A Trip Up Line

Forward planning – not something that Sierra Leone is known for in my experience thus far.  Of course, that could be a result of coming out of a ten year civil war where there was no place for planning – surviving from one day to the next was focus enough.  In addition an average life expectancy of 49 doesn’t lend itself to planning for an old age.

So I should not have been surprised when I was told one Thursday afternoon that I would be going on a field trip up country to the provinces on Saturday.  Saturday?  Oh yes weekends don’t seem to mean much here either when it comes to work.    As I had been rumbling on about wanting to visit the provinces there was no way to say no to this trip Up Line (this is local parlance for going to the provinces)

So I was up at 6.00am on Saturday waiting for Mr Bangura to call as we were to leave at 7am.  Supposed to – the call when it came was at 7.30am and we eventually left at 8am.  Destination?  First stop Makeni to visit the hospital to look at logistics related to new construction and to meet the finance officer. 

Makeni Hospital

That done we went over to Magburaka in the afternoon to inspect the on-going construction work there.  The hospital has been closed for over a year but hopefully it will reopen in August.

Back to Makeni where we were to spend the night.  Luckily this offered an ideal opportunity for me to catch up with my fellow runners from the marathon weekend.  It was lovely to catch up with Deborah and Aoife as we watched some on the European championship which in this football mad nation was a must do.

Wusom Field with the backdrop of Wusom Hill in Makeni

The next day we went on a beautiful, but long, and bumpy ride to Kabala to visit the hospital there.

View on road from Makeni to Kabala

 As we entered the town we ran into a Thanksgiving Parade which offered the ideal opportunity to look at the Sunday outfits.  

Lovely outfits complete with headties

 There was consternation in the car when we spotted this lady on a motorbike as this was truly a rare sight and my colleagues commented on that at length - "a si uman de drive okada"!

Hospital visited it was the start of a very long journey back as we went to Makeni  had some food and then eventually (at 4pm) started the drive to Freetown.   One highlight of a trip to Makeni is the pot shop. So after grumbling that we had kept stopping to buy random items I made the driver reverse back up the highway so that I could have a burst of retail therapy.  Therapy indeed as it greatly improved my mood. The pots survived the bumpy roads of east Freetown but unfortunately when we opened the back door to get my bag a pot fell out and smashed.  I knew they were delicate but it truly disintegrated.

On the journey back I had great plans to watch the England quarter final but reaching home at 7.30pm I was exhausted so headed straight to bed, admiring the one pot which had survived.

Planning......

Not sure what happened but this appears to have been unposted - I'll try again.

All of you know that I love a good plan and that I am never happier than when making schedules and lists.  You can, therefore, imagine that with two weeks to go to my trip home I am like a pig in the proverbial.  I have a word document which has a number of pages: 1. for my whereabouts morning, afternoon, evening and sleeping, 2. my packing list for going to UK , 3. my shopping list for coming back to Salone (it is growing as items pop up all the time – just added risotto rice).  At the moment I am contemplating a new list of places/ restaurants I want to go to and food I must have – broccoli is very high up that list!

However, in my four months here there has been a slight change in my thinking as my new planning horizon is much shorter – you may say non-existent.  Here I will often be sitting on a Wednesday morning with no plans for the weekend but by the end of the day be left with many choices.  This week was an example when no sooner had I arranged a trip to Bo for this weekend than I had an invitation to dinner on Saturday night and then an invitation to spend Saturday night at the beach.  Wow!

This also happens on a far more micro level as on Monday at 5pm I was walking home thinking of the quiet (much needed) night in ahead.  “Beep Beep” – text from Carole suggesting a walk at 6ish and then “Beep Beep” a text from Cathrin inviting me to the inaugural Craft Club meeting with dinner thrown in at 7.30pm.  Of course I managed to do both.  This would never have happened in London as my days were managed and planned to within an inch of their life! 

Despite railing against this in the beginning  I now feel oddly calm about life and less worried that I have nothing planned and may have empty days to fill.  Now I am totally unconcerned if no firm plans are in place hours before doing something  as I know it will all come out right in the end – it is what it is and what it is meant to be.

Who’d have thought it Lynne with an empty diary and happy about it!

An afterthought – that all said I’m planning to book tickets for the Michael Grandage Company show Peter and Alice (Dame Judi and Ben Wishaw) for next May.  Google it – it sounds awesome!

Same but Different (part four)

Shopping cont’d

Shoes and Clothes

In Freetown the place to shop for anything you might need is known as PZ.  At first I thought this was a big market place or hall but rather it is the collective term for a warren of streets at the bottom of the main street – Saika Stevens Street.   The first time I started wandering through them , hand firmly on handbag as this is a pickpocket hot spot, I was totally disorientated and not sure where I’d come out.

