A day in the life...

I was asked to write this for VSO, so I thought I may as well post it on here...

My alarm goes off around 7.30am, but usually I have been woken earlier by the noises that begin once the sun rises and my neighbours start to go about their daily work. I get up and have a bucket shower and drink some water and then head to the kitchen to heat up last nights leftovers to eat for breakfast (we don’t have electricity, so we don’t have a fridge, so any food needs eating up quick!). I usually chat to my flatmate over breakfast, then we walk up to the main road to take transport to work. The walk takes about 10 minutes and we greet many of our neighbours and friends along the way. On the main road we hail a shared taxi and sometimes have to bargain with the driver to get the right price. Then my flatmate gets out at her office and I continue to mine.

I’m usually one of the first to arrive in the office and I like to sit outside the door and greet my colleagues as they arrive. Then the generator is switched on and we get to work. There is plenty for me to do in my role as research advisor, planning work or analysing data, but I also get involved in other work too, for example helping to write a proposal, or designing a leaflet or helping someone with computer skills or reviewing some work. There is a real sense of team in my organisation and we often talk through ideas as a group and everyone contributes. At some point in the morning (depending on how hungry everyone is) a few of us will head out to eat rice and plassas. Sometimes we eat in the office, but I prefer to go to the cookry and eat there, as I enjoy the break from the office and the chance to talk to different people. People usually laugh when they hear my colleagues talking to me in Krio, and they laugh even more when I try and talk back! All my colleagues speak English, but I try to encourage them to speak to me in Krio as much as possible and slowly my language is improving.

The day in the office passes quickly, there is plenty of work to do and also a lot of fun to be had. I am working with several colleagues on different projects and I really enjoy that diversity. I learn a huge amount each day, in terms of language but also about life and politics in Sierra Leone. There are many great characters in my office and we regularly get involved in debates and discussions. At first I listened quietly, but now I have been here longer I am starting to be able to join in as I understand more and my language is improving! Mid afternoon, I take a break for 10 minutes and go downstairs to sit with our office assistant and secretary and catch up with their news, which is one of my favourite parts of the day.

Work finishes at 5pm, and we head home. It can be really difficult to get transport at this time, as everyone is travelling home. Sometimes I take a poda poda, othertimes my colleague and I might walk 10 minutes down the road until we find a taxi that can take us. On the way home I might stop at a stall or at the market to pick up food for dinner or essential supplies like water and candles. I take a different route home to the one I take to work so there are different people to greet and catch up with. Greeting is a really important part of life here and one I really enjoy. It’s a very welcoming feeling to have your neighbours shouting to enquire about your day and to learn a little more about them each day.

I usually reach home by about 6, and I might try and use the last hour or so of daylight to do some chores or to read or sometimes just to sit and watch the world pass by. Then I will cook and eat dinner with my flatmates, often we will have friends and colleagues stopping by to eat with us. Later on, we might be going out to meet friends, or we might spend the evening sitting on the veranda and talking in the candlelight. Our house is often full of people coming and going, so there is lots of laughing and conversation. We never seem to run out of things to talk about!! Generally at 11 or 12 I will head to sleep under my mosquito net, I fall asleep to the sounds of dogs barking and frogs and crickets and generators whirring away, but quickly I have got used to the noise and so I get a good nights sleep ready to begin another day… There is a really relaxed pace of life here, and it always amazes me how quickly the weeks pass and the weekends come. Weekends tend to involve chores like cleaning, shopping and washing clothes, a night out dancing at Paddy’s our local nightclub and then Sunday afternoons are spent relaxing on the beach. Often we might have other VSOs visiting from Makeni or we might take a short trip ourselves, there is always something going on, so that by the time it gets to Sunday evening I’m tired and in need of a good night’s sleep ready to start it all again on Monday morning!

