Day one in Sierra Leone

Saturday 13th SeptemberWe woke up to a cockerel and sound of the rainy season made the first visit to the toilet happen much quicker than planned! The breakfast in the YMCA was a very welcome bit of bread and dairylea.Wander around FreetownWe had a wander round with a different guide called Mohammed. He is about to go to university and wants to be president one day! He may well be a good person to know! Anyway we made our way to the cathedral which is just like any English church. We were shown Queen Elizabeth’s signature in the signing in book which made our signature’s seem quite tame.Mohammed took us to the “Big Market” which has lots of stalls with very similar things and apparently looking is free!1st Bar in FreetownWe asked Mohammed to take us to a bar for the Liverpool vs. Man UTD match. There was a terrific atmosphere as the Leoneans are mad on their football and the pub was full of Liverpool and Man UTD fans, although Mohammed is an Arsenal fan and was stirring up some of the other arguments.After LunchWe visited Fourah Bay University which is one of the oldest universities starting in 1830’s. It used to have a link with Durham University. We then carried on up the hill to visit a reverend called Thomas Croker. He has set up a school in a community on the side of hill which consisted of a small room with blue sides and a tin roof. This seated around 100 kids and cost each of them £2 a term, which officially makes it a private school! We then carried on to Thomas’ house and were bombarded with shouts of white man from all the kids. After a quite exhausting walk back up the hill we continued in the car to a village called Leicester which had a fabulous little church. Right at the top of the hill was the catholic mission which is basically a safe haven to retreat to, and has a cracking view of the whole of Freetown. Hopefully we will get a chance to stay there at some stage.Back at the YMCAMark pointed out the drug rehabilitation centre next door to our building. It uses some quite novel techniques for people who are there voluntarily. We then went to Mamasu’s for tea and finished off the evening with beers on the balcony