Week starting Monday 14th December 2009 - the week was generally ok, with renewed focus on searching for long term accommodation as well as troubleshooting IT problems at the Leonard Cheshire Disability West Africa Regional Office - LCD (our Sierra Leone partners) and helping to prepare a proposal for them - part of the deal for the free office space and occasional lift back to my hostel. Few possibilities but nothing concrete on the house front - was hoping to see some more houses on Friday and the weekend but was letdown by the ‘kalo-kalo’ (lingo for ‘up to no good’) estate agent. On the job front, (although I have already received two offers now), I am still putting more job applications, just finished one application for UNICEF - want to cover all the bases so there are excellent options to chose from.
On the charity front, there has been some progress - I have assembled a local selection/interview panel to review the sponsorship applications, hold the interviews and make recommendations to the UK Board of Trustees. I have also been meeting our potential training providers to access their competences, ascertain some costs and possible contents/curricula of the courses. I have also booked the British Council hall in preparation for our launch programme, where we’ll be presenting five scholarship certificates to our candidates - we’re hoping to invite some important guest including the First Lady, Ministers, media, industry people, etc. But very excitedly, I received four applications since Thursday!
Generally, I’m settling down well, although feeling a bit low as it gets closer to Christmas - I miss friends back in the UK - but I draw comfort and encouragement especially every day I open the advent cards with personal messages from EBC members. Not sure what I am doing yet for Christmas, SL has a majority Muslim population (approx. 60%) and (approx. 15-20%) Christians, so I am in the minority even amongst my family, who are Muslims. I'll probably spend most of the time at Christmas relaxing in my Hostel at the YMCA, that is, if I’ve still not found accommodation by then.
Towards the end of the week (Friday 18th December), I heard that the container with vehicle is now not arriving until end of Christmas (it was suppose to arrive on 16th December and was hoping to clear it by end of December so I can get about) but it would probably now not clear until mid/late January. In a way this is a blessing as I’ve still not found accommodation yet and I would have probably struggled finding a place to store my stuff - although come to think about, if I had the car, I could use it as a temporary accommodation and save on rent (joke)! Something else that has been on my mind is my parent/family - although they are aware I am in town (I phoned them as soon as I got here), they haven’t visited but instead grumbling that I am helping others instead of them, which is a bit disappointing, but I had anticipated this will happen and hopefully the situation will sort itself out....However, I just want to thank God for the love and kindness he’s shown me through people and throughout this journey so far.
Many thanks for reading and I wish you a Happy Christmas and a Blessed 2010!
God Bless and Love
Abs
Monday 21 December 2009
Monday 14 December 2009
Meeting the President of Sierra Leone....
That grabbed your attention - I couldn't say the second weekend again? So Saturday 12th December - please read on, I did meet the President, honest. I am not usually a morning person but for the first week I have been getting up at around 6am. This was the case again today. My cousin was graduating with BSc (Hons) in Information Systems from Fourah Bay College and I have been invited. The President of Sierra Leone, HE Dr Ernest Koroma is Chancellor of the University and he will be there together with a large contingent of very important people including the Vice President, Members of the Diplomatic Corp, Ministers, etc. FBC (the first University in West Africa, twinned with Duraham University in the UK) is at the top of the highest mountain in Freetown - Mount Aureol. There will be virtual lock-down in the streets leading up to FBC, so a very early start was a good thing. Although I was scheduled to be picked up (my cousin had organised transportation for his guests) by 7am, in fact it was only 30mins late. We then had to negotiate our way through the heavy traffic (recurring theme, traffic, as you may have noticed) up to FBC campus. The Police stopped our car and asked us to produce our green pass, we didn’t have any, my cousin had gone ahead at around 6.30am in another car with the passes; but suddenly noticed a small tap on the window, a lady produced a green pass and asked for us for a lift - it was no brainer. She jumped in and we were off.
The ceremony started slightly late as the president’s motorcade also had to negotiate its way through the traffic and the large crowd. I was offered a vantage point; I could extend my hand and touch the president or the vice president as they marched past. The ceremony was fantastic...though long (from 10.15am to 5.30pm) and in the baking sun. There were over 1500 students graduating from three schools that now make up Fourah Bay College. At the end as they marched past, I smiled at the President, shook the Vice President’s hands and caught a glimpse of some old friends. We were all very proud of my cousin and the evening was for partying. He threw an excellent party to celebrate his success! The evening ended very late for me...I was driven back to my hostel at around 3am.
