved in some form of child labor to assist in bringing income to their households. 85% of the children in Grafton Village were either child soldiers during the war or are born to young girls abducted during the war and forcibly raped and recruited as sex-slaves to rebel forces.

Sierra Leone is ranked as the second least livable country in the world with the highest maternal morbidity and infant mortality rates. 25% of all children born die before their fifth birthday from preventable diseases. 1 in 8 mothers die in childbirth due to lack of medical care.

As we turned off of the blacktop road onto a dirt one mired with ruts and rocks, I noticed the sign that read “Grafton Resettlement Project”. Along the road you could see daily life happening with people gathered outside of family tents, small mud homes or other dwellings. All around us were signs of both war and recovery with some buildings burned completely to the ground and others bearing both the blackened scars of fire and the new coats of brightly colored paint bordered by clothes lines, fire pits and other symbols of new life. A solemn mixture of tragedy and hope.

As we turned onto a really muddy and rocky uphill road, I learned that we were in the Polio Camp which is where the new Grafton Medical Clinic & School will be located. Driving up the road there were concrete homes and mud huts on both sides with men, women and children moving about, many using wheelchairs or crutches. As we topped the hill, the sign for the clinic and the brick building began to come into view.

My Embarrassing Moment(s)
As we exited the bus on the muddy hill, I had my first (yes, I said first) unfortunate accident… my foot hit a slippery rock and I fell getting extremely muddy and cutting my knee (which I would discover later and pay the consequences for). In my fall I dropped the camera, busting the motor on the lens, forcing me to have to manually focus the rest of the trip…. a skill I had to acquire as I went. I would fall again for the second and last time about 10 minutes later on a slope covered with loose rocks. Yeah, this trip is starting very gracefully for me. At this point, I’m being shadowed by a local pastor and one of the military guys to make sure I can stand on my own two feet for a while. *hmph*

The Grafton Medical Clinic & School
In partnership with Joan & Joshua International, our church took on an iCare (the overarching theme for all of our capital campaigns, outreach projects and missions) Project in February of this year to build a Medical Clinic & School in this area. The cost of the project is over $680,000 which the generous people of our church raised by August of this year. It’s so exciting to see this first hand!

The 20,000+ square feet of space will:

Educate more than 600 children in 14 classrooms - FREE OF CHARGE
Provide much need medical care to the entire community - FREE OF CHARGE
4 fully furnished residential units for full-time missionaries and office space for Joshua International

One of the biggest problems that I saw in my time in Sierra Leone is health care and education; neither of which is free and is often hard to come by for the majority of people living in extreme poverty. I’m so excited and honored to be a part of making such a big difference in the lives of those in Grafton. The building itself sits on top of a hill and can be seen from most of Grafton - it truly appears as a shining beacon of God’s mercy and hope in the midst of pain and devastation.

Right down the hill from the clinic in the Polio Camp is a small house where one of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting lives. She is known simply as Auntie Melrose - a victim of Polio herself, she cares for 18 polio orphans in the only polio orphanage in Grafton. Many of Auntie Melrose’s precious children lost their families during the war, one of the first two girls she took in was found still suckling at her dead mother’s breast. In addition to struggling with polio, a lot of them also battle secondary diseases such as epilepsy and other mental or physical handicaps. With so many children, sickness is common. However, adequate health care and money for food and medications is not readily available. Auntie Melrose has lost 5 children to death simply because she couldn’t afford the needed medication.

When our team arrived, we were able to interview Auntie Melrose and two of her children for the documentary that we are producing. We also captured them as they went about their daily chores. It’s amazing to see these handicapped children scrubbing floors, cooking and helping one another out - it’s their way of life, they don’t know any different and Auntie Melrose sets the bar high for them to ensure a successful life when they leave her tender care.

One of the precious children was very sick upon our arrival and Auntie Melrose had no medication for him. The doctors and nurses on our team examined him: his temperature was high, he was very lethargic and had diarrhea (a common cause of death in this poverty stricken area). We were able to provide the needed medicine and by the time our team left a few hours later, he was already showing signs of improvement.

My time spent in the presence of Auntie Melrose and her children will never be forgotten and has made a lasting impact on me. As we left the house, Auntie Melrose sang songs with the children and read aloud with them from Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want…” I was moved completely to tears and I’m so very thankful to God that he allowed me to witness the perseverance of the human spirit that He created within each of us and the beauty that He alone can bring to the darkest of places.

