The oporto goes home and leaves Celine Dion behind

Every morning at the hotel in Freetown, they play Celine Dion music.  The first morning it was kind of cute especially when the omelet guy was singing along in falsetto.  And then I discovered that this was the mood music every morning and I was forced to start my day to "I drove all night" and "It's all coming back to me now".  The omelet guy works 7 days a week and yet he keeps on singing.

Oporto means "white man".  On my first few days driving through communities on our way to conduct focus groups, the little children along the road would yell "oporto, oporto" and point at our vehicle.  I finally asked the meaning and found out I was the cause. In these more remote areas, seeing a foreigner regardless of race, is very uncommon.

It has been a very good visit and this afternoon begins the long trip home.  

ATM part 2 & 3

Before getting on with the rest of the week, I didn't want to leave the reader with an atm cliff-hanger.  Monday, back at the office, I explained my cash predicament and found out that obtaining cash over the weekend was a problem for the entire city.  One of the drivers took me to a bank with an ATM that was trust-worthy.  It was working as evidenced by the five people ahead of me in line and a line of 30 people inside.  The atm ran out of money but was soon reloaded.  Assuming because of demand, I was only allowed to take out a certain amount which was enough to pay for the driver from the weekend but would not cover the rest of the week. The largest bill is 10,000 Le which is about $1.50.  To pay a $30 driver bill, you end up with a stack of cash.

Fast forward to Wednesday (today).  A day before checking out, I attempted to pay my food bill at the hotel but the card machine wouldn't connect.  So not wanting to revisit my departure from Arusha, I had the driver take me to the same atm.  The plus side of these outings was I got mini tours of Freetown including a drive past the dilapidated government run university.  Freetown is a fascinating city with its mix of shanty, rundown wooden houses reminiscent of colonial days, stone buildings and new construction.  We drove by the prison which is smack-dab in the middle of town.  The driver said they've been discussing moving it for decades but nothing has happened despite inmates occasionally escaping.

I am paid up and ready to leave tomorrow!  

Kids kids, kids

Tuesday I accompanied a colleague out to the field to observe a supplemental food distribution.  Women whose children had been identified as or at risk for being malnourished were eligible for receiving a locally produced food supplement - a porridge mix made out of ground sesame, pigeon pea, sorghum and rice.  They receive a 3 month supply and have to come to the health center each month to get their allotment so that their child can have their mid-upper arm circumference measured. Happy to report that all these kids are getting pudgier and their measurements are moving from yellow to green.  While I was watching all this, I took some photos of the kids hanging around.  I swear they laughed and smiled as soon as I took a photo but for whatever reason, they were all business when the camera was pointed at them.  The photo below was after I charaded to them that they should smile.

The Long Weekend

Back in Freetown, while this is a nice hotel with stunning views, it is very isolated on its hilltop.  I tried to break free by having the hotel arrange a hired car to visit the chimpanzee sanctuary in the national forest on the edge of town.  The sanctuary was started in the late 80's after a couple bought a sick baby chimpanzee at a rural market and realized that killing mother chimps and selling their babies as pets was a thing.  It is illegal to own a chimp and the sanctuary rescues any chimps they find out about.  Or the chimp grows up and the owner no longer wants to keep them.  And angry adult chimp has about 5x the strength of a human.  There are about 75 chimps in captivity in several family groups.  They can't be returned to the wild because the spent their lives with humans - some spoiled by sleeping in beds, eating human food and watching movies.  There are several stages to introducing a chimp to a clan.  They are quarantined for disease, have to be taught how to climb and be a chimp in a group.  Based on their personality the handlers determine which family group they should join.  And they are the animal most genetically a like to humans.  There was once a break-out where 31 escaped.  27 returned on their own or were caught.  It would be humorous except a taxi driver on the premises was killed by a group of them.

The epilogue to this outing is apparently I was supposed to pay the hotel or driver only in cash.  Reminiscent of my departure from Arusha, long story short, after attempts at 4 different atms, I told the hotel/driver I would get them the cash on Monday when both my office and the banks would be open to sort it out.  

