"12 days of Christmas"

The whole "12 days of Christmas "thing never made much sense so me - can't remember the words and only recently found out it's actually the 12 days from 24 Dec to 5 Jan, but .

In any case that, song was the inspiration for this blog, with some obvious variations and no tune what so ever.

It was quite the busy time...

On the 12th day to Christmas - I went to County Lodge (complete with Christmas Lights), had a steak and had a good time with friends.

On the 11th day to Christmas I had drinks on the beach, did some shopping on the beach and waved off a Stef at the Helipad!

On the 10th Day to Christmas - Spent a great day at River No2, and said good bye to Morgen at the Helipad!

On the 9th day of Christmas - I spent a fun day at the orphanage in Calaba Town, fun and games, Christmas story and Ice Age 2

On the 8th day of Christmas I mostly worked!

On the 7th day of Christmas I mostly worked again

On the 6th day of Christmas I helped pack gifts for the staff party and sang Carols at Bible study

On the 5th Day of Christmas I spent a few hours at Bunkers, with Vez and Sandra

On the 4the Day of Christmas I chopped ham and eggs and had a great staff party at AWAFC.

On the 3rd day of Christmas I wrapped some gifts and relaxed.

On the 2nd day of Christmas I watched the kiddies of Regent do a nativity play (and I also played a small roll in the Prov 31-sketch with the ladies)

On the 1 st day of Christmas I had full Turkey dinner with friends at the D.O.V.E. Children's home.

On actual day of Christmas day I chatted with all my family on the phone, had a brunch with all my friends and took off to River No2.

On the first day past Christmas I relaxed on the beach and ended it with a bonfire under the stars!!!

Unusual Christmas Gift

So, Santa (or Father Christmas as I like to call him ) came to S'loene as well. On Christmas morning everyone in the house had a stack of gift in front of there doors. The 3 of us staying outside the main house had make-shift stockings (pillowcases hooked into a drawer in the living room).

What treats - nice things for showering, nice smelling things, some African jewelery and crafts, a zebra, books, lots of candy, chocolates, stationary, a flashlight, a plate of home made cookies and a very unusual, but extremely thoughtful gift...

On top of the other gifts

a single piece of green paper folded in three

Merry Christmas in red

A gift to all in the house - 24 hour electricity (or more precisely the fuel to run the generator)!!!

As most know by now, we only have electricity when our generator runs from 18:30 - 7:30 (weekend until 10:00). NPA (National Power Agency - also well known as No Power, Always) has been promising 24h electricity to all of Freetown as of 21 December (?2007?). No sign of that yet, so today we had almost 5 hours of our "Christmas present".

Of course I spent most of the time on my laptop under the gazebo, but did take a break to watch a movie in my room with the AC on at 18C.

Thanks Susan!

Feeding Centre

Thought a few times before posting this blog, but here it is after all.

Visited the Children’s hospital feeding centre on Friday – only place in Freetown that admits and manages severely malnourished children. And with severely malnourished I mean just that, entrance criteria is much lower (or is it higher) than we ever had in SA.

On Fridays we sometimes visit there just to see how patients we referred were doing. Sometimes good news, often not. Friday, due to unusually good traffic flow, we arrived there earlier than usually – just as they were doing the weigh-in. It’s amazing how much clothes can generally conceal. Here were 15 kids all naked - mostly skin and bones and a few puffy with kwashiorkor. I could not get myself to take picture of them – although I’m sure they would have made it into some newspaper before Christmas time.

I’m used to seeing malnourished and underweight children – after all spent 6 years in a Barberton’s children’s ward. But this is different, in Barberton we would maybe one or two a month admit a little one with pure malnutrition – usually the kids had HIV and/or TB and a lot of the weight loss was more due to disease that pure lack of food. But here AIDS isn’t that common. Here just poverty, poor (almost non-existent) health care and absolute ignorance of what a child needs is at the forefront.

