Mi padi Banke don go

Well another Tuesday, another BA flight to London and another friend leaves Sierra Leone.  This time it is Beach Hopping Banke who has featured regularly in this blog.  The reason for that is that she has  been a great friend over the last year.

She leaves after spending 3 years in Freetown, initially with VSO and for the last two years with the FaithsAct project of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. You can find out about that organisation here.

So an old timer in Freetown terms and someone who will be sorely missed by many.

Banke has a wonderful voice and last night treated us to an intimate performance at a local bar where we wore Africana fabric and ate Chewy Chippits (Banke's favourite form of sweet loveliness).  We sang along and were sad to say goodbye.

We have had many fun times from a platform party for her birthday, beach trips, shopping trips, deciding what to do with some fabrics we've bought, dancing and picnicking on Leicester Peak.

Final Picnic in the clouds

 Life is always an adventure with Banke around and I look forward to our adventures when we are both in London.  Many theatre trips are planned!

Our final adventure was one last beach trip.  We headed to her favourite place - Tokeh Sands - late Saturday afternoon to stay the night.

The new bridge to the helipad at sunset

The weather was unseasonably dry for the rainy season so we enjoyed a swim in the ocean on Sunday morning followed by breakfast on the beach.

Breakfast with a view

 In her words Absolute Perfection! And to cap it off we stopped by Mama Beach on the way back to ensure she had visited all the Peninsula beaches.

The final beach!

Banke, we have so much fun and I will truly miss you.  See you in August for some Shakespeare!