Relaxing Day

Oct 31

Today was a day of relaxation. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast buffet provided by the hotel, and I took a nap after our family devotions. As a family, we are going through the fruits of the Spirit with each of us doing a fruit. Today we learned that happiness is dependant on what happens, while joy is always a fruit of the Holy Sprit within us.

This afternoon, a few of us toured a 200 year old lighthouse that we were told still works! This spot gave us an awesome view of the ocean, and it was relaxing watching the waves crash against the rocks as the tide came in.

I felt like I was at home, eating the Kraft Dinner we had brought with us for supper. Richard and his brother Kevin took a long walk to a Chinatown area of Freetown to buy the necessary milk & butter… I guess every major city needs a Chinatown!

S.W.

Seeing Neighbours & Near Accident

Oct 30

This morning we stopped at the Ken Wiebe school while class was in. We brought out some frisbees and a soccer ball and the kids went nuts. The school started out as a building made from bush poles and palm branches for a roof. They gave it the name the Ken Wiebe school, after my father, in the hope that he would take a special interest in the school. I was initially the largest sponsor. Today it is a permanent concrete building.

Next we stopped and visited the house and neighbourhood where my parents had lived and raised me for the first year or so of my life. The villagers all immediately recognised my dad and quickly asked about me, Richard. Dad would point at me and they would express shock and surprise at how I had grown. They razzed Stephanie a bit about having stolen one of the men from their neighbourhood. They pointed to a girl named Yvonne (named after my mom) who was born around the same time as me and was supposed to be my wife (incidently her younger brother’s name is Richard). It was a really great reunion and we even were allowed to walk through our old house. It is now an orphanage.

Behind schedule we headed off finally to return to Freetown. Again we made a pitstop at Moyamba Junction to pick up some food and then continued on our way. It began to rain as we reached the outskirts of Freetown. About 20 minutes later with the road wet our vehicle began to fishtale. Supposedly we hit an oil patch on the highway. The driver lost control of the SUV and we narrowly avoided hitting an oncoming vehicle before coming to a stop sideways and blocking both lanes of traffic. God was watching out for us! Thank you everyone for your prayers!

R.W.

Schools, Mud Holes & Rain

Oct 29

We have been tired from all our adventures, and actually slept about 10 hours last night! In the morning, we drove up to Kenema and visited the Broadway School- a newer school with around 40 students. The Wiebe girls interacted with the children while the Wiebe men painted a few of the walls bright orange- you will be able to see the color on Richard’s shirt, shorts, & sandals when we get back.

During the drive, we came across a HUGE mud hole with 2 delivery trucks stuck in it about a few dozen people digging, pushing, & “supervising” around them. The men in the vehicle went to check it out, and our driver thought he could make it through once the 1 delivery truck was out of the way. With the boys outside watching (and Richard videotaping) our driver gathered some speed and managed to drive through the mud hole- mud to the top of our tires and splattered to the top of the windshield!

We arrived back at our hotel, ready to relax at the poolside with some supper. After swimming, the ever-threatening thunder clouds finally let loose, so we went to a (corrugated tin) covered patio to wait it out. It was only then that the wind picked up, violently shaking the tarps- the only thing keeping the driving rain from coming inside the patio! In the midst of all this, our waitress brought us our food- covered with a tray and she herself dressed in a blanket. Now that’s what I call service (she got a great tip!)

S.W.

Travelling "Up-Country"

Oct 28

Around 8am, we loaded up in our Nissan Patrol that we had hired from another Christian organisation. Slowly we traveled through the overcrowded east end of Freetown before finally clearing the suburbs and heading out on the open highway.

Since the end of Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war, considerable progress has been made in rebuilding the countries roads. It was beautiful tar road almost all the way to Bo, our final destination (the road used to be absolutely terrible).

This is an incredibly beautiful country with dense green jungle covering much of it as well as many hills and mountains. It is hard to believe that most of the areas we travelled through were the scenes of intense and bitter fighting through most of the latter parts of the 90s. Even more amazing is that people of this country have chosen to forgive those who perpetrated such terribly atrocities against them during the war. Though disarmed war criminals live among them, Sierra Leone has no problems with retribution taking place. I would say it is at least as safe as any western country.

The people are all very friendly. We are constantly being approached by people trying to sell their merchandise. I feel bad negotiating price and even worse if I don’t buy anything. These people have families that they are trying to feed and they all want to make some money from you.

One thing we noticed was that like the Africans, we take note on the rare occasion when we see a white person (there are very very few in this country). We stopped at the town of Moyamba Junction for lunch (African food) before continuing on the final leg of our trip to Bo- a town that is far less crowded, but still the second largest in Sierra Leone.

I’ve been quite excited to find that after almost 15 years I am still very fluent in Krio. We are staying in a small hotel with air conditioning and a swimming pool. We have been very grateful for both after stiflingly hot days.

