Maureen's Update from Sierra Leone #8: Gofor and Exciting New Uses for Machetes

Una Kushe, the next day we had a lot of driving to do. Our first stop was the village of Gofor, which has a proposal in to build another school. This one had been destroyed in a storm (which was a refreshing change from the usual, "rebels burnt it to the ground"). When we arrived we saw a football field sized clearing that was almost clear of plant life but still had a bush here or a weed there.

We took a small walk down to another part of the village, where I made a few more kids cry (again, simple white face accident), saw a woman with a ludicrous amount of ridiculously large pineapples balanced on her head and when she put them on the ground so Farah could peruse her merchandise, they all jumped back. I ran over to see what the commotion was about. To be honest I was hoping to see a huge hairy spider, snake, monkey or other hideous creature.

But it was only a teeny tiny kitten that had been hitching a ride on her pineapple express. We all had a good laugh and the kitten ran off.

By the time we got back to the clearing, nearly the entire village was busy at work with machetes and shovels, women, kids of all ages and men, finishing the job clearing the field. We had a 3 language speech. English-->Krio-->Mende about what a great job everyone was doing with the progress of the clearing, who Jim and I were, how the application was doing (it's a really good application, we use it as an example actually), etc. Then everyone burst into song.

Here was my favorite new (to me) use of a machete #1: musical instrument. As the women sang (also including our names in the fashion of Fadugu) the men created the beat using whatever was available to them, and for the most part, it was farming equipment, machetes against shovels. They then followed us, it really felt like I was leading a parade, and heck yes I filmed it, (scroll down for the video) to the main center of the village where we were presented with...a goat!

Oh no, not another goat! Don't worry, I didn't name it. In case you've never heard the sound of a goat that is being made to do something it doesn't want to do, it is a very similar sound to that of a small child being hurt. Were I in show business and on that hilarious show, Inside the Actors Studio, I would definitely answer the questionnaire, "what sound or noise do you hate," with, "a goat in a trunk going over a speed bump."

But it was not a problem, because we were in a hurry, we could only stay for a small meal of rice and groundnut stew (yum), and we did take the goat with us back to Kenema where he was re-gifted (shhhh). This is super rude but since the givers were none the wiser we felt ok with it, and a) transporting a goat through all the police checkpoints between Kenema and Freetown would have gotten us in hot water and made us actually fineable b) the goat probably would have died in the trunk and c) do not think the guesthouse staff would be too keen on killing and cooking up a goat for us.

My second favorite alternative use of a machete happened on our way up to Kenema, while driving we interrupted several boys (age 10-12) playing cricket with a machete and an orange. "Car, game off." They are in the running for most creative of all time Sierra Leone Awards.

On the way back we dropped off the goat and per my insistence, I was permitted to attempt to purchase a diamond. My interest is in the practice of equitable mining in Salone. I knew that if I acted like I wanted to buy, I might get people to talk to me about the practices a little. I was in fact shown two stones (which to purchase and take out would have been illegal under both SL and US law but they were ready to sell to me anyway).

Many of you know about Blood Diamonds or Conflict Diamonds, which, according to several statistics and due to the Kimberly Process, only make up about 5% of the diamonds now in circulation. However, the diamonds offered to me would have been a nice example of how easy it is to work around that process, I could have asked if the miners were paid fairly and treated well (there is no "blood or conflict" here anymore, but most artisanal (where the digging is done by hand) mines anywhere in the world are not Disneyland).

If you happen to be in the market for a diamond, ask to see the Kimberly Process paperwork (it will help a little) and ask for one from Sierra Leone. It is doubtful that any US retailer will ever be able to tell you where the diamond came from, but if enough people ask, maybe it will become important, records will be kept and the network will be easier to trace.

I should probably go since some people want to kill me now (totally kidding, have not felt threatened whatsoever, ok, maybe a little, but only by insects). Even when I was "buying" my illegal diamonds, I was chatting it up with several really friendly gentlemen, how's the weather, where are you from, is it cold there, etc. American's we must sharpen our friendliness skills, Sierra Leone is going to cream us in the friendliness Olympics.

My time here is coming to a close, so my next update will be the last day in Freetown.

I gladi past mark, (something to the effect of, "I am the happiest I can be.")
Mari