Today is a national holiday - the Independence day of Sierra Leone! What makes it really special is that it is the 50th anniversary of the Sierra Leonean Independence from being a British Colony. It is really neat. When we were in Freetown last week, the whole town was cleaning up and making things neat for the celebration. The trunks of trees and fences and roundabouts were all being painted in the colors of the Sierra Leone flag, which are green, white, and blue. Banners and flags were being flown everywhere. Here in Kabala, the same sorts of things are being done and I guess there is a big parade today. It makes me think of all the things that the kids and I are learning in homeschool. We are covering American History and have just finished studying the Revolutionary War. It is interesting to me to look at how much Sierra Leone has struggled through in it's first 50 years of Independence. America gained it's independence in 1782 and had a much longer amount of time before it's own civil war. How many other countries had a civil war on the heels of obtaining their independence? It would be an interesting thing to study- is this a pattern of learning to stand on one's own two feet? I am sure someone somewhere has already done a dissertation on it, but it is interesting to contemplate the big picture.
In terms of the small picture, I made an apple pie using mangos yesterday. I used the wrong type of mangoes, so it wasn't all that great, but everybody still liked it. Since I had the coals heated up for the oven, I also made pretzels ( never did that before) and mango sauce ( like applesauce - again, the wrong kind of mangoes.) I made the pretzels because Dad and Clare are both really sick with what I suspect is bronchitis, and the salt is always a good thing on your throat when it is sore. Anyway, we are all doing well, just waiting to arrange some sort of transport to go up into the interior of the country to see the places and people of my childhood. So, I will give you an update on that soon, I hope. Have a great day and smile - and turn on a light switch for me! :)