New Digs

Sadly, we were asked to leave Disneyland Fortress. We knew this might happen but the actuality of it happening was a little difficult to handle. I was really going to miss Frances. We managed to squeeze an extra week out of the company whose house we were luxuriating in due to lack of housing in Makeni because of the marathon. On the morning of June 11^th we said goodbye to nearly constant power, AC, the big flat screen television, and (sniff, sniff) Frances and moved back into the guesthouse at St. Joseph’s. That same afternoon, Gearoid burst into my office at St. Joseph’s and said he had just been kicked out of the company’s office. Apparently, because Gearoid was unwilling to sign an agreement stating he would not write anything that would “harm the reputation” of the company they couldn’t allow him access to anything else anymore (he was perfectly willing to sign something stating he would not commit libel or slander). The timing of our move and his ousting was a little suspicious. Needless to say, our ties to this company were cut.

 

Their decision to bar us from their house and their company turned out fine in the end. Gearoid continued his research by conducting interviews of people who live villages affected by the company and considered the few instances of people refusing to talk to him as good data in itself. My commute time and costs were cut down considerably as I simply had to walk down the stairs of the guesthouse to my office. St. Joseph’s was actually pretty comfortable. There is power for about 4 hours every night, including internet access. In the mornings, we were provided with a lovely breakfast spread and there was a small kitchen area so we could occasionally cook for ourselves instead of frequenting local restaurants. The kids who live at the school got used to seeing us and one night (by happenstance it was the same weekend as Day of the African Child) we hosted a movie night for them. The wonderful staff at the school helped me (by help- I mean they did it for me) make popcorn and Kool-aid for the kids. With the usual difficulties, we managed to hook up a projector and show them the Lion King. I want to assume that the kids were able to follow the story. There seemed to be appropriate laughs and sounds of outrage during parts of the film. However, I realized too late that the majority of them, due to being hearing impaired, were unable to appreciate the beautiful music of the movie and instead had to settle for the comical image of me bobbing my heading singing along while I graded the sub-standard essays of my university students.

Staying at the school was not without its difficulties though. There was limited privacy and I hardly ever left the school compound. However, the biggest issue was the lack of sleep. The power shut off right before 11PM which effectively stopped the fan which was our only source of relief from the heat. Having spent 6 weeks with AC so strong that we slept with socks and blankets, this was a big adjustment. Our mosquito net was also inadequate and we often woke up to the itchy bites of a mosquito that made it through a tear or to us smacking ourselves while half asleep to stop the crawling sensations created by the gnats that were tiny enough to render the net pointless.

The noise was the worst though. During the day, the school compound is peaceful and quiet as deaf children only make so much noise when playing. We often forgot how peaceful the school was until we were on the streets of Makeni and children shouted and sang to us. We only assumed the peacefulness would occur at night as well. Unfortunately, the night guard liked to sleep under the window of our room. His three dogs would start barking and fighting between 2-3AM. We asked the man to tell his dogs to be quiet and for one night we got peace. It got so bad at times that Gearoid would leave the room and wake up the man and tell him to shut his dogs up. We usually got 20 minutes of peace before the man fell back asleep and the dogs continued torturing each other and us.

The mosques began anywhere between 4-6AM. There are at least 3 mosques in hearing range of the school and every morning we heard the call to prayer. Three separate times. In the world of Sierra Leone, it does not make sense for the calls to prayer to be synced with each other. I really believe these mosques were in competition with each other- who could be first, who could be the loudest, who could be the longest. Some mornings, the entire prayer rather than just the “call” was loud-speakered over the town. When the mosques were finished with their daily competition, the church bell across the street began to ring and welcome members for the 6:30AM mass. If we managed the difficult task of falling asleep in the cool precious minutes between religious calls for worshippers, the school girls would wake us up at 7AM. I don’t know what time the primary school across the lane begins but I do know that a series of girls stand and ring a big brass bell continuously for at least an hour and half to let the children and anyone trying to sleep nearby know that school will eventually be in session.

Almost 3 weeks later, respite and sleep have finally come. We’ve moved into what we hope is our last house before we leave the country later this year. My co-worker’s roommate is leaving Sierra Leone and we have taken her place. We’re on a nice secure compound filled with a variety of people/families and friendly dogs that are more than happy to eat any leftovers we have. The compound is a lot closer to the center of town than Disneyland Fortress was and if weather and time permits it, I can easily walk home from work. We get five hours of power each night and although it’s not a large flat screen, we do have a small TV with 3 satellite channels. Our kitchen has a gas stove and a semi-working fridge. Aminata, although lacking the Western training of Frances, comes 3 times a week to do laundry and cleaning. The rainy season is here, meaning that the nights are generally cooler so the lack of a fan or AC doesn’t bother us too much. With the exception of the lack of water pressure in the shower (spitting water at each other would be so much more effective than our shower, that I long for days of old-fashioned bucket showers), it’s a comfortable place and we’re happy that after almost 3 months we can finally unpack our suitcases and settle in. 

Living room....

....hallway....

....kitchen....

and view when when I lay in the backyard reading.