R.W.

Visiting the Schools

Oct 27

Today was a gruelling day! After breakfast we took 2 taxi’s to a suburb in the east end of the city called Kissy. Here we visited a school that my in-law’s mission (Christian’s in Action) runs. The school has about 800 students and it felt like at least ¼ of them were in the courtyard ready to greet us. We were swarmed with children desperately trying to touch us. In the crush, I felt like a Hollywood actress with no security guards!

Once the teachers re-gained control of the students, we were toured around the school with each class standing and greeting us in unison “welcome uncle, welcome auntie, welcome friends” The headmistress of the school made a big deal about the first aid kit I gave them, saying no gift was small.

We visited one other smaller school before heading to a bakery with air conditioning. It was like heaven: when we first walked in, it actually felt COLD! We acclimatised quickly and re-fuelled with western-style food and plenty of water.

Back at the YMCA, we relaxed and most of us became Mennonite again by having matta-shlope before gathering back together for faspa & Wiebe family bonding time. It has been wonderful spending time with, and getting to know, my husband’s family more… I wish we could be together longer… only 10 more days in Africa!

S.W.

The First Day

Oct 26

Freetown is a very crowded city! The population has quadrupled in the last 15 years. Roads are crammed full of dilapidated taxis and fancy SUVs all honking incessantly and jostling for position with the thousands of people walking along the shoulders and going about their daily business. Stray dogs are ever present, usually sleeping away the daytime heat, in whatever shade they find. Add to this temperatures around 30 degrees with an oppressive humidity that makes you sweat all day long.

Wherever we go we are an event, with people crowding around us trying to sell us merchandise, and many others just stopping to watch us, as there are very few white people in this country. After doing a black market deal with some money changers down a narrow alleyway in the city center, we had lunch and then headed down to Lumley Beach.

Within minutes of setting up on this almost empty, 3 mile, stretch of sandy beach there were about a dozen Sierra Leonean children setting up about 10 feet away. They proceeded to do cartwheels, call out to us and playfight each other, clearly trying to show off and get our attention.

The water was refreshing although we soon all got itchy. It turns out there were many dead jellyfish washing up on shore. Their poison was being released into the water as they disintegrated. We ended off the evening by watching the sunset while eating at a Western Style beachside restaurant.

R.W.

Flying With VIP

Oct 25


Image 1 - On the flight from London Heathrow to Sierra Leone

Image 2 - About to take the water taxi across the bay from Lungi Airport to the capital city Freetown

It’s hot out here! But let me begin with our flight. We had wonderfully clear skies, which allowed me to see the Sahara desert for the very first time: lots of red sand- flatter than Manitoba. After we landed in Freetown, Sierra Leone, the plane had to make an extra stop for a single VIP to disembark on a red carpet and a row of saluting people- we had flown to Africa with the President of Sierra Leone!!

The sun had set when we arrived, so I couldn’t anticipate all the pot holes (in Canada they would be called sink holes) we had to dodge around and go through with the shuttle van. This was on the way to the boat that would take us from the airport (which is on Lungi Island) to Freetown. From the landing, we took two taxi’s to our hostel… I would love to compare this taxi trip to the legendary ones in New York!

The evening has been very humid- thankfully the city has almost 24hr electricity, and the hostel’s generator makes up for the power failures, which means the fan in our room will probably stay on all night! No blanket’s needed, and I believe pyjama’s could be optional. Hopefully the parade of people singing through the streets at midnight won’t be making music all night!

S.W.

Off to Sierra Leone in 10 minutes

Oct 25

Kevin and I started the morning by singing "Africa" by "Toto". We're hyper! The taxi will be here in 10 minutes to take us to Heathrow Airport and then off to Africa. We may not have easy access to internet for the next week, so our reports may be spotty.

Day of Joking and Laughing

Picture 1 - My brother and his wife Toni moments after arriving from Scotland. Toni is in the process of pouncing on me.

Picture 2 - Kevin Wiebe, Marc Odonel, Shawn Wiebe, Richard Wiebe and Angela Wiebe. Ferocious Mario Cart battling raging.

Well, today was a fantastic day!!! We joked around and laughed all day long with family and friends. Numerous old friends dropped by throughout the day to catch a glimpse of the great Wiebe's reunited once again. We only left dad and mom's place briefly to go and get kebabs from the local kebab shop. We already had curry yesterday and I think we might do a repeat when we get back from Sierra Leone. My brothers and I, as well as an old family friend Marco, spent a fair bit of time playing Mario Cart. I'm pretty sure there are few people as good as us at this game. The rivalry was fierce and all the old tricks and tactics came flooding back to all of us just like the old days. It was a pretty noisy room to be in. Everyone is in high spirits and the feeling of being reunited once again is overwhelming.

