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!).

Kids Stuff and Fundraising

Two weeks ago I was unpacking my 40kgs (exactly) of luggage, most of it consisting of books, clothes and toys given to me by friends to bring back for local children here. But there was so much donated I’m trying to arrange the free shipment of the rest of the stuff through a very kind construction company. My cunning plan to bring stuff back was neither cunning (random requests for thing from the people I met and would see again who had kids) nor a plan (end up with about 50kg of stuff!) Otto was brilliant and helped me to sort all the stuff out and decide what to bring with me plus of course driving me to all the way to Heathrow too of course via Scuzzy's 2nd home ... huge thanks!!!

So... later this year I’m going organise more coordinated approach to donating stuff... a can feel the need to write a list! Gavin, Alice and I are also trying to get out some essential antenatal equipment too which Gavin has collected. I am also going to be asking all my friends to donate money to local charities here (I'll check them out first) instead of buying christmas cards for work colleagues, so dear blog readers, please let me know if you are going to support me in this (carolergreen@hotmail.com)

Home Thoughts from Abroad

Its about 7 weeks since I’ve blogged so apologies to the faithful handful of followers (Mum and Rosie)! I’ve been back in Freetown for 2 weeks after a rather frenetic time at home and its good to be back, actually I’m very happy to be back, but feeling somehow like I have two realities!

My visit home also included London, Birmingham, North Wales and Anglesey, Solway Firth (Carlisle), the Lakes, Derbyshire (various places including Chesterfield… funny that crooked tower!), Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington, Preston and various parts of Cheshire! No of course I didn’t work my way logically up/across the country. I visited people in a half random order consuming lots of diesel in my little car!

So I’d best continue the roll call from 5th August…..Andy Bacon and his lovely wife (to talk ‘development!!’), The crowd at Fran and Colin’s annual Sutton Coldfield BBQ (Annie and Nigel, Caroline, Angela and the badminton crowd!) the rest of my family (Simon, Linda, Cara and Thomas), Vicky Hogarth who I was at school with and haven’t seen for years, Kathryn, Steve and Imogen, Aziz and Ingvar, Barbara and Richard, Penny, Caroline Lambert, Andrea Campbell, Then it was my BBQ party on 14th August and lots of folks came, already mentioned as well as Emma, Angel and Elizabeth, Margaret Hughes, Catherine, Mark and Bethany, Mandy, Mary Bell, David B and his girlfriend, Nick B and other from Macc.

Sue came all the way from London to spend a couple of nights with me and helped me to shop for torches and other essential Freetown items! The Wales trip included Wendy (some shopping) and Nigel, Sam and Laurie, Bernadette and family and Alison. Then SOLFEST with Rosie which is always fun and fab weather!! Elaine and Steve, Pauline and Laurence (finally to drop off Scuz in Chipping Norton on the way to LHR)….Phew!!! Next time I think I’ll be at home a bit more as it was rather exhausting!

But… I loved being home (apart from the Smokey Martini hangover acquired at Kuckoo in Preston, courtesy of my lovely Sister and the rather gorgeous bartender!!). At least imanaged to catch up with Amanda and Sarah before trhe alcohol affected my memory!

The trip highlights, apart from seeing lots of good friends, was definitely Solfest (see photos on FB) nice hikes in the beautiful countryside and eating!!!!

Mainly humans and a few animals

Its 7 days exactly since I arrived on UK soil. My week has consisted of lots of eating, sleeping and generally feeling cold (so lots of lying about under blankets and watching the TV!) However I have also managed to see quite a few folks. Thanks for taking the time to catch up with me and hopefully I haven't bored you too much with my African stories.......

Cat and Mike, Richard, Matt and Justine, Jerry and Jules, Mum and Tony, Rosie, Lucy (my Gran), Terri, Nicky, Paul, Emma and Charlotte, Marcus (and the Kings head crowd, including Larson the dog) Nicky, Beckie and Alex Knowles, Otto, Heather, Carmen and Steve, Richard Heathcote (ok he’s actually my dentist but he had a lot of questions), Pauline Brookes, James Rose, David Bracegirdle, Bernadette, David and Jessica, Anne Marriott, Steph, Jim Britt, John Wharton, Nick Armstrong, Jan Todd, Jackie Morris, Fiona Boyle, Marie Rice, Enid, Eddie, Lisa, Annette, Dot and little Chris (old Sefton crew), Wendy Aspin, John Billo, Jacqui Candy, Rob Wall and others from Sefton, Norma Hewitt, Ged Timson, Alison Rylands, Justin McCarthy and my cat of course, he’s back for a holiday too. There are still lots more friends to see this week and please dont forget my Barbeque on 14th August!

Here is a picture of me and my god daughter Charlotte at her Christening a week before I left for Sierra Leone and I am amazed at how much bigger she is now!

Home Straight

I’m 28 hours into my trip back home and I'm at Euston waiting for this flashy Virgin train to take me home and into the arms of my mum and sis. I had lots of advice about how to handle ‘re-entry’ into European society but its difficult not to talk about being in Africa when everyone asks you about it. I’ve already made some stupid or thoughtless comments and which make no sense of course, apart from to me or can be misinterpreted! It’s lucky that I have amazingly tolerant and caring friends who don’t really care how freaky I am and are just glad to see me (Cat, Mike, Justine and Matt, thanks, especially for the sausage butty and veggie risotto). Also thanks to Jerry and Jules who threw a great party last night for Matt and Justine, who move to NYC next week…. Good luck and I’ll be visiting!

There are many things that never reach this blog because they are too private or distressing to write about or more usually I just forget!! Blogs are inevitably a little sanitised for public consumption. So now I’m watching the lovely English countryside go by (very fast) and I am really trying to be honest about how I feel at the moment....but I’m lost for words. There are times since I landed yesterday when I been close to tears due to feeling overwhelmed to be home and times when its all felt incredibly normal, like I’ve never been away. I’ll write more soon when I’ve figured out what’s going in my head and heart!!!