St Joseph’s College

Reflection on Sierra Leone Immersion 2025 – Isabel O’Brien

What a place; overflowing with beauty and joy! Sierra Leone was so foreign to me, and yet I felt at peace very shortly after we had landed. From my first conversation with Thomas, I could tell that my horizons would be broadened.

A hugely valuable part of immersion for me was speaking to the people who live there, listening to their stories and beliefs. Many people taught me about the world that we share and helped me grow, leaving me questioning, why? I had, and still have, a lot of questions that can’t be answered, but I am so grateful to the people I met as they guided me and truly helped me explore life. I am still in awe of how the people I met in Sierra Leone have so little and yet are so humble, joyful and have wisdom to give. I enjoyed seeing the schools’ evolving connections in Sierra Leone, often connected by faith. Everywhere we went felt like a bundle of love waiting for us, and some people are undoubtedly family to certain members of St Josephs’ staff.

I believe that everyone on Immersion was pushed out of their comfort zone at some point. It was fascinating to see that what some people loved, others found very difficult. I found many parts of immersion hard, one being the amount of respect shown to me purely because of my skin colour. For me there were also parts of immersion that turned apprehension into a positive. One example was visiting a deaf school. As a person who likes to be in control and does not want to show my weaknesses, it was hard to know that I didn’t even have the skill set to communicate with these people. This ended up being my most fulfilling visit of the whole Immersion experience. Firstly, the strength and happiness these children had was so inspiring; their lack of hearing seemed to be their superpower, their gratefulness and cheerfulness led the way. Via their skills, they understood my guidance to weave a bracelet. I made more connections at this school than any other. These students were teaching me, not only in sign language, but also to have more hope and joy.

In times of struggle, I found comfort in our daily reflection. This was a chance to lean on others and discuss what we had felt that day. It was helpful to know that you were not alone in your worries. I enjoyed hearing other people’s experiences and different aspects of the day that stood out to them.

I am so grateful that St Joseph’s and the Edmund Rice community enabled me to experience this eye-opening opportunity. Not only has it made me understand myself and others more, it has also left me full of wonder, with an urge to learn more about what I can discover about people and places. I feel the need to help people in developing countries in the future, but as I learned on immersion, although a lack of materialistic items, they can give much more to me than I can to them.