Last day of FGDs

We left Makeni to do two last focus groups before making our way back to Freetown.  I was asking these two groups about a new, locally made supplemental feeding product.  The two groups were in the same chiefdom but separate communities and their answers were surprisingly different.  And I'm not sure why.  Interesting moments of the day: going through a mid-sized town that is called Mile 91, having to try to speak over the sound of a downpour on a tin roof (fortunately the rain let up) and having my last group of ladies sing and dance for me.  I caught 30 secs on video but can't seem to figure out how to get it off my phone onto my computer.

In the path of greatness

I am staying at a hotel which is apparently one of the best in town and has the honor of having housed one David Beckham.  I find it hard to believe but maybe this hotel has known better days or maybe there is a really nice room on a different floor.  He certainly did not stay in my room - which is comfortable and functional but would fall in the budget category.  They are riding this wave for as long as they can.  They also have a 3 story banner out front featuring Nelson Mandela and I guess his preference for this hotel. (Also note more evidence of religious tolerance.)

Focusing Focus Groups

Now that I am on my own for three days, the work has begun.  Wednesday, I was scheduled to conduct four focus groups of 10 women each.  I was handed off to our sub-grantee (US based org) and partly due to my inexperience and their inexperience our focus groups were chaotic. They took place at the health centers, outside and they'd asked more to come than we needed, thinking some wouldn't show.  Instead they had more than we needed and women were turned away.  They lingered, others came and each woman had a baby on her lap.  It was loud with many distractions.  In the ended I think some good information was obtained.  Thursday we traveled farther, and I had a local colleague with me who was already well-versed in focus groups.  We put a number 1-10 on the women so it was easier to call on them and we moved the groups away from busy public areas.  A few babies were handed off to others and it was a much calmer setting.

Field visits

We drove up north a bit to conduct focus groups in a village in Tokolili.  I was observing today in preparation for a full day of conducting my own groups tomorrow.  There were two groups - one of women who received cash transfers during the Ebola crisis and the other group was their children.  They answered questions mostly about how they prioritized how they would spend the money they received.  Food and school fees were the top two followed by medical expenses and house rehabilitation.  Although they look very somber in the photos, both groups were very friendly and did smile on occasion.  The children were 14-18 yrs old and the mothers/grandmothers were 20-71.

Learning about Freetown

When I arrived the driver gave me a teeny tiny phone for local use and a packet of welcome information.  It included everything a new expat would need to know.  I skipped over how to get an apartment and find a cleaner but read up on the history of the town.  60,000 freed slaves were sent here from the US, Canada and UK.  Eventually they blended with the native population and apparently at one time over 200 languages were spoken here.  Krio means Creole and is a mixture of multiple languages that merged.  Another very interesting point about Sierra Leone is it probably the most religiously tolerant country on the planet.  Muslims, Christians and native religions peacefully co-exist - a fact in which the people have great pride.  Examples of the above - today after spending the day at the office, we stopped at St. Mary's grocery store to buy water for tomorrow's trip up north and so I could exchange currency.  The currency changer was a 70 year old Lebanese woman.  Their family has lived here for generations it seems and Lebanese and Indians own many businesses here.  Our driver also told about how he was raised Muslim, but when he became an adult, he changed to Christianity, met his wife at church and they are raising their children as Christians.  The rest of his family is still Muslim and they get together and celebrate all the holidays.  No one minds.

And now for some photos from the office balcony:

Sunday Stands for Sun

A colleague staying at the same hotel who has been here all week said he hasn't seen sun since last Sunday.  But today we were treated to sunshine which made the views even more spectacular.  Today was spent visiting with said colleague over breakfast and lunch, catching up with the country director who stopped by and dinner with another colleague who I will be going to the field with this week.  The hotel, despite its prestige and location is rather dilapidated. Apparently it's in the process of being revamped but you can't really tell if it's coming or going.  Still, with the plethora of expats in the restaurant it is a popular venue.  It also had a decent pool, but I only saw one person in it all day.  The reason?  It is currently considered "winter".

