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Published: April 16th 2007
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What? Time to get up already?
Oh Celine, how I love being woken up by you... My day usually starts at 5.30 - 6am when the noises of the camp (kids screaming, roosters crowing, chickens squarking, man making religious announcements over a tinny loudspeaker, Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston/Celine Dion songs pumping out of the neighbour's boombox) make me open my eyes, mutter 'bloody Africans', roll over and then realise that I am highly unlikely to get any more sleep. Good morning Little Liberia!
First things first, after an uncomfortable night spent sweating like a pig, I usually feel like being clean. I really enjoy having those bucket showers. This is because, to be blunt, I am always filthy. I was feeling quite pleased a few days ago, thinking I had worked up a nice tan. Until most of it came off in the shower. So anyway, a wash without running water involves precariously balancing the pot of water on the bucket, whilst simultaneously trying to avoid getting shampoo in my eyes and keeping an eye open for anything in the shower room that might potentially kill me. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but our guesthouse has recently been infested with a blister beetle, that leaves a trail of nasty, sore looking rash and blister
wherever it touches your body. So naked shower time can be a little scary.
What is also pretty sketchy is the amount of mice in our bedrooms. They scuttle around everywhere, down the walls, across the floor, under the beds, over our heads on the rafters and under our mattresses. Hiding under a mattress may seem to be a good idea for a mouse, but in reality it may just be the last thing they do if they are living in the Brit girls' bedroom. Me and Debbie seem to be unwittingly carrying out some kind of pest control service during our time here. We've found (by way of awful stench) two dead mice in our room. As far as we know none of the other volunteers have killed any mice yet, so we do seem to have some kind of strange knack for it. Debbie sat on one and squashed it to death, and I have an inkling that I managed to crush the mouse under my mattress using my head. Two flattened mice, and a very stinky room.
After checking for dead mice, I have breakfast, which is my favourite meal of the day. Comfort, our
Can we come in?
There are always kids outside our guesthouse, we're definitely never lonely! cook, is in the house from 4.30 am, preparing our food and getting the house ready for the day. She is our Liberian mother, we have a little chat every morning, she tuts and straightens out whichever raggedy clothes I've chucked on that day and then she feeds me. We have porridge, eggs or omelette, squash, tea, pineapple chunks, bread and water. Delicious.
I like to get up early enough so I have time to relax and read before the day starts. So I do that for a little while, usually covered in sweat despite the fact that it's 7.30 in the morning and I just, yes just, had a wash.
Teeth cleaning time is interesting as we do it out on the front porch. Our front porch faces out onto the neighbourhood. This means children, and lots of them. Kids can usually be found hanging from our windows and front door shouting random volunteer names for no other reason than they know them. It's bizarre to have an audience of ten watching you clean your teeth, all the while jumping on you and trying to get conversation out of you. My efforts usually amount to an 'mmmmmpppphhh'.
Once I am able to talk I am usually surrounded by kids shouting 'Cat! Cat! What's my name?' Oh crikey, I don't blimmin' know. I've memorised so many names and faces, and I have got to know some of the children, but there are
hundreds of kids and my brain just can't process any more. It's the African heat, it's slowed down my functions. I will say though, some of these kids have great names. Babygirl, Prince, Gus, Love, Favour, Comfort, Princess. Amazing! A lot of the kids sell bracelets, which I think is a fantastic thing as they are learning how to make money. They usually get us volunteers in the morning when we are most sleepy and our defences are down. I'm actually starting to be a bit weighed down with bracelets, as I can't say no. I have a wide assortment of colours and weaves, and one even says 'COT' (Rufus ran out of 'A's).
Off to work we go
Next, we head to the CBW office to start our day of work. In my department, we work 9 - 12 every day except Friday when we have a meeting.
Debbie!
Cleaning your teeth outside is strange CBW meetings usually involve a great deal of waiting around for people, a large amount of faff and usually the conclusion that we need another meeting. Oh, Africa time.
So I spend the morning with either the HIV department, or helping out with craft day. The afternoons are usually filled with reading time in the library, press club, or Care and Support. I enjoy working here, and feeling like I'm contributing to day-to-day life on the camp. When things go well and you have a productive day, it really is very rewarding. It's also good to be proactive, and try and come up with fresh ideas, ways to make the projects run more effectively and efficiently. New volunteers mean new ways of looking at things, new ideas and new methods. That's the thing about working with an ever changing group of people - the motivation and belief in projects is always there and things are changing, albeit slowly. As I said Africa time is Africa time! If you have an idea for a project you need to be prepared for it to take a while to happen. A volunteer may not even see an idea or project through to
fruition - that's the nature of volunteering.
After work
Once back at the volunteer house after a long(ish) hot day I usually mong out for a couple of hours, reading and listening to my iPod. It's hard to get a moment's peace here, as soon as you relax, there's a kid outside demanding "please come." It's hard work!
In the evenings the volunteers usually head to the Holiday feeling, a bar at the top end of camp, with an open upper floor. It's lovely and breezy there and it's nice to have a few minutes away from the camp. We play cards, chat and generally chill out.
The walk to the Holiday feeling is quite a long one and we pass through most of the camp. Buduburam is always buzzing, particularly at night time. The main square in the camp seems to be the main nightspot. Music is pumping, people are drinking and dancing, there are stalls everywhere selling hot, barbecued food.
When white girls walk through the camp, our prescence is usually met with whistles and shouts and "hey babygirl, whatcha doin?" This can be quite tiring for all the female IVs,
With baby girl.
The days not complete without hugging a baby or two :) it's best to just smile and keep walking! The Liberians are usually pretty friendly, but you do find that it's hard to walk through the camp without being stopped, asked for your name and then the request "Can I come and see you later?" We usually say no, as our time in the guesthouse is our private time, but they usually turn up anyway.
After a baking hot day, I'm usually tired really early. At 8pm I will find myself exclaiming "gosh! Is that the time already?! Must get to bed!" Seriously, my Gran probably has a better, more exciting, night life than I do right now. So, it's back to the guesthouse to get ready for bed by candlelight, and crawl underneath our mosquito nets, glad that it's time to sleep again.
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