Thursday 13th November

After a night in Moyamba; we were raring to hit the beaten-track and, particularly, eager to tick some schools off our extensive Bo list. Hopeful of reaching Bo before nightfall we set off, now truly in working mode, to meet Edward Luseni – Bo Diocese Educational Secretary, at Moyamba primary school. With one more onboard, the Parks and Loz train to Kangahun Primary and Secondary School left Moyamba for the last time.
After an hour or so we arrived at our destination and set to work. A brief meeting with the Head Teacher later and one package off letters in hand; we busied ourselves by going from classroom to classroom introducing ourselves to the children and teachers. However, now firmly situated in Mende speaking country, on more than one occasion, the children would stare back at us with blank misunderstanding faces. Unfortunately for Parksy, his “northern accent” was causing quite a bit of a stir when it came to speaking to the kids who, in a word, seemed quite......clueless. This combined with the fact that after a week of holiday, both of our minds, especially poor Parksy’s, had turned to quasi-vacuum like...erm......mush, meant that we were finding the going slightly tough. Fortunately, as we all know, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” and after a quick team meeting, and a high-five (maybe even some spirit fingers,) we rallied. And soon, via a combination off photo taking, waving, smiling, slow “clear” inspirational speeches and general acts of Parks and Loz genius......the children loved us!!
Using the same godly techniques at the next school in Mano Dasse, we were soon 3 schools down, we’d spent 4 hours on the road and, by 3pm, we were in Bo......again!
We spent the rest of the afternoon collecting 12 bags of Bo “Garri” from the local dealer for Bishop Lynch, before settling down in our favourite Bo lodgings: The Sahara Hotel.