MORE OBSERVATIONS

SIERRA LEONE 2014

It is March, the hottest month of the year!  If sweating cleanses the body and brain of toxins, I am ridding myself of toxins all the way back to several past lives and am now getting close to being the smartest septuagenarian on the planet!!! 

Recently the United Nations conducted a meeting here in Freetown.  They are disbanding the security section started during/after the war and leaving in place a peace building staff.  After the peaceful election of 2012 and, as they see it, the continuing stability of the country it is time to move to the next step.  Yet, everyday that I hear the news on the local radio, corruption and how to stop it is a very big topic.  I quote here one of the 12 requests for the assistance of the UN copied from a document at that meeting: “Finally, through the engagements of the UN and in retrospect of key articles in the Lome peace agreements, a number of national democratic institutions were established - i.e. the Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, PPRC, we will like the UN to play a critical role in keeping these institutions on track towards enhancing their integrity and credibility for building a well-balanced transparent Sierra Leone.”

On the way to the OC RC training session I attended in late February, we passed two little girls.  One was older than the other, about 10.  As our car passed the older one turned her back, looked at us over her shoulder with an impish grin, struck a glamour pose and pulled her pants down giving us the perfect “moon”!!!  A first, I have been mooned in Sierra Leone.  For those of you who do not know or haven’t thought of mooning in a long time, let me expand.

During my teen-age years it was popular, God knows why, to pull pants down and plant the bare butt to a car window while passing another car.  This was called “mooning” and seemed to be done mostly by boys who thought it was hilarious.  Mooning could also be done as the young girl did by turning your back and pulling down your pants.  So there you have it-mooning.

I thought I should list some of the natural resources found in Sierra Leone, the size of South Carolina.  All of which should make it the richest country in the world:

Rutile

Iron Ore

Gold

Diamonds

Rutile- Titanium infused Chrystal

Oil (now being drilled off shore)

Bauxite

Lumber

Rubber Trees (small production)

Coffee

Cocoa

Fruit (over 250 types of bananas!)

The picture above is of a necklace of something called the Aura Stone, but is Rutile!!!

Sadly, very little to none of the proceeds from this wealth finds it’s way to the population at large.  The mining companies appear to care less about human rights or the betterment of the lives of the people whose villages are located close by their mining operations.

The mining companies have rebuilt a railroad for their exclusive use (there used to be a rail network for passengers and freight before the war), brought in electricity, sanitation and running water for their housing and mining operations without sharing these with the locals.  I have been told from more than one source, of one village that was displaced and moved 60 miles away because the village sat on a large rutile deposit.  The new village is on land that cannot be productive in any way with no close by water source and no trees.  The hot sun beats down day after day and without trees the villagers get no relief from the heat.  

To be “fair” the villagers were given “rent” for the land that does not cover the cost of living.  The houses built for them to replace the ones they were forced to leave are substandard and too small.  The water trucked in is insufficient for the population of the village and is dirty and filled with rust.  The list goes on.  Who can they complain to when everyone who could do something about it has their pockets lined with bribe money.

On a more positive note, the roads are under aggressive construction and improvement, there is new building construction in all the main district towns I have visited so far and in Freetown.  Even some of the villages show signs of new construction and refurbishment of war burned out houses.  It is rumored the electrical power will be available and consistent in one section of the country by the end of this month.  I’ll let you know since Freetown is on the list for this improvement.  I keep my head lamp by my bed and get ready in the dark most mornings because of the unreliability of the NP (National Power).  Meanwhile, on a less than positive note, sanitation, clean water supply, and quality health care are still in a deplorable state.

All of this said, I love it here!  The people brave these conditions with a never ending hope for a brighter future and the end of corruption.  They know what a wonderful beautiful country they have with rich resources, rivers, forests, mountains and ocean beaches.  There is a basic joy in those I meet that humbles me to the core.  The more I am here the more I feel a part of this struggling little piece of Africa that will not give up.

Much Love To You All,

Mom/Grandma Syrup/Sara