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!