Today is the last day of work for 2007. We're hosting a big crimbo dinner for all remaining NGO and UN folk in town which should be good. I made the pud, vodka jelly and mash-up brownies!
Tomorrow I'm flying to Accra with Heather. We're staying with her close friends in a villlage for Christmas, as Heather was with the Peace Core in Ghana for 3 years. I reckon there'll probably be a 6 hour church service at some point. Then we stay at Big Millie's at Kokrobite Beach for New Years before going-on to Abidjan to catch a flight to Mali. When we get to Mali we are meeting friends and planning to trek Dogon Country followed by the Festival au Desert near Timbouctou. Should be a good break.
It's been a good month with World Aids Day celebrations and the office christmas party. Both great fun with a lot of bump'n'grind going on. I have been acting Country Director for the last two weeks so have been busy closing-up shop before the end of the year.
All the best for Christmas and New Year,
Alex
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Long Time
It’s been a long time since I last sat down to write a piece here. I have been extremely busy here in Freetown and in Kenema The street children centres in Freetown are nearly all underway and we are currently in negotiations for a final plot of land for the last shelter. In Kenema the water and sanitation projects are going well and we have been planning the programme for next year. I hope to introduce a number of new more sustainable methodologies that have been promoted by the UK’s development agency DFID and UNICEF. All interesting stuff and hopefully will lead to us securing a big chunk of additional funding. Settling into life here in Sierra Leone and have decided to sign on for at least another 6 months with the programme as a fully paid-up member of staff.
I haven’t taken much leave so far and looking forward to holidays at Christmas and early next year. In August I visited Benin, Togo and Ghana. I found out that it is not that easy to travel between Anglophone and Francophone West Africa, in particular from Freetown. I had a bit of an epic journey getting to Hugo’s place in Benin. It started with getting the helicopter to the airport in Freetown, a real old Russian boneshaker, not a relaxing 10 minute flight. Then catching a flight to Accra, spending the night and setting-off at the crack of dawn in bush taxis across Ghana, Togo and finally arriving in Cotonou, Benin. Well worth it though!
I have to say a big thank you to Hugo, Pauline, Blaise and Emanuel for their great hospitality during my stay in Benin. Paul was starting his West African Odyssey from Cotonou when I arrived and so joined him on some of his journey.
Benin is the home of Voodoo, and previously the centre of the slave trade, so plenty of grisly sites to behold around Cotonou as well as good surf. After checking-out the snake temples, slave forts and surfing down south we went up north to the lands of the Somba. Here we hired motorbikes and cruised around the countryside visiting markets, strange millet-beer bars, weird village discos and stayed the night in a Somba ancestral home, which Paul set about demolishing; feeling sick in the middle of the night he managed to knock down part of a wall.
Togo was a brief visit where I did a day or two of hiking in the hills north of Lome, which was pleasant enough. Ghana was a bit disappointing as the weather was poor, but plan to go back to Ghana and up to Mali for the music festival near Timbuctu.
Today is a national holiday as it is the official inauguration of the new president, Ernest Bai Koroma. Although there were plenty of agency security warnings over the election period and the following presidential run-off it has been largely peaceful with no serious violent incidents. Freetown has got a lot busier with the end of the election period and the rains. The expatriate community here have been making-up for lost time with the end of security lock-ins with plenty of evenings out on the town to celebrate.
Got to get back to practicing my French for the upcoming trip to Mali,
Alex
I haven’t taken much leave so far and looking forward to holidays at Christmas and early next year. In August I visited Benin, Togo and Ghana. I found out that it is not that easy to travel between Anglophone and Francophone West Africa, in particular from Freetown. I had a bit of an epic journey getting to Hugo’s place in Benin. It started with getting the helicopter to the airport in Freetown, a real old Russian boneshaker, not a relaxing 10 minute flight. Then catching a flight to Accra, spending the night and setting-off at the crack of dawn in bush taxis across Ghana, Togo and finally arriving in Cotonou, Benin. Well worth it though!
I have to say a big thank you to Hugo, Pauline, Blaise and Emanuel for their great hospitality during my stay in Benin. Paul was starting his West African Odyssey from Cotonou when I arrived and so joined him on some of his journey.
Benin is the home of Voodoo, and previously the centre of the slave trade, so plenty of grisly sites to behold around Cotonou as well as good surf. After checking-out the snake temples, slave forts and surfing down south we went up north to the lands of the Somba. Here we hired motorbikes and cruised around the countryside visiting markets, strange millet-beer bars, weird village discos and stayed the night in a Somba ancestral home, which Paul set about demolishing; feeling sick in the middle of the night he managed to knock down part of a wall.
Togo was a brief visit where I did a day or two of hiking in the hills north of Lome, which was pleasant enough. Ghana was a bit disappointing as the weather was poor, but plan to go back to Ghana and up to Mali for the music festival near Timbuctu.
Today is a national holiday as it is the official inauguration of the new president, Ernest Bai Koroma. Although there were plenty of agency security warnings over the election period and the following presidential run-off it has been largely peaceful with no serious violent incidents. Freetown has got a lot busier with the end of the election period and the rains. The expatriate community here have been making-up for lost time with the end of security lock-ins with plenty of evenings out on the town to celebrate.
