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Blogs from Sierra Leone, Africa
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May 18th 2013
Dear All, How are you all and has the summer arrived yet? We apologise for the lack of any contact for a while but Masanga has the most appalling reception and Internet so connecting with the outside world is a constant difficulty. Contacting relatives to reassure them of our health is difficult enough, let alone trying to conduct a professional relationship with the rest of the world. It's a frustrating process and this is short account just to let you know what we are up to.....and for you to appreciate any cold weather you are having! Below is a small account of where we are up to so far written by Jo. Well we have done 3 weeks of work now and we feel completely immersed into the Sierra Leonean life at the hospital. Because of ... read more
May 17th 2013
Right – I am getting busier and this is getting harder so very sorry for the brief updates. Perhaps I can do 2 in 1 to play catch up! Monday another day in Freetown and I spent the day working. In the evening was another night at the Hash, again I stayed behind as my foot was still giving me grief, but I chatted to the Mismanagement committee while everyone was out on the run – I really need to suss out the Hash in London and get involved there. There are a couple of runners coming out from the Hash in London so maybe that is my lead in. When we got back we heard the horrific news about the Boston Marathon. Very sad story and just a week before London. One of our security ... read more
May 13th 2013
Monday started in Freetown again – went back to Flash to tidy up after the party and take advantage of the wifi! Later on in the day we went to the Hash which this week started at Danny Devits's house. Each week it starts at a different location. Because my foot still hurt from a couple of weeks ago, I looked after the house and his monkey whilst everyone was out on the run. He has a little monkey called Sheeta. She is on a chain which is sad in a cage, but since we have met her, Danny has kindly lengthened the chain as she seems to enjoy her little life. She never gets locked in the cage so she hides in there when she is scared, and other times she wonders around as far ... read more
May 5th 2013
It’s been another week full of touring around villages and delivering Roadshows, however this week has been full of TIA (This Is Africa) moments so I felt like another blog was needed. We were originally meant to have Roadshows on Monday, Tuesday and Friday but that changed last week as we found out that Monday was due to be a public holiday - for some reason advanced notice of public holidays is not possible in Sierra Leone and we only ever find out when they will be at the last minute! We also found out that the school who were presenting for us on Friday had exams so we amended everything to make it Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday instead, thankfully there was still time to let the communities know about the changes. Tuesday morning came and ... read more
April 30th 2013
One of my main projects since coming to Sierra Leone has been to organise an educational roadshow to forest edge communities around Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP). We’re now half way through the programme and so far the events have proven to be a really good way to bring the community together to deliver some important messages in an engaging and interactive way. I’ve been working with the support of a great team in GRNP including the education officer Eddie, a park ranger, our media and publicity officer, a community development relations officer, one of the research technicians and one of the drivers. It’s really good to have people from a range of departments coming together so the community can see the breadth of the work that we do and get questions answered by the appropriate ... read more
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HE The President, Buzz Lightyear and Danny DeVito... what more would you want out of Sierra Leone!?
Published: April 29th 2013Africa » Sierra Leone » Freetown
April 29th 2013
I wish I could pinpoint how Africa captures and fascinates me. Maybe it's because the pace of everyday life is much slower here so you have the time to notice the small things. I've found myself noticing everythingand at the risk of sounding Disney, Africa is beautiful and it inspires me so much. Sure, there are dark histories and current life-threatening circumstances but the people here seem to draw strength from that and they really want to advance and learn. Sierra Leone is different to Kenya but I can't pinpoint that one either. To me this place is like some strange dream alternate reality but to the people who live here, this is their life. And now my life to a certain degree. The only difference is that I have a means of escaping it if ... read more
April 17th 2013
Dear All, Thank you again to those who have written. It is great to hear from home. We last blogged in Dakar, whilst staying with an ex-pat friend, and we are now in a similar situation in Freetown, staying with an old school friend of Jo, Lynn and Tim, who have been looking after us royally! thank you! We are spending a few days in the city before heading to Masanga at the weekend. Jo has been trying to meet as many of the four physios that work in Sierra Leone as possible, and we have visited the national rehabilitation centre and the military equivalent, as well as doing a few touristy things, and we have met a whole bunch of interesting people so we are feeling up to speed with politics, mining, religion, traffic laws, ... read more
April 10th 2013
Woohoo – Week 5 started with my birthday! Thanks for all the wishes I saw on Facebook! It was really nice to see them all! Just a norma day in the office turned into an interesting time at the Police Station. Em called me as she was down their reporting her camera stolen. The police wanted a witness so I toddled off down there. When I got there, they had already taken Emma's statement and someone next to her was giving s tatement on a different matter overhead Emma and admitted he was in a cell overnight with a guy who was boasting about how he had stolen a camera off someone in Mems on Saturday. Fortunately for Emma, this witness gave a statement and the police were happy they knew who it was and they ... read more
April 10th 2013
It was a glorious sunny morning (as it is pretty much every day) and myself and five expat friends packed up the car ready for a long weekend away over the Easter holiday. Our destination was Tiwai Island (said T-Y) which is a wildlife sanctuary and one of the few reasonably well known tourist destinations in Sierra Leone. We set off early to make the most of the day and it was a good job that we did as the journey there took rather longer than expected. The first reason for our delay was that Meredith, who was driving, had been given directions to take a route that passed via Bo rather than going directly south. The second reason was that the car we had borrowed from her organisation broke down when we reached Bo. The ... read more
April 10th 2013
I’ve been to a good number of parties and celebrations in my life but never one celebrating something quite like this. The party that I went to was organised by a charity called GOAL and was to celebrate the fact that the Chiefdom we were in was ‘open defecation free’ – I think that’s a pretty good reason to have a party! The event was hosted by the Chiefdom Headquarter town and a lot of preparation had been done to get the town looking good and to build areas of shade for people to sit and watch the festivities. When we arrived we parked up in the school field which was the main venue. We then walked down through the town along a road which had been lined by white painted stones. At the far end ... read more
