And, THAT’s why there is a policy!

Last week, I finally got the chance to get out of Freetown with work and travel up-line. The Sierra Leone Nurses Association runs an annual conference and scientific symposium to celebrate International Nurses Day, to which this year’s event was to be held in Bo, the second largest city in Sierra Leone. I was quite excited and got packed without delay, once I heard that we would be going on the Wednesday, which was great, because the conference started on Thursday morning and there is nothing worse than having to wake up at 4am to attend an 8 hour conference.

I arrived at the Faculty of Nursing to meet with my line manager, where she was busy organising the bus loads of students and nurses, making sure everything ran smoothly. I quickly settled into her office, getting things ready for my recruitment sessions, which I was to manage at the conference. Time quickly flew by, as I waited to depart from Freetown. Looking at the clock, it was 13:30pm. I thought to myself, there is still time. There is not need to worry about going beyond the time set in the policy…

See, there is a VSO policy which states that a VSO volunteer should not travel in the dark, therefore should avoid travel which exceeds 17:00 and no travel must be begun from Freetown past 16:30pm.

It was now 15:00 and one of the large busses had lost a tire somewhere up-country and was currently at a garage being placed and as I was travelling with the person tirelessly trying to organise the situation, I was still seated in the office twiddling my thumbs thinking, ‘Gosh, its getting late.’ Finally at 15:53pm, the Admin Assistant from my office comes in and tells me its finally time to go. I breathed a sigh of release as had it gone past 16:30, I would have had to refuse to go…

Now, I had been advised that it takes 2.5 hours to get to Bo, so by my calculation, we should reach Bo before it got dark. But forty minutes later, we were still stuck on Kissy Road, tailing a funeral procession on its way to Kissy Cemetery. Luckily, not too long later, we pulled out onto Bai Bureh road and picked up speed. For the next few hour I alternated between humming along to my ipod and reading ‘The Constant Gardener’ by John le Carre. We even stopped by the Salone Tesco (below) to get drinks.

The tip here is to never listen to those who say it takes 2 hours to get to get to Bo, because its 19:31 and I’m still sitting, front seat and filming the hills and trees, and I realise its almost dark. And then it starts to rain and it gets even darker. But at this point, its still exciting… you know, the return of the rainy season, going further up country than I had been before…

But then a few miles after Makonde, it became really hard to see. It had been raining heavily during the second hour of the journey, and this combined with the intense heat of the tarred roads meant that steam began to rise off the road; up to 2 meters off the ground. Now, in the daytime, this is all quite exciting, watching condensation at work, however at almost 8pm in the dark, I am starting to freak out a little. It felt like we were travelling through the vortex of space and time; our car lights reflecting on the almost ghost like wisps rising well above our heads. Being in the passengers seat of the car, I had the benefit of the same experience as the driver, so I was very worried – in fact at the edge of my seat – because I couldn’t see past 2 metres on the road. What’s worse, because our lights reflected back at us, there was no way to tell whether we were on the right side of the road, or even worse weather a car was passing in the opposite direction.

The wisps would appear and disappear almost as unexpectedly as seeing another car on the road, so the car spent almost a half hour accelerating and jerking to a slower speed. Then my mum called and I explained the situation to her in Yoruba. Since Yoruba can be more direct at times than English, my explanation that we were in the dark and in the middle of nowhere did not inspire any confidence of how OK I was actually feeling. I managed to giggle and set her mind at rest (not really), and by the time we got to the outskirts of Bo, I was seeing the funny side of it. As I tumbled out of the car and walked tiredly into the hotel twenty minutes later, it occurred to me that a lot of Sierra Leoneans do this kind of journey in the dark all the time (some busses don’t leave the capital till 12 midnight!), but this was not a risk that I was ever willing to take again. It was not anyone’s fault, since many unavoidable factors played into our delay, however I know fully realise why there is a VSO policy on travel and will not be taking it for granted again!

DON’T EAT THAT STREET MEAT!!! and other latest Salone tales…

I wrote this on the eve of the 50th Anniversary, but did not post it, but i thought I might as well publish it. Enjoy!