Sunday 13th December – I stayed in bed for a wee longer this time, getting up about 9am...potted around, until time for a shower. Got a call from the UK, and is my best friend, mentor, trustee and chairman, Mr. Robert Lea. Since I had been out all day on Saturday, I haven’t seen his email about update, which he was giving to EBC. I have been drafting my blog throughout the week but couldn’t get onto the computer quickly enough so I gave a summary. After my shower, I had to make a decision whether to embark on the long walk back to the same church I went to last week or look for somewhere else. It came down to sheer exhaustion, so for the first time for a very long time (apart from the time I missed church to go and watch Arsenal play), I missed church this Sunday. It was much more relaxing in the afternoon, reading and planning the week’s tasks. At around 3pm, Arsenal was playing and in Sierra Leone we can watch live matches beamed by the South Africa sport channel. I donned my arsenal top and hat, sat in my room and watched a bit of the game, until I got a call from my cousin that someone could pick me up to go and see another property up at Hill Station, IMAT (the British Army base during the conflict) – you remember the lady we gave a lift to Fourah Bay College, well it turns out her dad has a property to rent and talking to her, she agreed to show us the property. Upon my return to the hostel, I got another call from an old friend to say he was coming to see me. I went out in his old car to the petrol mini-mart to buy some basic food stuff. On the way back, his car broke down and he then went ahead to flag down a taxi for me (note, I would not have been picked up, had I flagged down the taxi, because they think, you take too long getting into the taxi - even though it’s probably takes less than a 1 min to get in, depending on your disability of course). Talk about attitudinal change, there needs to be a lot of that in Sierra Leone, especially towards people with disability! Well that’s part of the reason I am here in Sierra Leone, under the auspice of the Dorothy Springer Trust to help give something back and help influence the changing of attitudes!
The ceremony started slightly late as the president’s motorcade also had to negotiate its way through the traffic and the large crowd. I was offered a vantage point; I could extend my hand and touch the president or the vice president as they marched past. The ceremony was fantastic...though long (from 10.15am to 5.30pm) and in the baking sun. There were over 1500 students graduating from three schools that now make up Fourah Bay College. At the end as they marched past, I smiled at the President, shook the Vice President’s hands and caught a glimpse of some old friends. We were all very proud of my cousin and the evening was for partying. He threw an excellent party to celebrate his success! The evening ended very late for me...I was driven back to my hostel at around 3am.
Sunday 13th December – I stayed in bed for a wee longer this time, getting up about 9am...potted around, until time for a shower. Got a call from the UK, and is my best friend, mentor, trustee and chairman, Mr. Robert Lea. Since I had been out all day on Saturday, I haven’t seen his email about update, which he was giving to EBC. I have been drafting my blog throughout the week but couldn’t get onto the computer quickly enough so I gave a summary. After my shower, I had to make a decision whether to embark on the long walk back to the same church I went to last week or look for somewhere else. It came down to sheer exhaustion, so for the first time for a very long time (apart from the time I missed church to go and watch Arsenal play), I missed church this Sunday. It was much more relaxing in the afternoon, reading and planning the week’s tasks. At around 3pm, Arsenal was playing and in Sierra Leone we can watch live matches beamed by the South Africa sport channel. I donned my arsenal top and hat, sat in my room and watched a bit of the game, until I got a call from my cousin that someone could pick me up to go and see another property up at Hill Station, IMAT (the British Army base during the conflict) – you remember the lady we gave a lift to Fourah Bay College, well it turns out her dad has a property to rent and talking to her, she agreed to show us the property. Upon my return to the hostel, I got another call from an old friend to say he was coming to see me. I went out in his old car to the petrol mini-mart to buy some basic food stuff. On the way back, his car broke down and he then went ahead to flag down a taxi for me (note, I would not have been picked up, had I flagged down the taxi, because they think, you take too long getting into the taxi - even though it’s probably takes less than a 1 min to get in, depending on your disability of course). Talk about attitudinal change, there needs to be a lot of that in Sierra Leone, especially towards people with disability! Well that’s part of the reason I am here in Sierra Leone, under the auspice of the Dorothy Springer Trust to help give something back and help influence the changing of attitudes!
