stuff to know

I just thought that I would give you all a little more information on Sierra Leone. It is a country on the coast of West Africa about the size of South Carolina. It is close to the equator so it's hot and humid nearly all year. I'm going during their winter and it will still be in the 80s-90s. Sierra Leone was rated the second poorest country in the world by the UN. The average person there makes about $500 per year. All the revenue for the whole country comes to 1/25,000 of the revenue of the US! Over half of the population survives only on subsistence agriculture. The rest of the people work in diamond mines, markets, etc.

A few US- SL comparisons:

Population: US-301,139,947 SL-6,144,562 (so the US has about 50x the population of SL)
Television stations: US-2,218 SL-2
FM radio stations: US-8,961 SL-9
Internet users: US-208,000,000 SL-10,000
Airports with paved runways: US-5,143 SL-1
Paved roadways: US-4,165,110 km SL-904 km

I know that the US is way larger but still!


I’m excited to be going somewhere that is so drastically different than anywhere I’ve seen before. I’m sure that it’s going to change how I see the way we live here. I’m glad that I have the opportunity to help out somewhere there is so much need and I can’t wait to see what our team accomplishes.