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SMT Final Checkin

Page history last edited by rsb 13 years ago

At night in Makeni, Noah and I would go for walks.  Everyone was fun and welcoming.  We stopped at a little bar near our guest house and got to know a young bartender there.  He had very little education, but being smart, wanted more and would ask questions of people who had more education as to how to get it.  This is typical in Salone.  Noah and I would usually end up racking our brians and scheming with them and coming up with some ideas as to how they might learn, although I don't know if it was any help.  In the final analysis, with no money, no way to travel to a school, and limited access to books, we had to focus on how they could hang out with other people who had that access and learn the things they knew, in order to parley that into a better situation.

 

Said goodbye to dog monday morning, returned our recycled Star beer bottles to the bar, and stopped back in at SMT around noon to see how things were going before Archibald drove us to freetown.  There were plenty of questions to answer.  A final checkin after several business hours of work without our presence was essential to bring the obvious questions and problems to the fore.  We answered any final questions and fixed up whatever we thought needed fixing, and took off with Archie.

 

Along the way we had a couple breakdowns and a ticket.  This is probably not uncommon when travelling in Salone.  Felt really sorry for Archibald, though.  We were able to get repairs on the way. 

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During one of our breakdowns, we stopped to fix a flat.  I met a child there.  Her family was digging in a smouldering trash heap on the side of the road, by a very poor village.  She was about 2, chubby, but could walk in a wobbly way, dressed only in half a pink shirt.  Her family obviously cared for her as her hair was impeccably done, but she was covered in red dust as were most things.  Beautiful kid.  She just wobbled right up to my leg with a big smile and hugged it gently, turning her head to the side. I put my hand on her head and let her hug me for a while.  Her brother, about 5, stood by, and I said hi, he acknowledged me.  He didn't want to ask for money like some people do.  I could see longing in his eyes as he stood despondently next to us.  Eventually we had to go and I raised the hands of this beautiful little girl, and she looked up and smiled wide at me, then just turned and wandered off into the dusty dirt of the village, and I said goodbye to them.

 

Next: ARD Final Checkin

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