Biscut and Juice Party...we say tanki (Thank you)

There are a million and one things that happen each day we're here in Sierra Leone. Every day is a big day.  Today was an even bigger day.

Today was a pretty momentous day for the education of young girls in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Develop Africa/FAWE Computer Lab was ceremoniously opened. This event was complete with ribbon cutting. I hadn't connected the dots yet but no public school in Freetown has ever had a computer lab before this (this is what I overheard from one of the teachers). On top of this new fact, FAWE girls school was created during the decade long civil war to meet the educational needs of displaced girls. The school continues on after the civil war to serve disadvantaged girls. Several of the kids told us that they had never used a computer before. Pretty amazing the things we take for granted. I can still recall using computers in my kindergarten class, even if it was with the over sized floppy disks.

Including computer training and computer educational programs into the curriculum for these disadvantaged girls will make the education they receive even more valuable.

Ever since I arrived in Sierra Leone, I've been treated as a honored guest. It has been amazing how everyone has openly welcomed me here. This culture celebrates guests and it involves welcoming you to people's houses. Anytime you visit with someone, they expect to feed you. To refuse their offered food is considered impolite. Let's just say I ate a few things the last time I was in the southern provinces that I am not sure what they are. All the food is wonderful though. The spices and different flavors are interesting.

Many people such as Janet and Sylvester have paved the way for such a smooth visit as they are highly respected individuals with strong connections in Sierra Leone.

Since arriving here, I made quick friends with the "pekin" (the kids). The first pekin I met from technical was Juamed, or TACO. He was filling water at the water tap. He didn't smile for the picture I took for him but broke into a huge grin as we high-fived afterwards. Juamed was my introduction to what I call the pekin or lovingly the compound kids. I don't know if they realized I was just as excited to see them each day as they were to see me. They each just wanted to play and to have friends. The smallest pekin (P-eee-K-i-n) would say toot me, toot me. This meant that they wanted to sit on your lap or for you to pick them up and just hold them. They all were funny as they would jockey over position to sit closest to me.

 

The other evening, I had promised to stop by after getting back from the southern province of Bo. When our vehicle started up their road, the pekin began appearing one by one. They remembered we had a futbol match for the evening. We found enough space to make a decent field and they marked the goals with two rocks on each end. These kids love futbol. Even the ones without shoes were ever ready to play and they played hard. They play to win. We played even when it became dark. As long as there was enough light to see the ball, they wanted to keep playing. It was a blast.

I wanted to do something for the kids on one of my last nights here in Freetown and through the help of Auntie Janet and her daughter JoAnne, we arranged a biscut and juice party. Biscut is what they call cookies and the juice is pretty much like Koolaid. They started our party with singing and later with songs of thanks. The faith is deep here.

Singing praises

They love to be silly and have their picture taken

Silly faces again

Me telling the pekin that while they are studying hard in school that I will also be studying very hard

More silly face fun

After juice and biscuts we had a dance party. I love these kids. Two of them aren't in school right now. Several live with aunts or uncles, Juamed lives with his older grandmother. Schools enroll kids each semester and the next semester will be end of August. What options do these two girls have for these next months when all their peers are going to school? Not many. I did leave enough money for them to get school lessons so they can keep up and not fall as far behind. Thanks for Mother T of technical drive Auntie Janet and her daughter JoAnne, they will be able to keep track of the girls and help make sure they get into school this coming semester. More than likely they will be on scholarship through Develop Africa to meet their school expense needs. Sarah wouldn't smile but ester would pose for the camera. Many of the kids would run around saying "snap me", "snap me". This meant they wanted their picture taken.

Sarah and Ester will get some school lessons

Pekin dancing

I have so much fun with these kids!