June 29 - Buh Bye Anna and Canal News

Last night we said goodbye to our colleague Anna as she heads back to the UK today. Anna was a great friend to me here and the most independent person I think I have ever met. She was a taxi-taking, Krio-speaking machine. I'll miss her and hope to meet up with her in the UK to grab some Ghanain food and see all her photos from her 6 months in Africa that she took with a traditional camera...imagine that stack!

Here are a couple of photos of the legend that is Anna:

Lovin the Ghanain

Chillin at the beach!

I also managed to discover the following article yesterday:

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6c54a65e-99a1-4bd5-939f-99ecfa1e7a30&k=63784


Most of you know that the Rideau Canal is one of my favourite spots on EARTH and I was happy to see it make such status. The Africany part of this story is that I was actually looking for the news story about the Omanian parkland that had been reduced by 90% for oil cultivation because it was on the radio yesterday morning. Apparently the Ottawa piece of that story wasn't news here. Glad I was interested in the middle-east issue!

June 28 - City Compare

Location
Woking - Suburb of London (south-west) in Surrey
Freetown - Capital of Sierra Leone, On the west coast

Time zone
Woking - BST = GMT + 1
Freetown - GMT

Currency
Woking - British Pound (1£=$2.50 CAD)
Freetown - Leone (3000Le = $1CAD)

Ranking in Human Development Index
Woking - #18 – 0.940 (high)
Freetown - #176 – 0.335 (low)
(Canada is 6th at 0.950)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

How I arrived
Woking - Air Canada to London Heathrow
Taxi to Woking

Freetown - British Airways to Lungi via Dakar, Senegal
Helicopter to Aberdeen
Plan vehicle to home

Where I lived
Woking -

1) Guest room in IT Director’s flat downtown Woking
2) The Arden Bed and Breakfast across the railway tracks from downtown
3) ADP Flat in the west end of downtown

Freetown -

1) Flat in the lower level of a house near the office
2) Family Kingdom Hotel on Aberdeen

Where I worked
Woking - International Headquarters in Chobham House building.
Sat in the library with the rest of the team.
Coffee and tea available in the kitchen.

Freetown - Plan Sierra Leone Country office. Gated grounds with loads of drivers, cleaners and security guards.
Our office was Twin Tower #1 (their name not mine), a shed in the parking lot with a metal roof. Two desks shared. AC. Coffee and tea via thermos on my desk.

Main tasks
Woking - Get to know the project and the team. High-level planning. Meetings, meetings and more meetings

Freetown - Detailed test and implementation planning

What I ate
Woking -

Breakfast – Cereal and/or Toast
Lunch – leftovers from the night before, sandwich from M&S or local shop
Dinner – Salad and chicken at home or pub food. Shopping at Sainsbury or M&S

Freetown -

Breakfast – Continental at the hotel included
Lunch – Traditional African dishes cooked by the Plan cook (Musu who was shockingly like an African version of my Aunt Audrey). Rice with meat and sauce daily.
Dinner – depends on the day. Restaurant or oatmeal packet.
Shopping at local supermarket for snacks, oatmeal and water

Costs
Woking - Super duper expensive. Same prices as at home but 2.5 times as much when you convert to dollars.

Freetown - Not that cheap. Imported goods (cereal, sweets) are expensive but local items (fish, mangoes, nuts, breads) are cheap. Drinks are cheap too.

Food
Woking - Same as home only not fresh for nearly as long as it is mostly imported. Expensive. Favs – Prêt yogurt bowls, anything from M&S, Hobnobs

Freetown - Rice with everything! Loads of fish and lobster. Fresh fruit but no veggies. Bottled water. Chapmans! (SLE drink)

Shelter
Woking -

Kelvin’s flat = free
B&B = 40GBP/night
ADP flat = ? (probably around 1000GBP/month)

Freetown -

Sketchy flat – $40/night for both
Family Kingdom - $3000US for 6 weeks for both of us. (one room)

How I travelled
Woking - Foot, Southwest Trains to London and the tube
Freetown - Rides from friends, Plan staff and the White Dragon (Nana’s car)

How I communicated
Woking - UK mobile (vodaphone), Skype and calling card
Freetown - SLE mobile (on loan from Nana – CellTell), Skype

What I did for exercise
Woking - Stretch cords, Peak Fitness gym, local pool, morning runs along the canal
Freetown - Run along the beach, Hashing, Yoga, balance ball and stretch cords.

What I did for fun
Woking - Hang out with Laura, had visitors in (Martha!), watched TV, worked out, went to the pub, shopping, coffee, theatre, went into London
Freetown - Hung out with friends, beach, runs, dinners, bars, read, ate, chilled on porch of our hotel room

Side-Trips
Woking - Newquay and the south/west region, London many times
Freetown - Banana Islands, River #2, Chimp sanctuary, Charlotte Falls, Private Beach

First Impressions
Woking - Simple and cute. Friendly and small. Just like home only more expensive.
Freetown - Busy and beautiful, more ‘developed’ than I thought. People are well put together.

If I came again what would I bring
Woking - Toiletries (so expensive), a proper day bag, more $$, dutyfree
Freetown - Better clothes for going out. Some jewelry, fake wedding ring, more $$, better workout videos

June 24 – 24 hours of our own beach!

This weekend was a different one that’s for sure. It started with live music on Friday when an ex-pat band played at Sportsbar. It was a fun evening and I am starting to be able to recognize most of the folks at the events we go to. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing but I fell like part of a gang. Here’s the poster from the cover band. For those of you gals out there who will spot it…no Jem was not truly outrageous but a round-bellied man who was the lead singer.

Saturday morning I did my now regular long run up the beach. It has been raining every day so the beach was nicely packed down. I got my usual ‘hello Canadian girl’ due to me wearing my ‘not remotely fast enough for the Canadian Marathon Team’ t-shirt. It’s hard to think that that was my second last run. I have to remember to savour next weekend’s tour de beach.

Mid morning Laura and Manny (Emanuel her driver) came to get us and we headed off to a small beach near Tokeh that is owned and operated by the British High Commission in Freetown. As Laura is a BHC employee she was able to book the place for the weekend for our exclusive use. She mentioned that the High Commissioner had been up to the beach last weekend so we thought, how bad can it be? Well, it was interesting.

We spent 24 hours on a secluded beach just the five of us (L-R in photo: Quirien, Conor, me, Laura and Anna) and our three hosts (Simon, Frank and Ompah). We arrived about 1pm and were welcomed by a marvelous break in the rain. We had a clear blue day which resulted in a few sunburns, my first (and definitely last) on this trip. We sat on the beach and read, swam and chatted. Our hosts made us some fabulous fish, rice and sauce and we enjoyed it on the ‘patio’ of the concrete building. The building was a four room concrete shelter with a toilet and a shower hose. There was a fridge but no power so it was more of a well-sealed cupboard. We didn’t spend much time inside so we didn’t give it much thought.

BHC building on the beach

We had a fire on the beach that night and enjoyed the sky and the water. It was amazing to be on a beach all alone in this country and really reminded me of cottage country when you are lucky enough to have a lonely spot on a lake. We did manage to see a snake a couple of times. It was wicked! I won't put up the photo so my Mom doesn't get scared. If you want to see the snake video give me a shout!

Most of us slept outside on loungers under mosquito nets. It was not the most comfortable and a choir of frogs was more than happy to serenade us all night long but in the end, it was a fabulous experience! I think I may have slept for 30 minutes due to heat, sunburn and frogs but it was worth it.

Sunset on the BHC beach

Sunday was lazy and a bit wetter than Saturday. Having not thought about breakfast we finished off the cookies and water we brought and read our books until Manny came to gather us. The ride home was sleepy and silent. We went to our favourite restaurant ‘Bliss Bakery’ to celebrate Anna’s last weekend here as she leaves on Friday to go back to Plan UK in Camden. It was great and we were even given some of a family’s birthday cake to include us in their celebration. Yum!!

As of tomorrow Quirien and I are officially off cookies in an attempt to get back into shape for our journey’s home. Seeing as I have a little over a week left but at least it’s an effort to lose some of the weight I have gained here. 9 more days of work until my journey returns to the UK. J I’ll have to keep exploring this place. It will be hard to top this weekend that’s for sure.

Special hi to Matt (Jay’s brother) and Karen who celebrated their wedding this weekend! Congrats you two. Jay told me the wedding was a total blast. I had no doubt in my mind. Happy recovery!

June 21 – Going ‘Up-Country’

I suppose I have to explain the term ‘up-country’. Around Freetown when folks talk about going out to the communities around the capital they call it going ‘up-country’. Technically it’s sort of ‘in-country’ or ‘side-country’ but you get the point.

Wednesday was a big day for our team as we got to go ‘up’ to Porto Lorko (pronounced without the ‘r’). It was about a 1.5 hour drive from the office on some rough roads and the 7 of us fit nice and tightly into the Plan vehicle and arrived safe and sound.

June 17 – The Chimps, Charlotte Falls and a Rainy Father’s Day

After spending a quiet night on Friday eating Chinese food (yes, they do have okay Chinese food in Freetown) and getting rested for the big ‘monkey’ day we met up at Laura’s so that her driver could take us to the Sanctuary. The first thing we learned was that chimps are not in fact monkeys but GREAT APES. This puts them in the same group as gorillas, orangutans and bonobos. The Sanctuary had all kinds of helpful boards to teach visitors about the chimps like this one:

And this one:
The sanctuary was started in when a chimp named Bruno was rescued from a family home. It is illegal not only to hunt chimps but also to keep them as pets. This place finds and recovers (either voluntarily or through the police) chimps in Sierra Leone and beyond. They are brought in, studied and treated for what ails them and then taught to live in groups in a HUGE forest setting. Because of their exposure to humans the group is unsure if they will ever be able to be truly wild ever again but it doing their best to try to re-integrate them in groups. They spend nights in shelters like this where they can be monitored:

And their days out in forest areas from 4-9 acres that are just breathtaking!
We got to watch them be fed and made friends with a few once they were done throwing rocks at us. (None hit me but I think Anna got one in the head, ouch!). We met the biggest chimp Phillip who made faces and even did backflips for us:

These guys were so adorable and incredibly human like in there movements. It was amazing to see them in this ‘wild’ environment!

