This is just a brief outline of the things we have done and achieved over the last 9 days. I’m really sorry to those of you who enjoy the humour and constant banter but since we are now so far behind we can’t be bothered, so there!!!!
Wednesday 22nd
We were with HT school and first visited the orphanage. HT gave a mountain of presents and was fantastic to see such big smiles
We then called at the Bishop Crowther Nursery and finished the morning at the train museum. You have never seen anything like it. Three carriages and one engine! That is a museum, brilliant!!!
The afternoon was greeted with lunch at Seafarers, the wonderful Eunice on fire as ever with the cooking. Myself and Mark went for a meeting with the development team and Lozza took care of Holy Trinity. Nice Boy!
Thursday 23rd
While some of us worked hard taking the HT school to Schlenker, a school in the province, two of the group, Loz and Mark went on a jolly first to set up the link with Aberdeen, they are due to be joint to Wivelsfield and then off to Kent beach. It must have been really hard work. I can’t complain really, we were welcomed at Schlenker with food, then played volleyball (we got beat bad), then we watched a cultural dance show – which was fantastic and finally we ate again.
We all finished the day with the wonderful Canon Coker’s and his wife Lucy. Another fine meal and then off to bed, it had been a long day!
Friday 24th
Again we started the day with HT. Today was the foundation day at Bishop Johnson their link school. Our job was just to be present but HT teachers and students had to make a statement, they did this very well. Then it was time for us to leave them. Myself, Loz and Mark joined Bishop Julius in the trip to Bo. In classic style we stopped on route for us – in the bishops words – to loosen our throats- two beers did this nicely! We should have realize this would happen when there was a cooler the size of a coffin in the boot of the car. It was full of Star Beer for the English and Heineken for the Sierra Leonean’s. We arrived at the Hotel around 5ish. It was a newly built complex which was maybe the best hotel we have stayed in, good job since we were there for 6 nights.
Saturday 25th
Saturday was a lazy lazy day. We even started it with Uno in bed(that is when you know you haven’t achieved much). We met with a group from West Wittering for lunch (they are the group who paid for the building of a school in Bo) and we finished with an evening meal in Madame Woki’s. The meal was with the West African Bishops. It was great to see the Bishop of Liberia and Mother Hart again, and to see the others of our link dioceses of Cameroon, Gambia and Guinea. There were also 4 Bishops from Ghana including the Archbishop. An interesting experience!
Sunday 26th
Sunday was the big day for the Diocese of Bo, it was today that Canon Tucker was to be consecrated the 3rd Bishop of Bo. The service was a great success. It lasted just 5 hours (Duncan bet your sad you missed out!) and I had the pleasure of pledging £500 on behalf of the diocese of Chichester even after £500 was already pledged, I just hope we can find it. Our next move was to the Bishops House for lunch. A gathering of all the local clergy and partners of the diocese! We had a well deserved rest in the afternoon and finished our day with our final meal with the Bishops, before they headed off to their relative countries.
(Loz’s blog)
Monday 27th
After Sunday’s service the entire entourage from Freetown were in need of a relaxing day. We woke wearily after the excitement of Sunday’s service and proceeded to head into the Bo Market. We visited the claustrophobic market, weaving in between various buildings, before heading to the local seamstress, or rather, seemster, witnessing his command of the home-made loom.
From lunch onwards, we opened the Bishop’s coffin and proceeded to drink the contents. As the day of consumption continued many fell by the wayside. First Mark (in desperate need of a nap,) then Parks (once again portraying his girly drinking skills.) I, powered through the drinking pain with the bishop, thus restoring British drinking pride. The day came to a close as we all sat in deep discussion with the Bishop of Freetown, discussing topics as deep as Politics and as light as Iain’s stomach…literally.
Tuesday 28th
We spent the morning at the Diocesan Office organizing our impending visit of the schools in Bo Diocese. We came to the conclusion that we would spend time in Bo from November 12th to 23rd (take note everyone….we’ll have very average internet possibilities!)
With the work done for the day, we settled back to battle it out back at the hotel on the Uno field. 1 hour later after much fierce fighting, it appeared that I would dominate the day of Uno, but then, out of no-where, it happened! Parks hit me! First a plus 2, then a plus four, then a skip ago, then a plus two, then finally, with a wry, demonic smile, he hit me again with a final, brutal, plus four. My score 228 – a new Uno world record – for a variety of reasons, I felt sick….
Anyway, after a busy morning at the office and a terrible afternoon at the cards table, we walked into town to buy some street food for dinner. My spirits were raised, and Parksy continued to gloat about his triumph, he told me last month and I quote “I’m a bad loser, and a bad winner…” I still have NO idea what he was on about.
Wednesday 29th
We were up early to attend the grand opening of the first ever Anglican Junior Secondary school in Bo Diocese, which was greatly funded by the Village of West Wittering in Sussex. In firm mood that we are now Sierra Leonie’s we set off on a walk to the school. On arrival events began. 6 hours later, a mixture of a brief dedication, a traditional libation and an exciting cultural show saw to the fact that we had a thoroughly enjoyable day! Definite highlight was the school drama group’s own Cinderella inspired production! After a long and hot day we booked our bus return to Freetown leaving at 4am in the morning….yes you heard right, 4am! Before heading back to the hotel to get an early night!
Thursday 30 October 2008
20th and 21st October
20th – October
And so our lives have become completely consumed by the visit of Holy Trinity School, Crawley, to our beautiful Sierra Leone. After greeting the new arrivals on Sunday night, Iain drove to meet the team at their hotel (hotel 5/10,) located in Kissy. I, on the other hand, took a trip into the centre of Freetown to confront the rude and obnoxious Immigrations Officer who Master Parks had vented his anger upon the day before. Parksy, in contrast, spent the morning helping the Holy T teachers to budget and organize their trip ahead. When I arrived at hotel 5/10 such was my story of daring and intrigue, that no-one, let alone myself, could believe it! To cut a long and irritating story short, I spent a lot of time arguing with the egotistic Officer and a lot of time waiting around. He wanted a bribe and I, politely, confirmed I was having none of it....we eventually came to the conclusion that I’d have to come back the next day for our passports, by this time, they would have gone through the huuuuge and lengthy process of being stamped!
Iain spent his afternoon with the school as they attempted to register at the British High Commission, they were, also unsuccessful! However, we then experienced a sudden change in fortune during our visit to the Special Court of Sierra Leone. The visit was extremely interesting as we all had the chance to expand our knowledge of the history behind Sierra Leone’s conflict (probably boring to some, but since I’m a future history undergraduate I found it quality......and I know Parksy did as well, so, at least some of us were paying attention.) The court was established to put on trial all of the leaders of various armed forces, and the charges range greatly, however the underlying theme is that of brutal atrocities – crimes against humanity. I could meander on about the visit all day, but instead I shall just say that our knowledge of the history behind the rebel incursion is now greater than most of the Sierra Leonie people. After dropping off the HT gang, we set off for home.
21st
Tuesday.
My morning was another glorious one. An hour trapped in the stuffy immigrations office before, finally, receiving our stamped passports. By this time, I was growing so impatient and ready to kill that it was impossible to even smile as I received the passports. Then, a short time organizing Mark’s helicopter ticket at CAS travel, before heading for home, much relieved. Iain spent his morning with Holy Trinity as they prepared to meet the Bishop and their link school Bishop Johnson Memorial. Apparently the morning was a success as HT were greeted warmly by BJM, and extremely pleased by the presence of the Bishop.
We all enjoyed a lunch at the Seafarers of Jalloph rice (usually for special occasions,) and our favourite cook Unis was particularly pleased by the appearance of myself and Iain. Just so you know Dunc, since you’ve deserted us, you’re no longer Unis’ favourite......I’m not even sure if she remembers your name...or Iain’s even....