The First Week
The first week (Monday 7th Dec) started with an appointment with the head of Leonard Cheshire Disability, West Africa Regional Office (LCD-WARO), one of DST’s partner organisations. So having gone to bed late, it was another early start at 6.30am and out of the hostel before 8.30am to catch a pre-booked taxi to beat the terrible traffic jams in Freetown (there’s an opportunity here for a traffic consultant...more on that later). The head, Prof. Osman Bah, himself disabled, is energetic and welcoming and we discussed issues ranging from how I can support LCD-WARO to job opportunities, accommodation and the imminent arrival of the shipment of personal and some charity stuff. On the job front, the good Prof. offered to send my CV to the Dean of Engineering at the University of Sierra Leone for a part-time lectureship position. I had to quickly format my CV and later prepared a covering letter, which he sent off...now waiting for feedback on that. But the best bit of the meeting was when he mentioned that, as partners, he is happy to offer me an office in their conference room to work from. In return, I can help them with some technical aspect of the office, especially ensuring their regional office website is completed - who says battering is a thing of the past...in fact, at times, this is the best way to achieve mutual benefits!
With netbook and basic stuff, I had an office to operate from, albeit temporarily, until DST establishes its own office. I quickly set out to make contacts to fix appointments with an IT company, track down some old contacts in UNDP, World Vision, AITH and our very own Patron, Hon Julius Nye Cuffie..
The first appointment on Tuesday 8th December was with Hon Julius Nye Cuffie to (1) brief him on DST strategy and sponsorship programme, (2) discuss the composition of the DST interview panel in Sierra Leone, (3) plan the launch of DST sponsorship award which will involve invitations to the first lady, government ministers, aid agencies, media, government officials, industry, NGOs and so on. (4) I also wanted to pick his brains (as the first trained disabled lawyer in SL and one of our patrons) on how to go about registering DST as a local NGO. We covered a lot at this meeting with actions for both of us to follow up on.
The next stop was a meeting with the Managing Director of an IT firm. I had met the director at a government ICT Taskforce back in February 09 when we (two friends, Steph and Don Littlejohn) visited Sierra Leone. The purpose of this meeting was to brief the MD on DST’s planned activities in SL; extend an invitation to the launch of DST sponsorship programme, and to find out (the personal bit) if there was job opportunity with his company. Good meeting with the action that he will get in touch as soon as something in the area of website development comes up and he will circulate my CV to colleagues in other organisations. Back to my ‘office’ at LCD-WARO to review my notes and set up more meetings for the next day.
Wednesday 9th December - briefly in the LCD-WARO office at 8.30am but then off to a meeting pencilled in with the General Manager of African Information Technology Holdings Ltd (AITH). Like the meeting with MD the day before, the purpose and agenda item covered for this meeting were exactly the same, with one notable addition. I had approached AITH from the visit in February to see if they could be one of our training providers. So the rest of our conversation was trying to assess their competences, what they can offer, how they intend to deliver the training and at what cost - fulfilling the initial DST objectives for me coming to Sierra Leone. Our meeting ended with an invitation from the GM to come back to AITH the next day for an informal chat about a possible part-time opportunity delivering some lectures for them.
Thursday, 10th December - by now I was buzzing. To sum up so far; I am settling well and in less than a week, I have managed to secure a temporary office space with one of our partners and I have some part-time opportunity lined up with an IT company, World Vision, two lecturing positions. What could possibly go wrong now? Well, to that later...keep reading
I was up early again for an 8.30am meeting in the Vice President’s Office with his ICT Technical Advisor (again someone I had met at the SL’s eGovernment and ICT Taskforce in Feb) to tell him about DST’s plans including our launch plans and demo the website I have been developing for the Sierra Leone High Commissioner in London. Also, I wanted to find out how I can be involved in the ICT Taskforce as a technical consultant and whether there was any supporting role for me to play in any areas of ICT. His response was very positive, he identified three areas in which I could be involved in but will contact me as soon as he gets back from a business trip in France and Christmas holiday in the Northampton, UK.
After this meeting, I headed for my informal interview with AITH at 12noon. The interview went well and they were very impressed with my background and professional experience. They were keen to have me on board, the only thing now was to choose whether to have me on-a-call-off contract or put me in their books as a part-timer employer, having offered them this options in our discussions. As they pondered over this, they also had to decide how to pay me...I had indicated in the interview that I only needed enough salary to survive in Sierra Leone - pay my rent and something to cover my travel and food; my focus is really on establishing DST’s work in the country.
The afternoon was a pre-arranged meeting with another of our partners - Mrs. Melrose Cotay of INCLUDE. You couldn’t find a better networked woman in SL...she virtually knows every important person in the country. Anyway, our meeting was to brief her on where we’ve got to with DST, in particular our two prong strategy of firstly, in the short-term, providing sponsorship and secondly in the medium term, setting up an employment agency/office. This is all important, for example, could DST operate in the offices of INCLUDE and how can the two organisations work together.
