A Weekend of Huge Contrasts

There is a great place to shop in Freetown called 'Big Market' on Wallace Johnson Street ( a famouse Salonean who not only has the street named after him but a statue too, which is a bit of a funny colour). Downstairs there are baskets, paintings, etc and upstairs batik, gara, jewellery and ornaments. Its a major tourist attraction.

So I am major 'nesting' mode and I'm buying ceramic candleholders downstairs when there is a commotion and some men, dressed up, start marching through the middle of the market right past me and in their midst, there is a man totally covered in blood, naked from the waist up with traditional dress and his face partly bandaged and something large and bloody stuck on the outside of his left eye. He was less than a metre from me and I looked right at him and thought what the hell is this, how scary...damn good fancy dress. I was immediately told that the thing on his face was his eyeball and this was part of a secret society ritual from upcountry. The local people kept apologising. I went outside to get air in case I was sick. Apparently they put the eyeball back in its socket later and use traditional medicine to heal it. I could you tell more gruesome stories relayed to me by both locals and NGO workers, but I wont!

Animals dont fair much better and are regularly beaten and often have chewed ears that attract flies....that morning I saw 2 new born puppies in the sewer in the alley by my house on my way to town. They were crying and trying not to drown. I asked the local carpenters to either look after them or kill them. They weren't there later that day.

That evening I went to Faye's leaving party at her neighbours house. This place was seriously posh. The car park easily held 20 cars. It had a huge bar area and pool. The Salonean owner is the CEO of a big company here. There was free food (inlcuding a whole pig and a massive grouper) and drink all night. I left after 3am and the bar was still flowing with all kinds of alcohol. I even had a glass or two of champagne. I have never been to a party like it, great music, amazing food and full of beautiful people of many nationalities.

So that was my first Saturday in July. Life, death (?), suffering, local customs, poverty and wealth. I am still wondering what to make of it all. I spent Sunday recovering physically and emotionally and yes I did have a big hangover, which isnt very surprising!

The Sun shines on Sweet Salone

You will never guess which UK national newspaper interviewed my boss (and by default me too as I set it up) two days ago??? The clue is in the title! Save the Children are surprisingly working with this Tory rag with the highest UK readership of 9m Brits (who are these people???). However Save the Children assured me that the reporters wanted to do a upbeat piece on the positive impact of UK aid in Sierra Leone. Apparently Cameron wants to protect the aid budget mainly channelled through DFID (good on him if thats the case) and of course the Tory papers will obligue by showing what huge amount of good the UK taxpayer is doing in all these poor countries... 'look at all the babies we are saving!!' So.... on a wet Wednesday morning in Freetown I eyeballed the reporters and as much as I tried to dislike them (on principle of course), I really couldn't. They respectfully let my boss speak about the recent reforms and the benefits, largely bankrolled by DFID and they even listened to my contributions too and then asked intelligent questions. So all you Sun readers out there, watch out for the piece in the next couple of weeks!

And another ray of sunshine.... My old mate Steven is coming to Salone for work. I'd like to pretend that he is coming to visit me, as he will be my only 'sort of' visitor while I'm here. No-one else is brave (or daft) enough!! Anyway I have a long shopping list for him: I pukka pad (A4), some highlighters, cranberry tablets, strepsils, maltesers and a bottle of whisky (Single malt). They are all somehow connected (answers on a postcard please). I do hope I dont burst into tears when I see him....not seeing a single person who knows me for almost 4 months is actually quite tough. Thank God he isn't arriving on larium Wednesday!

The final rays of sunshine....my sister and nephew, just thought I'd stick in this photo for no apparent reason apart from the fact that I like it!!

New blood and a bit of nesting

So last week saw the arrival of 11 new VSOs in country plus Alice (who arrived in April). I really do wonder if they know what they have let themselves in for! All the training prepares you to some extent, but I didn’t really know what to expect!! Alice’s blog has a really telling account of what is faced here (http://www.alicewatermaninsierraleone.blogspot.com/). Out of the 10 volunteers who arrived last September and committed to 1 year placements, only one remains and I met her this week. A lovely Australian nurse teacher named Maria, who is based in Kenema (about 5 hours away) whom I mistakenly thought was Filipino before meeting her as all the VSOs from the Philippines are called Maria!! The other September 09 volunteers have mainly left the country but a couple are still here working for other NGOs. My 2 housemates were also Sept 09 arrvials and they left for Ireland a couple of weeks ago, leaving me alone in the flat (which I actually like). I arrived with 3 others in March and one person has already left!

