How to spot a water leak and other construction stories!

Its the dry season and March is the hottest month of the year. Meanwhile Freetown is being torn apart and being put back together again by the Seventh Chinese Railway Construction Company who are widening and improving all the major roads particularly where I live in the West end of Freetown. I’ve mentioned the clearing technique before which involved bulldozing everything in their way, fences, pylons, drains, fronts of buildings, even religious buildings have suffered and lost their front steps for example (I am wondering if the local worshippers had to pole vault into the building?). It is bizarre to see this just after it happens, like the front of a house I saw, with what remains of a bathroom, the sink and loo hanging onto the wall but the bath gone!! Just after my Birthday party last year at Senegalese, the front of the restaurant was bulldozed off but they just rebuilt it and it now only has 4 tables!

It’s amazing how the Saloneans cope with all this, they just get on with and rebuild again and very quickly. Near Leicester Road, the new road went right through a market and the stalls just kept moving around the piles of mud and rubble!!! However, this road building has been going on awhile and shiny new surfaces are starting to appear. There have been drastic consequences however to this massive improvement programme and these are NOT in order of importance:

(1) Severe water supplies and long periods without electricity in the areas nearer to the roads

(2) Lots of water leaks with the precious stuff seaping out everywhere, mixing with all the dust

(3) Enormous and frustrating traffic jams

(4) Injury and death of the construction workers, although I have never seen any statistics on this

(5) Drainage and sewage problems

You see Guma Valley Water Company trucks around town and presumably they are going out to search and fix leaks. Guma is the reservoir that supplies much of the city’s water. It can’t be hard to find a leak as its always surrounded with crowds of kids of all ages with everything from a small bucket to large 5 gallon yellow plastic containers (called rubbers???) chatting and waiting to fill up. Rarely is there trouble. Kids can charge 1000le for delivering a rubber to a ‘water customer’ which they carry on their heads. Even the smallest child can manage a bucket on their heads. There are bigger water barrels called 'Pigs feet' containers as they are used to import the tasty product! I think they take 25 gallons. I'm glad to see them with just water and not the original contents! There are public taps around the town too, as the number of houses having piped water is quite small (around 20% I think) and collecting water is a water of life and its gets harder and harder towards the end of the dry season.

I must get some photos of the colourful and time consuming process of water collection and of all the frenetic building activity as we hurtle towards the 50th Anniversary of Sierra Leone’s Independence on 27th April. The deadline is to have some of the roads completed by then. Already there are bunting and flags appearing everywhere and buildings newly painted. There's still time for more paiting before the big celebrations, but that’s for the next blog!!!

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.

January, dull and dreary????

It amazing how I seemed to settle back into life in the UK and totally adjust to all the differences, didn’t even feel much of the cold this time, although I did miss the big freeze! Landed in Manchester airport to a few piles of snow around but relatively balmy weather! For 6 weeks, I enjoyed the cold like a person who knew deep down that it wouldn’t be for very long! Same with food. I was a total pig, there are large areas of Cheshire that have disappeared as I ate everything in sight! Oh and drunk some lovely wine (from a bottle!) and sampled various spirits too.

Mum and Tony picked me up from the airport on 29th December and drove me straight to their house where a belated Chrimbo dinner was waiting, even complete with pudding, brandy butter, crackers and mince pies. New year was spent at my sisters, great fun and not so quietly!

