White man! white man, snap me!
1 June, evening
This evening Moses took us on a quest for some real African food. The local restaurant was only offering western dinners, but Moses said we could come to his house where his Auntie would be cooking some real African food. We began to walk down the road when suddenly a throbbing mass of people rushed at us shouting "honi!" Moses rapidly flagged down a taxi and the "honi" became rapdily apparent - thousands of swarming bees stinging everyone in sight. The taxi driver handed us a window crank to roll up the crank-less windows.
We had no idea what was in store for us. We left the central part of the city on the ocean and went up into the hilly area - think San Francisco - and arrived at the "army barracks" where Moses lives. The officers have actual apartments, but the enlisted men and their families - as well as thousands of people who have simply built their houses on the army grounds on the sides of the hills. We walked through the camp, which consisted of muddy red (iron-rich, for all you chemistry folks out there) rocky paths surrounded by houses built from stones and corrugated aluminum. We met his grandmother with "chushe" (greetings) and "how di body" (how are you?) but, lacking anymore Krio, were unable to converse with her. After his parents died in the war, his dad's sister - auntie - took him in and he still lives in the one room building with 10(!) female relatives. He walks the 20 minute taxi ride to iEARN and school everyday. Moses brought out some rice with a fish and cassava leaf sauce - I can only assume it was his dinner - and had a few spoonfuls with us as a almost twenty singing/chanting children swarmed around us. The rice and sauce were quite delicious - a bit spicy, but manageable.
The children loved our cameras and seeing their faces on the screens, running through the houses and alleys to appear in front of us, refusing to let us leave. Moses took us to see the new wells and water pumps, proudly funded not by the government or ID (international development) agency, but by one of the opposition parties (I think the APC). An interesting campaign idea. Meanwhile, the children kept shouting "white man" and "snap me" when they saw our cameras. It's impossible to do any photography when there are hundreds of people staring at you as you walk by. Alas....
Afterwards, we came back to the hostel, took cold showers - it felt so good - and washed some clothes before falling asleep to the sounds of a Christian revivial a few blocks down and the generator, powering the TVs so the rest of Freetown could watch the England-Brazil football match.
This evening Moses took us on a quest for some real African food. The local restaurant was only offering western dinners, but Moses said we could come to his house where his Auntie would be cooking some real African food. We began to walk down the road when suddenly a throbbing mass of people rushed at us shouting "honi!" Moses rapidly flagged down a taxi and the "honi" became rapdily apparent - thousands of swarming bees stinging everyone in sight. The taxi driver handed us a window crank to roll up the crank-less windows.
We had no idea what was in store for us. We left the central part of the city on the ocean and went up into the hilly area - think San Francisco - and arrived at the "army barracks" where Moses lives. The officers have actual apartments, but the enlisted men and their families - as well as thousands of people who have simply built their houses on the army grounds on the sides of the hills. We walked through the camp, which consisted of muddy red (iron-rich, for all you chemistry folks out there) rocky paths surrounded by houses built from stones and corrugated aluminum. We met his grandmother with "chushe" (greetings) and "how di body" (how are you?) but, lacking anymore Krio, were unable to converse with her. After his parents died in the war, his dad's sister - auntie - took him in and he still lives in the one room building with 10(!) female relatives. He walks the 20 minute taxi ride to iEARN and school everyday. Moses brought out some rice with a fish and cassava leaf sauce - I can only assume it was his dinner - and had a few spoonfuls with us as a almost twenty singing/chanting children swarmed around us. The rice and sauce were quite delicious - a bit spicy, but manageable.
The children loved our cameras and seeing their faces on the screens, running through the houses and alleys to appear in front of us, refusing to let us leave. Moses took us to see the new wells and water pumps, proudly funded not by the government or ID (international development) agency, but by one of the opposition parties (I think the APC). An interesting campaign idea. Meanwhile, the children kept shouting "white man" and "snap me" when they saw our cameras. It's impossible to do any photography when there are hundreds of people staring at you as you walk by. Alas....
Afterwards, we came back to the hostel, took cold showers - it felt so good - and washed some clothes before falling asleep to the sounds of a Christian revivial a few blocks down and the generator, powering the TVs so the rest of Freetown could watch the England-Brazil football match.
posted by Paul at
5:29 PM
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