So new blood! 11 new folks, a mixture of Kenyans, Ugandans, Brits and Dutch. All enthusiastic, eager and with 1 million questions. So what's it like here? What are your top 10 tips to a successful time here in Salone? How on earth can you answer these questions? Wonderful, terrible, beautiful, upsetting, puzzling, challenging, fascinating..... I did a bit of helping out by doing a presentation about the Ministry of Health and Sanitation during the in-country training programme. I didnt mention the rats (alive and dead) that share the corridors of power here.

Anyway, at the end of the presentation and discssion, I was surprised to be asked to give the volunteers 5 minutes on how I kept so healthy here (apparently I'm one of the few volunteers that have??).... regular blog readers this is NOT a joke! Mmm... so what to say? I immediately started with the contents of my handbag... deet, tissues, hand sanitiser, torch, phone, pen, swiss army knife, money (split into 2 and stored seaparately) and various pills, including parcetamol, rennies, larium and multivitamins. I explained in no particular order the contents were used to stop me getting the dreaded Malaria, to prevent 'Run Bele' for the 48th time, stop me falling into a gutter/open sewer in the dark (no joke, someone did this and bruised their armpits trying to break the fall, they are seriously deep!) and to keep my nutritional status from becoming too precarious!

However, when you stand there, looking the happy picture of health they somehow thought I was joking, or maybe its just how I tell it! And the knife? Well its for opening wine of course! Unfortunatley I have learned this week that two of the new volunteers have been in hospital, one with Malaria and one with Typhoid, both contracted in Freetown. Really bad news.

I also decided to help out with the Freetown orientation trip last Saturday and it was alot of fun. We all went in a poda, it was a bit of a squash!! This day made me realise how much I actually know about the town now and how far I have come in 3 months. VSO then threw a party for the new and 'old' volunteers on Saturday evening. There was nice food, soft drinnks and lots of silly dancing but I was the only person who arrived with alcohol. The bottle of vodka didnt stretch very far....

So the new VSOs are a cheery bunch and some new friends to invite to my newly transformed flat for dinner. The previous inmates weren't much into making it a home, but I am. I have purchased some batiks and local art plus I found an old bedspread which makes a nice throw for the hideous sofa and the two matching pillowcases make good cushion covers on my new cushions which were made from an old pillow I cut in half!! I turned the balcony into something out of a foam filled hammer house of horror massacre, but I am proud of the results!! Already the flat looks totally different and with no power since Wednesday, the candles give it a homely feel. I promise photos to be uploaded soon, so please return.....

A minor inconvenience..... and a few monkeys

So the Friday night before last, I'm coming home in a taxi on my usual route from the Youyi Building to Congo Cross, only its later and dark because I had a couple of beers after work. Its a very short drive of 2/3 minutes when there is little traffic. I'm feeling happy and relaxed (yes Tim, the 2 beers helped!!) and looking forward to meeting Kim, the new VSO due to arrive that evening whom I am cooking for and planning how to make her feel at home. As soon as I get in the taxi (which is full) the driver keep saying, 'your door isnt closed, close your door' so I pull at the door put it appears closed to me. The next thing I know, the guy next to me is leaning across me trying to close the door, fiddling with it and making a big thing about the general task of door closing. I protest that I am getting squashed (ie I had a young man lying on me and not in a fun way!!) and I say I'm getting out very soon so please stop trying to close the bloody door! Anyway the taxi pulls over and I get out relieved, only to find out that my bag is slightly open and I've been robbed of my purse and phone.

The following week I chat to Zoe (one of the other VSO volunteers) and discover that she was the victim of exactly the same scam. Of course I had brought a spare phone with me (but failed to note down all the numbers, thanks for them) and after a trip to the Zain shop in town by 10.30am I was back in full communcation with the world!

There is no moral to this story really because Freetown is probably safer than most European cities and this could have happened to me in Macc! I refuse to let this dent my confidence although it has a little. I had a major panic in a taxi last week after dark when it took me the wrong way and into the slums but he had just misheard where I wanted to go, but we had a slight debate (argument) and I got to the right place! Normally, I keep my hand on my bag all the time when using public transport, but I just didnt this time.... but I've stopped being angry with myself and after all, its just a phone and no real harm done. I had 3 years of photos and text messages in that phone and at first I was sad to loose this 'mini' history of my life but you know, it was also cathartic. new start, new phone and all that!!!

