Life in Sierra Leone

We had a wonderful stay in Sierra Leone these last couple of weeks. Michelle fell in love with Freetown. It is unlike any city we've ever been in. The city is built on the side of a mountain. Think of a steep logging road back home in Montana and build homes and huts and business all along these roads and you have a good picture of Freetown.

These are kids playing on the beach next to the airport which is located across the bay from Freetown. You have to take a water taxi or ferry to get to freetown--this takes about an hour. All the kids love to ham it up.

This photo shows one of the nicer areas in Freetown. This street is paved, but most are dirt. In town the primary means of transportation is a moto, but in Freetown there are poda-podas (like our tro-tro's in Ghana).

I love this photo. I took it in Kenema from the missionary apartment. We have six missionaries living in Kenema.

Typical Africa. Bananas everywhere.

How many people can you fit in the a tro-tro (poda-poda)? The answer is: one more. There is always room for one more no matter how crowded it is.

Street hawkers--the same in every country here in West Africa.

Most of the streets in Freetwon look like this. Packed with people, houses, and cars.

The cheapest and quickest form of transportation.

This photo typifies Africa. You will rarely see a picture like this of a man.

I love these little gardens. So green and orderly right in the middle of the city.

 Even the kids are busy on the streets.

The movie store. These movies are all hodgie-copies. Meaning they are pirated movies. People will go into a theatre with a video camera and tape the movie. Its real annoying to try to watch one of these as you see poeple walking up and down the isle, coughing, people chomping on popcorn etc. One redeeming quality is that they are cheap.

The following are a few random photos of life on the streets of Freetown.

We had the AP's as our guide for a couple of days. We brought them to the hotel for dinner--where you can look over the city and the sea.

We did health screenings on all of the missionaries in this mission.

Our mobile clinic was the mission van.

When in doubt, I have learned to ask Sister Fife--she always knows the answer. Elder and Sister Randall are the office couple and we joined them and the Roggias for a trip to the chimp sanctuary.

President and Sister Roggia (also grew up in Montana) seem custom fit to run this mission.

Sister Fife waiting for our driver at the missionary apartment. We had quite an experience with our driver. We hired a driver for two days to take us inland to Bo and Kenema. It was expensive--like 200 dollars a day. The second day was wasted as we had one flat tire that took about 2 hours to repair, and then promptly had a second flat tire. We filled up with gas (about a quarter of a tank) and started on the road--some 4 hours to Freetown. We were quite concerned about the gas situation because he only put in 1/4 of a tank. "No problem," he said. "I drive this all the time." Well, about two hours into our little trip, the gas light came on. "No problem," again. When he finally turned off the AC because the fuel was too low, we knew that we were in trouble. We ran out of gas and he managed to put in another 300,000 L (about 5 bucks) worth. Again, we expressed our concern that we didn't have enough to make it all the way to Freetown. We wound up running out of gas twice, but don't worry because it was "NO PROBLEM". Anyway, all of our scheduled visits for the day were cancelled, but we made it back to Freetwon--no problem.

This is the only mission (I think in the world) where riding on a moto is acceptable. In Bo, this is how the missionaries get around. I couldn't get Sister Fife to try it out.  Don't show the missionaries in the other missions as this is strictly forbidden.

I wandered this same street in Bo many times looking for a laboratory. Finally found it right where it was suppose to be.

Finally, Sister Fife feeds me by giving me nuts. I have finally figured out how to use my thumbs and a rock to get the job done.

...having fun in Sierra Leone

Elder and Sister Fife

Apostles with a Lower-Case 'a'

Elder Taylor (Monrovia) waiting to see Sister Snow and Sister Holland

There seem to be some perks that come with our mission. One such perk is that we occasionally get special assignments. We received one such assignment to stay close to Elder and Sister Holland & Elder and Sister Snow while they traveled this part of Africa. During this assignment, we became specialists in tagging along. We are now good at it if anyone needs a lesson.

