The 10-Day Report

The Internet connection in Kabala is still down, and Joe and Adrienne remain unable to write an update. So this is being written by Joe's sisters, based on telephone conversations we were able to have with them.

Anyways, there have been both good and not-so-good surprises for the Melissens throughout their first week in Sierra Leone. They were very pleasantly surprised by the home that they are living in. It is apparently much nicer than they had prepared themselves for, and was mostly furnished and comfortable so they are very happy to have a lovely little place to call home.
On the not-so-good side, the communication with the people of Kabala has been much more difficult than anticipated. The English spoken by most of the people combines Creole and pidgin to such an extent that J&A are having a harder time than they anticipated with both understanding and being understood. For Joe this requires an adjustment in many activities and goals he had planned for himself, but as he is expected to be speaking and teaching in English, he believes that the language barrier will be overcome in a fairly short time period. It is a greater concern for Adrienne who obviously will be seeing many more people for much shorter durations, and will have a much harder time with being understood. As well, the patients who come to the clinic where she is working come from different villages and there are variations in the language so it will also be harder for her to learn all of these dialects. This unexpected situation was a bit overwhelming initially and Adrienne was unsure exactly what role she would be able to play at the clinic if she wasn't able to clearly communicate. However, when I spoke to them yesterday, it had been a much better day at work and she had felt that she had been able to contribute in a positive manner to the clinic's operations that day. I am happy to report that both Adrienne and Joe believe that things are on the upswing now!
Anyways, I told them I'd keep it short so that when they finally get an internet connection I will have saved them some things to write about. They wanted me to say again thanks so much to everyone for the love and support that they can feel coming across the world to them, and they hope to be able to write for themselves very soon.