Dress down Friday

Actually, 'dress up Friday' would be a more accurate description. A lot of the Ministry staff dress very smartly on every day  of the week, but on Fridays the style steps up a pace and the corridors are colourful with shirts and long dresses, very often with matching head gear. And yes, I did have a genuine Sierra Leonian shirt myself- not made to measure, but a very nice one of  fine cotton, dyed in indigo. I'm not sure if I paid over the odds for it, but I enjoyed doing the deal in the Big Market.

Today has been a really good day at work. The President gave assent to the creation of a Health Services Commission last Wednesday, which is something the Ministry of Health has been wanting for a long time. At the moment, everybody who works in publicly funded healthcare facilities (and that includes drivers, porters and cleaners in the remotest rural areas) is classed as Ministry staff, with hiring and firing done at national level. The Commission would separate the HR arrangements for health workers, including regulation and standards, from central civil service arrangements. The President wants the Commission in place by next March, which is a huge task. I can't quite believe how lucky I am to have arrived at a time when my UK background and experience is so relevant. I am also amazed at the calibre and commitment of colleagues I am working with - techincally sharp, politically savvy, but very open to discussion and ideas.

I really wanted to get a picture today of our department in Friday dress mode. My boss was very keen on the idea, but then the day took flight and there wasn't a good moment, so that one will have to wait. Instead, this is a gratuitous beach shot of Lumley beach in Freetown, taken from my chair at a beach bar last Sunday afternoon. Think bath-warm sea...

Around Home

I'm trying to find a way to describe what the immediate environment of the house is like without it sounding contradictory. Here on the West side of Freetown,  living conditions are generally much better than in the East and in relative terms it is by no means a poor area. The house has a balcony and although the next house is built so close to ours that part of the view is obscured, in one direction we do have a clear view of the sea, which is a very pleasant sight in the evening.

In another direction the view is not quite as easy on the eye:

 
And in another,  there is a more gritty reality:

I could tell you that a couple of hundred metres away on the tarmac road there is a lebanese bakery and a supermarket; a bit further up the road there is an Italian restaurant; and that about a kilometre in the other direction is a patisserie. All these things would be true, but  somehow, I think the impression that gives would be misleading. It doesn't really feel like rich and poor, North and South; the chaotic mix here is far more exotic than that.

Tonight we have had a plumber here, to try to sort out the problem of our lack of water. However, it seems the problem is not in the house - the pipes are not buried very deep and it seems that it has been cut and turned into an impromptu stand-pipe somewhere further up the road.

Sunday Service

On Sunday it was the annual medical and health services Sunday service, which was held at the Methodist Church in Central Freetown. My colleague VSO who works in the Chief Nurses Office had been involved in the organisation, so three of us went along to what turned out to be very lively and enjoyable event - with the congregation cheering the preacher when he spoke about the scandal of low pay for health workers, and with great singing and dancing up the aisle for the offertory (not by me, you understand). After the service everybody formed up to march through Freetown to a reception. In the picture below, you can see the famous Freetown Cotton Tree in the background.

I had a special reason to feel thankful at the service, as it is where I met up with the delegation from ABMU Health Board in Wales who have come to do some training in the Childrens' Hospital over the next week. They were carrying with them my laptop from UK (thank you Julie and Lisa!). So this week I'm a bit better placed to support my boss and get on with some of the things he wants me to do. And also, of course, it now means that I have a way to upload some pics to my blog.

Checking out the beach

Well it did rain on Friday night -  and it was heavy rain. So heavy that you could really feel the weight of it on your umbrella. I now realise why all the unmetalled side roads (i.e most of the roads) are like rocky river beds. It is because that is what they quickly become. However, by Saturday morning it had cleared up and four of us decided to hire a taxi for the day (which worked out at about £7 each) and go down to River Number 2 Beach. The road was terrible, but the beach is jaw-dropping.

It was almost deserted but the community there has formed a development association and built some simple lodges for overnight accommodation. They will also cook meals (baracuda kebabs and chips), provide cold beers, and they pool their takings for village development. Apparently, during the war, when the rebels were approaching they buried their generator and other valuables and took to the sea in boats, where they were safe from harm.

 

 

Friday afternoon

It's been a good week and I'm learning a lot. There are some aspects of the job that seem very familiar at first sight, but then turn out to be quite different (like the staff appointment process) and there are other things that are surprising, but then turn out to be very recognisable after all (like arriving at work today and finding everyone in traditional dress - it turns out that it is dress down Friday). The secretary has offered to take me to the tailor to have a shirt made for next week..

The Ministry of Health is under great pressure to reduce the time between a job advert being placed and someone taking up the post. It can currently take years, by which time newly qualified staff have often gone elsewhere. I've been doing a process map with the personnel staff this week and it's not hard to see why it takes so long, with approval of every appointment involving 2 Ministries plus the Public Services Commission. I'm not sure how possible it might be to change yet. It seems the controls were put in place to reduce the risk of corruption so there are a lot of concerns about losing central control.

