Celebrations!!

Its been a while since my last blog entry so this one might end up being quite long. Stick with it though cause I've got lots to say.......

We’ve had a few celebrations recently. No surprise there, it’s become quite apparent that the Sierra Leoneans love a good celebration. First of all it was Bob Marley Day and when I say day I mean it starts at around 8am and goes on till about 7pm where they then go onto another village to party well into the night. Now I never even knew Bob Marley had a day but I think it should be recognised more in England, mainly cause it’s just excuse for another party. Anyway, our neighbour Sallie invited us to go with her and the rest of her family so we joined them in the village next to ours called Mabanta. When we got there it was literally a big outdoor area fenced off and a guy blaring music out of speakers. There were people selling drinks and in the far corner a distinctive smell of weed was drifting through the party from a group of men smoking the biggest spliffs I've ever seen (very Bob Marley like). We soon got onto the Stars and in the dancing spirit with Sallie showing us all up with her dance moves. Typically it never takes long for kids to gather round us and we soon had pretty much every kid at the party dancing with us to. Sallie’s dad, Hassan, acted as our bodyguard throughout the party and whenever someone drunk gave us a bit of hassle he was quick to come over and give them a few words. He’d often say to us “don’t worry I will look out for you” while he cooly held a beer and cig in his hand and effortlessly danced in true dad style. It was clear he is respected by others in the village and is what I like to call “a legend.” What shocked me most at the party was the amount of kids that spent their time chasing each other trying to get a sip of the last bit of alcohol in a packet or a toke of a cigarette or even the little 4 year old who regularly stood with all the men smoking weed. I know that this is probably very normal in this country as I'm sure there’s no such thing as age restrictions for buying alcohol here but every time I see it, it really gets to me and I think about whether this has any effect on them when they grow up and how different their attitude is compared to England.

The other celebration that we recently had was much different and it’s nice to say there was no children smoking or drinking here. It was the Clubhouse 1 year anniversary and also Josh’s 22^nd birthday. We all dressed up and headed to the Clubhouse for some drinks, dancing to a live band and a lovely food buffet with potato salad, couscous, fried rice and a massive barracuda fish. Everyone was in high spirits and Josh was initiated by the miners and made to drink upside down with two men holding his legs up. We all had a very entertaining night and spent the Sunday after only leaving the house for dinner.

Other than all the celebrations we enjoyed a lovely weekend at a place called Robonko Village where we met our new volunteer Adam who will be working with us on CBF. Robonko is a little village in the middle of nowhere where you can take a picturesque motorbike ride through sugar cane fields and a cashew nut plantation which we found out takes 6 years to grow. We stayed in a type of mud hut with a thatched roof but it was really cosy and well made. During the day we went down to the river for a swim and had a nice meal of groundnut soup and rice with fresh pineapple. At night the sky was as clear as I’ve ever seen before and the stars were so bright. We spent a while just looking up and counting all the shooting stars we could see. The next day was spent relaxing with another trip to the river where on our way down we came across a green snake going across the path with a frog in its mouth. We left in time to watch the Man City and QPR football match which turned out to be a very exciting end to the premiership (sorry to all my Man U friends but I was very happy they didn’t win). It was yet another fun filled trip away and this weekend we are heading to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. 

Work wise has been fairly quiet this last couple of weeks. We’ve had limited internet access but it is finally picking up again and today me and Greg visited one of the schools I'm going to be working with to build stronger relationships with CBF. When we went to the school the first thing I noticed was that a lot of the teachers carried around a short bamboo stick, which I can only assume is used to flog the children with. The classrooms were cramped and what looked like was once the school hall now had 3 different classes in it and nothing separating them from one another so everyone had to shout to be heard. I have no idea how the children concentrate in those sorts of conditions. I'm looking forward to see how the other schools compare.

For the rest of the week we hope to visit a place called Kabala for the day, we’re heading to Freetown on the weekend and going to the CBF Academy in Tombo, we’re off to watch Sallie and Alusine play football today and I’m getting on with some of my questionnaire work. Busy week.