Jan-March 2009
30/01/09 12:23 Filed in: Journal
We are in Freetown and we are safe. Jet lag is almost history, and 87 degrees and humid seems pretty normal. We plan to go to Daru on Monday, and begin training on Wednesday. We'll visit Jokibu and Pellie sometimes during the trip, to catch up with the TBAs there and their projects.
A new resident at MOMS' headquarters is "Marley", a very young puppy who is very cute. All are well here, except Cecil, who is struggling with malaria, as happens too often.
We've visited the folks at Mercy Ships's facility in Aberdeen, and will be talking more with them. We also visiting Jitta's nursing school and I gave them some books to help the students with their studies.
I'll be in touch again in a few days.
Trish
A new resident at MOMS' headquarters is "Marley", a very young puppy who is very cute. All are well here, except Cecil, who is struggling with malaria, as happens too often.
We've visited the folks at Mercy Ships's facility in Aberdeen, and will be talking more with them. We also visiting Jitta's nursing school and I gave them some books to help the students with their studies.
I'll be in touch again in a few days.
Trish
We are off
23/01/09 13:55 Filed in: Plans
January 24th, we take off for Sierra Leone. “We” is Ami, Chris, and Trish. We are excited and, as usual, a little nervous. This is Ami’s first trip, and will have many totally new experiences.
For Chris and me, we still get a little edgy - although this will be our 7th trip, there is still so much to learn. Every trip has included “drama” of one sort or another, and this one is not likely to be an exception. In the past, the drama has ranged from misunderstandings with minor government officials (which had significant effects) to car wrecks (which provided us with some learnings, but no real problems).
We hope that you will continue to send us your good thoughts and prayers. We need wisdom, humor, patience, and endurance. Tolerance of heat and resistance to mosquitos are also important!
Thanks to all of you whose gifts have been this trip possible. I’ll update this blog when I can, and will send a report upon our return.
Trish
For Chris and me, we still get a little edgy - although this will be our 7th trip, there is still so much to learn. Every trip has included “drama” of one sort or another, and this one is not likely to be an exception. In the past, the drama has ranged from misunderstandings with minor government officials (which had significant effects) to car wrecks (which provided us with some learnings, but no real problems).
We hope that you will continue to send us your good thoughts and prayers. We need wisdom, humor, patience, and endurance. Tolerance of heat and resistance to mosquitos are also important!
Thanks to all of you whose gifts have been this trip possible. I’ll update this blog when I can, and will send a report upon our return.
Trish
Unitarian Universalist of Los Gatos
13/01/09 14:42 Filed in: Events
We have been invited by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Los Gatos to speak this Sunday morning - January 17th at their 10:30 service. MOMS volunteers are from a lot of different faith traditions and this diversity is very important to us. Our supporters are Hindus, Moslems, agnostics, Jews, Wiccans, Christians of many flavors, and Native American spirituality.
Most of those who are most involved talk about how this work stems from and feeds their spirituality. Our Islamic friends can talk happily about this with our Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Mennonite friends - and all are in agreement that the core of their religion and the core of their best humanity is actively loving people by meeting their needs with compassion.
We’re looking forward to talking with this group of people and making new friends.
Trish
UPDATE: We loved this group of people! They welcomed us warmly, listened attentively, and asked great questions. Several members of the group are making plans for activities this spring - watch for more information.
Thank you UUFLG!!
Most of those who are most involved talk about how this work stems from and feeds their spirituality. Our Islamic friends can talk happily about this with our Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Mennonite friends - and all are in agreement that the core of their religion and the core of their best humanity is actively loving people by meeting their needs with compassion.
We’re looking forward to talking with this group of people and making new friends.
Trish
UPDATE: We loved this group of people! They welcomed us warmly, listened attentively, and asked great questions. Several members of the group are making plans for activities this spring - watch for more information.
Thank you UUFLG!!
St Augustine ECW
10/01/09 21:36 Filed in: Events
Today we met with the Episcopal Church Women of St Augustine’s Church in Oakland. What a great group of people (several men attended the meeting as well!).
The folks attending the meeting asked great, incisive questions and were very generous, giving sacks of baby clothes and money. Several of them are interested in going with us to Sierra Leone, which is so exciting for us! Some others have ideas about helping in other ways.
We are very thankful for their graciousness and generous hearts. We’ll be glad to tell the women of Sierra Leone about this good group of people.
Trish
The folks attending the meeting asked great, incisive questions and were very generous, giving sacks of baby clothes and money. Several of them are interested in going with us to Sierra Leone, which is so exciting for us! Some others have ideas about helping in other ways.
We are very thankful for their graciousness and generous hearts. We’ll be glad to tell the women of Sierra Leone about this good group of people.
Trish
Next trip
07/01/09 11:25 Filed in: Plans
We are getting ready for our next trip to Sierra Leone. We're leaving on the 26th of January to return the 10th of March, again a 6-week trip. The best news is that the airlines have rolled back their prices a bit as the cost of fuel has gone down, so each ticket is a couple of hundred dollars less than in July. We'll be able to put that savings to good use, paying for extra baggage!
