Missoula Family YMCA International Committee

Feels pretty good to be back home–although as David and I both agreed, on the flight from Heathrow to JFK we felt like we were in a big void, somewhere in the nether world between Sierra Leone and Missoula.  A little sadness breaking up the Three Muskateers in Londaon as Rick was going to Kenya to check on the his “family” there who is going thru a tough time due to an illness.

We have been sitting for the last 24 hours as we left Freetown by Ferry for the airport at noon, sat in the airport till our 11:50pm flight, then 7 hours on the plane, only time to retrieve our luggage, go thru customs, grab a cup of coffee and catch the 10:05am delta flight to JFK.  That was another 8 hours.  It’s nice to stretch with a little airport walk.  Wondering now how longit will take to get back into our American lives after a pretty intense weeklong stay with our counterparts in SL.

Chris

Chris and I have made it back to the USA after 17 hours of traveling by air; 2 hours by ferry; and 9 hours sitting at Lungi International Airport in between. WE have only two flights left from NYC – SLC – Missoula and then we will be home. I hope you were able to see the pictures we posted.

Our way out of Sierra Leone started at 11am with a final lunch on Sunday. ( The night before was our going away party. Many board members and staff joined us for dinner of Cous Cous and chicken; Beer ( Star and Savannah); gifts, speeches, and dancing to african rhythms! ) Christian and Alieu went with us on the ferry and then to the airport where we watches several soccer matches in the sweltering heat, frank more Star beers to stay hydrated and ate chips. several attempts were made by local young men to help us care for our bags, or cue up, or get us to the front of the line at the gate. At one point, the gate guard became angry when we wouldn’t accept his help to cut in front of the line for 20,000 Leones per person ( corruption is on the wane in S/L but still exists). Eventually, we made it through customs, but I was certainly waiting for the next request for a bribe ( ” Sir, so you have any extra leones? I do not make very much money, as you know.”)

ALl flights so far have been just fine and we are excited to return. It is hard for me to readjust to our lifestyle here after the difficult living conditions I witnessed in Sierra Leone.

We have had several wonderful sunny days after an amazing football match in a torrential tropical downpour. Doctor Ports played on one team with half of the boys from the Makeni YMCA while I played with the other half and dazzled them with blazing slowness and footwark so deft they were convinced I have two left feet. Though Dr. Ports’s team ultimately won 5-4, all of the members of my team remain far better ooking than our counterparts on team Ports. The game was remarkably fun and wet and Dave does have a few battle scars.

Back from Makeni on Friday and had lunch at Christian’s apartment.  His wife Massa is expecting in October.  The Kasava Leaf soup cooked in cocanut oil became David’s instant favorite African rice chop.  then to the US Embassy for a meeting with the Deputy Chief of Mission, Glen Fedzer, as thte Ambassodor was out of town.  We had hoped to explain the good work the SL YMCA is doing, and see if there were any opportunities for funding assistance from the Embassy.  We also hoped to get their assistance in exchanges of staff and Y members.  Struck out on both counts.  The Embassy is more policy than development and only serves as a conduit for the administration of funds from other sources.  Occasionally they will get a Congressional authorization for a specific program like AIDs prevention (The Aids inffection rate in SL is only 1%.)  All visas are handled by the Consular Affairs Officer whi must adhere strictly to Immigration laws that became much stricter after 9/11.  The only way you can “prove” you are not a “flight risk”–that is that you will not try to stay illegally in the States–is to have a good job here with a history of employment, maybe a house and family responsibilities.  Most people that work for the Y a) don’t make much money, b) can’t afford a house, and c) have to support a lot of family such that it would look like a great way to escape a difficult life situation.  Fortunately, Christian already has a visa and so there is no problem for him.  An exchange program “go be difficulto.”

Last night, we talked with Christian about his personal experiences during the civil war.  In short, we were all incredibly moved by his difficult path–and I had heard the story before.  Imagine yourself coming to a point in life where you were willing to stand in front of the YMCA and face down a large group of rebels ready to burn down your building, as they had the buildings next door.  Christian had just decided that what the Y was doing was more important than him being the one to carry the work forward, if that’s what it came to.  Fortunately he was able to convince the rebels that the YMCA was there to help young people–just like themselves–and that they must not burn down this structure.  They turned back and left the building untouched.