Photos accompanying this blog were taken at Tacugama Sanctuary (http://www.tacugama.com/) above Freetown, which I visited a weekend in early June with Gavin and Helen. I didnt get around to blogging about it... Basically rescued chimps roam free and laugh at the cagged humans observing them!

To boldly go... to Liberia (10 to 13 June)

So many Brits go to Spain for the sun or if they are brave enough to stay in the UK, maybe Cornwall and some hardened northerners (I think I am one) go to the Lakes, North Wales and Scotland and even camp! I very much doubt that many lasses from Wigan have ever been to Liberia on holiday! Ok well it was more of a long weekend and Helen and I were actually the only ones on holiday as everyone else went on very serious missions.
The motley crew was Gavin (organiser), Faye, Dave, Helen, me and Idris the driver. We set off over the mountain from Freetown at 6am as the journey ended up being 13 hours to Monrovia and almost half of the time on rough dirt tracks.

The journey made was slightly longer as we distributed footballs along the way to schools we passed. Gavin brought them from the UK, they were donated by friends and neighbours. Kids here use plastic bags filled with rubbish, or rice if they are lucky, as footballs (see photos). The football distribution was a great success and really worth the time taken. However, the main time stealer was progressing through about 9 check points plus both sides of the border.

At the check points, we had to deal with various requests (for money, something for the office, proposals of marriage, lifts to somewhere along our journey) and accusations (breaking the law, paperwork not in order etc) but we also met some helpful officials and wondered at the number of times its possible for our passport details, occupation, address etc to be written down in big A4 books and why!! After a while we learnt to send only one person out of the car and started to time how long they got us through the checkpoint. The quickest time was 7 minutes, the longest was at the border, where we lost the will to live never mind measure the time! The main way of dealing with all this was to be polite, firm and constantly mention the football (that's the world cup mum, its on at the moment!!) as this diffused any situation.

We also had to have our Yellow Fever certificates checked at 'Port' health although we were miles form the sea. Helen amazingly managed to blag her way through all of the checks with only a scanned copy of her document, havin left the real thing in Kailahun! I think she should join the secret service when she gets bored of being a midwife.

So what was Monrovia/Liberia like? Its a hard question to answer because in many ways, the country is very similar to Salone, a poor, post-conflict country with the population and government working to rebuild their lives and towns. However Salone does win on a few fronts (not that its a competition or anything, well not much). Freetown I think is bigger and more diverse although possibility more run down/more slums than Monrovia, but hard to judge in a day. The infrastructure in Liberia seemed a little bit better (pavements, street lights and better housing stock on the route we took), however it didnt feel as friendly. We spent 2 nights in Monrovia staying as guests with the Office of Tony Blair team and they had splendid flats (air con, baths and get this...hot showers!) and oh, a lovely pool outside the apartment, I managed 2 swims. Of course they were all nice folks too and we had a couple of good fun evenings out with great food (even sushi), but it was the facilities (lying by the pool in the sun) and the day's sightseeing in Monrovia plus the 2 Watermelon Martinis on the 2nd night that really made it feel like a holiday! I did also learn something about Liberia especially that it has had loads of presidents since independance in 1847 and it now has its first female president: Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (remember for the next pub quiz).

The final night was spent in Roberts Port. A resort on the coast where we stayed in 'luxury' tents at Nana Lodge (they have a website). This was really relaxing and we enjoyed swmming in the sea, watching the England game and fresh fish on the beach. The accomodation came with its own inidividual wildlife inside the tent (not the human kind) and all for free with no nets!

Finally on Sunday morning, all too soon we had to set off back home, without Helen, who we left in Monrovia on Thursday evening to find her way to the airport and then flying to Ethiopia for a week with her sister. I can however report that Helen is safely back in S/L after taking public transport all the way from Monrovia to Freetown (surviving part of the journey in a taxi with 11 others in an ordinary car with 3 on top). So I've figured out that compared to many here, I'm not really much of an adventurer or that tough after all!

Final big thanks goes to Gavin and Faye who organised the whole trip. You are both fab!

