There and back again- a trip up country in Salone
After two weeks of travel round Sierra Leone, I feel I know the country a bit better- tho’ I did comeback to town last weekend which was appreciated, as it meant I could see friends and go to the beach (harder to do inland). Well, here is a brief resumé of what I have been doing while visiting the provinces up country. There are 13districts, split into three provinces- North, South, East and West, although the Western province is entirely made up of the peninsular that includes Freetown and which is where I have spent most of my time so far, so I won’t say much about that here. We were doing all this travelling to set up Monitoring and Evaluation committees so that we can see to what extent SL is decreasing poverty and to introduce the focal person for doing this in the district to some of the major players.
First stop- Bo (same name for district and district capital), we left Freetown before it was light in order to arrive early enough to hold morning meetings. Bo is the second city in SL- at least that’s what I’ve been told. They’ve been working hard to keep it clean and while we were sitting waiting for the meetings to begin, I saw one group of people come round and sweep the rubbish into piles and then a few moments later another group came round and put it into a cart and take it away. There’s still some way to go, but it felt like a good start. I think attitudes in SL towards rubbish are very different (at least to mine, tho’ I have seen plenty of people throw their rubbish on the ground at home)- there are no (or at least I haven’t seen any) rubbish bins on the streets, so people just throw rubbish into the gutters and roads and paths (anywhere really) and wait for someone else to deal with it. When travelling along roads, people just throw rubbish out of cars as well- I guess it’s to do with the attitude that if I pay taxes then the government ought to keep the streets clean and it doesn’t matter how I behave. Anyway, I didn’t mean to rant about rubbish, so will leave the matter for another time. In Bo there are loads of motorcycles-more than in Freetown, or at least in the ratio between cars and motorcycles. The roads to Bo were graded but not tarmac the whole way there.
In the afternoon we travelled onto Pujehun (town and district name I think), this was a rebel stronghold during the war and they stayed here for some time, as a result, the town and district still show a lot of scars and it was more or less totally destroyed by the war. There was no running water in the main town- hand-wells are the main source of water for many people. Several news buildings have been built since the end of the war but a lot of burnt out shells remain.
We stayed in Bo the first night, the hotel I was in was very nice- even had CNN Europe, so I could catch up on some of the news.
Day 2, (Thursday) we finished our extra meetings in Bo and headed down to Bonthe. Bonthe province is split into 2 parts-the mainland and the island. We didn’t go to the island (the main administrative centre), but went to Mattru, where a lot of the people we needed to meet also have offices. The roads were very poor to get here and due to the Vice President going there on an official visit, to open a ferry (among other engagements) some of our meetings took place at an agricultural fete rather than in the normal office environment. I was informed that it takes 2-3 days sail to reach some of the areas of the province. We met almost no traffic on the roads and it seemed to be very poor.
Day 3, after having spent a second, very comfortable, night in Bo we went onto Kenema- a big diamond area in the east of the country and a therefore an area that the rebels wanted and fought strongly over during the war. It also has a lot of agriculture and is probably the breadbasket of SL. The roads between Bo and Kenema were good (tarmac) and we managed to push up our agenda and make it to Kailahun (in the far east of SL) in time to have meetings at the end of the day. Kailahun was one of the main rebel strongholds and is very poor- tied with Bonthe in terms of poorest district in SL. The roads were very bad- potholes that you had to drive into such that the sides of the roads were as high as the windows of the car. All buildings were destroyed and there’s a big NGO presence in the area. I think there’s also diamonds here and it borders both Guinea and Liberia, making it a ‘good’ area for smuggling during the war. The road to Kailahun was impassable until about 2years ago and I still wouldn’t want to go there in the rainy season at all.
We travelled back to Freetown on the Saturday, and then on Weds 24th we set off again, this time to visit the north and the rest of the eastern provinces. We held a workshop in Makeni (capital of the Bombali district) which went well. Makeni is a thriving town with really good roads between it and Freetown. The city is fairly well developed, tho’ I didn’t get to see much of it (until Friday but more of that below).