I mentioned before how well networked Mrs Cotay is - during the meeting, she mentioned in passing that she had met an old friend in the shops who use to live in the UK. She is back now in Sierra Leone and she’s got a three bedroom house to rent. I was immediately interested...this is another of my top priority - find accommodation in one month! She gave me her number and I called her and she told me she will pick me up at 5pm to go and show me the place. Our meeting continued on the final item on my list - tasking Mrs Cotay to help organise the launch of the DST sponsorship programme, with a warning that we don’t have funds and so we could end up offering our time for free. For those things we have to pay for, they’ll either come out of my own pocket or find someone/organisation to sponsor the event...so additional stuff on the 12 months in SL to-do list!
I was picked up to go and view the property - excellent location, not far from Lumley Beach, good spot to relax at the weekend, after all the week’s hard work. Access was not great though, but with a suitable vehicle, it was peaceful and ideal for accommodating visiting friends who want to come and help with the charity. I negotiated the rent for $3000/year as I could pay this with a suitable part-time job. She shook-hand on the deal and the lady kindly asked for her driver to drop me off at Lumley junction. I was so excited, I kept thinking about the accommodation all night; how I was going to move in during the weekend - I emailed my friends who are coming end of January that I’ve found a place.
The bombshell! Friday 11th December - I am trying to work out why so many disappointments happen on a Friday! The lady had suggested during the negotiation that I paid in all $3000 in cash and at first I was a little baffled by this...normally you pay a deposit and then monthly payments. Then the questions, where am going to get $3000 cash - as I said the place is in a great location and the rent was very good, even cheaper than my YMCA hostel accommodation, so I even entertained the idea that I will take it, hoping God will provide somehow. So when I phoned on Friday morning that I could put in a deposit of $1000, a combination of the remaining hostel rent - a financial support from EBC and some dollars, I was shocked further to hear that her son had spoken to her and that she should be charging $4000/year. Well, I took in deep breath and said, but we agreed $3000. Even at $4000, this was still do-able, depending of course, what sort of part-time job I end up getting. So I said, well, could you please set up a contract and perhaps, add a 6 months break-out clause, so that I can pay the $1000 deposit - the response I got back was unbelievable! She doesn’t do contracts and that she wants the full amount in cash. I said, this is not right, how can I pay this huge amount of money with no receipt or contract to show for it. You see, I nearly had my fingers burned in Sierra Leone back in 2005 - lots of scams are going on, people trying to flog you property that don’t belong to them or sell you government land, passing it as theirs. You hand in your money and they disappear...Now I am not saying this was the case here...this is a 63 year old lady but from past experience, I was very suspicious, her son has suddenly got involved and she wanted cash with no way of proving later-on that I had paid the rent. We ended the conversation with her suggesting she will speak to her son again and call me back.
By now I had explained everything to Mrs. Cotay on my way back to the hostel and she understood my reaction. She phoned her friend whilst we were heading to the British Council building to book their hall for the launch event. Her friend told her I was too clever and that I wanted a contract and she didn’t want the hassle. When I phoned again to check whether everything was OK, the bombshell dropped...she has now decided not to rent the place! Her son will come back and stay there. What expended energy? I was totally devastated but this time, I’ve learnt how to deal with such disappointment. I was calmed, thought through all my options...and philosophical about the whole thing. How could I have found a property in the first week, this was meant to be in my first month...so I still have time. So, although it was a pretty bad end to the week, nevertheless, I had done well, tried not to be too hard on myself - I got very close to finding the perfect accommodation in my first week!
With netbook and basic stuff, I had an office to operate from, albeit temporarily, until DST establishes its own office. I quickly set out to make contacts to fix appointments with an IT company, track down some old contacts in UNDP, World Vision, AITH and our very own Patron, Hon Julius Nye Cuffie..
The first appointment on Tuesday 8th December was with Hon Julius Nye Cuffie to (1) brief him on DST strategy and sponsorship programme, (2) discuss the composition of the DST interview panel in Sierra Leone, (3) plan the launch of DST sponsorship award which will involve invitations to the first lady, government ministers, aid agencies, media, government officials, industry, NGOs and so on. (4) I also wanted to pick his brains (as the first trained disabled lawyer in SL and one of our patrons) on how to go about registering DST as a local NGO. We covered a lot at this meeting with actions for both of us to follow up on.
The next stop was a meeting with the Managing Director of an IT firm. I had met the director at a government ICT Taskforce back in February 09 when we (two friends, Steph and Don Littlejohn) visited Sierra Leone. The purpose of this meeting was to brief the MD on DST’s planned activities in SL; extend an invitation to the launch of DST sponsorship programme, and to find out (the personal bit) if there was job opportunity with his company. Good meeting with the action that he will get in touch as soon as something in the area of website development comes up and he will circulate my CV to colleagues in other organisations. Back to my ‘office’ at LCD-WARO to review my notes and set up more meetings for the next day.
Wednesday 9th December - briefly in the LCD-WARO office at 8.30am but then off to a meeting pencilled in with the General Manager of African Information Technology Holdings Ltd (AITH). Like the meeting with MD the day before, the purpose and agenda item covered for this meeting were exactly the same, with one notable addition. I had approached AITH from the visit in February to see if they could be one of our training providers. So the rest of our conversation was trying to assess their competences, what they can offer, how they intend to deliver the training and at what cost - fulfilling the initial DST objectives for me coming to Sierra Leone. Our meeting ended with an invitation from the GM to come back to AITH the next day for an informal chat about a possible part-time opportunity delivering some lectures for them.
Thursday, 10th December - by now I was buzzing. To sum up so far; I am settling well and in less than a week, I have managed to secure a temporary office space with one of our partners and I have some part-time opportunity lined up with an IT company, World Vision, two lecturing positions. What could possibly go wrong now? Well, to that later...keep reading
I was up early again for an 8.30am meeting in the Vice President’s Office with his ICT Technical Advisor (again someone I had met at the SL’s eGovernment and ICT Taskforce in Feb) to tell him about DST’s plans including our launch plans and demo the website I have been developing for the Sierra Leone High Commissioner in London. Also, I wanted to find out how I can be involved in the ICT Taskforce as a technical consultant and whether there was any supporting role for me to play in any areas of ICT. His response was very positive, he identified three areas in which I could be involved in but will contact me as soon as he gets back from a business trip in France and Christmas holiday in the Northampton, UK.
After this meeting, I headed for my informal interview with AITH at 12noon. The interview went well and they were very impressed with my background and professional experience. They were keen to have me on board, the only thing now was to choose whether to have me on-a-call-off contract or put me in their books as a part-timer employer, having offered them this options in our discussions. As they pondered over this, they also had to decide how to pay me...I had indicated in the interview that I only needed enough salary to survive in Sierra Leone - pay my rent and something to cover my travel and food; my focus is really on establishing DST’s work in the country.
The afternoon was a pre-arranged meeting with another of our partners - Mrs. Melrose Cotay of INCLUDE. You couldn’t find a better networked woman in SL...she virtually knows every important person in the country. Anyway, our meeting was to brief her on where we’ve got to with DST, in particular our two prong strategy of firstly, in the short-term, providing sponsorship and secondly in the medium term, setting up an employment agency/office. This is all important, for example, could DST operate in the offices of INCLUDE and how can the two organisations work together.
I mentioned before how well networked Mrs Cotay is - during the meeting, she mentioned in passing that she had met an old friend in the shops who use to live in the UK. She is back now in Sierra Leone and she’s got a three bedroom house to rent. I was immediately interested...this is another of my top priority - find accommodation in one month! She gave me her number and I called her and she told me she will pick me up at 5pm to go and show me the place. Our meeting continued on the final item on my list - tasking Mrs Cotay to help organise the launch of the DST sponsorship programme, with a warning that we don’t have funds and so we could end up offering our time for free. For those things we have to pay for, they’ll either come out of my own pocket or find someone/organisation to sponsor the event...so additional stuff on the 12 months in SL to-do list!
I was picked up to go and view the property - excellent location, not far from Lumley Beach, good spot to relax at the weekend, after all the week’s hard work. Access was not great though, but with a suitable vehicle, it was peaceful and ideal for accommodating visiting friends who want to come and help with the charity. I negotiated the rent for $3000/year as I could pay this with a suitable part-time job. She shook-hand on the deal and the lady kindly asked for her driver to drop me off at Lumley junction. I was so excited, I kept thinking about the accommodation all night; how I was going to move in during the weekend - I emailed my friends who are coming end of January that I’ve found a place.
