12 Images of 2012

Starting the year in Rajasthan

Decluttering

First weekend at Bureh

My office

Youyi

View of Freetown I see every morning

My VSO home

London 2012 - wonderful

Carolyn and Aoife - great new friends!

Such a fun night for a great cause

Jumping for joy at making it through the year

A fairy godmother?

I don't think so!  However, three couples have bestowed the honour of their children's moral well being by asking me to be a godmother to their daughters and son. This Christmas I have managed to see them all and marvel at how much they are growing.

Here they are (with their adoring god parent)

Niamh my eldest godchild who turned 13 in November. Looking forward to the teenage years unfurling and many shopping trips.

Eve is my second god daughter (lucky their names rhyme - that makes things easier!) and she was 8 in February.  This year she played a rally with Andy Murray but is more keen on swimming.

Harry is 6  and a keen Chelsea fan as you can see from the pyjamas.  My magic skills may have to come to the fore soon as he'd love to see them play at Stamford Bridge.  I'll have to wave that fairy wand!

It's great spending time with them all and their siblings and parents this Christmas.  I completed a Spiderman jigsaw, played charades and was introduced to the board game Apple to Apple.  They keep you young and I need that!

A Boxing Day Tradition

Hello from a rainy Scotland.

Last Friday I left Freetown for a two week Christmas break in the UK.  I flew up to Scotland on Christmas Eve for Christmas in a flooded Stonehaven with my parents.

Over the last ten years a tradition has developed whereby I spend Boxing Day with my friend Susan and her family if I am in the country which I was this year.  So, on Christmas Night my dad gave me a lift to Edzell to join the Leonard/Marwood/Cranswick celebrations.  A glass of prosecco in hand,  it was lovely to catch up with everyone and their ever growing children.  There is no way to escape the passing years when they take the form of a child - can Andrew really be a teenager and Kate starting senior school in 2013?

After a good night's sleep we headed out into the Angus countryside for a walk up the Sturdy Hill.  It was a bracing day but it was lovely to be among the hills and take in the beautiful views.

An Angus Glen

Susan, Ruth, Donald, Pat and Richard

Back to the house and a lovely lunch of all the things I have missed - oatcakes, leek and potato soup, lovely bread and smoked salmon.  All this topped off with a game of charades - my Bourne Identity may live in the memory for many Boxing Day's to come.

Thank you to all who allowed me to share their Boxing Day and here's hoping the tradition carries on for many years to come.

Bruce and the Spider – Salone Style

The other day while sitting waiting to see the Director of Financial Resources the story of Bruce and the Spider came to my mind.  I was sitting in his secretaries’ office (he has two!) waiting and as I stared into space a movement on the floor caught my eye.  A coke bottle was under a desk and something inside it was moving.  I took a closer look to discover it was the new home for a cockroach.  According to Mah it had been in there for the last week but this still didn’t stop it from trying to climb out – very unsuccessfully.

OK so not exactly the same outcome as Bruce and the Spider but it did make me think of that story and how it relates to my time here.   If you are not Scottish perhaps you do not know what I am going on about so here is a potted version:

King Robert the Bruce was born at Lochmaben Castle in 1274. He was Knight and Overlord of Annandale. In 1306 he was crowned King of Scotland and from that time tried to free Scotland from the English enemy. After being defeated at a battle, Bruce escaped and found a hideout in a cave. Hiding in a cave for three months, Bruce was at the lowest point of his life. He thought about leaving the country and never coming back. While waiting, he watched a spider building a web in the cave's entrance. The spider fell down time after time, but finally he succeeded with his web. So Bruce decided also to retry his fight and told his men: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again".

So there you are.   Here I have often been disheartened and have felt like giving up but like Robert the Bruce I have pulled myself together and waded into battle again and again and I slowly may be winning.

O positive? We'll have some of that

Last Monday the time came to do something I have always felt guilty about not having done sooner - give blood.

I had promised Carolyn that I would donate a pint to Aberdeen Women's Centre before she leaves in mid December. So, on 3rd December I built up the courage and made my way to the lab.

Some of you may wonder why this warrants a blog entry while some others will be amazed that I have actually done this given my history with needles.  It is not a good history and there have been many moments of hysteria in dentist and doctor's surgeries.  

Off I went into the lab and had the first of two needles stuck in me.  The first was in my hand to draw a small amount to test.  They tested for my blood group (o+) and various communicable diseases (HIV, Syphillis, Hep A and Hep B).  After a 20 minute wait I was given the all clear and the serious business could begin.  In fact I was given a gold star as my Hb count was 16 - very good so I'm told.

