We're going on a journey . . .

This morning, Sam took me off the ship and into the heart of Freetown.  He and Annelies had gone last Sunday to "scoop it out", they took their group on Thursday, and today was my day!  First stop - the Cotton Tree.  It is believed by some to have been the resting place for the Black Poor when they arrived in Sierra Leone in 1787.

The Cotton Tree

We then met up with his friend and our tour guide, Peter, who took us to the top of Tower Hill.  Great climb!  Great view!  

The top picture shows Peter and Sam at the tombs of two important people in the history of Sierra Leone - if I wouldn't have been breathing so hard from the climb, I may have gotten their names!  Right smack dab in the middle of the second picture you can see the good ship Mercy.  Then Peter, at our request, took us to the craft market where he said we were charged white man prices and paid way too much (the equivalent of $1.00 for a pair of earrings - maybe not; the pictures for Mr. Phillips classroom at Kenwood Trail - maybe).  We parted ways shortly after he got us on the right road home - and what a road that was!  I said to Sam, it's crowded like the Mall of America the week before Christmas, just add in cars and trucks honking, a few dogs, gutters full of goo, sweaty, smelly bodies and music blaring - and maybe you can get a feel for it!  It was good!  Margo (:    

Summer Program!

Bless Debra's heart (the photographer)!  She took this group picture of us earlier today for a five year old boy from the Netherlands who's dream was to visit the Africa Mercy.  He's too sick to come, but we are sending him this picture:

We do have one of us (that she didn't take) on one of the NEW Land Rovers!  That one will be coming as soon as Sam is done baking brownies with Micah and can down load it!  Margo (:

A Picture Does Paint a Thousand Words . . .

Sam's group visited the ward this past Monday and my group visited today.  Debra, the ship photographer (crew are not allowed to take pictures in the wards), joined us both days.  These are some of my favorites:

Deborah & Savannah

Yeah, that's me!

Abdell, our interpreter & Jamie

:

Matt & Elliott

Abdell, our interpreter & Micah

Laughter Is Good Stuff

After work today, Melissa, my counterpart in crime, shared that she was having so much fun working with the children on the ship.  Back in Australia, she works as a guidance officer (counselor) with high school students.  She said that some of the things they share with her are so sad that she just cries with them.  But she has enjoyed being her and just laughing.  It has done her soul good.  Here's to two more weeks of laughter!  Margo (: 

Megan . . .

Today was the second time Megan has driven for us on a field trip and I finally asked, "Do I know you from somewhere?"  Turns out she had just started dating her now husband Jeff when we were on the Anastasis together in 2004 and she was best friends with our dear friend from Minnesota, Amy!  Tomorrow, we'll check out the Wycliffe connection - she may know John and Amy Lindstrom from Trinity!  Have a great night!  Margo (:  

Only in Africa . . .

And probably only on the ship, does a black mama ask a white mama for hair advice which I was quite willing to proudly give yesterday - only to find myself asking black mamas for advice on Micah's hair today!  Oh, well . . . (: 

Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Charlotte Falls

There are some days that are just way more fun than others and today was one of those days!  Our actual field trip to the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary was a TOTAL bust!  Our tour guide, "Uncle Moses", tried hard to connect, but never did - he droned and droned and droned, on and on and on, in front of the pictures of the chimpanzees and went quickly by the chimps themselves.  However, we all now know that chimpanzees are apes and we can tell they are apes because they do not have tails - only monkeys have tails!  And chimpanzees are 98.6% human - whatever!  Wrong group to share that with!  What made the day a blast was getting there!  I was in a land rover with Sabine, a new driver who could barely see over the steering wheel.  Fortunately, she had driven in the Philippines and was not afraid of traffic, just pot holes!  However, we got her four-wheeling!  On our first wrong turn, she drove through someone's yard and over an embankment!  We were at quite an angle for a bit, but nothing fell off so we took off on the bumpiest gravel road we had seen!  We called it the "Land Rover Roller Coaster" and thought it was great until we got to the sanctuary - then it got even better!  Can you say "straight up"?  Talk about angles - that was one steep road!  Coming down it was even more fun!  And then we went to the falls!  It was beautiful!  The scenery was rainforest, the plants spectacular - the older kids had made sugar cookies yesterday that we ate at the falls which helped the younger kids hike ("No cookies until we're at the falls!")  Glorious day!  Great steep climb in the land rovers to get up to the main road - wish I had pictures!  Sam thought I had grabbed the lunches and camera and I thought he had!  So we scrounged for lunch and asked Annelies to take photos of us - which she inadvertently deleted when she took them off her camera!  Oh, well . . . we do have the memories!  Margo (: