Obama Obama!

What a week!

Lets start with my trip to Freetown. I got up before sunrise, threw on some clothes and left the house. I got lucky and managed to flag down an okada (motorbike taxi) at that early hour, which saved me the half hour walk to the highway. Once there, I bargained with a driver for passage to Freetown (we settled on 12,000 Leones, or £2.50 for the three hour journey). I travelled down in a “poda-poda” which is essentially an old minibus crammed full with as many people as possible. A hot and sweaty experience, but not so bad in the grand scheme of things.

I had a pretty productive meeting with the solar energy NGO, and it looks like I will be able to pull a proposal together, but it will be really expensive (I suspect that we will be courting some European donors). I then headed out to meet the friends I made in Freetown, and eat some varied food, which was a godsend after the monotony of available meals in Makeni. We then hit the town, where a few expats had made the effort for Halloween, and I mad the most of the nightlife, getting no sleep whatsoever.


I had been invited down to Lakka the previous day by Chris, a VSO volunteer who lives there. It is a beautiful beach about 40 minutes South of Freetown. I managed to get there for free hitching in the back of a pickup truck, and I had a great time just relaxing, swimming, and eating freshly caught Barracuda. Chris has an amazing place on the beach, complete with running water and electricity. I think he got lucky with his placement! I got very lucky in Lakka – I ran into someone I know from Makeni, and they were heading back that day, so I managed to get a ride all the way back, which saved me from the poda-poda.

Back in Makeni, I had a regular Monday before heading to the Apex hotel to watch the Newcastle v Villa game (which was great!) and whilst at the hotel, I recognised a large bearded man as Mick Foley, a WWE wrestling legend. I introduced myself to Mick, and learned that he was in Sierra Leone as he was funding a school near Makeni. He was a really nice guy, and he invited me back to the hotel to watch the US election coverage the following night.

The hotel was full of local people, who were Obama crazy. People had T-shirts and badges, I cannot do justice to how excited people in Africa are about a black President in the USA. We settled in by the pool bar with a few beers and watched people leave as the early hours arrived.

When Obama was announced as the winner, the celebrations were great. Looking back, there was nothing strange at the time of staying up until 5.30am in Sierra Leone watching CNN, high fiving a pro-wrester whilst a security guard waved his machine gun with glee, a reporter held a dictaphone to the TV to record the speech, and the barman chanted “Obama! Obama!” over and over.

The next night, I had arranged to take Mick Foley and his entourage out for local food, as they had so far only eaten in the hotel (where I have never eaten as it is way out of my price range). He kindly picked up the whole bill, which cost less than £15 for 11 people, much to his surprise. He is a really nice guy. He seemed humbled that we were spending a year here trying to help, whereas he only spent 6 days in country. I have to disagree. This country needs investment. He has made more of a difference in those 6 days than I can ever hope to make in a whole year.