Rains...
Wednesday, 6 June
We fell asleep last night to the sound of the omnipresent generator and a gentle rain, which turned into a pounding downpour by the early morning hours. Thunder shook the building as the night sky was lit up by lighting. The rain continued into the early afternoon.
As the majority of Freetown is unemployed, most people simply stay home during the rains. The streets flood, washing into the open sewers, or gutters, on either side of the street the clear plastic bags used for everything from water to food wrappers. During the day, the sewer soup ferments, undoubtedly breeding millions of malaria-ridden mosquitos With time, the sewers clog. Eventually they are cleaned out, often by whoever lives or works next to them, and the plastic debris deposited on the side of the road in a pile, beginning the process anew.
While most Freetown stayed at home, I ventured out to the internet cafe to enjoy their free wireless. The few people who were out and about - mainly schoolchildren in their uniforms - sported umbrellas or simply endured being wet. They clearly found me to be strange for wearing a rain jacket. After sorting out a few problems with the blog, I returned to the center, but not before purchasing some more of that delicious, lightly sweetened flat bread.
There were a few people at the center, including Andrew, but Frederic, with the only key for some reason, had yet to arrive we all stood around outside the room. The boys played a card game with Sara entitled AK-47, clearly reminiscent of the civil war. It involves picking up and putting down cards until one has four cards: Ace, King, 4, 7. There's not much skill involved.
When Frederic finally arrived to open the center, there were not enough people for me to consider teaching a class (I even had a lesson plan ready!); hopefully I can actually start teaching tomorrow, if the rain doesn't keep people away. I edited some footage from the helicopter ride and guided Frederic through re-installing windows one the computers, as every single computer is infected with viruses and spyware. Hopefully over the next few weeks we can get them all running like new again.
iEARN SL is an interesting organization. It was founded by Andrew Benson Greene soon after peace arrived earlier this decade. He's only 27, but has traveled around the world speaking about chlld soldiers and the technology-development interface. There are a few branches upcountry, but the main office is here in Freetown and is a one room affair with about 12 computers, a TV, speakers for music practice, and an original Playstation with David Beckham Soccer. Andrew has a desk in the corner out of which he directs the whole operation, although it functions quite smoothly when he is not there. The staff is comprised mainly of youing adults from Freetown. Mohamed Dabo is a university student who teaches software and serves as the internship co-ordinator. Frederic, who wants to be a civil engineer, manages the technology and electrical side, while Moses helps out with just about everything. There are various activities that happen fairly often - Justice, a local music artist, directs the music project. They rehearse at the center and record songs at Studio J, a local Lebanese-owned studio that has donated recording time. Interns usually work on personal projects - I have my photography project, Sara has her jump rope project. In addition, the staff runs projects which are usually some variation of computer training.
The youth all live in Freetown, but some are originally from the provinces and are staying with relatives here. The center recruits youth from local schools (although there are some who are currently not attending school for various reasons); after a fairly simple application, interview with Andrew, and a 10 000 Le fee, they are official iEARN members and may come to the center anytime during the day until it closes when the generator runs out of fuel in the evening. In addition to participating in the official projects, they'll surf the internet, send emails to various people around the world, work on homework, play card games, chess and checkers, or simply hang out with their friends.
By mid-afternoon the rain had ceased and so Sara took the youth outside for some jump rope practice. I tried to join them, but was a miserable failure and went inside to avoid further humiliation. Meanwhile Sara taught them all sorts of wizardry one can do with a jump rope - it's absolutely insane. This is not your typical third grade jump roping at all. Towards the end of the month Sara will have an exhibition with the jump rope class; it is going to be fantastic. The youth are quite enthusiastic about it.
In the early evening we were introduced to a UNDP official who had stopped by to say hello to Andrew; hopefully we can interview him later in the month on video.
Sara and I were then going to edit an iEARN newsletter and bring it up to "American standards" but Andrew couldn't find the file on his computer, so we went out for dinner instead. As usual, the roads were congested with a melee of people, cars, and street vendors. We were on a mission for food, walking at fairly decent clip, but everyone else meanders their way down the street, in no particular hurry - why rush when you don't have to be on time for a job? Time pieces are merely fashion accessories; they seem to serve no purpose here. We went about a half mile from the stadium to a small cafe and paid 7000 Le each for a Coca-Cola and rice with groundnut soup, which, like everything else, had fish in it.
On the way back to the center I tried to do some street photography, and was fairly successful until trying to take a casual snapshot - I wasn't even holding the camera to my eye, just at my waist - of a basketball game, at which point the players got rather upset and sternly told me to "take no pictures." Alas. Hopefully the students will have better luck, as they certainly blend in with the local landscape more than I do.
We returned to the hostel watched a fantastic sunset from the "hallway" outside while waiting for the electricity to come on, and relaxed for a few hours. Sara polished off a book while I did some photo editing and were having a peaceful evening until, to quote Sara, a "warrior" bug attacked our room. After a bit of deliberation, we neutralized the invader with water bottle-frisbee-sandal combination. (The insect wasn't all that threatening or even all that large...)