Ups and downs

So I’ve been here two months now, I really wish that I didn’t count the weeks like that, but it just seems to happen that way in my mind. Naturally, there have been some ups and downs since I came here, something that I was prepared for before coming here, and I think that this week I’ve had a couple of ‘downs.’ What is amazing though, is that the downs haven’t been that bad, and that is so much as a result of the people I have around me.

This week, Krystle left to go back to the UK and because she is my housemate and good friend and we spend a lot of time together, I knew I would miss her. But it’s been great that the people around me realised this and have tried to help me out. Kate and I had a ‘friend date’ which was great and we also had some people over for a Hanukah dinner which again helped me to know more people. I commented to one of my work mates that the morning was a bit lonely as I had no one to eat breakfast with. Everyday since then, I have arrived at work and gone for a breakfast of rice and plassas with a group of my colleagues. I really do work in “di CCYA fambule den” (the CCYA family). Those small things make a huge difference out here and I’m really grateful for them. This weekend, I have a whole host of people who have offered to come and collect me to go to Paddy’s as they know I can’t travel there late on my own. And Rob and Sam will be pleased to hear that I have replaced their bellies completely in my life, as I even have a couple of friends who I regularly feed (that reminds me, is anyone feeding them in my absence or are they surviving entirely on a diet of pasta, pesto and cheese?)

I’m so well looked after, and by people who have known me such a short time. It makes me sad and to be honest it makes me embarrassed, because I know, from my experience working with refugees and asylum seekers in the UK that we just don’t give people that kind of welcome back home. We don’t greet strangers in the street, we don’t go out of our way to help a new person settle in. In fact we often make people feel unwelcome.

Christmas is coming, and it should be a time when I really notice the absence of my friends, and of course, I do, and will, miss my friends a lot. It’s been more than two months since I spoke to anyone, and that makes me feel quite far away from all of your lives (so email me, call me, text me!!!). But, despite being so young in this country, being a stranger, a foreigner, a white girl, I will not be lonely. If only that were true for everyone.

Sentimental drivel and chimpanzees

Before I came here, I did warn everyone that there was a chance I would be bad at this blog lark and that it would end up just being sentimental drivel about chimpanzees. Well…last night, I went to a very strange place… it was the IMATT HQ in Sierra Leone and I went there to watch a National Geographic film documentary about the CHIMPANZEE sanctuary, Tacaguma, which is about an hour from Freetown. This evening was fun for several reasons (a) I got to watch a film on a projector. I’ve not watched anything like that for weeks (b) I like chimpanzees (c) lots of my friends were there and (d) I got to talk to some of the people who work at the chimp sanctuary and they told me all about the animals.

However, it was also a really strange night because it was like going back to England. I swear, I was looking down one of the ‘streets’ on the complex and I could have been looking at a suburban cul-de-sac with it’s streetlights and shrubs and little houses. It was a very strange experience and not one that I liked. The other absolutely insane thing is that, in a massive complex, in an international organisation, Krystle and I had to use the mens toilets because we were told there was no ladies (thank you Julian for guarding the door for us!). Gender mainstreaming failing miserably.

So, as much as I enjoyed the company, the film and the trip to ‘England’ I was very happy last night to get a lift back down the hill in the boot of my friend’s vehicle, eat some chicken soup (thank you Julian again) and head by candlelight to my bedroom for a good sleep. Sadly though, I didn’t dream about chimpanzees, but about shopping for shoes…!!!!

Party time

On Saturday, it was World Aids Day. I went with my friends Grant and Davina and took part in a march through Freetown and spent the morning listening to various speakers talk about Sierra Leone’s approach to HIV and AIDS. One of the speakers was the new president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma. It’s quite strange to think that I’ve been closer to the president of Sierra Leone than I have been to any prime minister in the UK. It also made me realize how little we consider HIV and AIDS in the UK. It’s shocking really that this is the first World AIDS Day event that I have attended.

