It’s been just about two weeks since we first arrived in Sierra Leone and what a trip it’s already been. After skipping across time zones, travelling for “X” number of hours, and lacking sleep, this arrival was like any other – a blur. Nonetheless, all went well as Ossei met us at the airport and sent us off to our guesthouse with the very reliable and kind, Mr. Brima.
Following an 8 hour nap, Jeremiah, a
second driver, took us on a tour of Freetown. The hustle and bustle, dust,
absurd poverty, remnants of the war, and the unbelievable number of NGO’s
present made for a “one off” experience. Within no time at all, however, my ideals
and convictions were challenged as I witnessed gross violence against an
elderly women and child. The entire experience seemed rather perverse. I can
now somewhat understand the dilemma described by Susan Sontag in her book,
“Regarding the pain of other.” This aside, Freetown is filled to the brim with
smiling, kind, hopeful, industrious, and ambitious citizens looking to make a
better country for themselves and their children.
Following our 5 day stint in
Freetown, we left for Kabala. As we drove up-country, the frenzied urban landscape
quickly shifted to a more tranquil rural way of life. Our driver, Vendi, or as I like to call him,
“Cowboy Vendi,” was able to get us there in record time. I would be lying if I
said I was not at times concerned about my general safety during our Mach ten escapade
to Kabala. Regardless, we got there. Surrounded by mountainous terrain, Kabala provides
somewhat cooler temperatures than the Freetown peninsula. It’s a small town
devoid from running water and electricity, but chockfull of smiling people
eager to get a few words in with you.
So apparently, Easter is a big thing
around these parts. Thousands mobilize to join family members throughout the
country, or to simply enjoy a weekend at Lumley beach. We, on the other hand,
decided to visit Tiwai Island in the South Eastern part of the country. What an
adventure this turned out to be! In total, we got 5, yes 5, flat tires and
found ourselves jump-starting the truck on countless occasions. Nothing quite
like waking up in the morning and having to push a 3 ton truck up an incline! I
think these vehicles need a bit of TLC (wink wink). Nonetheless, we made it!
Tiwai Island is nothing short of beautiful. This small island is home to
countless primates, numerous bird species, massive spiders, crocodiles, pygmy
hippos, and a plethora of other small bush creatures. We were lucky enough to
see black and red Colombo monkeys, not to mention meeting a primate research
lady that reminded me of Jane Goodall. Prior to all this, however, it seemed fitting
to go for a little soak. To my surprise, and delight, a fisherman was drifting
by when he asked if I wanted to accompany him on a fishing adventure. What a
no-brainer that was! This man is able to effectively navigate his carved out
tree through sets of rapids with nothing more than a long stick. While his
nephew and I tried our luck with fishing, he set off to set his nets in the
surrounding area.
So at this point I imagine some of
you back in the Canmore office are saying “ok, all of this sounds nice, but what
about the work we sent you to do?” Well, to be honest, it’s been slow.
Nonetheless, Mr. Bangura and I were able to visit a few communities and their
adjacent agricultural plots in the last few days. The first community was quite
far and isolated from the outside world. Upon meeting with the town chief I
discovered that all wells (3) were not functioning. Upon seeing the wells I
realized it was not that there was no water.
Rather, the pumps aren’t able to draw up water. This is like putting a
child in a candy store and saying “you can’t touch or have a single piece of
candy” What torture! And so, I wanted to see where they were getting their
water from. To my surprise, a village of over 500 people have to walk 2-3 miles
down – and back up – a mountain to fetch the water required to meet their daily
needs. I took photos of the closer “pond” where they used to fetch water and
reported my findings back to Mr. Zoker (regional director). Unfortunately, this
problem has been known for over a month but hopefully, we will soon be able to
send out the engineer to assess, and rectify, this very serious problem. This
said, this village has a beautiful, and large, garden that seems to be doing
quite well. Optimistic villagers are out in the field working the soil, structurally
sound cattle fences are in place, and insect damage seems marginal.
Today, Mr. Bangura and I visited
three other communities. The first community (wish I knew the name), seemed to
be lacking in the, how shall we say, group effort and initiative to really
develop healthy agricultural plots. As I was told, only the educators are
tending to the land and, as one educator is ill, can make it rather difficult
to keep up with the gardens’ needs.
Our last two communities were
alongside the highway. Again, I wish I knew their names. Regardless, one of the
gardens was suffering extensively from grasshoppers. In short, they have eaten
about half the crops. It was insane to see that many grasshoppers. The last
garden was not suffering from the grasshopper problem, however. Rather, goats
are the nuisance here. As it turns out, prior to the rainy season goats roam
wild and, as a result, eat all available greenery. Now, my western way of
thinking said, “put up a fence or stick em all in an enclosure!” but it’s not
so easy when you’re dealing with tribal systems. Overall, however, this garden
is doing well and, as Mr. Bangura showed me, the goat problem is nothing a
mango on the side of the head can’t temporarily fix!
And voila, my
first two weeks in Sierra Leone. There is still a lot of adjusting going on as
I am not quite used to such a way of life, but I’m quite sure that with a bit
more time the dust (no pun intended) will settle and this was of life will
become second nature.
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