After lunch I arranged to meet Iain and the Holy Trinity team at the Chimpanzee sanctuary, up in the hills of Regent by 4pm. Parks spent the beginning of his afternoon by escorting the school back to their hotel so that they could get changed and “freshen up.” As it turned out I didn’t end up leaving the compound until 3pm, and worrying that I wouldn’t be allowed into the sanctuary after 4pm, I told old Pah Jalloh to “drive like the wind!” Well well.....not such a good idea as it turned out. You see, Old Pah Jalloh may be young at heart, but looks to be at least 90 years old, and it’s safe to say I think that his decision making skills have faded away over the years.....dramatically. The highlight of the journey was certainly his attempt to overtake 4 vehicles on an uphill stretch, just before a sharp bend in the road. Unfortunately, as we sailed passed the 2nd car we were greeted warmly by the sweet sound of various horns honking up ahead. Before I even had the chance to contemplate putting on my seatbelt, incidentally the car didn’t have one, Pah (with a shout and various cursings in Kreole) had slammed on the breaks sending both of us careering forwards. By 4pm, a little shaky, I reached the sanctuary, and it seemed Iain had also had an interesting journey; he on the other hand, was bleeding badly. After the teary eyed lad had recovered, I managed to decipher that one of the Holy Trinity kids had lent forwards during their Poddah poddah ride, crushing Iain against the seat in front. Anyway, once the leader of the Holy Trinity team had given Iain a plaster to put on his pinky finger, we set off on a tour of the sanctuary. Unfortunately for Iain his painful adventures of the day were not yet over! Blissfully observing the chimpanzees as they played and fed, Iain was struck viciously by a pebble right the head. One of the Chimpanzee’s, clearly threatened by Iain’s manly nature (obvious to all!) had hurled a pebble at poor Parksy’s head. Iain managed to catch the next stone thus taunting the chimp, however the first throw had left its mark on the man from Middlesbrough and, I’m afraid everyone, he may never recover.
After a classic time at the sanctuary, I set off to collect Mark from the heliport, taking the time to fill him in on the experiences of the last 2 weeks.
And so our lives have become completely consumed by the visit of Holy Trinity School, Crawley, to our beautiful Sierra Leone. After greeting the new arrivals on Sunday night, Iain drove to meet the team at their hotel (hotel 5/10,) located in Kissy. I, on the other hand, took a trip into the centre of Freetown to confront the rude and obnoxious Immigrations Officer who Master Parks had vented his anger upon the day before. Parksy, in contrast, spent the morning helping the Holy T teachers to budget and organize their trip ahead. When I arrived at hotel 5/10 such was my story of daring and intrigue, that no-one, let alone myself, could believe it! To cut a long and irritating story short, I spent a lot of time arguing with the egotistic Officer and a lot of time waiting around. He wanted a bribe and I, politely, confirmed I was having none of it....we eventually came to the conclusion that I’d have to come back the next day for our passports, by this time, they would have gone through the huuuuge and lengthy process of being stamped!
Iain spent his afternoon with the school as they attempted to register at the British High Commission, they were, also unsuccessful! However, we then experienced a sudden change in fortune during our visit to the Special Court of Sierra Leone. The visit was extremely interesting as we all had the chance to expand our knowledge of the history behind Sierra Leone’s conflict (probably boring to some, but since I’m a future history undergraduate I found it quality......and I know Parksy did as well, so, at least some of us were paying attention.) The court was established to put on trial all of the leaders of various armed forces, and the charges range greatly, however the underlying theme is that of brutal atrocities – crimes against humanity. I could meander on about the visit all day, but instead I shall just say that our knowledge of the history behind the rebel incursion is now greater than most of the Sierra Leonie people. After dropping off the HT gang, we set off for home.
21st
Tuesday.
My morning was another glorious one. An hour trapped in the stuffy immigrations office before, finally, receiving our stamped passports. By this time, I was growing so impatient and ready to kill that it was impossible to even smile as I received the passports. Then, a short time organizing Mark’s helicopter ticket at CAS travel, before heading for home, much relieved. Iain spent his morning with Holy Trinity as they prepared to meet the Bishop and their link school Bishop Johnson Memorial. Apparently the morning was a success as HT were greeted warmly by BJM, and extremely pleased by the presence of the Bishop.
We all enjoyed a lunch at the Seafarers of Jalloph rice (usually for special occasions,) and our favourite cook Unis was particularly pleased by the appearance of myself and Iain. Just so you know Dunc, since you’ve deserted us, you’re no longer Unis’ favourite......I’m not even sure if she remembers your name...or Iain’s even....
After lunch I arranged to meet Iain and the Holy Trinity team at the Chimpanzee sanctuary, up in the hills of Regent by 4pm. Parks spent the beginning of his afternoon by escorting the school back to their hotel so that they could get changed and “freshen up.” As it turned out I didn’t end up leaving the compound until 3pm, and worrying that I wouldn’t be allowed into the sanctuary after 4pm, I told old Pah Jalloh to “drive like the wind!” Well well.....not such a good idea as it turned out. You see, Old Pah Jalloh may be young at heart, but looks to be at least 90 years old, and it’s safe to say I think that his decision making skills have faded away over the years.....dramatically. The highlight of the journey was certainly his attempt to overtake 4 vehicles on an uphill stretch, just before a sharp bend in the road. Unfortunately, as we sailed passed the 2nd car we were greeted warmly by the sweet sound of various horns honking up ahead. Before I even had the chance to contemplate putting on my seatbelt, incidentally the car didn’t have one, Pah (with a shout and various cursings in Kreole) had slammed on the breaks sending both of us careering forwards. By 4pm, a little shaky, I reached the sanctuary, and it seemed Iain had also had an interesting journey; he on the other hand, was bleeding badly. After the teary eyed lad had recovered, I managed to decipher that one of the Holy Trinity kids had lent forwards during their Poddah poddah ride, crushing Iain against the seat in front. Anyway, once the leader of the Holy Trinity team had given Iain a plaster to put on his pinky finger, we set off on a tour of the sanctuary. Unfortunately for Iain his painful adventures of the day were not yet over! Blissfully observing the chimpanzees as they played and fed, Iain was struck viciously by a pebble right the head. One of the Chimpanzee’s, clearly threatened by Iain’s manly nature (obvious to all!) had hurled a pebble at poor Parksy’s head. Iain managed to catch the next stone thus taunting the chimp, however the first throw had left its mark on the man from Middlesbrough and, I’m afraid everyone, he may never recover.
After a classic time at the sanctuary, I set off to collect Mark from the heliport, taking the time to fill him in on the experiences of the last 2 weeks.
Monday 20 October 2008
Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th October
Saturday started with a bang at the door. Mr Jalloh had sent Pa Jalloh to collect us for football practice. Yeah you read that right football practice. We jumped out of bed through on some sports clothing grabbed some bread and we were on our way. A feeling of excitement and nervousness was on both of our faces as we were getting close to Wellington, the village where Mr Jalloh lived. We had talked about playing for a while now but never really thought it would happen. We first went to Mr Jalloh’s house and were given football boots to wear. Mine a classic pair of bright orange J’s and Loz’s a pair of size 8 adidas, funny since he is a 10 and a half. We then proceeded to the pitch, I say pitch it was really just an open space that had goals at either end. It had cleared by the lads and community centre team but was still mostly dirt and rock.
As we got out of the car there was a huge buzz around the place mostly because two white weaklings had come to compete with these muscular black boys. They were all called together and told that they weren’t allowed to ‘drop us’ there words not ours. We tried to laugh it off but were quite relieved inside (The ground would have meant much pain). The game started and after watching the first half an hour we could see the skill these boys possessed was a good standard. I was called over first to go on the pitch. I replaced a boy called Goochie, he had missed a penalty so that gave me heart. I started ok and so Lozza was on, he was on the opposing side. I knew he was on because his first act was to come over and kick me. Thanks mate!!! The game continued at a quick pace with end to end attacks then in one glorious minute the first white man ever to score for FC Rald took place. A wonderful first touch out of the feet then a placed shot in the bottom right hand corner, what a goal! The crowd erupted in conversation; they couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed. The game finally finished with a 9-8 victory to my boys in blue. Get in there! We had a wonderful morning and finished with lunch at Mr Jalloh’s. His wife had made his favourite foofoo(yes Hen that is what I said) and CrinCrin.
