Normal, or is it?

It takes leaving all that is familiar and living in a different world to help to make the comparison of the haves and the have nots. We've been in rural eastern Sierra Leone for over a year now and it really has grown on us. The days are long, hot and many times 'busy' but the bliss of not having to run for the train, bus or tube; to not have to worry about the people (esp. young ones with vicious looking dogs) or even the worry of what to buy ( latest shoes, clothing or even cd). It can be liberating .....


Then we are reminded of how western we are when we have to light the generator and be subjected to its noise just to get some very cool water or when we spend the equivalent of £2 on a stick of ice cream which needs to be hurriedly eaten before it all ends up on the floor. It begs the question, which is the 'normal' life?
Is it the one where we can access the limited scarce resources at the touch of a button, have the option of 200 varieties of cereal in the 20 or more different neighbourhood supermarkets or corner shops; have the luxury of discarding mountains of food because it has passed the sell by date; your child needing to join a play group or nursery to get some form of socialization; getting grey hairs just trying to keep up with the maddening pace?
Or is it the normal life to eat what is grown ( even if its the same thing everyday); pinch the fuel supply because you may not have the money to get another share for a while; waking up to the singing of the birds and the crowing of the cockerel in the cool of the morning; the option of little
( and not so little) friends to play with Little J at seemingly all hours of the day ?
What do you think?


It seems we have enough time ( sometimes) to ponder on this...... we need to enjoy it, I guess. It won't last long as we are getting ready to go back to the UK for our furlough. We miss our friends tremendously, and all of what's been happening to many ( births; marriages; new jobs in new countries; ending University and becoming working adults). We have a lot to catch up on and we look forward to this when we get back. In the meantime, the friends and happenings here, although more subdued, make for a merry, sane life ( with the occasional hair pulling days).

We thank all who have been praying continuously for us during our journey and we ask you to continue to stand in the gap for us. We hope to complete some projects here – as a personal
( friends and family) labour of love for Nixon Hospital, and that should keep us busy enough until the end of the year. Our blogspot should have updates as soon as we get them.