Looking Back on Salone

I’ve been home for just over 3 weeks now and I've had lots of people ask me how my trip went but to be honest I never know where to start. It sometimes feels impossible to explain the things we did, what we saw or what we were told as there was just so much. It was however, without doubt the most incredible experience I've had so far and it had a real effect on me. We were taken away from our comfortable surroundings and stayed in a place living in poverty where malaria is often seen as the common cold, and families live in a house of 20+ people surviving on one meal a day. People in Sierra Leone have a life expectancy of just 48 years; the country itself is 8^th from the bottom on the Human Development Index which isn’t good and it is recovering from a brutal 11 year civil war which was between the years 1991 to 2002. 

I was told many stories of the hardships of life in this country and the one which I will always remember was told to me by a teacher. We were discussing the war and he went on to tell me about his family. They lived in Makeni which was a strong hold for the rebels at the time and one day his father was cycling home when a child solider stopped him and told the farther to give him his bike. The farther refused and said he had worked hard to afford the bike so wouldn’t give it to him. The child solider continued to argue that it was his right to have the bike so he should give it up. After a long confrontation the child solider pulled out a gun and shot him in the head then went away with the bike. The body of the farther was left in the road for 3 days as no one was allowed to move it, maybe as a sign of warning I'm not sure. The rebels also took two of the teacher’s sisters, one he later found in Freetown and the other he has never seen again. He now looks after his mother who is losing her sight as well as being a part time sports teacher. I was mesmerised when he told me his story as well as many others that I heard and I don’t know how these people get through it but they do. And what the statistics and negative stories don’t say about this place is that the people are the most friendliest and kindest you’ll ever meet. Some are just as intelligent as us, which as bad as it sounds surprised me as they don’t exactly have the best educational system and many can’t afford it anyway. But some people will put their all into learning as much as they can because they understand the opportunities education can bring to them and how it can help them out of poverty. It just seems unfair that some don’t get the chance to shine. Alusine however is one person who is pretty special. He was our house boy but in the end became one of our good friends. He is currently trying to pay to go to university as there's no such thing as uni loans here, so he’s saving up the money from this job to pay the 1.5 million leones per year which is about £250 so he can study a computing course. He told me that he always had to work so he could pay for his schooling as his parents could not afford to put all of their children through education. He used to sell things but now he has the job with The Collective at the house and during our stay he also managed to get another job where he was putting together ID cards for the upcoming elections. In the meantime he was working through a computing book that a previous volunteer bought out so he could keep up to date with his studies. Before we left we all agreed to contribute money to his fees so he could attend in September and he recently told me that he just bought the forms to sign up which I was very happy about. People like Alusine are a real inspiration to others. It really is true that we take our education for granted here. It’s a shame you don’t realise it at the time. 

Living in Salone for 3 months taught me a lot about the world outside of England. I’d never been away from home that long or been to a place quite like it and to see a different side to life and a completely different culture really opened my eyes. It’s also given me the travel bug as I can’t wait to have the chance to do something like it again. I learnt a lot about myself and built on some important skills that will help me in the future. I also met some amazing people on the way who made the trip pretty special and who I hope will always be a friend. I suppose that does include the volunteers I went out with to, even though I took my fair share of banter from them we shared many memories together and I'm sure we’ll always stay in touch.