After heading back to the ranch we wnet to watch the football I won’t go into details, good team won yadda yadda, and poor Boro where robbed of a sure victory.
We finished the day going to a local priest’s house, The Revd Canon J Coker. They have recently been to England and where very keen to talk through some of our cultural differences. We had a lovely night talking, eating and drinking. It was just as we were thinking of leaving that the heavens opened. They kindly walked us back with umbrellas and it was off to bed for us.
Sunday morning we were due to go to a church called St Matthais, Lakka. I had heard that the place had an unspoilt beach so asked if the Bishop would allow us to see it in case we wanted to come back at the end of our trip.
It was a confirmation service, with 11 candidates for confirmation. It was a lovely little church packed to the rafters. The sermon was even given in Creol(the local language) and we understood most of it, pretty good for just five weeks here! We then headed to the beach to a hotel that a parishioner owns. It was probably in the most glorious setting we have both ever seen. There is no question we will be back. We negotiated a good price and were promised a fishing trip out in the Atlantic, you will hear about this again. Dunc sorry you didn’t get to see it mate!!!! They also fed us with fish caught earlier that morning and Jallof rice. Good for me as Loz still doesn’t like fish so I got two. In the usual fashion we were given plenty of beer, I think 6 each when we left. Good times! As we headed back to Bishops court Lozza came up with one of those pearling comments. He asked the Bishop, if Phina, his daughter was ok after the death of her batt, as this is what he had read in a text from her. Sadly what he didn’t notice was batt was for battery not bat as he had assumed. He is too embarrassed to speak at the current moment. Classic! We are now at the house relaxing before heading to meet the group from Holy Trinity, Crawley. They are due at 9ish so we will look forward to that.
As we got out of the car there was a huge buzz around the place mostly because two white weaklings had come to compete with these muscular black boys. They were all called together and told that they weren’t allowed to ‘drop us’ there words not ours. We tried to laugh it off but were quite relieved inside (The ground would have meant much pain). The game started and after watching the first half an hour we could see the skill these boys possessed was a good standard. I was called over first to go on the pitch. I replaced a boy called Goochie, he had missed a penalty so that gave me heart. I started ok and so Lozza was on, he was on the opposing side. I knew he was on because his first act was to come over and kick me. Thanks mate!!! The game continued at a quick pace with end to end attacks then in one glorious minute the first white man ever to score for FC Rald took place. A wonderful first touch out of the feet then a placed shot in the bottom right hand corner, what a goal! The crowd erupted in conversation; they couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed. The game finally finished with a 9-8 victory to my boys in blue. Get in there! We had a wonderful morning and finished with lunch at Mr Jalloh’s. His wife had made his favourite foofoo(yes Hen that is what I said) and CrinCrin.
After heading back to the ranch we wnet to watch the football I won’t go into details, good team won yadda yadda, and poor Boro where robbed of a sure victory.
We finished the day going to a local priest’s house, The Revd Canon J Coker. They have recently been to England and where very keen to talk through some of our cultural differences. We had a lovely night talking, eating and drinking. It was just as we were thinking of leaving that the heavens opened. They kindly walked us back with umbrellas and it was off to bed for us.
Sunday morning we were due to go to a church called St Matthais, Lakka. I had heard that the place had an unspoilt beach so asked if the Bishop would allow us to see it in case we wanted to come back at the end of our trip.
It was a confirmation service, with 11 candidates for confirmation. It was a lovely little church packed to the rafters. The sermon was even given in Creol(the local language) and we understood most of it, pretty good for just five weeks here! We then headed to the beach to a hotel that a parishioner owns. It was probably in the most glorious setting we have both ever seen. There is no question we will be back. We negotiated a good price and were promised a fishing trip out in the Atlantic, you will hear about this again. Dunc sorry you didn’t get to see it mate!!!! They also fed us with fish caught earlier that morning and Jallof rice. Good for me as Loz still doesn’t like fish so I got two. In the usual fashion we were given plenty of beer, I think 6 each when we left. Good times! As we headed back to Bishops court Lozza came up with one of those pearling comments. He asked the Bishop, if Phina, his daughter was ok after the death of her batt, as this is what he had read in a text from her. Sadly what he didn’t notice was batt was for battery not bat as he had assumed. He is too embarrassed to speak at the current moment. Classic! We are now at the house relaxing before heading to meet the group from Holy Trinity, Crawley. They are due at 9ish so we will look forward to that.
Friday 17th October
On Friday we continued to knuckle down to some school links work. We visited 11 schools starting off with two schools at Christchurch, where both head teachers were extremely welcoming and accommodating. We then continued on to St George’s Cathedral schools (made up of 5 schools) before finishing with St John’s Brookfield, both infant, and junior. The 1st set of schools is unfortunately located beneath a local church in what, I am sure, was meant originally to be the church hall. However, it is now made up of 10+ classrooms all poorly divided spilling noise and distraction onto each “separate” teaching environment. St John’s Brookfield is a similar set up, with many classes occupying a large hall. This of course is not ideal for any form of schooling. However, even with such bustle, noise and distraction here there is a strong sense of community and closeness surrounding these schools, which I am sure, is provided by living and working in such close quarters. Such communities give these schools great appeal to any school in England seeking a link to a school in Sierra Leone.
After a horrendously busy 3 days on the roll both myself, and Parksy were completely and utterly wrecked! We had planned an evening out with the Bishop’s daughter - Phina, yet fortunately the rain......how dare it!.......forced us to collapse into bed, thoroughly in need of a long night of rest. Just in case Master Parks forgets to mention it, Middlesbrough lost 5-0 today against Chelsea. Watching the match in the Seafarers and wearing his Borough shirt proudly, Parks held his head high as goal after goal by-passed the poor Borough keeper. Undoubtedly, it was difficult for Parks to take such an emotional battering. I tried to comfort him by mentioning that – “on the plus side mate, Beletti is in my fantasy football team, he scored, and kept a clean sheet eh?” Hearing this remark, Parks wandered upstairs and locked his bedroom door firmly........5 minutes later he emerged, eyes blood-shot and watery......he’d been crying the whole time.
After a horrendously busy 3 days on the roll both myself, and Parksy were completely and utterly wrecked! We had planned an evening out with the Bishop’s daughter - Phina, yet fortunately the rain......how dare it!.......forced us to collapse into bed, thoroughly in need of a long night of rest. Just in case Master Parks forgets to mention it, Middlesbrough lost 5-0 today against Chelsea. Watching the match in the Seafarers and wearing his Borough shirt proudly, Parks held his head high as goal after goal by-passed the poor Borough keeper. Undoubtedly, it was difficult for Parks to take such an emotional battering. I tried to comfort him by mentioning that – “on the plus side mate, Beletti is in my fantasy football team, he scored, and kept a clean sheet eh?” Hearing this remark, Parks wandered upstairs and locked his bedroom door firmly........5 minutes later he emerged, eyes blood-shot and watery......he’d been crying the whole time.
