“A boggy, soggy, squitchy picture
truly”
I seem to be getting later and later
writing these, so I do apologize.
Still slogging my way through Moby
Dick, and while some of the verbose and illustrative images
Melville uses are fantastic, I can't help thinking that an abridged
and edited version would save on both paper and time. But, in the words of Melville himself,
“no more of this blubbering now, we are going a-whaling”
First up on my list of randomly
collated thoughts for the week, is my extravagant use of mineral
water for every day tasks. Given the dubious safety of the well water
at home, I find myself using mineral water for shaving, brushing
teeth and even washing fruit. Make me feel like a Hollywood celeb, it really re-enforces the things we take for granted at home,
namely clean tap-water.
Tied in somewhat with the discussion on
cleanliness, is the ebola threat currently in Sierra Leone. The
official WHO stats list 58 dead (as of 3 days ago),
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_06_22_ebola/en/
but the real number is probably much higher. A more worrying trend
than the general lack of hygiene that is endemic in much of the
developing world, is the skepticism to healthcare and NGO
help. There are a large number of people here who either don't
believe ebola exists (the deaths are either made up, or due to 'bad
spirits') or that it is just a conspiracy for the west to make
money. This means that people are not taking effected family members
to hospitals to seek proper treatment, or are ignoring the advice
regarding handling the dead I.e Don't, as that is when ebola is at
its most contagious. Much of this is due to the high illiteracy rates
in rural parts of the country, a rather blind faith in religious
salvation, and a justified lack of confidence in the support and
intentions of local and national government with proof that large
amounts of money sent to help limit the ebola spread has 'gone
missing'. http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200525613.shtml
I recently received a 50 Leone coin as
change, and was rather surprised, as I hadn't seen any coins so
small. I can't even imagine what you could by for that, given that a
taxi ride is 1000 Leones, and even a bottle of local Coke is 2500.
For reference, 50 Leones is 0.0068p, meaning the metal is worth more
in the UK than the value on the coin!
I spent last Friday-Sunday up in Bo,
the 2nd city of Sierra Leone, looking at potential
homestay families and partner organisations for the next batch of
volunteers. This time, the 10 expected volunteers will be split
between Freetown and Bo, with 5 in each, and I will base myself in
Bo, as I fancied a change of scenery and a more rural setting. It
will be an interesting challenge, being so far away from the capital
(4 hours or so by Jeep, in the dry), but the freedom may well be
good, as I will have a greater hand in running the programmes.
(Just another taxi, full of charcoal, on the Freetown-Bo road)
Rather more seriously, I got hold of a
copy of the new FGM report for Sierra Leone, and it makes for
shocking reading. While the practice is not limited to here
exclusively, it does cover a large swathe of Western, Central and
Eastern Africa, and due to the large diaspora living in Britain, it
is now a British problem as well. Despite laws being passed in 2003
clarifying the position against it, the first prosecutions only took
place in March this year. I have included a link to the file here, in
case you are interested, and it does help to highlight just some of
the wildly different cultural realities of life out here.
Despite the realities mentioned in the
report, there are laws against it in SL, but it is not expressly
banned, and indeed is unlikely to be so soon. Statute 33 of the 2007
Child's Rights act states:
33.No
person shall subject a child to torture or other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment including any cultural practice
which dehumanises or is injurious to the physical and mental welfare
of a child
(Village kids)
YMCA members and staff are always
jetting off to a conference or event, yet the realities of gaining
visas are rather harsh here. Due to the actions of their peers, who
may stay behind in whichever western country they have visited, or
try to claim asylum, it is incredibly difficult for young African
males to gain visas. It has taken the personal phone call to the
German ambassador by the YMCA director here to allow a group to
travel to Germany for a fundraising and educational tour in support
of the Traveling Doctor programme (where a YMCA funded doctor
travels to remote villages, providing free healthcare).
I am not sure if I have mentioned this
before or not, so sorry for any repetition, but the number of albinos
here amazes me on a daily basis. It is not only that albino Africans
stand out more against their peers than a European albino might, but
the likelihood of albinism is greater as well, with 1 in every 1500
people being albino in parts of Africa, compared to 1 in every 17,000
in the UK. They face stigma and hardship here, but thankfully not the
killings and maiming as in some more southern African nations, where
albino body parts are used in traditional medicine.
http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com/archives/65568
With the daily 'white boy' calls from
friendly children that I receive here, it was a surprise the other
week, to get one from an albino boy. I have often wondered if,
regardless of the colour, albinos here identify as 'black' or
'white', and, with a survey sample size of one, I will assume the
answer to be 'black'.
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