May 2008
Dear Friends,
I bring you greetings from Freetown and Kroo Bay. At the start of this month at around 5am it started to rain. The rain was so hard to the point that I had some of it shower in my room. But it was okay for me. After a while I got call from one of the WMF staff in Freetown (Chris). He asked, "Are you affected?"
"No." I answered, "Not as much as my friends."
So after the rain ceased I went down to see what had happened. I went with my camera to see if I could take pictures, but when I saw what had happened it was so terrible I was not able to take pictures. The gutters and houses were filled with garbage and water! Even the living rooms were filled with water. The stench was so strong I felt like vomiting. I felt so bad for my brothers and sisters. So I went back to my house and put on clothes to help clean. We started cleaning, bailing garbage and water out of the houses. I remember in one of the houses, we took more than 100 buckets of water out. The people's clothes, beds, other things were all soaked and we had to take them all out to dry. It was really sad to see and believe what had happened.
The government recently stopped the cleaning day, because they spent more then 80 million Leones which they did not budget for. So they can't carry on with it. But in line with that they have passed a law that no one should drop any kind of garbage on the streets or the gutters in Freetown. I hope and pray that the government can enforce that. If not, it will be disastrous in Kroo Bay this rainy season. Please let's continue to pray for our friends down in Kroo Bay.
WMF organized a conference for Children In Crisis. About 60 people attended the conference. My main role was to translate from English to Krio and Krio to English. I never knew that it would be so challenging. The conference lasted for five days. The last day of the conference my camera was stolen. I felt bad because we bought it the first time I traveled out of Freetown. But anyway, there were so many good things that happened in the conference which I should concentrate on rather than the stolen camera. I leaned how it can be stressful on us as caregivers sometimes. During stressful times it is good to take a time out and rest. This has been working well for me. I also learned some good strategies to help the kids when they are feeling stressed out too. There are lots of things that I learned from the conference that will help me to care for my boys and care for myself as well, as we live together as family. There were so many things that Roy Bishop, the conference facilitator, talked about that I can't explain them all. But I like the way he concluded the conference. He used a simple message about the cross and the death of Jesus and His resurrection (Easter Sunday). He linked that to us as caregivers. After explaining, he ended up saying, '"Today is Friday. Sunday is coming." Roy was telling us that God has entrusted these kids into our hands. At the end of the day God will hold us accountable. Many of the vulnerable children we work with are suffering from unjust abuse, like Jesus did on Good Friday. As we lay down our lives for the youth, they can experience the hope of resurrection, justice, and freedom in God (Easter Sunday). When I went home I thought about what Roy said in the conference, especially a story about a girl named Mary. She had been sexually abused by her stepfather. When she told her mother about the issue, the mother did not act to protect her. Because of this, Mary ran from the house and ended up on the streets. Later she was taken to a foster home. In the home, one of the caregivers sexually abused her again. So she went back to the streets. How could Mary trust anyone? Today is Friday, but Sunday is coming. It was a privilege for me to be in this conference,
In our community we are facing a serious challenge. One of the girls that Florence and I look after is dealing with the problem of possible marriage. Her father wants to give her to early marriage. She is about 12 years old. We learned about this situation when Florence went to visit her at school. Her teacher said she has not been consistent at school. When Florence asked her, she said it because of the marriage issue. Because of that I have been talking to her, and how much she knows about it. But she told me that her elder brother's girlfriend told her. Also a woman next door to their house has been talking to her about it. But her father will not tell her except on the day of the wedding. At that time they will dress her in white. After the ceremony, they will just take her to her new husband's house. He may be old or have other wives. Can you image that? She might end up married to a man who she will never love. Besides that she is under age to marriage. She is thinking about running away from home. I asked her if I should ask her father, but she said no because it will be dangerous for her. So Florence, Cami and I have been talking about the issue, and how to help her. This past Sunday Florence and I decided to go and talk to her family, and see if she can live with Florence. As we went to their house we observed that her poor father is unable to provide for everyone in the house. I think that is why he wants to give his daughter to be married. Let me give you a brief background of this girl. When we received a large donation in 2004, we prayerfully decided to use it for school sponsorship in Kroo Bay. Her late grandmother did not want her to go to school, but we were finally able to convince her. After this young girl started school her grandmother decided to send her for female circumcision. We asked the grandmother not to, but she was adamant. The girl was circumcised against her wishes. Today she is faced with this marriage issue. Please pray for her and the family, and also Florence and I as we do our best to help.
One more important thing is that if we decide for her to stay with Florence, there is another issue to take into consideration. Florence and I have being talking about getting married. I already have three boys who are staying with me, and this young girl will make four. But as I think about it, there is a scripture that keeps coming to mind in John. It says that in the same way Jesus has laid down his life for us, we should lay down our lives for our brothers. In as much as we think about our future and the challenges that lie ahead of us, this scripture has been speaking to us greatly. To lay down our life for our brothers and sister, it will be so great to save her from getting married at such a young age. Please pray for Florence and I as we think about the future and also pray for our house issue. We need a house desperately. We have been looking for a house a long time, but we have not found one yet. Remie, Saidu, and Mohamed have been spending time with Cami and Faye during weekends camping on the beach. I think they love it, but please pray for Remie as he has gotten an ear infection the two times he has been to the beach. I think it is because he likes the water too much.
I want to thank you for you faithful prayer and financial support. Thanks so much as it helps us to move forward and continue this work.
Peace,
Noah