what we did up country
My trip up country was great! We stayed at Outamba Kilimi National Park. It was absolutely beautiful. We did a lot of hiking through the african bush (SO COOL!), praying, journaling, meditating (so refreshing), and spending time together. It was so much fun. God really met with each of us in an intamate way. All of us had such a good time. Everyday I'd wake up and spend some time just being quiet and praying. Then Jeremy would start a fire and we'd eat breakfast. During breakfast Cami would read us a reflective piece from the Benadictine priests. After, I'd normally head off to go hike ,sometimes we'd go with a local guide sometimes we'd just go where ever we wanted. It was really fun to explore the area and walk through the local's properties and meet them and see how they lived. Life is so simple, yet full of hard work. The atmosphere is so much slower and calmer than the craziness of Freetown. It was so quiet-no horns, dogs barking, chickens squaking, people yelling at eachother...just the birds, the river, and our own conversations. The staff of the park treated us so well, they came to help us whenever we needed. However, I think we might have been a bit loud. One night after dinner, we'd got to sit and talk by the fire without cleaning our dirty dishes. As we walked back to our huts (which we had eaten dinner by) we walked into hundreds, maybe 1000's of biting ants. They quickly climbed all over us and chaos followed! We were yelling, cursing, and running all over the place trying to get the ants off us. Cami ran into our hut and took off her pants to try and get rid of the ants taht had cralled up them. Once we calmed down, and Cami dressed herself, we started divising a plan of how to get rid of the ants. Faye started spraying mosquito reppelant on them-didn't work. So I ran into my hut and grabbed a bandana, tied it to a stick, and lit it on fire. Then I went to the ant-infested area and started burning them and leaving bits of smoking bandana around the place to chase them off. It worked really well. Minus when I threw the burning stick onto the table (Eric ran to recover it and prevent the table from burning down). By that time, the staff showed up because they had heard us yelling. We told them what the problem was and they brought back ant killer and cleared out the rest of the ants. I'm sure they think we were some crazy white people but thank God for them!
I love to hike and we got to do a ton of it. One day we hiked to go see hippos, it was sweet! Another day, Jeremy and I went with Pa Goodman to try to find Elephants. He lead us on a path for quite a while then turned off and started hacking through the bush in a seemingly random spot. However, after about 10 minutes of that, we came across a "path" made by elephants. We then found dung that had just been left the day before-we were on the right path! It was so cool walking where elephants had been the day before and seeing the trees and plants they knocked down and touching the plants they had eaten. Finally we came to the area they had rested the night before, at that point Pa Goodman said they had gone off into the jungle and wouldn't come back til night (it was about noon at the time). So we headed back-bummed we didn't see any elephants but it was still so cool to be tracking them through the African bush on foot. Not many people can say they've done that. that evening we took everybody else back in hopes of seeing the Elephants come back that night. It too was a not a success but God still blessed us in our time together.
The best hike I went on was on the Thursday we headed back to Kamakwie. At 6:30am jeremy, Cami, and I left camp on foot and procceeded to hike 16 miles all the way to Kamakwie. It was AMAZING! Walking through the park in the morning was beautiful. We saw amazing birds and the views were breathtaking as the mist kissed the tops of the mountains and hills. As the day went on we walked through several villages. The villagers were quite surprised to see three white people passing on foot in the mid-day heat. We made it to the 1/2 way point and took a break for lunch at about 11am. Canned meat and biscuts...mmm. If I can help it, I will never eat canned meat again. I've had enough for the rest of my life! After lunch we fell asleep under a a little hut for about a 1/2 hour. Once we woke up we headed out for the last 8 miles. At one village, we were greeted by a huge group of kids that had just gotten out of school. We talked with them and then pulled out the camera-again, chaos followed. It was so worth it though and it was such a joy to be with them. Were about 2 hours from Kamakwie when we ran out of water. So at the next village we stopped and had about 3 oranges each and took a bunch with us to keep us hydrated. I loved just stopping and talking with the people as we ate our oranges together. We saw so much of the beauty that is Sierra Leonean. It was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done. We finally reached Kamakwie, exhausted but it was SO worth it!!