We fell asleep last night to the sound of the omnipresent generator and a gentle rain, which turned into a pounding downpour by the early morning hours. Thunder shook the building as the night sky was lit up by lighting. The rain continued into the early afternoon.
As the majority of Freetown is unemployed, most people simply stay home during the rains. The streets flood, washing into the open sewers, or gutters, on either side of the street the clear plastic bags used for everything from water to food wrappers. During the day, the sewer soup ferments, undoubtedly breeding millions of malaria-ridden mosquitos With time, the sewers clog. Eventually they are cleaned out, often by whoever lives or works next to them, and the plastic debris deposited on the side of the road in a pile, beginning the process anew.
While most Freetown stayed at home, I ventured out to the internet cafe to enjoy their free wireless. The few people who were out and about - mainly schoolchildren in their uniforms - sported umbrellas or simply endured being wet. They clearly found me to be strange for wearing a rain jacket. After sorting out a few problems with the blog, I returned to the center, but not before purchasing some more of that delicious, lightly sweetened flat bread.
There were a few people at the center, including Andrew, but Frederic, with the only key for some reason, had yet to arrive we all stood around outside the room. The boys played a card game with Sara entitled AK-47, clearly reminiscent of the civil war. It involves picking up and putting down cards until one has four cards: Ace, King, 4, 7. There's not much skill involved.
When Frederic finally arrived to open the center, there were not enough people for me to consider teaching a class (I even had a lesson plan ready!); hopefully I can actually start teaching tomorrow, if the rain doesn't keep people away. I edited some footage from the helicopter ride and guided Frederic through re-installing windows one the computers, as every single computer is infected with viruses and spyware. Hopefully over the next few weeks we can get them all running like new again.
iEARN SL is an interesting organization. It was founded by Andrew Benson Greene soon after peace arrived earlier this decade. He's only 27, but has traveled around the world speaking about chlld soldiers and the technology-development interface. There are a few branches upcountry, but the main office is here in Freetown and is a one room affair with about 12 computers, a TV, speakers for music practice, and an original Playstation with David Beckham Soccer. Andrew has a desk in the corner out of which he directs the whole operation, although it functions quite smoothly when he is not there. The staff is comprised mainly of youing adults from Freetown. Mohamed Dabo is a university student who teaches software and serves as the internship co-ordinator. Frederic, who wants to be a civil engineer, manages the technology and electrical side, while Moses helps out with just about everything. There are various activities that happen fairly often - Justice, a local music artist, directs the music project. They rehearse at the center and record songs at Studio J, a local Lebanese-owned studio that has donated recording time. Interns usually work on personal projects - I have my photography project, Sara has her jump rope project. In addition, the staff runs projects which are usually some variation of computer training.
The youth all live in Freetown, but some are originally from the provinces and are staying with relatives here. The center recruits youth from local schools (although there are some who are currently not attending school for various reasons); after a fairly simple application, interview with Andrew, and a 10 000 Le fee, they are official iEARN members and may come to the center anytime during the day until it closes when the generator runs out of fuel in the evening. In addition to participating in the official projects, they'll surf the internet, send emails to various people around the world, work on homework, play card games, chess and checkers, or simply hang out with their friends.
By mid-afternoon the rain had ceased and so Sara took the youth outside for some jump rope practice. I tried to join them, but was a miserable failure and went inside to avoid further humiliation. Meanwhile Sara taught them all sorts of wizardry one can do with a jump rope - it's absolutely insane. This is not your typical third grade jump roping at all. Towards the end of the month Sara will have an exhibition with the jump rope class; it is going to be fantastic. The youth are quite enthusiastic about it.
In the early evening we were introduced to a UNDP official who had stopped by to say hello to Andrew; hopefully we can interview him later in the month on video.
Sara and I were then going to edit an iEARN newsletter and bring it up to "American standards" but Andrew couldn't find the file on his computer, so we went out for dinner instead. As usual, the roads were congested with a melee of people, cars, and street vendors. We were on a mission for food, walking at fairly decent clip, but everyone else meanders their way down the street, in no particular hurry - why rush when you don't have to be on time for a job? Time pieces are merely fashion accessories; they seem to serve no purpose here. We went about a half mile from the stadium to a small cafe and paid 7000 Le each for a Coca-Cola and rice with groundnut soup, which, like everything else, had fish in it.
On the way back to the center I tried to do some street photography, and was fairly successful until trying to take a casual snapshot - I wasn't even holding the camera to my eye, just at my waist - of a basketball game, at which point the players got rather upset and sternly told me to "take no pictures." Alas. Hopefully the students will have better luck, as they certainly blend in with the local landscape more than I do.
We returned to the hostel watched a fantastic sunset from the "hallway" outside while waiting for the electricity to come on, and relaxed for a few hours. Sara polished off a book while I did some photo editing and were having a peaceful evening until, to quote Sara, a "warrior" bug attacked our room. After a bit of deliberation, we neutralized the invader with water bottle-frisbee-sandal combination. (The insect wasn't all that threatening or even all that large...)
posted by Paul at
9:18 AM
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