Since I've been back its fair to say I've missed everything about the trip and one day I would love to go back and see everyone again. I can’t wait to find out how Alusine will be doing at uni or how Mohamed Sally’s son has grown and if Sally herself is still smashing running records. I’ve also got my fingers crossed for John who got through to the second stage of the academy trials and Cisse the coach for Nosdo FC who I'm hoping will be involved with CBF after we did a profile on him. Even though I'm back in England now I still get texts and phone calls from these people which I'm so happy about as I can always keep in touch with them. I’m sure my phone bill will be enormous but I love hearing from them and it’s a constant reminder for me not to take things for granted. It always reminds me just how lucky we really are and the thing is you just don’t realise it until you go to a place like this. I'm not going to lie, there were some pretty shocking things about Sierra Leone. One of the things that made me most uncomfortable was the fact that they are very open about beating kids, and I saw it a number of times especially at the schools I went to. I was also completely stunned by the Freetown slums. I’d never seen living conditions quite like it and observing their life out of a taxi window I couldn’t help but stare at the tiny metal shacks practically on top of each other, with kids playing in the rubbish or in the water with god knows what in and people dodging their way through the maze like paths busily selling, doing each other’s hair or watching life go by. But it’s all part of life for Sierra Leonians and once you go there you begin to understand properly how things work. You see the stuff on programmes like Comic Relief and those adverts which make you want to donate money. They paint a very negative picture of countries like this. They’re not exactly lies, but they show only the worst cases and yes life is very tough for these people but you don’t hear them constantly complaining about this or that. They accept it and try their hardest to make life better for themselves and their families and any sort of help you can offer they’ll welcome with open arms and a smile. I always remember one of the first things I saw in Sierra Leone, and it was the sign at the crazy Freetown Airport which just said “Welcome to Sierra Leone – The Place of Smiles.” And there’s nothing more I can add to that. 

 

P.S. If you want to read more about the work we done and the last of our adventures the next two blogs below will tell you all. Thank you for reading. I hope I haven’t bored you too much and if you ever want to visit Sierra Leone I’d be happy to tell you more and all the good places to go. Also please take some time to look at the charities website and follow the links below for some videos of the boys and charity.
http://www.craigbellamyfoundation.org/

http://vimeo.com/19658919  
http://vimeo.com/19754133
http://vimeo.com/19663160

The Last of Our Adventures

Other then work our last month was spent trying to cram in all the stuff we wanted to do. One of our trips was to a place called Kabala which is north of Sierra Leone. Ben had told us it was a great place to go for some nice walks. It was a standard journey, starting off brightly as we headed to the taxi rank and picking our taxi carefully i.e. it was still in one piece. We anticipated the trip to last about 1 hour 30 but as we headed off down a very dodgy road we started to smell something coming from the car. The driver appeared to ignore it and carried on with the journey until we were about an hour in and the car came to a standstill. We obviously hadn’t chosen our taxi carefully enough. We weren’t too sure how far was still to go but we clearly needed some other form of transport. As a bus came past the driver of the taxi hailed it down and helped us to negotiate a price as we pilled on to the already full bus. It seemed to take another 2 hours or so to get there and once we arrived we met with Alfred, a friend Ben had made on his visit. He took us to his house where we waited for a couple of lads to take us on a hill walk. The walk went up a very steep hill through the bush but it was definitely one of the easier walks I had done since I’d been there. Afterwards we went back to meet Alfred who said he’d take us to a coffee plantation. We were looking forward to seeing all the coffee being made but all of a sudden Alfred stopped at a tree and said “here is the coffee.” Basically we’d gone to see a coffee tree which was pretty cool but I think we were all secretly a little disappointed there was no actual plantation. Our journey back was done in half the time it had originally taken us due to our speedy taxi driver not being able to find the brake pedal, though he probably didn’t even have a working speedometer to know if he was speeding or not. 

Others trips we did were to the chimpanzee sanctuary in Freetown, to Bambuna to see a stunning waterfall, to the CBF academy where we got to spend some time with the boys at training and we also made another visit to Burah Beach. We enjoyed a few nights out to, one being to the local hotel club and another playing a bit of flip cup at the Clubhouse. On our final night in Makeni we decided to invite the team managers and coaches to our house for a few drinks. We asked Sally to bring us a cool box of all her drinks and paid her for them all so it was a free bar. Turns out a free bar in Makeni is not a good idea. Those that turned up all had one too many beers and started announcing all their problems with CBF to us. We couldn’t get a word in edgeways and in the end Charlie had to step in and say that there wasn’t anything us volunteers could do as it mainly went down to there not being enough money. After a little reminder that we were supposed to be celebrating, the managers and coaches took to dancing and going completely crazy with the alcohol. There were pictures being taken left, right and centre and as soon as the cool box was empty they all decided to leave. Most of them left on their motorbikes in a drunken state and others stumbled away into the darkness. It was only 10pm and it had seemed like a tornado just hit our house. A few minutes later and the respectable Nosdo FC lads turned up to say goodbye. We had no drinks left to give them but we had already bought the team a football as a leaving present which they all loved. There were yet more pictures being taken and some emotional departing hugs and handshakes. Afterwards we went back into the house to add up the final cost of all that was drunk. Turns out it came to 300,000 le which is around £45. Realistically I can defiantly spend that much on a night out so it didn’t seem too bad when you put it that way.       

