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At some point this day or the day before, Danny DeVito got a text from the President's people requesting to meet the Marathon ladies. Mark was offended so went back to Makeni and Em, Martha and I got very excited that he wanted to see us again. Mondays seem to regularly start in Freetown. We went to a place called Arabika to work – another place that Danny DeVito owns. It had wifi so we were able to get on with some work. I also had a lunch meeting with the man himself who has decided to be an official Marathon sponsor and donate all the chickens required for when the international runners are here! What a great man! We tried to get to the Hash early to make sure we had sign ups for the marathon – but in pure BMT (Black man time) we were very late and missed the start! It started this week at the State House next to the Cotton Tree in the centre of town. Again I chose to stay behind because my foot was still giving me grief. We got a handful of signups before we had to dash off to the President's house.
We had no idea what to expect. We turned up late (again!) and he had just finished playing squash and was sitting outside the squash court. It was a very informal environment. HE (His Excellency as he is known) seems to play every day after work, then sits outside with his squash friends before heading back to his house. We chatted to a couple of the squash coaches there – one of whom took my number and offered a squash game. HE chatted to us and was asking a bit about the marathon. As he is from Makeni, and we were struggling with accommodation with all our volunteers, I suddenly piped up 'I don't suppose you know of any accommodation we could use in Makeni'. This made everyone laugh, but HE took it seriously and set the ADC the tai of putting me in contact with the HE's brother, Philip who lives in Makeni. Once HE stood, we all stood, and waited for him to go back to his house. We all then started to leave, but were not allowed to pass the front of his house until he had gone inside. He stood outside on his terrace for a
bit before we were allowed to move. What an interesing evening – informal but still full of a certain level of protocol! Who knew I could mix in such circles!
Tuesday was an interesting one where we were invited by a couple of Lebanese guys for dinner. They said they were cooking, but that actually meant their chef was cooking! It's a different world out here sometimes! They told us to bring our swimmers as they had a pool, and they were not wrong there. They live in a complex with a pool – one where I have never felt quite so much chlorine in all my life – and I have swam in a few pools! It was great fun and we took advantage of their luxury apartment by having a shower with good running water. The bathroom I was in was well equipped with toiletries which was handy for me! Strangely we started watching a film at around 11pm which, in true Tracey style I slept through before one of the guys driving us home. They both own property at Tokeh beach and invited us to join them at the weekend as they were having
a party. We told them that we come as a group, not just 3 of us, but actually 12 of us so if the invite could stretch then we would check with the others but if not, not to worry. They said not a problem!
Wednesday, Joe drove us back to Makeni – Martha's first trip! Somehow we had managed to keep her in Freetown almost a week! Joe always prefers to take the beach road, which although is longer and bumpier, avoids the traffic in Freetown. He insisted on stopping at Tokeh for a drink to break the journey! It was lovely!We got permission to transfer the clinic, in our compound, into more volunteer accommodation which was great news as we had more volunteers arriving the next day and nowhere for them to live. Mohammed, an old beneficiary, was asked to move out of the room opposite mine. Not sure what happened with the communication, but not only did he move out, he moved his furniture too, including his floor! And he only moved as far as the newly converted clinic! It was all a little bizarre, as he did not actually free any rooms up
by just moving, but he completely cleared the room of EVERYTHING!! So quickly we had to get everything including a new floor into his old room, in time for new volunteers. But we love Mohammad so really pleased he hasn't gone far. I made a deal with him recently, I cooked his dinner and he did a few runs to the well for me!In the evening we hosted a little thank you party for the volunteers who helped us with the Flash party! We had the Clubhouse deliver pizza, managed to keep some beers cool in well water and everything! Who needs a fridge eh! Tom, the big boss of the charity, was out in Makeni and came to our party. Unfortunately he spent most of the evening with one of our party hosts, Em, the other side of the compound, but we saved them some cold pizza and Em scored herself a permanent job with Street Child so every cloud has a silver lining.
Thursday brought Lewis back from the London office and also a new volunteer – Neo. Neo is from Cyprus and so entertaining! He is more scared of my little mouse than I
am and that is saying something! I did the usual guided tour of Makeni for Neo and Martha and back to the Clubhouse for some head down and working!
Saturday, Joe took Em, Martha and I to Tokeh on his way back to Freetown. The others all took public transport.What a weekend of awkwardness!! When we were invited to the beach, we understood we were being,very generously, provided with accommodation. Not for one moment did we expect every single meal as well!! The three of us felt absolutely awful for insisting we bought our friends. The Lebanese culture is very different and I should have worked that out before, especially seeing Danny Devito's reaction to bill sharing a few nights previously. We tried to pay the bill for lunch, and even nearly got into a fight about it. We went on a fishing trip and caught Barry the Baracuda which we then ate (well everyone but me) for dinner. We were spoilt rotten, but felt extremely uncomfortable about it. The following day we ride a jet ski and generally relaxed and ate more. By the end of the weekend, the two guys who invited us were nowhere
to be seen, and we were hosted by one of their brothers who was lovely! What a lovely but awkward weekend….
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