In addition, on Saturday night we had a big party at my house, to say farewell to my flatmate Krystle. We borrowed a generator and so we had electricity in our house which was pretty exciting, and we had a DJ who played some great music. Lots of people came to the party, as Krystle has made many friends here, including ALL of my colleagues, which I was really proud of. It was a great party and despite a few organizational traumas, we had a lot of fun. There are pictures on my facebook site!

Krystle flies home on Monday and many of my other VSO friends will be traveling to the UK for Christmas also, so it will be a strange time. However, myself and 3 other VSO friends of mine Diya, Grant and Julian (see you have a mention now!) have plans to take a trip to Banana Island for a short break, so I will be spending Christmas Day on the beach. Can’t complain at that!

Time to get back to work now… I’m working at the moment on designing a label for the honey that is produced through a community project my organization is running. Hopefully we’ll be able to sell quite a few in the run up to Christmas to help generate some income for the beekeepers. In fact I hope none of my friends here are reading this or they are all going to guess what their Christmas presents will be!

A bit about me...

OK, so I’ve been here for almost 7 weeks now and it sort of feels longer and sort of feels shorter… time goes fast here. Already it’s Thursday and another week is almost over! What doesn’t help is that I am currently planning my work schedule until the end of June… which is most of my time here accounted for… and it’s exciting stuff but I will write more about that some other time.

So, people ask me about what life is like here so I’ll try and write something about that now… so you know that I don’t have electricity, but that’s been fairly easy to get used to really. We have a generator at the office so I just bring everything into here to charge it up! The sun goes down about 6.30pm and we use candles from there which is pretty nice really I like it.

Food wise, as we don’t have a fridge, it takes a bit of planning each day. Generally one of us picks up food on the way home from work and we cook together, making sure to make enough so we have some for breakfast the next day. I’ve actually lost a fair bit of weight since I got here, which is proving a nightmare because half of my clothes are now too big for me. However I’m trying to eat as well as I can, which is harder than you might think as vegetables and fruit are seasonal so you can’t get a big selection (and they’re expensive too!). The only other health related issue I have is that I get horrible reactions to mosquito bites so my legs look awful at the moment, but they don’t hurt or itch, they just look HORRIBLE. My main concern about this is that we are having a party on Saturday night to say goodbye to my flatmate Krystle and my dress isn’t going to look that great accompanied by blotchy legs… oh and my dress is now a bit big for me too!

So, everyone has been asking about photos. I’ve not taken that many pictures, but I have posted a few on my facebook page now. The one on here is of me and two of my colleagues, Bakarr and Alimamy. The thing is I’m not a tourist so I don’t carry my camera everywhere. Also, the internet connection is slow and I just don’t have the time/ patience/ money to spend hours uploading pictures. But I’ll put a few more up, so that you can all see my tan (which by anyone else’s standards would be pathetic but by mine is amazing!) … basically if you want to see what Sierra Leone is like then come and visit me! (Seriously, do come, because I need some smaller clothes bringing out… and some flipflops… and chocolate raisins!)

Busy Busy Busy!

My last week and a half has been a really busy time. So much has happened that I may even write a few different posts about it rather than try to fill everything in here! So this one, I will make about my work…
The week before last, I co-facilitated my first workshop here: two days on Participatory Action Research and then went on a five day field trip to support the participants in putting it into action! I have been doing this with an organisation called YAPAD (Youth Alliance for Peace and Development) which is an organisation with close links to CCYA where I am based and also happens to be the organisation where my roommate Krystle is a VSO volunteer. This meant that Krystle and I, along with Desmond K who is the Programme Officer and another Desmond (who I will call Desy here) who is YAPAD’s driver (and also, luckily for me, the best driver in Sierra Leone) got to travel around the country together. It was awesome and I had a great time. The four of us got along really well and it was great to see a lot more of the country. We travelled through Mile 91, Bo (where we stopped), Kenema, Kono (where we spent a few days) and then through Makeni and back to Freetown. So I was able to see some of the biggest towns in Sierra Leone.
Bo is in the south of Sierra Leone. Desmond and Desy both come from there so I was really privileged to be able to meet both of their families. Bo is the second largest town in Sierra Leone and is a really busy place. My only complaint was the number of mosquitoes and other insects that bit me!

