Waterloo camp

Today we did something a little different with our day off. We went to a "refugee" camp about an hour outside of Freetown. This camp was primarily comprised of internally displaced people. This means that they are Sierra Leoneans that were displaced during the war time and now have no place to go back to for one reason or another. The camp itself had a real community feel to it....much like a village would. They had houses and little "shops" set up selling fish, palm oil seeds, cassava leaf, potato leaf, etc...it was like walking through various parts of Freetown markets but more peaceful. Everything was not right on top of you and people were not yelling..well, not as much as in town anyway. We gathered in a central part of the village and they called as many people to join us as they could. Everyone gathered around and we shared where we were from and why we had come. The people were SO welcoming and it was great fun to have all the little hands in mine and the little ones climbing all over us. The adults were so warm and inviting and grateful that we were there. After we shared why we had come and we sang a song telling the Lord 'Thank you', we announced that it was medicine time. We had general meds for a few different things (malaria, cough/cold, runny belly and worms) and had some stuff to do small wound cleaning. The mood instantly shifted. It was MASS chaos! Every adult was pushing in and pushing kids to the front of the line. We wanted to have a prayer line too, but that was a short lived dream. We needed 'all hands on deck' to fight the crowd, bag meds and pass them out. I have no idea how long this took because all I did was keep my head in a bottle of pills...sorting, counting and bagging. The people were crowding in and pushing and all of them seemed desperate for medicine. To say that this was overwhelming, would be much too simple. There were so many mixed emotions. The atmosphere had turned from warm and inviting to hostile and almost greedy for what we had. We did our best...we ran out of bags for the pills and so then we started putting the pills in little wads of paper with the instructions scribbled on the outside. The line never seemed to get smaller. That is, until we ran out of pills and then it was amazing how fast everyone disappeared. We were left there under the trees, finally breathing a few relaxed breaths, looking around and wondering what just happened. Some adults lingered and said thank you and a few of the kids walked us out, but the crowd was nowhere to be found. It is hard to know how much help we gave and if the meds were even needed in most cases. I think when you don't have, you will take whatever you are given. My hope is that even if wasn't needed today, that it will be saved for a day when they do need it. I wish that we were more to them than just the proverbial Santa Clauses with our medicines and the goods we have to offer. I don't know how effective that is in the long run. These are remarkable and capable people and they know a lot of local cures to the things we passed out. I would hate to see them just rely on us and our meds. I know this is kind of a random and all over entry, but I am just processing 'out loud' with y'all. It is late and I am really tired. I think I should be heading home soon. All in all, today was a good day and I am glad that we went. I know and trust that what we brought them will be used for their benefit and more than even the medicine that they would have heard that we were there because we loved Jesus and He loves them! I am thankful for all the cute little faces that I got to squeeze and laugh with and love on. I didn't take my camera, because I didn't want to make the people a spectacle. So, no pics or at least none that I can share with you. They are all in my heart for now.