Thursday 16th October
After a busy working day on Wednesday, when the alarm rang at 6am the next day, neither myself, nor Parksy were particularly pleased. However, being the two stallions that we are, we mustered up all of our energy and prepared ourselves for a long trip inland to Makeni – Northern Sierra Leone. Midway through our breakfast of bread and various sweet sweet spreads; we opened our door to the 1st of our companions for the day – Rev Collier. Reverend Collier believes that he is in charge of most of the schools in the Port Loko district, and had taken it upon himself to take us around some of the schools in, and around, Makeni (not in Port Loko) – such a considerate man! At 7am Pah Jalloh arrived in the vehicle with two further guests for the day, the Diocesan Secretary (Rev Edmondson) and Rev Wright, the Chairman of the Diocesan Board of Anglican education. By 10am we had reached the first of the day’s schools - at Rogbere Junction. The school is located, as the name suggests, at the meeting place of various roads. Furthermore, an adjoining road to, and from Freetown, being well surfaced does suggest a perfect location for an international link between schools. However, although the school is in desperate need, with many children studying beneath the trees in makeshift (open-air) classrooms, it is unlikely that the school will obtain a link with a school in the Diocese of Chichester. Unfortunately, we have quickly learned that without an enthused Principle in Sierra Leone, a link with an English school will prove to be near impossible. In this case, the Principle is just temporary, holding the position until a suitable long-term replacement is chosen.
Much concerned by the lack of facilities at Rogbere we continued inland to Makeni. The school, linked with St Margaret’s - Angmering, has a promising future. The classrooms are not overcrowded, as is the case with many of the schools in Sierra Leone, and nearly all of the children have a seat, and a desk to accompany it. However, one concern that both myself and Iain had towards the schools, was the way in which the 5 year old pupils entered their classrooms. After acquiring a grappling hook and climbing rope from the local rock climber, each child proceeded to haul their way up the massive step outside. Joking aside, the half a metre step was a ridiculous site to behold, causing both myself and Iain to hold our breaths as each child attempted to climb back down.
After a brief lunchy of crackers......and more crackers, we set off for the last school of the day located at Masheka. The school is newly formed and in desperate need of attention. With nothing but a well providing water, and a building to house the kids, this project we believe will be an exciting development project for a school in the Diocese of Chichester. Unfortunately, the school was destroyed during the rebel incursion, however, it was once attended by the President of Sierra Leone and hopefully this will provide a platform for its return to prominence.
The day was extremely long, tiring and productive, and once we reached Freetown we were both in serious need of some shut eye!
Much concerned by the lack of facilities at Rogbere we continued inland to Makeni. The school, linked with St Margaret’s - Angmering, has a promising future. The classrooms are not overcrowded, as is the case with many of the schools in Sierra Leone, and nearly all of the children have a seat, and a desk to accompany it. However, one concern that both myself and Iain had towards the schools, was the way in which the 5 year old pupils entered their classrooms. After acquiring a grappling hook and climbing rope from the local rock climber, each child proceeded to haul their way up the massive step outside. Joking aside, the half a metre step was a ridiculous site to behold, causing both myself and Iain to hold our breaths as each child attempted to climb back down.
After a brief lunchy of crackers......and more crackers, we set off for the last school of the day located at Masheka. The school is newly formed and in desperate need of attention. With nothing but a well providing water, and a building to house the kids, this project we believe will be an exciting development project for a school in the Diocese of Chichester. Unfortunately, the school was destroyed during the rebel incursion, however, it was once attended by the President of Sierra Leone and hopefully this will provide a platform for its return to prominence.
The day was extremely long, tiring and productive, and once we reached Freetown we were both in serious need of some shut eye!
Friday 17 October 2008
Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th October
Tuesday started with a few little jobs to do. Mostly we aimed to get the all the details for the trip from Holy Trinity, Crawley sorted. It seems this was achieved easier than I thought. With one call to the Hotel 5.10 by the Bishop and a trip to the airport transfer office in town we were set. A very happy and easy solution! We then continued to finish off some small parts of admin, I won’t bore you with the details. Then the important part of the day arrived and we were off to the beach. We took the ball and within minutes of arrival we were playing a game of piggy in the middle with two local kids Ali and Antony. They were nice boys and didn’t speak much English. I reckon the older of the boys had the making of a good footballer(he must have megged Loz about 30 times, needless to say he cried alot when we got home!!)
A few days ago we went out asking the prices for some large fans and a mattress for the house. So while we were at the beach we asked Fatta to go off and get the African price. When he rang to inform us the prices, everything was now three times cheaper so we sent him off to get them. He also bought us a new toilet seat (after Dunc broke the old one in two days of arrival), praise the Lord now no painful sitting positions.
We spent three hours just relaxing at the beach. I was hoping the tan would be good by now but not to worry, Loz’s nose is so bright it makes up for both of us. Good times!!
Wednesday was a big day. We were going to visit three of the main schools in town. Holy Trinity, St Philips and Bishop Crowther. By the end of the visits, we looked absolutely shattered. That was probably because we were and are. We have just settled down with a glass of something strong and the hope that the England match might be on at the seafarers. Come on the lads.
A few days ago we went out asking the prices for some large fans and a mattress for the house. So while we were at the beach we asked Fatta to go off and get the African price. When he rang to inform us the prices, everything was now three times cheaper so we sent him off to get them. He also bought us a new toilet seat (after Dunc broke the old one in two days of arrival), praise the Lord now no painful sitting positions.
We spent three hours just relaxing at the beach. I was hoping the tan would be good by now but not to worry, Loz’s nose is so bright it makes up for both of us. Good times!!
Wednesday was a big day. We were going to visit three of the main schools in town. Holy Trinity, St Philips and Bishop Crowther. By the end of the visits, we looked absolutely shattered. That was probably because we were and are. We have just settled down with a glass of something strong and the hope that the England match might be on at the seafarers. Come on the lads.
Tuesday 14 October 2008
Sunday 12th and Monday 13th
And so it had arrived - our 5th Sunday in Western Africa.
Iain and I awoke with a church service and a day of rest ahead of us. The rain greeted us outside our door and we jogged excitedly over to the Diocesan office to find out from Bishop Lynch where we'd be heading today. After much heated debate, i.e the Bishop decided it was a good idea for us to walk to Holy Trinity, we set off on our merry way as both the rain and our spirits had eased dramatically.
However........
On arrival at Holy Trinity we realised that today's service whould be Matins and an extended celebration of the Holy Trinity Choir's vocal ability.
3 and a half hours, several million hymns and an exuberant sermon later, two unrecognizably haggard figures emerged from Holy Trinity. One, a veteran of the church - feeling bewildered and lost, the other, only a young man - feeling dazed, confused and without a doubt, speechless . Take note Duncan - if you spent Sunday doing anything other than worshiping for 3 and a half hours.......bad bad things are bound to happen to you.
Anyway, after the service these two lost individuals marched with purpose to Cafe de la Rose, much in need, of steak and chips! 3o minutes later they arrived.......it was closed. Needless to say, the younger of the group was less than happy that Iain had suggested such an extravagent plan for lunch. The road home was long, tiring and the conversation muted.....
Parks and Loz arrived back at home and the purchaaase of two loaves of bread had majorly raised spirits. Then something amazing and wonderful happend. Mr Iain Steven Francis Parks, out of nowhere, decided to set up a table tennis court across our dining room table, a mixture of string, a towel, two chairs and our beach bats thus paved the way for an awesome hour of entertainment. Neither, Loz nor Iain could have contemplated such a turn around of events, yet the decision to erect that net across our table was in one word - genius!
Monday 13th
Back to work. We spent the early hours of the morning with the intent of mapping out our journey plan for the next 2 months. With the map before us and the list of schools in Iain's hand it soon became clear this would be much harder than we had originally anticipated. Many of the villages and towns across Sierra Leone have identical names meaning that although we knew which Diocese they were located in, we had no idea if some of the schools were in the North or in the South of Sierra Leone, or both?! Change of plan. We spent the remainder of the morning in the Diocesan office speaking to the Chairman of the Education Board and the Bishop of Freetown. This proved to be a storming success. We established how, and when we would be travelling to each school, including a 10 day trip to Bo from the 10th - 20th of November, and various excursions around the rural schools in the Freetown Diocese. Much of our time in October will now be taken up with various visits to Sierra Leone by firstly, a school group from Holy Trinity - Crawley, then secondly, a church group from West Wittering. Our role in these visits will be that of co-ordinators and alot of work has gone in, particularly by Iain prior to Holy Trinity's arrival, to ensure that thier time in Africa is spent wisely and runs as smoothly as possible.
