Reflections on SL

I'm going to try to write small segments of the Sierra Leone trip here over the next few weeks/months.

One of the things that really bothered me during the first week in was that we were ferried around on trucks a lot. Whenever we walked outside, we hopped on a truck and got driven around. We would wave to people on the streets and such but had no real sense of the place. It went on like this for a few days. And then on the first Sunday we were there, we met up with Paul, the local builder, to discuss plans for the latrine. After this, we walked around Lunsar with him to find out prices for building material. That was the first time, since getting into the country on Thursday that I had walked outside of the mission's compound on foot. I really appreciated that experience.

We didn't just walk around to find out prices. We walked very slowly and Paul introduced us to various people. We stopped by the market stall where his family sells things. People started conversations with us and we stopped to talk. There were a good number of people in town who could speak English, which is a big distinction from the villages. At one point, we decided we were done with material hunting and we stopped to watch a soccer game. People don't have TVs in their houses so there are these entertainment places where they basically have a TV and seating for lots of people. So we went into one of these dark sheds and watched soccer games on two different TVs at once. The room was packed full of people. It was hot and musty because it was the middle of the day. I must've sweated a ton in there. And at one point, I noticed that there were no women in the room, just men and boys. Girls don't play football in this country. Not too long after we arrived, Manchester United scored a goal and the whole room just went crazy. People were cheering and hugging each other. It was pretty cool.

After the soccer game, we walked through the market area. I really enjoy market places. I like places where there are stalls and people selling things. I guess there's just a sense of never knowing what you will find in one of these places. Of course, we got harassed by people trying to sell things to us. I never took a picture of this market place and now I wish I had. It would have been nice to spend more time looking at the different types of things that people sell and find out where they get their stuff from. I think I just wish we were able to talk with people more. I guess there's always the language issue. But still, I don't think we got a whole lot of time to explore the town and just hang out with people.

After the market, we walked to the gas station. On the way there, Paul got us oranges. The vendors peel most of the skin off before they sell them. I guess it helps the peeling process? Not sure. Anyway, on the way back, we took the backroads and walked passed people cooking. We came to a gazebo that is a popular hang out for local teachers. That was an interesting find, especially since these teachers knew English.

I just felt that we were too focused on business and projects the whole trip. I guess since it's our first time there, we didn't know how safe the city was and we always tried to go somewhere with a local. I think we would have been perfectly fine walking around town as long as there was more than one of us. And I wish we had done that more. Just walk around town with no real purpose and talk to (or just observe) people.

This semester I'm taking an anthropology class. In many ways, I wish I had taken some sort of anthropology class before going to Sierra Leone. The things we talk about in class are so relevant to development work. But I guess I appreciate the class a lot more now too.