Starting Again...

Being the only person in Country for your UK based organisation can have its benefits and difficulties. The main issue is LOGISTICS, well to be honest no matter if you work for a big organisation or not, water, electricity and transport are the 3 biggest issues which you constantly grapple with and I am NO exception! Its quite common for volunteers and paid workers to go home early as it’s not all beer and beaches!

Recently a good friend of mine finished her 6 month VSO placement in the Ministry and decided not to renew her placement after a 6 month battle with VSO over the provision of water, or lack of it to be precise! At times she could not go to work because she couldn’t wash. When you add these kind of problems to the set up tasks of finding a place to live, finding and setting up an office, setting up a things like a bank account and new business phone, dealing with constant car problems and starting a new job, requiring you to meet with lots of new people and weekly updates on progress/plans... Then add supporting people here with various issues and problems......and good friends leaving like Rey, a week after I arrived.

I’d like to be able to say ‘however, as I am a tough and experienced VSO, the last few weeks has been a breeze’ but they haven’t. Since I came back, its been tough and busy and I’ve missed my friends and family more than before. I’ve only been to the beach twice!!! That’s how hard it’s been! BUT... I now have somewhere to live and an office and the job is starting to take shape. I am sitting sipping my last drop of Oyster Bay wine from the precious 2 bottles I brought with me in February and writing my blog for the first time in ages on the lovely terrace of my new little house. SORRY its taken me so long to get blogging again and thanks for all those kicks, complaints and encouraging emails. I had no idea that my blog had so many readers! I promise......no more huge gaps between blogs and yes I am still alive!!!

Making it Happen

When I left Salone last December, I had no return flight booked or any job offer (although I had only actually applied for 2 jobs!). All I knew was that I WAS coming back and that it would be within 2 months of leaving Freetown, with or without a job. Psychologically this was all quite difficult because I want to be in both places at once! Some people seem to manage this dual existence between countries, but can you do that between UK and West Africa? Its so vastly different, however many Saloneans do this with split families, between here and all over the UK, Peckham being a popular location and Manchester too. Leeds is a popular place to study Public Health. However, do many British born have this similar lifestyle taking into consideration the practicalities of working and living in two places so culturally diverse and relatively far away? I’ll look into it!

But anyway, I digress! The key to coming back to Salone and attempting to continue to make some kind of positive contribution is gaining employment and after a year of volunteering (ie lots of work no income!), this had to be paid work! I got home and chased the Ministry to see if they had funding agreed from Donors to employ me for at least another 6 months. I had written two proposals which had been duly sent to at least 2 Donors/potential funders back in December. And I waited... and at the same time I also applied for 2 health related jobs with NGOs. I got shortlisted for both. Are jobs like buses then? One job sounded very interesting and was paid more but you had to travel between 4 West African Countries, which sounded glamorous but I doubt it is and the other job based in Freetown, was working at national level as the first person in Sierra Leone. It was for a relatively new charity with 2 project components: public health and education. It sounded worthwhile and challenging. I was offered the job and I took it ....so with the usual mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation both with the new challenge but also coping with leaving home again, I came back to Africa - six weeks after I left.