Women of Hope Moves Forward

While our first month or so here in Sierra Leone was a lot of re-evaluating and preparation for getting the program on its feet, this past month has been very busy and full.  We have been able to get the Women of Hope office up and open for business.

75 Teko Rd, Makeni

We also interviewed many candidates for the staffing positions we needed and hired 3 additional office staff and 2 full-time guesthouse staff.  

The office staff - Hannah, Zainab, "Aminata Alex," Adama and Ruth

Ruth and Hannah are our Field Officers.  They will be having the most direct contact with the women in our program and will be working out in the field in the women's homes and doing training.  Adama is our Logistics Coordinator.  She will coordinate all of the events and activities that we organize for the women, as well as handle logistical arrangements for training events and so forth.  Zainab is the secretary and receptionist and will handle much of the office work.  "Aminata Alex" is our driver and office assistant and has officially dubbed himself a "sister" to blend in better with the rest of the staff.  It takes quite a man to work in an office with all women, and Alex takes it all in stride with a smile.  :-)  

We did have a set-back when the Country Director that we hired discovered on the day before she was to start that she would not be able to take the job.  It threw our first week of training and orientation, and gave us a lot to pray about, but we are taking additional applications now for more interviews - and we trust that God has a plan in all of this.  With our time growing shorter to train and invest in the woman who will hold this critical position in the program, we ask for your fervent prayers as well, as we seek God's plan for this role.  

The key strategy that we will employ to minister to and empower the women in the program is the Community Health Evangelism model, a grass-roots, holistic development model that trains women in the community to go out and train other women in spiritual concepts, health promotion and disease prevention and other community development concepts. This past week we had the first Training of Trainers (TOT) for the CHE strategy, led by Solomon Van Kanei, the consultant who has been working in CHE for the past 20 years.  

Learning the concepts

Adama, our Logistics Coordinator, takes notes during the training on her Braille frame.  Having a woman with a disability on staff has been educational and enlightening for everyone and a good forum for discussions on the issues faced by women with disabilities.  

The whole CHE training team

A Little R&R

In all honesty, working with the program has been a little tough these days and we were starting to feel a little tired.  We decided that a day away from town for some rest and relaxation was definitely in order.  We've been plagued with weariness, sickness and not a small amount of discouragement, even though there are MANY positive things happening as well.  So, we decided that a day at the beach might be the ticket.  We left early in the morning on Mother's Day and headed toward Freetown.  Two and a half hours later, after a great sermon and some worship music in the air-conditioned van, we arrived at Kent Beach.

We had a great time swimming and playing soccer on the beach.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  The water temperature was superb - warm, yet refreshing.  The scenery was gorgeous.  The best part was, we had the entire beach to ourselves for the morning. 

As a Mother's Day treat, we decided to have dinner on the beach, prepared by the people in the nearby village.  There was fresh grilled fish, fresh caught lobster, African-style fried rice and sweet potato chips with ice cold drinks.  These were no grilled lobster tails, however.  This was the whole entire lobster, sitting there looking like it was about to attack! 

Attack of the Killer Lobsters!

By the time we finished dinner, the beach had been invaded by a party of about 150 people complete with generator, giant speakers and a sound system.  We decided it was time for Part 2 of our day of fun and relaxation.  We boarded a tiny ship called the SS Minnow and set out for a 3 hour tour.  (just kidding!)  Here was our boat...

And it was really just a 30 minute ride out to sea to Banana Island, a small banana-shaped island (go figure!) off the coast.  

The island was a former slave holding area during the days of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and there are still vestiges of those times on the island; cannons where the look-out fortress was, 300 year old well dug by slaves (still in use today!), etc.  There were also quaint villages with old colonial-style homes and churches.  We landed at a secluded lagoon and swam for a while and then hiked across the island through the jungle to rejoin our boat. 

 Hiking through the jungle

 

300 year old well dug by slaves held on the island

Old Anglican church recently refurbished - with original bell hanging in foreground

 

Boys sitting on cannons pointing out to sea.  Huge termite home next to them on right.

After we hiked back across the island, we got back on our "little ship" and headed back to the mainland.  Storm clouds were building on the horizon and the sun was beginning to sink into the sea. 

We were given buckets of water to wash off the salt and sand and then headed back upcountry.  Night falls quickly on the equator and it was soon dark.  Shortly after that, we were caught in a monsoon-like rain storm which made driving very difficult, but Kelsey weathered the storm and we all got home exhausted by refreshed later that night.  It was a practically perfect day!

Everyday Life

So much has happened since our last entry, and we do apologize for the length of time between blogs, but we've been a little tied up.  We'll try to fill you in on some of the things that are just a part of our routine here in Makeni, Sierra Leone. 

