Freetown, Sierra

So I was able to (I think) post a video to youtube.

It's a 1 minute clip of Freetown. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2qOvGSNT1o

Oh you white people - you love Africans!

Since there’s not a lot going on right now, I’ve decided to take this time to write about how awesome all the other interns are. So far, I’ve met everyone but one, who has not arrived in SL yet. We started out as 7, all leaving NYC together, bonding in Morocco, and then all settling down in Freetown. Or settling as much as one possibly can, knowing they are only going to be there for a week.

2 of the interns left on Wednesday because they had a slightly different internship, but we also gained 1 that same day. So we are now at 6. It’s been exactly one week since the 5 of us (our 6^th intern doesn’t count since she just got her Wednesday) have been together. We are literally together every single minute of every single day. And surprisingly, there have been no fights yet.

All the interns have had experience living and working in another country. 3 out of 5 (myself included) are former Peace Corps volunteers, and the other 2 each spent several years working in Asia. We have formed the most laid back group of interns the legal world has ever seen, I’m sure. For example: once we arrived on mainland Freetown from the airport, we were suppose to have someone pick us up from the boat dock. No one was there. We ended up sitting at the boat dock for several hours before someone came to get us. Did any of us panic? Did any of us complain? Nope. We all just sat around and chatted for those few hours. We relaxed and knew that things would sort themselves out.

We have spent the week exploring Freetown, working at Timap, and just hanging out together. I’m totally impressed with everyone’s background and knowledge, and I often wonder how it was that I got chosen to be a part of this. But I’m lucky I was chosen, because I get to hang out with the most amazing people.

Each evening after work, after dinner, we all head back to our guesthouse and find a simple way to entertain ourselves. 2 nights ago we all sat together on the balcony reading. Last night we all played shots and ladders (everyone lost that game). Tonight, I was taught the game Spades, and we all spent hours playing that and talking.

We’ll all be here together for about another few days, and then we’ll head off to our separate sites. While it’s sad to part, we’re all happy to be starting our main job, and excited to see some new places in SL. And we’ve already planned to spend several weekends together, to celebrate birthdays and the 4^th of July. Most of us are also heading out to Morocco after our internship is over, to have a mini-vacation before starting school again. Fez here we come!

All in all, I couldn’t have a blog and not talk about these amazing people I’ve been spending my time with. In honor of this sappy post, I told Ben (my awesome roommate and spectacular Spades partner) that he could name the blog entry. He named it after what someone had shouted at us on the street today.  

It's A Beautiful Day in Sierra Leone

For most of you who know me, I’m a big fan of Africa. I’ve always loved all of Africa, and since I’ve been back, I’ve done nothing but talk returning to Africa. Despite my great love for this giant continent, it would be false if I said I didn’t have moments when I wished I was back in the States.

Life in Africa is much harder – for everyone. And that’s true essentially no matter where you go. It might be different if I were a rich person here, and could pay for a nice house, and a working shower, and a generator. While I was in Peace Corps, I lived exactly like a local would. It was easier to become a member of my community because people saw that I lived just like them, without any extras. It would be insensitive and wrong to claim that I lived exactly like them, because when I was sick, I could call a doctor, and when there was political violence, I could fly away. But regarding daily life – I lived just like any person did.

It makes life a lot simpler and calmer, and that’s a big reason why I like being in Africa so much. I like sitting and just talking to someone for hours with no interruption of a cell phone or the television. I like eating food off the side of the road that someone has made in front of me. I like being around so much nature without any concrete and metal buildings blocking the view.

There are moments, however, that I don’t like living in Africa. I have been living in Freetown for the past 5 days (I guess it will be 7 days by the time I post this online). For the most part, I have loved being back. It’s been hot and sticky, and I’ve been living out of a suitcase, but I’ve been happy.

Everyone comes to a breaking point however, and mine came yesterday morning. I had been dealing with a growing frustration of being in a city, rather than a village. And the heat, while expected, was starting to wear on me. Yesterday morning I woke up after sleeping very little. There was no electricity all night, meaning I couldn’t even put on a fan. I opened the windows to let some air in, but the only thing that was coming in was hot humid air, and lot of mosquitoes. I woke up feeling disgusting from sweating all night, and I had a sore throat, and was covered in mosquito bites.

I decided that a bath would be the best thing for me, so I went into the “shower room,” which is just a small room with tiling. When it rains, the wells and water reserves fill up, and you can get running water sometimes. Unfortunately for me, it hadn’t rained in awhile. The owner of the guesthouse had placed a bucket of water outside the shower room for people to use, but there wasn’t much left of it, and I could see worms at the bottom.

