Settling in to Salone

The Women of Hope International Administrative team, comprise of Tim and Kim Kargbo, their three children and myself (Kelsey) wearily arrived in Sierra Leone on the evening of March 5th. In spite of all of the preparation done for this four-month stint on both sides of the ocean, we quickly learned upon arrival that just one lesson God would have us learn so far is in patience and contentment.

As we checked into the New Harvest guesthouse in the capital city of Freetown, we discovered that we had been bumped from our 2 rented rooms.  They had one room, though, with one big bed that we could all share!  We thought maybe not, so Tim and Josiah went to Tim's brother's house to sleep.  We also discovered that our shipment of household supplies, sent out in late December, was yet to arrive. The shipment contained such things as sheets, towels, cooking utensils, a water filter, tools, the solar panels and other essential materials for home construction. In spite of the lack of materials, Tim and the eldest son, Josiah, left for Makeni early to start on the wiring and guesthouse preparation. Tim and his electrical expertise would only be with us for ten days before he was to return home to his job. In the meantime, Kim and I and the two other kids spent five more days in the city because the house wasn’t yet livable, and to purchase some additional food and living necessities. After doing as much preparation as we could, we left Freetown to join Tim and Josiah in making the best out of our new home.

The compound our staff on the ground had rented for us and for future short-term teams was a pleasant surprise. We had seen a few pictures of the outside of the guesthouse but were relieved to see the good condition of all the rooms and the convenience of having a small house in the front for our support staff while we’re here. We are fortunate to have the help of Rebecca Kamara, an old friend of Kim and the Kargbo family. Rebecca, her son Junior, and friend, Mallay, have truly been a gift in helping us create a home, as well as conduct the daily activities that are much more difficult without the comforts of America. Things like laundry and food preparation are made challenging with no refrigeration, running water or electricity. The many challenges in Sierra Leone require EVERYTHING be a team effort, providing a beautiful example of community in addition to the many growth opportunities for us very individualized Americans.

Rebecca doing our laundry

Living in Sierra Leone requires that some adjustments be made to the "norm."  For example, since we had no cups or other dishes, we had to be creative to get in our morning cup of coffee from Starbucks.  

 We cut off water bottles to make cups.  A little powdered milk and drinking cocoa later - and we had a steaming Mocha Latte - almost. 

Showers were also a little problem, given that we have no running water and the bathrooms weren't complete yet.  Tim built us a quaint little "washyard" outside from mats.  There is something rather refreshing about a bucket bath out under the stars in the night breeze though.

         Washyard from the outside                                                                      Washyard on the inside

Kim worked arduously in coordinating all of the projects happening at once in addition to taking care of the kids and conducting other WOHInt duties as Chair. I tried to fill in where I could and keep busy helping with errands and house projects. There continues to be a steady flow of handymen installing screens for the doors and windows, tiling bathrooms, wiring rooms and dropping off furniture. It is important that the guesthouse be fully functional and well equipped because our plan is to rent it out to other NGO’s and ministry teams in our absence to generate additional WOHInt funds.

Kelsey's bedroom 

The yet-unfinished kitchen

In between moving in and home improvements, Kim and I got to meet with our wonderful WOHInt staff and evaluate the work that has been done since we were here with the rest of the Board of Directors in October. It has been so encouraging meeting with the staff and having opportunity to see what He’s been doing through our local team, and yet we’ve only scratched the surface of the work He has for us to do!