Monday, 30 April 2012
Aporto, Aporto!!!
First of all I should explain what exactly aporto means, although I’m sure it is fairly obvious. The explanation is simply “White Man” There is no distinguishing between a white man and white woman and if I was back in England I think I’d probably take offence to being called a man. However here in Makeni it was the first word I learnt as I stepped out the car to be greeted by about 15 kids all shouting aporto, aporto at us. As we walk through the community I’ve noticed that there is also a little dance and even a song to go with it, which is quite entertaining. It feels like we are celebrities here, constantly waving and smiling to people as we pass by which actually makes walking here a lot more interesting.
The house we live in is just like any other house in the community. There is no running water, air con or electricity unless we use the generator which is not very often. I thought this would be difficult but to be honest I'm really enjoying it. There is nothing better than waking up and having a bucket shower to refresh you. Unfortunately you don’t stay clean for long as any sort of activity here makes you sweat. When going to bed I try not to move so I don’t get to hot and can fall asleep easier.
At the house we have a lady called Fatmatta that cooks lovely food for us. Breakfast is normally a bread roll with the Laughing Cow cheese and dinner ranges from bean stew with rice, chicken and chips, or groundnut stew with rice. Whatever we have its pretty much with rice and very spicy. When I get home I think I’ll be ready to take on a vindaloo curry. The other person at the house is Alusaine who fetches the water and does other jobs here and there. He plays football for a local team so the boys have started joining him every now and then and hopefully I can get some training there soon. Football here amazes me. The pitches are hard and covered in sand and stones; they’re rarely flat and often have bumps in them and people prefer to wear jelly shoes rather then astros, but the football that is played here would put the England team to shame. We definitely take for granted the equipment and pitches we have at home.
The other key places we have found in Makeni are The Clubhouse, which is a Street Child run bar and restaurant where Josh (one of the volunteers) will be working. This place is as western as you will get in Sierra Leone and we often use it as a retreat from the craziness. We have also found football cinemas a good way to spend our free time. This is a room filled with benches and maybe two to three screens showing football games. Sometimes there will be two different games going on at the same time as people here aren’t just interested in the Premier League but also the Spanish and Italian to. The room is hot, crampt and often has a very manly smell about it but the atmosphere is still so much better than watching it in an English pub. When a team scores people jump out their seats cheering with each other or in the case of the recent Chelsea game it was lifting up their chairs. Football plays a very big part of life here, and you see it everywhere.
Hopefully over the next 3 months I can tell you all about our time here in Sierra Leone as it is truly a very special country and I don’t think enough people realise that. I’m about a week behind with my blogs so I’ve still got a lot to share. Thanks for reading.
Tribewanted
Tribewanted is the most
stunning place I have been to so far. We spent 5 days here waking up on a beach
and falling asleep to the sounds of waves, having training sessions in an
outdoor classroom facing the sea and resting in a hammock to watch the sun set.
The camp is entirely echo friendly which meant having outdoor bucket showers in
a little wooden cubicle and having to go to the toilet in what I can only
describe as being a hole in the ground. It was definitely an experience.
The people everywhere are so friendly. We met some interesting characters at Tribewanted from Big Mama who is Rasario Dawsons mum (the daughter is a big film star but none of us knew what film’s she had been in) to Avril and Ray who are spending 2 years travelling Africa in a little camper van. The children are also amazing, we spent a while playing with them and they all took a shine to the slack line we had set up between two trees. At one point Mark started helping MoMo (the local nudist kid) go along the line and then a whole group of other kids suddenly joined him out of nowhere and we soon found ourselves all holding onto about 3 kids each as they tried to cross the line. After what felt like hours we managed to retreat back to the hammocks.
On the Sunday we spent the day doing a 7 hour trek through the bush up a hill/mountain called Picket Point. This was pretty challenging and wasn’t helped by the fact our guide CoCo would often say we were only a few minutes from the top when we were actually more like half an hour. Still, it was completely worth it once we got there as it was an incredible view of the country. Greg perhaps didn’t quite appreciate the view quite as much as us, as the gruelling heat and steep hill had meant that he had a rather horizontal view. On the way up we even saw a snake go straight past us. After talking to someone when we got back they seemed to think it was a Cobra but I’m not too sure that it was. That night it’s safe to say we all slept pretty well.
I really enjoyed my time here. One of the highlights was me and Mark attempting to canoe across the crocodile lagoon. We started with high hopes expecting to explore the area however as soon as we both got in, the whole thing filled with water and we had to jump back out desperately trying to get the water out with our hands. A local guy must have seen we needed help as he came over and told us how to get in properly. Pushing us away from the shore we began paddling with a long stick and plank of wood and after completing two 360’s we decided that neither of us should use the canoes again and we got out and walked it back. Fairly unsuccessful.
By Wednesday we were packed and ready to leave again, heading for Makeni, our destination for the next 3 months.