We travelled onto Kabala (the capital of Koinadogu district in the north) in the evening and stayed ay Paygay’s guest house (I think it’s pronounced Peggy’s) which was very nice-had running water, a generator and mosquito nets over the beds. We visited the old residence of the British colonisers- it was fairly high up (I think because they though malaria was caused by ‘bad air’ in the valleys so built at the top of hills up to stop them from catching it) and had good views over the town and is not the President’s residence when he comes to visit the district. In the evening, since I was with some fairly keen Arsenal fans, we went out to watch the London derby against Tottenham- in SL people adore football and all support at least one European (usually UK) football team and avidly watch all matches they can , as well as arguing voraciously with each other about tactics etc. Since we had had a pre-dawn start again and I hadn’t slept in the car, I was exhausted and because I ended up sitting on a very comfortable sofa (near the back of the room), I was falling asleep by the end of the first half, tho’ I did manage to just about see the two goals scored for Tottenham. This discouraging result at half time meant that my companions (who were also quite tired by now) were happy to forgo the second half (where I believe Arsenal equalised) and we went back to Paygays to sleep. The road from Kenema to Kabala was pretty good, but I was told it’s the only good road in the district and friends who’ve gone furher up country from Kabala towards the Guinea border said how it recently took them 7 hours to cover 70 miles because they kept needing to check whether the car would manage to get through the roads!
Koidu (capital of Kono) shows the riches of a major diamond town-at one point, you could apparently walk along the roads and just pick up diamonds as you walked along. There are diamond mines in the middle of the town and it’s a bustling place. This was again an area the rebels held during much of the war. The roads are fairly good to get here-not surprising since you get a lot of mining investors coming here. What was really sad was the stark poverty and riches so close to each other- the Koidu Holdings area was well lit (looking like a small town at home, with an orange glow from the street lights) and the surrounding areas in total darkness at night. It was more expensive to eat here than in any of the other districts- due to the riches from the mining. The roads to get here were littered with skeletons of cars that had been ambushed during the war.
Our car broke down (well, something split on the back axle and needed to be soldered back together), so we spent a bit of time in Makeni on our way to Kambia in the far north of the country. This meant I saw a bit more of the town and managed to buy some Africana fabric to be made into more African clothes when I get back to Freetown, the market was busy (and cheaper than Freetown) and I was given goat to eat (by a relative of someone I was travelling with)- it’s nice, but the smell is very pungent and stays with you for ages. Anyway, the problems with the car meant that a 6 hour journey became an 11 hour journey, which was exhausting for all of us and the roads to Kambia were only partially graded so felt a bit like being on a roller coaster with all the ups and downs of the road- tho’ fortunately we never went over our heads! The guest house here was more basic than the one in Kono- not having running water, so it’s a ‘bucket job’ in order to have a shower and you had to fill up the tank in the top of the toilet before you flushed it-but at least it was half connected!
On Saturday we held the necessary meetings first thing in Kambia and then headed off to Port Loko to hold meetings there on our way back to Freetown- Port Loko holds the airport, so is partly well developed but most of the district needs a lot more development. We bought fruit and veg from the many stalls on the side of the road on our way back- it’s much cheaper here than it is in town and managed to arrive back mid afternoon in Freetown, which was nice as it meant I could go for a swim and do some exercise after being in a car for most of the week!
Well, that was my time spent up country in the past couple of weeks- a really interesting experience and although we spent most of our time on the main roads, the poverty we saw is still amazing and I’m sure not as bad as that experienced by those who don’t have so much access to markets and roads. SL is an amazing country and so beautiful and yet so needy in terms of development, but people are very welcoming and friendly wherever I’ve been, which has really helped.
Well done for making it to the end of this post!!
Labels: ambush, bo, bombali, bonthe, car, districts, football, kabala, kambia, Koidu, Koinadogu, Kono, makeni, port loko, roads, rubbish, travel, water
Back in Freetown
I'm back in town- for about a day, at least that's how long I have net access (assuming that the workshop planned for tomorrow actually happens). Will then be heading up country again until somepoint next week.
Had a brilliant time touring the South- we went to Bo, Bonthe, Pujehun, Kenema and Kailahun and I hope things go at least as well up north as well. Hopefully my stomach will stay ok as well- think I might've eaten something that my stomach disagrees with while I was in the South, but it doesn't disagree with it too much, which is good. But feeling more or less back to normal again now.
I have got pics but it generally takes an age to put them up, so will try to put them all up when I come back from the North. The main problem that I am having is the camera battery never lasts as long as I want it to- so will be taking extra back up batteries with me this time!
Leaving Freetown
The past weekend was a bit of a mix. On Friday I went to a Hajj (sorry if the spelling's wrong) party- my director came back from Hajj (pilgrimage to
Mecca), and invited us all to his for a party. I didn’t realise this was the reason for the party until after I had arrived and it was interesting to chat to people and meet others at the party and especially to chat to people from work in a more relaxed setting
.
