October 18,19,20 Freetown

This is going to be a long post (very long in fact, I apologize for my verbosity) so be ready to be reading for a while, haha. Feel free to take breaks or to come back to it later. I have a lot to write about my experiences and the things that were told to me about Sierra Leone along the way so there will be random insertions of information.

Monday
We set out at about 8:30 am. The trip from Kamakwie to Makeni was no fun, but it was better than the first time. I’ve decided probably because I was sitting in the front of the vehicle as opposed to the back seat, I originally thought due to not being so stressed from flying across two continents but the return trip this evening was just plain awful. Imagine the worst road you’ve been on and then try to imagine it being a million times worse. Most of the distance you have to creep along going slow as you hit ruts and pot holes. Some holes are so big that when they fill with water the water almost reaches the top of the tires on the car. A 55 miles drive takes about 3 and a half hours. I will never again disparage any road in the United States as they are ALL better than this road. By time you finish you feel like you have probably suffered brain trauma. While the road conditions are deplorable the scenery on the way is beautiful. You would not think you were in Africa, lush endless green that rolls off into the distance, spotted with trees. There are mountains off in the distance the whole way. The whole experience is breath-taking. It’s almost to much to take in. I’m kind of excited for the coming dry season because I’m told it will look way different as everything dries out, like you were in a whole different place. Anyway, that aside we met Steven in Makeni. Steven is the hospitals driver, he normally would have driven from Kamakwie because he lives there, but he was in Makeni for a funeral. We spent about 30 minutes in Makeni because we were looking into getting me a bank account. Leaving from Makeni for Freetown is nicer, the road is paved but still uneven in places. But the drive is also beautiful, but different. Kamakwie is up country, in the hilly region of Sierra Leone, the road to Freetown goes mostly through open country, flat but not Kentucky flat. Way in the distance you can see green mounds that are the distant mountains. Being out in the open you really notice the clouds, you can almost see the water in them they look so full and heavy and seem to press down upon you. Being here is like experiencing a whole new aspect of God’s creation, totally different from what I’m used to and so amazing. I wish you all could see it because so much of what I am seeing and experiencing here is beyond words and I can’t get pictures that do it any justice. The vegetation along the road is only broken by small villages, most no more than a few huts and many of them having little stands trying to sell things. You can buy all sorts of things along the road, fruits, vegetables and many other things. We stopped one time and I got four big bananas right from a tree for 2000 Leones, which is only 50 cents. We made it to Freetown around 3pm, which means it took us about 6 hours to get there, excluding the 30 min spent in Makeni, and we are just at the edge of the city. Imagine fitting 3 million people into a city where not many buildings are more than 2 stories tall and its built in mountains so not all the available land is actually usable. Then add the fact that there is one main road that gets you around. Then put crazy drivers in cars and let them drive around like maniacs and try to get anywhere. Any time you come to a stop in the city, which is often, people will mob your car trying to sell you things. Most of the buildings along the streets are shops selling anything you could possibly imagine. Look hard enough and you’ll find it here. The economy is really driven by selling stuff, people sell their food they grew or harvested from random trees to people. Then buy stuff like phones, clothes and other things from the people buying their food. I thought America represented materialism, the only thing keeping Sierra Leoneans from being materialists is lack of money. Navigating the narrow people packed streets of the city is hard enough, but then you add another challenge, Honda drivers. (Honda is a general term for motorbikes since most of them here are Hondas anyway) They drive around like maniacs, swerving in and out of traffic, I haven’t seen them cause an accident yet but they have to, they ignore right-a-way and pretty much other traffic law. We almost hit one who tried to dodge around a car and ended up coming head on at us, he just glared at us like it was our fault we were in his way despite the fact that we were in our lane. We had to pick up some propane, I paid 140,000 for a can. I keep experiencing number shock, I was like, 140000!?!? But it’s really only 35$ It‘s because the Leone is worth so little in comparison, I‘ve probably said before but it‘s 1$ to 4000 Leones. One thing I’ve noticed in the two times I’ve been here in Freetown is the lack of beggars. One would think that in such a poor country there would be beggars everywhere, I did anyway, but the few I’ve seen have been those who really would have trouble finding work and money, the physically disabled. We passed the special courts where the rebels are being held and tried for atrocities committed during the civil war. Such as amputations, in the last 18 months of the war, the rebels took over Freetown and broke into the jail. They freed the political prisoners and such and went about maiming people they thought had been a part of the party who was in power and had jailed them. There were many cases of amputations, in some cases a foot, or even both, a hand or, as I saw today, both hands. It’s so depressing because these people had done nothing really beyond voting the former government into power, and they likely didn’t even have much control over that, things were already not great here pre-civil war. It’s starting to rain and the people scatter, it’s crazy how quickly all the people along the street can clear when the rains come, if you remember the rains can be pretty bad. They are attempting to widen the main road to make it four lanes instead of the current two lanes now, so all along the road there are piles of rubble where they demolished walls or even building, the people weren’t really given a choice but will be compensated for anything they lost in the project, or so it’s said. What is said and what happens tend to be somewhat different from what I’ve heard. Right now though you spend more time sitting then moving so I have affectionately termed it Freetown Parkway. After lunch, they use cucumber on sandwiches which I love so that’s good, and dessert was coconut “cakes” which were actually very thin hard cookie like things, blasted British English, haha. We then headed to the docks where Karen would be arriving, standing by the water was wonderful, because the breeze was making it nice and cool. Another thing I’ve noticed, there are police everywhere, directing the flow of cars as best they can, which is hard because there are so few roads and so many people, complicated again by the crazy Honda drivers. Something that keeps throwing me off is the clothing that people wear here, it just comes from all over, but especially from America. I’ve seen shirts with obscure sports teams from several American states, one I saw on Monday was from Tennessee. Today I saw a Three Days Grace shirt. I had sort of expected Africans to wear, well either not much if they didn’t have it or African clothing, but I guess the American stuff is cheaper because it’s mostly used when it gets here. Oh, and you’ll never guess what else is huge here, cell phones. Many, many people have cell phones here, there are shops all over dedicated to selling time for the phones, charging phones, etc… There are signs EVERYWHERE that announce the different companies, Africell, Comium, Zain(which is what I have). There are signs in almost every shop (not that you really go “in” many shops here, most are little stands packed with junk) on every wall, on homes, fences. Zain dominates radio advertising, coming on every time there are commercials and some times a few times in a row. While we were waiting for Karen to come in we walked around near the docks and looked out over the water and I was reminded again of why I love large bodies of water, like the great lakes and the ocean. The water crashing against the shore just fills me with a sense of awe at the majesty of God’s glory. It’s sucha a powerful feeling. We got Karen safely and headed to the place we were staying, it’s not pretty, and doesn’t have running water but there are beds and there is power. Plus it’s only $2.50 for a night. One note of caution, if an outlet was 110V before, that doesn’t mean it won’t change and be 220V later. Things in Africa are not always as they seem, that’s for certain. This was just Monday… I hope you aren’t put off by my endless exploits, you can always come back later don’t feel compelled to read it all at once or not at all.