We left the Polio Camp and drove down another dirt road past the War-Wounded Camp to a field beside the Grafton Police Post which would be home to our team’s Medical Clinic and Jesus Bible Fun for Kids over the next four days. Our team has two primary missions during our time in Sierra Leone, to provide the free 4-day medical clinic & children’s outreach and to film the documentary. Tomorrow we would go our separate ways to begin accomplishing both during our short visit. Today, we were all together, many of us experiencing Grafton for the very first time.

This empty field beside the police post would be transformed in just 24 hours to a place of hope and happiness for a 4 day period.

As our team explored the location, we were greeted by school children who were so excited by our presence. I soon learned two key phrases that by week’s end I would respond to as instinctively as my own name:

“Abadu” (pronounced Abba Doo) which means “white” - they see so few white people that Craig, Susan, the other Pam and I became instant celebrities. Although, I did have at least three experiences with children who were terrified of me because they had never seen a white person. But for the most part as we drove or walked through areas we would hear, “Abadu! Abadu!” and would turn and wave. In response, we would recieve the blessing of bright beaming smiles and elation from the children simply because we paid attention to them. Craig called me Queen Elizabeth because I would ride down the road waving to all of the children - I couldn’t resist. I loved to see their smiles.
“Snap Me! Snap Me!” - these kids LOVED, LOVED, LOVED having their pictures made. Every where we went, we would hear this mantra.

As our team was sitting in the van preparing to leave for another location, we were greeted by many of the local children who shared with us their needs and asked for our names. I loved hearing them call out to me, “Auntie Pam! Auntie Pam!” - it was so sweet. And, they remembered my name from day to day. Precious beyond belief.

Our final location for the day was Joan’s Hebron House of Refuge the beginning stages of Joshua International’s goal for an orphanage. Currently, the home has two children, David & Abigail; both abandoned by their parents and destined for starvation and certain death without the aid of Joshua International. David has only been at Hebron for a few months and is still recovering from wounds and illness that nearly took his life. Through Joan’s ministry this precious child has a chance at life, love and health. The stories of both Abigail and David will be told in greater detail in the upcoming documentary. But in a few short words, I’ll say that I’m not only overly impressed with what Joan has been able to do in their lives, I’m enternally grateful to God for her ministry and the opportunity I had to see hope in action.

(January 2009 update: David, pictured above with Joan, passed away in December from unknown causes. Joan was able to be in Sierra Leone to give him a proper burial. Our entire team was heart-broken because we’d been forever changed by this precious child. But one day, we’ll see those sweet eyes again in heaven. Rest in Peace, Sweet Child.)

As we left our final location for the day, I knew instinctively that the rest of the week would hold amazing things both full of great sadness and eternal hope. My heart was at the same time heavy and happy for all I had witnessed and heard during the day.

The trip back to Javouhey House that evening was not a pleasant one for me. As I mentioned earlier, I would soon suffer the consequences of not treating my injured knee sooner. Unfortunately for me, bacteria entered my blood stream through the cut and I developed an intense case of traveler’s diarrhea. the journey back was over an hour of misery for me and after trying to act “tough” and deal with it (using Lamaze techniques I’d learned when pregnant) - I finally gave in and made my way back to the back of the van to beg help from Pam and some of our nurses. By the time I made it to the back, I was in sheer misery and must have looked it because everyone was concerned. Luckily, Pam had some medicine with her that helped to ease but not stop the sharp pains. When we arrived back to Javouhey house I spent the good part of the rest of night running back and forth to the bathroom. Soon, we realized that it wouldn’t be going away, so I started on Cipro (an antibiotic for stomach bugs) - I would take it the rest of the week. And, although I knew it was killing the good bacteria in my system as well as the bad, I was grateful for the relief it brought me within a very short period of time.

After I started feeling a little better, I headed downstairs for dinner and fellowship with my new friends and teammates. Dinner was certainly something that I had never imagined myself eating, Snapper with it’s skin and head still intact served with plantains and veggies. I did eat a bit of it and it was good, but my stomach wasn’t ready for a full plate. One of our teammates Debra knows how to eat it … she finished it off leaving only the head and the comb-looking skeleton of her fish. Craig quickly found the kid in himself and gave the rest of us side-splitting laughter in the process. Luckily, I had my camera with me and caught it on video…. see below…

(double-click the image to play the video)
(No graphic? You may need to download the Quicktime player.)

My plate: