Cold and not just the weather, but it is nice to be anonymous for a while. Not sure what all the fuss is about London or big, developed cities for that matter. It seems my heart and future lie in Sierra Leone for now. Safe and satisfied with that knowledge I plan on enjoying every second, every comfort and every reunion Europe, the U.S. and Caribbean have to offer. It started with a nice dinner and hot bath in London, followed by Easter Monday in Munich with friends.
Leaving the tribe, the beach and the barefoot lifestyle was hard, so hard in fact it took me three attempts to finally do it. The adjustment is not easy, not waking up to the beautiful, smiling faces of my Salone family, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the feel of hot sand under my feet..... but the sweet memories already make me one of those daydreamers you see on the planes and trains with a grin from ear to ear.
Times at tribe were not always carefree and easy, it's like a big family all living together, you have to take the good with the bad. With a team of 23 there were often disputes to be resolved, and resolved the Salone way, with a lot of talking and a similar amount of palava. The traditional way to handle theft is an interesting one, involving a sorcerer, a bible, a key and an audience. Sickness is another difficult one to witness, particularly when there is little you can do to help or change the situation. Pretty much anytime someone was diagnosed in the community it was either Malaria or Typhoid or a combination of the two. I am quite suspicious that they were the only two tests the doctors knew how to administer.
On the lighter and brighter side some of the highlights included seeing and helping create understanding and lasting change in the team with regards to improved work ethic, customer service, team management and job ownership. The building team now create budgets in excel and our kitchen manager has picked up some skills to deal with issues diplomatically. It takes time for change and having the opportunity to spend 6 months with the team has been such an amazing experience. I am extremely grateful to Ben and Filippo for creating this project with just the right amount of direction and freedom - an awesome vision and wonderful experience for all. From visitors, to volunteers, to the team and local community, well, probably everyone except the sand miners. I am pretty sure they were planning a party to celebrate my departure.
Most certainly the biggest challenge and the biggest highlight was this 'san san business' that I got involved in. Before I arrived to Salone Filippo had prepped me that some trucks had been taking sand from the beach next door and that tribe had recently increased the monthly goodwill payment to the community to protect the beach. It was on my list of things to look into once I landed, little did we know how out of control it would become. In October there were 3 or 4 trucks a day and the headman and elders assured me that before the elections in November this would stop. By the time November came there were more like 50 trucks a day and it was becoming clear that the headman and youths involved had no intention of giving up their lucrative mining business. At this point, with the help of WHH (Welt Hunger Hilfe), we escalated matters to the District Council who swore support and action. Little happened other than letter writing, lengthy meetings and a lot of talk. So now it's December and the amount of trucks coming have at least doubled and they are now coming 24/7. Scores of young men have moved to John Obey from all over the country in search of easy money and a shanty town has formed on the beach with a plentiful supply of alcohol and Jamba....
By January we are still chasing our tails with empty promises of action and now an empty lagoon as well. The beach looks nothing like it did a few months ago and angry neighbouring communities have made it clear that they are also seeing huge changes to their own beaches as well. By February we have jumped a level to Ministerial involvement. The Minister for lands is first, he should have direct interest in the fact that Sierra Leone is loosing meters of coast line each year. The threat to the environment, to tourism, and to the future potential of the John Obey community is at a tipping point. All interactions are now happening with the section chief, a level up from the head man and he understands that tribewanted is now fearing for the future of the project. He takes us to parliament to meet the Member representing our constituency. He is an ambitious, straight talking man, who immediately sees the threat to his territory and 2 days later he is at the beach, assessing the situation with his own eyes and calling stakeholder meetings. At this point I am withered from being fobbed off by authorities and seeing nothing but an increase in the destruction every day. Anyway, quite skeptical and losing hope we had yet another meeting........but this time something was different and I started to get really excited. This guy was taking no prisoners, he gently and methodologically guided the stakeholders who talked themselves into corners and tripped over their own lies while he took notes. He meant business and 20 phonecalls, 2 weeks and 2 meetings later and we have a temporary ban on sand mining, there have been a plethora of arrests and all the while a new, sustainable strategy is being defined to balance the need for sand for construction with the environmental, touristic and investment priorities of the country.
A happy end, hope is back and only a healthy amount of skepticism remains.... a nice way to end another amazing adventure in Sweet Salone! Looking forward to many more....
Sierra Leone - The Land Of Contrasts
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Every Village Needs A Good Limba!
Poyo or palm wine is tapped from the palm
tree’s all over West Africa on a daily basis. Palm wine, is enjoyed by many
throughout the day and well into the night. The most apt adjective I can find
to describe the taste of Sierra Leonean Poyo is ‘tree’ it tastes remarkably
like the forest, fizzy, fresh and wholesome!
‘From God to Man’ they say and for this
reason palm wine has remained an affordable, mostly un-altered local source
of nutrition and refreshment and not to forget its merry making qualities. When
tapped early in the morning poyo is light at about 2% alcohol, as it ferments
throughout the day it becomes more potent reaching about 7% late in the
evening. Only the adventurous dare to drink yesterdays poyo without first
mixing it with sugar and water.
Limba Family in Senabu |
The only tribe in Sierra Leone that can
climb and tap a palm tree for its delicious sap is the Limba tribe, notorious
throughout the country for their aptitude in all things creative and cultural
and their resourceful relationship with the forests. That being said not all
parts of the country have a Limba contingency…So what do these thirsty
Limba-less populations do? Well they build a house and potentially offer a wife
in an attempt to attract a man of Limba persuasion to come and join them in
their village to ensure a plentiful supply of sweet palm wine of course.
Although, all Limba’s are not equal it seems, a lazy Limba will leave an
unsatisfied village longing for more and as Ishmael was telling me, in their
village they are now searching for a new Limba as the current one never taps
enough palm wine for everyone.
The other side of scaling palm trees and supplying villages with sweet wine is tragic with many men losing their lives to their calling. A great deal of the orphans in the northern towns of Sierra Leone have been the victims of this handed down heritage.
Spot the Limba. |
On a lighter note I’ll end this one with a joke credited to the poyo and pun enthusiast Kieran Hanson: ‘What did the Limba say to the palm tree? I’d tap that!’
Ali with his Jerry Can of Palm Wine |
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Updated: Economics of Sand Mining
As I write this I can hear the lorries bounding down the path towards the beach next door. John Obey's beach has been a source of sand for the growing construction industry for almost 2 years now. The quantities of sand being removed have increased at an alarming rate, with trucks coming day and night without a moments rest.
Clear as day the beach is being destroyed, the fresh water lagoon is being compromised by the encroaching sea, the trees are literally toppling over without a base to support them and more and more rocks are becoming exposed as the sand is simply being carted out in the back of trucks en route to Freetown to support the development boom. As for the ecology, the sea turtles have not returned this year to nest and who knows what other species has been forced to move on.
The social degradation is more subtle however..... Here at John Obey the tension runs high and could be cut with a knife. A serious rift has formed between the people getting rich from the sand and the smaller pockets of people who disapprove or who's livelihood has been destroyed by the mining. Our mission to end the sand mining here at Tribewanted has created hostility between the workers here and the rest of the pro mining community. Neighboring villages are also upset by the destruction happening at John Obey and threats of violence from angry youth groups very real.
The local boys here at John Obey no longer shovel the sand, a crew of 40 - 50 boys from the provinces have heard of the fast, easy money to be earned and have set-up temporary shacks on the beach and work 12 hours a day shoveling only to hand over at least 50% of their earnings to their 'sponsor' in the community. Their 'sponsor' allows them the privilege to work on the beach in return for a hefty sum. This new revelation explains the disheartening comments that I have been hearing - EVERYONE is earning from sand mining and that is why it will not stop. Given this fact, of course the leadership in the community will not stop selling their future, they simply do not have that foresight - this is where the government need to step up and see the long term economic value of protecting one of the most sustainable assets this beautiful country has to offer!
Of course people need to earn, people need to eat...but what happens when the sand runs out? It is not a sustainable source of income, tourism on the other hand has the potential to provide livelihoods for a much wider spectrum of the population for the foreseeable future.
Tourism has not yet taken off in this gem of a country as is currently reserved for the more adventurous traveler. In the 70's and 80's Sierra Leone was the tourist destination for the rich and famous. The Africana hotel at Tokeh has a helipad - soon to reopen - which would receive the elite from around the world that came to enjoy the natural beauty of rainforest and white sand beaches. The war destroyed that market but over 10 years later, peace has well and truly been restored and the doors are opening again for the world to come and enjoy the rich culture and serene beauty of this country.
The potential employment and investment opportunities tourism can provide are immense and will last a great deal longer than the concrete buildings made form high saline sand throughout the peninsula. Successful community based tourism at Tribewanted, River #2 and Bureh are living proof of the power tourism has to improve lives.
As a result of increased awareness and lobbying the government have recently put restrictions on the two beaches open for sand mining. Hamilton, already destroyed with houses and orphanages falling into the sea, will be open 2 days a week and John Obey, a beach that could potentially be saved if action is taken soon, is open for business 6 days a week from 6am - 7pm, although we still hear the trucks coming throughout the night.
I appeal to you to take a minute to sign the petition below and share with your networks. Once we reach 1,000 signatures this will be presented to the president Ernest Bai Koroma to appeal for a change in legislation to save the habitat for the people of Sierra Leone.
Monday, 7 January 2013
The Unforgettable Mighty Moa River Trip.
Here goes an attempt to somehow distinguish
between all of the wonderfully unique experiences that made up an amazing 10-day
trip through remotest Sierra Leone and give a glimpse of the highlights and
lowlights we encountered along the way. The Moa
river expedition recce ended just over two weeks ago and almost instantaneously
the trip in my mind has moulded into one exotic, dreamlike adventure of hiking
and canoeing from one welcoming rural Mende community to the next.
The dream team consisted of Kenneth aka Urban Gorilla and
Alusine aka African Ox our über-knowledgeable local guides who shared such
an infectious love for their country and the wildlife that we all became
amateur birdwatchers by the end of the trip. Tom, a passionate ‘West African Responsible Tourism’ developer from London with a penchant for all things
pirates, was the reason we were all there as he headed the reclamation for the
Secret Compass expedition to come. Kieran an anthropological documentary maker,
with Shooting Freetown already under his belt, was there to film his next
documentary; Beyond Freetown. KP a Sierra Leonean filmmaker, featured in
Shooting Freetown, was also there to make his own documentary about the
adventure. Kat aka the pied piper, an enthusiastic Australian Dietician with
the power to hypnotize any group of children she encountered. Mark an avid
permaculturist and treehugger from South Africa and myself, a passionately curious,
adventure loving, Salone fan from Ireland made up the team.
Our trip began with an overnight stay in
Kenema where we had the chance to start to get to know each other, stock up on
supplies and build up our own excited anticipations of the adventure to come.
After a good night of sleep we set off early to our first destination where we
abandoned our comfortable 4x4 and the real fun started. We followed pretty much
the same routine of tasks in every community we entered; first step was to
locate and greet the headman and explain our mission to the chief and crowds of
curious onlookers. Our mission being responsible tourism was often a bit too
abstract for comprehension in communities who have only ever had interactions
with missionaries, prospectors or development organizations. The idea that we
would want to come and enjoy the beauty and culture of their remote area was a
surprise to many and a cause for celebration in most.
After observing the ritual gratuity giving
to the headman we would seek out staples such as access to drinking water,
potential porters to help with our supplies, boat men to share with us their knowledge
of the region and navigate the rapids and finally camping grounds.
Our first stop was Senabu a somewhat remote
village touching the Moa River at the Guinea – Sierra Leone border. Our welcome
was warm and our mission was met with a certain degree of understanding,
compared to latter, more remote communities. The realities of what we were doing
and the responsibility we held quickly became apparent as I realized what a pioneering
force we would be as the first tourists to navigate the entirety of the Moa and
encounter and interact with local communities along the way.
After setting up camp on the banks of the
mighty Moa the boys went for a swim with an audience of about 40 that had gathered earlier that day to
observe our every move while Kat and I hung back trying to decide where
to bathe as it did not seem appropriate ladies, to strip down into bikinis and
join the boys. There was no bathing that first night… Bright and early the next
day after a breakfast of fried fish and chillies we set off on our first canoe
ride to
Mende-Booima where a long day of hiking ensued. At
points the hot sun was beating down upon us as we meandered through the dense
jungle with our backpacks – the hard work was exhilarating, the banter was
mightly and the changing vegitation meant
that we passed through sheltered plantations providing shade and delicious
fruit to sustain us on our trek.
Just before nightfall, exhausted, hungry
and 5miles of forest from our target destination we decided to change the plan
and stay at the next village we met. And what a wonderful village, Botoma, the
welcome we received was immense as we were told that we were the first foreign
visitors in over 25 years. The village quickly began to buzz with excitement
and the imam shared with us the reason – a local woman had recently dreamt that
foreign people would visit and this would bring great fortune to the
community in the future, a prophecy… As we set up camp in the centre of the
town, the villagers prepared water for us to wash ourselves and the headman
assured that no harm would come of us as long as we stayed. I noticed some
local boys carrying a television and dvd player through the town, they had
borrowed this from the neighbouring village some 5 miles away to set up a
cinema to watch some local movies that night. I happened to have a copy of
Secret Desire – KP’s most well-known movie, which we presented to the village
as a gift. This small gesture was greatly appreciated by the headman and as
word spread men, women and children began to emerge from their homes, wiping
sleep from their eyes, to join the rest of the village to honour the gift and
watch the movie.
The most magical wake up call started with the traditional Muslim call to prayer followed by drumming and chanting as the Christians competed for worshippers. Speechless we rose from our tents to watch the sun rise over the hills and warm ourselves at the fire with a warm cup of coffee – unforgettable!
The most magical wake up call started with the traditional Muslim call to prayer followed by drumming and chanting as the Christians competed for worshippers. Speechless we rose from our tents to watch the sun rise over the hills and warm ourselves at the fire with a warm cup of coffee – unforgettable!
The days that followed were equally as magical
with amazing displays of hospitality, generosity and insights into the
undiluted culture of the local people we encountered. Other highlights included gliding along the glasslike surface of the Moa lost in thoughts with nothing but the tribal humming of the boatmen to be heard. Cooling off in the Moa after a long hike in the mid-day sun, a brief, slightly illegal trip across the river to Guinea, trying local delacicies including cane rat and bitter tomato suace, moonlit bathing in bamboo enclosures, and dancing round a camp fire with women to the beating of their drums, watching the crowds around the campfires enthralled as KP launched into vivid storytelling mode again and again....
Some of the more challanging moments include zipping along almost non-existant dirt tracks on the back motorbikes at an unknown speed with a cloud of red dust obstructing the view. Needless to say there may be some okada riders out there with bruised ribs from my intermitent squeezing during moments of terrified horror as I envisioned a painful end to my own life. One particulary bad ride where we veered off the narrow path into the grass and my feet met with a fallen tree and instantly opened didn't do much to put my mind at ease on future rides. Thankfully this was the only accident we encountered and apart from some blisters from hiking our first aid kits returned untouched.
Other challanges we faced included the negotiations with local boatmen who didn't always understand that quoting a fair price could cement a relationship with the potential for future work in tourism. Although by the end of the trip our negotiation skills had improved immensly along with other important skills including speed tent set-up/take down and basic Mende to name but a few.
What a thrilling adventure far from the well-beaten
path, it has left its mark on me in more ways than just the scars on my toes. I see
Sierra Leone through different eyes and feel a deeper understanding for the
culture here and will surely never be able to go on one of those regular
tourist trails again… AND there is still a documentary to look forward to, which will
certainly paint another picture from the perspective of a local Mende film maker and an insightful anthropological film maker - Beyond Freetown: The Moa River Journey
Monday, 3 December 2012
Training, tourism, river trips and some local superstition....the adventure continues
So it's two thirds into my posting here at tribewanted and I'm starting to get the feeling that time is coming to end and there are so many things left to do. Ben Keane, one of the founders, was here to give some much needed input in the day to day operations of the team and share with us the vision for Tribewanted's Community Interest Company which is being launched this month. Together we spent a lot of time focusing on training the staff and building capacity.
Due to a blundered budget for a project which has now be halted mid air, I have been spending two mornings a week working with a team of 9 builders to instill the importance of planning and accuracy in relation to construction This is not any normal training session, the group is made up of men from 18 - 45, some of whom cannot read and write, let alone perform basic, necessary calculations. Those within the group who were lucky enough to finish school, usually the younger ones, have a good attention span and show a lot of interest. As for the older ones, it is a struggle, but fortunately pride and large egos do not stand in the way of learning, it is more to do with a lack of confidence from a severely limited educational background. These men are by no means stupid, just try to imagine what life would be like without the education you received both at home and in school - difficult to comprehend, I know!
Education really is the key and on a very positive note, we have managed to get support from an NGO called Street Child to take over the teacher training and rehabilitation of the primary school in John Obey. This alone is key to the future development of this small community.
This weeks community meeting was set to discuss how the community can leverage the tourism that tribewanted brings to the area, a shame indeed, but as many people cannot comprehend the different needs and wants of visiting tourists there is not much in the way of local produce on sale. Lot's of potential though from making country clothes, to bottling chilli sauce and forest honey.
On a lighter note a road trip to Rogbonko with the girls last week was a welcome distraction. Public transport in this country is an adventure in itself. Courtney and I had meetings with Ben, the founder of TW in the morning, so we left in the early afternoon, bikes to Waterloo and from there we haggled for a taxi to Makeni. All hell broke loose when we refused to travel in the car if the driver allowed 4 people in the front of a small Toyota on a two hour journey along the dangerous roads. Kicking up a stink worked and we made it to Makeni with our limbs intact. From there we took another taxi to Magburka and bikes on a 45 min ride through acres of sugar cane plantations as the sun set. Rogbonko is a locally run eco-tourism project set deep in the rainforest and an idyllic place to chill out, sip palm wine and do what us girls do best; learn how to play stick and tyre a fav game here and buy waist beads (worn to give good shape) and love potions from the local traditional healer .....
There is a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks, from a 10 day trip in a dug-out canoe along the Moa river to Tiwai islands, a national park which boasts the highest density of primates in Africa, to Christmas with friends on the islands and working closely with the women of John Obey to build confidence, capacity and hold workshops on health and sex education.
Life is good!
Due to a blundered budget for a project which has now be halted mid air, I have been spending two mornings a week working with a team of 9 builders to instill the importance of planning and accuracy in relation to construction This is not any normal training session, the group is made up of men from 18 - 45, some of whom cannot read and write, let alone perform basic, necessary calculations. Those within the group who were lucky enough to finish school, usually the younger ones, have a good attention span and show a lot of interest. As for the older ones, it is a struggle, but fortunately pride and large egos do not stand in the way of learning, it is more to do with a lack of confidence from a severely limited educational background. These men are by no means stupid, just try to imagine what life would be like without the education you received both at home and in school - difficult to comprehend, I know!
Education really is the key and on a very positive note, we have managed to get support from an NGO called Street Child to take over the teacher training and rehabilitation of the primary school in John Obey. This alone is key to the future development of this small community.
This weeks community meeting was set to discuss how the community can leverage the tourism that tribewanted brings to the area, a shame indeed, but as many people cannot comprehend the different needs and wants of visiting tourists there is not much in the way of local produce on sale. Lot's of potential though from making country clothes, to bottling chilli sauce and forest honey.
|
Selection of local potions |
Village expert in stick and tyre games! |
There is a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks, from a 10 day trip in a dug-out canoe along the Moa river to Tiwai islands, a national park which boasts the highest density of primates in Africa, to Christmas with friends on the islands and working closely with the women of John Obey to build confidence, capacity and hold workshops on health and sex education.
Life is good!
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Economics of sand mining
Development and the liberal lean
towards instant gratification is capable of destroying tourisms' bright future
here in Sierra Leone.
The youths at John Obey have been
pushed from the bush where they used to go to cut wood to sell as a
conservation programme has been implemented to protect the rapidly decreasing
forests on the peninsula. From the forests to the beaches….. Sadly these men
are now making a small fortune loading up trucks with sand from the beach to
supply the construction boom in and around Freetown. At the moment there are
about 10 trucks coming down to load up every day and as we move further into
the dry season this number will increase to almost 50 trucks a day. This is
massively disruptive to the environment and Hamilton beach in Freetown has
already been raped to the point of no return with buildings and homes falling
into the sea.
After breaking through the
reluctance to speak about the sand mining with the local youths it seems that
the money being made from the sand mining on Obama looks like this. A 10-tyre
lorry, which retails at 700,000Le (140€) in town will pay:
130,000Le (26€) to the boys to fill
it with sand
20,000Le (4€) to the local council
as tax
20,000Le (4€) to the community
20,000Le (4€) to the driver manifest
(makes its way back to the local community)
A truck can be loaded in under an
hour and at peak times each boy can earn up to 200,000Le (40€) per day. This is
over 10 times more than the average local daily rate of payment, which will be
impossible to compete with. Stopping sand mining is possible but it will put a
group of over 30 young men out of work and leave them feeling aggravated unable
to provide for their families. An alternative source of income is needed but
unfortunately the community is looking to anyone but themselves to provide this
employment.
Tribewanted, Welthungerhilfe (WHH)
and other business people with vested interests in the area have been
campaigning to educate and sensitize locals about the need to protect the
beaches. Logically it makes perfect sense to think about the long-term affects
of taking sand away at a rate that cannot possibly be sustained and replaced by
the seas. And strategically leveraging the huge contribution sustainable
tourism could make if the beaches were protected and thinking about the future
of the community and the local wildlife. However like most things in life it’s
just not that simple and logic is often defied and subordinated to survival,
opportunity, greed and desire …
At John Obey we have reached the
point where the District Council understand the plight and have admitted that
they would be ready to support the cause and make this a topic high on the
agenda of the new Chairman once he is instated after the results have been
announced. Getting the political will behind the issue of sand mining will
hopefully have an immediate impact and hopefully we can take advantage of the
changing power and ensure protecting the beautiful beaches gets the attention
they deserves.
Please take a minute to follow the
campaign on facebook and sign our petition of support:
www.facebook.com/stopsandmininginsierraleone
Friday, 16 November 2012
Sierra Leone Presidential elections tomorrow!
The elections are tomorrow and the
country is literally buzzing in anticipation. Since the beginning of
last week pretty much the entire community have been proudly wearing
their voter ids around their necks day and night.
The two parties going for the
presidential leg of the elections are APC (All People’s Congress)
represented by the colour red and SLPP (Sierra Leone’s People’s
Party) represented by the colour green. Since I have arrived back
there has been at least one rally for each side every other week
either in Freetown or smaller towns’ along the peninsula. A typical political rally looks a bit like a St. Patricks day parade, lots of colour
(Green or red, depending on the party), lots of drunk people and the
odd man dressed as a woman and woman dressed as a devil...... Ernest
Bai Koromo the incumbent president is set for a landslide win and
after quizzing many people in the community the consensus is that he
is a fine man and has done a lot for the development of the country
in the past four years.
From doing my own research the phrase
'lesser of two evils' rings home. Mr. Koroma appears to genuinely
have the nation’s interests in mind but this is Africa and
therefore the corruption is at times more open and obvious than in
our own countries. The brutal civil war here ended more than a decade
ago but it seems the development of the infrastructure and job
creation didn’t really take off until Koroma got into power just
under four years ago. After the war ended there was an awful lot of
international funds being pumped into the country but little evidence
of how this money was benefiting the people was to be seen. This
visible development since Koroma gained power has secured him a place
in the hearts of many. The oposition leader Mr. Julias Maada Bio was
the leader of SLPP duing the war when the second Coup that overthrew
Strasser and most people are opposed to turn back the clocks to the
horrors of the lost decade and looking forward to seeing further
development of their beloved country.
Tomorrow registered voters will have
the opportunity to choose their new president, the District Chairman
(Mayor), their MP and local Councillor. It is expected to be a very
proud day and unlike in Europe there will be no secrecy, with each
member of the community dressed explicitly to express their
preferences. There is little to no trouble expected in the lead up to
the elections, despite the high security measures being imposed by
NGO’s and International businesses and schools throughout the
country. Many NGO’s have been closed for business for some time
already and will remain closed for up to six weeks with their
employees either on leave or on lock down in their compounds. From
where I am sitting this seems over cautious and a little sad but I
imagine it has much to do with protecting liability.
The plan for tomorrow is to don my red
T-shirt and head up to the community center to enjoy the buzz, get
some photos and maybe even have a glass of poyo and a bit of a boogie
with the locals.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, there has
been some sad news with the loss of our building team’s first
external contract. The news was broken earlier this week after a
month or so of trying to find a solution to a grossly miscalculated
budget and time frame. Unfortunately for both Tribewanted and Orphund
there was no simple solution to be found – money don done!
Thankfully one beautiful earthbag building, one block of colourful
compost toilets and one bucket shower has been completed before the
money ran out.
On a positive note the Orphund team
have not given up on their dream to have the first eco-orphanage in
Sierra Leone and plans for a quick fix concrete structure to house
the kids have been stopped. Fund raising will resume and hopefully
the eco-building will as well before the end of the year. In the
meantime an important lesson has been learned, we hope, and the
building team are back on site restoring and rehabilitating our
accommodation before the tourist season reaches its peak in the
coming weeks.
Alusain breaking stones |
Ali fixing the pulley in our new bucket shower |
First earthbag orphanage building in Sierra Leone |
The Orphund and Tribewanted building teams outside the new compost toilets |
In other news I am very excited to have
tracked down a heroin of mine that I met the last time I was here.
This lady, Hannah, has one of the most amazing stories of survival
and strength in the face of incredible obstacles and since I met her
here in February of this year I have wanted to write about her story
and harness her strength to inspire and empower other Sierra Leoneans
especially her fellow women. We have planned to catch up next week so
watch this space....
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