Life, As Usual

I just want to begin this post by noting the irony of our current situation. For the past two days, we haven't had water at the hostel. We can get a bucket from the tap if we need it, but we haven't had running water (so think showers, toilets, taps, cooking...). However, as I am in Sierra Leone during the rainiest month of the year, it has been raining nearly all day, often completely pouring. It was raining so hard on Sunday morning that we could not leave for church... yet we have no water.

So life here is settling into a rhythm. I am getting used to work, but also life here. I've been able to make some good friends, not just people who want to talk about "How is Sierra Leone? What is America like?" all of the time, but actual friend who I can just hang out with. It is really nice- it feels like life as usual. And while life as usual isn't necessarily as exciting sounding as busy saving the world, it is good. As a preface to this next statement I will say that I have met many amazing volunteers and missionaries here who this does not apply to. That said, so many volunteers/missionaries/expats here want nothing to do with the local people or culture. They live in nice complexes (though I'll say the YMCA is, comparatively, pretty nice) and don't leave, have drivers and never take a poda poda or taxi. They don't eat at local restaurants, they always go to the fancy, air conditioned, incredibly expensive foreign restaurants that almost no local could ever afford. When they do go out, they go to expat hangouts only- they go to the expensive, sheltered bars and international clubs, not to the little beach shacks that could desperately use the business. Often they have made no effort to learn any krio besides "hello" or "how are you?" and generally don't talk to the people they are supposedly here to help. There are NGOs everywhere here, and like I mentioned earlier, the country lives off of them. That said, since there are so many NGO workers, there aren't all necessarily the ones who really want to be here. So life as usual with in a real Sierra Leonean community is good. It's nice to have people to just talk with, be with, learn from, joke with. I'm seeing the real face of Sierra Leone. And while hanging out with the neighbors and learning how to cook African food isn't a huge, prophetic act saving the world, it's the little act with great love- and the more I am here, the more I realize that is all I can do for now.