Today is a day which I approached with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.  It was the day of the party for the 25 or so sponsored Peace Project children.  The anticipation is simple – it’s wonderful to see them and wonderful to be the one who gets to distribute all of the cards and gifts that all of the sponsors so generously provide and which Heidi wrangles like a champ.  Talk about knowing how Santa would feel if he visited Africa

The anxiety is due to the fact that, as we transition to having a new Peace Project representative handle this initiative in Sierra Leone, this party was again pulled together last minute.  Since we have no way to contact most of the families, the contacting had to wait until Wednesday night when Musa Mansaray (Michele’s child) willingly set out to negotiate the communication channels, using the six degrees of separation technique to miraculously get about 60% of the children in one place today.

However, since we’ve been out of Freetown traversing the country for the past several days, no other preparations were made and this morning I was left to try to get a couple of local gals to organize some food  — these are the times when calling Subway up for a party platter seems like a damn good idea, but there is no such thing here and if you’re trying to do everything as economically as possible, you don’t just go to the one grocery store in Freetown and buy everything in the same place, you buy the bread in one place, the luncheon meat in another, the lettuce in another, etc.  And then someone has to make them and get through traffic to deliver them.  Oy.

While the girls were off organizing the sandwiches, I was left to organize the booty – counting out money – one amount for local kids for transportation, one amount for kids that were farther away for transportation.  Another amount as pocket money for the older kids, extra money for the sponsorship of another chlld Obai is caring for, as well as some money for the Bangura’s father (a double hand amputee) and Cecilia’s child, Alie, an amputee.

Upon Michele’s return from filming the amputee soccer players we left for the site and when we arrived many of the children were already there, foiling my plans to have a few minutes to get organized, and so, the chaos began.

I was smart enough to leave my sheets at the hotel this time and have the money sorted, but of course the Peace Circle kept coming unstuck from the wall, and where in God’s name where those sandwiches?!  The children were much more patient this time and luckily Mohamed, a man from Tejan’s village who has joined The Peace Project team, was there to take up some of the slack, ably translating and handing out pencils and pens to the kids and their parents so that they could write out a card to their sponsors.

There were so many remarkable things about this party including:

To my relief, the sandwiches finally arrived (not a moment too soon!).  While passing them out Michele handing one to Alie who took it and covertly put it in his bag and then shyly requested another.  It turns out Alie hadn’t eaten for awhile and when I say awhile, I don’t mean a few hours.

Adegali Bangura, a man with no hands, managed to wrangle his small children and somehow get cards written for all three of their sponsors, and as he was leaving he said to me that because of The Peace Project, his children are able to go to school and he has hope for a brighter future where his only means of providing for them is not begging in the streets, but perhaps having a small business making soap which he does whenever he has the money to buy the product that goes into it.

Obai (whose adult education I’m supporting) brought his whole family out to meet me and before he left, gave me a present (a padded computer bag that he had sewn himself) and earnestly told me how much our support means to him and his family.

Kadi Kamara’s mother was in tears when I told her that come August we would be gathering everyone together in preparation for paying for the next year’s tuition for the children – you see 10 year old Kadi had never attended school before The Peace Project paid for her tuition.

And finally, I caught a glimpse of two of the Peace Children’s cards…one Tejan’s drawing of a car that said “This is my car.  I love this car too much.  I drive this car in the U.S.A. to see my mother.”

And another from Alie to Cecelia that simply said “Thank you.  Because of you, I see the world different.”

Thanks to everyone who has been part of The Peace Project – you made this day possible.  I only wish you were here with me so that you could really understand how important your support is.  As they say in Sierra Leone, stay blessed…and stay tuned for pictures which will be posted tomorrow.

POSSEH CONTEH

ALIE KABIA

BANGURA CHILDREN WITH THEIR FATHER

CHILDREN WRITING CARDS TO THEIR SPONSORS