Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Jan 5, 2017

Today we had a field trip to the Demonstration School for the Deaf. This is a school the
Bakers are doing a chicken project for. On the 14th the school will be receiving 1,500
baby chicks. This school contacted the Bakers for help when a strong wind came
through and took the roof off of their chicken facility and killed most of their chickens.
The Bakers did a roofing project for them and are now supplying the chickens. This
school has a foreman who works with individuals and classes on taking care of pigs and
chickens and they have vocational training in hairdressing, weaving, dyeing, cooking,
catering, and some other things that I cannot remember. They have a large facility and
have 432 deaf students that board there and attend school. They work on academics as
well. The school is very clean and the buildings are well kept up. It is really a school
that can be used as a model.
From the school we went to the botanical gardens. Oh my goodness! I saw and
learned so much. The first thing we saw that was truly amazing were the Cedar trees of
Lebanon that are the same kind of trees used in the old testament. We saw a nutmeg
tree and the guide threw a stick into the tree and a nutmeg came out and hit the
ground and popped open. A nutmeg has a casing around it much like a walnut. The nut
itself has a red rubber looking growth around it and that is the spice mace. The nut is
nutmeg.
We saw a cinnamon tree and learned cinnamon is actually the bark of the tree. The
guide peeled off a small piece and we tasted it. Oh, it was so good. It tasted a lot like a
cinnamon toothpick. We got a piece of camphor, saw a quinine tree, cocoa trees,
groves of bamboo, the hosannas tree which is the kind of tree they took palms from
when Christ made his triumph entry into Jerusalem, traveler palms which require a lot
of water so if you can find a traveler's palm you can dig around the tree and get water.
We crushed a leaf from a tree which I cannot remember the name of and made bright
red lip stick. I tried it out. Everyone took pictures, except Don. We took a pod off a
tree and I cannot remember the name of it and it is used to make perfume. I squished
it and rubbed it on my arm. I could not smell it but Don said it was nice. There was a
450 year old cotton tree and another one that was planted in 1804. We saw so many
things and the place was so beautiful: Tall trees, mowed grass, nice walkways. We left
there and John Buah wanted to take us to a really nice restaurant. There was one close
by and it was beautiful. We walked through the open-air restaurant and was led down
a beautiful walkway with stairs to a beautiful gazebo that over-looked a breath-taking
view of Africa. The food was wonderful and the company fun and entertaining. We
came back to the Temple grounds and all split up for the evening. Don went and spent
some time with President Stanfill, and Herman Paine who is the West Africa Mental
Health Doctor and Sister Nay to give her pictures from his phone of many of our
projects. I came to our room and got ready to leave tomorrow. We go back to Sierra
Leone tomorrow morning. When Don came back we went for a walk and found a great
place that has outdoor seating for three restaurants and they have Christmas lights up
and on and African music and just a really neat atmosphere. We went into the spanish
food restaurant and had dinner in the a/c and a live singer & keyboard player. It was so
relaxing and pleasant. We both really enjoyed it.

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