The not-so-problem problem with my Tailor Hassan!

If you were to ask me of the people I will miss the most when I leave Sierra Leone, I can draw up a sizable list of people from my daily life in Sierra Leone. One of these people is Hassan, the local tailor that works at the top of the Ngobeh Drive, on a road that can at the best of times be mistaken as a riverbed.

Hassan is a lovely man. Hassan always smiles at me when I walk up the rickety steps to his shop and always chuckles, Whenever I see him, he says vibrantly, ‘Banki, you’ve been away, where?’ with a careless flick of his hand in an unknown direction. Hassan on a few occasions has made me smocked dresses that are lovely and always a treat to wear, both casually and to dressy occasions. Hassan sews clothes for Le 25,000, which is just over three quid. Hassan also ensures that if you need measurements, adjustments and alterations to your outfit, he will personally make visits to the comfort of your home – even if it means he is chased in an out by our crazy dogs…

But amidst all these praises, there is one problem with Hassan my tailor. Hassan never does what you ask him to do! Hassan will always make modifications to your design that you could never have conceived in your fashion conscious brain. At times, he will create a masterpiece so abstruse, that even the cleverest mind would find it difficult to retrace the steps back to its original pattern. Many times, I have taken a patterned material to Hassan and told him, I want this and that, and when I collect it a couple of day later, I have an outfit completely different to what I asked for. My favourite phrase, when I see him is now, ‘Hassan (in an exasperated voice), this isn’t what I drew?!!’ He then stares at me with a perplexed and guilty look to that akin to that of a cheeky kid who was caught cheating in a test he didn’t even pass. He then pleads with me and says, ‘don’t worry, I’ll fix it. I know exactly what you mean’!

Last week, I asked him to complement a purple cotton print with black material, but Hassan instead used blue. When I asked him why he did not use the colour I asked for, he looked at the material all shocked and exclaimed, ‘but look, the material has blue/black in it. So I used that!’ Then I asked him to line the skirt, as it was quite see-through, to which he gave it back to me lined to just below the waist! Again when I gave it back to him, he looked like it was practically impossible that such a confusion had been made. Lydia can attest to this look!

After all this, you may ask, ‘why do you go back to him?’ Well even after all of the drama of interesting and yet ridiculous mutations of perfectly good designs, the thing is, you just can’t stay mad at Hassan. Hassan is too lovely to hold a grudge against. He never gets angry or upset when you tell him what he’s done wrong, and he always pleads to do better in a way in which even you kick yourself, as if you were the one who got the idea all wrong. And eventually – often after multiple returns – he always brings out an outfit you can wear proudly and turn heads in. Besides, the price for the ‘experience’ really is very reasonable.

So I will miss crying out, ‘HASSAN’, and getting clothes custom made and walking past his shop, just to find him calling my name and waving emphatically with the purest smile. Good Old Tailor Hassan!

The Ferrous Let-down!

Yesterday, I was very excited. Today I said, I was finally going to do my bit for society and give blood.

I had been told I could give blood here, since the blood bank in the hospitals here are always short on blood because not enough people are willing to or able to donate. So I made a decision, I was going to give blood before I leave Salone… on the conditions that someone give blood with me and they also test for my blood group…

-----------------------2008 – Trying to give blood…

Blood letting has been something that I had been extremely anxious about, since my second year in UCL, where some friends an I went excitedly to a mobile NHS blood drive. My friend Funke sat down and the nurse began to poke around for her vein. All of a sudden, the nurse poked at one of her rhythmically fast pumping veins and blood spurted on poor Funke’s jeans and to our horror, on the nurse’s face.

Now, I’m not squeamish or scared of needles, but you can see why all four friends backed away through the exit, handing back the half-filled forms in quick succession. Since that day, I was a little – shall we say – mistrustful of unknown docs and nurses who wanted to stick a needle in my arm.  

--------------------------------------------2010 – Trying to give blood…

So when I got this placement in Sierra Leone, I had to receive about 9 prophylactic injections which should keep me healthy in Salone (So far so good. I’m still well!). One thing that was missing however was my blood group. I didn’t know what it was, so I was advised by Interhealth to give blood. Good idea, I thought, then I conjured up the image of blood flying at the nurses face and I thought, ‘erm… maybe not!’ But I swallowed my insecurities and completed the red and white form. I held on to it and decided to give blood before I travelled…

But then I got the flu and had to wait a month. Then after that month, I excitedly filled in the form again and decided to definitely do it this time…. But then I got ill… again… And since it was 6 days before I was travelling to Salone, I knew I would not be able to give blood in the UK again for another year after I returned. Slightly upset and put out without my blood group, I travelled to Salone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------2011- Trying to give blood….