The bombshell! Friday 11th December - I am trying to work out why so many disappointments happen on a Friday! The lady had suggested during the negotiation that I paid in all $3000 in cash and at first I was a little baffled by this...normally you pay a deposit and then monthly payments. Then the questions, where am going to get $3000 cash - as I said the place is in a great location and the rent was very good, even cheaper than my YMCA hostel accommodation, so I even entertained the idea that I will take it, hoping God will provide somehow. So when I phoned on Friday morning that I could put in a deposit of $1000, a combination of the remaining hostel rent - a financial support from EBC and some dollars, I was shocked further to hear that her son had spoken to her and that she should be charging $4000/year. Well, I took in deep breath and said, but we agreed $3000. Even at $4000, this was still do-able, depending of course, what sort of part-time job I end up getting. So I said, well, could you please set up a contract and perhaps, add a 6 months break-out clause, so that I can pay the $1000 deposit - the response I got back was unbelievable! She doesn’t do contracts and that she wants the full amount in cash. I said, this is not right, how can I pay this huge amount of money with no receipt or contract to show for it. You see, I nearly had my fingers burned in Sierra Leone back in 2005 - lots of scams are going on, people trying to flog you property that don’t belong to them or sell you government land, passing it as theirs. You hand in your money and they disappear...Now I am not saying this was the case here...this is a 63 year old lady but from past experience, I was very suspicious, her son has suddenly got involved and she wanted cash with no way of proving later-on that I had paid the rent. We ended the conversation with her suggesting she will speak to her son again and call me back.
By now I had explained everything to Mrs. Cotay on my way back to the hostel and she understood my reaction. She phoned her friend whilst we were heading to the British Council building to book their hall for the launch event. Her friend told her I was too clever and that I wanted a contract and she didn’t want the hassle. When I phoned again to check whether everything was OK, the bombshell dropped...she has now decided not to rent the place! Her son will come back and stay there. What expended energy? I was totally devastated but this time, I’ve learnt how to deal with such disappointment. I was calmed, thought through all my options...and philosophical about the whole thing. How could I have found a property in the first week, this was meant to be in my first month...so I still have time. So, although it was a pretty bad end to the week, nevertheless, I had done well, tried not to be too hard on myself - I got very close to finding the perfect accommodation in my first week!
The First Weekend
See the first three days blog for Saturday 5th. Sunday 6th - up early (about 6am), during the night there was a big fight outside my hostel window so didn’t sleep well. Nevertheless, I got ready and walked to Church. From earlier enquires, I was given directions to the nearest Baptist Church, which apparently, was only ten minutes walk from the YMCA. But what I failed to ask was whether this was normal walking distance or for someone on crutches? Of course as I set off, I soon realised this was no ten minutes walk but rather a 40mins sweating walk, constantly checking the rubber tips on my crutches, which were wearing off pretty rapidly. But on the positive side, I am sure I lost a few kilos that day so not bad!
Got to the church 20mins before the start of the service. The church is an old American Baptist but the service was pretty traditional, with a small congregation, about ten adults and eleven children. The service started on time. The Minister had asked me before the service if I could do Old Testament reading. This was Ezekiel 37:1-14 - the valley of dried bones, on which he also preached on. The dried bones was an appropriate theme for this small congregation as I soon became aware that many people had left for other churches or had stopped coming altogether. In fact, his key message was how can the church be revived, how can life be breathed back into this congregation. The service ended on time about 11.30am and after a brief chat, I walked down to the other side of the road to get a taxi.
Took the taxi to the town centre to change some money as I had run out of Leones and back at the hostel to relax, watched a bit of live UK premiership football. After some thoughts about my accommodation, I decided to move from the single room with shared shower and bathroom to a self-contained room which was still significantly cheaper than Hotel 5.10. I had even started thinking that I could stay here for 12 months - it has 24hrs electricity, fans in rooms and it is centrally located. But this is still a whopping £7500 for one year - the need for that part-time work to support myself is becoming clear and urgent! The move itself was completed in less than five minutes, unpacked my stuff, did a bit of reading and then a bit of surfing the web - by now I had acquired a mobile Internet dongle which I had topped up with 2GB credit, which should last for a good month. Back to old habits, stayed up late drafting text and planning the agenda for the coming week. Finally got to bed about 1.30am
Got to the church 20mins before the start of the service. The church is an old American Baptist but the service was pretty traditional, with a small congregation, about ten adults and eleven children. The service started on time. The Minister had asked me before the service if I could do Old Testament reading. This was Ezekiel 37:1-14 - the valley of dried bones, on which he also preached on. The dried bones was an appropriate theme for this small congregation as I soon became aware that many people had left for other churches or had stopped coming altogether. In fact, his key message was how can the church be revived, how can life be breathed back into this congregation. The service ended on time about 11.30am and after a brief chat, I walked down to the other side of the road to get a taxi.