After the chimps we headed across the road to Charlotte Falls. The falls were lovely although not exactly what I was expecting considering it has been raining so much.

We paid the 2000Le (less than $1) but as we walked through the village to the falls realized that our joint 10,000Le donation would have a significant impact on the villages supplies for the week. Our tour guide and three young child-friends walked us to the falls and giggled as we took photos and poked around the area.

We ended our journey with lunch at the Country Lodge which is the ‘posh’ hotel in Freetown. Yummy food and ice cream! What a great day!

That evening we headed out to a fun party and for another visit to the locale party club, Paddy’s which was a bit of a scary encounter with some pick-pockets and a purse slasher but everyone came out with everything they went in with. Just learned to watch our backs, a lesson I am sure will help me in Kenya.

Happy Father’s day to all the Dads at home (including you soon to be Dads like Darren and Tim). The weather helped us out here in town today as the rain kept our plans simple including lunch at my favourite bakery (including éclair for Conor and Macaroon for me) where we found many of the attendees from the night before recovering with great coffee.

Watched Pink Panther at Laura’s (which was surprisingly funny) and now am home catching up on some work and relaxing. Less than three weeks left for me here. I can’t believe I have been gone for two whole months and am past the half-way point of my time in SLE. Much to do with work before I leave and many new African experiences coming my way I am sure.

Everyone enjoy their week! Miss you. Eat your veggies!

June 15 – Special Court: How do you impose justice post-war

Previously I mentioned that many of the ex-pats I have met here in SLE work with the UN Special Court of Sierra Leone so I would like to let you know what this court is doing because I find it quite interesting.

At this point most of you know of the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia that took place in the 90s/early 00s. The purpose of this court is similar to Nuremberg trials after WWII and more recently, those held in the Hague regarding Kosovo. They are putting various war criminals on trial for atrocities that occurred in this country.

One of the biggest stories/trials is that of Charles Taylor the former president of Liberia. (1997 – 2003). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor there’s a good bit on this page about the SLE civil war too.)

The revolutionary campaign that started the war here was supported by both Muammar Qaddafi and Taylor. Among other roles it is said that these two men supplied the rebels with arms in exchange for diamonds and helped the leaders of the revolution to organize their armies. Basically he supported the war in SLE and later was became Liberia’s president.

On 7 March 2003, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) indicted Taylor, charging him with crimes against humanity, an indictment which still stands. The trial work began when he was captured and turned over to the UN in Sierra Leone in 2006. The actual trial started June 4th in the Hague and the legal teams are headed their next week to support the trial.

Many of the lawyers I have met here are working on the case including on both sides of the courtroom and all have their own opinion on the purpose/value of the Special Court and the prosecution of war criminals in general.

I would be lying to say that I have never thought through this concept before. I have always been interested in the aftermath of WWII and all of the effort over many years focused on bringing justice to the world. I’ll keep my opinion to myself and let you take a look at the following article:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/06/03/taylor.legacy.ap/index.html

Some of the things in this blow my mind and it all makes me remember (again) how lucky we are to live in the ‘free world’.

On a much lighter note, big plans for the weekend.  Look for loads of updates on Monday and enjoy yours!

June 11 – Babies and Another Hash!

Another Monday….woohooo. Only three more before my departure which is bitter-sweet. Today Moosue brought the receptionist’s grandson to our shed to visit. Issac was a cutie pie but he definitely didn’t like Conor. In an attempt to change my flight home to a week and a bit earlier as requested, Nana and I headed to downtown Freetown to the BA office.

I wish I had brought my camera because downtown in the middle of the afternoon was chaos. So much to see. People selling everything from flip flops to stationary and car parts to Persian rugs. The streets were full of people going about their business to and fro. We managed to find a spot to park, well maybe not a spot but an area that wasn’t already in use and headed to the BA office. Let’s just say the visit wasn’t fruitful and we’ll have to visit again to get the ticket changed.

After work we headed to King Harmon and the old Railway for our third hash. The run was good and VERY hilly. We even got to cross a bridge I had only seen from the road high above. Hashing is a fabulous way to see a place. We ran through all kinds of yards and roads and even saw the cutest little puppy along the way. We even got free Freetown Hasher t-shirts. My first SLE souvenir!
Tired and sweaty we headed home. Quick stop at the supermarket for some instant oatmeal (which turned out to be pretty decent) and home to bed.