After going to bed at 7:00 the night before, already feeling a bit rotten, I woke up at 8:00 feeling… worse.
13 hours! Whoa.... you must
really have been tired and/or jet lagged.
I was number 3 to get it.
Better than being number two.
The cold bucket bath felt very nice,
Said no one, ever.
here, in SL, it would take hours to dry.
They don't have towels in Freetown?
Well, you certainly look cozy!
But tights? Socks?
I thought you had eschewed those after the first day?
Across from me there was a man in his t-shirt who appeared to be getting ready for his day, towel draped over his shoulder.
Good grief! I hope you averted your eyes from your pantsless neighbor!
a local fruit they called “apples” but were not what we know as an apple.
Ever find out what they were?
A little beauty amongst the squalor.
The waterfall, so lovely the day before, was waning with no fresh water to replenish it. I captured it's contrast, noting the sad build up of new trash that marred its former beauty.
Hmm... I suppose it's trash that was near the dry riverbed that got washed downstream when the rains came.
Too bad, though. Marring and jarring.
I wondered every time I descended that staircase if it’d be my last day on earth, or if my body would be left in Africa should it be. It was devoid of handrails, at times slick with unseen sloshed water, and generally treacherous being made of marble tile.
Holy crap!!! Talk about taking your life into your hands! Death trap in waiting!
Surprised you didn't take the stairs like this:
Beautiful ladies with beautiful smiles.
That looks good!
And... is that
@Captain_Oblivious running in the opposite direction?
I love that shot. Just... I dunno... very different from anything you're likely to see here?
Gotcha!!
the discussion flowed freely and was quite enlightening. The topic revolved mostly around human rights, human dignity, self-empowerment, and how the poor of Sierra Leone could lift themselves out of such a dire situation, given their government's poor leadership that, at its core, is greedy and abusive.
Whoa! Pretty heavy breakfast conversation!
Ours usually revolve around "Pass the jam."
They paid no less than $2,000 in “fees” (read bribes) to get them to release our goods of medications, donated clothing, medical supplies, and items for the NGO hotel. Ridiculous and infuriating!
"We're trying to help you people, stupid!"
She looks like she fits right in!
My host asked a neighbor young man to escort me on my walk for security and to be a “culture broker” in Missions Speak.
Culture broker? As in making sure you don't break or misinterpret cultural rules?
This would also be my first opportunity, short as it might be, to get some better than average photos.
You've already gotten some interesting and excellent ones.
I saw a LOT of unfinished homes. If the owner is not physically present, construction must stop as the workers cannot be trusted to do anything quality without direct oversight.
I get that. When my home was built, I was here every single day. Sometimes more than once.
I caught a few errors, made changes and answered questions. Saved us a ton of headaches/regrets later on.
Also, many construction projects happen in phases as the owner is able to pay.
Makes sense. That's how it works here, too. Sort of. The bank releases the money in stages as the home is built. Foundation. Framing... being some of the steps.
The people of the neighborhood found me as interesting as I did them, and more than one person asked me to take their photo.
Cool! I love that!
Look at the colours! Love this!
The majority of potable water is packaged in soft, thin pouches of plastic rather than bottles. The quality is somewhat suspect as they come from mostly mom and pop filtering businesses with little to no oversight or regulation. No thanks.
Oh, no. It's perfectly fine. You just have to filter it and boil it and you're good.
There weren’t many family gardens, but here is an example of a tidy little garden plot. Typically, one would find okra, eggplant, cassava, beans, some fruit trees, corn, and sugar cane.
I would've walked right past that and not thought anything other than it was just wild plants growing there.
I was fascinated by the banana flowers I came across. Such an oddity to me.
Really? We have them up here.
When I passed this sign, I was positively intrigued. I asked a lot of questions about the “chief” and what his role is. It is my understanding that the chief is in charge of a neighborhood and settles neighborhood-sized matters like land disputes, small disagreements and, as the sign indicates, family matters. He also decides if an issue should be directed to the next higher level of authority. Each village that we went to also had a chief. I suppose it is something like a mayor but with more direct involvement over civil matters.
