Hello
Have you heard anything on the news about Sierra Leone? The rebel activity has increased again and 4 non-Sierra Leonians were killed, a doctor and his family from another mission in the south. We are safe as always, and there has been no word to worry from the Embassy. The only thing they say is not to travel in that particular area.
Actually, the fighting has moved farther north and there are a lot of soldiers stationed about 20 miles south of Makeni, which is about 40 miles from us. We saw the soldiers when we went to visit some Scottish friends who live in that area to talk about our plans to visit Scotland. We saw lots of military and their equipment along the road.
On a side note, it has been a really busy time at the school. We had a work team in February that did an excellent job in getting the building finished. As soon as they left, we began working on moving all the books. The kids helped us with this and while Perry hauled all the books down to us, we began to put them on the shelves. They were great helpers, and we almost got them all moved before the students arrived. Boy were they happy to see the new library and be able to start studying there.
There is still a lot of trim work to do, and next weekend we will finish moving the books.
Back to the rebel activity. All the fighting has made the people really nervous. As an example, a few nights ago the town went crazy. Just about the time we were going to bed, the whole town began shouting, and we saw people running down the road with guns and flashlights. We sent our night watchman to find out what was going on.
He came back saying that someone had reported seeing a rebel in the forest on the other side of town. As a result, all the leaders of the town had called for all those with guns to the town center and then sent them out as lookouts at every entrance to the town. All over the town people built fires so they could see anyone and anything.
About an hour later, several town leaders came to town to explain to us what was happening. Then they asked us what we were going to do. Perry said nothing. He was not going to go anywhere and risk driving into trouble. We would stay in the house and wait for more information and would talk to our mission to find out if anything was happening.
By morning the leaders came back. They were a little embarrassed this time. They had finally found the man who said he saw a rebel and discovered he was drunk at that moment. He was a hunter known to have an alcohol problem. As they interrogated him, they realized that what he had seen was a deer. In his drunken state, he assumed it was a rebel.
We were able to share with them that according to our mission there was no evidence of any rebel activity north of Magburka, a city 40 miles south of us and on the other side of our mission base in Makeni. With that information and the report of the town leaders, we were able to relax and return to our normal activities.
Next week we plan to go to Kamakwie to celebrate John’s birthday and that of one of our fellow workers. In the meantime we are busy teaching classes at the school and beginning to plan for our return to the states in June. It is getting closer.
Nancy
What scares you? Where do you go and what do you do when fear takes control? How will you respond to the fears of others?