The first good thing that happened was that our shipment arrived with everything intact and safe and sound.  Well, we lost one plate, which broke during shipment, but that was it.  Everything arrived one night at about 10:00 pm and took another good hour to unload from the overloaded, broken down van that it came up to Makeni on.  As soon as the vehicle left, everyone broke out in song and dance.

The dance of Joy

We've had quite a few birthday celebrations since we got here.  Josiah's 15th birthday was March 25th.  Our stuff hadn't arrived yet, so it was a little tricky.  We went to the one and only tiny grocery store in town and got popscicles to eat and had roasted chicken and beef sticks and french fries for supper.  

Then Junior, one of our staff guys, had his 25th birthday on April 9th.  Junior has had pizza twice in his life, and it is his favorite food.  So we had a surprise party for him with homemade pizza and brownies.  He was very surprised! 

Rebecca, our cook, housekeeper and general all-around helper - and Junior's mom - had her 50th birthday on April 21st.  So we had a lot of parties.  For Rebecca's birthday, Kelsey and Kim drove up from Freetown that afternoon with take-out pizza from a restaurant in Freetown and ice cream.  Keeping the ice cream frozen on the 3 hour 100 degree drive was tricky, but we actually did it!  The pizza wasn't exactly warm, but we warmed it up in the oven.  

Getting water into our 1500 liter tank (you can figure out how much that is exactly) is not as easy as it might sound.  We have to beg and plead with whatever water tanker we can find available to come and pump water up into our tank, so that we have running water in the house.  Usually the city water bowser comes to our rescue (for a small fee and some Advil), but one time we had the city fire truck come and help us out.  One tank lasts us for about 4 days, so we're asking for help often, and very often, and much of the time, we just manage with buckets in our bathrooms.  

The city fire truck - the tank is up behind the mango tree

Getting a vehicle for Women of Hope that actually worked was a trick.  The first minivan lasted less than 24 hours and then the engine seized.  We were attempting to have an outing to a waterfall about an hour from us.  The outing didn't go all that well.  The waterfall and pool were completely dried up and on our way home, our van died.  We had to send Josiah into Makeni on a passing motorbike to get some help.  He came back with a mechanic who assured us that indeed the engine was gone.  A passing broken down pick-up truck, who happened to be friends with the mechanic, promised to come back after he took his passengers to town.  He needed Le 30,000 for some fuel and left us his son as collateral.  After a couple hours of wondering if we had just purchased a little boy for $7, he finally came back with a rope and a bar.  They rigged us up behind the pick-up and dragged us at 60 mph down the road dodging holes and people.  Mind you, with a dead car, the power steering and power brakes don't work very well, and this guy had no brake lights.  To avoid crashing into his rear end, which was about 24 inches in front of us, and crushing his apprentice's foot, we had to anticipate his every thought at lightning speed and do exactly what he did.  It was sort of like a combination of a roller coaster and a crack-the-whip game - only with high stakes!  We were VERY glad to get back to town.

The tow truck - objects in this picture are closer than they look!

We traded that van in with the dealer for another one, but it was a 2006 computerized, lots of whistles and bells Buick - with NO spare parts in the country and a glowing "check engine" light.  We decided against that one and sent it back.  Finally we ended up with another Mazda MVP that seems to be working well.  We took it to Freetown, using a temporary dealer license plate, in order to get a plate for it.  Well, that wasn't the greatest idea.  We were arrested 3 times in 2 hours!  Who knew there were so many rules associated with having a "G-plate" on your car!  We never ended up in jail, for which we were thankful, but we spent a lot of time in police stations explaining ourselves.  With the license plate finally attached and the logo painted on the side, it is now officially a Women of Hope NGO vehicle. 

Hand-painted with care!

We were recently given a goat as a gift.  He's kind of cute, but we were sure to inform the kids very quickly that he was not a pet, he was dinner!  Jeremiah dubbed him "Sammy, the Dinner Goat."  He needed some fattening up before we serve him up though, so we're keeping him around for a while.  He has managed to eat every bush that we had on our compound and most of the flowers and all the lower leaves on the trees.

Sammy, the Dinner Goat - with Tiana and Kelsey

Many (well, ok, most) things are done a bit differently here than they are at home.  It does take time to get used to things that are different, but we're finally settling in.  Here's Kelsey and Kim taking down the laundry...

Taking care of business is done a little differently as well. We went down to the market to get our passport pictures taken for passport renewals for the kids and our residential permits (we forgot to ask for permission to reside here... oops!). The gentlemen set up shop right on the porch, and there was an instant photo studio.

When we want roasted peanuts (groundnuts here) for a snack, we don't go to WalMart to buy them.  Rebecca goes to the market and makes them - like this, while talking on the phone.  :-)

With all that had happened prior to and immediately following our arrival, it was sort of like starting Women of Hope over, but with some prep work already done.  So, we've had a lot of work to do to get ready to get our staffing completed and our office ready to operate effectively.  We've done a lot of administrative work - writing policies and procedures, writing an employee manual, interviewing and hiring staff, ordering furniture, attending meetings, etc.  