On Wednesday, we hit the road again, after a great meal at Desmond’s mother and father’s home. It took us around 5 hours to get to Kono so we arrived pretty late at night and after a small adventure managed to get into the office where we were staying whilst in Kono. Kono is in the east of Sierra Leone and the climate there is quite different to Freetown, it actually gets quite cool at night which was really pleasant and meant there were fewer mosquitos about so Krystle and I had several pleasant nights sleep there. We were also delighted because on Friday morning, Uncle Bernard, the watchman at that office, heated us some water for washing. This is the first wash I have had in hot water since I arrived 5 weeks ago (naturally I wash everyday, just not with hot water, don’t panic!) but it was amazing!

So, what was the point of this trip… well… we are doing some preliminary research into the state of the youth in Sierra Leone and this was a small pilot survey that we will use to direct the larger project when it begins next year. So we spent 2 days training a team of local NGO staff in research skills and then they go off into their communities to interview young people using the discussion guide we wrote together. It’s a really different approach to research for me, because I’m not here to do the research myself, but to capacitate other people with the skills to do it for themselves. If I said this was a challenge for me, then that would be a huge understatement. I am a researcher and this is the most fascinating and exciting project I’ve ever worked on. It’s really hard to hold back and let others decide on the angle to take, and ask the questions and interpret the results when I have a million questions that I want to ask for myself. But it’s also really important that I don’t get involved in that, because these issues people are discussing with us, they are not my issues. The voices need to be heard as they are spoken, not as they are interpreted through my ‘outside’ view.

what to write?

I'm really struggling with what to write on my blog at the moment, so if anyone has any questions that they would like to send me that would be awesome and would really help!

Next week I'm going up country again to Bo and to Kono to do some research (that's why I'm here afterall!) and when I get back I promise that I will finally get round to taking and posting photos!

3 weeks old

Today I am 3 weeks old in Sierra Leone which is pretty weird because that isn’t very long and I feel that I’ve been here a long time already, but at the same time I still have so much to learn!

On Friday, my entire organisation went to our extension office in Port Loko, which is a town to the north of Sierra Leone. There are about 18 people in my organisation, just 4 girls (including me!) but everyone is ‘young’ in their 20s or 30s so there is a great atmosphere. The drive to Port Loko took about 4 hours, I travelled in Charles’ car with Alona, Anita, Bakarr and Osman. The roads aren’t all that great here and it takes some skill to negotiate them (Charles has promised to give me a driving lesson when there are less people as passengers!) but I felt totally safe in the hands of Charles and Bakarr’s driving.

We went for a 2 day workshop to discuss our strategic plan. It was a great workshop and we all worked very hard, but had a lot of fun too and I feel like I got to know some of my colleagues much better, as well as meeting for the first time some of our extension officers who work out in the provinces. We went out for a few drinks and some dancing on Friday night after we finished work (we set off from Freetown at 630am and didn’t finish until almost 9pm so don’t fret, I’m working hard!). There’s a lot of dancing goes on here, but I seem to be coping alright with it, given that I’m not a dancer at all back home. Most places you go are outside, and there’s something really great about dancing under the stars, I guess it doesn’t happen so much in rainy season though!

Saturday we got on with more work and we really achieved a lot, I felt, and I was really able to contribute (hopefully in a constructive way!) and there are certainly plenty of things that were written into our plan that have my name next to them! The hard thing for me over the two days was the heat, it was so hot up country and you don’t get the breeze that you get near the sea. We worked outside a lot and everyone is great at making sure I keep out of the sun and keeping me well supplied with water! It makes everyone laugh sometimes when we talk about how white I am. It’s not something I feel particularly conscious of and sometimes I walk down the street and people are staring at me, and I’m thinking, what have I got on my face and then I’m like, oh yea, it’s because I’m white! In Port Loko the kids made me laugh as there were some that kept peeking round the corner at me to see me and when I smiled at them they would run off, then be back 2 minutes later!