On our last day in Makeni I felt pretty sad to be saying goodbye to everyone. The day was spent going to all the places and seeing all the people who had made our stay so special. We had our last lunch at Global which was the restaurant we went to everyday, and we had our last few drinks at the Clubhouse. We went to Encis for the last time which was the place we went for internet, and we battled our way through the Makeni town streets experiencing all the Aporto calling from the usual kids for the last time. When we got back to the house we chilled out with the local kids giving them a balloon and few little toys to keep them entertained. I gave Mohammed (sally’s son) a toy car which when you pulled the string made a loud ringing noise. I later realised I had probably given him a typical toy which every parent hates because he just kept pulling that string. 

The next morning, after our eventful managers and coaches evening we got up early to say the final goodbyes to those who we were most close to. This included Sally and her family, Fatmatta and her son and of course our main man Alusine. We gave them all presents and for Alusine we told him that we would contribute to his university fees which he was over the moon about. We gathered outside for one last photo of us all and I looked around the house for the last time thinking about everything we’d done. I remember thinking this was probably the cleanest I had ever seen the house since we’d been living there.

We then bumpily drove off, waving to everyone in the distance and hoping that one day I would meet them all again.    

Our Last Month of CBF Work

I’ve noticed that I completely failed to keep my blog up to date in the last month of my trip. I suppose it’s a testament to how busy I was at the time. The last 4 weeks absolutely flew by and I’m now sat at home with all the luxuries I could ask for. There's light at the flick of a switch, internet at full speed, a power shower with hot water and all the foods that I missed are in the fridge. I’ve started to question whether I actually need all this after being taken away from it for 3 months it really doesn’t seem all that important.

Anyway before I get all deep and reflectional on the trip I’ll quickly fill you in on the last month and what we’ve all been up to. So, work wise everything started getting busy. We were organising a capacity building session for team managers and coaches on computer skills. This is something not many of them know about so we thought it would be important for them to at least know the basics of some of the programmes. I led a session on Microsoft Word and put together a handout with some information on and came up with a few tasks for them to do. Obviously we knew that not everyone would have computers so we chose a location that actually had a couple to practice on and took our laptops for extras. We also managed to hook up a projector which we got from the Clubhouse. It all worked out perfectly and it was so rewarding to see them all helping each other with the tasks and actually learning something that I’d taught them. Greg then went on to do a session on Microsoft excel and Ben and Adam put together a handout on internet.

All our projects were finally coming together to and I was busily finishing my questionnaires with all the schools and then doing the agonising part of analysing it all, putting it into graphs and then writing reports for CBF. I also put together a leaflet for CBF as a result of the data I had collected. I think it’s safe to say that we all spent the last 2 weeks trapped in the Clubhouse or our office typing everything up. Ben and Adam had the huge task of completing an end of year evaluation of CBF with all managers and coaches in the four regions, where they had to get each person to fill out a 3 page questionnaire. I don’t know how they managed to analyse all that but they did, somehow. The best part of their research was that we all got to go along to the regions with them and managed to get involved with the wellbeing assessments Rich was doing. He’s another volunteer for CBF at the academy and he was responsible for doing these assessments with the kids that basically looked at their life. We got to do interviews with the children which ended up being pretty hard going as we were asking them questions like are you worried about your future, do you have enough to eat, are there people that care about you. It was emotional stuff but so interesting at the same time. Greg was also continuing with his project which was looking at how CBF is benefitting the children involved and identifying whether an U17’s league would be feasible. All this work was then going to benefit the charity as they could use our evaluations to make things better. We had to present our work to Charlie, Pete and Tim who’s the CEO of the charity. This might sound daunting but it was the most laid back presentation I’ve ever done. We each sat there with a beer in our hand and snacks laid out on the table. I wish every presentation was like that. Afterwards we headed out for a big night out in Freetown and didn’t return till the early hours of the morning. 