While Carolyn chatted away to me as a distraction  Musu did a wonderful job of making the whole experience relatively pain free.  I winced a bit as the needle went in but as I pumped my had the blood flowed quickly and it was all over in 10 minutes.

Here is the photographic proof

Finding a vein

All over and still smiling

In the white try between his arms is my blood.

So everyone out there - if I can do this surely everybody can.

Elections don don

Translation of post title: The Elections are finished

Well nearly a month on from the elections I feel it can be said that they were successful.  The No Violence campaign won out and the elections were peaceful. There were hiccups along the way but overall it went well.

I had been a trifle nervous about being here over the period but at the end of the day I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.  The noise, the colours, the singing, the rallies, the posters, Election Day and results night – these are all times that shall stay with me forever.

Here is a billboard that has been put up by the re-elected President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma. 

So what now for Sierra Leone as he begins his second term?  Who can tell, but hopefully this country will keep moving forwards and will finally, after these third set off successful elections, lose the epithet “war torn” whenever it is mentioned.  As the advert on the telly here says this is not a country of blood diamonds but rather one of peace diamonds.

A tent on my spare bed – it can’t be good for my Feng Shui

A few weeks ago I borrowed a tent from my friend Ed as I was off to the beach and may have needed one.  In the end I didn’t so it sat in the cupboard.

Last Saturday I was at a loose end so decided to open it up.  It’s a pop up tent and it did just that when I removed it from its carrier – pop there it was.

said instructions

Great I thought that’s easy.  So I consulted the instructions on how to collapse and store.  I encountered the first problem as the instructions are in German. 

Not a big issue I thought as I studied German to higher level (1984!) and there are pictures.  Ten minutes later absolutely no luck – I had managed to achieve a lovely circle of tent but it’s double the size of the carrying case.

carrying case - it will be used again one day!

So out came the laptop to use Google translate to see what the instructions said.  Turns out I should be creating 3 circles.  During the searching discovered a youtube video (there are numerous) showing how to achieve the task that I am now thinking is impossible.  But, internet is so slow here there was no way to watch it.

So the outcome is one week on I have a tent on top of the spare bed.

My spare room!

Hopefully someone can come to my rescue this week.  Marc did have a look at it but it flummoxed us both.

Does anyone have any experience they can share?

Please,  somebody – I have guests next weekend.

Ladies who Brunch

On Sunday I had the most wonderful brunch thanks to my friend Cathrin who returned from a whistlestop  visit to London with a case full of goodies.

Cathrin, our wonderful hostess

 The excitement was palpable as we set up the table for the ladies who brunch: bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, prosecco, fresh orange juice, chorizo, spinach, lovely bread and fresh milk! These may seem mundane items to you but believe me here they are like manna from heaven.

This was then topped off with the Saturday Guardian, Times and Independent for those in search of serious stories.  However, the fight was over Grazia and Heat!

Here is the table laden with the amazing fare and us ladies enjoying a Bucks Fizz on Cathrin’s lovely balcony. 

Claire, Cathrin and Laura

Needless to say we stayed a long time and had a thoroughly relaxing day. 

There may be more to come as I heard Cathrin mutter the words feta, goats cheese, fresh pasta, puy lentils, parsnips, beetroot, rhubarb and raspberries.  I’m sitting here with fingers crossed for an invite to dinner!

Dis Na MOvember

Around the world over the last few years the month of November has become known as Movember as moustaches of all shapes and sizes are grown and groomed to raise money for prostate cancer.

This year in Freetown a band of 16 Mo Bros came together to embrace Movember.  However, this had a slight difference as it was decided to raise funds for City of Rest, a Day Care Mental Health Organisation.  It is all explained here.

The culmination of the whole event was a party on Saturday night when the Mo Bros put on a catwalk parade with each Mo Bro coming in the character of their moustache.  More funds were also raised with other fun events such as pin the moustache on a picture, arm wrestle a Mo Bro, have a moustache painted on in liquid eyeliner and bang a nail in the Mo Log.  The finale was an auction where people bid to shave off the moustaches.

These images will hopefully give you a feel for the fun that was had!

Pin the moustache on the lady

Banke takes aim

Dr Livingstone I presume

The Mo Bro parade

Me and Alex - I think mine beats his!

Craft hits the beach

At the end of October we had a holiday for Eid.  This was the ideal opportunity to arrange a Craft Club outing. 

Craft?

