"Priceless..."

Tamba, one of our plastic surgery patients, after months of physiotherapy is released to go home...PRICELESS!!!!

"Teachers Needed..."

If you are a qualified teacher and are looking for a unique teaching experience

 please contact:  academy@mercyships.org or call (903) 939-7183

"The Sad Reality..."

A few days ago, one of the guys on the ship posted this article on his Facebook.  It is a sad reality that we face here when a fast growing cancer is seen as demon possession, a sin or in this case witchcraft.  This article was published in the Freetown newspaper...(Sorry for the poor quality)

"It turned out; she was never a pig or a witch. She had a fast growing cancer. This despicable article went all over Freetown. When Mercy Ships found her, she was locked up in a chicken coop by the chief of the village. He was trying to protect her from her neighbors that wanted to kill her for being a witch. Her entire family had rejected her. On the bright side, her cancer was fast growing and chemo reacted very well to her. After a few treatments on the ship, we sent her to a local hospital to continue treatment. Meanwhile, Mercy Ships volunteers returned to her community to educate her neighbors about cancer and to assess the risk of returning her to the community. The people in the community had only heard of breast cancer, and the lesson of educating the community has brought positive results. On the up side, her fast acting cancer reacted very well to the chemo and she has done well enough to be released from the hospital. She is now on the chemo treatment plan and has been seeing positive results. Prayers for the precious child." 
From the Facebook of Lewis Swan

"Around Freetown pt. 2..."

While we were walking around some of the side streets, there are so many pictures I would love to take.  But, I try not to be abusive with taking pictures the local people.  Many of them do not want their pictures taken, and when I take pictures of "things" I show them they were not in the pictures.

There are so many pictures that are missed-the chickens in the coops, the goats, and ducks.  These are just a few that I took and a friend of mine also took...

Rice for sale....

Chicken's feet anyone?...

Smoked fish...

Toothbrushes...

"Around Freetown pt. 1..."

My friend and i love to wander through Freetown.  The other day, we decided to explore some new territory and move off into some of the side streets. 

We discovered a whole new world beyond the main streets we normally walked down.  As we meandered down the maze of side street, never quite sure of which way we were headed, we discovered wonderful gems of the "Salone" culture.

People selling their peppers, chicken feet, rice, ground nut, group cassava leaves, live chickens, ducks, guinea fowls...  Most people were all to eager to greet us, talk with us, and answer our questions.

An old church that is now used to pile garbage in and a back drop for the sales stalls.

A house advertising the local "Megacola" soda.

The view over Siska town.

Stairs that go down to the river and then back up.

The "pig pen" is the river at the bottom of the stairs.

This gentleman was hand carving these wooden spoons with his knife. One spoon cost  1000 Leons...which is about 25 cents.

"Amazing!..."

About a month ago, I went to the ward to start my daily routine.  I checked the surgery schedule and saw one patient had been removed from the list.  Then one of the nurses came up to me and asked:  "Did you hear about the girl who swallowed a nail?" 

Apparently this little girl had swallowed a nail and now was scheduled for surgery to have the nail removed.  Then to all of our surprize, she passed the nail.  Yes, you read that right...there was no internal bleeding...it just passed through.  To us...that was a God thing...AMAZING!

"Job?..."

For anyone who has complained about their job...this is a bit of a reality check. I believe this is one of the more difficult jobs I have seen people do.  It certainly is not something I have ever seen someone do, or even thought about someone doing.

In a country where there very few, if any factories, all things require people to do the work-even if something is imported, someone still needs to move the cargo.

This job requires breaking and sorting...rocks.  Yes, you read that correctly...rocks.  There are no fancy machines in Sierra Leone to break the rock and sort it into neat piles.  This is back breaking hard, hot work.  I am unsure how much the rock is sold for or even for that matter how often the rock is sold.  But these people have made it their job to supply different sized rock to their customers.