We touched down in Sierra Leone on the 4th of September at 3:00AM. The airport is actually across the river from Freetown, the capital city, so we took a short bus ride in the pitch black and arrived at a little ferry port, where we hurriedly got out of the bus only to wait at the dock for almost an hour in the night before the water taxi was fueled and ready to go. We were too tired to complain. We met our driver on the other side just as the sun was giving light to the surroundings. He whipped us through town in his Toyota 4-Runner in the early morning before the rush of traffic, and headed for our destination: the off ship programs team house.
As he drove, the sun climbed higher and higher, and we could see for the first time, just how diverse and majestic the landscape of Freetown, Sierra Leone really is.
He took us up and up and up through the hills till we reached the house perched on the side of the hill, overlooking the undulating landscape spotted with houses and deep green woods. You could see the burnt orange veins of dirt roads carved out of the vegetation.
We drove on the main road till we reached the house and when we got there, we were greeted warmly by the men at the gate and the caretaker of the property. Over the following 10 days we proceeded to get to know the city, the people, and start to prepare the house where we will be living while the Africa Mercy is in port.
We left Sierra Leone for a brief time to spend some time at the Mercy Ships headquarters in Texas, to visit the family in Ecuador, and return to Sierra Leone in January.
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