Our time together as a team and as WMF as a whole was something I'd been longing for. I loved just being with eachother in a setting other than Freetown b/c we were all able to slow down and just enjoy ourselves. We cooked together, played speed scrabble, swam in the river, washing ourselves and our clothes in the river, prayed together, did bible studies together, worshiped through music, and worshiped through enjoying God's creation together. I absolutely love my team and Camie and Faye. I will be sad when our time together here is over but I thank God that he has put each one of them in my life. They are each truly a blessing to me and I am so greatful for them.
Over all it was a really refreshing trip and I am really thankful for it. I really learned the importance of a time of rest and have been trying to put that into practice back here in Freetown. I am refocused and ready to put all of me into these last 4 weeks. Please pray with me to wake up ready each day to do just that. I do not want to leave feeling like I did not do that.
God bless!
Haley Kate
I love to hike and we got to do a ton of it. One day we hiked to go see hippos, it was sweet! Another day, Jeremy and I went with Pa Goodman to try to find Elephants. He lead us on a path for quite a while then turned off and started hacking through the bush in a seemingly random spot. However, after about 10 minutes of that, we came across a "path" made by elephants. We then found dung that had just been left the day before-we were on the right path! It was so cool walking where elephants had been the day before and seeing the trees and plants they knocked down and touching the plants they had eaten. Finally we came to the area they had rested the night before, at that point Pa Goodman said they had gone off into the jungle and wouldn't come back til night (it was about noon at the time). So we headed back-bummed we didn't see any elephants but it was still so cool to be tracking them through the African bush on foot. Not many people can say they've done that. that evening we took everybody else back in hopes of seeing the Elephants come back that night. It too was a not a success but God still blessed us in our time together.
The best hike I went on was on the Thursday we headed back to Kamakwie. At 6:30am jeremy, Cami, and I left camp on foot and procceeded to hike 16 miles all the way to Kamakwie. It was AMAZING! Walking through the park in the morning was beautiful. We saw amazing birds and the views were breathtaking as the mist kissed the tops of the mountains and hills. As the day went on we walked through several villages. The villagers were quite surprised to see three white people passing on foot in the mid-day heat. We made it to the 1/2 way point and took a break for lunch at about 11am. Canned meat and biscuts...mmm. If I can help it, I will never eat canned meat again. I've had enough for the rest of my life! After lunch we fell asleep under a a little hut for about a 1/2 hour. Once we woke up we headed out for the last 8 miles. At one village, we were greeted by a huge group of kids that had just gotten out of school. We talked with them and then pulled out the camera-again, chaos followed. It was so worth it though and it was such a joy to be with them. Were about 2 hours from Kamakwie when we ran out of water. So at the next village we stopped and had about 3 oranges each and took a bunch with us to keep us hydrated. I loved just stopping and talking with the people as we ate our oranges together. We saw so much of the beauty that is Sierra Leonean. It was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done. We finally reached Kamakwie, exhausted but it was SO worth it!!
Our time together as a team and as WMF as a whole was something I'd been longing for. I loved just being with eachother in a setting other than Freetown b/c we were all able to slow down and just enjoy ourselves. We cooked together, played speed scrabble, swam in the river, washing ourselves and our clothes in the river, prayed together, did bible studies together, worshiped through music, and worshiped through enjoying God's creation together. I absolutely love my team and Camie and Faye. I will be sad when our time together here is over but I thank God that he has put each one of them in my life. They are each truly a blessing to me and I am so greatful for them.
Over all it was a really refreshing trip and I am really thankful for it. I really learned the importance of a time of rest and have been trying to put that into practice back here in Freetown. I am refocused and ready to put all of me into these last 4 weeks. Please pray with me to wake up ready each day to do just that. I do not want to leave feeling like I did not do that.
God bless!
Haley Kate
posted by Haley Kate @ 1:47 PM
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