We'll be working with our third cohort, in the town of Daru in Jawei Chiefdom. Our class will draw from several area villages, and we hope it will have no more than 25 or 30 women! Daru is the seat of the Jawei Chiefdom, and our favorite Paramount Chief, Musa Ngombuklah Kallon, lives there. It is a larger town than we've worked in before, with about 10,000 people or so. A nice clinic is in the middle of town, with several skilled staff members, so the environment will be very different from what we are used to having.
Needs!
We need to take lots and lots of supplies and mama/baby packets as we are supporting several areas now. Each mama/baby pack includes the following if we have enough to go around:
1 hat (lightweight crochet is nice)
2 onesies or tshirts (one plain and one cute)
1 pair socks (2 if we can get enough)
2 simple receiving blankets
1 cloth diaper (2 if we can get enough)
1 travel-sized bottle of shampoo
1 travel-sized bottle of lotion
1 travel-sized bar or bottle of soap
We'd like to take 200 packs if we can. The critical pieces are the hats, tshirts, receiving blankets, and luxuries for the mothers. All the cloth items will be washed by hand and dried on a line, so lightweight, sturdy cotton with little decoration is best.
We need to take gloves to the MOMS' TBAs in the Jokibu area, as they are out. We weren't able to take any last trip, so we'll take as many as we can, and put 20-25 in a baggie for each MOMS' TBA. They are very careful with gloves, washing them and hanging them to dry in a protected place. If we get nitrile, they will last longer, even though they cost more.
(It will be glorious when Sierra Leone gets trustworthy mail and delivery service. For now, sending a 50-pound packing box costs over $400. We could fit two dozen boxes of gloves in it, but we can't be sure we'd get it, we'd have to spend 3-4 days at DHL's office trying to pick it up, and it would cost us several other "processing fees". Boo. We do take extra bags on the plane with us - they cost about $200 each.)
We also need to take other supplies to them, and gloves and supplies to Pellie and to Daru. Umbilical tape is one request, along with scissors and hemostats.
Also, we found last trip that our posters for teaching had gotten mildewed and nasty, so we need to replace them. I'll be buying the laminated kind, which will last longer. We also like to take flip-chart paper for ad-hoc drawings! Thank you, Cindy, for the markers.
If you'd like to send us some of these items, wonderful! If you'd like to help us buy them, please send us a check or use your credit card on PayPal. Our website has links.
A new volunteer will be joining us this trip. Ami is a CPM and is studying for her BSN and will use this experience as part of her training.
As always, if you have questions or comments, let us know!
Trish
We'll be working with our third cohort, in the town of Daru in Jawei Chiefdom. Our class will draw from several area villages, and we hope it will have no more than 25 or 30 women! Daru is the seat of the Jawei Chiefdom, and our favorite Paramount Chief, Musa Ngombuklah Kallon, lives there. It is a larger town than we've worked in before, with about 10,000 people or so. A nice clinic is in the middle of town, with several skilled staff members, so the environment will be very different from what we are used to having.
Needs!
We need to take lots and lots of supplies and mama/baby packets as we are supporting several areas now. Each mama/baby pack includes the following if we have enough to go around:
1 hat (lightweight crochet is nice)
2 onesies or tshirts (one plain and one cute)
1 pair socks (2 if we can get enough)
2 simple receiving blankets
1 cloth diaper (2 if we can get enough)
1 travel-sized bottle of shampoo
1 travel-sized bottle of lotion
1 travel-sized bar or bottle of soap
We'd like to take 200 packs if we can. The critical pieces are the hats, tshirts, receiving blankets, and luxuries for the mothers. All the cloth items will be washed by hand and dried on a line, so lightweight, sturdy cotton with little decoration is best.
We need to take gloves to the MOMS' TBAs in the Jokibu area, as they are out. We weren't able to take any last trip, so we'll take as many as we can, and put 20-25 in a baggie for each MOMS' TBA. They are very careful with gloves, washing them and hanging them to dry in a protected place. If we get nitrile, they will last longer, even though they cost more.
(It will be glorious when Sierra Leone gets trustworthy mail and delivery service. For now, sending a 50-pound packing box costs over $400. We could fit two dozen boxes of gloves in it, but we can't be sure we'd get it, we'd have to spend 3-4 days at DHL's office trying to pick it up, and it would cost us several other "processing fees". Boo. We do take extra bags on the plane with us - they cost about $200 each.)
We also need to take other supplies to them, and gloves and supplies to Pellie and to Daru. Umbilical tape is one request, along with scissors and hemostats.
Also, we found last trip that our posters for teaching had gotten mildewed and nasty, so we need to replace them. I'll be buying the laminated kind, which will last longer. We also like to take flip-chart paper for ad-hoc drawings! Thank you, Cindy, for the markers.
If you'd like to send us some of these items, wonderful! If you'd like to help us buy them, please send us a check or use your credit card on PayPal. Our website has links.
A new volunteer will be joining us this trip. Ami is a CPM and is studying for her BSN and will use this experience as part of her training.
As always, if you have questions or comments, let us know!
Trish