Sierra Leone Field Visit

I (Mel) have just returned from a visit to Sierra Leone, West Africa in my capacity as Health Advisor for Word Made Flesh (WMF) (see WMF website http://www.wordmadeflesh.com/ for more information about the organisation). The Streets of Freetown

Although one would think that, being on the same continent, it would be easy to get to West Africa for Egypt, it was a long trip. The flight was a little like a bus. We stopped in Khartoum, Sudan; Nairobi, Kenya; and Accra, Ghana before finally arriving in Freetown around 24 hours after departing Cairo. Upon arrival there are several choices of transport from the peninsular where the Freetown Airport is situated to the city; helicopter, hovercraft or ferry. I took the helicopter.

It was an old Russian model and brought back memories of medical transports within Cambodia with International SOS! The hovercraft caught on fine and sunk a few days after I arrived! All the passengers managed to get ashore safely.

Let me introduce you to the Word Made Flesh team in Sierra Leone. Cami, Stephanie, Melanie and Faye at the River Number Two Beach for a weekend get away.

Cami is the Field Director and has been there for 4 years. She has worked hard to develop the current programs and has an incredible love for the folks she works with, which is clearly reciprocated. She also makes a mean durum wheat pancake.

Faye has been in Freetown for 2 years and has just extended her contract for 3 more. She is the Advocacy Coordinator and is currently trying to develop that role in addition to being involved in the existing programs. Faye can cook up a soup with any given ingredients that will eclipse any soup you've ever had! If you want to know about advocacy see the website www.wordmadefesh.com/learn .

Stephanie has just arrived in Freetown to join the team. She will be hosting Servant Teams (to find out more about Servant Teams see the website www.wordmadeflesh.com/serve/ ). She is regularly tutoring some younger children in the community and learning Krio. These three amazing women opened their lives up to me and cared for me for the 12 days I was there. If you want to know more about Cami, Faye and Stephanie check out their profiles, newsletters and writing at http://www.wordmadeflesh.com/community/

I was able to attended the Good New Club at the Kroo Bay slum twice during my stay. On Saturday afternoons 300 children from the slum are orderly and quietly arranged on the pews of a little church at the bottom of the hill. Once they are settled they lift the roof off singing Christian songs and dancing led by the youth that WMF mentor and care for. After the a Sunday School style message and memory verse from the Bible all the kids get boiled eggs and biscuits (cookies). Any child who has a minor health issue can receive some basic care and advise from the the Word Made Flesh staff and the youth, for example treating minor wounds, scabies, headaches and colds etc.

Beside learning about the Sierra Leone Field, the main purpose of my trip was to facilitate wound care and preventative health training for the youth and adults that WMF work with in an effort the enhance their ability to care for themselves, their families and the children who attend the Good News Club. We held four sessions of around 2 hours each.

There was a strong emphasis on wound care principals and practical application. Cami Supervising the bandaging practice station.

The participants learnt about the structure and function of the skin, the wound healing process and how to apply this knowledge to caring for wounds.

Stephanie in charge of the triangle bandage practice station.

We did practical sessions on bandaging, triangle bandages and assessed the wound cleaning skills that they had learnt.

Faye assisting with the wound cleaning assessment station.

In addition after the Good News Club I supervised the youth applying what they had learnt to real wounds. We were able to see and care for a new laceration, a burn, lots of dirty healing wounds and a tropical ulcer (am exciting range for a nurse teaching wound care!).

As well as wound care wound care we learnt about hygiene, sanitation and nutrition with a focus on preventative health. These sessions were fun with lots of group work including sorting photographs of local foods into main food groups to help us to understand how to choose healthy balanced diets.

Cassava, yam and other staple foods in this region.

One of the highlights of my trip was a city tour with one of youth that WMF staff have been mentoring and supporting. He is currently a carpenter apprentice. One afternoon he took me to see the sights of Freetown. These included a huge Cotton Tree planted by the town's founders, landmarks, famous buildings and several huge markets where we explored the local food and vegetables, herbal medicine and handicrafts. What made this tour special was that many of the places he took me had personal significance for him and so in addition to the tour I was honored to learn about his life as a child during and after the civil war in Sierra Leone. I was able to walk places that I would not normally dare to tread and as I walked with my guide, was greeted cordially and well protected from any pick-pocketers.
Another huge highlight of this trip was meeting a young man that we have been sponsoring through the WMF program. He is now living with relatives and finishing his last year at school. He dreams of going to seminary and being a missionary. It was lovely to get to meet him and spend some time together. If you would like to know about sponsoring youth in Sierra Leone please contact Cami(cami.sigler@wordmadeflesh.com).

On my return flight I had an 11 hour layover in Nairobi, Kenya and was fortunate to spend the time with the Ness family who are working in Kenya with Food for the Hungry International. The Ness' were kind enough to pick me up and drop me back to the airport. We had a great day together catching up and meeting the new baby, just 3 weeks old.
Rachel, Baby Kyle and I having Ethiopian food for lunch