While we didn't gain any special 'inside' information (like when is the second coming), we did enjoy working as missionaries fulfilling our special assignment. As Elder Holland put it--we were being missionaries--which are apostles, like him, only with a lower-case 'a' instead of a capital 'A'.

During the trip, there were no major health issues and we were happy to be of no use to anyone. There were a couple of minor stomach issues here and there, but who doesn't have those while visiting Africa?

The Hollands and the Snows were as warm and gracious as you might imagine them to be. If you haven't had a hug from Sister Holland, then you have missed out. I think we had one every morning. We enjoyed being with them and observing them during the down time as much as we enjoyed seeing them in front of the big congregations.

We learned a great many things during their stay. We've ridden a spiritual wave that is only now beginning to ebb. They spoke with power and inspiration where ever they went. Their message was always well received. I enjoyed listening to them speak to the missionaries perhaps the most, as this had particular application to us in our mission as well.

We tried in vain a couple of times to make it to Monrovia. Airplanes simply cannot land in the worst of the harmattan. We spent the entire first day in the airport, in the air, circling Monrovia, and then returning only to get up the next morning to do it all again. Meanwhile, the saints and missionaries in Monrovia patiently waited. We finally landed a day an a half late and they swooped us off to the district center that was packed with the still patiently waiting people. (When it was announced to the congregation that our plane had finally landed, the people stood and cheered.)  The missionaries waited from eight in the morning till about six that night for their turn. We took this photo during a leadership training where these three missionaries watched and listened through the slit in the overflow curtains.

They were so excited to get to hear 'Apostle Holland' speak--the enthusiasm of the night was infectious. We wound up staying in Monrovia just one night, but the time was packed full of training and meetings. Upon our return, Elder Holland commented about that weekend being the best two weeks he had ever spent in Africa.

Which one of these things is not like the other?
Hint: think marshmallow in a bowl of cocoa puffs
(this is what we've been told we look like here in Africa)
 Can you tell there is a 25 year age difference?

Elder Priddis (AP) doing some instructing

Essentially we were part of an entourage that followed the Apostle while here in West Africa. Elder Holland was always accompanied by two to four other general authority's--Elder Snow, and one to three of the area presidency as well as each of their wives, plus usually an area 70 or two. There was a camera crew of two with all of their equipment and a body guard. There was also usually one or two security officers from our area as well as a travel specialist who worked on all of the arrangements--lodging and food. We were schooled in proper etiquette when travelling with an Apostle. Some of these guidelines follow: if the Apostle is wearing his suit coat--you wear your suit coat (I didn't bring mine--how embarrassing); if he is in a long sleeve shirt--you are in a long sleeve shirt; the same goes for short sleeve; taking snapshots or photos is generally frowned upon unless there is a time specifically set out for photos--we didn't take many pictures out of respect, as we could tell the snaps were sometimes annoying; if an apostle invites you to sit down for dinner, you do it (don't even ask how we figured this one out); basically if an apostle invites you to do anything--you do it; and when the apostle stands up from the dinner table--dinner is finished, even if you arrived late because you were on an errand. Two more unspoken rules that I thought were the best (we learned these from the body guard so they are probably more rules for the body guards) are; never let yourself be in a photo with the apostle--that's bad form, and if an apostle comments on your tie (I like that tie!), then it should never be worn again as it is too flashy. Its been fun to see things from behind the scenes. 

With Elder Holland and Elder Snow

Check out the news story from the Holland's visit in this weeks church news:

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62041/A-bright-future-for-members-in-African-nations.html

Its been a great few weeks and we intend on another blog soon about our little adventures in Freetown, Bo, and Kenema with the missionaries and hospitals. We had a great adventure.

...finally back home in Ghana

Elder and Sister Fife

Lost in The Work

We continue to stay, for the most part, happily busy for which I am grateful. Sometimes I even find myself lost somewhat in the work—missing home less these days. Occasionally I still get those twinges of homesickness. Funny though, I miss my office back home—treating patients and actually having control to some extent over what happens.

