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Heading to Kent Beach for New Year’s!
On the way to Banana Island!
Paul McNamara…directing the pitching of tents on Banana Island!
And this is a class!
The great Amber E. Martin..our sheroe…I call her my Pippi Longstocking! Our protector, guide, leading pioneer!
Paul McNamara getting ready!
Banana Islands
Returning to a memory of junxtaposition
Kent beach almost 6 years later…
Heading to Banana Islands
New Year Eve’s dinner
Let’s eat!
Song of thanks to God, prayer, then eats!!!
Laughing……
Turning the light bulb dance
Sharing line dancing talent…two steps this time….
Our stew is coming together!!!
Get it baby!!!! Justin Mann
Learning to dance Mende. Small steps and swinging back and forth. Keep it cool!
Don’t tell me she can’t move!!! Lolol
Partying while cooking!
Meeting Mrs. Rosie in her beautiful home
Our guest of honor and her late husband. She has been at Njala for over 36 years
Dried fish
Grinding Cassava leaves
To the market we shall go!!!
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Dancing and making Sierra Leonean Greens with chicken, fish, peppers, onions, beans and seasoning with Mrs. Rosie on the campus of Njala! Our freshly made dinner… coming up!!!!!
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So…I was about to do my business…BUT….NAW…I think I’ll wait! Yikes!
A monkey called a Red Columbus…
Tree for stomach ailments
Cutting some of this bark, boiling it, and drinking it helps stomach ailments….
A real hike in the jungle
The monkeys began following us
Watch the monkeys jump! On our 2.5 hour hike! How cool is that? Smiling
Chillin on a sand barge in a river near Bo
I LOVE these students! They have made me laugh the ENTIRE trip!!! I love them for that!!!
Sunset
Sunset
This woman who cooked for us felt much closer to me after listening, singing dancing to Mende music with me. Here, she runs to me as I’m leaving …. Giving me warm hugs kisses and smiles…
Reflecting on dancing and singing Mende songs from my iTunes playlist with my Mende Cousins through DNA.
Stopped a baby crying by placing her on my chest and letting her hear and feel the vibrations of a sound of comfort I was making
Loving children
So….we just came from a 2 hour hike! Yes…2 hours in the jungle on Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary! Awesome! Slept well in my tent, under the stars, among nature…woke up at 3:12 am to capture the sounds of the night..walked to the bathroom after trying to photograph a bat, went back to bed at 6:12am, woke up at 6:50 to go on the hike. Breakfast was already being prepared and our clothes were being handwashed… and yes. We saw some monkeys!!!!
Finally get on the island… dinner, campfire, campfire stories, and roasted marshmellows!
Leaving….
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The oldest well on Dublin Banana Island that was built when the Portuguese invaded and captured Africans and still the only and single well used by the villagers.
These sweethearts are tuckered out! Onto Bo for work!!!
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Learning Mende from my Mende Cousins…
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A morning in Africa with @AmberEMartin….map viewing and cobra hunting!!!
On the way to Banana Island….
The man who cooked every meal for us…Sankoh..delicious meals. Thank you
We met Moses yesterday. Born, raised, and still living on Dalton Banana Island. He, as his late father, act as tour guides..Full of history…he’s even been featured in a touring magazine! Really nice man. He wasn’t feeling well, so a younger man named Eric took us around the island and spoke of it’s history with joy, pain, and at times, a little bitterness it seemed. In order to heal a wound, a spray of Truth that sometimes stings, is required…it was a tour that extended beyond the history like when he told and showed us a pit that was used to discard slaves who said they were tired, or sick, or sad, or simply did not want to be enslaved. The captors would simply kill them and throw them into a pit. A pit that is over 200 years old…never protected, never emptied, skeletons and bones and now nature has piled up over the decades…this is their burial ground for now. After the stinging, I blew on it a bit and simply rubbed her back, knowing that this young person was going through an expansion. She was bothered…seeing history up close and personal you…and now, she is wiser.
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Where in the world is Amber E. Martin ???!!! Can you spot her? Hee hee
bananaislandsierraleone.com
Theoretical Tea and Company 
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