Eat, Pray, Sweat!

I have had the very fortunate experience of staying at a guest house that is part of a convent. Yes, I have been spending time with the Sisters. It has been nothing but wonderful. Every morning, the roosters wake me up and I head down to the kitchen for a tasty bowl of porridge. I have given up the “Bun” for now! I am still in shock and it has been a week. One of the Sisters has been in Sierra Leone for 38 years and has been running a school for students who are hearing impaired. So, of course I have been learning sign language. There is a nursery, a primary school and a secondary school here. Aside from the regular core subjects, the secondary students have been busy preparing delicious meals for me, sewing, creating beadwork, weaving and constructing. One girl even gave me a massage as she participated in a six week massage course. The Sisters are certainly ensuring that these students have skills preparing them for potential jobs for their future. To say the least, this place is such an inspiration and I hope to be connected to this school upon my return to Canada. In communicating with the students here, this school has changed their life. Although they miss their families (as they live here), it is at this school where they learned how to sign and read lips. As I mentioned, they are learning vocational skills and have a lot less stigma here than in their home communities. When I am not relaxing at the guest house or working on my research, I have been fortunate enough to have lots of visits with Rosemarie. She greets me with bags of fresh bananas and proudly introduces me to many of her friends. She has also given me a tour of the Teacher’s College that she attends and I was able to bring the tuition money in person. She insists that it is not all that hot here and I try not to melt as we tour around town. I was relieved to hear my Freetown friends say that the heat up North was unbearable and they didn’t know how I was surviving the temps. If they were complaining, you can imagine how a Canuck finds the heat.