4 weeks

Anxious day, my friend is having surgery today and I hope it goes well and she has an uneventful recovery. I have been talking with Dr Thomas Turay, the man who got me started on this idea of travel to Sierra Leone. He asked me my goals in travelling to Sierra Leone and how cdpeace could help with the trip. I thought I would share my response as many of you have also wondered why and why now?


I will try to articulate my reasons clearly although they feel like a work in progress. I suspect that question may be easier to answer when I return but here is my attempt to answer it now:

I believe everyone deserves to live a life of dignity and respect, I believe children are deserving of the best we can offer for they are our future. When I heard you speak at Parkview Public School in 2007, I wanted to honor your request to 'not forget Sierra Leone'. The best way I can show what that means to me is to visit and share what I can of myself: my knowledge, skills, and resources. I want to nurture the relationship between our communities, I want the children of Parkview to see 'Me to We' in action, help them to know that the world is a small place, we are all in this together and need to look out for and help one another. This is a time when Canada can help Sierra Leone; there may come a time when fortunes are reversed and we need aid, God willing someone will be there for us. I want the children of Sierra Leone to know that they matter, they deserve peace, health, and education, and that half way around the world, we talk about them and wonder about them and hope they are well.

I plan on sharing my trip with the students of Parkview Public School and Childrens Hospital through a slideshow: to help them see life in Sierra Leone as I saw it while I was travelling, life in the villages, pictures of daily activities, help them to see the beauty and possibilities as well as the reality of day to day life there. I want to bring Mathumbo and Sierra Leone back to Parkview, make it alive for them as much as I can through stories and pictures.

So that is my best attempt at articulating where I am at today with 'Why Sierra Leone?'


I have been in touch with a rep at novopharm, a generic pharmaceutical company. They have a compassionate care programme that sends medication with physicians travelling to areas of need. I am hopeful, although the lead time is short, to get some antibiotics to take with me. Thomas emphasized the lack of supplies in rural health centres and that anything we can bring would be put to good use. Since antibiotics are not readily available in west Africa, inexpensive antibiotics like amoxicillin and sulfa can be used to treat meningitis and sepsis there. Crazy world.

So time spirals forward like a whirlwind carrying me along towards the flight and Sierra Leone.