2. Traveling to Sierra Leone: More Detail about OneVillage Trips

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"Traveling to Sierra Leone" page.

Basic Web Sites for
Sierra Leone Travelers

The web sites below are among the most important ones  introducing Sierra Leone to travelers.  For many more sites, including information on specific topics, maps, and photos, see this web site's "Sierra Leone Resources Page."
                  
( 1) Sierra Leone - The CIA World Factbook: www.cia.gov/cia/
publications/factbook/geos/sl.html

   
( 2) Most Recent and Best Statistics by U.S. Department of State: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/
bgn/5475.htm 

   
( 3) Health Information for Travelers to Countries in West Africa, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov/travel/
wafrica.htm#country

(4) New York Times Travel Article tells it like it is in Sierra Leone.

(5) Please also see this web site's Sierra Leone Resources Page.

The first OneVillage Partners work trip occurred in early May 2006.  Plymouth Church pastor Jim Gertmenian and fourteen others, most from Plymouth Church, traveled to Sierra Leone with Jeff Hall leading.  The group spent almost a week in the three villages and an equal time in the capitol, Freetown.  See "Sierra Leone Travel Journals" and the July 2006 "Flame" article about the trip for more details.  The second trip, in mid-May 2007, followed much the same itinerary.  On the second trip, we saw our funds at work on the essential school addition and several clean water wells.  For images and journal comments about this trip, see "Sierra Leone Images."  Each year since then, a new trip has introduced dozens of people to life in the villages and the capital.

TRIPS TO SIERRA LEONE--GENERAL INFORMATION

OneVillage Partners makes a trip each May or June to Sierra Leone for 14-18 days.  Each trip is  led by OneVillage Partners founder and coordinator Jeff Hall, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in the village of Jokibu, Sierra Leone for two years in the 1980s--before the 1990s civil war that ravaged the countryside.  Opportunities like this--to experience village life in Africa--are very rare.  Most trips to the African countryside require expensive guided tours that, even so, usually do not stop in villages or introduce villagers.  However, Jeff Hall's close relationship with Jokibu and nearby Foindu and Pujehun villagers and his willingness to serve as a free guide allows travelers a very unusual travel experience at a relatively low cost.  In addition, a strong, cordial, and deeply meaningful relationship has been established, not only between Jeff and the the three villages he served but also between villagers and each group to go from our OneVillage Partners.  Our travelers have included people from several churches, a group of high school students from Blake School, and college students from Amherst who stay much longer in the villages as interns. 

PURPOSE OF TRIPS

The trips are work events, but not in the traditional sense of the word.  Instead, it is each group's job to form committees and to research the needs of the villages.  Some of those needs can be met by equipment or help each group brings with it: for example, the first group brought one peanut grinder per village, installed the three grinders, and taught village women to use them.  However, more commonly, the jobs of the committees is to further research the needs of the villagers, talk with their corresponding village committees, and determine how--upon returning to the U.S.--we can better help the villages by targeting money and equipment.  In addition, the

members of each group stay with a host family, thus further cementing the bond of respect, communication, and love between villagers and OneVillage Partners travelers.  As the first group learned, it is "the hardest trip you'll

 ever love."  Sanitation and health safety measures are provided for a safe trip; while the constant humid heat in the villages is noteworthy, it is the cultural and economic differences that are profound and leave such a strong impression on those who visit.  

ALL ARE WELCOME

While some people who go on these trips are members of Plymouth Church, OneVillage Partners is not a religious organization.  We welcome people of all faiths or none to join us. In the villages, we enjoy working together with Christian, Muslim, and pagan/animist villagers and in no way try or intend to convert people or preach to them.  Plymouth Congregational Church, the organization that provides a mailing address and other beneficial support for OneVillage Partners, is a liberal Protestant church that welcomes everyone to its activities, community services, and worship. 

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF A TYPICAL TRIP

              A very rough, estimated timetable--give or take a few days--for any given trip is as follows: 

Day 1: Travel to Sierra Leone via London.

Days 1-3: Stay in the highest-rated hotel and explore the capitol, Freetown.

Day 4: Travel from Freetown to the southeastern village of Jokibu.

Days 4-12: Stay in village with host families; eat as a U.S. group together each night.

Day 13: Return to Freetown.

Day 13-15: Stay in Freetown.

Day 16: Return to Minneapolis via London.

While most travelers come and go with the group to Sierra Leone via Minneapolis and London by jet, then back, some join the group in London from another location in the United States, and others extend their travel on their own time and money before or after the trip by staying longer in Africa or Europe. 

WHO TO CONTACT

If you are interested, OneVillage Partners would be very pleased to talk with you.  For contact information, please see www.OneVillagePartners.org.