So I settled quickly and well back at home but SHOPs – they still freak me out. There is so much STUFF everywhere and so much of it not essential but rather desirable, 87 different kinds of cheese in one place for example!!! I was also amazed at the size of my own house, after living in 1 room for 10 months and how everything in the house actually works! The VSO returned volunteer coordinator (yes there is such a job in existence) kept trying to contact me to see how I was managed. Apparently lots of people have real trouble ‘re-settling’ January passed quickly and slowly at the same time. I had a few days at Cawood Castle (http://bookings.landmarktrust.org.uk/BuildingDetails/Overview/154/Cawood_Castle#) in Yorkshire with Rosie and there is was COLD! Check out the Landmark Trust for interesting and quirky places to stay in the UK. We may be staying in grand, historical surroundings, but spent more money on wood and coal than food and drink! That’s saying something when the Green sisters get together!!! Sat in the rather grand surroundings of the castle, I wrote a couple of job applications, both for which I was shortlisted for. 2nd week in January I popped down to London for an interview and to catch up with my lovely uni friends and especially meet Cecily, Lucy and John’s latest little babe only a few weeks old. Tried to steal her but Lucy was holding firmly onto her when she waved me goodbye at Dulwich station! I also managed to meet up with old friends from Liverpool, Sheffield and a few other places, have a pamper day at my house, do 3 fundraising talks for the Wellbodi Partnership, raising about £700, go walking, babysitting for my god daughter, become a lady who lunches with several friends, go to a school reunion (yes school, people I hadn’t seen since the early 80’s!!!), have my eyes and teeth checked, reload on medication for Africa, spend time with my family, go and see Scuzzy in Chipping Norton with his adopted parents (P &L)...oh and get a job! Yes an actual paid job for 6 months starting on 1st feb and due to start work and fly back to Freetown on 11th Feb.

Finally I forgot the weeks holiday in the Lakes (www.seasonsholidays.com/whitbarrowvillage/index.html) but cant post any photos as my camera has been stolen/lost before I had uploaded them! The week in the north lakes was wonderful, lots of walking around Derwent Water and Catbells and catching up with the friends who made the journey up the M6 to stop a few days. I really enjoyed those days, even my Mum and Gran came.

So... January was a little busy but there was plenty of time for lying on my favourite sofa and watching files under a blanket.... The photos are from Macclesfield plus some of the places I stayed.

Not ready yet...

28th December and time to go home? Question is what happens next? I’m happy and settled here, despite the difficulties of life and the poverty and the tummy upsets!!! Now it seems I have two homes....So this is what it feels like to be torn between two countries; two lots of friends, two cultures, two set of clothes, two bottle openers and of course two different climates!!! So off I go back to the UK with nothing sorted yet to come back, no job, no flight back booked, with much of sadness, especially at leaving the Ministry but also so looking forward to seeing my family and friends, many of them who love and miss me but don't understand this passion I have for Africa.... so what’s next?

Pictures are on the Kissy Ferry on the way to Lunghi airport and packing up my room, but unfortunately I didnt take any photos or video of the dancing dwarf!

Christmas, simplified

With a Salone family….Christmas morning starts like any other morning, at 6am with cooking, fetching water and cleaning…. Although I sorted out a small tree and some tiny gifts from PZ (an area of Freetown you can buy second hand stuff cheaply) so that everyone had something to open on the 25th. It was wonderful to see even tiny gifts costing a few pence really appreciated by kids who don’t often get very much, that was my Christmas present. OK, so I got another gift.. an African dress which I wore later to church after it had been ironed with a big metal iron heated by the glowing embers. When I say church I mean a hut with an altar and plastic chairs and an amazingly loud sound system for lots of shouting out of the gospel and singing to be spread all over the immediate area, but it’s a church in the eyes of God and the congregation!

Dinner was couscous and cow meat(!) kebab, tasty but nothing like turkey with all the trimmings, no starter (scallops at home), no pud with brandy butter but some kind of tapioca apple thing which looked like space goo but actually tasted quite nice if you dared risk it. No need to rest on the sofa groaning due to excessive food, even had space to have packet noodles for supper! I tried and failed to learn some Krio carols.

The most bizarre thing? The climate, it can’t possibly be Christmas at 30 degrees! Here’s a few photos including me cooling down with a sprite after Church and a couple from Boxing Day on Hamilton beach.

African Christmas, Snowy European New Year

So in 6 days I fly home, without a definate job... but it looks promising. I have meeting in London on 10th Jan about a 6 month contract here plus I've received 2 calls in the last 5 minutes from one of the Ministry Directors. He is submitting one of the 2 proposals (to keep me) to donors for potential funding.....

Plan A -the Ministry
Plan B - another ethically ok organisation
Plan C - Caroluccios Coffee bar
Plan D - did have one but forgotten it
Plan E - customer service training agency


And while I contemplate the many future possibilities, I also look forward to a Sierra Leonian Christmas, with street carnivals, carol singing, special Christmas food (2 kinds of rice???) and beach bumming.

I am also looking forward to coming home too and being with friends and family. I am not looking forward to leaving my cosy room at Frazier davies Drive and packing my stuff into the smelly store room! 3 days to Christmas....6 days to cheese and snow...

