It was bound to happen eventually. I finally got ill. It's gone now, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't malaria, so its all good.
Its been as bizarre as ever, and full of ups and downs as usual. As well as the illness, the downs include weird infection on my toe and ankle, losing a very rough game of football that got out of hand, and dropping my mobile phone into a bucket of water, forever robbing it of the ability to use the 1, 5 and 6 keys (no texting for me!). Of course all of this is pretty irrelevant when put into perspective. For example, my friend Emmanuel found out that his brother, who is a teacher, was stabbed by a colleague in a row over sports day. Fortunately he is fine, it could have been a lot worse.
Now, onto the Ups! Tyson's movie (Provisionally titled AIDS is Real) is in the rehearsal phase, and will start shooting in March. The cast are rehearsing in an old community centre on the outskirts of Makeni that was partially destroyed during the war. There is no roof, and trees and plants grow freely through the bricks. There is a small stage area and the sun sets behind the remaining wall casting light on the actors. It really is a beautiful setting and the group are really working hard, its just great to be around talented, hard working people.
Another recent highlight was when Sullay, one of the boys from Magbenteh village (for whom I play football) invited me to stay at his place in the village. There's no way I was going to turn down the chance to experience village life.
We started the day by walking out the Sullay's farm, which is set at the base of a huge hill. Along with his brother, he grows cassava, beans, pineapples and a number of other things, mainly for subsistence. Farming is hard work at the best of times, in the heat here it is something else! From there we had our football training, and then it was time for a shower...
We took a bucket, a bar of soap and some sandals, and walked about 500metres from the village to a valley near a stream. There I found the rest of the football team, naked and going about getting clean. I felt twenty pairs of expectant eyes burning through me as I arrived. As my shorts came off there was a massive cheer and people went back to washing. I am no stranger to a bucket shower, but I've never had such an attentive audience before. I suppose people don't see many naked white guys.
We arrived home to find a plate of cassava leaves with rice waiting for us, which was devoured with our hands and washed down with generous helpings of water from the well. Sullay then decided it would be a good time to teach me how to ride a motorbike. My first ever lesson was on the Makeni-Freetown highway, at night, with no helmet and a pillion passenger. Good times (sorry mam and dad!)
We than returned to Magbenteh, and went to look for Kalusha, who is a strange fellow who owed Sullay some money. We found him at a youth club, playing draughts (checkers to our North American friends). It is serious business here, people gamble money and play very quickly and aggressively. Its really fun to watch, and too scary to contemplate playing. I loved seeing what young people do in their spare time. Coming together and playing games.
We then returned home. Sullay's father has three wives. He has 6 sons, and 14 daughters at my last count. Many of them also have children. Needless to say, there are a lot of people living in a small house. I shared a bed with Sullay, and found it uncomfortably hot and noisy (village noise: chickens, rats, dogs, radios, people).
The whole experience was amazing. I learned so much about Salonean life. As well as this deeper understanding and appreciation of life for people here, I think I gained a new level of respect and friendship from the villagers, for living just one day with them. One day may well become day one, as I intend to spend more time there in the coming months.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Friday, 6 February 2009
MPs, Movies and the Mongoose
It has been a while since I have given an update. This is largely due to the fact that I have been incredibly busy lately, my days are usually completely full. Its nice to have my motivation back.
I spend nearly every morning at the Fatima Institute, where I am trying to co-ordinate every project they have (there are many). I am trying to make sure that funding proposals are of good quality, and projects go ahead successfully. There is a lot of work. I have also had exams to mark so I can finally be free of my teaching responsibility!
In the afternoons I head to the city council where I have taken the difficult decision to start the development plan once again. From scratch. All the work we did last year will come to nothing, but I didn't have enough control over the process and I want to start over with a “bottom-up” approach to community development. So that is keeping me (and one or two others) occupied everyday.
