Some grounds for optimism

We were scheduled to get back from Bo at lunchtime on Friday in time for the Easter weekend, but in the event, there were so many recruits to process that we got back at 10.30pm on Saturday night. The grand total for the tour was 755 new staff on the payroll and that figure is still climbing since we got back to Freetown. This is far more than we expected and the main reason is the scale of the pay increase, which is pretty substantial, though still modest by Western Standards.

	USD per month
Grade	Old	New
3	49	156	<<   MCH Aide
4	55	183	<<   State enrolled nurse
5	62	211	<< Community Health Officer

The figures above relate to the grades we were recruiting; the raises for senior medical grades are greater - e.g. Consultant pay goes from an average of $490 per month to over $4000 per month. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on motivation for exiled Sierra Leonians to return.

I felt like I deserved it by the time I made it to Lakka beach on Easter Monday. The Easter holiday is a big deal in Sierra Leone, with carnivals, dancing devils and a general exodus to the beach. The grilled snapper and chips washed down with some Star beers at sunset put a pretty good cap on a week that achieved more than we could have expected and set me up for another week that has brought a new set of challenges, of which more later.