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL BLOG READERS AND THANKS FOR FOLLOWING MY JOURNEY SO FAR XXXX

END GAME

Yesterday was my last day in the Ministry. I was remarkably calm about this. It could be because I didn’t tell many people and sneaked off without saying goodbye…. Too upsetting really. I’ve come to know and love so many of my colleagues and I still don’t know whether or not I’m coming back. The last few days have seen lots of activity finalizing two proposals for continued technical assistance (as its called) for me to come back and finalising the brief for our new Minister of Health (a driven, committed woman, first impressions are that she was be great for the Ministry). Both of the proposals may be funded, or neither! I’ll know after Christmas, but I'm coming back to Freetwon anyway.

My colleagues gave me a lovely cola nut dyed dress with beautiful embroidery and a Thank You card ….Thank you for instilling hope in me when times were difficult… declared the front, I was very touched! Now looking forward to the Ministry Christmas party on Thursday where I'll try not to drink too much and cry!

Beach Hopping

What do you for a weeks holiday in Sierra Leone? Well there is Tiwai (an amazing wildlife sanctuary in Moyamba), Tacugama (The Chimpanzee Santuary in the hills behind Freetown), for the real explorers there’s Mount Bintumani (West Africa’s tallest peak up near Kabala somewhere!!) and of course there’s the BEACHES!!!!

So I took off for a weeks holiday and set off down the coast with a friend, small rucksack each and about £200 between us (we came back with change!). Hamilton was the first stop. It’s the far end of Lakka which is the nearest swimmable beach a few miles south of Freetown. You can of course swim at Lumley Beach if you want to risk various sewage borne diseases!!! We got public transport (rickety taxi) to Lakka and walked around the gorgeous bay to Hamilton and stayed 3 nights at Samso’s (078 764734) which is a wonderful quiet secret. Huts on the beach 120-140k Le per night inc breakfast (this about £10pppn). One day we took a walk to Sussex beach which is a 2 hour stroll through Hamilton village and then along the beach. You have to wade through the river to reach Francos (very variable food and service, from terrible to reasonable). There is also a gorgeous river behind the sea that you can float along, The nearest I’ve got to in months to a warm bath! Unfortunately my waterproof camera inexplicably let in water and stopped working after the floating! All the peninsula beach walks are so lovely with the beach and sea on one side and the forested mountains on the other, unfortunately NOT captured on film but lodging firmly in my memory.

After Hamilton, we took motorbikes to River No2 beach and from there hiked down the next beach and waded across the river to Tokeh…another beautiful and deserted white sand palm fringed beach, 2 nights here and then another local taxi to Banana Island. We stayed at Daltons run by a young Greek chap called Gregory. He is in the middle of major renovations and its going to be a great place to stay very soon (076 278120) basic en suite rooms 50k Le plus 12k Le for breakfast (Omelette and chips!!!) but there will be a cheap sleeping hut and also camping very soon. Gregory has devised a hot shower system which is a large metal barrel with a small fire/smouldering embers under it so amazingly I had a hot shower and without scalding myself too! Banana island is lovely and worth hiking around to explore the island and its many lovely beaches and quiet spots. Greg also is going to start dive courses. He is a master diver and has all the equipment. Also it is beautiful to snorkel around the rocks, lots of lovely fish.

So after a 6 day trip, it was back to Freetown via… 1 boat, 1 Poda, 2 walks and 3 taxis! Four hours later I was home again…. Back in the frenetic life in Freetown and those empty beaches suddenly seemed very far away!

Mami and Pikin Wellbodi week, World Aids Day, I cant keep up!

Mother and Child Health Promotion week was launched actually last week by the President, 3 key things are happening: 3 million Malaria nets are being distributed to all households in the country (so a tiny challenge then!), Vitamin A for all children and deworming medication (Albendazole) for all. I have a net, I take multi-vitamins, but I'm due for the 6 monthly mass genocide of the small pets living in my colon!!! these campaigns every 6 months do seem to have an impact

I cant believe that its 1 December tomorrow.... count down to Christmas and World Aids Day. There is a big event happening at the back of my office to mark the day (I know because of all the tents, chairs and red ribbons banners!) and we health workers are required to 'March' ok saunter in this heat from Victoria Park in town to somewhere else (not sure where yet). This is a lot easier than a previous sporting activity I undertook on 1 December 1989, which was to throw myself off the top of Fazakerly Hospital (a mere 14 storeys high) with only a rope for company... abseiling apparently. I raised enough money to pay for the post traumatic stress counselling needed for the next 5 years! I'm assuming the March will be less scary.