That is really cool! Must go back to tribal politics, no? I really don't know of course. But very interesting!
My obsession with the lizards was evident wherever I went.
So it seems!
When I returned home, soaking wet
that humid! whoa.
We were told to bring a formal gown to wear
Ugh... I can't imagine wearing a suit in that weather.
I was really pretty impressed with how they took very little and turned a very plain hall into a festive, cheerful atmosphere.
They did a terrific job! Place looks completely transformed!
After we helped by putting the chair covers and table cloths on, which took a couple of hours, we returned home (through the traffic which I’ve already described in detail) to get showered and dressed. By the time we returned to the hall it was dark.
Late start. Long day.
LOUD music was blaring, as it was everywhere. All the time.
What????
Our Emcee was a quite famous actress and philanthropist from Sierra Leone named Henrietta Mbawa (yes, she's FB or Google-able). She was an absolutely stunning woman inside and out. Such a pleasure to meet her.
Nice that you got to meet her. Hoping the rumours weren't true or better yet, proven not to be.
None of those boys had EVER worn a pair of shoes. Not once. Ever.
Wow. You're right. I can't even imagine.
One of those boys, in an attempt to bring in an income for his family made a dollhouse. The team saw this on one of their visits and asked him to come with his dollhouse and sell it at the auction. This is where an interesting thing happened. It was a bidding auction and the house started at, I dunno, something like $25. It quickly went up from there, and when it reached a number, I got an idea. What if I chimed in and gave a highest bidder matching bid (I'm sure there is a word for that, but I don't know it.). Whatever the highest bidder paid, I would match dollar for dollar. When it finally topped out, I had my number.
Later that night, the organizer thanked me for my bid which was $50 more than I had intended to “bid”. Uhhh, no.
Wonderful that you did that.
And I like that it went to a worthy cause.
But.... Must admit that when I first read that, it almost sounded like you were saying that you
weren't going to pay what you promised.
I told them they needed to find the person who bid just before me and collect that, and I would pay a matching amount. Luckily, they did, and I was happy to pay for part of the most expensive dollhouse on the planet… that I would never see again.
Doubling the amount is better than the amount + $50.
Cute little house.
Not bad at all for a 12 year old... who had to scrounge for parts. Not run to the store to buy a pre-made kit.
Dinner was finally served around 9:00. It was very good: chicken gizzard skewers, fried rice, cabbage salad, grilled chicken, and canned sodas.
Little late... but certainly sounds good!
Not sure I’d ever had a gizzard,
I have. Quite a few times. Used to have it whenever Mom would cook a turkey.
Not something I’d seek out or order given a choice, but certainly not bad either. Like, you know, raw oysters.
the main program ended about 10:30.
Not too late.... until I saw what time you actually got home... after you said you were sick...
I noted that everyone but family of the CEO or other staff left, leaving the rest of us to dance.
Too bad. Any idea why?
I can neither confirm not deny that I won the informal dance competition. I busted out my best African dance moves.
I just bet you did!
You may be asking yourself just exactly how I knew any African dance moves at all, but I assure you I DID have practice before going. Twice. I even have photographic proof. But I’m saving it for another time.
Twice? I thought maybe once at the airport... Hmm....
Standing by!
If you know me at all, I’m not ashamed to post the most embarrassing of photos of myself here.
I do know. I have seen a few interesting photos!
I have no problem laughing at myself
Good for you! That shows a fair bit of strength of character, actually.
Sue me. I was having a LOT of fun with my new African friends
It shows! And you look adorbs, by the way! You go, girl! Boogie, Liesa!
When we finally reached home it was nearly 2:00 AM and we fell straight into bed too exhausted to do anything but fall asleep.
I bet! Plus, being sick.... I'm surprised you even made it home without falling asleep.
awwwww....
I'm glad I bought all I could on past trips. They had a fill up a box for $20 deal that was phenonenal. Tate could get practically a brand new wardrobe every time. He has all kinds of Star Wars stuff, Pirate stuff, Classic Disney stuff, you name it!
I need to get my footwear in order for my trip.
He didn’t even dance hardly.
