As promised.....first impressions

Sweaty but happy, after we fixed the mosquito net somehow

My room - nice, eeeh? :-) will make it nicer this weekend, hihi, Sina, the sunflowers were an excellent idea

barbwire round our "residence" and one of the million beautiful geckos

no escape, lady cockroach....some minutes later it was grilled....

anywhere in the city

Shaky ground on which these stalls are built - but the owner told me it would last for years....

Community Forum at British Council in Freetown

No need for sidewalks - and only main streets are paved. And it looks only that empty because it just had started raining few minutes before..

View from the hotel

Close to the ferry port - yes, Sierra Leone is a tropical country

No pics today

Sorry, no pics today....inet too slow! Will try again tomorrow....

Dunno what to think....

It is Wednesday late evening and I finally made my way into my new accommodation. I have a quite proper room with my own small bathroom (although the shower is broken right now, but that doesn’t matter so much since we have no running water right now anyway) and the only thing which needs to be changed as soon as possible is the mattress…..well, I will figure out…there are two other guys I share a kitchen and a living room with, they are coincidentally also from Germany and work for a bank resp. for an alarm system company. Further, there are two dogs which have some kind of trouble with each other right now, so I just try not to end up between them when they are fighting…apparently there are also some rats, mice, bats and millions of other weird living creatures sharing the apartment with us, but until now I just have seen a couple of spiders and stuff….not exactly my favourites but there is nothing I can do about….
Well, if someone would have told me a couple of years or maybe only months or weeks ago that I would just deal with not having running water and not having proper food (but I will fix that, no worries, am on the right track) without being in an annoyed mood….I dunno…I probably wouldn’t have believed it.
However, this country is kinda fascinating me. The only irritating thing is, that everything I see on the streets seems so familiar, but not because I have already seen it in reality, but I have read about so often, I watched documentaries and stuff, that I just feel thrown into one of my academic books…..so maybe I haven’t realised yet that it is for real. It is also hard to describe how it looks here…..sometimes it seems to be a huge township/slum whatever, however I am lacking a proper definition of slum (Chels, help me out here please)…..I guess Wiebke and Cat might know what I am talking about. There is rubbish everywhere, it smells not exactly nicely in most areas and there are people, people, people….but it works somehow and people are so friendly. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaan (kisses to the Swedes), it is really hard to put in words what I wanna say….pictures would be helpful, but I have problems to take some because I don’t wanna make people feel being animals in a zoo….but I will work it out soon soon.
At work everything is fine, I actually got some work to do, but before I could even start today, my colleague Joy told me that I will join her for the meeting at the British Council. Well, the meeting turned out to be a five hours workshop about the role of media in respect of monitoring and implementing human rights and was organised by the Canadian NGO (Chels, one of the guys working there lives an hour away from Toronto – what was the name from your hometown again???) which is called “Journalists for Human Rights”. It was quite interesting, they had food (sometimes it is difficult to explain why I am not eating meat – I decided to use my whatever religion as apology) and afterwards I went with Joy to get her gym clothes….on the market for sure, check the pic below to see on which kind of “ground” the stall was built, hahaha.
Now the weekend is coming closer and I cannot wait to go to the beach….it must be just gorgeous……aaaaaaaaaand it is just a 10min walk from here. I also figured out how to get to my organisation from here, I am actually not even using poda-poda (the Sierra Leonean public transport – minibusses filled with up to 30 people) but taxis where only 5-6 fit in since it the same price for the distance I have to go and then I prefer then nice taxi….but no worries, Wiebke, the day will come where I will use the poda-poda anyway, hahaha…
Well, that’s it for now I guess….thanks for all the comments, and yes, right now I am quite detailed in my description since it is also a way for me to handle all these things just happening…but no worries, at some point it will turn into a kind of routine and then my posts will be less extensive but with more pics and stories, which are worth to tell.

So far so good, I am fine here, but I also miss you all quite a lot….
Chels, Kathrine (miss you two big time), Adnan and Niklas, have a safe trip to India and have the time of your life.

Kristina S., I hope you had a safe and sound flight to Kigali and Sarunas is showing you around. Will try to check tomorrow on facebook how you are doing. Sarunas, I am sure you are fine (reading from facebook).
Toomas and Niclas, I will come back to you soon soon concerning the amnesty lecture, hihi, well, but I guess you got from Karolina’s email that it will work out. Are you already I contact with Klas for December 4th?
Vivian, let me know how Kenya is treating you. Hope you are doing well.
Sanaz, lady, rock the Suisse people, I am sure you will have a great time in Geneva. Have you decided to take the apartment close to the French border? Hope so! Saknar dig!
Janan, babe, kisses from Hase,hahaha, miss you loads....how is it going at CIVIS and how is the cutie doing? Hälsa Juliana!
Sina, just take care and tell me what is going on….you know what I mean. Drück dich! Have you received my SMS? It is apparently not working with texting to Germany….
Mama, Papa, Torben, Wiebke and Malte, miss you and take care.

Sorry for putting all these things up here, but messaging everyone on facebook/ studivz would take too much time right now, since I have only access to internet a couple of minutes every day, but next week it will be better….

Puss o kram o ha det bra!

PS: Certainly I got visited by my favourite insect later that night - a big roach found its way from my bathroom into my bed room....but Ilan was heroic enough to get rid of it.

Arrived

Sorry for the one day delay, but the internet was not working in most areas of the city yesterday.....pics are coming next tim, no time yet....pussar!

It is Monday, 8.15pm and I am sitting in my hotel room, where I will spend the first two nights and try to kind or organize my mind which is stuffed with millions of pictures and first impressions. Well, maybe I will just try to talk about my journey a bit and by doing that I can find a way to express what I have felt so far.
Leaving Germany was somehow a bit easier than two and a half year ago when I left for Botswana, although this time I knew I wouldn’t be picked up by another German girl I would share an apartment with (miss you, Cat and Kathrin, have a great time in Berlin). But maybe I just had no time to be scared or to feel any kind of fear. Instead I tried to think in a pragmatic way and prepared myself for the first couple of days as well as possible. Anyhow, my flight from Düsseldorf to Casablanca was fine and I figured out that there was another guy who had checked in his luggage until Freetown. I found him in Casablanca and we started talking and he turned out to be a Sierra Leonean living in the Netherlands and he gave me his own personal view on the situation in the country. Also educated in international relations and about to start his Master in peace studies, he explained me a lot and we will definitely meet another time while his stay in Freetown.
After a short stop in Liberia, where some people got off and others got on we made our way to Freetown and eventually landed there 5.30am. Dead tired but extremely curious I walked into the airport building where a guy was already waiting for me to help with the immigration forms and who managed to get my passport through in seconds while others had to gently forgot some money at the account officers’ desk for causing any kind of progress. While I assumed that he was one of the organisation’s interns, he later introduced himself as police officer who was sent by the guy from CGG (Campaign for Good Governance – my organisation) to help me out there and it worked – I did not even have to open my suitcase. Outside I met the guy from CGG and felt very sorry for him, since he was waiting for seven hours since the last ferry from Freetown left at 22pm the night before and he had to take it and spent the night at the airport. However, I managed to change my first 100 US-$ which gave me about 290 000 Leones and we grabbed a cab which drove us to the ferry port where I got a SIM-Card and at 8am we took off from Lunghi Airport and crossed the Manu River. By then, the country had already started to impress me big time. It is just beautiful with all the palms, the fisher boats, the white beaches and the blue water. The people are very nice and not one single second I felt irritated. They are carrying incredible bunches of food or just stuff on their heads and I have never seen Papayas as big as here. However, the poverty is dramatically high. I saw shelters and other characteristics of living situations I haven’t seen in life yet besides in books and movies. Hardly any comparison with Botswana possible.
And hell yeah, are there many people…….when we left the ferry and entered the actual city of Freetown, I was speechless. Used to the rather empty roads of Gaborone, where you would meet the same people walking every day, Freetown is more than crowded. Millions of street vendors selling everything from bananas to work out machines and most of the stuff is directly sold to people sitting in cars without even coming out there. After a short “discussion” with the police which did not make the cab driver extremely happy and dropping off of two girls who had joined us for our trip from Lunghi to Freetown, we eventually arrived at the CGG office where I was introduced to almost everyone working there. I guess I met around twenty people, so it seems that it is quite busy. The building is just fine on a green compound and apart from a lack of running water, it is well-equipped with electricity and usually also internet (which was not working during my first days though).
I am supposed to work in the programme section, but Christian – the programme manager, is in Spain and not back before Wednesday. Instead I was chatting to the two other international intern from the Netherlands and UK, who could give a short insight in what is going on there.
After lunch at the UN World Food Programme building, the CGG driver dropped me at my hotel where I eventually could take a shower before I headed downhill again to get some water and some food for dinner which turned out to be crackers. Internet was down in the entire city or even country, but I hope it will work tomorrow at the office and I can manage to upload this post. Later on I called the guy I will move in with and tomorrow I will just go and pay my rent before I will move most likely on Wednesday to my new accommodation where I will stay until I leave.
That’s it so far – I am extremely tired and exhausted but still very curious and excited and can hardly believe that I am actually here. I have already seen couple of things which made me extremely sad, but also things which made me laugh and must be seen as signs of hope.
More details will follow later!

Happy birthday to Nicola – Alles Gute zum Purzeltag! and
Happy birthday to Josi – hope to see you in London next year! I hope you both had nice days with families and friends and have a drink for me when you celebrate this weekend.

Thank you all for your good wishes and hopes, I hope you are just doing great!
Miss you all and take care!

Off

Eventually my time has come....I am leaving to Freetown in less than 6 hours....

Nervous? Yes!
Excited? Yes! Yes!
Curious? Yes! Yes! Yes!
Tired? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Happy? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!!

And just to give you a first impression (copied from travelpod.com):


And eventually, one of my favourites right now......listen and enjoy, although we haven't reach this phase in life yet.....

Ive been lately thinking
About my lifes time
All the things Ive done
And how its been
And I cant help believing
In my own mind
I know Im gonna hate to see it end

Ive seen a lot of sunshine
Slept out in the rain
Spent a night or two all on my own
Ive known my ladys pleasures
Had myself some friends
And spent a time or two in my own home

And I have to say it now
Its been a good life all in all
Its really fine
To have a chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and pass the pipe around

And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long its been since yesterday
And what about tomorrow
And what about our dreams
And all the memories we share

The days they pass so quickly now
Nights are seldom long
And time around me whispers when its cold
The changes somehow frighten me
Still I have to smile
It turns me on to think of growing old
For though my lifes been good to me
Theres still so much to do
So many things my mind has never known
Id like to raise a family
Id like to sail away
And dance across the mountains on the moon

I have to say it now
Its been a good life all in all
Its really fine
To have the chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and pass the pipe around

And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long its been since yesterday
What about tomorrow
What about our dreams
And all the memories we share

(John Denver)

See you all when I am back and take care of you and your beloved ones!
Pussar o kramar!