First Few Days in Sierra Leone

Freetown is a beautiful city from where we are staying – up in the hills. We have uninterrupted view of the bay from the over hanging hills.

On the first day, we went into Freetown (down town) to register at the British High Commission and to start the search for a vehicle of our own use. That was a task and a half. Because of the terrain and the state of the roads ‘up country’, we were advised to purchase a 4x4, manual( instead of automatic). So the hunt was for a durable and affordable 4x4. Easier said than done. We looked at a number of vehicles but they were either not in very good condition or not affordable. Those in good condition were either automatic, very expensive or both. To buy anything here one has to haggle, as in all other African countries. Items are way above the selling price and the trick is to haggle to a price acceptable to both parties. We think we will leave the haggling to the locals.

Freetown itself, is like any overcrowded city. The roads are filled with people, the buildings are old and not maintained. They would have been beautiful – old colonial style, with wooden louver windows – if they were well maintained, but they looked over used (infrastructure and facilities). Of course, there is a massive shanty town on the outskirts ( just on the beach) which floods when there is too much rain. Some secondary roads ( just off the main), resemble trails of red dirt leading up hill into ‘homes’. Many people live in corrugated zinc houses, with no light and water facilities. In all of this many of the people are beautifully dressed in African styles and the women’s hair are immaculately plaited. These people do not have much, but they hold their heads high. Even going to church, they were immaculately dressed and accessorised. Poverty does not show on them at all. However, because of the lack of infrastructure, there is a lot of unfinished work to do in Freetown. The new government have a great task on hand. In some ways, we are glad to be going out of the city to work.

On our first Sunday, we attended the Buxton Methodist Church in Freetown. We were informed that services usually last for an hour and half, unless when ‘they have a special programme’. And, of course, this Sunday was a special programme – the Zion Circuit Youth Fellowship was celebrating their yearly African Service together with the 99th Yearly Celebration of the Methodist Local Preachers’ Mutual Aid Association. Needless to say, the service lasted for more than the 90mins. Actually, the service lasted for over 3 hours; however, I can honestly say I enjoyed every bit, even though I struggled with the Creole language in some instances. There was the usual and typical praise and worship, which lasted for about an hour, whilst I counted about 6 different offerings – for the building fund; the MLP,MAA, and others. This should not have been a surprise since we had to pay for a copy of the ‘Order of Service’.
One feature which I found really ingenious was the ‘decorate a friend’ section, during which members of the congregation were encouraged to purchase hand made florets for other members of the congregation who have done ‘special acts’ and who deserved praise and acknowledgment. This I thought was an ingenious way of raising funds whilst encouraging other congregants by showing appreciation.
Little J had to be escorted out of the service after an hour ( after the praise and worship and just before the sermon). We found the Sunday School children who were practising songs for the annual Harvest Sunday in the basement of the church. Of course, she enjoyed the singing and managed to disrupt the programme by going up to nearly every little child and touching them. They didn’t find this amusing and she had to be parted from a few fights. At (the sudden) end of practise, she found a few ‘friends’ to run around with. Then we were told the children should go up to the main service, which they did, but ended sitting up in the top floor listening to the service (for the next hour and half). Of course, Little J wasn’t amused and Mummy had to take her outside ( again) to do some running in a safer environment. As usual, Mummy heard none of the sermon ( she hasn’t sat through a sermon for nearly 2 years) and had to get it second hand ( and not very thorough) from Daddy. I guess that’s life!

Monday, 16 October was a public holiday. We had hoped to visit other parts of the country and probably to have ended up on the beach with most of the ‘Freetownians’. We were taken to a relatively far beach in Kent (we didn’t see a beach – as we refused to pay the entrance fee) and York ( which turned out to be a fishing beach). The coast is really beautiful, and we enjoyed the outing, although we did not get to swim. The driver took us back to Freetown through the back roads and we got a taste of the ‘bone crusher’ roads everybody talks about. I thought I got whiplash going over a few of those pot- holes, and we were relieved to have left the vehicle at the end of the journey. We wondered what it would be like going to Segbwema – a good 50 miles of very, very bad roads. But that’s another post.
Prayer warriors, keep praying for journeying mercies and survival of the terrain – ‘ bone crusher’ roads, heat and mosquitoes. God bless you all.

M, J and Little J.

PS: System too slow to allow uploading of pictures. Still working on it.