During the rainy season a few girls formed a craft club as a way to spend the damp evenings.  It may be fair to say that craft sometimes played second fiddle to eating and drinking.  We would meet weekly at someone’s house where people would bring food , someone would cook or we would order in take-away.  The crafting was diverse – knitting, crochet, patchwork, quilting, cross stitching, jewellery making , rug making and lots of discussion of potential projects.  It must be said we were great at ideas but not so hot on the execution.

Back to the outing.  On Friday 26 October we drove off down the peninsula to spend a couple of nights at Tokeh.  We stopped at Black Johnson on the way for a delicious lunch which ended with apple crumble!

On to our huts at Tokeh and the beautiful views of the beach.

Our huts

View of Tokeh Beach

 On Saturday morning we walked towards No.2 River

Walking to No.2 River

  and when we reached our destination we were so happy we just had to jump for joy!

Me, Claire and Cathrin jump for joy

Vafa

Jess

The result is in...

One week after the election the presidential result was announced last night.

The result? Incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma of the All Peoples Congress (APC) held onto power and will lead the country for the next 5 years.  He won convincingly by gaining 58.7% of the vote in the first round.

So how did we learn the result?  Well not being told by the media.  We had to wait for the official returning officer Dr Christiana Thorpe to make the announcement.  There was much uncertainty about the timing and on Wednesday there was a false alarm.  Last night though I received a text message from VSO informing me that the result was due at 5.30pm.  I went straight home to tune to the Sierra Leonean Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) radio station.

Eventually at 6.10 Dr Thorpe started her press conference.  Standing on my balcony I could hear that everyone else was listening to this too.   When the result came a huge cheer filled the air.  This was followed by cars honking horns, pots and pans being banged, whistles, vuvuzelas and general noise - at high levels.

We had been advised not to go out when the result came in case any trouble erupted.  I am happy to report that in my area of town all was peaceful and I hope that this was the case all over the country.  In the words of an election song - Wi no wan violence na Salone!

Read the BBC report here

Here are a couple of the election posters

The Winner - President Koroma APC

The Rival - Julius Maada Bio SLPP

 

VSO’s Seven Dimensions in action

When I embarked on my VSO journey I had to go through the assessment process where VSO judges whether you meet the Seven Dimensions that they feel are essential for any volunteer.  The other day these came to mind and I thought I would map these against my experience in Sierra Leone so far.

Positive and realistic commitment

“Keep your expectations low” has been a piece of advice I have received often since I arrived in Sierra Leone.  It is so true –I am constantly pleasantly surprised when people reply to emails or provide information I request.

Commitment to learning

I came to my job in the Ministry never having worked in the public sector, worked in Health, worked in a development context and not having done a pure management accounting role for about 20 years.  The learning curve has been steep and challenging.

Practical problem solving ability

I envisaged this originally to be work related but each day life throws up problems to be solved: what to do with another aubergine? How to get to Makeni without your own car?How to make the contents of the water butt last as long as possible? What is the most efficient way of bucket showering? Who can I visit to use their shower?  Being a VSO makes you very resourceful.

Self assurance

Crossing roads requires an amazing amount of self assurance as you hope the okada or taxi does not suddenly increase its speed.  I am also developing a greatdegree of self assurance when it comes to asking for lifts – home from a night out, to the beach or to go up country.

Flexibility and adaptability

No electricity, no water, limited internet access, public transport, traffic, shopping, limited variety of food.  All these are things and many more have challenged my flexibility and adaptability many times.

Working with others

I am working not only with my colleagues at the Ministry but also Health Finance Officers from the districts, NGOs and VSO.  These interactions may be for capacity building, co-ordination, producing papers, discussing ways forward on issues.  In most I find I am learning so much as I know so little about the health sector.

Sensitivity to the needs of others

Being aware of the cultural differences between myself and Sierra Leoneans has been a huge issue for me.  At times I find myself becoming very frustrated and have to constantly remind myself that I am the visitor to this culture and my cultural norms may not be appropriate.

Eight Months and another 10 thoughts

This weekend is special in Sierra Leone as it is Election Weekend.  The voting took place yesterday and we are no awaiting the result.  This weekend also marks 8 months to the day since I arrived in Freetown.  So much has happened and so many learnings.  So, here are my 10 thoughts at this milestone.

