The real journey begins... .

We're back in Freetown after a wild ride with the best driver (Abu), we travelled in country after a quick stop at Kissy Hospital where equipment and envelopes were delivered, well baby clinic got a visit, PT stop with Therapist Steven, check up on the walkways that had been built with a team from Texas and Valparaiso, IN and of course a stop at the expectant moms area of the hospital.  The young women who have come to Kissy to give birth and rest up before delivery take turns giving one another a new hair style.

Our first day...

 Our day began with a greeting and a long term visioning from Bishop Yambasu. and we met our local hosts Smart and Beatrice at the UMC House. The Bishop laid out a vision for the church in Sierra Leone which included adding two floors to the UMC House to be rented out thus providing income for the church to support a pension program for their retired clergy and an ambitious plan to build a University which would begin with a school of Agriculture and Theology.  Within school of theology he talked about addressing the issues of violence against women.
We have been moved by the radical hospitality that has been shown to us by our Sisters in Sierra Leone. The women of the West District prepared and served a wonderful lunch, allowed us to go home and have a bit of rest, so we could be ready to be part of their UMW social night in our honor. Now they did some serious singing!!!!
Tonight we are sorting all of the ministry items that were brought. Thanks so much to all who shared a pin for the women's conference next week. We will have suitcases for the women's training center, the pre school, the Hartford Girls school, as well as our personal things for the next 3 days. Tomorrow we need to be packed and ready to load the bus for a few days of exploring...all before 7:30 am.
We may not have wifi for the next 3 days but we will be enjoying our continuing adventure...and we appreciate all you prayers during this time.  Blessings,  Vickie, Sally, Randie, Carol,  Cindy, Rita, Mary and Bonnie.

Planes, a ferry ride, and a van..we are here.

View from the penthouse suite

We have arrived... we were several hours behind schedule but we were blessed with a good night's sleep in Freetown. The  sorting of our ministry items has begun as we little by little empty or rearrange the contents of our 17 pieces of luggage.   

Our plan is to meet our hosts for the journey, organize our selves and bags of things, and to visit the church center plus lots of surprises.  
Thanks for your prayers for our safe journey...we are blessed with new sites and sounds...our journey has begun.  Love to all for your support of us and the journey ahead. 

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Our journey, a day at a time

For family and friends we share our schedule.  We ask all to keep us in your prayers as we progess along this very special journey. 

• Sunday 12/2 Gather at Chicago O'Hare airport for our first face to face at 4:30 p.m. 
• Monday 12/3  Arrive in Sierra Leone's airport around 7:10 p.m. and will be ferried to Freetown proper. Settle in for a quick sleep. 
• Tuesday 12/4  Get oriented and travel to Kono
• Wednesday 12/5  Visit the Women's Training Center
• Thursday 12/6 travel to Moymba and visit the Hartford School
• Friday 12/7 Visit the Day Nursery
• Saturday 12/8   Back to Freetown for a free day!   Rest, shopping,, sightseeing.
• Sunday 12/9   Worship at Brown Memorial UMC near Kissy Hospital
• Monday 12/10 UMW Organization Convention in Lunsar
• Tuesday 12/11  Pariticpate in the convention activities
• Wednesday 12/12   Day of Ubuntu in village
• Thursday 12/13  Continue with the UMWO Convention activities
• Friday 12/14 Begin our journey back home via Brussels
• Saturday 12/15 arrival in USA 

Elections in Sierra Leone

On 17 November, Sierra Leoneans will go to the polls to select a leader for their country. The current President is Ernest Bai Koroma who defeated the incumbent party in 2007 and successfully transferred power peacefully.  In 2012 eight  candidates are running against the current president and the winner must receive 55% of the votes cast. 

In one article I read, the reporter was lamenting that only 15% of the parliment is occupied by women as they look forward to another election.  In our more than 200 years of democracy, how many women occupy seats in our Senate and House of Representatives?        We have worked our way up to 17%.   Humm...we found more common ground with our sisters in Sierra Leone.

 With 10 political parties seeking 124 open seats by 586 candidates, can you imagine the election atmosphere?   One key difference between our November election and the upcoming election in Sierra Leone is the length of time the campaign can be conducted.  One country campaigns for nearly 2 years and the other has just one month.   Humm again.  

Let us lift up the voters in Sierra Leone in prayer as they discern who can best lead them to improved prosperity.  

You might want to check out this article on the elections.  Be blessed and we'll soon be on holy ground as Randie reminded us yesterday. 

Seeing God

Sally Vonner

This is my first travel experience to the continent of Africa.  I am excited about the opportunity to journey with our sisters in Sierra Leone and to form bonds of love with my Ubuntu sisters.  What a gift!  Although anxiously awaiting the journey, I realize that much preparation is required.  At the same time I am reminded of the bible story where Jesus sends the disciples out two by two with only the minimum of needs and an open heart to give and receive God’s blessings through others on their journey.  I pray that we go with our preparations but more importantly with an open heart to give and receive God’s blessings through others on the journey.

 

What experiences will transform me? This is the question I carry in my heart to Sierra Leone.  I go expecting and wanting to be transformed more into the likeness of Christ.  Will it be through encounters with the women, the children, the communities we travel?  I’m sure all of these obvious possibilities but again I pray for openness to see God in whatever way God chooses to reveal God’s self to me…in the ordinary and extraordinary.  Likewise, I pray I am that witness of God’s tangible grace to others, that God’s light shines through me to brighten their day.  My prayer, Lord open my eyes to see you in the ordinary and the extraordinary, let my light and the light of my sister Ubuntu sojourners, reveal you and not us as we journey with your people, our sisters and brothers, of Sierra Leone. Amen.

It's all about relationships...

Cindy Sauffererr

I became enamored with mission trips when I traveled to Jamaica with my daughters.  It wasn’t the actual mission I fell in love with, but the people.  The connection that was created by working with the people of Jamaica toward a common goal lives on in my heart.  I found that it is something I can’t explain; it is just something you must experience.  I know that the closer I became to the people that I was working side by side with, the closer I felt to God.  There continues to be a yearning to grow those relationships.

I experienced, what I thought at first was, complete failure this past summer at our School of Christian Mission as I participated in the Haiti study.  We were to identify a need, formulate a solution, and write a grant for $25,000 for the people of Haiti.  I was completely stumped; I did not know where to start.  I sat there with all the books and information about Haiti and how the people were suffering right in front of me, but for the life of me I could not come up with a project.  I spent 3 days worrying, fretting and hoping that I would figure out just how I could help them.  It wasn’t until the morning my assignment was due that it became clear.  I needed to talk with the people of Haiti, to be in relationship with them and then work together.  Then, and only then could I move forward, hmmm-Ubuntu?  

This journey will prove to be full of experiences of God’s love as we open our hearts to the daughters of Sierra Leone.