Week 3

“The belly is a rascal. It doesn't remember how well you treated it yesterday, it'll cry out for more tomorrow.”

Week three is over, and two more books finished. The quote above is from Solzhenitsyn's One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, one that I have waiting to read for a long time, but have never managed, the same with his Gulag Archipelago which I seem to have left at home. I thoroughly enjoyed his tomb of a book, 1914, while in Kazakhstan, thanks Jason. His expose of Stalin's prison camps earned him both a Nobel prize for literature and exile from the USSR, and seeing as he spent much of his time in northern Kazakhstan (and is the setting of this book), I can relate to his comments about the weather, if not the living conditions.

The second book this week is A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, about his time as an orphan, refugee and child soldier during the first part of the civil war. It is an incredibly moving and eye opening look at the fighting, and the factors that drive some children into fighting. There have been a number of concerns raised over the accuracy of some of the accounts, and talking to Sierra Leonians about it, there is a feeling of over-dramatising of events, which may well be true, but I still believe it to be an important read for anyone interested in Sierra Leone and child soldiers.

It has struck me that I haven't yet talked about what the volunteers have been doing here, so that shall be the focus today! Although firstly a disclaimer – Two of the volunteers fell ill on the first day in country, and much of my time for last week was spent at the hospital. While both recovered, one decided to go home, which has further shrunk our team here, and meant another trip to the airport to see her off this morning.

Seeing as I was only able to visit a site last Monday morning, the SL team leader has been keeping up our supervisory roles. The volunteers have spent much of the week visiting all eight of the slums they will work in, attending community meetings, meeting the slum leaders, and getting a feel of the Y-Care programmes in each location.

The first Monday, where I was able to go along, was probably the most interesting visit of all, as it involved an emergency visit to Grey Bush slum, on a disaster prevention mandate. It had rained almost non-stop on Sunday, and at the time we had commented on how awesome the sheer volume of water falling was. However watching the national news that evening, it was reported that three people had died in a mudslide in one of the city's slums, quickly bringing home the realities of both the extreme weather here, and the daily dangers faced in the slums.

It was immediately clear where the slide had happened, with half of a hillside having collapsed into the houses underneath. Boulders the size of small cars littered the ground, as well as vast amounts of mud. Two people injured in the rock fall had died that night, increasing the death toll to five, and the mood was sombre. The role of the volunteers was to liaise with slum elders and spokespeople, and accurately ascertain the extent of the damage, and what help could be provided, as well as simply to show that people do care about the plight of slum dwellers. In subsequent return visits, shovels, pickaxes and wheelbarrows have been provided to the community to allow quicker response in the future (and to aid other community work), and a report taken to the mayor with recommendations on improving safety. With the second week of work finishing today, is it fair to say the volunteers are comfortably settled into their community projects.

 (Friendly slum coconut seller)

Right, back to my random thoughts and observations. Mangos are very much in season at the moment, and I am enjoying very much eating them every day. Haggling for a good deal has been a challenge, but so long as I have the energy, it can be fun. Avocados are also locally grown, and while they don't seem to feature in any local dishes, they make a tasty snack by themselves.