Saturday morning was particularly boring- I was watching and supervising as two carpenters put up mosquito nets on our windows- this will hopefully mean that as the weather gets warmer, we’ll be able to have our windows open at night without having too many extra unwanted visitors.
We spent Saturday afternoon down at Lumley beach. This was more interesting than most visits to Lumely beach as the part we went to had a beach volley ball court, so we played a few games with some Poles and Russians that we met. I haven’t played volleyball since I arrived in SL (and not for sometime before that) and greatly enjoyed it- it’s so much nicer to fall/dive onto sand than other surfaces I’ve played on!
On Saturday evening, a group of us (almost entirely Brits which is unusual to have as a whole group here, but we were joined by one of the Irish contingent so it became slightly more ‘normal’) went to the Sierra Lighthouse for supper. It took ages to arrive (we knew that this would be the case tho’, since some of the group had been there before) and two people ordered blind off the menu-ie they looked at the Indian section and ordered something without quite knowing what it was. They ended up with what looked like green and brown slop (apparently curry), of varying degrees of heat.
Sunday was somewhat more successful- I went to church in the morning and then we went to Bouré beach, which was good fun and ate mackerel and oysters. The surf wasn’t particularly promising (for those wanting to surf), but it was good for swimming. The beach itself is very strange-every time I visit it, the beach has changed shape/terrain. For example, this time, there was a small inlet of water sandwiched between two parts of the beach-I’d never seen this before, despite having come to the beach at both low and high tides previously. There were a lot of people (mainly expats and Lebanese) down at the beach, relaxing in the sunshine; the water was slightly cooler than it was when I left and we think this is because the Harmattan dust stopped the sun from keeping the water as warm as normal, but still much warmer than it would be at home, particularly at this time of the year.
Anyway, back to the title of this piece- I’m going to be leaving Freetown for a bit and heading up country with work; this means I probably won’t be putting anything on my blog for a while, since I don’t know when I’m likely to have access to the net/time to write stuff for my blog, but if all goes well, I should have some good photos to bring back with me to go on my blog, as well as hopefully having avery interesting time while I'm there. Labels: beach, bouray, boure, volley ball, weekend
Wearing Africana
Today being Friday, most Sierra Leonians are wearing Africana (traditional African dress) to work- it's a bit like the opposite of dress-down Fridays. Anway, I have finally been in work on a Friday (ok I was in last week but very few other people were and those that were weren't wearing Africana) so I have decided to wear Africana. Mine's very blue- but then that's a colour that I think suits me and is a lot more colourful than what I'd normally wear to work (especially if I was in the UK). The only problem is that the a/c in the office makes it pretty cold and since Africana is meant to be worn in an African climate, cold isn't what it's suited for!
I have remembered another thing that the horn is used for- to tell pedestrians and cyclists to get out of the way or to stay at the side of the road because a car's coming passed.
Due to the death of a government official known (or related) to my boss and director, work has been slow this week as they have been involved in the funeral arrangements, which has made life more difficult for them. I think he died of cancer, which is an increasing problem in developing countries. Having said that, a lot more people die from malaria and HIV/AIDS than 'rich country diseases' at the moment and the former two really need to be tackled quickly. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Salone is lower than in many other African countries, but is still concerning and needs tobe stopped soon.
Since I have already sent a newsletter out, this is going to be a short post and I hope you have a good weekend.
Labels: africana, health, traffic
Car Meets Wall
Not my car, not my wall and not my responsibility- fortunately!
One of our friends woke up one morning this weekend to find this car that had flipped over and turned 180 degrees and landed in his wall- the culprits made off with the number plates but they left the tax disc. They returned- with their irate father (who we think had bought the car for them) later in the day. Our friend was just glad that no one had died or been badly injured as a result of this crash!
As people here say 'Eh Salone' (best when done with a Krio/Jamaican accent)
Labels: accident, car, wall
A fun weekend
This weekend has been much more interesting than I anticipated on leaving the office on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, after spending a quiet morning at the house we decided to go and see if there were waves suitable for surfing down at Bouré Town beach (that might be the correct spelling but I’m not 100% certain), but en route got invited to a friend’s for lunch at another beach (Tokeh), which we accepted and enjoyed delicious fresh cooked fish and rice. We then swam and enjoyed the sun for the afternoon, some people went out on a boat trip, where they saw dolphins. The dolphins were swimming in and around the nets that fishermen had been using to catch fish and they didn’t want to catch the dolphins-possibly because it is illegal, possibly because there’s no market for dolphins. Anyway, the dolphins were jumping in and out of the nets in order to eat the fish caught therein and if I can get some photos of the dolphins, I’ll put those up here as well. There were at least 5 and possibly more of them at one time.
