Christmas Greetings from sunny Salone

Christmas has come around fast and furious, especially in our family where the partying starts as soon as its December, with birthdays, wedding anniversaries and school Christmas concerts following close on the heels of Christmas day. Thank God we’re not in London where the commercialized frenzy is hard to ignore. We may be able to get away with the odd present, but definitely couldn’t get away from Joelle’s birthday bash. And what a bash it was. There were two parties, the first at a kiddies play venue for the new school friends on December 3rd and the day after for our new friends on the guest house compound. It was lovely and short, just about four hours, with the hassle of cooking and cleaning left to caterers. Perfect, although we felt a distinct light weightiness of pocket at the end. It was nevertheless memorable.



And so, as we stumble from one celebration to the next, we remember the joy of the angels, shepherds, wise men and the parents of Jesus in this season. We can truly embrace these emotions as we celebrate our children’s birthdays and our own wedding anniversary. It has been challenging as we also have no place to call our own but unlike Jesus and his parents, the kindness of strangers have sustained us in these tough times. These strangers are more like family now. We continue to count our blessings as we embrace the challenges of the last few months. Our search continues for appropriate accommodation as it seems we might not be properly settled until the middle of next year, as we plan to move into temporary accommodation by the end of the month ( hopefully before Christmas). This is not unique to Freetown, we’re told, and so we live in hope.


So wherever you are, in what ever circumstance or weather, we wish God’s grace, mercy and blessing on you and your family as we remember the gift we were given at Christmas. Jesus Christ left His majestic home to be born in a smelly stable, to a teenage mother and a very reluctant father. Members of the lowest rated profession were one of the first to welcome Him. What a scene…but the fact is He came, He lived, He died, He rose again, He advocates and He will come again for us. Alleluia. Merry Christmas all.

The World of Agents and the Middle man

Since our arrival in Sierra Leone one of our major challenges has been to secure suitable accommodation and this search has introduced us to another world – that of agents!! Note – I did not say Estate agents – even though that would constitute the bulk of their ‘work’. The influx of international bodies and non-governmental agencies have put a premium on housing accommodation in the capital and as the rules of economics dictate, increase in demand without the matching supply obviously creates a market where the middleman flourishes. This is what is happening in SL.

Most of the agents I have come in contact with genuinely want to help and do not necessarily want to make a quick buck. However, they operate purely by word of mouth and one is likely to be shown the same property by more than one agent who may happen to know that the said property was ‘available’ for renting. Since we started looking I have ‘viewed’ close to 15 properties having been assured before each visit that the properties were in highly desirable areas and perfect for a family with two very young children – only to find that most of these properties are about a mile from the ‘desirable’ location and generally requiring some renovations.

Of course the possibility of earning a 10% commission (as charged by most agents) on the year’s rental – incidentally quoted in US dollars - means most agents would try to convince you that even though the property may not suit your requirements – but of course with a few adjustments (paid by you of course!) then presto! you have your ‘dream’ home – though it may be way out of the locality you initially were promised.

Despite the obvious inconvenience, I see all this as a true demonstration of the entrepreneurial spirit among the youth of Freetown. Here, they have spotted an opportunity and they have set themselves up to take advantage of it. Surely this is what capitalism is all about – having an entrepreneurial spirit? Good luck to them.
What worries me however is the fact that most of these guys operate by word of mouth and via their mobile phones, even though I have come across a couple of agents with offices and trained staff who offer a very decent service provided you are prepared to pay a registration fee before they show you around.

The lack of permanent accommodation is not however unique to us. We take consolation from the fact that our Lord himself at one stage ‘had no where to lay His head’ (Luke 9:58) unlike foxes and birds who have holes and nests. There is nothing that we endure that He hasn’t gone through before us and Paul reassures us that there is no trial that we cannot endure and that whatever tests we face God is faithful ‘and He will make a way’ .. to (strengthen) us so that ‘we would be able to bear them’.(1Cor. 9:13)

Despite all that we are grateful to God for His abundant grace and mercy for protecting us, reassuring us and giving us good health to enjoy His goodness. We know He is working something good on our behalf and as someone said – the fact that we cannot see the engine working does not mean it is idle. He will come through in His own time on schedule, but I must confess the waiting, the stress and the inconveniences …….are not easy.