We're now packed and ready to go for the Sierra Leone portion of our trip. We depart first thing in the morning, October 25. It will be another gruelling flight, at the end of which we will see dad. He has called 4 times in the last 18 hours. Mom thinks he's feeling very left out so far.

R.W.

Searching For Sleep

Well, Richard had just finished proof-reading his post for today when he accidentally deleted it, so I will write today instead :)

We have now arrived safely in London, England with Shawn & Ang (Richard’s brother and his wife) and are enjoying the gift of hospitality my mother-in-law demonstrates oh so well! Richard’s dad is awaiting our arrival in Sierra Leone, and Richard’s youngest brother and his wife are currently en-route here from Scotland. This will be the first time the family has been together in over 2 years!

Us Wiebes must look like a rough bunch as our travels so far have included a lot of searching! My carry-on was searched & re-x-rayed, Ang was scanned & padded down, and when I received my checked suitcase at my final destination, I found my lock broken and a note saying my checked luggage had also been searched! I also have nice black grease mark on the outside of my new luggage to remember it by- how sweet.

Sleep in something we have not had much of at this point. Anyone who has tried to sleep in Economy knows how taunting that two inch recline is- just enough to remind you how much more space you might have had if you had bought one of those leather seats in the front of the plane!

Talking about sleep, there’s a lovely bed in front of me and I’m thinking about taking a nap before Kevin & Toni arrive from Scotland. I’ve closed my eyes, but I don’t believe I’ve slept for about 31 hours... (yawn)

S.W.

Travel Schedule

This is the day the Lord has made- let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Today is the day we begin our adventure that has been in the works for about 2 years- planned with excitement, and covered in prayer.

Thur, Oct 22 (today)- we are taking off from Winnipeg, have a very short lay-over in Chicago, and land in London, England tomorrow. Here we will stay for a couple of nights to get over jet-lag and spend time with Richard's family.

Sun, Oct 25- we take off from London, England and land in Freetown, Sierra Leone!!! Here we will spend some time in the city, travel "up-country," which is outside of the city, and then spend the last part of our trip back in the city.

Fri, Nov 6- we take off from Freetown, Sierra Leone and land the next day in London, England.

Sun, Nov 8- just Rich and I will be taking off from London heading to Venice, Italy! Here we will rent a car, and travel around Europe!

Mon, Nov 9- Monaco

Tues, Nov 10- Switzerland

Wed, Nov 11- Germany

Thur, Nov 12- Austria

Fri, Nov 13- back to Venice, Italy for our 5th anniversary!

Sat, Nov 14- we take off from Venice and land in London to spend one more day with Richard's family

Sun, Nov 15- we take off from London, have a lay-over in Chicago, and land in Winnipeg.

I think that sums it up! We're planning on making a post for each day, but may not be able to get onto the Internet each day. We'll do our best to keep you updated as we take you along on our adventure :)

S.W.

Deteriorating Maturity and Recon Reports

Things are now progressing very fast and Stephanie and I are now rushing to complete last minute tasks. While the last two years have flown by, the two weeks before the trip seem to have slowed to a crawl. Poor Stephanie is bearing the brunt of a rapidly deteriorating maturity level on my part. What little maturity I have left is being scraped together for the last few days of work, leaving very little for home. Things will only deteriorate further when we get to London and my brothers and I are reunited. There will be lots of rowdiness, probably more than a bit of egos clashing on Mario Cart battle mode on the old N64. Mom's going to be giddy, so we probably won't get much help from her.

As for Dad, aka the reconnaissance element, he is already on the ground in Sierra Leone, West Africa. I have deduced from his reports that the air is breathable, and that the environment can support white people. However, the lobster look is quite common for the whites and they like to hang out at any place with an air conditioner. More importantly the ferry crossing from the airport to the capital city was fairly straightforward and the rainy season (monsoon season) is in it's final death throes, with storms every night but only the occasional precipitation in the daytime.

I figured I would post this picture of the neighbour kids and us. I'm hoping we'll get to see most of them in the next few weeks. It would also appear, from the picture, that I was dealing with poultry long before I started working at Granny's Poultry.

Three more sleeps.

R.W.

Cleaning Through the Stress

Well, today we can say it's less then a week before we leave! I've gone through various emotions- including enough anxiety to give me a mirgraine last week. However, I have recovered, and today I am planning on doing my fall cleaning! I anticipate that we will be taking off in fall, and landing in winter. We are very thankful to have friends of ours staying in our home while we are gone- hopefully they won't have to shovel our long driveway!

S.W.

Passports With Visa Stamps Have Arrived!!!

I've been rather stressed about getting our passports back with our Sierra Leone Visa stamps. It's only three weeks to departure. Well, the passports arrived today. There are no more hurdles to conquer. Our trip is now inevitable and the countdown is truly beginning. 21 days!!! Stephanie and I are making our final preparations and checking our gear.

R.W.