Weather Delay

Six hundred people arrived at the Calaba Town clinic seeking medical treatment on Wednesday. There has been no advertising for the clinic; all this was from word of mouth. The fact that so many people came before the clinic a week before it was even scheduled to be opened speaks to the great need in Sierra Leone.

Unfortunately, flights out of London had been cancelled due to the record snowfall so the medical mission team was not in Sierra Leone. There are not as many flights to Freetown as you might think. In fact, there are only three a week from London. The Wednesday flight filled immediately and we were lucky to get seats on the next plane.

If the weather cooperates, we will be on the Friday morning flight to Freetown. Snow is in the forecast and we have our fingers crossed that the plows at Heathrow will be able to keep up with any frozen precipitation.

Because we had only planned to be in London for a few hours, a number of team members did not have appropriate shoes or jackets with them. Finding snow-worthy attire was high on the priority list. We also had to scramble to get rebooked for a flight to Sierra Leone and find a place to stay.

I have heard it said that “weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.” I would like to add that a nice, warm pair of boots can also come in handy.

Hopefully the next posting will be from Freetown as we prepare to open the clinic.