You are who you are
1 June
Musa and his assistant Juma brought two buckets of water up to us this morning, as the water is apparently "blocked" this morning (the Guma Valley water company shut off the water from all of Freetown after a few men were stealing water and drowned, which resulted in some sort of protest against the company which somehow caused the water to go off. We could never understand what actually happened...) We met Moses downstairs at the iEARN center. We're currently hanging around and waiting for the children to show up. Moses took us to buy bread and then we talked about the current situation. His parents were killed during the war and he now is a working to finish high school in the afternoons; in the mornings and evenings he volunteers at iEARN.
We went with Moses to Wilberforce street to "have words" with British Airways about our luggage situation, but they said that Sara's luggage was in London and mine was still in the United States, so Tuesday will be the earliest day it could be here. On our way back we rode in a puda-puda, Sierra Leone's mass transit system consisting of a European van with benches and a guy hanging out the side door shouting the destination. If you want to ride, you signal the door man and hop in. The back and front of the puda-puda are sometimes blinged out with flashing lights - red and blue seem to be quite hip - and always feature some sort of inspirational quote, usually about God, Allah, or advice such as "you are who you are." After returning to the National Stadium area, we purchased some more bread and a few papayas, but couldn't walk back to the center as the summer rains flooded the streets for about 15 minutes.
When we returned, the iEARN center was bustling with activity. Students were busy writing proposals for projects they want to do, writing music and sending emails. A few were huddled around a Playstation and David Beckham Football; Mohamed challenged me to a game and defeated me 2-0. I'll have to practice some more! Meanwhile, Sara and Dabo met with the girls club.
In the afternoon we walked with Justice, iEARN's musical director, to Studio J across from St. Edward's, where a few of the boys go to school. Most of the schools are single-sex. The youth are currently recording a CD which will be released later this summer, although the generator caught fire yesterday so the recording session had to be postponed. I spent the a few minutes conversing with some of the youth and learning Krio with Abraham.
Around 4pm Andrew and Dabo officially introduced us to the youth, who sang a few songs from their upcoming album and told us a little about themselves; we gave a brief overview of our projects. Frederic, the IT director, filmed the entire event with my camera; once my luggage arrives I'll try to post a few clips on youtube.
Musa and his assistant Juma brought two buckets of water up to us this morning, as the water is apparently "blocked" this morning (the Guma Valley water company shut off the water from all of Freetown after a few men were stealing water and drowned, which resulted in some sort of protest against the company which somehow caused the water to go off. We could never understand what actually happened...) We met Moses downstairs at the iEARN center. We're currently hanging around and waiting for the children to show up. Moses took us to buy bread and then we talked about the current situation. His parents were killed during the war and he now is a working to finish high school in the afternoons; in the mornings and evenings he volunteers at iEARN.
We went with Moses to Wilberforce street to "have words" with British Airways about our luggage situation, but they said that Sara's luggage was in London and mine was still in the United States, so Tuesday will be the earliest day it could be here. On our way back we rode in a puda-puda, Sierra Leone's mass transit system consisting of a European van with benches and a guy hanging out the side door shouting the destination. If you want to ride, you signal the door man and hop in. The back and front of the puda-puda are sometimes blinged out with flashing lights - red and blue seem to be quite hip - and always feature some sort of inspirational quote, usually about God, Allah, or advice such as "you are who you are." After returning to the National Stadium area, we purchased some more bread and a few papayas, but couldn't walk back to the center as the summer rains flooded the streets for about 15 minutes.
When we returned, the iEARN center was bustling with activity. Students were busy writing proposals for projects they want to do, writing music and sending emails. A few were huddled around a Playstation and David Beckham Football; Mohamed challenged me to a game and defeated me 2-0. I'll have to practice some more! Meanwhile, Sara and Dabo met with the girls club.
In the afternoon we walked with Justice, iEARN's musical director, to Studio J across from St. Edward's, where a few of the boys go to school. Most of the schools are single-sex. The youth are currently recording a CD which will be released later this summer, although the generator caught fire yesterday so the recording session had to be postponed. I spent the a few minutes conversing with some of the youth and learning Krio with Abraham.
Around 4pm Andrew and Dabo officially introduced us to the youth, who sang a few songs from their upcoming album and told us a little about themselves; we gave a brief overview of our projects. Frederic, the IT director, filmed the entire event with my camera; once my luggage arrives I'll try to post a few clips on youtube.
posted by Paul at
5:28 PM
1 Comments:
When you get back, we should all bling our cars out with red and blue flashing lights. And then we can drive hobos around, while you hang outside the door yelling the destination. It'll be sweet.
Also, I'm sure it's happened already, but I hope the food hasn't given you a huge case of the poops yet.
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