Author Archives: Tiim & Kathy

We left Medford, Oregon yesterday and drove five hours to McMinnville, Oregon. We unhooked the trailer at Olde Stone Village RV Park. It is a beautiful well maintained park located next to the Air and Space Museum.

The rain was heavy as we immediately drove into Portland to go to Mill End Fabric Store and Mr. Green Beans. I found a few fabrics to line my burlap coffee bag tote bags and clutches.

At Mr.Green Beans, Tim picked up the green coffee beans that he had ordered, while I went through a huge pile of coffee bags. Thanks, Trevin Miller, for these amazing finds.

Here are examples of what I make out of the bags. I sell the bags for the purpose of raising money to send to friends in Sierra Leone and Liberia to help with education needs.

We headed back in the rain to our trailer home.

We arrived home on Monday at midnight after flying for about 30 hours. The flights were on time and there were no problems. We had all our documents in order.

We are still processing all that we did and the wonderful relationships we built with those we spent time with. What began with Alyssa’s time on Mercy Ships and our supporting Simeon for eight years has given us the relationships with his family that was the backbone of this trip.

There have been many tears as we left and still now that we are home. Everyone welcomed us with love and a willingness to share their hopes and struggles with us. We are so humbled and blessed for spending time with everyone of them.

So here are a few more photos of these people who welcomed us as family.

I think I need to do another post to have some photos of the children that captured our hearts. So as they say in Krio, Tumara yeah.

We attended Calvary Free Pentecostal Church this morning. It was a wonderful, moving service. They presented us with gifts of more African clothes made of the traditional Sierra Leone Cottage Cloth. We feel so undeserving of all the gifts we have received.

Augustine, Samuel and Alimatu came to say goodbye at the airport. We drive to the ferry and have a pleasant ride across the water to Lungi. We had a nice lunch of fish and chips. I am still getting used to having the whole fish on my plate and having to pick through the bones!

It was pretty teary at the airport. So hard to say goodbye!

We finally got our negative Covid results from yesterday’s test. Another $140 dollars later we had another Covid test today and hope this satisfies the US government’s new requirements. 😍

The best part of the day was a visit with Aaron and his family. They gifted us these African dress. They had the local tailor make them from cloth that was given to them as a wedding gift. That touched our hearts.

We all went for an outing to the supermarket to buy ice cream. The kids had fun.

We walked through the Calabatown Market. It was very busy and colorful.

After a restful morning and a visit from Patrick we join the family at Aberdeen beach.

It was a fun afternoon!

We have one day left before we leave on Sunday. We got our Covid test this morning only to learn about the new US restrictions requiring a negative Covid test 24 hours before we travel. We are a little concerned and may have to figure that out when we get to Brussels. Such complications!

A day on the water was a refreshing change, however the visit to Bunce Island was very sobering. We boarded our African boat at the Aberdeen beach. The beach was full of fishing boats and women waiting for the fishermen to come in.

Our boatman was Tommy. Traveling with us were Augustine and his friend, Mariama. It was a long three hour ride to the island with much to see along the way.

I could try to explain Bunce Island’s part in the slave trade, but this sign says it well.

On a lighter note, we had an amazing lunch prepared fresh by our boatman. Barracuda on skewers, fries and plantains. Yum!

The day began with the visit to Union Bank to pay for our upcoming Covid tests. Once that was taken care of, we headed to Lumley Beach to meet with Tommy who will be taking us in his boat to Bunce Island tomorrow.

Augustine took us on the most interesting roads to Christiana’s place. So many narrow, crowded roads!

Christiana greeted us and invited us into her parlor. She stayed on the porch cooking. To our surprise Moses and Pastor Harris were there having arrived the past night from Liberia. We had a nice discussion with them about their vision for helping village children and at risk children in Monrovia. They presented us with the gift of African dress.

Christiana served us a dish of sweet potatoes and a gizzard meat sauce. Good discussions were had about humbly serving God and His faithfulness to us, no matter what our circumstances are.

Our next visit was to Alimatu’s place. She lives with her mother and siblings. She surprised us with beautiful African clothing she had made for us.

She is an amazing seamstress. We loved seeing her at her machine

We ended the day presenting Moses with all the used children’s clothing we brought from the USA for the children of the village that he serves. It was a wonderful humbling day.

Well, we are back in Freetown for our final five days. We wanted to go see Alyssa’s friend Mariama again.

After leaving Mariama we go to the Big Market again to buy some gifts. It was very crazy and stressful! The bargaining and pleading to buy made it hard to think. We ultimately were able to make some purchases with the help of Augustine’s bargaining skills. It was so stressful that we didn’t take any photos at the market. But here are a few items we bought.

Kenema is a city north of Bo. It is a major hub for the towns and villages in the provinces. There is a large market where people from the villages come to sell their produce and also buy what they need.

There is a Catholic school here with expansive grounds. The children love to see us white people. They call out “Pumway, pumway” (white man). The boys really wanted to be in a photo with us!

The major mode of public transport in Kenema and Bo are motorbikes.

I have been wanting to capture one of the many pieces of this journey that has so captured our heart. The children! The many many smiles, hugs, and joy filled hearts. Delicate, trusting little hands needing to touch this unusual white skin. No wonder Jesus said: “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven”.