 If you go straight to the very bottom of Siaka Stevens Street and turn right you enter Malama Thomas Street – otherwise known as print alley.  This small street is lined with fabric shops and in front of those fabric stalls.  The colours are vibrant and the choice overwhelming.  If you want fun fabrics the stalls are the place to go but if you are after better quality longer lasting cloth the shops are the key.  

I have discovered a new shop this week and had to seriously curb my buying as there were so many beautiful fabrics.  The fabric is sold by the yard with prices ranging from Le 5,000 to Le 15,000.  So no picking up a new frock here rather you go about it two ways – have a style in mind and find a fabric or find a fabric and then work out what to make with it.  Not sure which is the best way yet as I’m trying them both

You can buy dresses here but for that you have to go to the junks.  Junks?  – no I’m not describing what there is to buy but rather the local name for the second hand market.  The clothes arrive in big bails from charities all over the world but there seems to be a preponderance of US and UK labels. 

Here’s a link so you can read more about it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/07/europes-secondhand-clothes-africa

The traders all have large plastic bags full of clothes often with a theme: flowery dresses, children, white shirts, t-shirts, skirts.  These bags are laid out in the road so that you have to wander through this “bend over boutique” rummaging through bags to see if you can find that perfect item.  With no fitting rooms available and uncertainty on the sizing convention – is that a UK 12 or a US 12? - you pull things on over  clothes or hope for the best by holding up against you.  I had great success with the white blouse boy and found a lovely white shirt for Le9,000 (£1.50).

When I packed my bags to come here the one item I was sure I would not need was a pair of heels – wrong , oh so wrong.  But no problem junks also covers shoes.  Again these are laid out on tarpaulin ready for a hasty retreat if someone wants to park on the piece of road they are occupying.  I set off there one Saturday morning and, after so nifty bargaining with the help of Audrey, am now the proud owner of a pair of Per Una wedges from a few seasons back and a wee bit worn.  None of that mattered when I put them on and felt more feminine than I had in a while – if you check last week’s photos you’ll see them.

So shopping is very different and lots of fun but I am yearning for a good trawl through the summer sales when I come back in less than 3 weeks!

It’s Friday so time for Africana

 Today is Friday.  Last day of the week?  Yes.  A day to dream of when Monday comes?  Yes.  A day to watch Andy Murray in another Wimbledon semi? Yes. Casual Day – well kind of...

Here in Sierra Leone Friday is the day when the majority of people wear African Dress.  This means the office is a very colourful place as African fabrics could never be described as dull.  There are amazing takes on style as well with the use of contrasting fabrics, piping, pleating, frills and flounces.  In the main long but short seems to making some headway too.

During his presidency in Ghana, John Kufuor introduced national "Friday wear day" to encourage citizens to wear traditional clothes made using the jewel-coloured wax fabrics associated with African garments.  This was as a backlash against the second had clothes market that I’m going to discuss in my next post.  President Koroma introduced it here in Sierra Leone as a way for the country to show pride in its culture.

Never one to resist the chance to dress in a girly fashion I have had a couple to traditional outfits made.  These are two pieces with long skirt and top.   This first one uses a cotton that seems pretty traditional to me as is the style.  Not so sure about the whet geyl wearing it.

The next outfit was quite a hit at work as I posed with some colleagues who show men and women embrace the African Dress Day.

with Newman

with Aunty Bish

And just in case you were wondering this is where I spend my time Monday to Friday.

I have also used African fabric to copy a dress I bought in Debenhams as a last minute item.  It’s come out pretty well I think.

So shopping next time...

Same but Different (part three)

Shopping

Here as in the UK I have to shop – and as I women you know we HAVE to shop. It’s not called retail therapy for nothing. So how does the different type of shopping work here?

Groceries

No Waitrose here but plenty of supermarkets.  They are run predominantly by the Lebanese community and some Indians.  On a VSO stipend the first time you visit a supermarket is overwhelming as the prices seem so high. My first shock was the Le 30,000(£4.50) small box of cereal.  For the first time in ages I had to add up what I was buying as I went around to ensure I had enough money with me.  This has become easier as the weeks have gone by as I’ve learned which supermarkets are the cheapest for certain items.  No more one stop shop at Waitrose.  Now it’s cleaning products in Freetown Direct, general food items in Monoprix, cards at St Mary’s and changing money at Essentials.

In the beginning the other part about supermarket shopping I found challenging was that I could never find exactly what I wanted and was often are uninspired by the selection.  I have now managed to realise that there is lots you can do with the Lebanese and Indian ingredients on offer so lots of dal opportunities.  I have been down loading recipes to make with the staples on offer here – on that note aubergine any one?

