"Powerful Moments" (Memories)

Enjoy these memories that Pam has so kindly shared with us! Pam and her two children visited Jonathan House as part of the Grace Team in 2007. Thankyou Pam! Checkout pictures on the picasa page off the pictures from Grace Team.

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A few of my powerful moments while at JCC last year with my two children ..

They still bring tears to my eyes as i remember them...........

A few of the older girls were doing my hair (Hawa, Jeneba, and Gloria) not an easy task since my hair was quite short. (and not a real pretty picture when completed-comical spikes were the result of their hard word--but most definitely i felt the love :-)

anyways, I saw Roger Hatch playing with a couple kids out in the yard and said to the girls, "Daddy Hatch is such a good and godly man"(tears are flowing now) and one of the girls replied," He stopped our suffering' what stronger testimony could there be but that.

( i love you brother Roger)

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Another moment that i hold very dear and hope to continue to apply to my life is..

One day someone on the team made a comment (without thinking, as we all do) "Im starving' they said.

One of the older kids said to me, "It's a shame to say you are hungry in Africa"

That hit me like a ton of bricks. It's shameful to complain about being hungry in Africa. I thought of the children of Israel and though God was with them and leading them, they grumbled and complained. I thought,"It's shameful as a child of God to say i'm hungry" I thought how guilty i have been about that at times and what i'm saying when i complain is that God isn't doing a very good job taking care of me or I deserve more or better.

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One of the things that impressed me most about the kids (oops here come the tears again!) was when i discovered that all the kids were 'waiting' on doing their own laundry while we were there. There was quite a few of us and by the time we all did our laundry we would take up all the drying areas. The kids never complained at all but quietly sacrificed doing any of their laundry for a couple wks so that we could do ours. (maybe in reality they were instructed to wait or they were counting their blessing that they 'didn't have to' do their laundry? Regardless, I was impressed.

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The kids were hard workers, responsible. respectful, eager to please and very helpful with one another.

Before going to Africa I learned of some of the discipline common to their culture and I struggled in my heart because it seemed so harsh.

The Lord helped to prepare me, empty me before i went over to Africa. Who am I to say 'their way' isn't the 'right way' or the 'best way' or that we aren't the ones who could learn from THEM.

We Americans clearly dont have all the answers. I was told about a conversation between someone on our team and one of the locals who were discussing the difference in parenting. The local man said that we Americans tend to coddle or baby our children too much. I think that man had a very good point. The disrespect in our society is appauling, and we do too often, overall baby our children too much. I at least have tasted some of that truth in my own parenting. I think indeed, I learned more from them then i taught them.

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I MISS the children's singing praises and stories they had put to music. They sang from the wee morning hours off and on til they went to bed at night. They paitiently taught me some and I have been able to teach them to my daycare children here in the states. It warms my heart when these children sing those songs-and brings back sweet sweet memories of my rich experience with my brothers and sisters there.

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I went to Africa wanting to help, wanting to bless, wanting to make a difference. I came home far more blessed than when i had gone. My minute 'sacrifices' were insignificant in light of the depth of riches I received while being there.

Forever grateful,

Pam Newsome

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas from Jonathan House!

I was able to spend Christmas at Jonathan House two years ago (2006) and what a blessing it was! It was wonderful to celebrate our Savior's birth with these precious African children. Many of the women (staff and spouses of staff, etc) spent a few hours cooking for the big Christmas dinner either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We had fried rice and beef (not very common at all in the Bo area). The kids weren't crazy about the fried rice, marking an ironic meal--the kids NOT liking the rice and the three Americans LIKING the rice (a lot!). That same meal we split up in groups with a different adult or older kid leading each group as we discussed what Christmas was all about.

Another favorite memory of that Christmas was when I was trying to sleep. It didn't start out to be a favorite moment, however. It was late at night...and I could hear drumming. I had only been in Sierra Leone for a few weeks at this point and flashbacks from my first trip several years before when late night drumming wasn't a good thing came to mind. After 20 or 30 minutes or so I heard them playing a silly Christmas song--maybe "Jingle Bells" or something like that. And then there were other Christmas carols. I had to laugh at how funny it was to hear Christmas carols by drummers sitting around the fire out in the West African "bush". And I knew there probably wouldn't be another Christmas like that...

New Year's in Africa stories coming up in a week or so (maybe). Things are a little crazy for me right now. If you'd like to help out with the blog (even sending articles, personal testimonies, etc) this would be a great time to jump in. Email Kim83anthro@gmail.com .

Your JCC Blogger,

Kim

What is Sierra Leone Like?

So, you're a loyal supporter of Jonathan House (thankyou!) and perhaps you've heard stories about Sierra Leone. Maybe you've seen a few pictures taken in Sierra Leone. Or if you're a friend of mine (or of a few others--no names), you've seen several hundred. But....what is Sierra Leone really like?

The beaches (the best in Africa!) sure sound delightful, don't they? The climate sounds great (especially in our winter months). The kids couldn't be cuter (though I'm sure they could try...). The clothes couldn't be more colorful. All the fruit you could possibly want. No speed limits (if you dare drive). Paradise?

Well....not exactly. It is one of the poorest nations on Earth. It has one of the worst life expectancies (about 45 years?). It has one of the worst five infant and child mortality rates. While peaceful for the last several years, the country is still recovering from a (brutal) decade-long civil war (have you seen "Blood Diamond"?). At least three million people are crowded into Freetown--a city built for I think about 200,000 people! I could go on....but you get the picture. There's no need to go on in that direction. The country may be beautiful, but life is pretty grim for most Sierra Leoneans.

