Maureen's Update from Sierra Leone #2: Congratulations to General Obama

Una Kushe, I am starting to adjust to life in Freetown, the buzzing, busy capital of Sierra Leone. To give you an idea of how populous Freetown is, Sierra Leone is the size of South Carolina, filled with 5-6 million people 2/3 of which live in Freetown. Honking is a means of communication with pedestrians, "I might need to run you over, please move."

I happily delivered the final amount to the in-country Operations team of the Mamaka Primary School project! My first trip to the village is a day trip tomorrow. Naturally, I am very excited.

Yesterday was a great day to be in Africa. We watched it from a very full government bar/restaurant. After a brief scare that the power was going to go out right before he was introduced, it was smooth sailing for the venue. Other than a Brit at the bar, we were the only non Sierra Leoneans present. Everyone clapped when he was sworn in. I'm pretty sure I was the only one crying, but I'm not sure what the social constraints on public crying by men (most of the patrons were men) are. A lot of people let me take their picture (hard with adults, they will not look cheerful when you see photos and a lot hid alcohol). The best quote was from a man in a tie at the table next to ours who upon seeing the Bush helicopter said, "bye bye Bush. Off to Texas." There is no love lost for him here either. We see plenty of people in Obama t-shirts and a couple of people have even shouted "Obama!" at us (definitely beats "white man," which, I am not a huge fan of getting when alone.)

Have seen many very cool lizards and birds, and one monkey, but it was on someone's porch, so I am not really continuing it. I have high hopes for sightings when I travel to the bush. We've kind of developed a routine here, breakfast at 7:30, then walk to town (hour each way) and complete whatever tasks necessary, followed by an hour online, the reward for this is a Star Beer, Sierra Leone's national brew, quite tasty, at Mr. Bobby's. Mr. Bobby's is probably the most relaxed drinking establishment I've ever been to, I say this because it has no walls, and most of the roof is made of rice bag. Some of my friends at Mr. Bobby's are Mr. Terry Everyday Not Just Today and Shakes, who insists that I am going to become a Sierra Leonean and will only speak to me in Krio. The best thing about Mr. Bobby is how he refers to our new president, "General Obama."

In other news on the strange and unusual front, the symbol of Freetown (on their money, etc.) is this massive 500 year old cotton tree that is right outside their courthouse downtown. Hundreds of bats live in it. Apparently, they are doing a construction/beatification thing to the base of the tree and they upset the bats around the time we were walking by and the bats were all flying around in the middle of the day. It was nuts, an Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom level of bats swarming around in broad daylight in the very center of a city. I had to just stop and stand there.

Like I said, tomorrow is my first visit to Mamaka Village. I am very excited. I will be back with a full report as soon as possible. Thanks again to everyone who has made this possible.

I de go now,
Maureen