After this busy morning of preparation, we found time to relax and contemplate the month's work ahead with a few beers on our balcony.
Iain and I awoke with a church service and a day of rest ahead of us. The rain greeted us outside our door and we jogged excitedly over to the Diocesan office to find out from Bishop Lynch where we'd be heading today. After much heated debate, i.e the Bishop decided it was a good idea for us to walk to Holy Trinity, we set off on our merry way as both the rain and our spirits had eased dramatically.
However........
On arrival at Holy Trinity we realised that today's service whould be Matins and an extended celebration of the Holy Trinity Choir's vocal ability.
3 and a half hours, several million hymns and an exuberant sermon later, two unrecognizably haggard figures emerged from Holy Trinity. One, a veteran of the church - feeling bewildered and lost, the other, only a young man - feeling dazed, confused and without a doubt, speechless . Take note Duncan - if you spent Sunday doing anything other than worshiping for 3 and a half hours.......bad bad things are bound to happen to you.
Anyway, after the service these two lost individuals marched with purpose to Cafe de la Rose, much in need, of steak and chips! 3o minutes later they arrived.......it was closed. Needless to say, the younger of the group was less than happy that Iain had suggested such an extravagent plan for lunch. The road home was long, tiring and the conversation muted.....
Parks and Loz arrived back at home and the purchaaase of two loaves of bread had majorly raised spirits. Then something amazing and wonderful happend. Mr Iain Steven Francis Parks, out of nowhere, decided to set up a table tennis court across our dining room table, a mixture of string, a towel, two chairs and our beach bats thus paved the way for an awesome hour of entertainment. Neither, Loz nor Iain could have contemplated such a turn around of events, yet the decision to erect that net across our table was in one word - genius!
Monday 13th
Back to work. We spent the early hours of the morning with the intent of mapping out our journey plan for the next 2 months. With the map before us and the list of schools in Iain's hand it soon became clear this would be much harder than we had originally anticipated. Many of the villages and towns across Sierra Leone have identical names meaning that although we knew which Diocese they were located in, we had no idea if some of the schools were in the North or in the South of Sierra Leone, or both?! Change of plan. We spent the remainder of the morning in the Diocesan office speaking to the Chairman of the Education Board and the Bishop of Freetown. This proved to be a storming success. We established how, and when we would be travelling to each school, including a 10 day trip to Bo from the 10th - 20th of November, and various excursions around the rural schools in the Freetown Diocese. Much of our time in October will now be taken up with various visits to Sierra Leone by firstly, a school group from Holy Trinity - Crawley, then secondly, a church group from West Wittering. Our role in these visits will be that of co-ordinators and alot of work has gone in, particularly by Iain prior to Holy Trinity's arrival, to ensure that thier time in Africa is spent wisely and runs as smoothly as possible.
After this busy morning of preparation, we found time to relax and contemplate the month's work ahead with a few beers on our balcony.
Sunday 12 October 2008
Friday 10th + Saturday 11th October
We made an executive decision that since it was Duncans last day we would change the rule on Blog writing. It would become two days together otherwise we would be contantly writing it with only two of us left. So here goes with the first of the two day episodes.
As i have already said Friday was the day that Dunc was to leave and the job was to get across the water to the airport. We decided to take him over as he was scared about doing it alone, blest his girly heart. We got up fairly early and intended on checking Dunc in for the second part of the flight from Brussels to Manchester as they can't do it in Freetown airport which is a right pain in the bum. Anyhow I left the big fella to do it the next thing we had was abit of huffing and puffing over the "stupid printer" not printing all the pages. Dunc was really keen to get home by now mostly to see the love of his life (barry the cat) and of course to see Kerri. Not only that the lucky bugger had Colleen preparing a feast for him on arrival.
After achieving the first goal the second was to get on the Ferry. We had sent Par Jalloh off to get the car onboard and Mr Jalloh was going to get us there for 11 as the boat was about to leave. He was a touch later than we hoped but no big issue we made it just on time.
Our time in Lungi was simple we would visit the primary school there as Duncs last official visit and then go to the airport to try the food before sending him on his way. We had a great time at the school and a fantastic burger and chips at the airport. Then he departed. Then there were two!!!!!!!!!
Our final act was to come back over to Freetown, we were told that the Ferry left at 4pm. It was a lie we didn't leave till ten past five so we didn't arrived home till 7ish. The evening wasspent finishing the vodka and red bull and playing the all important UNO.
On saturday we had a lovely day a late morning and a bit of a doss! Then we headed off to Liverpool street to watch the England match, this is quick becoming one of our favourite haunts. We will be back to watch Chelsea and the mighty Boro next week. A great result for the England boys finishing 5-1. Well played lads. Then we went to sleep good times!!!
As i have already said Friday was the day that Dunc was to leave and the job was to get across the water to the airport. We decided to take him over as he was scared about doing it alone, blest his girly heart. We got up fairly early and intended on checking Dunc in for the second part of the flight from Brussels to Manchester as they can't do it in Freetown airport which is a right pain in the bum. Anyhow I left the big fella to do it the next thing we had was abit of huffing and puffing over the "stupid printer" not printing all the pages. Dunc was really keen to get home by now mostly to see the love of his life (barry the cat) and of course to see Kerri. Not only that the lucky bugger had Colleen preparing a feast for him on arrival.
After achieving the first goal the second was to get on the Ferry. We had sent Par Jalloh off to get the car onboard and Mr Jalloh was going to get us there for 11 as the boat was about to leave. He was a touch later than we hoped but no big issue we made it just on time.
Our time in Lungi was simple we would visit the primary school there as Duncs last official visit and then go to the airport to try the food before sending him on his way. We had a great time at the school and a fantastic burger and chips at the airport. Then he departed. Then there were two!!!!!!!!!
Our final act was to come back over to Freetown, we were told that the Ferry left at 4pm. It was a lie we didn't leave till ten past five so we didn't arrived home till 7ish. The evening wasspent finishing the vodka and red bull and playing the all important UNO.
On saturday we had a lovely day a late morning and a bit of a doss! Then we headed off to Liverpool street to watch the England match, this is quick becoming one of our favourite haunts. We will be back to watch Chelsea and the mighty Boro next week. A great result for the England boys finishing 5-1. Well played lads. Then we went to sleep good times!!!
Friday 10 October 2008
Thursday 9th October
Today was all about chilling out on Dunc’s last full day. We headed off on a walk across Freetown to soak up the atmosphere. We were heading to “The Big Market” so Dunc could buy some presents (Look, I can’t buy for everybody so don’t expect anything and you won’t be disappointed). It was a very successful trip and was good fun bartering even with some of the more aggressive sellers. We walked back via Victoria Park where there is another Market. On the way back Dunc and Loz stopped off at Holy Trinity School as Iain had a meeting with the bishop so headed off with Fatta. It was on the walk back from the school that I saw the most horrific thing in Sierra Leone since we’ve been here. It was in the middle of the street and was in full view of thousands of people. How a Sierra Leonean can wear a Warrington Wolves {Spit Spit} shirt I will never know! In the following aftermath Duncan managed to head butt a road sign (ouch! I blame the wire fan).
We went to the Seafarer’s to sample Eunice’s food for the last time, but it turns out Dunc and Loz don’t like Bitter Leaf and Foo Foo. Foo Foo is like something you would plaster walls with. With the afternoon free we went down to Lumley Beach for the last time for Dunc. With some sunbathing, jumping into waves, and some head tennis (new record of 17) we headed back.
In the evening, Parks cooked a slap up meal of pasta which was enjoyed with some red wine. We then had some Vodka and in time honoured tradition the last game of Uno on the balcony with us all there.
