Parting is such (Sweet) Sorrow...

Well, as I write this last blog, I am sitting in the NGO office that has become my home over the past 4 months. I am looking down over the hills that I have climbed and travelled, and the beautiful town that has surronded me, loved me, and cherished me more than I ever thought possible. I knew at the beginning of this trip that the time to say goodbye would come again...but I never imagined it would come so soon. Last year when I said goodbye, my heart was breaking because I was just getting to know these beautiful people. This year, my heart is breaking because I have to leave my family and my very best friends. Words cannot describe how much everyone here means to me...how much they have impacted me...how much their generosity has changed and impacted my life in so many ways. Tonight we are heading to our farewell party, where I will get to see and spend time with all the amazing people who have become such a huge part of my life. Monday we will leave Kabala for Freetown, and on Wednesday, our flight leaves to bring us back to Canada. I don't understand how this summer has gone so quickly...but since this is my last post in Salone, let me share some of the ups and downs of this trip..the things I will miss so much.

First of all, I have loved working with the youth. We had our final bible study on Tuesday, and it was amazing to hear young men and women -who had once thought of themselves as worthless and thought that it was not POSSIBLE to save sex till marriage- talking about their desire to stay pure, and how they know God will keep them that way until they get married. It amazes me how these youth just grabbed unto the little teaching I was able to give them and ran with it. We certainly serve a good God.

Second of all, my family here is incredible. They treat me like I am one of their own now, not a 'tubabu' (Kurunco for white man) anymore. It is amazing to be so loved, welcomed, and to have formed such incredible relationships with people who come from a totally different background and place.

Thirdly, I will miss the kids. I will miss the huge smiles on their faces when you give them something as small as a package of bubbles...I will miss them running after me anytime I walk to the office, yelling my name and asking me how I slept. I will miss their desire to learn, their love for people, their enthusiasm in church, and the way that they just look at you and LOVE you...regardless of your skin colour or anything else. They have opened my heart so wide that without them, there is certain to be a big hole left there.

Just this week, Katie and I got the chance to travel back to Yarah, a small village about 27 miles from Kabala, with one of our best friends here, Martin. I've been to Yarah 2 times before, so it was nice to be back, and really awesome to get to meet all of our friend's family and spend time with them. When we were there, we met up with Martin's sister, Kumba, and all of her kids. As soon as I saw her youngest daughter, I had to fight to keep the tears from falling (which they did anyway). Her youngest daughter is 14 months old, but looks like she is about 6 months old. In my four months here, I am not sure if I have ever seen a baby that malnourished. When I say there was nothing to her, I literally mean NOTHING...her arms and legs were just hanging off her skin. Within 5 minutes of holding her, I realized that we had to do something...God does not just put you in a situation like that so that you can walk away. Thank God for my beautiful sister Katie, who had the same thoughts going through her head as me...I am so blessed to have such a generous and kind-hearted sister here with me. I ended up asking Kumba (with Martin as a translator, since his sister doesn't speak Krio) if she knew how long the baby had been like this, what she was sick with, and if she had seen a doctor. She had no idea what was wrong - there is no doctor or even a nurse inside Yarah, even though a beautiful new health clinic has just been built - how ironic, a brand new health clinic with locked doors. Long story short, me and Katie offered to take her and the baby back with us to Kabala so that she could see a doctor, and we told the family that we would buy the medicine and also the Bennymix (which is a locally made baby food that is made especially for malnourished kids) to keep the baby alive. She could not even believe that we would do that for her...I can't describe how incredibly thankful this woman was for such a small thing for us. When we brought her to Kabala yesterday, we saw a doctor right away - and it turns out the baby is anemic, malnourished, and is suffering from malaria. We bought the medicine for her, which was about 3 different bottles of medicine, and 4 packets of tablets, all for 15,000 Leones..which translates to about 5 dollars. It is so heartbreaking that the medicine that might save this child's life (God willing) costs 5 dollars...yet her family would never have been able to afford it, or get it, in a hundred years. We bought over 2 months worth of Benny mix for her for about 10 dollars each. It is absolutely mindblowing how little it costs to quite literally save a life.

Last night we showed Martin's sister how to mix the food, and how to give the medicine to her baby. Today her and the baby travelled back to Yarah, so we can only hope that Kumba will get time to continue giving her the medicine and making the food...its not easy when you work on a rice farm 12 hours a day. But, one of my friends here likes to say that "If God brings you to it, he'll bring you through it." If God brought Katie & I into this child's life, I'm sure he will be faithful so that our small help can do something. We serve a good God..please pray for this little girl's life.

Anyways, it's time to head off to our Goodbye party now...and no doubt shed some tears for my beautiful home that I will soon be leaving. May God bless you and keep you all who have been reading till we meet again, back in Canada or wherever you are. Thank you for praying for me, loving me, and caring about me, no matter what.

Lots of love,

Krissi