First Challenge

It’s been a week since we arrived and already it has been very eventful. On the Sunday after our arrival the church family lost the Chairman of the Kailahun Circuit – Rev. Peter Lebbie - through illness. I worked with Peter during our first tour of duty in my role as Business Manager of Nixon Hospital – as he was on the Board of Governors of the hospital. He was a very enthusiastic person with a very good sense of humour. He had a vision to help transform the hospital into something nearer to its former glory. We pray his soul may rest in peace.

Then there was the search for accommodation. This meant dealing with estate agents and middle men trying to earn a living from the large number of ex pats working in the country. There is a dire shortage of decent houses especially at the lower end of the rental market (the bit we are able to operate within). Houses rent within US$4 – 5k per year - which on its own sounds manageable - until you realise they require rental payment in advance and sometimes for two years. There are houses to rent for a year but in areas that are very questionable, especially for someone who may not know their way about town. Presently, none of the 6 houses we’ve seen are suitable and so we are working with the church on a solution – to be housed for six months in a temporary accommodation until early next year when hopefully one of the church’s property would become available. In so doing, the rental money could be used in repairing this church property which we believe would be a better proposition rather than paying a very high rental on the open market.

Joelle came down with a serious bout of malaria on Friday night. She was running temperatures between 38 and 39.8°C, making it a very difficult night for us. As it happened we had made contact with a friend who is a doctor and who works at the Military hospital in Freetown the day before. A quick text, followed by a phone call found us at the hospital on Saturday morning around 10.30 am. After blood tests malaria was diagnosed. This is exactly a week after our arrival and despite religiously taking her malaria preventive tablets. She however, was not properly protected as she played with her friends outside after sun set, and we think this exposure increased the parasitic load, hence her getting ill. Saturday night was also challenging, but the fever was not as high or as persistent as the previous night.

We really saw God’s hand move in our circumstances especially with this situation. It was by God’s grace that made us contact our friend the doctor, on that Friday afternoon after we ‘accidentally’ came across her number. We know God does not do ‘accidents’ – he decrees and His promises are fulfilled. His promise that ‘He would never leave us nor forsake us’ was truly manifested on this occasion and our thanks and Praise goes first and foremost to God almighty.

PRAYER POINTS.
Please pray for:
1. Speedy and lasting recovery for Joelle and thank God for her health and protection for all of us - especially the little one - Janelle against any future health issues.

2. Pray for our accommodation to be resolved - still living at the guest house and despite the help of the church in this regard we really need a permanent base.

Back to the Lion Mountains

On 8th Oct we finally returned to Sierra Leone after a year in UK. We were originally meant to stay for 3 months – which would have been the duration of our furlough - but a combination of family issues had us prolong our stay in the UK. All is now sorted enough for us to return and we are grateful once again to all who held us up in prayers and helped during our stay in the UK.

Before we left the UK we wrote to BMI to request extra weight allowance for our luggages and I am sure those of you who have travelled with infants and children may understand. This request was graciously granted by BMI and we were given even more weight concessions, so on that front we were very grateful to the airline. Soon after that things started to go ‘pear shaped’. We were informed, after the flight had been called, that there would be a delay of about an hour & half due to technical problems – so instead of 1300 boarding we boarded at 1430. The flight then had to make a refuelling stop (about 45 mins.) at Malaga before finally arriving in Freetown at about 2145 local time – which meant we had been travelling for nearly 14hrs having set off from home at about 0930 UK summer time. Of course this was not the end of our journey. We had a ferry crossing to ‘enjoy’ and this did not set off till past midnight to arrive at the mainland at about 0100 hrs. The good thing was the ferry was not full, so loading and off-loading was pretty quick and even then we still did not get to our guest house till nearly 0230 hrs. This is where we must say a big ‘thank you’ to the Church in Sierra Leone for organising transport to pick us up from the airport to the mainland. Without the help of the Church we don’t know how we would have coped with two very tired and irritable children plus the carting of our considerable number of suitcases.

Despite all the challenges we faced with the flight we arrived to a warm welcome and of course a very hot Freetown – and considering that the weather was beginning to turn in the UK, this was very welcome albeit a bit too warm for us considering we were all tired and wanted to hit the sack.