Tuesday
I’m still having trouble sleeping, the dreams that keep waking me up are really getting on my nerves, it happens two to three times a night. The Ashers tell me it’s not the malaria meds I’m on so I’m guessing its just the excessive level of mental stimulation. The traffic is not any better in the morning than it was the previous night. We had to stop to get air in the tires, but since they don’t have the right adaptor for airing up the tires they actually remove the valve stem and place an air hose over the hole and let the tire fill. Then they have to quickly remove the hose and replace the valve stem before they lose too much air from the tire. I know I’ve said it before, but there are dogs all over the place! All shapes and sizes of dog and they are all so cute and I just want to pet them all but again, not a fan of rabies so I’m not allowed sadly. We went to the market to get food and the Ashers bought a new stove for their kitchen, they gave their other one to the Manrs since they needed to get a bigger one anyway because they host a lot of the people who come to visit. I learned something else, some times buying more than one thing is a good idea, Karen bought two cabbages for 14000, they wanted 11000 for one, so by buying the second one she only had to pay 3000 for it. We passed two arguments, called palavers (again, British influence) One fight was over a thief, who had apparently been caught in the act and suffered for it. He was pretty beat up and bloody. Obviously it didn’t pay to steal. I have no idea what the other was about but it was pretty much right across the road from the first one. A large group of people arguing with a police officer discourages one from trying to get close, I’m glad we were in the car because people were looking very angry. Oh, the trash along the streets is AWFUL, there are places where it’s so bad because the people just start using certain places as trash dumps, so it just piles up, but usually it’s in a place where the ground slopes down so as trash is added it just tumbles down the hill, but there is trash allover the place elsewhere too, it’s a dirty city in general. I was looking for some dress shirts as I have to wear a nice shirt and pants to teach and to church and I only brought 2, I couldn’t find any I like that weren’t long sleeved but we did find a place selling African shirts and I got a really nice green one, Tom told me it will be fine for church and teaching, but it really needs washed because it’s very stiff and a little uncomfortable. But Tom promised they are really comfortable once broken in. It cost me 50000 Leones which is kind of pricey, but really it’s only 12.50 and it’s a nice shirt, plus we haggled down from 70000 which made me feel better haha. If I like it I plan on trying to get some more because they really are nice looking shirts, but I want to make sure it’s comfortable. Describing the traffic is just impossible, I know I’ve commented on it several times but it’s just crazy. There are no lights anywhere and when no cop is present you have to be respectful, and go for it when you get a chance and hope you don’t get hit. I could never drive here, I would either never get anywhere because I don’t know when to move, or I would quickly be in an accident because I tried to go at a bad time, so I’m glad that the Ashers have a driver because they don’t like to drive in Freetown either, they pretty much agree with me on how hard it would be. I find it amusing that the little shops along the street take themselves very seriously, like Bambaya Enterprise and Rafobu International, they sound impressive but they are these dinky dingy little shops that sell mostly junk, like a lot of shops here. One I saw was supposed to be electronics and stuff, but they had written Electrolytes which made me laugh. Oh, and many walls here and in Kamakwie are serious about keeping people out, they are topped either with shards of glass or rusty nails, you do not want to try and cross them. I had fun at dinner Tuesday, I love rice, which is good because it’s a pretty big staple with Africans here, and the place we went to served plain boiled rice as an appetizer. I was really in the mood for some rice so I ordered it and the waiter did a double take, stared at me and asked several times if what I wanted was boiled rice, making it clear that it was plain. The look on his face was priceless. And I ordered a cheeseburger to go along with it. I know rice and a cheeseburger sounds weird, but it was wonderful and I loved every bite of it all. The cheeseburger was strange because it had cucumbers and some other things I wouldn’t expect on a burger, but it was good. Something humorous but at the same time embarrassing is that Tom and Karen keep giving me a hard time about the “strangers” that are coming during the time I’m here. Strangers is a general term here for anyone coming from out of country. Why you might ask? Because 9 of the people who are coming are medical students. Oh, did I mention that all nine are female? So Tom and Karen keep making comments about it and Tom says I’m going to be busy taking them on dates. Ridiculous, right? Well… maybe, haha. We’ll just have to see I suppose. Tom did tell me that since I will have been here for a while before most of them come that I might have to help make sure things are going ok with them and that they are settling in well and things like that. I think I can handle that. The first one however is coming this Monday from England. Thus endeth Tuesday, sorry I’m being so long winded but I’m finding this all so fascinating and I want to share it, I hope you enjoy reading it all. Remember, take breaks if you need to.

