Preparations

My short two weeks here at home in Saint Louis are rapidly coming to a close, and it's probably a good thing, as the equipment for the project has taken over the ping pong table:

If I manage to cram all of that into two suitcases and a single carry-on, I'll fly out of Saint Louis on the afternoon of Wednesday May 30th and, after a short layover at Dulles in DC, head to London where I'll meet fellow iEARN intern Sara Douglass from Tufts University outside of Boston. Then we'll take British Airways to Dakar, Senegal and from there fly to Freetown, Sierra Leone, arriving around 9:15p on Thursday. (That's five airports and over 24 hours of traveling!) There we'll meet Fredrick from iEARN and take the ferry over to central Freetown.

After that point, I really have no idea what will be happening. We'll be staying at the National Stadium hostel for at least the first few weeks (I don't know the address just yet - all you letter writers will just have to wait!) and will be working in some capacity with the youth at iEARN throughout the summer. I'll be working on the photography project as well as the other daily activities at the iEARN youth center. You can check out iEARN Sierra Leone's website for a closer look at what they've done in the past. I also suggest childsoldiers.org, a recent iEARN project that delves into the youths' experiences during the civil war.