Dunc’s Final Thought:
Although this blog is all about the fun we’ve had and the stupid stuff we’ve done, we have been to 21 schools, 40ish churches, 2 cathedrals and 3 diocesan offices. I sincerely hope that the work we’ve done so far has been beneficial to the Sierra Leonie’s both now and in the future and the work that I’ve done personally will be of help to both Parks and IDWAL with the future projects that they run.
Parks and Loz are here for another 2 months and I know they will continue the hard work and effort they have put in so far. The blog will also be continuing (although obviously not as funny or as well written).
Take care of yourselves and each other (except that bloody wire fan!)
We went to the Seafarer’s to sample Eunice’s food for the last time, but it turns out Dunc and Loz don’t like Bitter Leaf and Foo Foo. Foo Foo is like something you would plaster walls with. With the afternoon free we went down to Lumley Beach for the last time for Dunc. With some sunbathing, jumping into waves, and some head tennis (new record of 17) we headed back.
In the evening, Parks cooked a slap up meal of pasta which was enjoyed with some red wine. We then had some Vodka and in time honoured tradition the last game of Uno on the balcony with us all there.
Dunc’s Final Thought:
Although this blog is all about the fun we’ve had and the stupid stuff we’ve done, we have been to 21 schools, 40ish churches, 2 cathedrals and 3 diocesan offices. I sincerely hope that the work we’ve done so far has been beneficial to the Sierra Leonie’s both now and in the future and the work that I’ve done personally will be of help to both Parks and IDWAL with the future projects that they run.
Parks and Loz are here for another 2 months and I know they will continue the hard work and effort they have put in so far. The blog will also be continuing (although obviously not as funny or as well written).
Take care of yourselves and each other (except that bloody wire fan!)
Wednesday 8th October
Today started with abit of a late morning as I was waiting to have a conversation with Mr Jalloh about the use of a vehicle. It got to 10am and just we were about to give up he turned up. Said if we could wait five minutes and we could have par Jalloh in the brown machine. We took him up on the offer!
When we headed up to the Cathedral, Duncan tried to get the information that they would like him to put on the website. The funny thing is he hasn’t done a website for about 6 years! We then added antivirus’ to their computers and off we went. Next on the list of jobs was to call at Western Union for Loz, all would have been fine but as I got out of the car I lost my shorts, Bad times!
Lunch was next on the agenda, back to Mamasu’ for Chicken and Pork along with a star beer of course!
We then called at the YMCA for a money change a stupid photo opportunity. I’m sure you will all see it eventually. Then on to the orphanage. We had a wonderful visit there, we were welcomed by Henry and Binta the directors and met with all the children. I then explained that the purpose of the visit was to give them some money donated by Arif, one of Dunc’s colleagues. They were over the moon to receive it, it will go towards the daily costs of the orphanage! Dunc then presented them with the t shirts donated by CIC. Our final part of the visit was to go and view their land that they are trying to build a new orphanage on. It will cost them another £12,000 to finish the project but the money doesn’t come easily!
What a fantastic and emotional day!
When we headed up to the Cathedral, Duncan tried to get the information that they would like him to put on the website. The funny thing is he hasn’t done a website for about 6 years! We then added antivirus’ to their computers and off we went. Next on the list of jobs was to call at Western Union for Loz, all would have been fine but as I got out of the car I lost my shorts, Bad times!
Lunch was next on the agenda, back to Mamasu’ for Chicken and Pork along with a star beer of course!
We then called at the YMCA for a money change a stupid photo opportunity. I’m sure you will all see it eventually. Then on to the orphanage. We had a wonderful visit there, we were welcomed by Henry and Binta the directors and met with all the children. I then explained that the purpose of the visit was to give them some money donated by Arif, one of Dunc’s colleagues. They were over the moon to receive it, it will go towards the daily costs of the orphanage! Dunc then presented them with the t shirts donated by CIC. Our final part of the visit was to go and view their land that they are trying to build a new orphanage on. It will cost them another £12,000 to finish the project but the money doesn’t come easily!
What a fantastic and emotional day!
Wednesday 8 October 2008
Tuesday 7th October
There were two things on the agenda for today, Duncan to work on the machines in the Bishop’s office and to visit Bishop Johnson’s Memorial School. We spent the morning in the office with Parks and Loz doing some reports, or more likely, messing around on the internet (just kidding chaps) and Duncan working on the machine’s there (no one ever wants to use antivirus over here!).
While some antivirus was downloading (the download speeds in Sierra Leone are slightly better than the old dial up) we went for lunch over at the seafarer’s. Eunice had prepared us some green stuff and rice, it was surprisingly pleasant. It also had some chicken and fish in. Certainly not bad for 80p!
After lunch we went over to Bishop Johnson Memorial School. It is just the other side of the seafarer’s so we decided not to take the car for the 30 seconds walk, doing our bit for the environment! They have a visit from Holy Trinity School in Sussex beginning on Sunday so that was the main point of discussion. Twelve 16-18 year olds will be visiting Freetown for 10 days and by the sounds of things they have a pretty busy agenda. This visit has been happening for the past 5 years and there is a very good link between the schools, as some students are travelling in the opposite direction in 2010. Duncan took a look at the 3 machines built in 1824 and possibilities for the future and we headed back to the office.
In the office Duncan completed his work on the machines and they all carried on with their report and the compulsory checking of emails and the stock markets. Around 7 it was dark so we headed back to the house for some food and a few games of Uno before having a very early night.
While some antivirus was downloading (the download speeds in Sierra Leone are slightly better than the old dial up) we went for lunch over at the seafarer’s. Eunice had prepared us some green stuff and rice, it was surprisingly pleasant. It also had some chicken and fish in. Certainly not bad for 80p!
After lunch we went over to Bishop Johnson Memorial School. It is just the other side of the seafarer’s so we decided not to take the car for the 30 seconds walk, doing our bit for the environment! They have a visit from Holy Trinity School in Sussex beginning on Sunday so that was the main point of discussion. Twelve 16-18 year olds will be visiting Freetown for 10 days and by the sounds of things they have a pretty busy agenda. This visit has been happening for the past 5 years and there is a very good link between the schools, as some students are travelling in the opposite direction in 2010. Duncan took a look at the 3 machines built in 1824 and possibilities for the future and we headed back to the office.
In the office Duncan completed his work on the machines and they all carried on with their report and the compulsory checking of emails and the stock markets. Around 7 it was dark so we headed back to the house for some food and a few games of Uno before having a very early night.
Monday 6th October
This morning we were all up and out of bed at 6am, expecting Mr Jalloh to arrive at 7am to whisk us off inland to Port Loko. We were all considerably miffed with the prospect of this early hour, yet decided it wouldn’t be so bad as long as “The Jalloh” rolled up on time......he didn’t. We were finally on the road at 8am with the prospect of a long day of work ahead of us.
The roads between our compound in Freetown and Port Loko, varied from brilliantly paved to excessively pot-holed and off the beaten track. We eventually arrived at 10.15, warmly greeted at Schlenker Secondary School by the Principle- Mr Kamara. We soon departed on a tour of the school grounds and were all thoroughly impressed by the facilities erected, especially with the destruction caused by the war clearly visible around every corner. After this, Duncan soon settled himself into the Computer suite whilst Iain and Laurence set off to visit the local Primary School in the Jalloh-mobile. On the way to the Primary School, we managed to fit in a bonus visit to the local Pre-school where the very young children went from being intimidated by the presence of the “Pumuie”(White Man) to completely enthralled by Laurence’s ability to take photos of them before showing them the, smiling and waving, end product. Chaos ensued as each child hurled his or her self in front of the camera as each little one cried out –“Snap me, Snap me!” After Iain had carried out the necessary auditing work, we continued on to the Primary School. The delightful, yet unfortunately blind, headmaster extended to us a fond welcome before explaining how a cheque for £140 had been impossible to cash (they do live in the middle of nowhere!) After we’d resolved the situation we toured the small school, witnessing the proposed site for the construction of a new school hall. The auditory work complete, we quickly rushed over to the local Medical Centre to applaud the work done there before embarking on the return journey to pick us everyone’s favourite I.T expert. We experienced a flat tyre on the way, yet eventually returned to Schlenker via the Principle’s own car.