Since arriving we have met with the President of Conference of the Church in SL together with the Accountant of Nixon Hospital and of course Peter and Janice Clarke, Mission Partners working at the Theological Hall. As mentioned above, we are at the moment housed temporarily in a guest house and the plan is for us to view a selection of houses that the Church thinks may be suitable accommodation for us.
We have also visited Joelle’s new school and hope to complete the necessary paperwork for her to start school as soon as possible. Finding answers to ‘I am bored’; ‘I want to go to the beach’ or ‘I want to go to school’ are now becoming very challenging. But God has provided playmates in the children who live at the guest house and best mate F is a regular playmate (mostly on the weekend). Joelle is coping.

Janelle started crawling properly the day after we arrived and we are blessed to have sole use of a very large airy veranda. She has also started pulling herself up on the furniture and she seems relatively happy moving around and being the attention of all the adults. So far, so good.

We thank God for travelling mercies and for a relatively comfortable ‘kotch’ at this guest house. We` pray for appropriate accommodation as soon as possible and maintenance of health. We thank God.

PRAYER POINTS:
1. We thank God for safe arrival in the country and please pray for God's protection in the country.
2.Please pray that our stay in the country is a useful and successful one.
3. Pray for a quick resolution of the accommodation issue and that we find a decent place to stay very quickly.
Thank you.

UP and About

It’s been a roller coaster of a time for us. Since the last posting we have had confirmation that Joey’s condition is not as serious as we were initially made to believe by the doctors and we are really grateful to God for this assessment. In addition, we have had the opportunity to meet and discuss the needs of Nixon Hospital with many people who have the desire and means to help with the rebuilding of Nixon.

Joey with a group of Nursing Students

One of our objective is to set up a scholarship to assist nursing students at Nixon Nursing School. We believe this will help build the capacity of health personnel in Sierra Leone and also to encourage them to stay in the villages where there is the greatest need for health personnel. A number of churches and individuals have caught our vision and pledged to support this programme. We hope to set a procedure soon to ensure how best to administer this programme.

Whilst in the UK, and with the help of friends and the Methodist Church, we have been able to put together a video depicting the challenges we face at Nixon. (Click on link to view. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebr4lVvDmn0). This video has been widely viewed and has generated many positive results. We are working on these leads which will hopefully yield some very fruitful projects in support of Nixon. We will update.

Another area of keen interest to us is to establish health links with health institutions in the UK and other parts of Africa. Such a health link we hope, would lead to capacity building and exchange of personnel and ideas between these organisations. We are presently in discussion with a medical school in the UK and are hoping this will lead to a fully fledged health link. There are plans in place to host four students from this school who are scheduled to undertake their medical electives at Nixon. Part of their programme would include a need assessment with proposals for moving the health link forward.

Last but not least, we have been in Jamaica for the past 5 weeks and even though it was meant to be a time of rest, this did not happen. We, however, have been to the beach far more times than we were able to in the past 12 months. Being in Jamaica has enabled us to attend the internment of the remains of Joey's dad who died last September. We were unable to attend the funeral, so this was an opportunity for closure for us. Thank you to all who sympathised and prayed for us during that period.

At the internment ceremony

Also, whilst in Jamaica we took the opportunity to baptise and dedicate Janelle to God. She never cried throughout the ceremony and the Officiating Minister commented on her being the most gentle baby he has dedicated. We are thankful for her gentle, quiet, pleasant spirit.

We thank all for their support in phone calls and prayers. Please continue to pray for the Lord's direction as we await arrangements to be made for our return to Sierra Leone. Also, we need prayers for healing without surgical intervention for Joey's condition and that this will not hinder her return to Sierra Leone. Also, for the children to remain healthy during our stay in the UK.

Man plans but God.....................

The recent events of the volcanic ash’s effect on airline travel have reminded us that, contrary to popular belief, we are NOT in control of our lives. This ‘act of God’ has made it clear that God is not asleep and He can change the picture in a twinkling of an eye. This fact was also evident in the events which unfolded in our own lives.

