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

www.change.org/petitions/stop-unsustainable-sand-mining-on-the-western-area-peninsula-sierra-leone

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....

The great feeling of knowing you are exactly where you're meant to be!

Almost one month in and so much has happened, from back stabbing (literally) to having to become some sort of earth bag construction expert over night.

Lesson #1: Never sit on a three legged stool in the sand while chopping veggies!

So Courtney, my colleague and fellow kindred spirit, managed to fall backwards off the stool while helping with lunch last week. She happened to have the sharpest knife in the place in her hand and used this to break her fall. Luckily we had a wonderful Neurosurgeon – Katya – in the house. Cool as a breeze she took over the operation Karl and I had started to perform in the solar house. While Katya was stitching Courtney up (without any anaesthetic) I was trying to distract her from the agony with graphic stories of the horrors of child birth. All went swimmingly and 10 days later the stitches are out and Courtney is back running around doing what she does best.....

Lesson #2: The importance of planning and the learning curve that comes with all new projects

This is something that should be a focus in places like Europe and even more so in West Africa! Orphund – a wonderful NGO, made up mainly of Australian volunteers, builds orphanages around the country and continent. Each member of foreign staff supporting themselves and fundraising with friends and family to financially support the project – not a penny is wasted on administrative “needs”. Many of the volunteers take their annual leave from their various livelihoods to come and get down and dirty building orphanages amongst other related tasks, what a refreshing change from spending summer holidays on the beach, although there is some beach time thrown in.

Tribewanted’s building team have very successfully created a wonderful array of buildings to host guests from earthbag structures to wooden beach bungalows. Therefore their expertise was hired to create a new orphanage in Tombo out of the aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly adobe. While the first building is almost complete and ready for the Orphund girls to move into there have been some delay and issues regarding the budget and planning of the project. In Sierra Leone there is a saying ‘ To plan ahead is to plan twice’ and while this doesn’t sum up the only reasons for the problems we’ve encountered this attitude has clearly been a stumbling block. Another issue is most certainly the lack of training in planning and budgeting – cue building and budgeting workshops every Sunday!

Lesson #3: Nature and local culture that just keeps on giving!

From electrical storms that send goosebumps all over your body to pods of Dolphins putting on a show in the Atlantic seas, this place has got so much soul soothing stimulation that I haven’t even finished my first book. We had a visit the other day from my all time favourite lizard, the shifty Chameleon and regular visits from feisty little baby crocs keep our days in this wilderness occupied.

On the way back from Banana islands the other we came upon a boat bobbing in the middle of their widespread net, drumming a hypnotic beat to lure the fish to their demise. Somehow these ancient cultural methods have persevered and mingle on a daily basis with technologies like mobile phones that somehow seem so foreign in comparison.

It has been greatttttttttttt to have Shane my BFF come to visit! It is pretty much impossible to sum this place and this adventure up without coming to seeing it with your own eyes and it has been very refreshing to hear his thoughts on the projects, the place and the potential that is Sierra Leone. Tomorrow will be his debut Irish dancing in West Africa to the village community and the headman. The reason poor Shane won’t be getting a rest from dancing over here stemmed from a discussion a few weeks back with the community about secret societies and their original purpose - to share a tribes culture, dance, language etc with the children of that tribe. Hassan commented that it must be hard for Europeans to understand as we have no culture - WHAT!!??! Hence the display of Irish culture planned for tomorrow afternoon. Let’s hope they don’t think his fast foot action means he’s possessed and have the witch doctor come!!!

There has been quite a few ticks on the bucket list and some awesome memories cemented in our minds on this little adventure!
Some other highlights of the past few weeks include:

• Seeing the massive impact a 3 day trip to tribewanted has had on a bunch of International school kids.
• A canoe trip up the lagoon.
• A forest walk to the beautiful cove of Black Johnson to hear the passionate tales of an English lady's struggle to stop sand mining.
• Weekly classes on the beach front black board with the local primary school kids
• Meeting some really amazing people passing through John Obey and sharing their stories
• Lobster, chilled white wine and good company as the sun went down at Sussex beach
• Visits from my old family and friends from Allentown
• A very positive meeting on the importance of stopping sand mining and supporting sustainable tourism with the head of the District Council
• Utilizing the combined experience of myself, Courtney, Kat and Mark to devise material that will hopefully be used to ensure the best experience for the guests and volunteers who happen upon Tribewanted
• Hammock time

Looking after the city slickers wheely case on the way to Banana Island

Right that’s it for now, time for a bucket shower before hopping on an okada to head to Freetown to show Shane the other side of SL.