How do we as "prosperous" Americans understand this? When people ask me to explain my experiences in developing countries (mainly Sierra Leone), I struggle. People rarely have anything to compare it to. Personally, I'd like everyone to be able to visit and experience this themselves. However, that doesn't seem quite feasible at this point in time, so we're left with multimedia to better paint a picture for us. If pictures are worth a thousand words, how much moreso are moving pictures?! Here are a few video clips from YouTube that show various aspects of Sierra Leone. I'm going to start finding and posting more of these periodically. I want you to understand what Sierra Leone is as much as you can without actually stepping foot in Sierra Leone. If you have questions or are curious about different aspects of life in Sierra Leone, let me know and I will search out an answer for you! If you find anything that fits in with this theme, send it to me (JHM.Salone@gmail.com). If you've been and would like to share your experiences or observations, please send them to the address below.

How can we best help if we don't understand who we're helping? Watch these videos prayerfully. Unless indicated, none are related to Jonathan House. And don't let the ones of bad aspects scare you off from ever taking a trip. As you watch these clips, take notice of the details of what is going on.

You Tube: Driving through the streets/markets of Freetown : This basically someone just pointing the camera through the window of the "Poda Poda" (a crude van, common taxi) and showing what it looks like to drive through the streets of Freetown. If you're a people watcher, have a ball--it's constant activity--selling, buying, commuting, etc. Watch it a few times if you have to. The music playing in the background...very Sierra Leonean.

You Tube: Driving in Sierra Leone -- They were driving to Sulima Beach, but the drive is pretty typical of a majority of roads in Sierra Leone--especially the farther you get away from Freetown--some much worse than others. The country is not known for the good quality of the roads. But don't let this scare you, because in all the trips I've taken over such roads, I've only been car sick once--and I get motion sickness on paved roads in the U.S.! God can provide. But hey, the beach is beautiful, isn't it?

You Tube: A picture tour of Sierra Leone -- This actually has no videos, just several photos. But it is one of my favorites as it shows so many places in Sierra Leone that I and many of you have been to. They show Freetown, Bo (where the orphanage is), Mattru (Mattru-Jong Hospital--most teams have visited here if not based out of here), Bonthe, and Kenema (which really only one person that I know of has been there). You can see Bo (after Freetown & Kenema respectively) starting at about 3:25 (maybe a little before that) until about 4:48, then transitions to Mattru until 5:36, then on to Bonthe which is down the river from Mattru on the coast.

You Tube: Save the Children, Sierra Leone Flooding -- Save the Children, a global charity, has been working in Kroo Bay for a time--one of the poorest sections of Freetown. They do a great job with their videos explaining about life in the community. See their website, too, for more great resources.

You Tube: Children's Living Conditions in Freetown (Hull Freedom Project) -- This is a pretty interesting clip showing how children live on the rubbage (trash) dumps. Yes, they actually live and survive in the dumps. Listen carefully to Reginald (the man showing "us" around) as he has a thick accent.

Happy Mother's Day!

Nothing big at JCC (that I've heard) lately. Mark & Ashtyn are back from Africa and they were able to get some important files documented at the Embassy in Dakar for John's adoption. Praise God for that! The field investigation will soon commence. Pray for everything to go smoothly as there were some possible issues. While they were at JCC, Ashtyn was very sick but was better before they left. Praise God!

Many of the kids wrote letters back to their supporters and friends here in America. I worked really hard last fall and wrote all the kids and several staff letters for a trip some friends were making in November. I had been working on replies for the first few months of this year until Solomon passed away, which stopped the momentum in its tracks. I was able to get a few written for Mark & Ashtyn to bring, and just received the replies today. How incredible these kids are! Many of my letters to several of these kids whom I had become very close with and others who had helped me with Solomon while I was there. He was a special little bond that helped me get to know several of the women staff and older girls especially so much better than I probably would have otherwise. And many of the letters from those kids and Aunty Fatmata (his mama after I left) had incredible words of encouragement. We could all learn a lot from the kids and staff about faith! Wow! Perhaps on one hand they're just more accustomed to losing loved ones than I or really they have an incredible faith in our wonderful, loving God! I really believe it is the latter after spending 6 months worshipping God with them. Do you know that sometimes some of the older kids will decide to hold a prayer meeting and recruit other kids to join them?! How joyful the sound of children praising their Heavenly Father!

Pray for the trips coming up:

• Kayla "Boi", Rachel & Dylan will be leaving in about another week to spend five weeks at JCC.
• Two weeks into their trip (or thereabouts), there is a larger group leaving to join them. Roger (int'l director) will be joining them but is glad that he won't be leading this team. Many of the team members on both these teams have been there before. But pray for those who are going for the first time--it can be overwhelming!
• Pray for Christie who is just in her first month of six! She has had a smooth transition thus far and took care of Ashtyn while she was sick. I was able to call her last week and we were able to talk about her first few weeks. There is a lot to get used to--especially being a house mother. I know she is glad that there will be other Americans there for several weeks soon. Some family members will be visiting her soon, too. And then she will have several months "alone" or at least the only American. From experience, it could be challenging during those times, but it was also a time to get to know my African brothers and sisters better--and of course that sweet little baby. :-)

COMING SOON:

• I have a Picasa web album nearly set up--wanted to get the blog up and running before making the web albums public. If you have any pictures to share, please send those to JHM.Salone@gmail.com. I am hoping to have pictures from past teams--looking for former members of those teams to help "create" the album. :-)
• The offer still stands for anyone to share a story! Feel free to email a short story or testimony to the email address in the last bullet.

That's all for now....have a great week!