On arrival Duncan filled us in on the fact that a virus had hit 4 of the 6 computers available at the school. Dunc had fixed one computer and installed the school’s printer but there was little we could do to rescue the other machines. We shared lunch with the Principle and Vice-Principle before spending a time in the computer suite to see if there was anything we could do. Unfortunately the machines seemed beyond repair and after Duncan had written a report we set off for home- Freetown. We arrived home just gone 4.30pm, with the rest of the evening to wind down after the long journey and the long day’s work had worn us all out.
The roads between our compound in Freetown and Port Loko, varied from brilliantly paved to excessively pot-holed and off the beaten track. We eventually arrived at 10.15, warmly greeted at Schlenker Secondary School by the Principle- Mr Kamara. We soon departed on a tour of the school grounds and were all thoroughly impressed by the facilities erected, especially with the destruction caused by the war clearly visible around every corner. After this, Duncan soon settled himself into the Computer suite whilst Iain and Laurence set off to visit the local Primary School in the Jalloh-mobile. On the way to the Primary School, we managed to fit in a bonus visit to the local Pre-school where the very young children went from being intimidated by the presence of the “Pumuie”(White Man) to completely enthralled by Laurence’s ability to take photos of them before showing them the, smiling and waving, end product. Chaos ensued as each child hurled his or her self in front of the camera as each little one cried out –“Snap me, Snap me!” After Iain had carried out the necessary auditing work, we continued on to the Primary School. The delightful, yet unfortunately blind, headmaster extended to us a fond welcome before explaining how a cheque for £140 had been impossible to cash (they do live in the middle of nowhere!) After we’d resolved the situation we toured the small school, witnessing the proposed site for the construction of a new school hall. The auditory work complete, we quickly rushed over to the local Medical Centre to applaud the work done there before embarking on the return journey to pick us everyone’s favourite I.T expert. We experienced a flat tyre on the way, yet eventually returned to Schlenker via the Principle’s own car.
On arrival Duncan filled us in on the fact that a virus had hit 4 of the 6 computers available at the school. Dunc had fixed one computer and installed the school’s printer but there was little we could do to rescue the other machines. We shared lunch with the Principle and Vice-Principle before spending a time in the computer suite to see if there was anything we could do. Unfortunately the machines seemed beyond repair and after Duncan had written a report we set off for home- Freetown. We arrived home just gone 4.30pm, with the rest of the evening to wind down after the long journey and the long day’s work had worn us all out.
Tuesday 7 October 2008
Sunday 5th October
Fortunately we didn’t get up to too much the night of my birthday –even though Leeds won the grand final (GET IN THERE!!!!). So I expected us all to wake fairly easily this morning. Unfortunately not so, I was in a world of my own with my earplugs in but Dunc and Loz told me that there was a band night at the seafarers and that went on to the early hours of the morning. On top of that Dunc had had another bad night with his stomach, bad times! So we left him in bed for the morning service. We were going to Holy Trinity, Kissy Rd. It was a service to rededicate the organ which during the war along with the church had been burnt down! I was acting as Bishops Chaplain although I had no idea what I was doing the Bishop looked after me well, not only that I got a huge chair with a fan in front – good times.
As we arrived the Bishop informed us the Vice president of Sierra Leone was going to arrive and we must greet him. When he eventually turned up 10 mins late his entourage of twenty got out of the car, it was like meeting Mariah Carey. The service then proceeded it lasted four and a half hours which is certainly a record in my book, quite normal here though.
After the service we had a few beers and some food with the Bishop at the Church and headed back. Dunc was feeling a little better by now so he decided to come to the beach with us along with Fatta and Ansu. We had a good hour swimming and headed home. It really is a tough life out here! I have sent Dunc to bed early to sleep off his stomach bug and myself and Lozza will have another night with the Uno cards.
As we arrived the Bishop informed us the Vice president of Sierra Leone was going to arrive and we must greet him. When he eventually turned up 10 mins late his entourage of twenty got out of the car, it was like meeting Mariah Carey. The service then proceeded it lasted four and a half hours which is certainly a record in my book, quite normal here though.
After the service we had a few beers and some food with the Bishop at the Church and headed back. Dunc was feeling a little better by now so he decided to come to the beach with us along with Fatta and Ansu. We had a good hour swimming and headed home. It really is a tough life out here! I have sent Dunc to bed early to sleep off his stomach bug and myself and Lozza will have another night with the Uno cards.
Parksy Birthday 4th October
All we really did was recover from the night before. Duncan especially being a huge lightweight pent the day in bed. He did manage to watch the last half an hour of the might Rhinos winning the Grand final. A great present for me.
Later Duncan went back to being ill
Later Duncan went back to being ill
Friday 3rd October
The day before Parks 25th.
The team awoke in a usual leisurely fashion (i.e. before 8 as it’s far too hot to sleep beyond this time!) Pa Jalloh and our new driver Reginald were waiting to whisk us off to the Senior boy’s Grammar School, and proceeded to do so. After spending the average amount of time on Kissy road, we reached the school. The school is set in a beautiful backdrop, with a view onto one of Freetown’s peninsulas; and before long Laurence had taken many “snapshots” of the school. The Grammar School is the African equivalent of a British Private school. With a school motto, a school song (sung to us by our guide) and different houses, greatly contrasting to, many of the Sierra Leone schools we’ve experienced so far. In every classroom Iain used a similar speech. “What do you know about England?” he’d ask enthusiastically. And on most occasions they would reply “FOOTBALL!” with one lad even stating that the UK was the “head of the European Commonwealth!”Iain would then ask. “Does anyone support Manchester United?” Then, the children would raise their hands rapidly as Loz waved along with them. There were even a few sympathy hands raised by disliked Liverpool supporters. However, when Parks asked if anyone had heard about “Middlesbrough,” although some hands were raised initially, when he asked if anyone supported this random team, deathly silence then ensued. Each time Parks looked lost and in considerable emotional pain (near close to tears)...yet in each classroom he continued this vain search for a Boro supporter! However, the morning’s work was incredibly productive, even with Iain asking questions in an all boys school such as “so what is the male to female ratio of pupils here?”
Duncan spent a time in the school’s ICT lab, establishing that the school had one of the best ICT facilities we’d seen in SL.
After a promising visit to the Grammar School we visited the Annie Walsh Memorial School in the centre of Freetown. We were greeted warmly by all there and were soon whisked off on a tour of the school. We even had the joyful opportunity to speak in front of 500 of the pupils...all girls!
Each speaker went down a treat, especially Loz, mainly due to his introductory line of “Hellooooo Ladies!” and his final comment that the best thing about his own school had been the ladies there. When their Head Teacher then announced that Laurence was 19, there was an explosion of joyful cheering from all the ladies (there was much rejoicing!) Fearing for Loz’s life, we set off for home.
An extremely promising morning was then rounded off with some food and Uno at our local, the Sea Farers. Another moment of genius from Parks arrived when a completely incomprehensible woman came over to introduce herself to us. Loz and Duncan kept brilliantly quiet whilst Parks replied to her “Yes, a little bit of tuna, Thank you.” The fact that he didn’t have a clue what she’d actually said did not deter him from then asking, in classic stalker fashion, “Where do you live?”
As the day drew to a close, we began to prepare ourselves for the night ahead. To celebrate Iain’s 25th birthday, Phina, the bishop’s daughter, had suggested she take us out clubbing across Freetown. And so....we did.
