It's All About the Shoes Daaaahling.......

When I came back to Sierra Leone in September, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do. I a few  ideas in mind but wanted to give it a couple months in the country before I committed to anything.  I wanted to work on figuring out my new role as “wife and mom in Africa” before I took on anything extra. I wasn’t sure what Peter’s job would entail and how I would need to help him.  Well, I think I’ve found what I’m going to be working on. And I’m really excited about it! J

When we were in the States at the height of Ebola, a pastor friend of ours e-mailed to tell us about a group of kids that he needed help with. Their parents were victims of Ebola and they needed help. At that time there was SO much fear in the country that a lot of relatives didn’t want these kids because they were afraid.  The idea of starting our own orphanage was thrown around in America but we could never get the funding to start it.  Peter and I sent some money over as we were able and Marie and I printed out their pictures and hung them on the wall in our house so we could pray for them every night before bed.  We told our friend that we couldn’t get the funding together so f he could find anyone else who could take care of these kids, he should definitely hand things over to them!  We got word a month or two before we came back that he found someone to support the kids.  Awesome!

As we got back to Sierra Leone and got settled, we went to check on the kiddos that we had been praying for. I wanted to see how they were doing and I really wanted Marie to see that the kids we’d been praying for were REAL kids and were going through REAL heartache.  (I think this is one of the biggest blessings in living the life we’ve chosen).  After meeting with the kids and the leaders I found out that yes, they had been receiving help, but it was kind of a hodgepodge of people supporting the kids. One man agreed to pay the salaries, one group was paying for the feeding, one woman paid the rent, etc.  But there were holes.   School was about to start and the kids weren’t going to be able to go because they didn’t have any way to pay their fees, let alone money for their uniforms and school supplies.  They also didn’t have any money for medicine.  My ears really perked up when I heard that. J

Before we left, my dad received a grant from rotary for $3,000 to be spent on “orphan care.”  When we arrived we weren’t sure how we wanted to spend that money but a plan began to formulate.  My amazing husband met with three schools that were near where the kids live and they all agreed to waive their school fees “as their Christian duty” to help. 

We calculated what we would need for uniforms and school supplies. Then my hubby went to town and spent 12 hours……shopping.  He took the orphanage director with him and wouldn’t let Nicole or I go because as soon as they saw our skin color they would jack up the prices.  The uniforms were being made by the school so they didn’t’ have to buy them but they did need to find the supplies, undershirts, socks and shoes.  Shoes.  Shoes were the biggest problem.  You can’t really take 50 kids with you into a big city to buy shoes.  Imagine 100+ mini Goodwills with everyone selling their used clothing.  Except in this case you have to negotiate every price and have multiple people yelling at you to come into their store and shoving their goods in your face.  SO not my idea of fun. J 

Taking 100 random shoes and trying to find all their matches

But my hubby is a trooper so he left the house at 6am (because apparently you get better deals early in the morning) with traced, cardboard outlines of every foot and came back with 50 pairs of black school shoes.  There were quite a few “this won’t do for me” comments during the distribution (all from the girls mind you).  One poor girl with “feet like a man’s”  giant shoes still didn’t fit.  Might have to import those from the States. 

Anyway, after being about a week late getting to school, it was so fun to go there on Sunday night and see all the girls’ hair all fancy for school. J  LOVE getting to be involved in this kind of ministry!

We had 50 bags with each bag having the kiddo's shoes and school supplies


P.S.  I didn't include any pictures of the kiddos in this post since I mentioned that they were orphans.  Friends of mine who have been working with orphans tell me that the government doesn't want us posting actual pictures of kids if we mention in the post that they're orphans. Just so you know. :) 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!!

On Sunday, Marie had her Christmas play at church.  It. Was. Awesome.  After living here for so long, there are few things that make me stop and say, “Wow! That’s different.”  I’ve gotten used to a lot of things.  However. This is my first Christmas in Sierra Leone! This was my first Christmas play in Sierra Leone.

The director of the play was so sweet and wanted to make sure that Marie had a part so that she could mingle with the other kids and make some friends.  Thus, she became “Innkeeper #1.”  We were a little nervous about it because her lines were in Krio and she while she is improving, her Krio sounds…..well, like my Krio.  We practiced her lines at home though (all 3 of them) and during the first practice, when she NAILED her lines, everyone erupted into cheering and started dancing around.  So sweet. J

Practices were a bit of a challenge because “4 O’clock” doesn’t really mean “4 O’clock” as much as it means “sometime in the evening.”  Half of the practices we ended up leaving because none of the other kids showed up.  The assistant director explained that you have to go house to house to collect them, otherwise they will just be “playing too much.”