The photo is of some kids who will benefit this week I hope... plus an animal called a 'grass cutter' which is a delicacy but whose sweet taste I've not had the privilege to try yet!

Shocking

One of yesterday’s Freetown papers has a story about a young man caught stealing an old pair of shoes. Members of the Leicester Road community (up the hill behind the parliament, on way to Fourah Bay College) cornered him and its alledged that he was beaten and stoned to death by this 'mob'. There was an awful photo of him in the paper, naked and bloody. The paper intimated that he deserved to die, more or less saying that it was a lesson he would never forget and a warning to others.

I know this community are plagued by repeated robberies but this is an atrocity and should be treated as such. People taking the law into their own hands is not how a country grows and progresses. Members of the same community and the people who own and write for the paper will go to church on Sunday and I wonder what they will pray for.

The Awareness Times does a summary online of the latest local and national news in Sierra Leone, although it wasn’t the paper who reported this in such an irresponsible way it does cover the story in its summary: http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/cat_index_037.shtml

From New York to SL

Monday 24th November 2008. I was half way through a short 4 day trip to the Big Apple, taken on a romantic notion and never regretted! Wednesday 24th November 2010 (location Freetown!) and I’m fondly reflecting on that trip only 2 years ago and started comparing Freetown to New York in my head. Here are a few highly subjective similarities in a random order:

· Chaotic traffic and enormous jams (but there are no bulldozers randomly taking the front of buildings off so the road can be widened!)
· Yellow taxis (although most of the NYC taxis don’t have smashed windscreens held together with Man United stickers and back axles scraping on the ground or scary sounding clunks as you drive along)
· Able to buy things day and night (although the choice here is severely limited)
· Friendly people
· Massive inequity between rich and poor (the relative differences I haven’t economically assessed)
· Buzz, pulse, beat, however its described – the pulsating life of a city that both NYC and FT have but lots of cities don’t have
· Some great food!
· Lots of people living in a small space
· Creative ways to make money, lots of entrepreneurs!
· Surrounded by sea
· Dirty air and Noisy (all kinds of sounds, including music everywhere?)
· Amazing hairstyles and clothes
· Areas that aren’t safe at night (but you could say that of any city)
· Some good places to have a beer!
· Lots of religious buildings!
· Lots of languages spoken

There are lots of differences too. There’s the obvious developed v under developed massive differences for people; levels and access to education, health care (although in both places, many poor people still have to pay for their health care), life expectancy, housing etc. But my comparisons are, well, a little less heavy in this blog! Freetown is hilly and wooded and there are hardly any tall buildings, no proper shops, overstretched and underdeveloped telecommunication systems, most buildings are not maintained, no proper public transport infrastructure and almost no galleries or theatre but it does have amazing countryside and beaches less than an hour away. Both towns have that essential life blood which makes them interesting, fascinating and exciting places to live. Freetown is definitely the Big Apple (or should I say Mango, as all apples are imported) of Salone and despite the fact that its not New York. I still love it.

In true Carole style, these photos have nothing to do with the blog but the 1st is the Taiama workshop photo taken with my colleagues last month (note I am the only women, hence the opening phase by the permanent secretary.... good morning Lady and Gentlemen!) and the 2nd is the kids in Peter's (Ministry Driver) village waving us goodbye!

Thanks to a certain lovely Irish guy for showing me the real New York and inspiring this blog (you know who you are)

Its a dogs life

Two weeks ago I met 3 female vets at Balmaya (one of them starred in a previous blog!). That day they had neutered 279 male dogs! Talk about being on a mission, impressive eh! I didnt ask how, too much information. But this is totally necessary. There are dogs everywhere and they almost all look the same, beige with white socks, the gene pool must be very limited! They breed and breed, leading to more canine misery as most of the dogs are homeless, thin and hungry. They fight alot and howl or bark continuously at night. Most of them have bits of their ears missing, wounds from the endless fights for food.