Last weekend I spent in Port Loko, which is around an hour away from Makeni. I was there to give a presentation to members of parliament at their two day training seminar. It was really interesting meeting the country's leaders, many of which had spent considerable time in the UK or the US. My topic was Poverty, Inequality and Development, and my presentation was broadcast live on the radio. I then had a question and answer session with the MPs, which threw up a few 'interesting' questions, showing that some of the parliamentarians have a poor grasp on major issues. (my favourites include “why should we encourage breastfeeding? I thought you said we should have less children, not more!” and “where did AIDS start?”). I went down a storm, as shown by the feedback forms from the seminar, and I did enjoy myself.
I have been helping Tyson, a Salonean friend who has a drama group. He has written the script of a movie aimed at HIV/AIDS sensitisation, and I am going to play role of producer to get funding and equipment that he will need to do it. Tyson is a 21 year old guy, who is still trying to graduate high school, but he is really talented and imaginative, and he is a great organiser. I enjoy working with him, and developing a friendship with someone so different from myself, who grew up with nothing during a war.
I have been playing lots of football as usual, which is great. I am always constantly aware that I am in Africa when I play. Everything, from the style of play to the crazy stuff that happens. For example, in training, our 'goalposts' (made from sticks) collapsed, and we couldn't get them to stand on their own. So, a small boy was enlisted to stand and hold the goalpost for the whole training session. He actually seemed happy that he was involved in some capacity! That incident was bettered by the time we were training and a sudden commotion made everyone run off the field to where one of our boys was carrying something big and hairy. It turned out that it was a dead mongoose. Training stopped, a fire was lit and a mongoose was cooked and eaten right there and then. Its not every day these guys get to eat meat, especially something as substantial as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi!
I spend nearly every morning at the Fatima Institute, where I am trying to co-ordinate every project they have (there are many). I am trying to make sure that funding proposals are of good quality, and projects go ahead successfully. There is a lot of work. I have also had exams to mark so I can finally be free of my teaching responsibility!
In the afternoons I head to the city council where I have taken the difficult decision to start the development plan once again. From scratch. All the work we did last year will come to nothing, but I didn't have enough control over the process and I want to start over with a “bottom-up” approach to community development. So that is keeping me (and one or two others) occupied everyday.
Last weekend I spent in Port Loko, which is around an hour away from Makeni. I was there to give a presentation to members of parliament at their two day training seminar. It was really interesting meeting the country's leaders, many of which had spent considerable time in the UK or the US. My topic was Poverty, Inequality and Development, and my presentation was broadcast live on the radio. I then had a question and answer session with the MPs, which threw up a few 'interesting' questions, showing that some of the parliamentarians have a poor grasp on major issues. (my favourites include “why should we encourage breastfeeding? I thought you said we should have less children, not more!” and “where did AIDS start?”). I went down a storm, as shown by the feedback forms from the seminar, and I did enjoy myself.
I have been helping Tyson, a Salonean friend who has a drama group. He has written the script of a movie aimed at HIV/AIDS sensitisation, and I am going to play role of producer to get funding and equipment that he will need to do it. Tyson is a 21 year old guy, who is still trying to graduate high school, but he is really talented and imaginative, and he is a great organiser. I enjoy working with him, and developing a friendship with someone so different from myself, who grew up with nothing during a war.
I have been playing lots of football as usual, which is great. I am always constantly aware that I am in Africa when I play. Everything, from the style of play to the crazy stuff that happens. For example, in training, our 'goalposts' (made from sticks) collapsed, and we couldn't get them to stand on their own. So, a small boy was enlisted to stand and hold the goalpost for the whole training session. He actually seemed happy that he was involved in some capacity! That incident was bettered by the time we were training and a sudden commotion made everyone run off the field to where one of our boys was carrying something big and hairy. It turned out that it was a dead mongoose. Training stopped, a fire was lit and a mongoose was cooked and eaten right there and then. Its not every day these guys get to eat meat, especially something as substantial as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi!
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