Whiling away the Weekend...

 
 
 
 

So it is now Monday morning and I will relate the passing of the weekend. It started with an invitation to go out & hear some music, but I'm glad I didn't make that foray because a terribly mighty monsoon kicked up around 8 p.m. Friday night. I sat out in it until the rain started driving sideways and then just admired through the windows. A glimpse of God's mighty power! That cleared the air a bit and a nice breeze came up so Saturday morning started out fresh. Saturdays and Sundays my only official tasks are book club and WASSCE (West African Secondary School Certification Exams) tutoring, so there is time to enjoy the day like a Sierra Leonian. Much of both of these days consists of just lounging about. Favorite activities include doing absolutely nothing, talking with people, sleeping (a favorite of the pickins (children)) and plaiting hair.

SO....I'm about ready to open a hairdressing shop. Here's the procedure: The girls basically spend countless hours braiding their hair. They take turns having it done (there are a whole bunch of girls who are quite good at braiding) and since it takes HOURS, if they get up and leave, they often leave a gigantic comb stuck in their hair to mark the spot. The braid design possibilities are endless. Overwhelming really. It changes once a week.
Even Mother Appia gets her hair done! (while catching up on sleep at the same time!)
See the first two pictures...

A lot of the older women do extensions. This consists of braiding all the hair to the scalp (no cute ends can be sticking up or out anywhere). Then a gigantic needle is threaded with black thread and the extensions are sewn to the braids giving the look of long hair (or curls, or colored dreds, or whatever the wearer wants sewn on). With Fudia, for example, Aunty Martha does her hair. She has about 10 extensions sewn onto her braids. Martha started near Fudia's neck and sewed that bit first. Then she gradually moved up Fudia's head - sewing the pieces from right to left in layers. See last picture for finished product.

The other highly amusing thing (although I shouldn't laugh probably) is watching the kids get in trouble. Okay - let me rephrase. The other two pictures show a few boys doing their punishment. I don't know what they did but the punishment was to do endless repetitions of quad thrusts. They have to cross their arms over their chests and hold their ears; I think this makes it harder. The boy in the yellow shirt started laughing so he had to do them for a really long time; in fact, he came over to where we were sitting and a bunch of us get involved in a pretty funny conversation and forgot about him. Poor kid! He was sweaty and miserable when he was finally released. I had to laugh at the creativity of the punishment. Way to get exercise in there, too! Other typical punishments involve digging weeds or cleaning.

Sunday afternoon Fudia and I walked into town for ice cream (well, I had ice cream and Fudia had a Fanta). The place is air-conditioned so it was a lovely little break! After that, I went over for Bible Study; every Sunday night at 7, Rev. Gbenday (spiritual life coordinator) leads a study for children and staff. The evening opened with some singing and then a reminder about last week's lesson on Ananias and Sephira (whose names I'm completely misspelling) who were struck dead after they lied. Apparently, yesterday afternoon's scandal involved a boy who lied to Rev. Gbenday. Although his name was not mentioned, he got called out on it and everyone recalled how much God dislikes lying. They're still thinking up some punishment for him. The degree of "vice" was very very bad! The teaching went on and segued into the importance of obedience. So we examined Jonah, who was disobedient (and all agreed that we don't want to end up swallowed up by a big fish) and we also looked at God's promises in Deuteronomy to bless those who do "good and right" things. We then looked in John and Hebrews for more directions on being obedient. A reminder was given that honoring your father and mother (or those who are in those places of authority here at CRC) is like honoring and respecting God who wants our obedience. Well put. Hopefully lesson will take and "vile behaviors" and "malice" will cease.

So, in all, a lovely weekend was had. It's great to be able to spend time and have no agenda...it's all about relationship here and I think we in the West could stand to learn a lot.

Bye for now!