This time we actually went to hand out something small for Christmas, but even though the mother, grannies or aunties that was there with the children looked grateful, there wasn’t much joy in it. Mothers gladly smile for photos afterwards - for some of them possibly the last ever to be taken.

A little silver lining around the cloud of that day was at least 2 happy babies, ready to go home after spending a more than a month in the centre.

The one in the picture was being discharge – and definitely looks like she and Mom both discovered the wonderful benefits of breastfeeding.

What can I bring...

I just spent a great afternoon as a "Christmas Party" with some kids at an orphanage in Kalaba Town, Freetown. What a wonderful present they were to me.

On the road back this song by Matt Redman was playing, so I will let someone else's words and a few photo's speak...

I will Offer up my Life

I will offer up my life
In spirit and truth,
Pouring out the oil of love
As my worship to You
In surrender I must give my every part;
Lord, receive the sacrifice
Of a broken heart

CHORUS:
Jesus, what can I give, what can I bring
To so faithful a friend, to so loving a King?
Savior, what can be said, what can be sung
As a praise of Your name
For the things You have done?
Oh my words could not tell, not even in part
Of the debt of love that is owed
By this thankful heart

You deserve my every breath
For You've paid the great cost;
Giving up Your life to death,
Even death on a cross
You took all my shame away,
There defeated my sin
Opened up the gates of heaven
And have beckoned me in

A first....

Thursday I did 2 (usually quite common) things for the first time since coming to Freetown
That is, the first time in 18 weeks
I wore jeans
and I ate a steak!

Occasion: farewell dinner for 2 Mercy Ship team mate/house mates/ friends, Stefani and Morgan
Location: Country Lodge – most expensive hotel in SL, not too far from our house and with a great view overlooking the town/sea

“Sweet Basil Steak” came recommended
I chose the local beef option (Le10 000, $3,30 less than the imported beef)
Medium rare
Grilled perfectly
Filled with mozzarella cheese
Not too spicy basil sauce
Fries and veggies on the side

My mouth is watering again…

What a model...

On Saterday's outing I found this little model.

Kati (her mom works at the orhanage) .. she just loved having het picture taken and looking at herself on the camera and video camera.

17 days and counting..

No shopping malls, no decorated street lights, no electricity in most houses, so no Christmas tree with flickering light. No Santas dressed in red suites and face beards. No competition for "the must have toy/gadget this Christmas".

Stuck in slow creeping traffic for more than 3 hours with "Holy night" playing in our Landy, I couldn't help but notice the absolute contrast to the outside. Shopkeepers and hawkers still selling the same old goodies from their baskets ( cookies, cotton ear swab, cassava, plantains, lanterns, candles, boiled eggs, flip flops etc.), amputees and the blind begging at car windows, dirty kids running, playing, laughing - the usual. No, wait - there's someone selling a big Santa face decoration, a few Christmas lights and a few illegal copied Cd's with Christmas songs.

But I knew it was almost Christmas when 60+ orphans started singing Christmas carols at the top of their voices then we visited the Wellington Orphanage today.

It was a great day and I look forward to a true Christ feast in Sierra Leone!

Taste from Home

Got a nice taste from home today!

Sweet red grapes from SA bought at Freetown Supermarket - Lekker!
Was also quite surprised to see a Tru-Cape box @ the little vegetable stand near the clinic. (Apples and pears from Western Cape - my favourite ever since my brothers and I was dress in matching CAPE Apple T-shirts in the early 80's).





















Abdulai was quite happy to smile for this snap in front of his store.

So, how did you get here from the airport?

For anyone flying into Sierra Leone's Lungi Airport, that's usually the first questions asked. The international airport's actually not situated in Freetown, but "across the bay" from the city. Leaving you with 4 options to get into town- helicopter, hovercraft, ferry or road.

For most expats there's really only 2 options - helicopter (US$55, 8min) or hovercraft (US$55, 25 - 90+min). The road is REALLY bad and takes a few hours, the ferry that's slow and over crowded but cheap. Both heli- and hovercraft ports are situated very conveniently within a few hundred meters of our clinic in Aberdeen.

