Day 8 - Reflections on the trip to Kailahun

Greetings from Sierra Leone,

Justin Monts is writing this blog. I wanted to comment further on the trip to Kailahun. The trip was exhausting but spiritually rewarding. Jerry and I took a bus to Kenema and from there we hopped in a car with several others seeking to go to Kailahun. Jerry had me take the window seat in front. There was a woman sitting in between me and the driver and so I was squished against the door, sitting sideways with my bottom on the door itself. We rode like this for four hours. The roads were extremely bumpy and dust flew freely into the car. I kept the window down to avoid suffocating in the heat. The roads were narrow and tall grass and twigs whipped against my arms and face as the driver sped along. It was a huge relief to finally arrive and be greeted by brother Lansana! The first hotel they took me to was not really a hotel but what appeared to be a woman's house. She did not have air conditioning or hot water and I stressed that coming from the States, such would be extremely helpful, at least for the first day. (I wanted to see if my body could acclimate to the environment before risking complete exhaustion and fatigue under the hot African sun.) They then took me to another place where there was air conditioning. But this place wanted to charge extra for hot water. Brother Jerry was angry at them, for he knew they made that rule when they saw that I was a white man, but I told him not to worry and that the room with cold water would be fine.

The next day (Sunday) brother Lansana met us to take us to the radio station. He flagged over two boys on motorbikes to drive us. My mother would have had a heart attack if she saw me riding on the back of the motorbike on the dangerous roads, having no helmet available to put on. Along the way, little children would run out of huts and mud brick houses shouting, "Pomweh!! Pomweh!! Pomweh!!" I told the driver I had already heard that word before and asked if they were saying hello. He laughed and said, "No, they are saying 'White Man! White Man! White Man!'"

We got to the station but (sadly) they were having technical difficulties so we could not get any air time. That was unfortunate for I was hoping to bring a short talk about the One Body (Eph. 4:4). From the station we went to the meeting house where we greeted the brethren. They were so excited for our arrival and touched that we made a sacrifice to be there. Lord willing, I will be able to see them again next year with brother Jerry and be able to conduct preacher training sessions for them.

On the return journey we took a van back from Kenema. It was quite scary when a man got on offering Islamic prayers in exchange for financial compensation. Brother Jerry challenged him saying if you want to pray for people just pray for people but do not ask for their money. In a country of extreme poverty Jerry gets upset at such exploitation for he knows many of these people will pay for the prayers though they are struggling just to survive. The Muslim man got upset at Jerry and shouted at him but then continued with his appeal to the rest in the van. Then, he raised his hands up and started in song and quoted a prayer from the Koran in Arabic. All around me I saw hands going up as the people prayed with him. (It was a reminder that nearly 70% of the country is Muslim.) And sure enough, after his prayer he collected from the travelers. I was also surprised when two women got on with live chickens tied at their feet. One sat by me and on the long drive back I felt the chicken brushing up against my feet. (Jerry tells me goats have been taken on these vans.) In America a van like this would only hold nine (at most!) but I am sure there were about 40 on there. I could not move. Bags of rice and tubs of palm wine and palm oil were slid under our feet. I had to put my luggage on my lap and that killed the circulation in my legs. It was a very rough journey ... and I'm glad to be back in Freetown.

Signing off from Sierra Leone,

Your servant,

Justin