Don't you like our purple living room furniture??

We were able to attend our second general meeting of the women with disabilities since we got here.  The meeting was not quite as well attended as the last one, but that was because one of our Advisory Board members, and a leader in the blind community, had died just the night before the meeting.  We still had over 120 women in attendance, and many of them still had to be carried into and out of the church.

We attended the funeral for SAS Kamara later that same day.  He will be sorely missed by the community, the secondary school he taught at, and our board.  

It's not all work though.  We have some fun too.  Kelsey is well loved by the kids, and spends more than a little bit of her time just like this - being loved to death!

Thank you for all your prayers!  Don't quit.  We still need them!  We miss our dear friends and family back home! Thank you for helping us bring transformation to these wonderful women!

New Beginnings

OK - so blogging isn't our forte, as evidenced in the last post. We're better at program development than computer technology. Good thing we work in Africa and not at Microsoft or something! We'll try to improve with time.

In spite of a lot of logistics still needing to be completed (still no running water, furniture not all done yet, plumbing issues, water issues, etc) we've had some neat opportunities to fellowship with and minister to our women. The first week we were here we took a suitcase full of Braille books to the Panlap School for the Blind. These books were all donated by ministries to the Blind in the States. The women who work and teach at the school were so appreciative of the opportunity to read Christian books and devotionals in Braille. Some wonderful books were donated including a full set of the Beginner's Bible for children (the original book is about 1 1/2 inches thick - the Braille version is 9 two inch volumes!), a couple of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, a couple of books by Billy Graham and Joni Eareckson Tada, some devotionals and many others. As we distributed the books, the silence increased as each woman took a book and began to read. The silence was only punctuated by their comments - "Oh, listen to what this says!" "I get that one when you are finished." "I'm so happy to read books about God and His Word."

The meetings with our staff helped us to get a better understanding of the issues that need to be addressed and where we need to focus our attentions.  One difficulty that we faced was having our Program Manager resign one week after we arrived.  It had become evident to all that her giftings and skills were not being best utilized in this program and she felt that she needed to follow the Lord's call into full-time youth and music ministry.  We released her with our blessing to do what He has called her to do.  As we evaluated the structure of the program, we realize that we have a critical need for a Director, someone who will focus primarily on administrative issues and finances, as well as an additional field worker to bolster the mammoth task that Ruth has in working directly with the women with disabilities.  We are currently advertising for these positions and hope to fill them soon.  We need Divine guidance as we interview and make decisions on the women to fill these important roles.  

On the last Saturday of every month, the women with disabilities hold a joint meeting to discuss issues facing them and talk about the advances of Women of Hope.  We were able to join this meeting yesterday, and it was truly a blessing and motivation to us - emphasizing why we are here. 

Before we could hold the meeting in a church that graciously allowed us to use their facility, we faced the issue of disability access head-on.  We had to somehow get all of those women into the building - but there were 5 large steps barring the way.  About 20 of the most severely impaired women had to be carried into the building - on our backs.  Some had to be carried chair-and-all.  Once all were safely, if not conveniently, inside, the meeting miraculously started promptly on time.  Over 150 women showed up for the meeting.  This is not only amazing in the sheer numbers, but even more so when you think of how far many of those women had to walk on crutches, or hand-pedal their push carts, or be led by a child or a friend over barrier-strewn roads.  Their persistence in attending that meeting put us to shame.  

Several of the women from various disability groups spoke about the issues that those with their particular disability face.  They articulated the problems and encouraged the other women to be patient in suffering and have hope for a better tomorrow.  The opening prayer was led by Matilda, a women who was a victim of childhood polio, and who loves Jesus and shows amazing initiative and leadership.  Her prayer moved me to tears.  Loosely translated, here is what she said - 

"Daddy God, we accept how you have made us. And we even appreciate our conditions, because you have given them to us.  But like the Israelites who cried out in their suffering under Pharaoh, we cry out and ask you – in a very kind way – that although we appreciate everything you have done for us, you will see our suffering and deliver us.  This shape and form that you have given us gives us great suffering.  And we don’t want to be ungrateful, but we beg you to find a way to relieve us of our suffering in this life, before the end of our days.”  

 

Matilda praying

After distributing 180 little baggies of Kool-aid (which we had mixed and tied into baggies the night before) and cookies, we carried the women back down the stairs to their waiting hand-powered trikes.  The whole meeting was a wonderful reminder of why we are here and the vast needs that confront these women on a daily basis.  The task often looks completely overwhelming, in all honestly.  But we must persevere so that they can hear the hope of the Gospel and find their ultimate soul-healing in Him. 