What do we see on the way to work yesterday "SURPRISE" -
hovercraft halfway submerged in the "The Man of War Bay", less than 50m from the shore and few hundred meters from the clinic.

As always in Africa rumours are plenty ...
A possible scenario:
around 6 am with
39 people on board (again, who knows for sure),
ran out of fuel,
another boat went to take fuel,
either ran into it or the fuel/engine caught fire -
back part of craft sank,
front part stayed floating,
luckily near the shore,
nobody hurt/drowned
craft now not hovering, but safely at the shore.









And that's not all....
latest rumour has it that the helicopter was also grounded, that on "the eve of the Presidential inauguration with several heads of state and the media expected".





But again, who will ever know....

Twins, twins, twins

Clinic days has been markedly busier since rainy season is ending, elections are over and someone made an announcement over the radio that our clinic exists (we didn't need any advertising, we're busy enough).

We usually limit the numbers of kids to the first 60 arriving before 8am and then usually have 10-20 booked for follow-up.

On a particularly hectic day 2 weeks ago I took a few minutes to "snap" these 3 sets of twin that was there at the same time.

In the middle of a long and busy day, just couldn't get them all to look at the camera and smile at the same time!

Lets hope it doesn't leave a scar

For most of us staying in Africa, insects (or goggas as we refer to them in Afrikaans) are just part of life. We generally don't get upset or interrupted by them. Of cause flies, ants and mosquitoes are a nuisance and we all wish they didn't exist, but they do.. and that's life.

I'm carefully remembering to take my anti-malarials every week and mostly remember to but on bug repellent when I'm outside at night, but this Wednesday a nasty gogga got me -without me even realising it. The little red beetles has been around the past few days and I must have squashed one in my neck without thinking about it. By Thursday morning I had a faint red spot on my neck, by the evening it had gotten bigger and started to burn and by Friday it was a proper red with fine blisters in the centre.

Google is great ...

The beetle's called Paederus Sabaeus (also called Nairobi fly or Champion fly)

not a blister beetle

the toxin of these guys is pederin

causes blistering, ezcema type lesions and pustules

often has Gram negative bacterial infection

takes 2-3 weeks to heal

often leaves scar (for moths or years).

And.. burns and itches and just generally does feel or look nice!

So that's it, lets hope for the best!

Favourite places

A while back I had some trouble with my Internet banking - used someone's computer and therefor had to , in addition to the regular password, also answer a security question. The question - "what is your favourite travel destination?" - now how am I supposed to remember what my favourite place was last year - 3 attempts later and I had no access to my account and had to phone Canada for a new password.

Got me thinking that I should probably start to actually keep a list - the order will probably change from time to time as my mood does, since favourite places doesn't just get there for the beauty or awesomeness, but also for those special memories that was made there - good time and unforgettable people...

So here goes some of my favourite places (in no particular order and sure to be updated)

• Sossosvlei (Namibia) - best sunsets ever
• Okaukuejo waterhole - Etosha
• Cairns - above and below the water
• New York
• Isle of Skye, Scotland
• Rome - Sistine Chapel
• Sydney
• Cape Town
• Knysna, SA
• Barberton, SA - view from Bulembo
• Mpumalanga escarpment, SA - yes all of it
• Barra Lodge (and Manta Reef), Mozambique
• Saskatchewan skies -especially on a cold clear spring evening with Northern Lights
• Banff, Lake Louis and the Rockies, Canada
• Whitehaven Beach and Whitsunday Islands , Australia
• Franschoek Valley, SA
• River No2, Sierra Leone

.......and yes, many more

(Photo's: Saskatchewan, Whitehaven, Lake Louise, River No.2)