We have been back in the UK on furlough since October 2009, with plans for Michael to return to Sierra Leone by April 2010 and rest of us later in June 2010. In that time we had hoped to welcome a new member of the family; sort out any outstanding business here in the UK; go to Jamaica to visit family and attend to the internment of my father’s remains. Well, these plans were just that - plans. Our beautiful second daughter Janelle, came 5 weeks early after an eventful third trimester. I was admitted in hospital with ‘severe’ symptoms of Preeclampsia and she was delivered by emergency caesarean section after my waters broke prematurely. She was (and still is) healthy and beautiful and I eventually weaned myself off the medication for high blood pressure after making changes to my diet. We are still amazed at God’s mercy and grace (hence Janelle which means gracious), when we look on her and also witness the bonding that takes place between sisters. Joelle has become the big sister we always knew she was, and it’s beautiful to behold. God knows how to give beautiful gifts.

After settling into life with two daughters -one who is always on the move- the plans were to go to Jamaica whist Michael goes back to work in Sierra Leone. God decided it was best to stop, listen and reassess. That is when God stepped in. I received a very bad report from the head and neck team at Guy’s hospital which not only stopped us dead in our tracks but also forced us onto our knees. We held on to God with ‘one hand in His Omnipotence and the other on His Wisdom’. Our faith and total dependence on Him grew as we seriously questioned whether going back to the mission field was what He wanted us to do. I had to question whether teaching was the career path to take as the suggested ‘treatment’ would have changed all of this. We were forced to postpone our trip to Jamaica, start a watch and wait management with the doctors, pray and listen to God, all this to be done as calmly as possible for the girls’ sake. So far, we tentatively plan to return to the mission field later in the year.

And so dealing with the event that overtook us in March, the death of my father, has fallen down the list but still cries out for attention as, at the rate that things have been going, it seems the first anniversary of his death will come before we get to Jamaica. Whatever the case, we all need to come face to face with the loss. It’s still a work in progress.

As we continue to walk in the journey with our God we pray to remain open to His leading knowing He will ‘never leave us nor forsake us’ and ‘never give us more than we can bear’. We have learnt to make short term plans with the openness of mind to whatever changes which may arise. Our insurance is knowing our God is in control and that this will never change. We have also learned that friends and family are precious assets as we were strengthened by the support of many with prayers and words of encouragement and were reminded that family is not necessarily blood bound. We are a part of a greater spiritual family which gives a higher, purer gift of love.

Our blogging has reduced considerably but we hope you realise it is not intentional. The mission field that is Sierra Leone is very much on our hearts and we hope that God will see it wise to keep it in our plans. We remain His instruments and are open to the direction He wants us to go. He is our Shepherd.

WalesOnline - News - Cardiff News - Missionary visits Assembly to put spotlight on Sierra Leone

WalesOnline - News - Cardiff News - Missionary visits Assembly to put spotlight on Sierra Leone

Rehabilitation of Nurses Quarters at Nixon Hospital

One of the last pieces of work we did before we left for our furlough was to rehabilitate the old Medical Superintendent's residence for use as a hostel by the Nursing students. This was very crucial because whilst the student population was increasing we had only limited accommodation for the students. With the help and financial donations received from friends and family we were able to rehabilitate the building for use by the students.

The rehabilitation work obviously had its challenges but by God's grace all went very well.

This is to say a big thank you to all the donors who contributed both financially and through prayers towards the success of the rehabilitation work.

Unfortunately we left before the students moved into the building but we hope to update when we return, with pictures showing how the building is being used.

Joelle and Janelle

The break & What we've been up to??

I cannot believe our last posting was in June 2009!!! Time has truly flown. Since the posting a lot has happened. As most of you would know (well definitely friends and family) - we have been back in the UK since October 2009, had a series of talks and meetings with a number of churches and organisations to raise Nixon's profile, met a number of interesting people and friends; being to a few interesting places and had a second daughter - Janelle. So much has happened since June; and much more is happening. See pictures



When we left Nixon in October 2009, the plan was to spend Christmas and New Year here in the UK to await the birth of Janelle.



From the day we arrived in the UK we started a series of meetings with interest groups including 'Friends of Nixon'. That was a fantastic meeting as it gave us the opportunity to meet most of the people who support Nixon through prayers and generous financial contributions.We were really strengthened by the encouragement we received from the group and it was really great to meet Nixon 'legends' like 'Mama Gibson', Rev. Frank Himsworth (recently deceased), Dr John Cochrane and a whole host of others.





Dr Cochrane in conversation with yours truly



The late Rev. Himsworth - engaging as ever




We thank God for the friends of Nixon and the work they do to make a small corner of the world a better place for the disadvantaged.