Although I am totally in agreement with this mass neutering, sometimes I wish these committed lady vets were removing the larnyx instead of the other bits, as I havent had a single nights sleep which hasn't been interrupted by bloody dogs barking and howling!!

'Dumbo' stars in the photo, an extremely skinny dog who lives at Hamilton Beach with abnormally large ears (of course!)

(Lack of!) Future Plans

I have decided to stay on longer in Freetown after my VSO placement ends at Christmas, for another 6 months or more. However I have to overcome some minor problems: (1) I have no job yet (2) I will have nowhere to live in 8 weeks time! I still have no idea whether I'm going home for Christmas or not and the flights are getting booked up! Mmmm... well at least I have started to look for a job and even applied for 2 but no luck yet. Plan A is to get funding to stay in the Ministry (easier said than done). Plan B is to work for a partner agency here but I'd prefer the Ministry in order to put the last 8 months to good use. Plan C is to give up on health and open a good italian coffee shop, with great coffee, paninis and cake! I even have the name..... Caroluccios! Watch this space!

To blog or not to blog?

I’ve decided that I should really only blog when I have something interesting, useful or pertinent to say. However life carries on here much the same as it does in the rest of the world. However, its been a month since I blogged! Things do pop into my head sometimes ‘that would be a good thing to write about’ and actually as I sit here, the reason I decide to blog has frankly escaped into the ether! So… I’ll just talk a little bit about my last month here.

I have been upcountry twice. Once to a workshop with the top Docs in Taiama (near Bo). It was an interesting day, a topic I knew a little bit about and could contribute and the place was nice (aircon and hot water now make me feel totally spoilt!!) however, my driver, Peter drank some dodgy water and ended up on a drip in the nearby clinic. Never have so many Drs tended to one patient! The poor CHO (Community Health Officer) was overwhelmed! They did have some drugs but no electricity (or running water, in contrast our hotel 500m away)), so I had to hold Peter’s hand in the dark while he slept. The poor chap was a bit pathetic and therefore this was the source of major teasing for the next week! The next day he was a lot better and off the drip and I got to drive him almost home (from Moyamba Junction to Waterloo). We stopped just before the police check point and swapped over (I am unsure about all the legalities here, like insurance etc!!)

The next time I went up country was to Makeni for 5 days. I was facilitating a workshop with Patricia, my colleague. We were developing a Community Health Worker national programme and a number of representative from NGOs and donors were there. It was hard work but by the end of the week and lots of group work and discussion, we had a draft training manual and programme. I got to know Makeni a little better. I’ve been there at least 5 times but never spent this long there. I stayed with some of the Makeni VSOs and discovered that they also have a good social life which is centred around eating delicious food! I put on weight! Thanks Alice, Kim and Angel.

Work has therefore picked up a lot since I came back from the UK and I’m quite busy. Just over a week ago, I facilitated the Ministry retreat with John and Nathan (Tony Blair guys).On the second day I did most of the facilitating and I enjoyed it. We came out with useful plans to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of how we work in the Ministry and some have already been put into place. That evening there was a big dinner, hosted by the SL Medical and Dental Association (a bit like the BMA here) and it was all incredibly familiar. Men dressed in smart suits, ladies in beautiful outfits (the Salonean women know how to dress up!) but the only difference was that the main meal was served at 11.20pm and the speeches finished at 12.30am and then there was the dancing…. I sloped off about 1am and cadged a lift from one of the Drs who is also a Reverend. He had a sermon to do for the next day!

Socially there is always loads going on. An irish bar O’Caseys has just opened here! One of the new VSOs (Beth) does yoga lessons. We had a party last Friday and loads of folks came. Apparently it was a good party, photos to come. This weekend I’m organising a beach trip to Samso’s (named after Samso in Jutland Denmark, the guy lived there for a while) on Hamilton Beach.

For some reason I cant load photos anymore. The internet disconnects! Its probably a salonean bug! My USB stick is so infected that I don’t like touching it… I’ve lent it to John instead. He does the equivalent of sticking it in dettol every couple of days…. So no photos for a while. I’ll try again soon.