Got to get back to practicing my French for the upcoming trip to Mali,
Alex
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Aw Di Bodi?
Soon after I posted here last month one of the helicopters ferrying passengers to and from the Airport crashed. That day the Sierra Leone Stars had played an African Nations Cup qualifier against Togo at the national stadium and most of those aboard the helicopter were Togolese football officials. Rumour has it that all the airport fire-fighters were out to lunch at the time, and the fire engine was empty. When fire-fighters did reach the scene they poured water on the fuel fire, exacerbating the problem. Only one person survived the crash.
Election campaigning has started and it has been a very noisy couple of weeks in Freetown. Candidates throw all night parties to win support and people drive around the streets with loud-hailers and enormous sound-systems strapped to the roof. Outside the residence of the main candidate huge crowds of people gather to receive gifts of food and money to ensure their support. We have not heard of any election related violence in Freetown but will be confined to our compound over the election period this weekend.
Before leaving Kenema last time I did a weekend trek into the bush to visit an isolated community. It has no road and is about 5 hours walk though a forest reserve. We were greeted on arrival with drumming, dancing and speeches. We then presented our gifts of tinned food and rice. They cooked us a meal of rice, palm oil, chillies and fish heads in return, nice. After dinner we joined the community for dancing around the village until it got dark.
Election campaigning has started and it has been a very noisy couple of weeks in Freetown. Candidates throw all night parties to win support and people drive around the streets with loud-hailers and enormous sound-systems strapped to the roof. Outside the residence of the main candidate huge crowds of people gather to receive gifts of food and money to ensure their support. We have not heard of any election related violence in Freetown but will be confined to our compound over the election period this weekend.
Before leaving Kenema last time I did a weekend trek into the bush to visit an isolated community. It has no road and is about 5 hours walk though a forest reserve. We were greeted on arrival with drumming, dancing and speeches. We then presented our gifts of tinned food and rice. They cooked us a meal of rice, palm oil, chillies and fish heads in return, nice. After dinner we joined the community for dancing around the village until it got dark.
The community currently get their water from a swampy pool by the river, which they cooked our dinner and breakfast with, and we are planning to construct a well with them. We would also like to construct a road through to the community, but cannot fell trees in the forest reserve.
The Street Children in Freetown put on a great drama and dancing display to celebrate ‘Day of the African Child’. At the time I was reviewing sanitation and water supply in the slum areas of Freetown that we operate in and also helped to deliver instruments to the Street Children centres. It was a real spectacle for everyone to see an Expat bedecked with drums walking through the slums, followed by shouts of ‘Hey white-boy play us a tune!’.
Planning to go to Ghana, Togo and Benin at the end of this month for a break, think I will take the Hovercraft to the airport.
Da bodi well
Alex
The Street Children in Freetown put on a great drama and dancing display to celebrate ‘Day of the African Child’. At the time I was reviewing sanitation and water supply in the slum areas of Freetown that we operate in and also helped to deliver instruments to the Street Children centres. It was a real spectacle for everyone to see an Expat bedecked with drums walking through the slums, followed by shouts of ‘Hey white-boy play us a tune!’.
Planning to go to Ghana, Togo and Benin at the end of this month for a break, think I will take the Hovercraft to the airport.
Da bodi well
Alex
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Kushey from Kenema
I'm writing from Kenema, a one street town near the Liberian border in south east Sierra Leone. Currently I am helping with water and sanitation projects in the local rural/bush communities. Strictly speaking I am currently recovering from a barbie at the house that ended in drinking games.
The rainy season is nearly upon us and most evenings we witness raging thunder storms while sipping a few cold ones on the porch. There is now a lot of stagnant water lying around and a number of expats have succumbed to Malaria. The locals often get Malaria, but it does not effect them as badly and seem to be quite proud of the particularly potent local mosquitoes, their 'African Soldiers'.
Last weekend I played in an Aid Workers football XI against the British Army detachment at the national stadium in Freetown. We won 4-1 and went on to beat them at a few bar games that evening, before going onto Freetown's infamous nightclub Paddy's.
Last Wednesday Tony Blair made a one day visit to Sierra Leone, but didn't make the trip across the river estuary from the airport to Freetown. He is a great hero here and a lot of the Freetowners were a bit put out that he didn't make it to Freetown proper. I think Tony might have been a bit disappointed with how much progress has been made considering the amount of aid pouring into Sierra Leone, approximately 60% of the government's budget is made up of donor aid money.
Elections are scheduled for 11th August here and people are hoping to see some significant changes. In the communities the bush societies have been very active as political opponents cast bad juju on each other, traditionally the powerful 'medicines' have required human sacrifices.
Hoping for successful and peaceful elections,
Alex
The rainy season is nearly upon us and most evenings we witness raging thunder storms while sipping a few cold ones on the porch. There is now a lot of stagnant water lying around and a number of expats have succumbed to Malaria. The locals often get Malaria, but it does not effect them as badly and seem to be quite proud of the particularly potent local mosquitoes, their 'African Soldiers'.