During our time working with the CBF we also got involved with the regional trials for the academy. This happens once a year in each of the regions, where the coaches come down to select players either from the leagues or from the local kids which they think have the potential to be in the academy squad. The players selected from the regional trials then get to go for a week of intensive training at the academy. If they are lucky enough to get through that stage they will get the life changing opportunity to stay at the academy in Tombo where they will be fully educated and get two football training sessions a day. As I mentioned in another blog, two of the boys this year have been invited to go to America on full scholarships and another two are joining the Liverpool academy for 6 weeks of training. 

It was around this time that we met John or otherwise known by the community as Paul Scholes. Johns a 12 year old boy who we got to know by playing football with Nosdo FC which was our local team. He’d sometimes play with us and run rings around everyone even though they were double his age. John had asked about joining a CBF team in the league and the only way for him to do it was to go along to one of the sessions and see what the coach said. However, we let him know that there were some trials coming up and on the day he was there raring to go at 9am even though they didn’t start until around 12. In his first trial match he played really well and we were all cheering him on. The academy coaches liked him and he got selected to play in the final match. It was a long wait in the baking sun and after 300 kids had been trailed only 16 of them were through to the final round. John was one of them. I was nervous for him as I really hoped he’d get through. It was a tough round and there were some pretty good players but John played in his usual style, nothing fancy but taking control of the back four and making those key passes with brilliant positioning. He only had 10 minutes to impress but when I looked over the coach’s shoulder I could see his name was written down. I was so excited for him and once he was told he’d made it to the academy trials he came running up to me and Greg and gave us each a big hug. Seeing him that happy made me realise how important this charity is and the impact it has on kids like John. When we left I gave him a football shirt and some football socks so he could feel the part at his trails. I’ll have to find out how he does in August.    

Overall, I found the work I was doing at CBF really interesting and I couldn’t have asked for a better charity to be a part of. I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to work with them and even though I could have spent longer there I think I managed to make an impact. However small it was I'm hoping it improved something. In the future I can see the charity improving as the years go by and changing the lives of more and more children like the ones they have at the academy. One day, I’ve no doubt that we’ll be seeing some Sierra Leonian players from the academy in the Prem and hopefully one day they’ll even be in the World Cup.   

Saying Goodbye to Josh and Mark

It was a while ago now that Josh and Mark left us but I'm taking advantage of the free time to write this blog while there is currently a big storm outside and instead of watching the Euro finals we are sitting in the Clubhouse with no TV signal and power that keeps cutting out. 

So anyway, a few weeks ago we decided to arrange a good send off for Josh and Mark so we organised for about 12 of us to go to Freetown on Saturday to watch the Sierra Leone national team play a world cup qualifier. Unfortunately we didn’t all make it up in time due to the standard car troubles but those that did really enjoyed it and the Leone Stars won 5-2. Even though I didn’t make it there in time, when some of us were wandering around Freetown market we could here all the people cheering in the streets as news travelled that they had won. We later joined the others at the hotel we were staying at and all got ready to hit the town. We crowded into taxies and met with Charlie, his girlfriend and Pete from CBF at an outside bar situated on Lumley Beach. It was nice to see everyone together enjoying a few drinks and chatting while chilling under the stars. One too many drinks later though and we all thought it would be the perfect idea to go into the sea still fully dressed. Here I took my opportunity to get my own back on Josh and Mark by soaking them, only to then be fully rugby tackled by one of them straight into the water. I wasn’t too impressed. Climbing into a taxi soaking wet we decided to find the omelette and bread guy from our last visit. They definitely need to get someone like this in England it’s the perfect combination. We then got more beers to take to the hotel and sat up chatting on the balcony well into the early hours of the morning. 