In general feel I'm finding the groove now. Each day gets a bit easier; the journey to work is simply a matter of timing, and there's plenty of good natured banter to make the time pass (I shared a taxi this morning with someone whose son lives in Arabella Street in Cardiff). The humidity has also dropped and the weather today has been great. I've arranged to meet with some others for a beer at the beach in a while, though from where I'm sitting, I can see some grey clouds in the distance, so we may be rained off. This is just the tail end of the rainy season so its quite changeable - Sierra Leonians, seem to talk about both traffic and the weather, just as much as the Brits!

Finding a routine

Well, I definitely haven't found a routine yet, although at one level, I'm living the commuters office life. I go to work by taxi; they can take up to 6 people (4 in the back, 2 in the front) and they pick up and drop off as they ply the main routes round the city at a cost of around 15p per person. Yesterday, I left home at 6.45 and was at the office by 7.15 (about an hour too early), so today I left home at 7.15 and got in at 8.45 (a bit too late). It would actually be possible to walk in about an hour, but it is rather hot for that, and also feels a bit dangerous to me - mainly because of the large holes that suddenly appear at the roadside.

I work in the main Ministries Building (the "Youyi Building" - its marked on Google Earth)and I have to walk up to the 4th floor. Needless to say, I'm pretty sweaty by the time I get there.

My actual office (which I share with my boss)  has a great view and was my second culture shock here: There is air conditioning and it's positively icy. Luckily I brought a jacket and tie with me from UK. I am keeping it in the office, so that I can put it on if needed to warm up! The Ministry staff are all being very welcoming and my boss clearly has an overwhelming workload, so I hope it won't be hard to find ways to support him.

I'm living in the West of Freetown, just off off Wilkinson Road at the Murray town end (try the street name function on Google Earth). I share a first floor flat with a Kenyan VSO, who is a great source of practical advice. The flat is basic but OK - we have electricity (and a fan, but no aircon)and no running water. We pay a guy to wash clothes, bring water cans to the ground floor hall, and clean the house. (I know some would argue that my judgement of character isn't great when it comes to cleaners - but this guy really does seem good!)

I've been to the beach once so far - a great place to unwind from the city stresses. It's quite possible to get there by taxi after work to drink a cold beer in a beach bar if you time it right. Working that out is my next transport challenge!

A couple of people have texted about whether I am picking up emails. Well I am, and it is good to get them - you can email via a link if you click on "my profile" opposite, so no excuses!

Starting work

I'm in an internet cafe (sort of). I met my boss on Tuesday have spent the last 2 days with him at a workshop on the role of Community Health Workers. The workshop was trying to work through defining roles and supervision structures. These workers are community members at village level and the Ministry of Health is looking for ways to train, support and reward them without undermining qualified staff, who are often unsupported themselves and not paid reliably.

I've also met more of the other VSO health volunteers. As well as the one in the CMO's office, there is one working with the CNO, and one working as a clinical instructor in the main teaching hospital. At one level, the structures are recognisable and familiar to me; it is just what you see in the street (and apparently in the hospitals) that is the shock. Last week, the latest global UN Development index was published and Sierra Leone has only moved up 2 places from bottom position.

At a practical level, one thing that has surprised me is just how widespread the use of mobile IT is - even by people who don't look they could afford much else. At the Ministry workshop all the presentations, breakout group notes and feedback was done electronically, without a flipchart in sight! You can see the sense of it - when paper is expensive and photocopiers unreliable, "flashing" documents round by email and memory stick is practical and quick. In the light of that, my discovery that my laptop only works on broadband(which doesn't exist here)and that the USB ports are disabled was more than a slight annoyance (yes, I know, I should have prepared more carefully!)

First impression

Walking across the tarmac to the terminal building at Lungi airport was like stepping into a well heated bathroom where someone has recently had a shower. I was booked on the 4th helicopter shuttle trip across to Freetown, so I had time to chat to my fellow travellers : a couple returning from UK to live in Sierra Leone, the Freetown University Registrar, and a woman from the UN, who wanted to know if I played Bridge...

I'm now in the VSO office, which overlooks the bay and is a very calm place, compared to the bewildering chaos that is my impression of Freetown at the moment.

It is going to take a while for me to get to grips with the basics of daily life, I think. The VSO staff here are all Sierra Leonian, and seem great. There is also a very international group of volunteers, including 3 Ugandans, who have been telling me about how well developed and well organised Kampala is these days!

Last night, I was talking to another VSO who recently started work in the CMO's office. It sounds like things will be even more challenging than I thought.

Time to go

Well, my passport and visa finally arrrived by courier yesterday morning, which is just as well, because otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here in Heathrow Terminal 1 Departures. Laszlo just left to head back down the M4 for his late shift, and the bit of this whole adventure that I was least looking forward to is over. 'You'll be fine', he said, and I will be, but I'm still rubbish at leaving. The departures hall is quiet this morning, very British sunday morning with coffee and newspapers. It is still pretty hard to imagine Freetown, less than 7 hours beyond the departure gate.