Last weekend I played in an Aid Workers football XI against the British Army detachment at the national stadium in Freetown. We won 4-1 and went on to beat them at a few bar games that evening, before going onto Freetown's infamous nightclub Paddy's.
Last Wednesday Tony Blair made a one day visit to Sierra Leone, but didn't make the trip across the river estuary from the airport to Freetown. He is a great hero here and a lot of the Freetowners were a bit put out that he didn't make it to Freetown proper. I think Tony might have been a bit disappointed with how much progress has been made considering the amount of aid pouring into Sierra Leone, approximately 60% of the government's budget is made up of donor aid money.
Elections are scheduled for 11th August here and people are hoping to see some significant changes. In the communities the bush societies have been very active as political opponents cast bad juju on each other, traditionally the powerful 'medicines' have required human sacrifices.
Hoping for successful and peaceful elections,
Alex
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Hello from Freetown
Happy Easter! I had a quiet Easter on the Freetown peninsular. Over the break the Country Director and Assistant Country Director went on holiday to Dakkar so I was briefly promoted to acting Country Director!
Over the long weekend I visited the local Chimpanzee Sanctuary, known locally as the Baboon Skul. Recently there had been an escape and two visitors had been mutilated by a big male chimp, so I wasn't expecting a beacon of animal welfare. It turned-out to be very well run and most of the chimps looked pretty content. I also went on a trek to a local water fall and visited the beach. The beach was extremely busy with huge crowds partying to rival 'Sound Systems', Nottinghill Carnival style, getting merry on palm wine and beer.
Work is starting to pick-up a bit and have been in tense negotiations for parcels of land in Freetown on which to build new Street Childrens' Centres. Have managed to negotiate from $60,000 down to around $5,000 on the first plot. I have also been exploring jungle tracks looking for routes for new roads to remote communties. During one trip we bought four litres of palm wine, collected fresh from the tree, for about 40p. It was warm and insipid and smelled of sweaty socks. That evening I took it as a bottle of chilled white to a party and, after a few beers and whiskies, drank a good half-litre or so in a show of brovado!
It has been an interesting couple of months getting to know the rural Sierra Leonian psyche and their view of the whiteman (Poo-mui) and the land of Poo. In the rural villages there is a very strong belief in bush societies, witches and traditional medicine. Most illness or misfortune is blamed on witches and 'bad medicine' (curses) being placed on you by your enemies. Although Poo-mui medicine is understood to be very powerful, especially injections, traditional cures and curses are the definitive and are usually very cheap or free. We then have to be very sensitive to these beliefs and take them into consideration in our work.
It has also been interesting learning about the 'Aid Industry' and the different organisations involved. It seems that about fifty percent of the economy in Sierra Leone is based around NGOs, the UN and charitable organisations. For instance some of the best paid and most sort after jobs are with NGOs and the main high street in the small town of Kenema is full of either NGO or Diamond Trader's offices. NGOs are therefore in for the long-haul as they try to reduce the donor depenedency of the country before they withdraw.
That's all for now
Alex
Over the long weekend I visited the local Chimpanzee Sanctuary, known locally as the Baboon Skul. Recently there had been an escape and two visitors had been mutilated by a big male chimp, so I wasn't expecting a beacon of animal welfare. It turned-out to be very well run and most of the chimps looked pretty content. I also went on a trek to a local water fall and visited the beach. The beach was extremely busy with huge crowds partying to rival 'Sound Systems', Nottinghill Carnival style, getting merry on palm wine and beer.
Work is starting to pick-up a bit and have been in tense negotiations for parcels of land in Freetown on which to build new Street Childrens' Centres. Have managed to negotiate from $60,000 down to around $5,000 on the first plot. I have also been exploring jungle tracks looking for routes for new roads to remote communties. During one trip we bought four litres of palm wine, collected fresh from the tree, for about 40p. It was warm and insipid and smelled of sweaty socks. That evening I took it as a bottle of chilled white to a party and, after a few beers and whiskies, drank a good half-litre or so in a show of brovado!
It has been an interesting couple of months getting to know the rural Sierra Leonian psyche and their view of the whiteman (Poo-mui) and the land of Poo. In the rural villages there is a very strong belief in bush societies, witches and traditional medicine. Most illness or misfortune is blamed on witches and 'bad medicine' (curses) being placed on you by your enemies. Although Poo-mui medicine is understood to be very powerful, especially injections, traditional cures and curses are the definitive and are usually very cheap or free. We then have to be very sensitive to these beliefs and take them into consideration in our work.
It has also been interesting learning about the 'Aid Industry' and the different organisations involved. It seems that about fifty percent of the economy in Sierra Leone is based around NGOs, the UN and charitable organisations. For instance some of the best paid and most sort after jobs are with NGOs and the main high street in the small town of Kenema is full of either NGO or Diamond Trader's offices. NGOs are therefore in for the long-haul as they try to reduce the donor depenedency of the country before they withdraw.
That's all for now
Alex
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