Money in Sierra Leone

    I thought I would give a little insight into the dollar exchange in the country.  First off, the Sierra Leone money is called a Leon.  The current exchange rate is 23 leons to $1.00.  An example to this is $100 will get you 2300 leons.  Their currency has devalued so much that in January this year they took two zero's off of it.  For example:  2,000 leons is now 20 leons.  The people are still adjusting to the change.  They will tell us the amount is say, "1,000" instead of 10. 

   Here are some examples of what we pay for things: 

      Bananas:  1 banana will be about 2 leons or $.07

      Avacoda:  1 avocado is about 10 leon or $.40.  This is a big avocado, not like we have in the states.

      Apple: 1 apple is about 20 leons or $1, but these are imported.

      Eggs:  1 dozen is about 60 leons or $2.60

      Loaf of baked bread: 10 leons or $.40. This is about about the size of the states French bread.

  The average salary per month is between $130 to $160.  So in truth, food is quite expensive for the people.  

Here is a picture of a stack of leons.  This is about $100 worth.  This stack is about 3 inches high.

     We had a choice opportunity to visit with some members in the Tongo Branch.  One sister, did not have a husband and was a business owner to take care of her children.  She made and sold cakes out of her home.  Through time she was able to build a home and run her bakery out of the home.  Tragically her home caught fire and burned everything including her money that was stored in the house.  Her family was safe, but everything of value including her stack of saved money was destroyed.  She is now living in a community government house.  She may never be able to rebuild with no business and no way to rebuild.  We asked how much a house like the one that burned down would cost to rebuild.  In US money it would be $2,000... this is a 2 bedrooms home.  $2,000 is equivalent to 44,470,000 leons.

 Here is a picture of  this member "Fetmata" is her name. She is with here daughter who if you look close has a shirt on with an "Idaho" logo.  The next picture is her home that caught fire.

Meeting members in the Tongo Branch

    We traveled for a second time to Tongo Branch.  The road to Tongo is dirt and is much like our mountain roads.  We say often that a razor would be the best way to get around on the Sierra Leon roads.  In the raining season which we have now, the roads have many ruts, and mud puddles.  The dirt is a red clay so the water stands on top, not sinking in but creating some serious mud to maneuver through.  Tongo takes us 3 hours to drive from our home.  There is however a quicker route, but that road is extremely difficult to pass through because you have to go uphill through the crazy mud ruts.  In the dry season this will be only an hour trip.

    We spent the day in Tongo with the Branch President.  We got to meet several members.  It was a choice day.  It was humbling to go to their homes and be live for a small moment in their world.  They absolutely can't resisted touching my "blonde" hair.  They love their children to get pictures with the white people.  It's funny because most little children get scared and cry, but the mom's want them in our pictures so the babies just cry big tears of fear while the mom is forcing them in our arms. (NOTE: as missionaries we are asked to not hold children on our laps or hold babies, but their are times mother's just hand us their babies.

  There are some sad tragic stories and some great faith stories for our members in Tongo.  One gentleman that went around town with us just lost his daughter of 5 years old 4 days before our visit.  She came down with a high grade fever one evening and passed away the next day.  They believe she died was malaria!  This in very tragic, but the tragic continues as he told us he had an older daughter pass away a year or so ago as well.  He had 3 daughters, now only 1.

  We met the Chief of the Tongo tribe.  His daughter is a member so when we went to her home, he was there having dinner.  He is a Muslim and very educated, polite, and made us feel very welcome in his village. He actually would like to sell a beautiful vacant lot so we could build a church house. 

  Here are some pictures of some of the members we met and some of there living conditions.  The group photo a many of us is a family that currently has a son serving a mission in Nigeria.  They had another son that served in Nigeria a few years ago.  What a valiant family!!