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.