As it comes up to the 50th Anniversary on Independence for Sierra Leone, we have been noticing some grand changes in Freetown. Some Amazing, some interesting, informative and exciting. Some hilarious and downright ridiculous at the same time. These boundaries are in no way mutually exclusive, therefore a lot of the changes straddle them all. As the title suggests, I believe one of them is the police crackdown on rogue street traders… but I’ll get to that in point 4. (See all pictures at the bottom of the page)

1. Green White Blue… EVERYWHERE!

If you live in England and think the population has gone overboard with the union jack bunting and the endless Kate and William wedding memorabilia (yes, I’ve been reading the BBC news), then you certainly have not been to Freetown! As the pictures below suggest, as the country prepares for the celebrations of its 50th year of independence on Wed 27th April 2011, you will not go anywhere in Freetown where a mark of the motto: ‘50 years Forward’ is not present in some shape or form. From logoed pens and rulers to knitted scarves (????, I know right!), to stickers, flags, billboards, key chains, caps with flag colours objects…. You name it, its being sold by street traders. In the centre of town, flag coloured bunting has strewn up everywhere, with no exception. It really creates an atmosphere of anticipation. I’m quite looking forward to the day. What I find most interesting yet bizzare is that everything has been painted green, white and blue (if you are not aware, these are the colours of the flag of Sierra Leone). The bottom third of lamp posts, railings, walls, central reservations, tree stumps… If it can be painted, It has been! And there is little discrimination with regard to the disparity in the shades of colour used (a nuance really). So you would go from one street with deep and subtle coloured flags to another with bright neon colours that increases the heat (at least that’s how it feels). Its all extremely strange, but again the atmosphere is so energetic and alive because of all the vibrant colour and the race for each group to show their patriotism ahead of the celebrations. Is great and it makes me so happy I’m here in Salone right now!!

2. Wilkinson Road is Looking Up!!

You may remember from my previous posts that Wilkinson Road is being widened and completely reconstructed. Well the Chinese Seventh Group Company are pressing on (though it is my personal opinion that if the whole thing had been approved and started just 6 months earlier, they would be completed by now… but no one asked for my opinion so…). Again as the pictures show, the roads are mostly now dual carriage way… at least that which has been completed. There is still a lot of work to be done, there's plenty of unmoving traffic and its still really dusty as you walk home from Congo Cross (what an amazing name!), but the workers are now tarring the roads and we can walk without feeling we are going to be crushed by a poda or unlawful okada drivers.

Which reminds me, the other day a fellow volunteer Lydia and I were walking to Congo cross, when an okada driver left the road and climbed straight on to the pavement – not that there’s much of it –and honked for us to get out of the way. Imagine our chagrin! I said to him, ‘This na fo feet not okada notto so’, and he shouted back as he bumped past, ‘Don’t worry!’ Great!!

3. The J C’s are back!

J C’s an abbreviation for ‘Just Come’, a term used by local Saloneans to describe their diaspora counterparts who return for holidays and special occasions.  Freya mentioned that she had seen a few more Diaspora in town than normal, so I was on the lookout. Low and behold, every so often, you would see someone who looked and dressed slightly differently to those who you would normally would see. A little more flashy, dressy and a slightly different way of walking. More people chartering taxis and asking to be dropped at a hotel or another. I often wonder if this is what I as a Black non-Salonean must seem like to local people… I have noticed however that I am now treated slightly differently by these locals at this time. Where they would normally have asked, ‘are you an intern or a volunteer? or when did you arrive in Salone?’ I have now been asked, ‘did you go to international school? or when did you return?’. But one thing is clear, the Diaspora are happy to be here to celebrate the anniversary of their Mama Salone!

4. Crackdown on Unlawful Individuals!!

On Thursday 7th April, a photo news piece was published on the front page of the daily newspaper ‘Pemier News’. The headline reads ‘DOG MEAT FOR SALE’. Underneath the caption reads, ‘Yusufu Bangura caught on this week roasting a dog for sale as roast meat.’ After reading this, I was immediately transported back to the days prior to the publishing of this photo. I had been in a taxi, travelling to Kingtom area, when passing the National Sports Stadium on Syke Street, we met unexpected traffic and a commotion further forward. People were chanting and crowding and moving in the general direction of town. All of a sudden, the reason for the commotion became clear as a man emerged from the crowd with a half gutted dog slung on his back. As he walked, tens of men and young boys ran after him singing and chanting loudly in Krio. Perplexed, I leaned out of the window to take a closer look. In true Salonean style, the taxi driver leaned over me and shouted to a near passer-by, ‘Wetin ‘appen?’ The passer-by leaned in and relayed something in fast Krio which I couldn’t quite catch. The driver then explained to me that they had caught this man trying to cut up the dog and sell it on the street. He had been caught and was currently being walked to the police station. He was therefore required – as a mark of disgrace and guilt – required to carry the item which he had broken the law with. All the way to Kingtom, the driver lamented about how humans could be so cruel to each other. I on the other hand, sat there with an anxious flurry in my stomach, thinking back to the previous night when one of my housemates and I had eaten some street meat! Since then, every time I walk by, the wafting of roast meat drifting in my general direction, I picture a street dog staring at me, and I quickly move on. Saying this however, If I have tasted this animal, I certainly didn’t notice a great difference…