SIERRA LEONE ACTIVITIES

Yesterday, October 4, I took my second bucket bath.  The plumber is due later so I should have running water by tonight.  Surprisingly I get a kick out of bucket bathing.  It’s a good way to save water, it forces exercise with the bending up and down, it takes much less time, and I know the water will be warm.

The office of Fambul Tok is located about a 20 minute walk from my apartment.  When we think of downtown we think of tall buildings, wide paved roads, street signs, stop lights, a Starbucks on every corner, and sidewalks.

In downtown Freetown there are no sidewalks, the roads are narrow, poorly paved and have a thin covering of dried mud, only small buildings and shacks line the streets, no street signs, stoplights-scarce and not working, Starbucks? NOT! That being said people greet me as I walk along, the sights are interesting and the people watching fun.  Children are off to school, adults to work; all walking.  The walk to and from, up and down hills on uneven surfaces are giving me a better workout than I get at home.  To be honest, I don’t walk like I should at home so this is a forced regime.  I’m liking this!

In the afternoon Alpha gets me a taxi to go to the Supermarket. Amazingly the driver finds a parking space directly across the street! I get out of the car, cross the street (I’m getting good at dodging the traffic) and enter the market.  

As I am walking down the aisle pushing my cart I sense someone walking right behind me.  It’s my driver.  He has come into the market to help me. The market is very different from any other in any other country I have seen.  There is very little food and what there is is canned, boxed, or frozen.  The frozen selection is extremely small (think ice cream freezer in 7/11) as are the refrigerated items (think soda cooler by our check out stands).  There are two plain yogurts so I snap those up.  I get a package of “minced meat” and, no, I’m not asking.  It looks like beef so that is what it is!

My purchases are the meat, yogurt, butter (from England), matches, dishwashing liquid, toilet paper,and Wheat A Bix cereal (also from England). 

All along the outside walls of the market are many stalls of fresh vegetables and fruit.  I choose some onions, garlic, an avocado and “lemons”.  The women selling the produce all want you to buy from them and will leave their stalls to come to you with sample of what they are offering.  The thing is they are all offering the same thing!  Here in Sierra Leone they eat what is in season as should we.  Much better for the body. 

All the garlic is sold in a net bag containing many heads. It took visiting several stalls and help from the taxi driver to find someone willing to sell me 2 heads.  All of the women wanted to sell me large quantities.  It was difficult to get them to understand I was cooking for just me.  Living alone is an anomaly to them.

Returning to my apartment I find the gas guy there hooking up my stove top.  I walk in just as he is searching for matches.  I pull out my purchase and hand him a box.  It works!  I offer him the match box and he is very pleased.

Then the plumber arrives and fixes the water issue.  Life is getting better and better.  Only one wrinkle.  The toilet is missing the bulb inside the tank to stop the flow of water when the tank is full. Foolishly I ask if he has a replacement bulb.  He looks at me like I have two heads.  The solution?  Turn on the water source to the toilet, fill the tank, turn it off when it is full, flush the toilet and repeat the process each time. I can do that.

In the middle of the night I am awakened by a loud thunder storm.  I love thunder and lightening so I get up and go out on my little veranda to see if the lightening is visible.  Sadly, it is on the other side of the house. It rains buckets continuing to flash and boom for quite a while.

It is the end of the rainy season. Evidently, November is the beginning of the dry season, so the rain is lessening day by day.  The sun has been out most of the time, but I still carry my umbrella.

I do wonder if it does rain when on my way to and from work if I’ll use the umbrella.  

1. No one else will be. 
2. It’s harder to see the cars and motorbikes whizzing around me.
3. So I get a little wet, big deal!  I’m already dripping from the heat and humidity anyway so what difference is a little rain?

Tomorrow morning I will meet with John Caulker the creator of Fambul Tok.  We met for the first time today and he told me of a project involving the women in the districts.  The project is about getting them involved with the effort for a peaceful election. The US Embassy is involved as is the United Nations. He wants me to be a part of this project.  How wonderful is THAT???? Stay tuned!!!

Much Love To You All,

Mom/Grandma/Sara