One Month Anniversary

Before we get to our blog entry, we really want to say how supported we have felt reading the comments left on our blog. We really do miss all of you, and it was so great to read what you had to say....some great laughs (and almost some tears). We wish we could spend some time responding to each comment, but we just do not have much internet time here because people are waiting. Thank you so much for the prayers - we truly have felt them! So, here is the latest blog entry. Again, sorry for the length, but it's been a while again, and there have been some new developments for sure.

Hello again from Kabala.
Well, Catholic Relief Services now has internet in Kabala! We're not sure how often we can use it, but for now we're thinking maybe for an hour or two every week. Not much, but it sure beats driving to Makeni to update and read our blog. We have heard once again that within the next two weeks it should be up and running provided the missing part arrives from Freetown. Here’s hoping because we really like to keep people at home updated more often, but we also want to be updated ourselves as to what is happening in all of your lives and in the rest of the world. One new development regarding internet (and we are trying not to get our hopes up) is that you can now get wireless internet through one of the cell phone companies here. It’s around $190 to start up, and then you pay a monthly fee ranging from 20 – 80 $. Anyways, we’re debated getting one ourselves, or maybe splitting the monthly cost with CES and sharing theirs. We’ll see.
So this weekend was our one month anniversary in Africa. It really seems like we just arrived, but already a chunk of our time here has come and gone. I’m worried that we are looking so forward to things that are in the future like having people visit that we have been missing out on the present. We’re beginning to realize that there are a lot of things about life here that we are going to miss when we get back home. One of these things is the pace of life here, which has at times been a nice change, but has at other times been a huge shock to our North American systems. This will change a little bit over time, but for now the simple fact is that our “To Do” lists from week to week are just way shorter than they are at home. Last weekend we had nothing planned, and it turned out that our friends were busy, so Saturday passed by like a decade. I don’t think we’ve ever looked so forward to going to church on Sunday. Having said that, it's nice having time to sit and reflect, think, read, etc.
So Adrienne ended up being the first one to get sick. We’re not sure what it was, since I never got anything, and we ate largely the same thing, but somehow some bacteria managed to squeeze through our hand sanitizer, filtered water, and anti-bacterial soap in order to wreak havoc on Adrienne’s system for around a day. That was on Tuesday, and she stayed home from work. She’s feeling good now, although still not 100 per cent. Speaking of food, it appears as if things are stabilizing for the better thanks to some nice snack food we found from Kabala and a couple of shipments of imported products from Freetown. We are enjoying the food a lot more, although it is still an adventure. One such adventure occurred last week when Hawa (our cook for Tuesdays and Thursdays each week) came walking up to our house with a sack of food. She was visibly excited about what was in the sack, so we were equally excited to see some new veggies or fruit from the market fall out when she tuned it over. Needless to say we were a little surprised when a large dead groundhog fell out instead of fresh produce. After we received a brief lesson on how to slaughter an animal on your porch, we had a large pot full of potent bush meat.
At CRC Primary, the volleyball net was set up this week, and I think a lot of Kabalans are going to benefit from it. From what I’ve seen so far, enthusiasm is high, and coordination is low. I have high hopes for volleyball in Kabala. I can really see this as being something that the greater community enjoys as well as the school. Teaching-wise, my students are settling in to how I want things run in my classroom. In other words, they’re beginning to realize that if they stop bouncing off the walls, they might get candy by the end of the week. It’s challenging because I really enjoy the kids and have fun with them, but I really have to watch how often I become anything but serious, because things go from calm to mad house instantly. It was my turn to lead assembly this week, which resulted in me standing in front of the school trying to clap on beat while pretending to know the words to different songs. Thank goodness for grade 4 volunteer song leaders.
At the clinic, Adrienne decided to organize one of the rooms this week, which was a huge task. But once she negotiated her way through the craziness, she was able to do quite well organizing the medications. We’re hoping to come back maybe one Saturday soon and do some more heavy lifting. She’s also been seeing a lot of patients with the help of Lancelo, a nurse-in-training who has acted as her translator. Peacemaker has been going to a lot of meetings, and Theresa handles the waiting room, so Adrienne has fully been acting as doctor lately – diagnosing, prescribing meds, sending people to the hospital. She is learning a lot, but still is feeling her way around how things are run at the clinic. I went to see the clinic today, and there was a full waiting room (mostly moms with children under 5) waiting to see her. I think the biggest challenge for her is that a lot of these patients are so sick, but there just isn’t much she can do for them.
Language-wise, we are beginning to learn Krio, and although we can't understand it when spoken quickly, things are getting better, and we are usually able to communicate what we want to say. "Daio (please), talk small small (slowly), I wan fo understand" has been a key phrase for us to learn.
As we have been settling into life here, we have found ourselves becoming more motivated to make a positive difference in our workplaces. There are significant needs at both the clinic and school (especially the clinic), but it will take some time before sorting out how to best approach which changes to suggest, and how to suggest them.
We miss you all very much, and we hope that this update finds you all well.

Love,
Joe and Adrienne Melissen
aka. Foday and Saio Mansaray (our Kabala names we gave ourselves because people here have trouble remembering ours).

Ps. In case people are worried, we decided not to take up smoking. =)