The next day none of us seemed to be suffering too much which I definitely welcomed. Some of us left to go back to Makeni and others decided to go to the beach for the night. We said goodbye to Mark and Josh who were staying at the hotel for a little longer. It was kind of sad to be saying goodbye to them as we all started this experience together and share some incredible memories. However they were jetting off back to their comfortable lives in England where they could have as much junk food as they liked. Not that I'm jealous or anything.

That day we ended up at River Number 2 which is by far the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. It had everything, the white sand, crystal blue sea and picturesque scenery. A paradise beach. The 7 of us spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun or in my case evening out my awful tan lines and swimming in the sea. We had a delicious dinner of barracuda fish with a tomato sauce and rice and then me, Ben, Greg and Adam spent the night in tents falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing. It wasn’t my most comfortable night’s sleep as we had no pillow, sheet or cushioning to lie on but I did embrace the moment. In the morning the weather wasn’t so nice so me and Greg headed back to Makeni, while Ben and Adam went to Freetown to continue doing their questionnaires for their project with all the managers and coaches in the four regions that CBF work in. 

We returned, pretty tried from our eventful weekend but feeling fully prepared to hit the last 3 weeks of this experience in the best way possible. 

P.S. the TV power finally came back as I was writing thisso got to watch the end of the Euro's. well done spain!!

Marathon Day!!

At 5am on the 9^th of June it was time for us all to head to Sierra Leone’s first ever marathon which was held here in Makeni. Mark has been working tirelessly to make this a successful day along with two other co-ordinators Ben and Nick. The rest of The Collective volunteers were also getting involved with helping out on the day and we were all given jobs. Greg was in charge of time keeping, Adam was on the leading bike for the half marathon, Josh was helping out with The Clubhouse activities and I was busy doing odd jobs here and there, mainly giving out the medals when people crossed the line and helping with drinks. Before the race we managed to spot Sally and gave her some encouraging words. She was dressed in just her racing shirt and underwear. A rather strange outfit choice but if it was to help her win then that was all that mattered. It was starting to get pretty hot and the races had only just started, we were all wondering if anyone would actually faint. Luckily Ben, Nick and Mark had thought about this already and had paddling pools and foam mattress set up incase anything happened. The 5k racers were shortly coming across the finish line and things started to get busy as timings were being handed in, pictures taken and a large crowd formed around the drinks station. An hour or so later other runners from the half marathon started coming and we saw Alusine and his fellow Nosdo FC friends with their medals and goodie bags which Alusine is still fashioning today. They were all wearing their medals proudly in their Sunderland shirts which Mark had given them and I don’t think they took those medals off for a good few days. Next it was the full marathon runners. The first man came through in 2 hours 46 which is crazy considering the heat. He looked like he was going to collapse as people crowded him trying to cool him down with water. At 4.20 we saw Sally breeze through the finish line. Barley sweating, we all congratulated her as she was the first full marathon Sierra Leonian woman to cross the line. The rest of the day continued with runners completing what must be one of the hardest marathons. Two men had walked the whole race which took them around 7 hours and Mark had been going with them the whole time.         
  

Once everyone had finished the race it was time for the ceremony. After some speeches from mayors, sports ministers and organisers Ben and Nick, medals and prize money was given out. It was a touching moment when Sally was called on stage and stood on her first place podium with her farther be her side, both of them embracing the special moment. Sally was handed 900,000 leones which is equivalent to around £150 and it will make such a difference to their family. The next day we walked passed their house and they were celebrating with 3 jerry cans of palm wine. I hope they don’t waste all the money on wine. 

All in all I think the Marathon was a great success. There were lots of volunteers helping out and everything seemed to go to plan, especially as no one passed out. It was good to see so many Sierra Leonians being involved to and there were lots of people watching which should generate more interest for next year. I would defiantly love to be involved in this event again and you never know maybe one day I’ll actually be able to run it.  

