Monday in Bo Town

Monday begins with a walk to visit Massah’s primary school. Her teacher greets us and the children in unison give us a greeting. The teacher proceeds to bring us to every class, including the kindergarten. The children were quite shy, but a few asked some good questions, What is the weather in America? What time is it where you live?

Most of the people in Bo are Mende. They have there own language. The first two years of school the teaching is in Mende or Krio. They learn English little by little (or “small, small” in Krio.)

In the afternoon we have a visit from Timothy, who was a friend and roommate of Simeon. We had a nice visit. He is writing his dissertation and will graduate early next year.

Emmanuel starts his first day of university today. His major is Social Work as he wants to learn how to help his people here in Sierra Leone. On Thursday he gives us a tour of Njala University. It is a large campus. We are introduced to the head of the department and we are welcomed to explore the campus. Emmanuel is quite pleased that he has been appointed class prefect for the four years. It is a position of leadership and responsibility.

Our food for breakfast was a scramble of plantains, onions, seasoning and eggs. They place it on bread and eat as a sandwich. For lunch we have fufu (fermented cassava) served with a spicy soup with chicken, fish and goat meat.