February 11th and 12th

I set out this morning with Steven for Freetown
at about 8am. I’m pretty sure I state this every
time I make a trip to Freetown, but I’m going to
reiterate it anyway, I hate the road from here to
Makeni. It makes me so sick it’s just not fun.
Anyway, that part aside the journey went pretty
well. We made record time getting to Makeni,
only 2.5 hours. The trip to Freetown from there
flew by and we were there by 2pm. Our first
stop was a road called Ecowas, there they have
all sorts of hardware and plumbing stores. I was
trying to find a new bathroom sink for the
plumbing renovation Tom and Karen want to do,
I did not succeed, they wanted one without the
holes drilled for the faucet and they were all
already drilled. So from there we headed to the
supermarket and picked up some groceries.
After that we went to go get some food at a
place called Basha’s Bakery. They serve really
good chicken, along with fried rice. I think if I get
to go again however I’m gonna order a pizza. It’s
been so long since I’ve had a real pizza. Anyway,
from there we proceeded down to the docks
arriving a little after 5. Since the medical student,
Sarah, was even landing till 7:45 I decided to
explore a little bit. Right near the dock is a place
called the “big market” and they have all manner
of things there. Carving, dyed fabrics, traditional
clothes, etc… I just wanted to look but they were
closing. I did manage to get to see a few people’s
shops but even though I told them that I wasn’t
interested in buying anything they still offered to
show me their shops, then just short of
demanded that I buy something, which really
annoyed me but I should have expected that. The
Sierra Leoneans don’t really understand browsing,
they just go, buy, return home. Anyway, after I
toured there I went down to the dock to sit at a
table and read, which I didn’t get to do any of, no
sooner did I sit down then I got mobbed by guys
selling DVDs. I was nice and looked, but got
annoyed when two different guys started fighting
over showing me their DVDs. No sooner than I was
finally done with that did another guy come sit
with me to talk, which was ok, then another guy
joined the table and started begging, which
started a whole “discussion” of begging and some
other things. It was kind of fun to be honest. Anyway,
me and the first guy were trying to persuade the
second guy that begging was a poor way to live and
that he needed to find a job. He didn’t disagree but
I don’t think he agreed, begging doesn’t pay super
well but it is an easy job I guess. Anyway, he used
everything he could think of, from promising Allah
would bless me (…) to he was sick and needed to go
to the hospital (which would have been more
believable if it hadn’t been a resort strategy after
other attempts). I did give him a little because we
had given him a hard time about it. Not in a bad
way, but the first guy was knew him pretty well and
another guy had come along and was teasing him
too. After the second guy finally left I spent some
time getting to know the first guy, whose name was
Jimmy. We talked all the way up to the time that
Sarah arrived, so for about 5 hours or so. Once Sarah
arrived we packed her in and after saying a quick
goodbye to Jimmy we set off for the Compañero. I
gave Jimmy my number and he said he’d call me
once he got a new phone. We got to the Compañero
where Emanuel got us settled in and then we talked
for a little while before Sarah went to bed. He and I
sat for a bit and talked, I was tired but I won’t get to
see Emanuel for a while so I wanted to talk some.
However, before long I had to go to bed because I
was just too tired. I got up at about 7:30; Emanuel
was already up so I talked to him for a while before
Sarah joined us at 8 for breakfast. We chatted with a
guy from the UK (can’t remember his name now)
about healthcare, politics and a few other things, all in
all not the most exciting topics but interesting
nonetheless. Steven showed up at about 9:15, he was a
little late because he said there was an accident on the
way out of Freetown that slowed traffic down. We set
out from there and headed back to Kamakwie. We
stopped for lunch in Makeni, then went to the grocery
store to get some things for Sarah. When we finished I
went to call Steven only to notice that my phone
wasn’t working. So I borrowed a phone from one of the
guys at the store and called him. I offered to pay him
for the phone call but he said I shamed him. I felt bad
and apologized and thanked him for allowing me to call.
We sat outside and waited for Steven to arrive, all the
while the beggars who hang around St. Mary’s
supermarket watched us waiting. Steven arrived after a
little bit and we set out on the final part of our journey
to Kamakwie. We managed to arrive in Kamakwie at
around 3 or so. Once we got Sarah settled in there
wasn’t a whole lot more to do. That trip is exhausting so
I don’t feel like doing anything either, so that’s about all
for now.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks