Yes, I do agree, it had been a while since my last post. It seems that the last long one was actually posted before Christmas. Hence, I hope you all had a nice Christmas, moved smoothly into the New Year and enjoyed the break from school, uni and work.
I had quite quite holidays so to speak. CGG closed its doors for two weeks and obviously we were planning to do something nice. The orginal plan to spend New Year's in Kabala (north of Sierra Leone) failed due to assumend lack of accomodation (which afterwards turned out to be a myth, but well....too late then) and also the idea to climb the Bintumani (highest peak in Sierra Leone) did not work out since André had to work and became quite sick anyway.
After taking care of my sick housemate, I spent Christmas Eve at a nice party, dancing and drinking all night long, before I turned back into a nurse on Christmas Day fetching Andrés test results from the hospital and cheering him up. A couple of days later Renée and I thought that it is more than time to leave Freetown for a while and we escaped to Lakka, a beautiful beach close to Freetown, where we spend the night in a cottage just enjoying sand, sun and sea.....
New Year's Eve was also not too special....we went out clubbing but I didn't feel so well and we didnt stay out for too long...all in all rather quiet times but it helped me to sort out new ideas for the Master thesis.
As I might have told some of you, I dropped all my ideas since I realised that it is no relevant in this context here. The idea I had was a nice one, but just hitting the point, not asking the questions which need to be asked....so I decided to start from the scratch once again and tried to figure out where to go......I think I managed to find something very interesting and I am working on my new proposal by now...as soon as it will be approved by my supervisor I will tell you more...
Work at CGG is gong fine so far, nothing extraordinary happened, but it is quite ok so far and I have stuff to do which is a nice feeling.
Whoever is interested can check the
CGG Activity Report 2007/2008 on www.slcgg.org, where it will be published very soon. I wrote it during my first weeks here. I am working currently on a report about human rights violations in Sierra Leone in the transitional period from war to peacetime (2001-2005). Further, I am working on an article on the decentralisation process (always seen as extremly important for good governance, empowerment and development), talked to local councillors and headed with Renée to different governmental institutions.
Mmmmh.....I also went to a church outing (excursion) with Salifu's church (together with Jen and Renée) and we got a great demonstration of how to travel the African way...hahaha. We started with about an hour delay and got a flat tyre after 20min of driving. This was quickly fixed but then we ended up in the worst traffic jam Freetowns which could have been at least partly avoidable by starting on time. After we managed to leave Freetown behind us, the engine of the vehicle started to make weird noises and stopped working. So we got off the car and waited....I would have given up at this point but not the Africans. A couple of guys pushed the van forwards and backwards and forwards and backwards and, it was a little miracle, the engine finally started working again and we hopped on and could eventually find our way to Kent Beach where we spent the day with swimming, eating, sun bathing and watching the different church communities playing football and other team sports. And we met our boss from CGG who gave us a lift back to Freetown....we were twice as quick as before...
What else.....well, I do have my life here. I am going for work during the week, going out at weekends (happy to be able to dance, ashamed when I see the Africans dancing since they are so much much much better than I am), hanging out with Isata (my cooking teacher) and her children, discussing gender issues with colleagues and guys living in my neighbourhood, getting some African dresses, learning about the climate in January (we have Hamatan right now, a dry and cool desert wind, which gave me an annoying cold), falling in love with cassava leaves and rice, longing for some variety in my diet, playing with the cat (which as it turned out is a guy and so I changed the name to Leo), studying at night, getting used to days without electricity, supporting the school in my neighbourhood and just trying to understand as much as I can.
Plans for the next week are extensive and maybe not everything is possible. But I will give everything a try and will let you know about my progress.
I will reach Germany on March 6 and will stay in Braunschweig for about three weeks. A stop over in Hamburg is planned (Flo and Silly, better get ready!) and some days in Berlin should be also possible (Lize, Lena, Maria, Kathrin and hopefully Cat, this would be so much fun!). Eventually I will find my way back to lovely Göteborg beginning of April and guess what, I already got a room!! If you need me, check in Kathrine's neighbourhood, I am moving from Hisingen to the other side of town....
I guess that it is for now! I am still struggling, but I guess it is good to question...and for sure I miss you all and cannot wait to see you again.....
And last but not least......happy birthday, liebste Mama! Ich wünsche dir einen wunderschönen Tag und hoffe, dass der Sonnenblumenbrief dir gefallen hat. Und heute in 6 Wochen bin ich schon zurück, das ist ja quasi schon morgen, nicht wahr?? Hab dich lieb, passt auf euch auf und wir hören uns heute abend....
This is what I call luxury -
my fellow interns Jen and Renée,
waste management or what??
Children carrying canisters filled with water on their heads
big po-tah po-tah which the very common reference to God
farmers on fields with plasas
it's bruk time -
a man is climbing the palm tree in order to tap fresh poyo
the mini gangster from the village at Mile No.4
Coming from the bush loo....not smelly at all!
Renée and I are enjoying poyo - freshly tapped palm wine
