trip preparations

Sierra Leone is roughly 6 weeks away- Oct 19th I depart from Toronto Ontario and will reach Lungi Airport, Sierra Leone on the 20th at 10ish pm. I hate travelling and 24 hours of it is daunting but once I am there it will be worth it. A few butterflies at this point as we have no set itinerary after the first week. The first week I hope will be spent with Clare Levin who is in Sierra Leone on behalf of Carolyn Van Gurp from Peaceful Schools International. I will be travelling with Clare and handing out first aid kits to the local schools, scissors to the Natural Birth Attendants, and medical books to the library at Mapaki. I am also hoping to meet with Dr. Thomas Turay who, with his wife, runs an organization called cdpeace in Sierra Leone. This whole trip started after I heard Dr Turay speak at Parkview Public School in 2008. His impassioned plea for us 'not to forget Sierra Leone' moved me to travel across the world to tell him that his message was heard and we will not forget.

Check out cdpeace.com for more information about their work. Another favorite Salone site I have found is welbodi.org. This site looks at health care and specifically refers to the Childrens Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Finally for a picture of Sierra Leone as it is today visit visitsierraleone.org