Took the taxi to the town centre to change some money as I had run out of Leones and back at the hostel to relax, watched a bit of live UK premiership football. After some thoughts about my accommodation, I decided to move from the single room with shared shower and bathroom to a self-contained room which was still significantly cheaper than Hotel 5.10. I had even started thinking that I could stay here for 12 months - it has 24hrs electricity, fans in rooms and it is centrally located. But this is still a whopping £7500 for one year - the need for that part-time work to support myself is becoming clear and urgent! The move itself was completed in less than five minutes, unpacked my stuff, did a bit of reading and then a bit of surfing the web - by now I had acquired a mobile Internet dongle which I had topped up with 2GB credit, which should last for a good month. Back to old habits, stayed up late drafting text and planning the agenda for the coming week. Finally got to bed about 1.30am
Saturday 5 December 2009
The first three days
Day one (Thursday 3rd December 2009)…early morning start, woken up by school music and singing of the national anthem. The YMCA hostel is next to a primary school and rehabilitation centre for psychiatric patients (some still traumatised by the war) and part of their routine is sing-alongs, mainly patriotic songs and Christian songs…some I am familiar with e.g. ‘Lord I lift you name on high’. Got ready for my first engagement of the day - I have been invited to the launch of the Sierra Leone Union of Disabled – the day of the disabled...at Victoria Park, in attendance, were the minister (equivalent of secretary of state) of social welfare, world vision, UN representatives, and the largest gathering of disabled people. I know a lot of them and it gave me the opportunity to publicise the Dorothy Springer Trust sponsorship programme.
Day two (Friday 4th December 2009)…The search for job and rented accommodation started but hampered by lack of access to the internet…the one at the hostel was incredibly slow and the laptop I had bought with a built-in 3G modem did not work with the Sierra Leone ISPs (Internet Service Providers), so I tried different solutions…some options expensive and cost cutting is the key to this trip, especially with no income going into my personal account at the moment. In that spirit of cost reduction, I ditched the hired car to help me get around as it was depleting my limited resources and I have also decided to stay in the hostel for the remaining 27 days until I find a part-time job and rented accommodation, so the real work of the DST can begin in earnest. In fact, already started as I went to fix an appointment with the anti-corruption commissioner to inform him of DST’s activities…this is very important for us, as DST’s core values are High Standards, accountability, Transparency, Keeping You Informed.
In the evening, I was invited to a dinner of the Love One Another Campaign, say No to Exploitation…a local charity started by Dr. Bell who studied in Germany but came back to Sierra Leone....similar story. I hear you ask, what is the connection? A German friend of mine had put me in contact with her friends who are currently visiting Sierra Leone to support the Love One another Campaign and they wanted to meet with me. In the dinner I was introduced to an eminent Poet, a professor at the university of SL. He took my details and agreed to speak to the dean of engineering…a possibly part-time lecturing post maybe?
Day three (Saturday 5th December)…Finally got round to trying the hostel network again. This time much better….I had commented about the speed and the frustration encountered by the user and the need for some improvements and apparently it was fixed yesterday. So here I am blitzing nearly 70 emails of support, encouragement and offer of prayers. Thank so much to everyone. The work I am here to do has started, still on schedule, it’s just taken two days to settle down (as was expected) especially with the problems of the internet…which is crucial for the job search as all my key contact details are online. In any case, staying in the hostel reminds me of my travelling days, inter-railing around Europe and staying in hostels….
More to come...
Thanks for reading
Abs
Day two (Friday 4th December 2009)…The search for job and rented accommodation started but hampered by lack of access to the internet…the one at the hostel was incredibly slow and the laptop I had bought with a built-in 3G modem did not work with the Sierra Leone ISPs (Internet Service Providers), so I tried different solutions…some options expensive and cost cutting is the key to this trip, especially with no income going into my personal account at the moment. In that spirit of cost reduction, I ditched the hired car to help me get around as it was depleting my limited resources and I have also decided to stay in the hostel for the remaining 27 days until I find a part-time job and rented accommodation, so the real work of the DST can begin in earnest. In fact, already started as I went to fix an appointment with the anti-corruption commissioner to inform him of DST’s activities…this is very important for us, as DST’s core values are High Standards, accountability, Transparency, Keeping You Informed.
In the evening, I was invited to a dinner of the Love One Another Campaign, say No to Exploitation…a local charity started by Dr. Bell who studied in Germany but came back to Sierra Leone....similar story. I hear you ask, what is the connection? A German friend of mine had put me in contact with her friends who are currently visiting Sierra Leone to support the Love One another Campaign and they wanted to meet with me. In the dinner I was introduced to an eminent Poet, a professor at the university of SL. He took my details and agreed to speak to the dean of engineering…a possibly part-time lecturing post maybe?