1, Elections mean party, party, party and to be proud to wear you party’s colour in all sorts of ways as you fill the streets for the rallies

2. Even when the wedding ashobi appears challenging you can make it work

3. If you come to visit me in Sierra Leone mid-October to mid-November is the best time – the weather is still cool at night but there are sunny days with the odd shower of rains to bring respite from the heat

4. Have learnt the hard way to be very careful with my choice of words when making a comment on integrity
5. You can have tailor disasters – my dress just didn’t fit no matter what alterations he tried so now I have a new skirt
6. Wedding ceremonies at registrars can have Muslim prayers, Christian  prayers and vows from the bible – very different to a UK registry office wedding
7. The longer you stay in church the better – 3 hours for a wedding and 2 hours for a thanksgiving service
8. If you have your phone pickpocketed and you notice quickly enough you can retrieve it by shouting loudly and standing your ground
9. Visited beautiful Kenema for the first time - thank you for your hospitality Sarah and Dom
10. Planning a trip home for Christmas really buoys the spirits – Scotland and London with 5 shows booked already!

Sierra Leone - a hard place to have a baby

One of my closest friends here in Sierra Leone is fellow Scot Carolyn Ford and recently we spent a lovely night at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, 40 minutes outside Freetown in the Penisula Mountains, with her visitors Cathy and Carita.

Carita, Me, Nad, Carolyn and Cathy in the forest

The fifth person is Dr Nad who along with Dr Carolyn works tirelessly at the Aberdeen Women Centre.

This is a wonderful centre providing ante-natal, paediatric and fistula care to the women of Freetown and across Sierra Leone. The Scottish connection is strong as the Centre's Country Director, Jude, is from St Andrew's and the Centre is supported by the Gloag Foundation.

Carolyn is an obstetrician and in this article highlights the challenges of child birth in Sierra Leone.  Please take some time to read this - this is an inspiring organisation who requires as much support as we can give them.

Thank you.

The VSO effect

There are times when you are a VSO volunteer that you focus on your own experience in the present day forgetting about the history of the organisation and those who have gone before you.

On Friday I found myself feeling proud to be part of this organisation which has been working in Sierra Leone for many years.  What brought this on?  A chat with my colleague Mr Sahr Henry Ensah who was taught by VSO teachers in the northern town of Kailahun.  The memory of those teachers fills him with great happiness and his face lit up as he sang the song Mr Beechy used to sing when the class became restless:

My name is Mr Beechy

My wife is Mrs Beechy

My son is Peter Beechy

And we come from London

He was a member of the Boys Brigade which was formed by Mr McCaw and is still involved with the Boys Brigade to this day.

My new mission is to see if I can find Mr Beachy as I would love to be able to reunite this teacher and pupil.

The 2012 Presidential Election

So it’s over – we know the result – the USA has voted and Barrack Obama has secured a second term.

But enough of that as here in Sierra Leone we must wait until 17 November for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

On that Saturday those citizens who have registered to vote shall be lining up at polling centres to cast their votes for elections.  The main vote is for the President with the current President Ernest Bai Koroma (APC), who uses the ingenious slogan to have a second term -" if the music's nice, play it twice",  running for a second term against Julius Maada Bio (SLPP).

There is a great hope that these elections will be free from violence and so far there have not been any major problems.  Everyone is hoping it will stay that way.  Songs on the radio convey messages to ensure peaceful elections with posters plastered on walls throughout town encouraging the same.  There have been rallies over the past few weeks, with the two main parties (APC and SLPP) attracting large crowds of people.

In Freetown, the rallies have been loud but peaceful. For the most part, people seem to be having a good time – singing, dancing, smiling, cheering and enjoying the moment. Around town there are billboards with large pictures of presidential candidates. People are wearing shirts in the colour affiliated with their political party – the APC is red while the SLPP sport green.

Here are some images of the rallies.  As you can see they really embrace the colours

APC in Freetown

SLPP in Freetown

Water Water Everywhere...

but not in my house.


When I first arrived in Sierra Leone I knew that there would be issues in obtaining the basics i.e. water and power.  This is one of the least developed countries in the world: ranking 180 of 187 on the UNDP Development Index with 77% of Sierra Leoneans living in poverty.  

After eight months I have come to the conclusion that I can live without power but no running water isa bigger issue.  I realise it is easy for me on the power front as I am lucky enough to be able to charge items at work where the electricity is pretty regular.  It's a luxury to have a fridge at home but I could live without one as I can shop at the market everyday.

Water is another issue. When it stops coming out of my taps and shower, as it did one month ago, you have to source it from local communal taps and have bucket showers.  At first I managed without this having filled the four water butts in the flat when water was there, but now they are empty so I have to ask Patrick downstairs to fill gerry cans for me.  He is a lovely strong lad for whom carrying these heavy cans is no effort at all.  Without him I would be struggling.

So why no water?  I'm told that some road works have cut through the main pipe as no-one in the vicinity has water and people are having to come a considerable distance to use the communal tap.  The annoying part about all this is that regularly there is water running down the streets from burst mains - seeing this wasted water is soul destroying.  I met a man in the street who was shaking his head and mumbling "wi waste wata na Salone" (we waste water in Sierra Leone) as he picked his way through a stream running down the street.  He is so right.