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! 

Wowed by God

Four days ago, our Board of Directors sat on a conference call crunching numbers.  We had our tickets to Sierra Leone, but that was it.  The bank account was virtually empty.  It was looking a bit dismal.  While our hearts told us we had not heard wrong when the Lord said "Go," our eyes were saying something altogether different.  We tallied up the figures - $2,500 for furniture, screens, a water tank and other set up costs, $2,500 for program expenses (salaries, etc) for one month, $2,500 for our living expenses for one month, including setting up the internet and buying all the initial food and supplies, and $2,500 for registering Women of Hope International as an NGO with the government of Sierra Leone.  $10,000 for March expenses.  Seeing as how it is so difficult to get money to Sierra Leone, we were hoping to carry over 2 months worth of case so the board wouldn't have to pay exorbitant wire fees to get us April's money.  But, that was an additional $4,500. 

So, nine days out from departure, we needed at least $10,000, and we had a few hundred.  That isn't even counting the fact that we don't have a vehicle when we get there, which makes it pretty hard to do much of anything at all! 

Enter the miraculous...

A friend from church asked me (Kim) if I'd be at AWANA on Wed night.  I said I was dropping off the kids, but couldn't stay because I had work to get done.  She said, "Well, be sure you find me.  I need to talk to you and it's really important."  So, I found her.  Now mind you, this family is not especially well-off.  In fact, they are in financial need right now due to a number of circumstances.  So, she tells me that the Lord spoke to her husband very specifically about helping Women of Hope and told him to sell some of the shares that he gets from his company as a perk - and told him the number to sell.  So, he did.  The check had come through that day and she then handed me a cashier's check for - TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!  I was floored.  Stunned.  Awed.  And I cried. 

The exact amount we needed for March's expenses...?!  I called Kelsey.  She and I had both been having pretty miserable days.  The reality of what this ministry is costing in personal sacrifice was looming large that day, and we had both been assailed by doubts and fears, leading to a spirit of complaining and wondering if God really was going to come through like we originally thought.  When I told her the story she... well, I'll put it mildly.  She cried too.  And so it went on through the Board. 

What an amazing God we serve!  And how humbling to be allowed to participate with Him in this great plan of His for the redemption and restoration of broken women. 

Yes Lord, we believe.   Help our unbelief!

The Countdown is On!

In just 10 days, Kim Kargbo, Kelsey Martin and Kim's 3 children will move to Sierra Leone for 4 months.  Kim's husband, Tim, will also be accompanying the group, but only staying for 2 weeks.  Since there is no electricity in Makeni, where Women of Hope International is headquartered, Tim will be installing solar energy systems for the guesthouse rented for the administrative team and the WOHInt office.  He will then return home to his job in Memphis, TN.

The guesthouse, at the moment, not only doesn't have electricity, but it also doesn't have running water, screens on the windows, or furniture!  Other than that, it's a really nice house (we think - we actually haven't seen it)!  The WOHInt staff is working on getting things in order for the team's arrival in 10 days, but things don't usually happen as you wish them to in Sierra Leone, so we're not holding our breath.  We're praying that at least the screens get installed to keep the malaria-ridden mosquitoes out of the house at night. The rest we'll deal with as we go.  We can always take showers out of buckets and sleep on mattresses on the floor until furniture is made and a water tank can be installed.  We wouldn't mind if you want to pray about these things with us!  Life is already hard in Sierra Leone, so a few little conveniences can make all the difference.

There is so much to do to prepare to be gone for 4 months, as you can imagine.  Credit card auto-payments must be stopped, pets cared for, mail delivery dealt with, bills dealt with, and many other things.  Keeping it all straight is the hard part!  Then there is packing.  Fortunately, we shipped all the household goods over to Sierra Leone already, which makes packing a bit easier.  We have 5 drums and a couple of boxes of things on a ship which is supposed to arrive 2 days before we do.  We'll see if that happens!  But, packing up the remainder of a school year, clothes and shoes for 3 kids, supplies and resources for the program (like Braille books and sign language videos), and personal items takes some thinking.

We'll keep you posted as we step out on this great adventure.  It's a wild ride - but an exciting one!

The Inside Story

Thanks for coming to the new Women of Hope International blog.  We wanted a place where people could stay informed of what's really going on with Women of Hope and the women we serve on a more intimate level than the monthly newsletter snippets.  This is where the "real stuff" will be - the ups and the downs of this ministry, the things God is showing us, the needs we are trusting Him for...

Come back and check here often.  As our administrative team leaves for Sierra Leone in 2 weeks, there will be regular updates and stories from the field - the day to day ins and outs of working with and ministering to the women we've been called to touch.  You can rejoice with us, laugh with us, cry with us and pray with us in the journey that is Women of Hope International.