We are here as ‘advisors’ and that can bring many frustrations. We do our best to give good advice and to find the best care, but ultimately we can’t please everyone, even though we would like to. What is even more frustrating is that we are totally dependent on the health care system here. Once we check a patient in to the hospital or have them seen in a clinic, we have to trust someone else’s judgment and decisions. Again not everybody is happy. Some doc’s will listen to our suggestions (as long as we are subtle and ask nicely), and some get outright defensive about having their decisions questioned. What is even harder is doing this from a distance.

In Nigeria, we have had lots of problems. Lately the country is having a bit of unrests—riots, kidnappings, and strikes. In a couple of our missions, our missionaries were on lockdown for the first part of January as it just wasn’t safe to be out and about. To complicate things we had a few frantic calls. We had missionaries who really needed to been seen at the hospital and the hospitals in the Lagos and Enugu areas were ALL closed. This went on for about 2 weeks. We would get a call from the mission president asking us to call one of his missionaries…they are at the hospital and having very bad chest pain, stomach pain, or breathing problems—but the hospital was closed and no one is able or willing to see him. We had a few of these calls but all turned out to be things we could handle over the phone. I would send them to the pharmacist and get them to put the chemist on the phone, then I would go down a list of meds until we found something appropriate, then I would tell them what to do, how to take it and to call me back after a few hours.

We were very worried about a serious problem that we wouldn’t be able to handle. No help at the hospitals, no flights out on the airlines. Needless to say, we asked for help (you know…from above) and then we didn’t really worry about it. Finally we got a call from an Elder with suspected appendicitis—and thankfully that was the first time that I had heard the hospitals were actually back up and running. We felt this to be a great blessing.

Now, it wasn’t all that easy as he had seen a doctor who refused to talk to me, ‘diagnosed appendicitis’, and was going to send him home for the night with antibiotics and have him return the next day for surgery. (I am not sure, but sometimes common sense seems to be hard to find.) Things just didn’t add up and we couldn’t get any answers. Finally, I just had him and his companion leave, catch a taxi and head into Enugu (by the mission home). There we have a good hospital (also open) and a good doctor who was willing to talk. Anyway, he was admitted, taken to surgery shortly thereafter and today is doing great.



Anum-Apapam Presby Primary School



We have big plans to complete before we finish with our mission. Some goals are easy, while others seem to continually elude us. We get our heads in a project and often forget why we are really here. While most of our work does not deal face-to-face with missionaries, occasionally it does, and this is when we again get little ‘celestial glimpses’ of the big picture. We all have our little part, and by doing it, the work gets done and the Kingdom rolls forth. Our job simply is to keep the missionaries doing theirs. The work here is inspirational.

"Each and every one of us is born with the light of Christ; as missionaries, it is our job to ignite the celestial spark."…Elder Moyo (Sierra Leone Mission)

We keep the missionaries healthy so they can continue lighting those sparks.

We have been travelling around the eastern part of Ghana this month and have had the opportunity again and again to meet missionaries, meet members and to see hospitals. I made a list today and I think we have been in close to 30 hospitals and clinics in the last 3 weeks. At times it can be really fun, but a lot of time is spent on the road, or waiting for this doctor or that administrator to come visit with us.

Brother Larbi--school teacher in Anum-Apapam

SOS Clinic in Monrovia--Liberia; I love this hospital!

We finally made it to Liberia this last week. We worry the most about these missionaries. They are living in perhaps one of the toughest missions (in my opinion) in the world. All of the missionaries live without electricity, they pump their water by hand, they get to use a generator at night for 3 hours, there are no refrigerators, half of the time there is no propane for the stove—they use charcoal, no fans, and they dump water from buckets to flush toilets. Now living under these conditions makes it hard to stay healthy, but wouldn’t you know it, this is by far our healthiest mission. It is hard to get nutrition. Out of 42 missionaries that we saw, there were only two that have not lost at least 10-15 pounds.