So I travelled back yesterday evening, the journey was easy enough and the guys dropped us girls in the city centre and made sure we got a taxi to take us to our respective homes and then all three guys who’d travelled with me called me to check I was home ok (see, I’m being so well looked after!) It was lovely actually, as last night was bonfire night and I was feeling slightly weird not to be on the Sele in Hexham watching the bonfire and seeing lots of people I knew. And I didn’t tell them any of this, but the guys here, just by being themselves, reminded me that I may only be 3 weeks old in Sierra Leone, but that I have friends here already.

Record Breaker

OK, so I'm not that great at posting this blog stuff... but i'm sure I'll get better! It's been a mad, mad week since I last wrote on here... so here goes...
I started work at CCYA last wednesday and it's such an awesome place to work I love it! The staff there have made me feel so welcome and are really helping to settle in and we have so much fun. Everyone there is pretty young and there is a great atmosphere in the office, they're all very committed and passionate about what they do and it's pretty inspiring really. And, because obviously I love to be busy, the fact there is plenty of work for me to get stuck into is a real bonus. We're going away to a small place in the North of Sierra Leone called Port Loko on Friday and doing 2 days there to work on the strategic plan for the organisation and from there I will start planning the research. I can't wait to see a bit more of the country.

Also this week, I took part in a world record breaking peformance of the Michael Jackson Thriller dance. Yes, you can stop laughing (esp you Ms Moore) I dressed up as a zombie on Saturday night and danced in a group on the stage at Paddy's which is our local nightclub. and i really enjoyed it! as soon as there are photos i will post a link! The funniest part of the night is that at the end of the dance everyone does the obligatory zombie pose, however, my friend Valentine got a bit carried away and actually bit me rather than pretending so i now have a nice bite shaped bruise on my side. I've not turned into a zombie yet and he's not turned ginger so I think we've both escaped unscathed though!

So, yea, still getting on fine here, much more used to the heat and drinking about 4 litres of water a day much to the amusement of my colleagues who seem to only need about half a litre! I'm rubbish so I still have no photos but will do soon... probably!

Thanks everyone who's been emailing and messaging me. Internet is slow here so replying can be hard but it's lush to get emails so keep sending them and i'll try to get better at replying!

Aw di body, pet?

OK, so I left the UK without too many tears and I arrived in Freetown about 10 days ago and it’s taken me this long to get started with writing my blog just because it’s all been a bit mad…

There are about 20 volunteers who arrived at the same time as me, and about another 20 already in country coming from UK, India, Canada, USA, Kenya, Uganda, Phillipines and the Netherlands (I think that’s all at the moment!) Probably around half of us are based in Freetown, the others are in other major towns across the country. So far we have spent our first ten days in training with VSO Sierra Leone, which has included getting acclimatised to life over here as there are many things that are different… travelling, money, language, living without electricity, oh and yea, the heat. It’s pretty warm (for warm read boiling!), but I have not got burnt yet, the factor 50 suncream is working well! I have freckles on my arms that I never knew I had before and I am slowly changing colour… I’m not quite as fluorescent white as I was a week ago!

So everyone wants to know my first impressions of Sierra Leone… well it’s just awesome. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen, I live just a couple of miles from the sea and I can see it from my house. I’ve been to the beach a few times already to see the sun set (which happens around 6.30pm) and is amazing, it’s a really peaceful place to be. I spent several days just in a state of shock really that I was actually here… I think it took about a week to sink in, although who knows maybe it still hasn’t!