CBF Work

I’ve had my busiest week so far and it’s all been really enjoyable. I spent the first few days getting on with my research at the schools which involves doing interviews with head teachers and questionnaires with the other teachers who are linked with CBF. I’ve had to do speeches to classes and in assemblies and got to know the teachers and schools a lot better which has been really interesting. The standards of teaching and general ideas of schooling here are very different. In most of them they have to sing the national anthem every morning and because they can’t afford caretakers the children have to clean up all the leaves and rubbish in the playground by hand. I was also told that in government schools the teachers don’t actually get paid but instead the community and city council helps to fund them. Schools which have been running for 3 years and have more than 4 classrooms will only then qualify for the government funding. Classrooms are also full of children, some with up to 45 which must make teaching here pretty difficult. 

I was also invited by Kelsey, who works at the CBF academy to go with her and Richard, another CBF worker, to Bo and Kenema and help with some research they were doing on the physical and social wellbeing of the girls who are involved with CBF and compare it to those who are not. It was also a trip to hand out money to all the managers and coaches. So I went up to the academy in Tombo Wednesday evening and straight away got involved with the boys training session. The boys are aged from 13 to 16 and I’ve never seen anyone that age play at the standard these guys are at. One of them who was 15 and was taller than me could probably strike a ball better than Roony. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see some of these players in the Prem sometime soon; in fact I can’t believe that there are no Sierra Leone players already there. Wenger could probably do with some of them in his team next season and we might actually have a chance of winning something. After training it was time for dinner and then they had to do their homework before going to bed and getting up again for a 7am training session. We set of for Bo at 8 and 3 hours later met the first batch of coaches and managers. It was good to speak to them all and find out the difference of how their league works compared to Makeni but they seem to have the same sort of issues. We then left for Kenema which is a 45 minute drive and met with all the coaches and managers there to. We found out here that one of the boys in the CBF league had passed away due to malaria and typhoid, so we decided to pay the family a tribute and go and visit them. The family were obviously distraught and it was sad as his death was so preventable. CBF have decided to have an award in honour of him to be given out every year. After the visit we went to meet a girl’s team to have a game of football with them. The standard was pretty good and a huge crowd of people quickly gathered round us all to cheer us on. We then went back to the team mangers house we were staying at for dinner and got ready to go out to the local club. A few Stars later and we were all hitting the dance floor and getting all the local goers involved, who didn’t need that much persuading.

The next morning we were feeling a bit fragile but managed to get ourselves up to do some questionnaires and interviews with all the girls teams who were coming to the house to meet us. The information we got in the interviews gave me a real insight to how these girls live, some have lost both parents, others live in big families or only have one meal a day. I found it really interesting to find out what they go through, a daily routine would go something like this: get up and go to work selling, go to school, come back and sell or do chores, go to football training, do homework, go to sleep and start it all over again. Their main worry seemed to be paying school fees. I think the CBF leagues really keep the children motivated. They learn new skills, make new friends and it gives them something positive to focus on. 

After the interviews I left Kenema to get back in time before it got dark. It turned out to be quite a nightmare of a journey. It seems travelling here is never straight forward. I started by getting a taxi from Kenema to Bo which took about an hour. I was then told that I was in the wrong place so had to get a quick ocardo ride up the road to get on a government bus. However the buses don’t leave until they are full and I was the 5^th person on so had to wait at least another hour before we could leave. As soon as we left some lady started throwing a hissy fit about something and started shouting at the other passengers. The man next to me said this lady was crazy and I felt rather uncomfortable as they were all laughing at her and clearly winding her up for fun. It got to the stage where they called a policeman on board to try and sort it out. Luckily she wasn’t arrested and it did keep her quiet for the rest of the trip. The bus took ages and I had to get off about an hour and a half away from Makeni to get a poda poda. By now it was dark and had started raining so I sheltered with a lady and her family who helped me get on the right poda poda. 20 minutes later I was on my way again until for some reason we were all made to change onto another poda poda. The journey was starting to take its toll on me. I was tiered and cold and desperately wanted to get back but instead I was ushered on and crammed in with 20 other people. Nodding off on my last stretch the poda poda kept stopping for unknown reasons and then finally 7 and a half hours and 5 different transport modes later I arrived in Makeni and had a feeling of relief. I came to the conclusion that public transport here can only be summed up as shit, but on the positive it was an exciting little adventure and I was so grateful for all the help people gave me on the way.