Missionary Health Screeningin Monrovia

The most awesome peole in Liberia--the Krumms and the Kirkhams

This little clinic is out a ways, but our missionaries in the area can use it for malaria/typhoid testing

Of course, not a single missionary is unhappy, and yes we did feel that charge!

We feel guilty coming home to Acrra in our air-conditioned apartment, with running water, lights, and a back-up generator that kicks in within seconds when the power is out. Plus we swim in the pool every day for exercise (and relief from the heat).

We have a new MTC president. They are settling in fine—off and running the first day. They have a huge group (the biggest one ever here at the MTC).

Banana Market in Anum-Apapum

New library and computer room and Presby Primary School

We spent a morning in Anum-Apapum at an elementary school. We were there seeing a member about his hearing loss and need for new hearing aids. The town was delightful. We just pulled in and the councilman flagged us down and straight away jumped in to the care and took us on right to the school we were looking for. I tried to give him a couple cedi’s, but he refused! We had a great visit, we met the member, his headmaster, lots and lots of children and they showed us the new library and computer room they were working on. We are going to put them in touch with the humanitarian/welfare missionaries to see if they can help out. The best part was the market—it was a big banana market—pretty cool.

So when we have a sick missionary in the hospital that does not improve instantly, we want to blame the system, blame the doctors, or blame the country. We want to scream, to shout, and to holler until ‘something’ is done--when the prudent thing to do is just be patient and trust the decisions being made by those people trained to make them.

Elder Bland is one of the best!

 

We have an ongoing service project at Deseret Hospital--mother and midwife who had just given birth

...and healthy baby just minutes old

  We had two Elders from Sierra Leone this month released for medical reasons, (we sent them both home for joint problems). One had his hip replaced within a week, and the other bilateral knee replacements. No, they were not senior missionaries, just young missionaries with old joints. Another missionary was transferred out of Africa last week from Accra because of recurrent stomach infections. He was one of the best. I feel bad we didn’t try harder to keep him here, it is easy to second guess these types of decisions.

There are a few other odds and ends from the last couple of weeks as well. Sister Wood who recently celebrated her 82^nd birthday fell and broke her shoulder. She is one stubborn woman! There is no way in the world she will even consider going home. I put her In a sling and we will see if we can get this healed up. She is an inspiration. I took her to get the X-ray on Saturday morning and told her it was broken and that we should get her home to find a sling, rest, etc. I was going to drop Sister Fife off at the MTC so she could get us ready for our immunization session as we were close by. Sister Wood was more concerned about all the French Elders at the MTC who had arrived late and needed their paperwork done for the temple on Tuesday. Needless to say, we spent the day at the MTC and she worked all morning with the missionaries until they were all ready and only then was she satisfied to leave. If only we could infuse a little of her into some of our younger missionaries... 


I took a picture of Sister Woods X-ray to send it to Salt Lake--turned out Pretty good
I loved this game in med school: whats wrong with this picture?



…staying well, and at times sane in Africa
Elder and Sister Fife

The Pied Pipers of Konongo




Finding Missionaries and Hospitals--Konongo (Elder Gurr and Evensen)

 Finally...back in the swing of things. The holidays have come and gone and things in Ghana have settled back down. We were finally able to get back to work and we had a good week. We've searched high and low. We've been lost and we've be found.

Driving in Ghana is always entertaining and there is always something new. Michelle wants to make a highway bingo game for Ghana like we use to play with the kids back home. Instead of looking for a farm house or a Tennessee license plate, we would look for things like a goat on a tro-tro, a VIP bus making a rest stop (all the passengers lined up along road-side urinating), a naked man (unusual to go a day without seeing one), a tro-tro crash, and last but not least- road side bush meat. You see all sorts of things for sale--deer the size of dogs, rats the size of dogs, and this week we even saw some kind of mere-cat looking thing.

We spent most of the week, save for Wednesday, on the road. You can always count on something new.