A Mission Quite Possible (23rd May to 1 June)

I don’t think I’ve talked very much about the ‘Strengthening District Health Services Project’ catchy title eh, or SDHSP. Its an African Development Bank (ADB) 90% funded programme with technical support provided by UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). It amuses me when folks talk about the UN family (= UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP, UNFPA etc, half of them are a mystery to me)…. Anyway I am going off at a tangent again, its an African thing, so are lots of abbreviations! So this project ‘strengthens’ 5/13 of the Districts which are Bo, Bonthe, Tonkolili, Kenema and Port Loko, with the provision of drugs, equipment, renovation of key facilities and training. Our Mission purpose was to assess the impact was of all this support and to meet with the local communities and District teams to discuss the progress of the project. Please note that everything here is called a MISSION, I like that! I have been asked many times ‘What is your Mission?’ I need to have a better answer than the one given in my previous blogs!!

So, back to the subject of this blog. On 23rd May we set off on a 10 day, 5 District ‘Mission’ from God (and probably Allah too). It wasn’t dark, we weren’t wearing suits but I was wearing sunglasses (watch the Blues Brothers if that makes no sense to you). First stop was Kenema Government Hospital on Sunday afternoon and visiting the new Sightsavers International service newly built on the hospital site… due to be opened by HE the President later that week. My boss was worried that the HE’s entourage wouldn’t make it up the partly completed ramp into the car park, he had a good point!

Then the Mission really started properly on Monday, but after the first morning I felt I needed to step in. The five strong team appeared to have no defined roles, proper objectives or a way of reporting back. By the end of the afternoon, we had the objectives clarified, roles agreed, a reporting format and the Kenema report written in draft! We did this in 2.5 hours as a team. This was after I refused to go off and write a report on my own, in the nicest possible way of course but everyone then contributed and I felt that they knew what they were doing for the remaining 4 districts as we had one of the most important management tools going… a format! This cunning plan sort of worked although there was some residual report writing done back at the office at the end of the trip. This could be something to do with the fact that I left the trip a day early due to developed a roaring chest infection which has only just cleared up and yes of course, the usual!

However.... the grand tour was great, if a bit challenging (rough roads, 10 days of African food only, trying to motivate folks, seeing upsetting scenes in the hospitals and clinics etc). So has any reader ever eaten goat curry and rice for breakfast then? This is the upcountry food. Also I discovered that asking for salad here means a bit of lettuce, cucumber and tomato which are then smothered I cold beans, luncheon meat, sometimes potato and other indescribable non salady things, apparently if you don’t want all these 'trimmings' then you have to ask for french salad!

From the trip, I can report that Free Health Care here is definitely happening, which is very positive but also still an enormous struggle. Loads of logistical problems but people are turning up at facilities all over the country in their 10s and 100s. Its the beginning of implementation after all. Ultimately it was fantastic to see all these woman and children accessing much needed health care. I took some fabulous photos during the visits to the clinics and I have finally uploaded a few onto Facebook (see also a few here, when they are uploaded). I've had several friends contact me saying how moving the ‘snaps’ are so I'm obviously discovering a new career option: professional photographer, which appears to be a better one than returning to the NHS at the moment!!!

A belated blog!

OK so this is really a blog about blogs. I just wanted people to know that I haven't dropped of the face of the planet, but yes NO BLOG for 3 weeks! Three reasons: (1) I was on a 10 day District Tour from Sunday 23rd May to Tuesday 1 June and visited Bo, Bonthe, Tonkolili, Kenema and stayed in Makeni (Bombali). I came home a day early and missed the Port Loko visit because (2) I got sick. This time it wasn't the usual stomach bugs where I can usually function Ok, but I came home with a bad chest infection and yes more runs! After several days of trying and failing to get better, the worst day being Saturday where I couldnt leave the house, eventually I resorted to the antibiotics (Cipro) and I am now a convert to the magic of this drug! And reason no (3) last Thursday I went on a 4 day trip to Liberia! Our Mission (and yes we chose to accept it) was to boldy go down many dirt tracks, through many police check points, arrive at the Liberian border, more checks and police and immigration and Port Health people checking yellow fever documentation (although we werent actually at a port!!) and finally arriving in Monrovia a mere 13 hours later...... so got back last night and I'm quite tired but fine. So I promise blogs on: Rural Sierra Leone and Liberia but no more on being ill! The photo is on the beach in Monrovia, just to demonstrate I'm healthy and well


One thing that has really surprised me is how many people actually read this blog. From as far away as New Zealand, Milan, New York, Denver, Sydney, Copenhagen and many friends in the UK! Thank you for being so interested, in addtion to my fathful family!! I'd love to receive comments ... you can now comment without signing up! more soon Carole