Pain

I came to school on Monday and was herding the students in for assembly that morning when one of my students came to me explaining that the parents of a boy in my class were attacked over the weekend.  Wondering if this was true, I pulled my student aside to ask him what happened over the weekend.  He began to explain to me that some thieves came into his house during the night and cut his father’s head and beat his mother.  I asked him if he saw everything that happened and immediately he started crying.  I too began to cry because you could see the pain and the fear in the child’s face.  My heart ached for him, for his family, for the images that are permanently imprinted in his mind.

I took my class to visit and pray for his family during the school day.  His father then explained to us that he had gone out to wet in the evening time and had left the door unlocked.  During this time, a thief came into the house and hid.  The father came back inside, locked the door, and went to sleep.  During this time the thief opened the door and let in several of his companions, bringing with them a cutlass (similar to a sword).  Hearing the noise, the father woke up and was attacked, the cutlass slicing a huge gash in the side of his head.  The wife was beat repeatedly in front of my student.  Unfortunately, there is no way to catch the thieves or to find out who was responsible.  There is not an affective system of justice or investigation when a crime is committed. 

This week, I have begun to start a business with a student from J.S.S II.   She lives a couple houses down from me so she has come over to the house several times.  When people come over, I like to make “white man groundnuts” which are basically like sugarcoated peanuts.  They have proved to be quite the hit.  We had the idea of trying to sell them because people like them so much.  We made our first batch on Sunday and were able to package 63 little bags of groundnuts. 

We sold each bag for 500 Leones.  From the first batch, we made 16,000 Leones profit which is about $4.00.  For Sierra Leone, this is extremely good profit.  Some people who sell will only make $1.00 or $2.00 profit in a day.  We have not decided what we want to do with the money yet but we are going to save it up until Easter and then decide.  I am hoping she will choose something wise to use the money for. 

My friend Pa Musa and his pet monkey

I read my students a book the other day during our read aloud called Animalia.  They write a sentence for each letter of the Alphabet in the book where every word begins with that letter.  I asked my students if they thought we could write a book like that.  Most of them said no but I said we are going to try.  We have now gone up to letter ‘F’ and they are quickly catching on to the concept and having a lot of fun with it.  They are learning to use their imagination because we are writing sentences like “An apple attacks an angel,” and “Elephant eggs eat eggplant.” 

My friends Grandfather with his friend who is the town Imam

This week, we took a trip to the local library to learn about what the library does for the community.  The library here has so many books and a wonderful children’s section that looks as though it is never used.  I spoke with the librarian and we are going to start a reading incentive program.  I have made tickets where each time my students go and read a book, the librarian will give them a ticket.  The librarian will then sign off on the ticket and the student will bring it to school.  Then when a student reaches a certain amount of tickets, they will get a reward.  For example, if they reach 10 tickets they will get to wear Africana to school one day or they get to ring the bell for the week.  I am hoping this will get the students really engaged in going to the Kabala library and putting it to good use.  Right now, my class along with class 4 are doing the program but if all goes well, maybe I will try to extend it to the whole school.  

Our beautiful dusty faces after a long motorbike trip to the village of Yarra

I had the opportunity last month to attend the women’s fellowship conference at the CRC Church in a village called Foria.  It was an incredible experience to be able to worship and learn about being a virtuous woman.  I think one conversation that was had repeatedly during the conference was what happens if your husband has more than one wife?  This is something very common here and it is very difficult for a woman to leave a situation like this because the husband is the one who provides financially.  If the woman were to leave, they would have nowhere to go and no money to provide for them.  The women came to the conclusion that it is important to continue to trust in God and to continue to respect and honor their husband.  They also came to the conclusion that if it is God's will for them to stay together or to separate then he will make a way for this.  He is the ultimate provider.  I think this was really cool for me to hear because through out actions we are able to show God’s love to those we are closest too.  

My students getting a tour of the Kabala Library

During this conference, I learned that they also have this loan program which has somewhat been falling apart.  About 9 years ago, they began by loaning each church 15,000 Leones and then the following year, they would pay 5,000 interest so they would come with 20,000.  The amount of money has kept increasing and now the loan has increased to over 100,000.  The problem now is that last year four churches did not come to the conference because they did not have the money to pay.  Now this last conference, 10 churches did not come because they could not pay for the loan.  There is no accountability so women are using the money to put food on their table instead of for business transactions.  We are looking at how we can restructure this loan pool to continue to provide income so the women’s conference can still happen, and to benefit the women in the church.   If you have any thoughts or ideas on micro-lending please let me know!  I would love any advice.  The women are thinking farming is the best option especially for the women in the villages.