Thursday, July 22, 2010

Fun in Freetown

Our stay in Freetown so far has been amazing, but the enormity of the problems of the community that we are working with are overwhelming. It is very had to explain everything that we are seeing. As Americans we are always shown what African poverty is like on television, but seeing it first hand is a completely devestating experience. That being said the people are very optimistic, happy and willing to work to improve the future for their children.

Today we went into the community again to finish up taking our technical data for the trip. We have everything mapped out and tested and have completed our community service. It is nice because we also had some time to spend time with the school kids and bond with the community. One thing we did that was different then the scheduled events was we took the names, age, height and weight of each student. We are going to be able to compare them to the average kids in America and also set up each member of EWB with a pen pal.

Dr. L is really experiencing the dynamics of napping. He has found all the best napping spots in Freetown, including nice wooden benches.

Rich is secretly a soccer star and managed to skillfully steal the ball from a group of African children... He is also great at trying new foods and drinks...example Vicco Malt.

Bobby (Auntie Bobbie) managed to use his medical kit for the first time on a boy with a really bad burn from boiling water. Dont worry, we have it all on film.

Uncle Matt is the water expert and successfully used his muscles to lift many many children in the air.

Uncle Chris enjoyed weighing each kid and was an excellent assistant water man. He is also doing a fantastic job of filming all of the most critical happenings of the day.

Sandy has purchased a wooden giraffe and elephant and has successfully disinfected the entire hotel room.

Mike looked like Indiana Jones trying to draw his maps, made friends and has a new girlfriend named Rema... who is 2 and now Chris is fighting with Mike over her...

Meghan has sucessfully managed to give serious sass to the cab drivers "it was a short distance, we are white, not fools" and is looking forward to showing off her "football" skills tomorrow morning.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update EWB team. It sounds like a very moving experience.
    Sandy, Dana says disinfecting hotel rooms is genetic.
    Dad says good luck and be careful.
    Love you, a.h.i.g? and ttyl says Karleigh.
    Don't bring home any real animals....Mom

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  2. So glad to hear all the different memories being made. It is an overwhelming experience seeing true poverty first hand but as you have seen the basics of water, sanitation , education and healthcare are all you need for a successful community . The soccer and different foods are fun too!

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