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!