This is my last week in Kamakwie (and in Sierra Leone) for now, and the children's village is getting pretty ecstatic about Christmas. For the first time in my life, I'm really looking forward to Christmas.

In case you find that the spirit of giving and sharing is still present with you, it is very needed and it would be highly appreciated here. Even the smallest donation will go a long way here. It would help our efforts, and would directly go to helping these lovely children so that they get better education, better access to information, stay connected with the rest of the world, and hopefully this way have a much brighter future.

This last month only made it much more vivid and clear to me. True
change to the poverty and misfortune of such places, can only be
possible with good education, access to good learning materials, and
continuous support along this path.

If you care to donate, you can simply use your credit card or paypal account with the button on the right panel.

I hope you enjoy this time of the year, wherever you might be.

Much love,
Yossi

Over the last 3 weeks, I spent with Michael almost every moment. Pretty quickly I realised that he's probably the best person around to be my contact person here, which will be responsible and manage the computer training room and media room once I leave.

Michael (just like everyone else here) hardly knew a thing about computers when we met, so I'm trying to teach him as much as I can in 4 short weeks, and he's struggling pretty well. Considering that they start from pretty much scratch, it's surely a challenging task for them. I'm not yet confident whether his knowledge and skills at the moment would be good enough to enable him to take responsibility over this whole environment well, but I guess that's the best I could have done here for now, and I hope that with our continuous effort and support, it'd become easier over time.  

Michael is 21 years old, born and raised around Kamakwie, originally from the nearby village of Kaiburi, and his dad and his two younger sisters still leave in Kaiburi. He's pretty switched on and with good communication skills. He's also an avid Arsenal F.C. fan, somewhat shy, very polite, and very sincere.

Michael Playing Soccer

Most of this week I spent in this still somewhat-messy class. On an educational level, I tried to mainly focus on the caretakers here, and on some of the older kids. I'm mainly teaching them through experience, taking them through different use-cases (activities like browsing the computer, using the internet, using open-office, playing media files, and so on), and I try to expend their understanding to whatever is required for these purposes. I also equipped the computers with a bunch of educational games, which seems to get the attention of the younger ones very well. I hope that the older group will gain a basic understanding by the time that I leave, and that it'd be enough for them in order to comfortably take responsibility and maintain this computer environment.

Learning "Computers"

At the same time, I also try to create a safer and more robust the power, network and computing infrastructure, and to nail-down places where the kids here can get confused or "break" the computing environment. It's clear to me that they will find ways to do so, but I'm trying at least to reduce the occurrence of such issues, and at the same time to supply them with easy ways to restore and reset back the computers to their original set-up.

A messy class

These last two weeks in class were full with emotional ups and downs. Many moments are of laughter and joy, and then some other moments I go through stress and concern. I've realised here how much these kids and their carers seek (and clearly need) better education, better access to knowledge, and a window to the rest of the world.

However, as days go by, I'm slowly getting into the African groove, which is VERY relaxed. The best thing here is surely the children around this town, and mainly my tiny "protectors" (as they refer themselves). If a lonely or stressful moment happens, a kid would usually rise to the challenge and change my mood quickly. Some of the kids here literally cry out of fear when they see a "white man". Others usually run to you and try to get your attention by shouting ""Opoto" (Timne language), "White Man" (English or Krio), or "Porotho (Limba, the local language). To those I already learnt to sometimes shout back "Woboleh" which means "Black Man" in Limba. The ones I'm discussing, which are the ones that usually totally lift my spirit, are mostly those from the orphanage, which are almost always simply smiling, laughing, running to me in a funny way, playing with my hair (head, hands, legs), or just looking at me funny...

Bobo lifting my spirit

Every night this week I heard sounds of drumming far from a distance. The drumming continued well into the night almost each time. When I asked one of the boys about it, he said that there's a traditional ceremony and dance in a nearby village this Saturday, and that the people in the village are practicing and preparing for the ritual. The name of the village is Kayawye, somewhat similar to the nearby town, Kamakwie.

I didn't really have a clear idea what to expect from this ceremony, and all the answers I received were very vague, so I assumed that it's some Christmas-related festival, mainly since the whole area is preparing intensely for Christmas. I also knew that there's going to be a lot of traditional drumming and dance, so I was keen to go. On Saturday afternoon I started noticing groups of girls and women going towards this village, carrying drums and other related equipment.

Girls on their way to the nearby village

Later that night, I hopped on a motorbike with one of the boys, and we headed towards that village. The terrain was pretty difficult, and it seemed like we're one of the only ones that didn't walk for hours in order to get to the village. When we got there, I walked around astonished and amazed. The whole village was hardly lit, mostly with some candles and kerosene lamps. It was full with people that were a lot more surprised to see me than the usual surprise around here. Most of the people were around dense dance circles in a few spots in the village, some were selling their goods on the floor, others were cooking large meals for the guests that traveled from other villages, and a few were simply wondering around and enjoying the festival. When I purchased a bit of food, I noticed another small difference, it was the first time in my life that I had to pay per each spoonful of food.

Three "Spoons" of Macaroni

The dancing and drumming was only performed by the women and the older girls, and the center of attention was the younger (around the age of sexual maturity). The whole village was entranced and enchanted. Trying to take a natural photo of the event was nearly ridiculous, as I had around me 15-30 kids each time that I did so, all eager to jump in. The girls and the women that we're dancing were dusty, sweaty, and wearing traditional ceremonial outfits.

Some Traditional Ceremonial Outfits.

A bit later we met a few other girls and boys from the orphanage, and Auntie Sallay. This turned to be very lucky as the evening got very emotionally heated later, and Auntie Sallay gently suggested that we evocate the place before any "wickedness" happens.

A "wicked" dance circle

On the way back home, Sallay told me that if I had a blessed Lime, she wouuld have felt much safer there, but since I wasn't carrying any lime, it was better to just leave. I tried to understand the rational a bit better, but couldn't really succeed, so I left it at some point.

During the walk back home, I started to get the whole picture. The dance ceremony was basically a massive, tribal, female-circumcision ceremony. The soon-to-be circumcised girls dance in the center of attention all night long, praised and supported by the older girls and the women. They are not aware of the outcomes of this period, and only know except that they will go to "the sacred bush" with the women for a few weeks, and that it is a "secret society" ritual, that will teach them to behave as mature women.

Girls on their way to the "Secret Society"