Arriving in Sierra Leone

Bewildered by the Snow

Boston has been besieged by tons of snow, 61 inches in less than 30 days.  I was originally slated to leave for Sierra Leone on January 19 but that did not pan out as always when planning with any NGOs.  But I was not regretting it as I got to experience the blizzard of 2015 (see kwankewlai.blogsopt.com).  Despite all that shoveling I was in love with the snow; my cat was amazed and confused by all that vast expense of whiteness and was none too thrilled as her daily jaunt outside has been stopped dead in the track.  Mentally I tried to prepare myself to switch gear to the heat and humidity in Sierra Leone.

Shoveling my Front Walk

Leave Taking with My Kitty

My plane went the day before by way of Brussels stopping at Dakar, Conarky, and finally to Freetown.  At Lungi Airport in Sierra Leone, there was a long queue after we washed our hands and checked through immigration for the health check for symptoms of Ebola and temperature scanning.  

At baggage claim, a man came and promptly took my luggage from me, muttering something that sounded like the name of the man from IMC that I was supposed to meet.  We were stopped by the custom officer who wanted to check my suitcase but then when I stopped to do so, he waved me on.  The stranger claimed that I should pay him something as we did not have to be checked by customs.  I told him I do not pay any brides.  Outside was a dusty road that we walked through to reach the booth to get ticket for the sea coach or speed boat, a 25 minute ride to Freetown for the airport is on a peninsula.   There he shoved a ticket at me for the speed boat.  Thereupon I took my suitcase from him and walked back to the airport; he followed me closely and continued his hustling.  Fortunately I spotted the IMC sign held by the man who was meeting me.  The stranger muttered “sea coach” which sounded a lot like his name.

The man continued to follow us and telling us to be sure to pay the driver some money to ensure our suitcases would be placed at the beginning of a queue.  At the dock, children were playing by the dark beach.  Some were asking for money, gesturing with their hands to their mouths.  A strong wind was blowing and the ocean was choppy.  The floating dock was not lit and it bounced severely with the waves.  I put on the life jacket which was missing zipper and tie strings.   There were about 15 passengers in this violently bouncing boat.  The lights from Freetown were glinting across from us.  As we sped closer to the dock, another speed boat overtook us.  It whipped through the water without any lights!  It was nine in the evening.

We spent a night in Family Kingdom Resort where a couple of dik diks and a deer-like creature roamed.  In the morning I walked to the beach cross the hotel, took off my flip-flops and ran.  After orientation at the office, we drove on surprisingly smooth road for 2 hours to Lunsar, 50 miles north of Freetown.  Signs on Ebola lined the streets of Freetown.  We passed through markets, small villages, oil palms, coconut, mango, and guava trees interspersed with dry tall elephant grass. Like many places in Asia, Africa and South America, there seems to be random slashing and burning of bushes and trees. 

Dik-Dik

The Lumley Beach

Tomorrow we would start at the ETC.

NPR has a piece on my Ebola experience in Liberia this morning. 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/02/12/385528882/the-ebola-diaries-trying-to-heal-patients-you-cant-touch

I have been impressed by the amount of time Nurith Aizenman spent with me at my home for the interview and the careful preparation done before this piece was developed.  The reactions I received leave me feeling very humbled.