Banana Islands and Valentine's day

Moving from temperatures below zero to temperatures above thirty definitely has physical consequences. At the moment my left foot is decorated with sun rash, mosquito bite swellings and plant rashes.

The plant rashes are a residue of our site visit on the Banana Islands (named as such because of their shape). If you look at a map you’ll see it’s a short distance from Lakka to Kent, from where we were going to take the boat. But instead of driving against the clock we went via Freetown, (driving clockwise over Freetown peninsula) and hit the highway.

People have the interesting habit of walking on the road, even if there is a pavement. They try to bum a ride, sell some fruits, nuts, breads, deepfried dough/balls (‘oliebollen’), soap or anything that can be balanced on a dish on your head in fairly large amounts (e.g. small things). I’m still amazed (ok, ok, I’ve only been here about 4 days) about the things (half a forest) and amounts (half a fruitshop) people carry on their heads without hitting each other or dropping all their fruits on the streets.

Charles (our companion, driver and birdwatcher) happened to drive an English vehicle with the wheel on the right which I was VERY pleased about. This way he could make sure he would not hit any foot passengers. Thank god he also had a little mirror extra on the front at my side so he could actually have a proper view of all sides of the car.

Once we arrived in Kent we took the Banana guest house boat to the islands. There are (sort of) 3 islands with 2 villages: Dublin, which is on the first and main island, Ricketts (on the 2^nd). This island is attached to the first by a pathway over piled up rocks and plastic that floats in from the mainland. The last island is Mesmui (or Mes Mieux). Mesmui has no inhabitants at all. We arrived in Dublin, welcomed by piles of plastic on the beach and a sign saying we had to pay the community 5000 leones tax for keeping the island clean...

Our guide for the day, Gary, owns the eco-friendly guesthouse which is run by locals. It’s a sustainable social/environmental friendly development project in which EFA is to get involved in return for some shares in the guest house. We were there to assess the island, guest house and opportunities/responsibilities for EFA. Chani and I will be writing the assessment report and see how things go from there. We met the chief woman, as she called herself. She was the boss of the island, the one to take all the decisions concerning the island. I was glad to have Charles with us to translate our English into Krio and vice versa. Even though Krio is a lot like English when spoken slowly my learning curve for Krio has not been as steep as I would like (fluency in 2 days would have been helpful). The chief woman had trouble understanding our questions which immediately drew my thoughts back to the workshops I had at Sussex about participatory trainings to gather information in development projects. I was very sceptical about my year at Sussex and was sure that a year in the field would have given me the same knowledge but being in the field I highly appreciate having some theoretical framework (to ridicule in the field). Seriously, the degree and experience here are nicely complementing each other.

Before I continue working I just want to share my valentine’s day experience. As I just started out working with EFA and want to get to know the organisation a.s.a.p. as it facilitates taking on (sudden/surprise) responsibilities, I wanted to work on Sunday as well. Little did I know that Valentine’s day is THE day to head to the beach. Three beach bars were trying to have the loudest music to attract the gorgeous crowd. I have to say, Sierra Leonean people in general are absolutely gorgeous but seem unaware of this (though I did catch four women turn around for a guy’s camera to show off their derrieres proudly).
So I gave up on being studious at the end of the afternoon and headed to the beach with Chani where we met up with some of her friends, had a ‘star’ (beer) and talked a lot about everything and nothing. Although I never really liked beer much, a cold star on the beach is divine. It’s a mild beer, not so bitter, more like white beer. I also tried ‘Best’, which is bailey’s in a little plastic bag. The sort you get ketchup and mayonnaise in when you have a canteen lunch somewhere. Chani taught me how to do Poj (tennis balls in socks you swing around elegantly...or not, in my case. But I’m learning!!)

I’m sure my stories will get shorter, don’t worry...keep tracking me J