THE DRIVE TO KONO

October 24, 2012

As we left Freetown Last night we passed by a new University of Medicine established in 2010.  Also many dams being built, roads and bridges under construction, and signs for planned new communities.  

When Michaela said the roads on the way to Kono were rough, she wasn’t exaggerating. We had a taste of it yesterday when we encountered a few stretches of road where the mud on the road was so deep several large trucks were stuck and we barely made it through.  I dubbed Mustafa the Miracle Driver as he maneuvered our Land Cruiser through the river of mud sometimes sliding sideways in the red clay glop.

During the night the lightening and thunder storm we saw off in the distance catches up with us dumping a large amount of water. Five AM arrives too soon and we pile back into the car to begin our final six hour drive.

The road conditions are far worse than last night.  We ford streams, plow through deep holes full of water, slide through miles of mud and, where the road is somewhat paved, lurch over pot hole after pot hole for miles on end.  Here we are headed to where they mine diamonds and other minerals and the road is almost impossible to negotiate. This boggles the mind. They need supplies in and to transport goods out.  It would seem to be in the best interest of the mining companies to have passable roads.  Obviously it is not or they would.

Negotiating Gate Passage

At one point we reach an area where three large semi trucks are stuck blocking the road. We are directed to a road that will take us around. The private road providing the detour is a short way back up the road.  We turn into it and are met with a “gate” of a log stretched across the road starting at one tree and ending lodged in the crook of another.  Two men sit on the porch of the house just beyond the tree gate.  Mustafa honks the horn and asks them to lift the gate.  They refuse. We find out they are not letting us pass because other taller vehicles have taken the detour and torn down the low hanging electrical lines connected to the house.

The Gate

After several minutes of negotiations shouted out the window of our car and the stubborn refusal of the men to raise the gate, Mustafa and Michaela get out and approach the men.  Finally they are able to convince the men we are not tall enough to interfere with their lines and they let us pass.

Occasionally we pass through small villages, but we are truly out in the middle of nowhere.  Across from one very small cluster of houses, we are stopped by a check point.  We passed a few of them last night but were always waved through.  This time they want to see our papers.  Because of Michaela’s advice, I have a copy of my passport and visa with me.  Kathy, however, only has her embassy ID which, she was told, should be enough.  It wasn’t. Mustafa pulls over to the side of the road and Michaela and Kathy go with two of the guards to a building across the road.

While waiting for them to return I get out to stretch my legs.  I am approached by the other two authorities who strike up a conversation.  It is established that I am volunteering with Fambul Tok and not with a chemical or mining company!  One of the men asks why I want to come into the Districts and I reply the countryside is where I feel I will find the true heart and soul of the country.  I want to learn about the people living in the villages.  He is happy with that and says he wishes for me to get started.  I counter I can’t until he lets us go, so let us go!  He shakes a finger in my face, tells me I am too clever and walks away laughing.

The other fellow stays to chat further.  He asks me about my husband.  I tell him I am a widow and happy to be independent at this time.  He is shocked that I don’t feel I need a man to “take care of me”.  I tell him I am 70, had a wonderful life with my late husband, and don’t need to be taken care of.  He then waxes poetic on the virtues of marrying a woman over 50 VS a younger woman.

After about 20 minutes Kathy and Michaela return and we are free to go.  It took calling an authority in the embassy who in turn asked the name of the guard and the name of his superior to convince him the embassy ID was sufficient ID with which to travel.  It seems what the guard really wanted was a ride with us!  He didn’t get his ride.

As we drive into Koidu in the district of Kono we see people wearing red everywhere.  Music is blaring, people are dancing and milling about.  There is a rally of the present ruling party, APC, and the President and Vice President are in town!  We stop at Uncle Ben’s Guest House where we are supposed to have reservations.  Not, and we are told there are no rooms open in town.

We decide to have lunch and worry about the room thing later. Michaela takes Kathy and I up into a restaurant overlooking the main street.  We opt to sit outside on the veranda so we can watch the action.  Michaela and Mustafa leave us to go to the Fambul Tok district office where they will pick up one of the local employees.

While are waiting for our chicken and chips (french fries) for me and chicken and couscous for Kathy, two young men sit down at the table next to ours.  They are both dressed in red color indicating they are here for the APC rally so we strike up a conversation.

It is a small world wherever you go.  One of the young men, Marlon, has a business right next door to the office of Fambul Tok in Freetown!  He is involved with a new process that turns trash into biofuel.  They are the only ones that can do this and are here to start the process in Sierra Leone.  He has been educated and lived in both the US and England, but is returning here to his home country to be a part of the rebuilding. 

His quieter friend and I begin to chat and he tells me his passion is youth involvement.  He is creating centers where the youth can go for socializing and playing games to keep them off the street.  He also wishes to open a vocational school where they can learn a trade.  He is hoping the centers can keep them engaged so they will not go back to drugs and violence.   I suggest that he have the youth that have been educated and are successful in various occupations be encouraged to come to the centers to be mentors.  If they show the younger men the life education can provide, it will encourage them to follow in their example and, once educated and employed, they can return and be mentors.  A give back program, if you will. He likes the idea.

Soon another friend joins them.  He owns a sound equipment business that is on a corner in Freetown that I walk by everyday!  He has provided a large flatbed truck with speakers and sound system to travel up and down the street during the rally.  It goes by as we are chatting. Quite impressive!

Politics becomes the topic.  It is established that the two major parties ideologies are the same.  The difference is the leader of one party is a planner and the other a doer.  The planner was in power from 2002 to 2007. The doer has been in power these past five years and has improved the infrastructure and education systems greatly.  I suggest that the president of the doers and the vice-president candidate of the planners run together, he laughs.

Next I ask about the present vice-president and an article I read in a local newspaper.  The article spoke about a journalist who had uncovered a level of corruption tied to the VP.  Three days later the journalist was beaten within an inch of his life and is now in hiding.  I want his opinion about that.

He smiles and does a dance around the subject.  He says it hasn’t been proven.  The VP is a young and ambitious man who contributed a great deal of his own wealth for the APC back in the 2007 election.  Because of this contribution he was given the position of VP, but now it is felt by some that he needs to step down and let another run for VP.  The theory is those who wish him to step down are trying to discredit him.

Michaela and Mustafa return, we bid our goodbyes and I promise to stop by both of the businesses once back in Freetown. This afternoon we are going to one of the villages for a meeting with the all the Peace Mothers from all the sections of the Chiefdom.

Much Love To You All,

Mom/Grandma/Sara