Today was incredible.  The morning started, with an early wake up call (AGAIN!).  We went to the film screening and it was amazing!  It was at the British Council.  We dressed up in our African best and drove the 2ish miles that took over an hour.  We had one to many people to ride in the Ship vehicle so Matt took an ocotta (motorcycle).  Here's a picture of him from the back of our window

He's just about to enter the intersection on the left.

I promised to put up a picture of a poda poda and here it is! there are like hundreds of these vans all around.

The British Council building.

We got to the screening early (it's always hard to judge how the traffic is going to be) so we wandered around a little bit.  We saw these little goats.  So cute!

Here's a picture of the view from the building.  You can actually see the Africa Mercy in the harbor.  It's directly in the middle of the picture.

This was the "theater" the film was shown in.  It was daylight so the picture was slightly hard to see but there were enligsh subtitles so at least we could understand what they were saying.  The man standing up at the front of the room is John Calkins, the founder of Fambul Tok.

I don't remember what I told you about Fambul Tok yesterday but here's what I learned about them today.  They are an organization created to restore Sierra Leone to it's post war state.  Relationships are so important in this culture!  The entire village plays a part in raising every single child.  Your father is my father, your mother is my mother.  So when the conflict happened, villages and families were ripped apart.  Uncles were forced to rape neices, boys were forced to rape their mothers and sisters.  After the war ended only 9 people were convicted of war crimes.  The rest of the rebels were given a blanket amnesty and they moved back into the remains of villages and homes and never talked or reconciled relationships with the people they had hurt.  Imagine living in the same village with the man who beat you and killed your father? or the Uncle who raped you.(both of those are situations that happened to people who were interviewed int he documentary).  So Fambul Tok comes into the villages and sits everyone down and asks if they want to forgive each other.  I was amazed that for the most part they do! They are so willing to forgive if the offender will just confess.  They have a big bonfire with a time for the victims to tell what happened to them and basically call the offender out and ask for an apology.  Relationships are restored and friendships are mended.  Is everything perfect? No.  But it's a start. The amazing thing is that this is not a christian organization.  I don't really understand how someone can offer forgiveness and healing without also offering Jesus.  The key though is that they are using the traditions of the culture to bring healing...they're not offering them money or some magic cure.  They are restoring relationships which is the foundation of all communities. It was a truly amazing experience to be a part of.
In the last week God has really made me fall in love with Africa.  I don't know why but I LOVE it here.