My biggest shock came during the dress rehearsal.  They went through the entire play but instead of ending in the traditional way, they decided to go out with a bang with the ending scene being when King Herod  ordered all children under 2 to be murdered.  They had 4 older girls with young children in their laps.  The soldiers burst onto the scene and ripped the young children from their laps, laid them on the ground and slit their throats.  The mothers started wailing.  End Play.  Gives you that feel good Christmas feeling doesn't it?

I couldn’t believe what I was watching and Marie, who was sitting on my lap, turned around and asked why my mouth was open like that.  Fortunately a discussion ensued and they decided that maybe they should cut it short because it was horrifying (my contribution) it was too long and the kids would get dirty if they laid on the ground while their throats were being cut (the assistant director’s contribution). 

My favorite part was the awesome 3 person donkey they made. It was hilarious!  “Mary” was an average sized girl but was tall and the rear 1/3 of the donkey (where she was sitting) yelled during every practice that “she’s big! She’s big!”  Just what every teenage girl wants to hear.                           

While there were some differences, I was chuckling to myself on performance day when I saw all the phones come out to record the performance and all the proud parents getting up from their seats to get the perfect shot.  Some things are the same in every culture.   Merry Christmas!

Ebola Casualties.....

I’ve written before about seeing the remnants of Ebola all around us.   The signs, the empty treatment units, etc.  Yesterday I felt the effect in yet another way.  During the peak of the crisis, several people from the States decided to help sponsor some kids who were orphaned by Ebola.  In an effort to keep them out of an orphanage, they were helping support the “foster families” that they were living with.  Yesterday Nicole (a girl from my home church who’s here for a year) and I went to go see how these kiddos were doing.

The first girl we met was 12 years old and was staying with a woman who used to be her neighbor.  We talked to the woman who explained that this little girl used to play with her children.  When the girls’ parents died, the girl was just walking around, didn’t have anywhere to go.  “I didn’t want to her straining, so I invited her to stay with us," she said.  The woman lives in house made from mud bricks.  There is no man in the home to help support she and the kiddos so she sells what she can to try and eek by.  

James is another boy that we met who lost both of his parents to Ebola.  He is an only child and actually had Ebola himself, but survived.  He is currently staying with his aunt and uncle, although the auntie is very sick. She miscarried and after the miscarriage she became very sick.  They eventually took her to a different province because “it wasn’t a hospital sick.”  (This means that they believe the sickness is from some kind of curse or witchcraft).  

Another boy that we went to visit wasn’t in the house because he was out selling cassava that his auntie had grown.  He needed Le5,000 (about $1) to get his report card from school and they didn’t have it.  He is one of seven children that his parents left behind when they both died of Ebola.  His older brothers have stopped going to school in an effort to work to help support the younger siblings.  The kids are all living with different relatives.

I knew the stories. I’ve read all the articles about the orphan crisis and I’ve even seen these kids’ particular photos and heard about their struggles.  But there was something in me that just broke when I came face to face with the devastation that Ebola caused.  Forever.  These kids’ lives are changed. Forever.  Even as I write this, I know that my words will fall short and there’s no way that I can communicate the pain that I saw yesterday.  

I know that pain during this holiday season is not relegated to Sierra Leone.  It's everywhere.  Every year it feels like I see more and more of how broken our world is.  In the same vein, I think this year, more than maybe any other in my life, I am thankful for the hope that we have in Christ.  This life isn't the end.  Thank you God, for Christmas!!

P.S.  If any of you are interested in helping one of these kiddos, we have four more in homes that are struggling to feed all the mouths.  If you'd be interested in making a one year commitment of $25 a month, we'd love to hear from you!  This money will help with school fees, food, and some other necessities.  You can FB message me or e-mail at pesheriff14@gmail.com   Thanks!

First Thanksgiving

Yesterday a pastor from my home church returned home to the States with his family.  They were here for about a week and a half and the pastor taught at the Bible Institute that recently launched.  We have a group of 15 Sierra Leonean pastors, primarily from the provinces (far away from the capital city)   who come here for a week at a time to have their lectures.  This month the teacher was the pastor who married Peter and I.  He’s been coming to Sierra Leone for years and has such a passion for this place, particularly the pastors.  The stories that he would come back and tell were just so encouraging!  