The team awoke in a usual leisurely fashion (i.e. before 8 as it’s far too hot to sleep beyond this time!) Pa Jalloh and our new driver Reginald were waiting to whisk us off to the Senior boy’s Grammar School, and proceeded to do so. After spending the average amount of time on Kissy road, we reached the school. The school is set in a beautiful backdrop, with a view onto one of Freetown’s peninsulas; and before long Laurence had taken many “snapshots” of the school. The Grammar School is the African equivalent of a British Private school. With a school motto, a school song (sung to us by our guide) and different houses, greatly contrasting to, many of the Sierra Leone schools we’ve experienced so far. In every classroom Iain used a similar speech. “What do you know about England?” he’d ask enthusiastically. And on most occasions they would reply “FOOTBALL!” with one lad even stating that the UK was the “head of the European Commonwealth!”Iain would then ask. “Does anyone support Manchester United?” Then, the children would raise their hands rapidly as Loz waved along with them. There were even a few sympathy hands raised by disliked Liverpool supporters. However, when Parks asked if anyone had heard about “Middlesbrough,” although some hands were raised initially, when he asked if anyone supported this random team, deathly silence then ensued. Each time Parks looked lost and in considerable emotional pain (near close to tears)...yet in each classroom he continued this vain search for a Boro supporter! However, the morning’s work was incredibly productive, even with Iain asking questions in an all boys school such as “so what is the male to female ratio of pupils here?”
Duncan spent a time in the school’s ICT lab, establishing that the school had one of the best ICT facilities we’d seen in SL.
After a promising visit to the Grammar School we visited the Annie Walsh Memorial School in the centre of Freetown. We were greeted warmly by all there and were soon whisked off on a tour of the school. We even had the joyful opportunity to speak in front of 500 of the pupils...all girls!
Each speaker went down a treat, especially Loz, mainly due to his introductory line of “Hellooooo Ladies!” and his final comment that the best thing about his own school had been the ladies there. When their Head Teacher then announced that Laurence was 19, there was an explosion of joyful cheering from all the ladies (there was much rejoicing!) Fearing for Loz’s life, we set off for home.
An extremely promising morning was then rounded off with some food and Uno at our local, the Sea Farers. Another moment of genius from Parks arrived when a completely incomprehensible woman came over to introduce herself to us. Loz and Duncan kept brilliantly quiet whilst Parks replied to her “Yes, a little bit of tuna, Thank you.” The fact that he didn’t have a clue what she’d actually said did not deter him from then asking, in classic stalker fashion, “Where do you live?”
As the day drew to a close, we began to prepare ourselves for the night ahead. To celebrate Iain’s 25th birthday, Phina, the bishop’s daughter, had suggested she take us out clubbing across Freetown. And so....we did.
Thursday 2nd October
The rain stopped any work early on this morning! It was an early storm that lasted two hours. I got bored and decided that we would all go and have a meeting with Bishop Julius to talk through the next few days and weeks. The meeting was good; he decided that he wanted to send us on a tour of Freetown churches, so we could learn our way around. Then next week we would do all the secondary schools, which is when Duncan can exercise his IT skills.
Today we went around the West side. It was quite interesting; we visited the churches at Aberdeen, Lumley, Wilberforce, Hill Station, Brookfield then the churches in the centre of town. Christ Church, Holy Trinity and All Saints.
The best part of the day was the conversation with Bishop Julius and deciding that our good friend Fatta could come and look after us full time. We are really quite lucky boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today we went around the West side. It was quite interesting; we visited the churches at Aberdeen, Lumley, Wilberforce, Hill Station, Brookfield then the churches in the centre of town. Christ Church, Holy Trinity and All Saints.
The best part of the day was the conversation with Bishop Julius and deciding that our good friend Fatta could come and look after us full time. We are really quite lucky boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday 1st October
We were entertained by a massive storm 1st thing this morning. There were rivers running down the street, terrific to watch from the safety of the balcony. Due to the end of Ramadan today is pray day and so was a public holiday which meant most places were shut. We took the opportunity in the morning to catch up with some paperwork.
In the afternoon we decided that we would make our way over to the complex next door in our compound called Seafarer’s. It is a complex with a cafe and bar, function room, lounge with sky TV and an internet cafe. It’s always handy to have friends at these kinds of places and it proved to be a fruitful idea as they invited us to the evening’s entertainment.
Later on while Lawrence was napping we had a visit from the Bishop’s daughter Christophina who told us that it was going to be a Variety Show later on so we had to see what was going on. As well as the compulsory dancing on stage and men lip-synching to rap there happened to be a beauty competition on, but of course we only found this out after we’d arrived......... Ahem! Anyway when we got there it was about half full so we went and sat down on the back row. As the night went on and the beauty competition started the room got very busy and for some reason we were surrounded by women.......they’re hands were everywhere!!! We eventually managed to find some solace at the back of the room and it enabled us to throw some shapes in between the contest rounds while the music was playing. As we were shaking some shoulders we were joined by a couple of Leonians who managed to make our lame white man dancing cool! We couldn’t understand what they were saying but they were laughing a lot so we took that as a pop at our dancing. We skulked off to bed with tails between our legs.
In the afternoon we decided that we would make our way over to the complex next door in our compound called Seafarer’s. It is a complex with a cafe and bar, function room, lounge with sky TV and an internet cafe. It’s always handy to have friends at these kinds of places and it proved to be a fruitful idea as they invited us to the evening’s entertainment.
Later on while Lawrence was napping we had a visit from the Bishop’s daughter Christophina who told us that it was going to be a Variety Show later on so we had to see what was going on. As well as the compulsory dancing on stage and men lip-synching to rap there happened to be a beauty competition on, but of course we only found this out after we’d arrived......... Ahem! Anyway when we got there it was about half full so we went and sat down on the back row. As the night went on and the beauty competition started the room got very busy and for some reason we were surrounded by women.......they’re hands were everywhere!!! We eventually managed to find some solace at the back of the room and it enabled us to throw some shapes in between the contest rounds while the music was playing. As we were shaking some shoulders we were joined by a couple of Leonians who managed to make our lame white man dancing cool! We couldn’t understand what they were saying but they were laughing a lot so we took that as a pop at our dancing. We skulked off to bed with tails between our legs.
Thursday 2 October 2008
30th September
Today was going to be a quite day! The intention was for me and Mark to have a meeting with Bishop Julius, while Duncan and Loz caught up on some much needed rest. It didn’t quite work out like that, Dunc ended up working hard in the office fixing Bishop Julius computer! What a geek! The meeting went well and was all over by 11.30am we then decided to head off and have some lunch. We all opted for the western food, steak and chips. It was awesome!
After lunch all we had to do was get some money changed and take Mark to the Heliport so he could catch his flight back to the UK. We met Mr Barry who changed our money for us and off we headed. The Heliport is in Aberdeen (not the one in the one in Scotland that would be silly!!!) fortunately for us that was right near the beach at Lumley so we decided to have an hour in the sea. We played keepy-uppy and at first started off with a massive total of two. Loz with his fifty pence head didn’t help!!!! We finished the day on 11 – GET IN THERE! As usual it took an hour to get down Kissy road and we finally arrived back at the house.
Tonight’s intentions a massive game of Uno and a couple of glasses of wine. I am sure we can manage that!
After lunch all we had to do was get some money changed and take Mark to the Heliport so he could catch his flight back to the UK. We met Mr Barry who changed our money for us and off we headed. The Heliport is in Aberdeen (not the one in the one in Scotland that would be silly!!!) fortunately for us that was right near the beach at Lumley so we decided to have an hour in the sea. We played keepy-uppy and at first started off with a massive total of two. Loz with his fifty pence head didn’t help!!!! We finished the day on 11 – GET IN THERE! As usual it took an hour to get down Kissy road and we finally arrived back at the house.
Tonight’s intentions a massive game of Uno and a couple of glasses of wine. I am sure we can manage that!
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