OK, despite all the talk of tropical sunsets, I have also never seen the kind of poverty that I see everyday here and I think that mix is what I am struggling to articulate. About three quarters of people here live below $2 a day, so it's everywhere. I live in a pretty nice house, I share with 3 other (lovely!) VSOs. We have running water (for most of the year apparently) but we don’t have electricity. Well we get it occasionally (about 2 hours since I got here!) when there is a mad dash to plug things in to charge! I’m getting used to spending candlelit evenings and to cooking in the dark, and never leaving home without my flashlight. On my street there are houses who can afford to run (very noisy) generators for almost 24 hours a day and there are also people who sleep in tiny metal huts. Poverty is something that is in your face everyday here, and it’s really made me realise how privileged we are in the UK.
At the same time though, life here is fun. People are friendly and welcoming and greet me every morning as I walk to the office. Although English is the official language here, in Freetown it is predominately Krio that is spoken, which is a pidgin English. I’m starting to learn it, so far I can manage to buy vegetables at the market using a mixture of Krio and English and I understand more and more everyday. (I’m listening to Krio radio at the moment too, but they’re talking about football, which I don’t understand that well in English so…!) When I start work on Wednesday I will hopefully get more immersed in it (Krio and football, as my office is right near to the national stadium!)
There are so many things that are different about daily life here, most of which I’ve probably not even found out yet, but I do feel like I’m settling in and adjusting to life here. I’m even getting used to the massive spiders and the cockroaches. I expect there are hard times to come yet though, as it’s still very much a novelty at the moment and the idea of not seeing people from home for more than a year is pretty unreal at the moment. I think the first hard day will be Wednesday when some of the other volunteers leave to go to their placements in other parts of the country. I’ve become pretty close to these guys in the last week or so and it will be strange without them, but also I’ll be starting work, which means new friends to make! And I already have a couple of plans to visit my friends up country (you know me, always a plan!)

So, I think that’s all I’m going to write for now, no pics to put up yet as I haven’t taken my camera out with me yet but I’ll try and start taking some soon. I’ve put up my cell phone number and my postal address on my facebook page in case anyone feels like writing, which would be cool. Post is quite inconsistent here so letters may not arrive but it would be nice to get the odd one (probs best not to try and post stuff tho as it prob won’t arrive). Laters…

6 weeks to go!

I’m doing what?

I have a placement through VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) for one year. VSO works in developing countries, placing volunteers in roles where they can pass on their skills to local people. I have been placed in an organisation called CCYA in Sierra Leone, to help them to direct a programme of research into the needs of the young people of Sierra Leone. This task scares me quite a lot, but it also sounds like a fantastic challenge and a great opportunity that I’m really excited about.

Where’s Sierra Leone?

Sierra Leone is a small country in West Africa. You can see it on the map on this page. The country has a population of just over 6 Million who suffer from extreme poverty. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living for countries worldwide, which is published by the UN. There are 177 countries on the list and Sierra Leone places at 176. It's going to be very different to living in the UK - and very hot... I have packed my factor 50!

Is it safe?

There was a civil war for 10 years in Sierra Leone, which ended in 2001. VSO wouldn’t be sending me there if they weren’t happy about the safety of the country. There are ongoing elections happening in the country at the moment, the results should be known before I leave.
It will of course be different living in a developing country to the UK. For example in terms of access to healthcare and the kinds of diseases which are prevalent. However, I’m well prepared for this, having had about a million (give or take) jabs in the last few weeks.

Where will I be working?

I’ll be based in Freetown, which is the capital city, but I will be travelling throughout the country to meet and speak to young people as part of my work.

Why on earth am I doing this?

Leaving my family, friends and home and job is a big decision, but something I feel really strongly is the right thing for me to do. I think it’s really important that people share the skills and experiences they have had to try and benefit others, and this particular way of doing that is the one that appeals to me. Obviously I’m scared… but also very excited!

How will I keep in touch with everyone?

I should have reasonable access to internet, so I can post on here to keep everyone up to date with general news, and then email people separately. I should also have a mobile phone once I’m there, but I'm told that regular post is pretty unreliable. Once I have all my numbers and addresses I’ll let you know so there’s no excuse for not being in touch!