On Sunday we split ourselves four ways and went to the St Georges Cathedral and 3 other local churches. I attended the Holy Trinity church in Kissy road, which had been destroyed in the recent civil war and rebuilt again by the ingenuity of local parishioners raising their own money. I was able to bring greetings from both CMS and Holy Trinity Clapham, while Lisa brought greetings from St Peter's in Derby. We were received very well and prayed for and given a little bunch of flowers. In the afternoon we all met up again to share our experiences. Our service only lasted 2 hours while some at the cathedral were there for over three.... In the afternoon we enjoyed lunch by the beach and then some went in for a quick dip. The beaches here are idyllic, although you cannot expect a quiet sunbathe as the entire selling population of Freetown are quick to gather round if you dare to find a plot on the beach. (Mike and I had the pleasure of finding this out as we were entertained by a glass eater. So many gathered around us that someone actually set up a stall next to us to try and use the situation)
Monday has been our first day of performing Free For All in the Cathedral. We all walked through central Freetown to the Cathedral in our Free For All t shirts. Good publicity! and it attracted lots of inquisitive yells of "Free For All!" One man even challenged me and said "Who is Free? I am not Free!" I chatted to him for a while and it wasn't long before he was again trying to sell me a product. His point was a good one though living a society where he is trapped by an economy which offers little chance of a proper education or a way out.
In the Cathedral we worked with around 100 young people from 4 different schools. Their knowledge of the subject was of a much higher standard than in England and one school shone out especially. I posed the question, Are we Free today? Inspired by the man in the street. One girl from The Annie Walsh Memorial school stood up and said "No!", She went on to explain that women in Sierra Leone are not free because of the abuse by men. She went on that people don't have freedom because they are trapped by their economic situation. A very astute girl from an astute school. Another girl from this same school is currently in London debating in Parliament about this very topic.
The children engaged in all the workshops really well and they were of course not phased by the singing and dancing and brought their own style to it. We have been set a challenge because unbeknown to us the same schools are coming back each day and it is possible others will join them. Thinking quickly on our feet we decided not to do a performance today but to save it for Wednesday. This means we can explore some of the contemporary themes of freedom tomorrow which seem to be much more relevant to this situation.
I will sign off for now but keep checking this blog and the Free For All blog as Mike will be updating that one in addition. Unfortunately you will have to wait for photo's as I have not been able to get them off my camera.