So this week, my friend Fred nicely agreed to come with me and since he gives blood at the Ola During Children’s Hospital regularly anyway, I felt reasonably safe. We arrived at the blood services department and after a slightly painful prick of my finger, it was dabbed on a dish with 3 circular grooves with A, B, O inscribed on it. My finger was then squeezed, ejecting some of my blood into a clear object, which was then placed into a Hb count checking machine (obviously there is a more accurate and scientific name for this!). After a few minutes, I was told my blood group was A+, but sadly, ‘the lower limit for a woman is 12.3, you are 10.7, so sorry you can’t give blood today!’ 

So, turns out I am slightly too anaemic to give blood. Another let-down! At least I know my blood group now!

No one can say that I haven’t tried!

Freetown VS London… City change or trade?

Today I did a very nostalgic/strange thing. I nipped into the local supermarket to buy a pint of milk for breakfast tomorrow morning. It wasn’t till I got out of the store that I caught myself and thought, Gosh, I would have done the exact same thing on a Thursday evening in London.

So it got me thinking… how much of my lifestyle has actually changed while I have been out here in Sierra Leone? Bear in mind that this is the time for true and deep reflection as I prepare to finish my placement and return to my life in the UK.

So, I decided to make a table of the similarities and differences between my lifestyle in the UK and in Freetown.

Topic	London	Freetown
Waking Up	Wake at 6.30 to beat traffic on the S. Circular	Wake up at 7.45am (post fixing of Wilks Road)
Walking down my road	Wander past my neighbours, wondering when the people from 256 moved out and show surprise that the woman from 258 has a baby, when I didn’t know she was pregnant	Greet my neighbours as I pass, mostly with their first names, and have regular conversations with Mr footballer at the end of the raod, Isata who works next door and Hassan the local tailor.
Getting to work	Take a crowded double-decker bus or cycle happily to work	Take an overcrowded poda-poda with no rear view mirror into work, a little scared and anxious the whole way
Exercise	Go home... swimming pool is in the other direction!	Stop at the UN pool for a well needed, cool dip after work
Chilling after work	Sit at an overcrowded bar/restaurant, wondering when its holiday time	Have moonlit dinner at Roy’s overlooking the waves crashing into the beach
Watching movies	Go to the Cinema and watch an exciting movie with comfy seats and surround sound	Sneak into a slightly shady Lebanese owned DVD store or movie share with friends
Getting Post	Receive post 2-3 days later courtesy of the Royal Mail	Good Luck... I simply haven't received one since September... even though I know its been sent!
Food Shopping	Shop at my local Sainsbury’s or Tesco’s	Shop at the Local Supermarkets St. Mary’s or Foodland
Clothes Shopping	Overspend at Topshop, Zara and Other high street stores	Overspend... oops! At the local tailor who makes fab clothes!
Internet	Broadband wireless every where... duh!	Spend at least 6 hours a week at the Internet Cafe.
Currency	Spend in tens, i.e. average meal costs £15-20	Spend in thousands, i.e. average meal costs Le 20,000 – 40,000
Power and Water	It’s always there…	Savour every moment of it; the most apt description of it is, ‘here one moment, gone the next’!
Music	Stop off at the your local music store or download off Itunes or Spotify	Lean out of your car/taxi window, and a young man selling compilations of the latest Salone tracks for a Le5,000 (72p), will run over
Calls	Monthly plan, preferring to make calls to friends	Mostly send text messages to friends, calls only when absolutely necessary – and that’s why I got a QWERTY phone!

There are many things in my daily life has changed, however I have noticed that there are a few things I have settled into that are not so different to the way I functioned back at home. I am still doing similar things, only the process and the environment in which I am doing them are drastically different. The difference is mostly in the regularity at which each action occurs.

I have concluded that in spite of the difficulties of living in Sierra Leone and the extreme heat, there are many amazing things here that I will definitely miss and try to incorporate into my life at home. For one, I will try to get to know my neighbours more (because its just nice), exercise more and appreciate the fact that in the UK, we get constant electricity and water!