Sunday, June 26, 2011

a walk around Freetown

Here are some pictures from my walk in town last Sunday. We have to be very careful of the pictures we take, due to cultural sensitivity, so I don't have very many with people in them. Because of recent wars, and journalists coming and taking pictures of whatever and whoever they want, many Sierra Leoneans become offended when people try to take pictures. I did manage to get a few though:

This is the famous Cotton Tree in the center of town. It's said that this is the site where the settlers of Freetown, former African American slaves, first gathered for a thanksgiving service when they established the colony in 1792.

An old church down the street from the Cotton Tree. There's a courtyard around it with beautiful trees and other plants. We wanted to go in and see it, but the gate was locked, so we just had to look over the wall from the outside.

A view down the street. You can see the Cotton Tree behind the building to the right.

This street was surprisingly empty - most of them were very busy and filled with cars, motorcycles, poda-podas, and pedestrians. Poda-podas are public transportation vans that you can rent out for a group or just flag down and join whoever's already crammed inside.

Toward the end of our walk we went through a quiet, garden-like area called the Bishop's Court. These are the old ruins of some big house.



Before going back to the ship we stopped by the Hope Center and visited with the patients there. The Hope Center is an outpatient facility where many of our patients stay if they're going to need to come back to the ship for treatment in a few weeks and live too far away to go home, or if kids are malnourished and need to gain some weight before they can have surgery.

2 comments:

  1. Oh Ruth, it is beautiful and green there! Not all dried up and yellow like here. I love your last shot with you and the little boy (?).
    Love you, Mom

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  2. Wonderful pictures! :) Be safe, I miss you lots. Prayers are sent your way.

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