So sorry for the rambling blog but I'll try and remember what I was originally going to write about! Its a muslim holiday today (hence time to blog at 7.30am!) and there is going to be a big carnival in town later. I'll try to cover that! I'll also cover the massive road building programme and the interesting technique of simply bulldozing the front of people's houses if they are in the way. Folks just rebuild a front wall and live in a smaller house! This is a topic where photos tell the story....

I've had better weeks

I wrote this blog a month ago (around 20th October) and couldn't decide whether to post it or not but it was how I was felt at the time so here it is.....

Sometimes I think that my skills and experience are simply not noticed, recognised or utilised….its been a frustrating week so far. The bureaucracy of external funders, the fragility (or lack of) local health systems and skills, overload of so called expert consultants doing piecemeal and (in my opinion) sometimes unsustainable work, The lack of processes at every level. Sometimes the workload is mundane (I write a lot of letters) and the constant learning curve to understand things in a totally new context can leave me exhausted and sometimes dejected. You think you are getting somewhere and then there is some big setback. Might sound a bit familiar (friends in the NHS?)?

To add to my work and other frustrations this week was when on my way to work I discovered an injured dog in the road, with taxis and podas driving around it. I see human suffering and misery everyday which is hard enough and so I have learned to blank out the suffering in the animal kingdom, but not on this morning. With the help of a press-ganged passerby, we gently pushed the dog out of the way of oncoming traffic. It clearly had a head injury and broken bones after being whacked by a car once or maybe two or three times? It was 8.30am and according to the person working at the house next to the road, the dog had been there for some hours, but he had left the dog in the road to suffer and had done nothing. He got the dog some water (I kind of gave him no choice) and I went to find my lovely and resourceful neighbour Joe. I had no idea that we were literally about 300 yards from an animal rescue place, but Joe did and they stretchered the dog there, sedated him, examined him and agreed that there was nothing that could be done for him. A British vet was there, who had arrived 2 days before to volunteer her services for 2 months, brave woman. She concurred with the local vets diagnosis. I put my hand on his head and said goodbye.

Last Sunday I had a long chat with a rather good looking young man who sells locally made bags outside one of the cafes (Bliss). His grandfather makes the bags and he sells them for a living. I’m going to buy a bag next week from Ibraheim. He has no hands, being one of the many in Freetown who were victims of the war atrocities. There are also people who were so badly beaten that their limbs no longer work. Every day I am confronted with a row of wheelchair ridden young people (mainly), begging for food outside my office. Sometimes I give them money, sometimes food. But often I also walk by. I buy medicines for the lower paid staff in the office and I often bring in food. Government drivers earn approximately £45 per month and that’s sought after position in a country with mass unemployment. I haven’t even started to talk about the Freetown slums or the opportunities (or lack of) for the young, especially if their family cant afford to send them to school. People somehow manage to live by selling cucumbers (and a massive array of other things) on their head’s, so its hard to justify getting so upset over a dog in this context. But then again all living creatures feel pain and suffering.

I’m pretty sure that things are improving, we are slowly seeing this in the health sector, especially after the launch of free health care, but sometimes the enormity of the task is quite overwhelming. I have every respect for my Sierra Leonian colleagues, who simply keep going, despite the slowness of progress and the complexity of everything. This makes my frustrations pale into insignificance.

The crack in the pavement

So I’m in a taxi coming to work last Tuesday and thinking about the fact that (a) I was a bit late for work (b) I hadn’t blogged for a while and what on earth could I write about? (c) The sun newspaper never printed anything about Sierra Leone in July so I couldn’t be a VSO with 15 minutes of fame (or should I check yet again on the website??) and (d) why had I STILL not joined the UN gym (for the outdoor pool!) when half the latest group of VSOs were already members in less than 4 weeks and I’d been here 7 months (and I live closer to the UN than anyone and dented pride! else!!!). So I had lots of really important stuff on my mind.

The only thing I made a decision on was that it might be amusing to do a summary blog of all the daft things I had thought, did and said, since I arrived thus demonstrating how much I know now and how far I had come in this challenging environment in the last 7 months!!