Fruit and Vegetables

At home I was a loyal Abel and Cole veggie box customer and would you believe it I have a veg box here or rather veg plastic bag.  Each Friday for Le30,000 the Mountain Farmers Association delivers a bag of vegetables to my desk – now that is service.  Not the variation from Able and Cole but the certainty that I will eat vegetables in the week.  This is hard here – it is easy to eat out and never see a vegetable.  So what’s in the bag? Cabbage, aubergine, cucumber, tomatoes, radish, carrots, green beans, lettuce, spring  onions, mint and parsley.  Needless to say I now have a range of recipes incorporating these items.

If I run out I have to negotiate with the ladies selling veg at the side of the road.  Somedays I can’t be bothered haggling but others I will drive a hard bargain for my pineapple and guinea mangoes.  I have discovered that asking for an extra one is easier than negotiating down the price of individual items.  At the moment there are some lovely peppers so ratatouille is a favourite dish.

Next time how to buy shoes and clothes...

A Rainbow of School Uniforms

As you walk the streets of Freetown there is one thing you are bound to see – children in school uniform.  Not the boring grey and black of the uniform I wore at Banff Academy, no these are bright and make me smile every time I see them.  It also appears that there may be an infinite number of uniforms as every day I seem to spot one I have never seen before.

My favourite is the purple gingham dress of the Methodist Girls’ High School.  It’s not only the check fabric I love but also the style of the dress.  I have bored friends here to death with my aim to have one made for myself but am scared of the reaction of the tailor I pick for the job.  I could never wear it here but it would make a lovely summer dress for the UK. Here's some girls wearing it.

A band of girls in my favourite uniforn

One day I wore a royal blue skirt and white blouse to work and the first reaction of Mr Bangura, with whom I share an office, was that I looked like a pupil of the Government Secondary Technical School.  I had to agree as I pass many of those pupils on my walk to work in the morning. The boys wear royal blue shorts with their crisp white shirts, spotless white socks and polished black shoes.   The girls also wear amazingly white socks.  I say amazingly as in the dust and now mud of the roads I marvel at how they keep so clean. See what I mean?

A different way to carry a schoolbag

 So what other colour combinations are there?  Brown dress with yellow piping – the brownie uniform of my childhood comes to mind every time I see them.  Wine dress with navy piping, green and white check skirt with white blouse, vivid pink dress with blue trim,  navy shorts or skirt with vivid pink shirt, pale yellow shirts with grey shorts, royal blue pinafore, canary yellow blouse and royal blue shorts,  green pinafore with gingham trim  and so many more. Here's some other bright colours.

If your going to carry something put it on your head seems to be the rule here

A Marathon Day Out

The 9th June 2012 was a special day for the charity Street Child as this was the date of the First Sierra Leone Marathon which was organised to raise funds for this worthwhile cause.  Here’s a link to see what they are up to. http://www.street-child.co.uk/

The format of the event was to have three races: marathon, half marathon and 5km, so lots of opportunities for all (men, women and children) to participate.  The heat and humidity here is a huge issue so we were up early to be at the start at 6.30am to see the runners off round the beautiful undulating course.   

  The local brass band rousingly played the Sierra Leonean National Anthem

 

 

before the first batch of runners (marathon and half marathon) set off. 

There was a 30 minute wait for us 5km runners before we set off on our shorter challenge.  I thought I would be lucky to run the whole 5km course as I had done so little training.  However, as ever the atmosphere of a race pushes you along with the added element of the children shouting “opoto” (the Temeni word for white person) at you all the way.   I finished the course in just over 30mins with a sprint finish over the line against David who had been following me round.  Finishing at just after 7.30am we drank water (lots of water) as we excitedly waited for the first of the half marathon runners to cross the line. The winning runners in the half marathon and full marathon were local runners from the Stadium in Freetown.  Their participation was all thanks to the sterling effort of Jo who raised all the funds to cover the entrance fees, travel and accommodation costs for 22 runners and their coach.

I was staying with my fellow VSO volunteers Deborah and Aoife who both finished the half marathon in brilliant times. Here they are about to start 

And the three of us sporting our medals once it was all over 

Suitably proud of our achievements we headed back to the hospital compound for a relaxing few hours.  We chilled out on the veranda and had hours of fun watching two new kittens playing in a Christmas tree left over from last year.

Gorgeous!

How cute is this?

 Evening came and time for a BBQ at the neighbours before heading back into town to the Clubhouse to meet up with all the other runners.  After the celebratory drinking it was on to a local bar which has an outside dance floor, or rather patio, where everyone was dancing.  In this case, some very wet dancing as an amazing thunder storm started about 1am.  At this point no-one was to be deterred and we were a soggy bunch who made it back home.

A real marathon of a day – up at 5am and to bed at 2am.  Not to be done too often but my,  it was a truly wonderful weekend.