Day 1 in Sierra Leone

My flights may have been uneventful, but I was sitting so far back on the flight to Paris, that I could hear dog(s) barking in the cargo hold.  When I arrived in Freetown, it was raining and I fear that will be the theme for most of this trip.  The quickest way to get to the main part of the city, is by boat.  Due to the rain, the water was very choppy.  We walked to end of a very long pier and were helped by about five guys to cross over to the bobbing boat.  Place in the hold with luggage and life vests, I feared for my stomach but being a speed boat with crashed through the white capped waves and thus sea-sickness was avoided.   Arriving after dark, I didn't see much as the driver and I drove up to the hotel but once off the main drag, the road quickly deteriorated into a muddy, potholed, bumpy mess.  And I'm under the impression that wealthier people live up here considering one of the President's residencies is on the same hill.

Ala Archa Gorge Hike

Today was spent hiking in the Tian Shen mountains south of Bishkek.  There is a hiking group called the Trekking Union which although a membership organization, for very little you can join their outings.  On Sunday morning my colleague and I boarded one of two vans and drove to the Ala Archa Gorge National Park.  It was snowy, icy hike at that altitude but the views were beautiful.  Unfortunately I was in running shoes so it also made for a very slippery and wet decent.  Our group was made up of Russians, Kyrgyz, French, Swiss, Germans and us as the Americans.

(That's a hair tie on my finger)

Panorama fun

Safely down off the slip 'n slide trail

Back in Bishkek

Friday night I departed Osh and could not wait to spend the weekend in Bishkek.  I had exhausted all the sight-seeing that Osh had to offer and really couldn't take anymore Russian dubbed TV and radio Sputnik (though the latter was interestingly progressive).  A couple of my coworkers are also in Bishkek helping with the same project.  We met up for dinner Friday night and Saturday two of us enjoying the Spring like weather and went souvenir shopping.  We met up at the big square (not sure of what) with 24 hour guards who change on the hour.

Holiday Wanderings

Tuesday was a national holiday so I had the entire day to fill.  After a run in the park and some midday work on the computer.  I ventured out with two destination goals.  The first was the history museum which a colleague had recommended and the second was the bazaar which guide books say has been in the same location for 2,000 years (Osh has apparently been inhabited for 3,000 years and was a major stop on the Silk Road).  It was a lot of walking.  I found the museum which is a the base of Sulaiman Too mountain.  I paid the "foreigner" entrance fee and then discovered that 90% of the exhibit lacked English explanation.  Only Russian and Kyrgyz.  So that made for a quick tour.  Interestingly, there was a newer photo exhibit that was apparently highlighting the violence of 1990 between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.

Then it was on to the bazaar.  Being a holiday, it was fairly crowded. I don't think I discovered the heart of it, but did walk through an area that sold clothes, shoes, phone cases, toys etc, and then moved on to an area that sold produce, meat and bread - lots and lots of bread.  After that, it was the long, long walk back to the hotel.  I think now I have seen everything there is to see in Osh.

Sulaiman Too from the northeast

Part of the coal fueled city heating system that runs everywhere

All the cow innards and hooves you could want

Kyrgyz bread

My temporary home - Sun Rise Hotel

Men's Day

Since around 1920, countries that were formerly part of the USSR celebrate a national holiday that is now called Men's Day.  Originally it was to honor men in the navy, and then men in all military service.  Now it's simply Men's Day.  Two weeks later is Women's Day.  So at least there is equity.  My first day in the office, the staff held a luncheon to celebrate the men.  It was the traditional plov, side salads and bread along with some fried dough goodies.  Tuesday is the actual day off...and so after one day of work, I have a whole day flying solo.

Back to Osh

Exactly one year later I am back in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Blame global warming but it is about 20-30 degrees warmer then last time.  Since I arrived pre-dawn on a Sunday, I had most of the day to play tourist before I passed out from travel sleep deprivation.  The main thing to see here is Sulaiman Too - steep hill jutting out from the middle of the city.  I have still not figured out all the symbolic history of the site but it is considered Little Mecca by some of the faithful.

I climbed the steep path straight up through an old graveyard.  To one side of the mountain is a view point and old "house" which is now a place of worship.  To the other side are caves and a soviet-era museum that was blasted/built into one of the caves.  I skipped the museum.  At the base of this hill is a large mosque.  I then made my way back to the hotel, passing a huge statue of Lenin along the way.

Sulaiman-Too: historic house and view point upper right

Cave to right and museum to the left (graveyard in foreground)

Great mosque

Ever present Lenin