Go Bokke

I can clearly remember the 1995 Rugby World Cup, from the first game SA Australia, crammed into the room/hallway of Olympus Medical Res to that final, watching at my parents house in Pta and the absolute party atmosphere for what seemed like weeks afterwards. This RWC was a bit different, but I will remember it as fondly, not only for the result, but for the show of friendship I received.
No satellite TV and "random" internet connections meant checking the result online. Each time the Bokke won I got excited with few to share it with. But that all changed 2 weekends ago. When I heard our boys made it into the semi-final, I needed to find a place to watch. At first Sandra said "I'll go with you, but has, never seen a rugby match", then Frans and then the next one and the next. By Sunday 14th the Springbok supporters has grown to 9. A quick lesson (white board and all) touched on the basics - 15 a side, run and kick forward, pass back, try to score a try - 5point, then convert, penalties and drop goals, line out and scrum. Couldn't help but thing of that old Casper de Vries sketch with "Raggabusch". But, off we went to Alex's a local sports bar and restaurant in Aberdeen - overlooking the sea, not to bad food, expensive drinks.

So the semi-finals went well, and then came the final. The place was absolutely packed. More expats that I've ever seen or though would ever get together in Sierra Leone. Lots of English, but everyone else seemed to root for SA (no big surprise there). Few SA flags flew and a faint "shozaloza" was heard under the "Swing low...", but we had the last say. Lets face it, the game was not the best ever, the end-result great and I think deserved, but it will sure be a day I remember.

Die hond het my beskuit....van die tafel af gesmeit (nee nie rerig nie, ma ek laaik die song)

Sorry, but this one has to be in Afrikaans….. want rusk is nou maar een maal net nie beskuit nie – Dip a Granny werk net nie.

Ja, soos meeste Afrikaner in die buiteland is beskuit altyd een van die dinge wat ek die meeste mis. Ek’t een redelik onsuksesvolle poging tot karringmelk beskuit gehad in Kanada (iets wat ek toe later danksy Google agterkom is nogal nie ongewoon nie).

My nuwe skoonsus is nogal ‘n kranige bakster, so die keer het ek haar hulp ingeroep vir ‘n resep – ‘n maklike een!!! So, na ‘n paar keer se herinner kom dit resep toe - so ewe per SMS –

• Meng 2k suiker, 2 k karringmelk, 3 eiers en 500g margarine
• Voeg 1kg bruismeel, 4k All Bran, 1tl sout en 2 k muesli
• Sit in gesmeerde pan en bak 1 uur by 180C.
• Sny met sker mes en droog 4-6 ure by 100C
  
  My response – All Bran , soos in die kelloges flakes of bran soos in semels en hier’s nie Muesli nie! Antwoord – Ja, die flakes bran en meng oats en klapper, neute en rosyntjies saam vir muesli.Sterkte.
  
  Ek’t dit nodig gehad, want hier in Freetown is niks soos ‘n vinnige stop by die P’nP met alles wat jy nodig het nie. Bestandele bymekaar maak is ‘n 4-dag proses. Stop by Freetown Supermarket - geen karringmelk of muesli. All Bran kos Le 19 000 – (>R40) vir ‘n 700g pak (no name brand). Neute is oor die R50 vir klein pakkie – so verseker uit. Koop toe maar die All Bran, oats, long life melk en klapper. Google toe maar die karringmelk besigheid en 3 opsies – 2/3 jogert met 1/3 melk; eetlepel asyn in melk of eetlepel kremetart in melk – ek besluit op die jogert (tuis gemaak deur een van my huismaats, en mooi een kant gehou vir my.). Muesli is toe volgense almal (veral Amerikaners wat saam my bly) cranola of crunchli. Meng oats, klapper, paar anys saadtjies met heuning en bak in die oond ( ruik heerlik !), maar niks neute en rosyntjies die keer nie.
  