Today, Saturday we had a day off and went to a wonderful beach, spent time in the surf and had fresh grilled barracuda!  Chris

Today we begin our 2nd day in Makeni Township. Yesterday, we metwith local members ( volunteers) of the makeni branch and sat in on a vibrant meeting of 75 youth who were entering the YMCA’s vocational/technical school this year. All of the students were war combatants, commercial sex workers,  or orphans, and all were energetic and speaking candidly to the teachers and YMCA officials. After, we also took a walk around the city with all of the members and at the end of the day, participated in a national radio talk show on the YMCA!Today, we meet with the mayor of makeni then head off to Kabala to see a project there.

Our hosts have been gracuious and helpful. Sierra Leone ,is a beautiful country and the people we have met have been warm and welcoming. The opportunity to partner here in Makeni and in Kenmah is strong and both ouf our YMCA’s have skills and knowlege that can assist the other in providing services. Clearly, our YMCA can help to provide resources and funding to assist the well thought out plans that YMCA staff and volunteers havs laid out.

Loving the food! My favorite so far is rice with cassava leaves, and boiled cassava! Although the goat, and eggs and sardine sandwhich i had this morning ws pretty good too!

 I am sure there is lot to be told about the Sierra Leone YMCA, when they return.

Greetings to all of you.

Regards, Edwin.

Hi,

This is Claudius Ola Taylor. I am in charge of Communications & Membership Development. It’s a pleasure to have your CEO and two key volunteers of your board with us. We had a hectic day today. We are just from the YMCA farm and we shall be travelling very early tomorrow in the morning to Makeni.

We had a very busy Monday visiting Y projects all over Freetown.  First we went to the Kissy School, a k-6 primary school in an area that before the Y came in had no primary school after the end of the civil war.  They have up to 260 children in pre-school thru “class 6.”  Two years ago they graduated their first students from class 6 and they did very well on the national exams to enter secondary school.  Most of the students at the school receive some form of scholarship to attend.

Later we visited two “slum projects” funded by Comic Relief , a London based organization.  One of the projects is down on the waterfront and the other–totally opposite–up on the hillside above the center of Freetown.  Freetown sits on the water and is surrounded by mountains.  The Portuguese gave Sierra Leone its origional name of “Mountain of the Lion.” because of the shape of the mountains overlooking the city.  The project coordinators in each of the areas, Kroobay and Dwarzack, are dealing with different development issues but the communities are very different.  Kroobay is a fishing village.  It has been severely affected by residential housing development on the hillsides causing erosion and consequent flooding at the bottom of the hills.  Dwarzack, on the other hand, has long time residents, many of low income, and then more affluent people who have moved in on the hillsides.  Getting the two groups together to discuss community problems has been a challenge.

We also spent about two hours with SL YMCA staff, learning how they are organized and more about their objectives.  Lots to absorb.  we were all pretty tired last night.

We had a busy day yesterday in Freetown but no internet access last night to post to the blog. Our day began with a tour of the Kisii Primary School in eastern Freetown. The kids were beautiful and the school is serving a community in need. We then met with the staff of the Sierra Leone national YMCA organization and learned a ton that we are excited about sharing with the stakeholders at the Missoula Family Y. We spent the afternoon touring two community center facilities in the shanty towns/slums which was very powerful and affecting to see. Today has been a long day of travel which included visits to the southern region YMCA headquarters in Kenema and the Eastern region HQ in Bo. The people of Sierra Leone are incredibly friendly and hospitable. The country is beautiful. The poverty is extreme. The lack of government programs for simple things like water, sanitation, education is beyond comprehension. The YMCA is filling needs in the community that we expect to be filled by government – truly essential services. It seems to me that the potential for the Missoula Y to have a very meaningful impact is tremendous and the staff and volunteers at the Y branches here are eager to deepen our partnership.

Amazingly enough the three amigos have reunited in London after having three different itineraries after Delta forgot to notify us that they had changed the departure time for the Missoula-Minneapolis leg of our journey.  Rick made the original flight only because he checked his flight schedule late on Friday.  I made it on to the 7:45 Delta flight to SLC and then on to Detroit. :40 David couldn’t get his bag checked in as the 7:45 was loaded, so they got him on an 11:40 to SLC and then to Detroit.  Since they had screwed up our reservations, David and I ended up with the last two seats on the London plane and they were in First Class.  Definitely made the 8 hour flight much easier.  We are scheduled to leave Heathrow at 1:15 and arrive in Sierra Leone at 7:05pm.  There is a one hour time change (they are one hour earlier than London.)