Bumpy Roads

We’d recently been invited by a Paramount Chief, which is kind of like a village mayor, to come and visit him at his chiefdom in a place called Gbemdenbu. So on Thursday we took up his offer and decided to take a little trip. We left Makeni later than planned as we’ve fallen into the laid back Salonian lifestyle now and become used to things never really happening on time. We picked up a poda poda, which as usual was crammed with as many people as you can fit in and started along possibly the worst road I have ever been on. I normally hate the potholes in England but this road took it to another level. We were swerving around all over the place and our driver was absolutely crazy and kept trying to overtake the other cars and bikes. I’d also managed to sit next to something that could have potentially knocked me out if I hadn’t braced myself every time we went in another pothole. After about an hour of this we reached the village and met up with the chief who took us to his house and introduced us to his family. The house was like all the others in the village and I had sort of been expecting him to have this really posh house so I was a little disappointed. We sat outside and had a really nice dinner called goat pepper soup. I didn’t think I’d like eating goat but it tasted really nice. After dinner we had a beer and the chief then wanted to show us his farm and the river nearby so we jumped into a very nice 4x4 jeep and headed off on yet another bumpy road. This time it seemed even worse as we’d just eaten and were being thrown about all over the place. The Chief has his own rice farm but because it was starting to get pretty dark we could barely see anything. We couldn’t see much of the river either and a poor guy had to lift us all across some water to get there. Adam and Josh also got attacked by some weird ants that started clawing at their feet. After that we were all kind of looking forward to getting back in the car, but before we set off the Chief decided it would be a good time to crack open a beer for the journey back. Great. Not only were we being thrown about because of the bumps but we now had to worry about knocking our teeth out or spilling it over the new car. I took my sips very carefully. Arriving back at the house we were offered some more of the dinner we previously had. Not refusing another portion we all took up the offer. However this time it was cold soup and instead of the nice goats meat we had before it was the leftover scraps and I literally had an unknown floating goats organ in my bowl. So far I've been enjoying all the new foods I've tried but this time I honestly couldn’t put myself through it so had to leave it.     

After the second dinner we were taken to the guest house and invited to spend the rest of the night with the deputy minister of agriculture for the whole of Sierra Leone, which was quite a privilege. His house was lovely and even had a swimming pool which we were all impressed with. We sat in the garden with some of his relatives enjoying an array of alcohol like Baileys, Campari, Brandy and wine most of which I didn’t really like but had anyway. One of the minister’s relatives was an older guy who lives in America and is a dentist but had come back to Sierra Leone for a 2 week holiday. He was a funny guy who said he’d been drinking all day and was still going at midnight which I thought was quite an achievement for someone for his age. We left a bit later and returned to what seemed like a triple king sized bed.

The next morning we went back to the Chiefs house for breakfast which was yet more goats meat and organs with bread. It took me a while to realise I was eating the insides of a goat because it was all chopped up but once Josh confirmed there was definitely some organs in there I couldn’t bring myself to eat the rest. The rain then started coming down pretty heavy and we were eager to get moving back to Makeni so we decided to head off. The Chief informed us that it can be quite difficult to get a poda poda back so as we all sheltered under a metal roof we started thinking that it could be a long wait. Luckily about 20 minutes later one came along and I even managed to grab myself the front seat. It was yet another crazy driver going along the bumpy road and I sat there for the next hour or so with the guy next to me somehow managing to fall asleep, a leak above my head, the feeling that my breakfast could come back up at any time and a fair few chickens thrown in the back of this poda poda which must have had no suspension and every so often needed someone to give it a push to get it started again. Just another standard trip in Salone then. You’ve just gotta love this place.