A visit to Kpakuma (July 24)

On the drive back with Joseph Lamine of Freetown and Cindy Nofziger, the organizers of Schools for Salone, we stop at one of the other 15 villages their group has built with local labor as the villagers’ contribution. It is Kpakuma, another small cluster of homes on a narrow dirt road and over a log bridge. The women recognize Cindy and Joseph and quickly group behind her singing a traditional song and dancing as they proceed slowly through part of the village. The children are excited to receive pencils.

Christian Kijam tells me his mother is living there and is 116. I ask to meet her. She comes walking out of her home, slowly but steadily, and sits on the front porch to greet her visitors. She doesn’t look near that age; and even with questions I cannot determine her age. Often people in rural areas are not quite sure of their age