So decision made, I started to mentally list the ridiculous incidents, like thinking that the previous occupant of my room was too lazy to fix the two giant holes in the window nets but had just covered them with wood panels instead, Whereas in fact these were covering the holes that you are meant to use to put your arms through to actually open and close the windows!! Anyway, I arrived at the Youyi Building (my work) and jumped out of the taxi whilst continuing to write the blog in my head, then took a step straight into the sewer between two flag stones. I was lucky not to break my leg and get away with only cuts and bruises. But no gym joining for a couple of days! The moral of the story… look where you are going of course and never think that your own stupidity reduces with age and experience, it doesn’t!

Birthday Bash!

Last Tuesday I turned 45 years old which means I am half way to 90 and can look forward to arthritis, memory loss, repeating the same stories continuously (have I written this blog before??) varicose veins and droopy boobs. Interestingly as soon as I reached this age, I discovered a rather large vein beginning to stick out of my right leg! Does the fact that I know myself fairly well and I’m a little wiser and knowledgeable than in my 20s make up for this slow deterioration? No it bloody doesn’t!!







Anyway back to 28th Sept 2010 and celebrating my Birthday in West Africa. In 2009 I was in the UK, 2008 I was in Miami, Florida and can’t remember further back than that! On 'B' day was at work and didn’t tell anyone, but in the morning I was in a meeting with most of the senior ministry staff and they all sang Happy Birthday to me which was nice and a bit bizarre! I had some calls from home which was a bit emotional including from my Mum and Grandma and Otto. Gran just wanted to know when I was coming home.
The working day was therefore OK but ended badly when I couldn’t get a lift home and couldn’t get a poda or taxi either. So, I walked home in a strop which quickly dissipated as I watched people sell things and greeted passers by on the way. Also, the storm that threatened did not materialise. Later I went to Senegalise (an African restaurant on Wilkinson Road) where 19 of my closest friends (!) had turned up to celebrate with me and this even included chocolate cake, a candle and singing (and prior to this an outstanding baracuda kebab!)!! As no-one can really send me a card here, I had a small but perfect collection of 6 cards, from home and friends here but the dearth of presents and cards hardly mattered as I had a great night. Thanks especially to Natalie for organising it and to John and Allie for the lift!

Also thanks for the 50 or so messages on Facebook and numerous emails! I might be far away but I was very touched at how many folks remembered, makes turning 45 almost bearable!!! Thank you.

There doesn't seem to be any photos of me, so here's the cake instead!!

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!

Foolish Food Follies

How many VSOs does it take to figure out what is and isn’t milk? Jo and I really needed a brew so we decided treat ourselves at Balmaya. A nice big pot of tea arrived with a milk jug delicately covered with a cotton doily thing with beads on to keep the flies out (juice arrives in the same way). Great proper milk! Not the powdered stuff, not condensed/tinned milk but white stuff from an actual cow! But alas no, it was a kind of beige pinky colour. Jo immediately decided she couldn’t drink tea with that liquid, I bravely tried it, but Jo was right. We sent the tea back, much to the dismay of the owner who informed us that it wasn’t condensed milk (our first guess) and she only liked tea with pigs milk. She didn’t serve tea with cows milk or powdered milk as not many people liked it (hard to believe when you are surrounded by ex pats!) so we had to beg to differ and vowed never to order tea again.
I was silently wondering how difficult it actually was to milk a pig and also how come the milk was approximately the same colour as a pig? It’s the only live animal I have seen in Freetown (down at the Bay slums, by Connaught Hospital), well apart from the poor unfortunate sheep that was baa-ing away outside Monoprix supermarket last week. I had just bought some cheese from the butchers counter next to several hanging carcasses, so I knew its fate. I dread to think how a supermarket humanly slaughters! Anyway back to milk. So Jo and I were relaying this story to friends a few days later and only to be reliably informed that it was ‘Peak’ milk (a kind of tinned milk) and it dawned on me that I had actually believed for about 3 days that people really did milk pigs!!!

Yesterday I bought two large snappers and today I put them on the chopping board and realised that I had totally forgotten how to gut and bone a fish! A skill I’d acquired at 11 sea fishing with my Dad, but I certainly don’t have it anymore! This is why fishmongers were invented! Having a fridge has made me more adventurous with food but having spent half an hour fighting with the slimy things and being totally grossed out by cutting their enormous heads off and impailing myself on their sharp spines, I’m not sure that its worth it although the fish was very tasty. In future, I'll stick to massive tiger prawns (12 for £1!).