Creature Discomforts

Last week another group of victims (new VSOs) arrived and I jointly delivered a talk on ‘Everything you need to know to survive Freetown’ (but was afraid to ask!). One of the slides was of course about keeping healthy and kitchen hygiene. Jo and I recommended a number of tasks including wiping down all surfaces with a dettol/water mix, treating rooms regularly with bug spray (aptly named TOX in Krio, its pretty bloody toxic) plus brushing your teeth with drinking water. These are a number of methods to reduce the likelihood of marching ants, rats, mice, cockroaches and water borne parasites from becoming too much of a presence in your life!

Its all well and good being able to control your home environment, but everywhere else is another matter. The rainy season washes up all kinds of things and I stood on a dead rats tail the other day! And continuing the rodent theme, at work a rat has chewed through the air conditioning wire so no aircon for 3 weeks and counting! Combined with the cockroaches (alive and dead although you rarely see any live ones), some who lived in the office printer after emigrating from the stapler, plus the ants recently marching across my desk (this might be partially my fault as I eat breakfast there!) , wires across the floor plus a kettle at my feet (which I have flatly refused to allow it to be boiled there unless I’m out of the office), makes the office a bit of a health and safety nightmare! Oh and I almost forgot that there is often 6/7 people and 4 desks in a space that would be cosy for two! So… Samura (the messenger/cleaner) kindly sprayed the office. This has made some difference especially in the ratio of live to deceased roaches. I try not to think about previous spacious offices with a meeting table and fast computers with consistent internet access! However, the Ministry is full of friendly, committed people and interesting characters so you can forgive the occasional bug, cant you?

The photo was taken at the VSO health programme workshop in Makeni last week where I ran a couple of sessions, unrelated to the bug theme of this blog!