When the opportunity was shared at the meeting to host delegates, Lisa had written us off because we don’t have a spare bed, but when someone suggested that we could give up our own bed, it opened up the opportunity.
The only question I had was why shouldn’t we host? I had no reason not to, so felt to say yes!
We’d never done this before; in hindsight we could have reached out to others that have hosted for tips, but we did get some suggestions on food. I had a mixture of excitement to have a visitor with us for a week and a bit of nervousness because I wanted to serve the best we could, and for Mohamed to be comfortable and happy.
We prepared by praying that Mohamed would be happy and comfortable with us, but there were some practical tasks in preparing his room, moving our clothes out of the wardrobes and cleaning too.
Food was a bit of a worry until we got some guidance on chicken and rice being a good starting point. Fortunately he loves porridge and oranges (not together) which we had plenty of.
Our heart was to serve him the best we could.
Our main times with him were in the mornings and evenings; he would share stories and was happy to answer our questions about what life’s like in Sierra Leone.
His love for football became very evident… as well as his questionable support for Manchester United! We took him to watch Luke play a match on Saturday morning and to technical training on Monday. Mohamed also loves running so he came to Barking Park to watch Alicia in the Park Run.
During the week with us, he lost at a few games of Uno but redeemed himself on the many games on the way to the airport on the train!