In the evening, we stayed on the beach, with the intention of staying there overnight, but it was getting pretty cold and most people hadn’t brought suitable clothing to stay the night and there weren’t going to be enough mattresses, so several of us decided to head back to town-after having enjoyed a bonfire on the beach. We went back at around midnight, so there wouldn’t be so much traffic (therefore much safer than going back just after it gets dark when there are a lot more maniac drivers). We took the good road all the back into town-normally we’d cut across country, but because we were heading into town so late, it meant that the traffic coming through the middle of town (that the good road takes you into) and had a fantastic surprise as we passed along Siaka Stevens St (the main street in the middle of town); there were Christmas lights out (or they may be ‘election lights’ all the way down the road). Yes-that’s right, for the first time ever, I saw a whole road of street lighting in Freetown. Not only does this mean that NPA is back and working (at least for the moment and possibly up to the elections),but it’s being used to work the streetlights, so that it’s much safer travelling around in the evenings and amusingly made the centre of the town look like a Hollywood movie set.
On Sunday, we travelled up to Tokeh by speed boat (very fun- much faster and a lot less bumpy than going by road, especially if you don’t take the good roads the whole way). We picked up those who had decided to stay over for the night and then went off to Banana Island which is slightly off the coast of the Western Province. It’s a very basic island but there is both a school and hospital there, although we didn’t see inside of either of them. They have developed an area that has a lot of potential as a weekend retreat for tourists, with some very nice huts that have been newly built to help bring more money to the island. I think I was told that they aren’t properly owned/governed by the government of Sierra Leone because they used to be inhabited by outlaws and there’s not much there for others to want. The locals mainly live off the abundant fish and fruit that’s available on the island. There’s no vehicles there and we enjoyed exploring the village (Dublin) and even met the chief (or his wife- I’m not quite sure if she was the chief or if he was away and she was filling in while he was gone) for a few minutes.
We then went back to Tokeh and en route stopped off at another small island that has had a small pool built into it that is filled by the ocean at high tide. The people we were with explained that they used to have parties on this island and had at one point started building small houses (one room) to make it easier to stay the night, but the local fishermen had stolen the doors (and roofs) so they weren’t really habitable and they just had to bring tents and camp out if they wanted to stay over.
After we ate back at Tokeh- Snapper (fish) and rice, we (or perhaps here I can say ‘I’) drove the boat back to Freetown- was very good fun (and I didn’t crash, which was useful) and also pretty easy, if feeling somewhat hedonistic.
The evening was spent relaxing at Mamba Point and just chilling out (while having a supper that didn’t include fish- I chose chicken which was a nice change).
My camera decided it didn’t want to work, so I didn’t manage to get any photos but hope to get some off a friend to put up here.
Labels: banana islands, boat, dolphins, tokeh, weekend
Life in Freetown
This week has been very quiet, both at home and at work, so I am missing people back at home because there’s very little to keep my mind off doing so. The difference between rich and poor and the slender thread of life was brought home to me by my housemate who told me of what had happened to one of our guards while I was away. He’s been ill for sometime and through the efforts of our Krio speaking friends (We’re still learning so it’s pretty basic), the guard’s father was persuaded to take him to hospital (rather than to a traditional witch doctor). Once at the hospital, he was diagnosed with diabetes and treated and is no recovering at home. What really amazed me was the cost of this all-about 400GBP! Which he definitely would not have been able to afford, as a compound, we have paid for his treatment, but I think he’s going to need to get insulin everyday for the rest of his life as well.
Just this disparity- I guess it’s there to an extent in some Western countries, but in the UK, if you’re ill, you go to hospital and it’s free at the point of need-yes there are problems and difficulties with the NHS, but compared to these costs, which I assume are normal by international standards, actually having the NHS is such a blessing for everyone in the UK who’s ever taken ill.
The roads are less chaotic at the moment but I think that’s because a lot of people have been/are upcountry and so fewer people are coming into work in the mornings. The taxi’s are as crazy as ever but there seem to be less horns beeping than normal. In Freetown, the most important part of a car is its horn- at least that’s what you’d expect given the amount of usage! It means any of:
- Get out of my way
- Look- there’s a white person
- I’m turning left/right (not always used for this- in fact indicators often aren’t used either!)
