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.