Deciding NOT to use the bucket water, I turned on the sink and saw that a very small trickle of water was coming out. I filled up a cup with water and splashed it on myself. I started to fill the cup up again. It literally took about 3 minutes for the cup to fill up with water. I resolved myself to just do the best I could with the water I had. About halfway through, covered in soap, the water just stopped. I had been standing waiting for the cup to fill up, looking at the mosquito bites on my arm, wondering whether I was going to get malaria, when the water stopped coming out of the faucet. And my meltdown began. I was hot, simultaneously disgusting and covered with sweat, and feeling stressed and sick. My only thoughts: WHAT AM I DOING HERE!? How did I put myself in this situation AGAIN!? I could be back in the states, taking a nice warm shower, in my air-conditioned house, with television and internet and fruity pebbles waiting for me when I got out. Instead, I’m in Freetown, with no water, no way to stop the constant heat, no fruity pebbles or milk or even a clean bowl. WHY AM I HERE!??????????

Luckily, I got over it. After managing to finish my bucket bath, I got dressed, hoped in a poda poda to get to work, and spent the day learning about the laws of Sierra Leone, and why Timap was so desperately needed in this country. After work, the interns and I had an amazing dinner, made on the side of the road. I took another, more effective, cold bucket bath, and finally felt a little bit clean. Before bed, the other interns and I sat on the balcony of our guesthouse, reading books and relaxing.

And I think that’s the reason I keep coming back. Despite the moments, or hours, or even days when I am in a bad mood and wishing for nothing but to be back in the U.S., the meaningfulness and peacefulness of this life keeps pulling me back. There’s a peace and comfort that comes with being here, that makes up for the mosquitoes and lack of water.      

From MO 5 to Freetown

My flight from Casablanca to Freetown was only the beginning of an incredibly long first day in Sierra Leone. We left the airport in Casablanca around midnight and got into Freetown at 3am on Saturday. 

The Freetown airport is actually on a small island off the coast of the mainland. Whoever thought this was a good idea clearly owned a boat transportation operation. It is not in any way convenient. There are 3 ways of getting to the mainland: helicopter, water taxi, and ferry. The helicopter was the most tempting option, but also the most expensive ($80) and the least safe. The helicopters are from the ‘70’s, and are known for crashing a lot. The ferry is the cheapest option, but it also only runs once a day, and not at 3 in the morning. So myself and the other interns I was with chose to take the water taxi. After waiting around for the water taxi to drum up enough business and fill all the seats, we finally left the airport around 5am.

After a 20 minute boat ride, we arrived on the shores of Freetown. Unfortunately for us, it was still dark out, and we had no idea where to go, or how to get there. Eventually, around 7am, a guy showed up and said he was from Timap, and that he would take us to our guesthouse. As it turns out, our guesthouse (and the Timap office) was just down the road. The guesthouse we’re staying in for now is called “Diana guest house” and is apparently named after Princess Diana. Our rooms are pretty standard for an African guesthouse. There’s a bed, and a fan, and that’s about it. We do have a “shower,” but there’s no hot water. Which is actually okay because with the heat and humidity here, a cold bucket bath is actually the best thing in the world. It is unbelievably hot here, and the humidity is almost unbearable.

After dropping our stuff off, a few of us were too excited to nap, so myself and 2 other interns found a driver to take us to a bank to get our American money exchanged for SL Leones. When our driver pulled over, he pulled over not to a bank, but rather to a guy sitting on the side of the road. We had about 2,000 dollars we wanted to exchange, from all the interns, and the guy didn’t even blink when we said that. He pulls out his giant bag of cash, and started counting out Leones. This was all happening without us even getting out of the car. It was one of the most hilariously shady things I’ve ever been a part of. After a few minutes, we rode off with 7 million Leones in our laps. The biggest Leone bill is 10,000, so we literally had stacks and stacks of money. I now know what it’s like to be a drug dealer.

Once we were back at the guesthouse, I fell asleep for a few hours before going back out. There were 7 interns traveling together. There are more Timap interns, but they are arriving at different times, so I haven’t met them yet. The 7 of us got a driver to take us into downtown Freetown so that we could buy cell phones. The city itself is actually not very big, but our guesthouse was still a few kilometers away from the city center. After trying to stop in a few stores, we discovered that most shops had closed for the afternoon. Not to be discouraged, we kept walking until we found some people hanging out that had cell phones to sell. The thing I like most about getting a cell phone in Africa, is that they are always really old. Which means that they always have old school snake on them. During my time in Africa, when I had an old nokia phone, I used to play snake obsessively on it. I think by the end, I had the highest score of anyone in the world. I was that good. Anyway, alas, my phone this time around does not have snake on it. Instead, it has some game called Hanoi which is officially the lamest game in the world. But I do have a phone number now, so you can call me if you want. Just email me and I can give you the number.

Heading Back

Due to my compulsive need to share, and my aversion to mass emails, I've created a blog. Everyone feels the need to blog anytime they go anywhere, and I'm no different.

Everyone blogs to show how cool they are

 Anyway, here it is. I was originally going to come up with a snappier title, but instead, I decided to just go as literal as possible. Also, I found out that all the cool kids just say "Salone" instead of "Sierra Leone." It's easier to say, and it makes you seem like a more legit world traveler. Which is all that matters.

So, this morning, I dug out my tevas, headlamp, and malaria medicine, shoved it all in a backpack, and headed for the airport. After a layover in Morocco, I get into Freetown, Sierra Leone on Saturday. That's when the fun starts.