Wood sellers heading to market in Ghana

Some tro-tro's you've got to wonder how they don't 'just tip right over



We found pillow town--they grow there own cotton and then sell it in pillows along the road-side

 In the Volta region, along the Volta Lake and River, the scenery is beautiful. You can snap all the pictures in the world and still not do any justice. 


Small village along the Volta River

 

Twin Rocks

This month has been exceptionally dry and dusty. We are in the middle of the hamatan. The trade winds pick up the dust from the Sahara and blow it all over sub-Saharan Africa. This means that you can look directly at the sun all day long--its red behind the dusty haze. We stayed in the Sky Plus hotel in Ho overlooking the city, but had a hard time seeing through the haze.

The hamartan in Ho--you can't even see the city

We've had an interesting time with missionary health these last couple of weeks. The first P-day of the year saw two infamous football games. The missionaries in Lome (Togo) played a simple scrimmage as if it were the world cup. No holds bar, knock down, drag out, blow-your-knee-out battle (and I do mean blow your knee out). One Elder is on crutches for the next couple of weeks and I hope not to have to send him home. Another Elder has a nasty infection on his leg after it was torn up by another's cleats. At exactly the same time, there was another infamous missionary football game in Tema (near MTC here in Accra). Our elders played, non stop, full on, aggressive ball from 9 am till 4 pm. The heat, the aggression, the non-stop competition resulted in two missionaries out the next day with nausea, headache, etc (heat exhaustion).

We had three missionaries here in Accra that were hit by tro-tros, one on a bike, and two while walking (none were seriously injured thank goodness).  One got hit in the back of the head by the side-view mirror, which shows how close and tight traffic is here.  It's amazing more missionaries aren't hit.  Keep the prayers coming for all missionaries, they definately use them at alarming rates!

Others cases this last week include a fractured jaw and knocked out tooth, two cases of malaria in Accra, one in Sierra Leone, one case of typhiod, onesister needed a tooth extraction (rather traumatic), one infected leg, one seriously infected eye, tons and tons of sore throats and coughs. We have a few elders with chronic stomach issues, allergies, headaches, back-aches and gut aches, and finally 6 missionaries needing de-worming.

One good thing is that so far this month, there are no misisonaries in the hospitals. One in going home this month with a bad hip.

Missionaries make due (Elder Imende)



Going over the planning board with the Ho district (Elders Imende and Andersen)

Finding the missionaries in Ho (Sister Fife with Elder and Sister Lyon)



We got lost in Teshie trying to find these good Elders (Elders Collings and Beaufeaux)



Glad to see our missionaries wearing helmets--around here super important (Elder Ikoro)



Peter--took us around to the Hospitals in Nkawkaw



Elders in Kpong on P-day (Elders Angelos and Onyo)

Out and about

We were able to check on several elders that we have been following.  We had good experiences and were able to find some places that needed found. We spent about 4 hours driving around Kpong looking for a mysterious Catholic Hospital. We gave up, but managed to find it the next day about 10 km and 30 min from town, tucked away without a single sign--but we found it.

In Nkawkaw (N-co-co) we found a young man, Peter, who is the branch mission leader and waiting for his mission call. He saw us at the edge of town and pounded on our window as we were stuck in traffic. He said he was waiting for us and wanted to help--he took us around to the two hospitals in town and helped us get in to the administrator without a wait. He was God sent. We gave him some money to buy the missionaries lunch.


 Some hospitals are pretty scary, and others look pretty good. Here in Africa it is all relative. The good news is that we have a good idea where to send our missionaries now if we get in a bind.

 

The name says it all--First Klass Hospital in Konongo

 

We love fried plantains




Batik fabric drying on the road

 


Hanging out with the Zolls in Kumasi--hoping for a new mission and mission home



The pied pipers of Konongo--we walked through Konongo with a stream of kids
following--it started with these 5 and soon we had close to 20. A little embarrassing.

...doing well and staying busy

everywhere in Ghana

Elder and Sister Fife