When people return from mission trips you so often hear them say 'I really realised how much I have and how much I take for granted!' And I don't for a second deny that, it's absolutely true. But before I left I wanted to take away more from it than that. And I did, so much more than I ever expected.
A friend bought me a missions journal for the trip and during the first few days I wrote down what proved to be a very dangerous prayer. It went something like this "Let this place get under my skin. Give me a heart for it. Break my heart for it."
And it did. More than I could ever have expected. In the past year hardly a day has went by that I haven't thought about that village and those people. I learnt what it feels like to fall in love with a place, with an entire community. I was there for two weeks but I honestly feel like I left a little bit of my heart there (please excuse the cheesiness of that!), and as the saying goes 'Home is where the heart is.' I genuinely believe that going back to Joetown would be like going back to a home away from home.
I learnt so much more than how much I take for granted.
I learnt what true servant-hood looked like. The people who we were there to serve constantly kept serving us. When they saw us carrying water buckets, they would have them off us in an instant. When they saw us carrying chairs, they had them on their heads before we had a chance to say 'No thanks, I've got it!'
I learnt that you can fit 30+ adults and children on the back of a pick up truck, which is quite likely not legal and breaks every health and safety regulation I've ever seen but it was the best journey I've ever experienced.
En route to the Heaven FC match
I learnt that 'white person' in Krio is 'o'porto'- there were very few times that we went out for a walk without being reminded that we were white. It was extremely funny.
I learnt what it really looks like to share as I watched three children sitting in front of me sharing one boiled sweet between them. Little James had it first. After a while he took it our of his mouth and stuck it in the mouth of the girl on his right. When he thought she'd had it for long enough, he reached and took it out of her mouth and put gave it to the boy on his left. After another while, he took it back. And the cycle continued until the sweet was gone. It wasn't the most hygienic thing that I've ever witnessed but it was one of the most generous and it's one of my favourite memories from the trip.
I learnt that our world is horribly ill-divided. I knew that in theory before I left. But the truth of that shocked and saddened me. Selina Kyle's warning to Bruce Wayne in 'The Dark Knight Rises' played over and over in my mind while we were there.
"You're all going to wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."Selina Kyle, The Dark Knight Rises
I learnt that God works in His way, in His time. Truth be told at times I got so frustrated at unanswered prayers. When I look back now, I question how I could have thought that at all.
I saw and held a firefly for the first time in my life. Coolest thing ever.
I learnt that water is HEAVY! After about six days there, we ran out of running water and Kippy decided that rather than calling the fire engine in to refill the tank, she would let us experience what the locals lived like. And I am so thankful for that. We didn't go there to be raised above them and to be held in higher regard. We went there to love them well. It was difficult and by the time I came home the first world part of me wanted nothing more than a shower, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.
I adopted a new name. 'Louise' was scratched and I became 'Leaf.' I don't know whether it was too difficult to pronounce but Leaf fitted in well with the chant that the children chanted whenever Hannah, Steph and I came near- "Anna! Leaf! Staff!" Although I'm fairly convinced that a few of them didn't know which one of us was which. There were times when I greeted a child by myself, to be greeted back 'Anna! Leaf! Staff!' when Steph and Hannah were nowhere in sight!
I also encountered a bat, affectionately named Barry, for the first, and hopefully last time. He invited himself to live with us, an experience that I would have happily missed out on.
I saw what the world so often doesn't see. I'm sure whenever the civil war first broke out there was plenty of news coverage, but as time went on I guess that diminished and the world forgot about Sierra Leone again, assuming that all the work there was done. The bullet holes and demolished buildings that remain are proof that the work is far from all done.
There are some things that I experienced there that I cannot even begin to put into words, some things that I don't think I'll ever be able to explain to anyone who wasn't there with me and there are some stories that are really just not the kind of things that should be put on places like this, so with all that said, I'm rounding up.
I hope that I haven't portrayed these wonderful people in a way that isn't fair to them. Yes, they do live in poverty and yes they have suffered dreadfully, but there is so, so much more to them than that. They have bigger hearts than anyone I have ever met and they love better than I ever could. There are things we gave to the people of Joetown, but the things that we took from them and the things that we learnt from them are of a much greater worth.
Until next time,
Lou Mac
X
P.S. If you want to learn anymore about the work of Heaven Homes, check out their website or their facebook page here!
https://www.facebook.com/heavenhomes?fref=ts
http://www.heaven-homes.org/