This year  he brought his wife and two daughters which was awesome for our family!  There’s something refreshing about being in a foreign place but talking about familiar places with familiar people.  Their girls loved on my kids so well and Marie was OBSESSED with them!  The first thing she did when she woke up was to ask if she could go “see if they were awake.”  If left to her own devices, I would not have seen her the entire week.  So blessed when others pour into my kiddos!

Pastors at the seminar

This is my first "holiday season" I've spent in Sierra Leone so I was a little nervous about how I would do.  But we got to spend Thanksgiving with this family and about 30 other Americans at the beach.  So....I can't really complain. :)  (Although Marie still doesn't' think it can be close to Christmas because 'it's not even cold, Mom!)  

Mostly I was excited that I got to show off my mad cooking skills.  My personal favorite was on their last night when I decided to whip up a delicious peanut butter bar treat.  I was carrying it to the house for dinner when I realized that I forgot half of the recipe.  I had cooked brown sugar, white sugar, an egg and peanut butter in a 9x12 pan for 40 minutes (20 minutes longer than the recipe said because it just "kept looking mushy").  Oops. Forgot the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Yes. I did. But no big deal. I only had 20ish people waiting for it.  So......after I did my walk of shame and admitted what happened I put in all the missing ingredients, cooked it for ANOTHER 15 minutes and.....it was edible. Not great. But edible.  

The older "kids" playing a rousing card game after disastrous dessert!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!! :)

Homeschooling and Puppy Poop

I wrote this blog several days ago but I've delayed in posting it.  This is partly due to my contemplation over the events that occurred as well as....well, it's humbling.  Bordering on humiliating.  But here goes.  Be gentle. 

Yesterday Marie and I were doing our homeschooling and she became utterly frustrated by….something. I don’t even remember what it was right now.  She was in tears and at one point stomped her foot, and threw herself back in her chair because it was Just. So. Hard!!!  We took a little time out and talked about hard things.  We talked about rejoicing always and being thankful for things that are hard.  We talked about pressing on, not giving up when things are hard. And we talked about how important our attitudes are, especially when things are hard.  We prayed and thanked Jesus for hard things and asked that he would help Marie to have a good attitude, even when things are hard and that Jesus would give her a “happy heart.”  About 15 min. later Marie looked up and said, “Hey!!!  Look how happy I am now! Jesus changed my heart!!”

Today I literally banged my head against our white board during homeschooling.  Literally.  

There, I admitted it.

I did it. 

I'm not proud of it.  

It was a new homeschooling low.  Maybe a new life low.  

It all happened because I was at my WITS END about how to explain which number is “greatest.”  We’ve been working on it for weeks.  We've played games, used the white board, used animals, beans, dice, etc.  I gave up.  And to make it worse, Marie didn’t seem to really CARE about knowing which one was greatest.  She was more concerned about the owie on her foot, where the dog was, what was for lunch, and about 50 other things that had nothing to do with understanding that 34 is greater than 26. 

Well, shortly after the head banging incident (which still caught her off guard, even though she’s somewhat used to her Mama’s dramatics), Marie quietly looked up and said,

“Mama, are you frustrated?” 

“Yes Sweetie, I am.  I’m having a hard time teaching you this.”

 “Do you want me to pray for you that you won’t be frustrated and that God will give you a happy heart?”

Stunned pause.

“Yes, please.” 

So Marie prayed and then I prayed and thanked God for this “hard thing” that for me, is homeschooling.  In that moment I realized that this was the same thing that I had prayed for countless times while I was working at the hospital.  Thanking God for the “hard thing” of fighting what seemed to be a never ending uphill battle to save little kids’ lives.

My life is different than it once was.  Instead of spending my days trying to beat back the sting of death that seemed to hover over every bed in the hospital, I spend my days making sure my hubby and kiddos have clean clothes and nutritious meals and poop…..I seem to clean up a lot of poop.  (Not my hubby’s poop…..the smallest child and our new puppy).  The “hard” is different.   I send Peter out into the world and I stay home to keep the “home fires burning.”  It’s a new kind of hard for me.  But my daughter reminded me yesterday that the calling is the same.  To rejoice.  Always.  For everything.  Even puppy poop. Homeschooling is a "small, hard."  I've had "bigger hards."  Those are even harder to rejoice in.  One day maybe I'll have the "biggest hard."  But my prayer is that I will learn to say "thank you" in the "small, hards" so I will be ready when the "bigger hards" come.  

Yes the dog is wearing clothes.  That is my daughter.  With her daughter. :)