In all these things there are learnings.  From this one is my ever increasing skill at washing using less and less water in my bucket - although washing my hair is another issue.  I am now also very aware of how much water it uses to flush a toilet so refrain from doing so every time the toilet is used.  Something to think about everywhere as water becomes a scare resource.  

So where do all the old supermarket uniforms go?

Sierra Leone, that’s where.

Last week at the same point on my walk to drop my bin bag off at the dirty box * on two separate occasions I came across young men sporting supermarket uniforms.  The first was in the distinctive navy and orange of Sainsbury’s while second was sporting a pale blue Tesco number.

The range of t-shirts you spot while walking along are amazing and are often being worn by someone totally inappropriate.  There appears to be no gender differentiation in clothing here.  You will often see young men (usually okada drivers) carrying very Pink Barbie backpacks. Leaving work the other day I passed a guy wearing what was undoubtably a shirt meant for a girl – the pattern, shape and fabric just spelt out feminine.

For a look at Freetown fashion go here.

What has brought this to mind?  Well today I unexpectedly joined a meeting in a room where the air conditioning was not working.  My colleague had taken off his suit jacket to reveal that the checked shirt below was embroidered on the breast pocket and sleeve with the word “TESCO”. 

*Dirty Box is the Krio term for the local rubbish tips.  The large ones are found further out of town but every neighbourhood has their own.  It is a festering pile of detritus which is picked over by children, adults and dogs.  I bag my rubbish but the bag will be opened and anything worth reusing will be saved.  For this reason I now have my own recycling where I keep can, tins, glass and plastic bottles and cardboard in a separate bag and hand it to my local dirty box caretaker when I go there.  He seems to appreciate it as I always receive a warm greeting and many thanks.

Finally, a post about my work

In my posts so far I have not made much mention of work but that will change today.

I am working in the Directorate of Financial Resources of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.  The objective of my role, Finance Manager, is to build capacity in Management Reporting.  When I arrived there was a lack of any type of management report on health sector expenditure as the historic role of the finance directorate has been to raise payment vouchers.  This is changing however and my boss is pushing for the directorate to produce more analysis of spending in the health sector.  Seven months in I have produced reports for the first and second quarters and am starting work on the third.

As a VSO volunteer I have an aim to build capacity within the staff of the Ministry.  A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to work on this aim at a workshop held in Bo.  This was a workshop to train health finance officers in the basic requirements of their roles and to introduce them to Excel so that cashbooks and other books of record can be maintained electronically. 

The workshop was held over three days with finance officers from all over the country attending.  They work in hospitals, district health management teams and headquarters.  The level of computer knowledge varied greatly across the group so three days working on the basics was highly valuable.  We had managed to source a number of computers so the training was actually hands on.  The next step shall be to hold smaller follow up workshops so that everyone has a chance to improve their skills.

Here are some images of the training in action

Driving Salone Style

As a VSO volunteer I have to rely on public transport to traverse the city on a daily basis.  My preferred method of transportation is walking but sometimes I have to take a taxi or an okada.  Taxis are my preferred method as the okadas employ their own rules which seldom match the laws of the land so going the wrong way up and down streets is the norm.

Last night I was off to the Senagalese restaurant with Aoife (on a visit from Makeni).  The restaurant is on Wilkinson Road which is a tarmaced four lane road (this is important).  We picked up a taxi which was going in the opposite direction from the way we wanted to go but the driver calmly performed a three point turn in the dual carriageway – this should have triggered alarm bells.

So off we went up Wilkinson Road and in a few moments the traffic was backing up badly.  All of a sudden the driver indicated left to, I thought, take a side street. Oh no he was pulling into the oncoming traffic on the other side of the carriage way in order to pass the lines of cars. I was incredulous.  “Can this really be happening?”  “ Surely this will end badly”  “We will hit another car”.  All these thoughts were coursing through my head. 

I hardly dared look at Aoife as my eyes were fixed on the headlights coming towards us – mesmerised may be the best word to use.  I was also laughing in a hysterical fashion as the driver shouted at the other drivers to get out of his way.  Surreal!

Our fellow passengers seemed unperturbed by the whole experience finding our dismay very funny.  Their reaction was that the journey would have taken much longer if we had been stuck in the traffic so it was the obvious action for the driver to take.  Obviously I’ve not been here long enough to look at things that way.

Another great Salone experience but not one which I would like to repeat.