Mile 91

It has been good to get out of Freetown this weekend. We left early yesterday morning and chartered a taxi across the city to a place where we could pick up a minibus taxi. You can't rely on exactly when they will leave, because they just wait until they fill up, but we weren't sitting in the sun too long before there was a full load (which is a about 5 people more than I would judge as a full load). On the way, we noticed that every time we stopped a remarkably similar looking lad appeared outside and pulled the side door open to let people in and out. It was only when we saw vans coming the other way with passengers tucked  among the luggage on the roof that we realised how he was managing it. In contrast to the hot traffic jam that is Freetown, the main road up-country is a joy. If only the standard of the vehicles could match it..

As you can see below, the welcoming committee were out to meet us at Mile 91. Jayne, the VSO we were visiting, has only been there for 2 weeks and the arrival of 3 more white faces was a big deal for some.

Jayne works for the Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Organisation, which is doing great work with young people. This area was very badly affected during the war, when much of the fighting was done by young people. We also met several of the other staff, some of whom have been working in the organisation since its inception 10 years ago.

I'm now back in Freetown and feel I can set the city in a bit better context than before. The weekend was a tiring one in some ways, but it was also energising for me, just observing the way people get on with life when they don't have any of the 'essentials' we take for granted. On the way back we were in a car sized taxi, and paid for an extra seat, so that were only three of us in the back. As you can see, the guys in the front could not afford such luxuries.

Having a bit more space, I was able to take some pics of the roadside scenes as we drove by. There was just one view that was alarming, and I really, really hope some artistic wag was just having a laugh, though I can't be sure..

White Man's Grave

It was not for nothing that in the 19th Century, the area that is now Sierra Leone was known as the “White Man’s Grave”. A traveller to the area at the time wrote: “When you have made up your mind to go to West Africa, the very best thing you can do is to get it unmade and go to Scotland instead; but if your intelligence is not strong enough to do so, abstain from exposing yourself to the direct rays of the sun, take 4 grains of quinine every day ....and get an introduction to the Wesleyans; they are the only people on the Gold coast who have got a hearse with feathers“.( ref)

Things are not quite like that now of course, but compared to my experience of East Africa, this is certainly not a place to take a cavalier attitude to health and hygiene (especially while you are still getting the hang of bathing in a bucket, which, incidentally, I am now excellent at). In East Africa, moquito nets were often regarded as optional, but here they are definitely not. It may be that I am acting on the cautious side (being here for such a short time, I really don’t want to waste any of it being ill) but every morning before I leave the house, I check that I have mosquito repellent (useful for when you get diverted to an outdoor bar for a sundowner on the way home – like every night), drinking water, antiseptic wash and sunblock.

This weekend I am off up-country to Mile 91 (no prizes for guessing how far it is from Freetown) to visit a VSO who lives there. I am going with two other VSO friends, one of whom is an Australian nurse working in the office of the CNO. The other is also a nurse lecturer at the Teaching Hospital, whose previous job was Matron of the Emergency Unit at the Royal London. Considering the total number of qualified nurses in the whole of the country, I think my health care risks for the trip will be pretty well managed!

I have been asked to go easy on the beach shots, so this is my health related picture for the day - my mosquito netted bed. Just be relieved that I have spared you the shot of me demonstrating my bucket bath technique.

Never a dull moment

The office gossip can be high quality here. The Ministers office is just up the corridor and the news that is now on the link below has been been flying around  as a possibility for a while. The President launched the Health Sector Strategic plan this morning and, remarkably, all seemed to go off without a hitch.

 Reuters, Africa - top news

At first sight.the headline might look dramatic, but when you think about it (for those of us who have been around the UK NHS for a while) it's not like we have never come across a situation where a contract has been favourably awarded to a relative, is it? The dominant view round here seems to be that sacking and arrest is not such a disproportionate reaction. Maybe we have something to learn...

Just like Wales (in some ways)

Every Monday morning there is an 8.15 meeting of the Directors in the Ministry of Health (which I and two VSO colleagues get to go along to) where the issues for the week are discussed. This week is busy: on Tuesday the President opened a telemedicine facility at the Connaught Hospital, and tomorrow he is attending the launch of the Health Sector Strategic Plan, so there was a lot talk about.
   

Immediately after the meeting I was asked to go with my boss to a meeting at the office of the Cabinet Secretary about the formation of the Health Service Commission. Although I was only there as an observer, this was definitely a jacket and tie job, as we sat around a very shiny table while my boss and colleagues were roundly berated for the quality of ministerial briefings and recommendations. In the car on the way back to the office, I told them how similar it all was to Wales, so we all had a good laugh about that!    
 

As it is shaping up, my job is about helping my boss at a practical level to get on top of his huge agenda. It is proving a lot easier to help than I feared before I started, although that is probably more to do with his skill in knowing how to work with me, rather than the reverse. He did his medical training in the Ukraine, a Masters Degree at the LSE, was in Sierra Leone during the war and has more life experience than I will ever get.  
   

There are loads of things I would love to photograph here – at work, on the way to work, around home. But you have to be very sensitive about using a camera, particularly away from the beach. So though I am now in city work mode, here are some more gratuitous beach shots, this time of Lakka beach. Getting there requires a bit of walking and taxi hopping, but I got there in about an hour last Sunday, at a total cost for the round trip of about 70p. The sand here is very yellow and, once again, the whole scene is stunning.

 

Slogans, shopkeepers and comedy

The minibus taxis that ply the streets of Freetown invariably have slogans painted on their body work. They can vary from the positive :“ We Are All Blessed”, to the unsettling: “My business is washed in the blood of Jesus”. Some slogans assume people know their Bibles pretty well - I saw one yesterday that said “1 John 3v10”. But not all of them are religious; there is one that I have read about, and am looking out for, which declares :“Still with my paddle, nevertheless”!

Although Christian culture is very visible, there are also many Moslems here. Last night, as I was walking back to the house along the back lane, I stopped at a shop to buy some oranges (think small tin shack with open front). As I approached , I saw the shop-keeper standing inside with his back to me, looking at the shelves of provisions. “Hello”, I said, to attract his attention. But he ignored me and I realised he was talking quietly to himself. Then he knelt down on what I suddenly realised was a prayer mat, so I moved away. But I did really want some oranges, so I waited until he had finished and went back. When I apologised for disturbing his prayers, he flashed a smile at me and said “No problem, brother”.

It seems to me that religious beliefs here are generally held with a fair degree of tolerance and humour. Yesterday, I went to some auditions for the national cultural festival, which takes place at the end of November. There were a very wide range of acts – from traditional dance and plays, to sketches and stand-up comedy. One of the comedians told a joke that was linked to the words of the Lords Prayer. Unfortunately, I can only pick out the odd word in Krio, so didn’t understand it. However, judging from the gusts of laughter that shook the hall, it was side-splittingly hilarious for the large and varied audience.

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.