  Teen die Vrydag aand weet al 10 mense in die huis hier word “rusk” gebak – en dis iets soos biscotti (oven-dried bread klink net nie te lekker nie). Die Hollanders weet darem wat die is en sien uit om te proe. Maar ek kom ook agter daar’s ‘n onsekerheid of 7 ure se bak ooit die moeite werd kan wees. So begin ek toe die proses 19:00 op ‘n Vrydag, aan. Meng als mooi, kry tot broodpannetjies in die kas – krap die roes af. Nou vir biejtie ekstra opwinding – ons het net ‘n gasstoof (gelukkig, want elektrisiteit is maar min), maar die termometer se wyser is af en die deur mak nie behoorlik toe nie, so dis maar bid vir die beste . On die deur toe te hou – draai ‘n besem of mop om teen die handvatsel, leun ‘n 25liter kan water (of kookolie) op die stok om dit in plek te hoe en dis toe!
  
  Uur later, ruik die huis absoluut heerlik, broodjies gly sommer so uit die pannetjie. Ek’s natuurlik te lui om te wag tot dit ordentlik afkoel, so sny-sny maar versugtig. As dit krummel, kla ek nie, want dis ‘n lekker happie. Terug in die oond. Ek’s moeg en gaan slaap.Stel my selfoon vir 1:30am. Traag om op te staan, maar dinge lyk goed. In dei humiditeit hier kan niks buite staan nie, so pak weg– een roomys bak vol vir die huis, ‘n “secret stash" net vir my. Terug bed toe.
  
  Saterdag oggend sit ek onder die gazebo, heerlike see bries wat teen die heuwel opkom, ‘n koppie lekker koffie en my beskuit – dis mos Boere Troos (met beskuit).

Caesar, again...

So, Caesar came to the clinic again on Wednesday. Now telling us his name is Abdul Aziz Kamara , but mom was very eager to tell us she calls him Caesar because he was born by C/section (lucky mom and boy, only 5 in 1000 births in Sierra Leone is by C/section = Too few!).

This time there was a bonus, as his cousin who was the actual patient was feeling much better, so she played along.

Sandra took some pictures, thanks!

The big ones that didn't get away

I've often enjoyed watching the activities of fisherman - from the one's standing on the beach at Henties in Namibia, the fishing boats coming in on the West coast of South Africa, the daws of Mozambique and the ice fishermen with there skidoo's in Saskatchewan. But of all there, the most time consuming and tiring method seems to the fisherman on the beaches of Aberdeen, SL (and probably the rest of the West Africa coast for all I know).

Although watching them many times, I'm sure there's still some finer details of the process I'm missing. But basically as follows - a few men (4-8) push the boat over the sand into the sea, they swim and get in, paddle a bit deeper in (seems simple enough), but now the don't just catch off the boat with a net. A net ( a funnel shaped one) is put in the water, ropes tied to the ends is brought to the shore and tied to palm trees or poles. Haven't measured yet, but easily more than 200m apart. Few hour later, they start pulling on one end of the rope (net) to bring it to shore. This can take hours. When the net starts getting closer to shore, the other end is also loosened and another group of about 5-10 start pulling from that end while walking closer to the first group. Metres and metres a net comes in (empty), has to be rolled up while pulling in and eventually at the end - fish.

This whole process and hard work amazes me and it's a bit hard to imagine doing all this 1 or 2 times every day for only a few fish. And now I know, It's for that one day, that BIG catch!!! The catches started coming in Thursday at about 16:30. By 20:30 we decided to investigate (and hopefully buy some fish, since I've been craving a Fish Braai (BBQ) for weeks. There on the beach absolute darkness was hundreds of people around two huge piles with literally thousand of fish(cowrah is the local name, but who knows what the real name is). Bought 6 huge ones for Le 50,000 ($16), but if we hung around there I'm sure we would have got some for free.

And... today I eventually got the long awaited fish braai (with apricot jam and garlic butter, mmm), rounded off with some sweet potatoes, salad, garlic bread and ice cream with chocolate sauce - I am content!

For the last 2 nights at the dinner table some of us have been doing the "what's that best and worst part of your day", like a good and wholesome family. Only thing is, I noticed I find my days are all starting to blend into one another and it's hard to find anything jumping out as good or bad. Which was my obvious sign to go sit and think about things. I don't want my experience here in Sierra Leone to become just another job where you go day by day, do whats expected and go home. I know I really love being here, but I also want to make the best memories possible.