- Don’t stop suddenly in front of me
- I’m pulling out
- Don’t pull out in front of me
- You’re driving on the wrong side of the road
- Look at me- I’ve got a fancy car
- And I’m sure plenty more things that I’ve missed or forgotten
I haven’t got a car and haven’t driven round Freetown yet, but it’s definitely an experience where you keep your eyes and ears open the whole time (and I guess that includes being a pedestrian as well).
Well I guess that’s all for the moment- I’m not expecting momentous things to happen this weekend but will let you know if I get up to much interesting.
Labels: hospital, traffic
More photos
These are photos there were all taken when leaving the ferry to go the the airport to fly home
The airport is not only across the water from Freetown, it's about a 45min boat trip and is in an entirely different province to Freetown. You can also take the helicopter to get to the airport, but that costs about 50USD, whereas the ferry costs about 20USD or 12GBP (or at less if all you do is the actual ferry trip, but I got a bus which took me all the way from the centre of town, across the ferry and onto the airport, hence making life a lot easier for myself rather than having to find a taxi once I'd gotten onto the other side of the water). Since the flights I've taken to SL have always arrived late in the evening/at night, it's easier and safer to take the helicopter (and certainly a lot quicker, unless you get a storm which grounds the helicopter). However, since I was leaving Freetown in the afternoon I thought I'd try taking the ferry, which worked out really nicely and was very relaxing and chilled.
This first photo was taken while still on the ferry as we were moving towards the port- the sillouettes were foot passengers on the ferry.
More people leaving the ferry- having sold their goods in Freetown.
The welcome sign at the entrance to the airport, promoting love and peace in a country where until recently there didn't seem to be too much of either, but so far things have definitely been much more peaceful and positive.
Oops- just realised that these are a bit in the wrong order- this was just after the bus had come off the ferry. It's a bit like a RORO except for the fact that you drive on and reverse off- rather than opening at both ends. I think our driver had done this before tho' as be seemed pretty good at getting the bus on and off the ferry without touching any of the other vehicles. They did put the vehicles onto the ferry very tightly tho'- the door of our bus wouldn't open because it was so close to other cars. However, the windows were large sliding ones, so we could still get a lot of air (and clamber out if we needed/wanted to).
Labels: ferry, photos, travel
A few photos from the beach (plus one other)
Wahey- have managed to make it work!! 
This is Bouray beach-v beautiful and clean and sometimes has good enough waves for surfing on- tho' the recent ones have been more suited for beginners than anyone else.
These were all taken sometime ago since this is the first time I have managed to get a browser to work with blogger to get photos up.
And the beach from another direction- ah it's a tough life
More beach
Taken leaving the ferry on my way to the airport to head home- these were the first people off the boat, they were all heading home having sold their wares in the Freetown markets. Apparently they sell a lot of fish, fruit and vegetables at cheaper prices than you'd normally find in Freetown.
And finally, I took this ages ago- the same time I took the pics of the beach above; it's pics of the surfboards we rented when down at Bouray (still not sure of spelling!) beach and were beginning to attempt to learn to surf (tho' these boards were pretty short thus making it kind of tough).
Hopefully will manage to get some more photos on here now that have worked out a possible way of doing it!!
Labels: bouray, boure, photos, surfboards
HAPPY NEW YEAR
I know it’s a little late to wish you a Happy New Year, but I’ve only just got back to work, so I think it’s just about allowed!
Anyway, I’m now back in SL and this time it looks as though I’m going to be here for sometime! It’s much warmer being back than it was in the UK (tho’ much cooler than it was when I first arrived, which is making reacclimatisation much easier). In another sense I also I came back at a pretty good time- basically when I left I was told that the 1st Jan was a public holiday and the rest of the week would be work as normal, but now I discover that the 2nd is as well, which means I have been able to rest and relax and make sure I’ve got me and my stuff sorted before heading back into work.Although a few of the expats are around (especially those who stayed in SL/ Africa for Christmas and the New Year), as yet there doesn’t seem to be that many people around, but I have been taking life fairly quietly so there are likely to be more people around than I realise.
Have still got a slight sniffle, which is annoying as means I shouldn’t do any swimming at the moment since I really don’t want it to get any worse-but hopefully plenty of rest yesterday will have gone a long way to sorting that all out!
NPA is back on and some people have even had it for 24 hours a day. Our meter has been replaced but they think there might be a problem with the connection hence meaning we still have to rely on a generator whenever we want some power (which is working at the moment!!)
I've tried to put some more photos on this blog but it doesn't seem to want to work at the moment, so I'm afraid you'll just have to wait until I find a computer with a better browser!
Labels: electricity, New Year, weather