The people everywhere are so friendly. We met some interesting characters at Tribewanted from Big Mama who is Rasario Dawsons mum (the daughter is a big film star but none of us knew what film’s she had been in) to Avril and Ray who are spending 2 years travelling Africa in a little camper van. The children are also amazing, we spent a while playing with them and they all took a shine to the slack line we had set up between two trees. At one point Mark started helping MoMo (the local nudist kid) go along the line and then a whole group of other kids suddenly joined him out of nowhere and we soon found ourselves all holding onto about 3 kids each as they tried to cross the line. After what felt like hours we managed to retreat back to the hammocks.
On the Sunday we spent the day doing a 7 hour trek through the bush up a hill/mountain called Picket Point. This was pretty challenging and wasn’t helped by the fact our guide CoCo would often say we were only a few minutes from the top when we were actually more like half an hour. Still, it was completely worth it once we got there as it was an incredible view of the country. Greg perhaps didn’t quite appreciate the view quite as much as us, as the gruelling heat and steep hill had meant that he had a rather horizontal view. On the way up we even saw a snake go straight past us. After talking to someone when we got back they seemed to think it was a Cobra but I’m not too sure that it was. That night it’s safe to say we all slept pretty well.
I really enjoyed my time here. One of the highlights was me and Mark attempting to canoe across the crocodile lagoon. We started with high hopes expecting to explore the area however as soon as we both got in, the whole thing filled with water and we had to jump back out desperately trying to get the water out with our hands. A local guy must have seen we needed help as he came over and told us how to get in properly. Pushing us away from the shore we began paddling with a long stick and plank of wood and after completing two 360’s we decided that neither of us should use the canoes again and we got out and walked it back. Fairly unsuccessful.
By Wednesday we were packed and ready to leave again, heading for Makeni, our destination for the next 3 months.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Welcome to Sierra Leone - the place of smiles
WOW!!
Landing in Sierra Leone felt like walking into a sauna, we were immediately sweating uncontrollably in our English clothes. We were loaded straight onto a bus taking us literally 100 metres to the entrance of a crowded, busy and manic room/airport were everyone was waiting for their mountains of luggage. Looking around the room we saw a comforting sign saying "Welcome to Sierra Leone, the place of smiles." After fighting our way out, we were rescued by Charlie (The Collective organiser) and awarded Sierra Leones finest Star beer where every bottle is guaranteed to taste different. We were then ushered onto a ferry, jumping across some water to board the boat and up to the top deck. The breeze was much appreciated at this point and looking out to the main land I suddenly thought that this is going to be amazing.
The only way to describe driving through Freetown is that it's a hundred times worse then driving in London. Cars, akados (motorbikes) and people are everywhere swerving around each other and with their lights on full beam. The city was full of life even though it was around 10pm. People were still selling and carrying countless things on their heads. I even saw someone carrying a table on their head. I've still yet to master this skill but I'm hoping someone might teach me soon, as long as they don't give me anything fragile.
We finally arrived at our first destination which was Tribewanted, an echo camp situated on the most amazing beach. As we struggled with our heavy bags down the hill, a group of very kind people hoisted them up onto their shoulders and helped us get to camp. I later felt sorry for the guy who had mine as i noticed the airport had put a sticker on it saying "Warning Heavy!!" We later sat down for some food and crawled into our tents (which were already full of sand) ready to start our big adventure.
Landing in Sierra Leone felt like walking into a sauna, we were immediately sweating uncontrollably in our English clothes. We were loaded straight onto a bus taking us literally 100 metres to the entrance of a crowded, busy and manic room/airport were everyone was waiting for their mountains of luggage. Looking around the room we saw a comforting sign saying "Welcome to Sierra Leone, the place of smiles." After fighting our way out, we were rescued by Charlie (The Collective organiser) and awarded Sierra Leones finest Star beer where every bottle is guaranteed to taste different. We were then ushered onto a ferry, jumping across some water to board the boat and up to the top deck. The breeze was much appreciated at this point and looking out to the main land I suddenly thought that this is going to be amazing.
The only way to describe driving through Freetown is that it's a hundred times worse then driving in London. Cars, akados (motorbikes) and people are everywhere swerving around each other and with their lights on full beam. The city was full of life even though it was around 10pm. People were still selling and carrying countless things on their heads. I even saw someone carrying a table on their head. I've still yet to master this skill but I'm hoping someone might teach me soon, as long as they don't give me anything fragile.
We finally arrived at our first destination which was Tribewanted, an echo camp situated on the most amazing beach. As we struggled with our heavy bags down the hill, a group of very kind people hoisted them up onto their shoulders and helped us get to camp. I later felt sorry for the guy who had mine as i noticed the airport had put a sticker on it saying "Warning Heavy!!" We later sat down for some food and crawled into our tents (which were already full of sand) ready to start our big adventure.
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