So, I've got a few highlights from last week. Top of the list, at a tie, is 2 events that both involve new little friend. The first is a little guy of about 4 name Caesar. He might not look Roman, but he ruled the clinic for a short while on 2 recent visits. Cute as can be with a big white smile and way too much energy. He was touching and pointing to everything he could and asking "what this?". Typical of boys and their toys, the A/C's remote control on the wall (in his opinion a phone), a broken calculator on my table and of course my camera got the most attention. He played the game of Name the color for a few minutes, constantly choosing wrong between the three options of red, blue and yellow and then resolved to " no sabi" (Krio for I don't know it) as the answer to all further questions. Dressing up with the stethoscope and sitting/ turning on the doctors chair also seemed a favourite. Granny seemed at least a bit impressed when I showed her the picture and said he'll be a doctor one day ( that is, if he can learn his colours and ABC's).

My second BIG event was a visit to a local orphanage. Housing 15 kiddies under 8 years. Most between 3 and 5 some waiting for international adoption, some just in foster care. What fun we had. All but the smallest 3 dressed in yellow and blue uniforms attending the nursery school on the compound, just about 20m from there house. The moment we popped our heads in, all eyes were on us. Their "auntie teacher" still tried to continue with a lesson on the 10 commandments, but it was soon clear we had to leave if there was any chance of them learning anything. After their lessons we were entertained with more nursery school songs than I've heard in the last 25+years. Jumping, dancing, shaking, but never really taking there eyes off the white women. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again, hopefully for some fun on the beach.

And of course, no highlights of a week will be complete without the visit to the beach. Although I've only been to 3 beaches here, River no 2 is certainly my favourite. As the name would imply, a beach at a river mouth, however the no2 part is still a bit of a mystery to me since we pass many streams on the way there. This Saturday the usually bumpy trip there was made a bit more excited by a dirty fuel filter, but lucky for us, Abu, our local mechanic was with us - guess what's the solution - I the filter's dirty , just take it out. Well it worked and we made it there and back, had a great time.

First attempt, from Freetwon

So, at last I take the big plunge.
First Facebook and now a blog, really getting out there!
Obviously I'm still new to the whole blogging-thing, but some people have been nagging for more news, so here it goes.


Blog name is travel adventures, although my travels will pretty much be restricted to the small West African country of Sierra Leone for the next 5 months. I should probably have started the blog earlier, since my year in Northern Saskatchewan (Ile a la Crosse, for those with Google Earth - look it up), was quite a big adventure and I do spend a lot of time thinking back to my time there.
















For those who don't know about Sierra Leone -

• It's where "Blood Diamond" (Leonardo DeCaprio movie) takes place
• 11 year civil war that killer about 50 000 people ended in 2002
• Notoriously well known for Child soldiers and rebels hacking off people's limbs (read about a chils soldier in the book " Long way gone "- it's for sale in Starbucks for those lucky enough to have that option!)
• One of the poorest countries in the world (averadge income about 12 US cent a day)
• Highest child mortality rate in the world ( one in 4 kids die before their 5th birthday!)
• 8deg north of the equator, so nice and warm
• Rainy season lasts for 4 months and in rainy season -IT RAINS
• Friendly people
• Great beaches

Freetown has that feel of many Africa cities -
more trade happening on the street than in shops (anything from bread, books, toothpaste, luggage, car parts, fish and cassava leaves), overfull taxi's with "God Bless" slogans, brightly colored cellphone ads, BIG election posters and so much more.

If you eye catches the sun just right or you look from just the right spot (from the hill near Mamba Point or even from our house), you might for a moment not see the dilapidated houses, stray dogs and garbage lined, potholed streets and just enjoy the constant laughter of kids playing or the cheering at the roadside soccer match.


So, it's from here that I'll be blogging along...