Malloway means goodbye in Mende, a phrase that I had to say a lot this past week. We just came back from our last week in Banta. It was hard, really hard to say goodbye to people, not knowing if I will ever see them again and not knowing that they will be okay. It was hard to keep the tears from flowing as we were telling the school children goodbye, the discipleships group goodbye, the village goodbye, and the COTN workers goodbye. As we were boarding the bus to dive away, there was not a dry eye in the crowd. Saying goodbye to Aunty Batu, baby Sarah, and the rest of the Jongo family felt like I was saying goodbye to family. Baby Sarah is going to grow up so fast and I’m not going to be there to see her take her first step, to hear her first word, or to see her grow up. Aunty Batu was always so kind to us and just accepted us right into her family without ever asking anything from us. No one in the village realized that we really were leaving. They have been so used to us coming and going that they didn’t understand at first that we were leaving for a long time. They told us that we are a part of their village and that they are our people. They then danced for us with their cultural dance. We recieved a chicken, some rice, jewlery, and a traditional african dress as our goodbye gifts.
Even though saying goodbye was hard, it is a good thing because it shows that we loved and were loved. I know that I have many more goodbyes that will be coming up, so I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I close my life here in Sierra Leone and begin to start a new chapter, which I still don’t know what that chapter will be.
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