Wednesday (Today) 10:00 pm
Karen pointed out something this morning that I hadn’t really caught onto before now, there are very few, almost no, old people in Freetown and not that many up country in Kamakwie. When I asked why she told me something that saddened me, the life expectancy here in Sierra Leone is 44, That makes me middle aged here, how crazy and sad is that? We set out from Freetown at around 8:30am (our first stop was so that the Ashers could change the $5000 that Karen brought for their living expenses, it came out to 21 million Leones, it took a bag to carry it. Crazy right? We made it to Makeni somewhere a little after noon and we stopped at this place called the “Women of Hope Guest House” Their goal is to help women who are suffering as a result of the war, or other circumstances, but especially women who lost husbands and ones suffering with a disability in the form of an amputated limb. The Ashers know Kim, the lady running it, and we had lunch there. We also met Kelsey, a girl working there with Kim, they leave in like a week to return to the States but are coming back in January I think they said. Lunch was rice with some kind of African bean thing over it. It was yellowish which I was told was palm oil (palm trees are the main tree around here) I was afraid to try it as it looked really gross but I did and it wasn’t terrible, it went well with the rice. But then afterward there were bananas and oranges, eaten of course by squeezing them for their juice. It was good. After that we finally began the long arduous journey from Makeni to Kamakwie. Well, first we stopped at a store to pick up some meat and cheese stuffs. The market is one of a chain called St. Mary’s Supermarket, it’s kind of expensive but it’s the last real store on the way to, and including, Kamakwie. I don’t much like the place because you get mobbed by handicapped people in the parking lot and it kills me to be unable to help them. The journey up the road was rough, the worst yet so I was very glad to get here. Overall it was a good trip and I’m glad I went. It was nice to see Freetown when I wasn’t so shell-shocked from everything that was happening. It’s back to classes tomorrow, and I might wait a day or two to write here again so that you have time to relax after all this reading. It just depends on if much of interest happens tomorrow. Anyway, time to get ready for bed, I’m exhausted from the trip. Have a blessed evening.

Blessings from Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital, Sierra Leone,
Ryan Brooks