Day three (Saturday 5th December)…Finally got round to trying the hostel network again. This time much better….I had commented about the speed and the frustration encountered by the user and the need for some improvements and apparently it was fixed yesterday. So here I am blitzing nearly 70 emails of support, encouragement and offer of prayers. Thank so much to everyone. The work I am here to do has started, still on schedule, it’s just taken two days to settle down (as was expected) especially with the problems of the internet…which is crucial for the job search as all my key contact details are online. In any case, staying in the hostel reminds me of my travelling days, inter-railing around Europe and staying in hostels….
More to come...
Thanks for reading
Abs
The departure and arrival in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Finally got round to sitting down at an Internet Cafe to update my blog. I haven’t fully downloaded or transcribed my audio diary. But more of that in the ‘planned book’.
I was picked up by Easthamsptead Baptist Church friends, Rob Lea and Sue McCartney at 7am on Wednesday 2nd December for Heathrow Airport. Not so a good start in the morning for me…didn’t sleep for two days – a combination of last minute packing, apprehension and excitement! I had the worst shivering I have had for a long time – similar to the one I had just after coming out of surgery and recovering from the anesthetics. Part of the worry was the potential excess luggage. So upon check in, my worst fears were realized…the two suitcases and one rucksack were all over weight by a massive 32kilos, a potential whopping bill for 480 pounds. As we stood there and as I explained to the check in lady that I was going to run a charity in Sierra Leone for one year…one of a number of answered prayers were realized. She put the luggage through without even commenting that they were overweight…she simply pressed the button and there they went.
A little bit calmed by now…as we went for a coffee/breakfast. Departed at around 11.45am (scheduled for 11.10) and arrived at Lungai Airport at 18.35 local time (no time difference in UK winter time) on same day. The flight was ok, though a bit bumpy (turbulent) especially over the Sahara desert (and so we were only fed once) and hard landing (nothing unusual). Very quick processing through the airport this time - luggage picked up and out of the airport by 19.00. Picked up outside by a hired car to cross over to the hotel in Freetown (the airport is north of Freetown separated by a massive river).
Of course what I should have said is that a day or two before the departure I had checked to make sure the hotel (Hotel 5.10, a B&B in the East of Freetown, an old teachers college) accommodation was all ok, which I had booked about three months ago. Only to find out on Tuesday that the hotel has given out the rooms including mine to an international conference. I had to quickly call a contact in Freetown on Tuesday and on the way to Heathrow...who found me the YMCA hostel before my arrival on the same day. There…the accommodation worry the night before is again sorted out….well another answered prayer! You have to remember that my family at EBC and a lot of friends have regularly been praying and thinking of me and this is an encouragement to all that God is answering their prayers.
From the airport, we drove to the ferry port and whilst waiting to get into the ferry, I realised I had forgotten one of my luggage (I suppose the tiredness and sleep was beginning to catch up with me) so we had to turn round to go back to the airport, where a really nice man took us to his office and handed me my rucksack… and back on the 15mins return drive to the ferry. Of course by now we've missed the ferry. We had to wait another 2hrs for the next ferry. By the time I got to the YMCA hostel in the central of Freetown, it was 1.30am and I think I went to bed about 2am.
Monday 30 November 2009
Zeroing on departure
Months of planning, ticket ready, bags packed, and now looking forward to Wednesday 2nd December for the start of my 12 months unpaid career break from my current job at TRL (with their kind permission).
As I know many of you are aware by now…I am off to Sierra Leone to set up and run a UK charity I and friends registered with the charity commission in 2007. The charity is aiming to give hope to many disabled people in the country, in particular through education and vocational training, with a focus on Information & Communication Technology (ICT). If you haven’t already seen it, a YouTube video of how it all happened and why I am passionate about the charity is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNQ8Exhl4R8 (excellently made video by one of our trustees…I may have sat too close to the camera, I don’t look that bad in real-life but all for a good cause, so ok not looking my best!)
As I know many of you are aware by now…I am off to Sierra Leone to set up and run a UK charity I and friends registered with the charity commission in 2007. The charity is aiming to give hope to many disabled people in the country, in particular through education and vocational training, with a focus on Information & Communication Technology (ICT). If you haven’t already seen it, a YouTube video of how it all happened and why I am passionate about the charity is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNQ8Exhl4R8 (excellently made video by one of our trustees…I may have sat too close to the camera, I don’t look that bad in real-life but all for a good cause, so ok not looking my best!)
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