Both Ends of the Candle

Some pics from the wedding:

Me and Cathryn in Mushananas.

Amanda, my programme manager,
looking lurvley.

The crowd dancing to live reggae.

Butare Deaf Intore Troop Dancing.

Me hangin' out with some guests.

First, we begin this belated blog entry with some very sad news, Marilyn's (my dad's partner's) mum died in the early hours of last Monday morning, 18th. Marj was an absolutely lovely lady and I have fond memories of exploring local standing stones and country pubs with her. She was an avid follower of my travels both in Australia and Rwanda. She shall be very much missed and loads of love and good vibes home to Dad & Marilyn.

In home news, Kitoko's song is still causing controversy in the disability movement, and that quality paper that is The New Times is still referring to Deaf people as 'deaf and dumb.' Derogatory terminology is a big problem, even within disability legislation itself, so I'm honoured to be helping to edit/proof-read the FENAPH three-year strategic plan at the moment. They're the National Federation of People with Disabilities, so hopefully they'll help tackle some of these issues.

A couple of charity announcements!

My ex house-mate Sonny is cycling to Paris in July with friends. You can sponsor them online and follow their blog too! Should be a fun adventure provided they don't break any more bikes or sprain any more ankles in practice ;)

Also, my good friend Vikki O'Brien (nee Bishop) and her lovely husband Dai are doing a ten mile charity walk for the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) on 5th July. NDCS have already, through their International Deaf Children's Fund, sponsored previous volunteers (Karen & Antonia) to set up parent support groups in Rwanda. If you would like to sponsor them, just drop me an e-mail and I'll put you in contact.

So, what have I been up to the past week?

Party... party... work... more party.

I'm suitably singed at both ends from the amount of fun that has been had :op

Lies' wedding was fantastic. It really was a spectacular day as outlined in my last post.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble remembering what's happened since then. There was rather a lot of 'Good Time(TM)' involved.

The past couple of days have been totally outstanding. Jo & Pierre are back in town and are my next door neighbours since I live in Rujigiro now. Literally, I cross the road, go down a path, and there they are!

Soooo... Last Saturday I ended up outside Amahoro stadium at 8am to help set up the Single Parents Network stall. It was Kigali Marathon Weekend and a really nice guy called Mark Larson was in charge of co-ordinating the Amahoro Peace Weekend. Amahoro being Kinyarwanda for 'Peace', actually. It was part of the international campaign to End Violence Against Women and Children. It was a fantastic day - pics below. First time we'd rolled out our banner which D made (although our relationship since his return has totally drifted - looks like I'm done. Again.) and met a wonderful single dad from Kicukiro who is raising five kids by himself and just seems like a really lovely and committed bloke. There was also a single mum who is part of a women's work co-operative who brought loads of stuff to sell. Sadly, none of the money goes to us, but it was excellent that she could make some money and it brought a lot of attention to our stall.

Funnily enough, I'd also told the Union of the Deaf about the event and they rolled-up and set up a stall right next to ours, which was great as I got to be on both stalls! :) It was a really fun day but the weather was so incredibly hot. Sitting in the marquee we baked a bit. Cathryn turned up about 1pm and we had lunch at Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant over the road, then headed home. I vow that's the last ever Saturday I get up and put myself through a freezing cold shower at 6am :op

Rose displaying our new banner!

Information flyers.

The Stall

The Deaf Association with the Dictionary
(L-R: Emmanuel, Claire, Goreth)

So that was a really funky day, however I was somewhat knackered as Cathryn, Brad and I had been out until about 2am at Bar Stella opposite my old house on the Thursday. It culminated in a spectacular display by a Rwandan contortionist who could go into crab from standing, literally bent double backwards, pick up a bottle of beer with his teeth and return to standing in order to drink it. He could also do the trick where he put a lit cigarette in his mouth, drank beer, and returned it still lit! Was very cool.

The thing was, before arriving at Stella to drink heavily with Brad and Cathryn (and their extremely interesting friend Baudouin who has promised to take me to an umupfumu), I had actually been to Hirut's as she was leaving for Ethiopia. Me and her sat and spent a good couple of hours drinking up her gin (Bombay Saphire!) - without any mixer. So I was already pretty darn sozzled by the time I got there. Which made Friday rather painful. I was still recovering from that hangover on Saturday at the Peace Weekend. Not exactly strategic, but a lot of fun.

So, then, Saturday night after the stall was packed up and I'd been home for a nice looong snooze, I met up with Cathryn, Rose, Peace, Sarah, Giudi and Maxime at the bar up from Stella and we started all over again, culminating in a surprisingly still-rather-sober night out at KBC in honour of Brad's last Friday night in town - he flies home to New York early this Saturday so no night out Friday - which resulted in me falling into bed around 4am.

So, Sunday was largely spent sleeping. I woke around 11:30 and called Jo. Jo used to be on the Disability team when I first arrived and taught me the ropes. She also used to run Salsa at Passadena, which is now hugely popular. Then she and her partner Pierre went back to London so that Pierre could do his master's degree. Anyway, they're back for a two-week holiday and live literally over the road from me with a huge pizza oven in the garden.

They were having a pizza party but I didn't think that I would make it because I wasn't sure what I'd be up to on Sunday. However, when I woke nothing in the world seemed more appealing at that moment in time than a slice of free pizza to soak up the alcohol.

I ambled over there around 1:30. I got a bit lost en route as it's down a mud track. When I stopped to call her I saw a band of li'le urchins coming toward me. I thought I'd have enough time to make the call then start walking away quickly, but I mis-timed it and by the time I hung up they had surrounded me. About ten kids all shouting 'muzungu muzungu amaferanga amaferanga!' When you're horrifically hungover, just woken up and lost, it's the last thing in the world you want. Ashamed to say, I did end up shouting at them very loudly in Kinyarwanda *sigh* I haven't done that in a long time but c'mon guys, step back. It wasn't nice pestering either, pretty full-on.

Anyway, I got there, it was a blistering hot day for the first time in weeks of intermittent rain. There they were, stoking the fire on the pizza oven as if they'd never been away. It was so wonderful to see them.

Giudi and Maxime came, Anja and Coco - the whole gang back together. It was just perfect. Free food, and booze from a fridge! Although, Anja brought a bottle of rosé with a cork instead of a screw-top and we didn't have a bottle opener, so Pierre ended up getting the power tools out. With a sublime group effort we opened it with an electric drill! Huzah! :op

It was just the most wonderful day and we all stayed well into the evening and watched the sun sink over a panoramic view of Kigali. All the little lights came on whilst we set out candles. The boys played the Rwandan version of omweso whilst us girlies just chatted away.

Jo walked back to mine with me to see the cats and we sat outside my gate catching-up. Truly memorable day and not a more relaxed Sunday ever lived I don't think.

Monday was an extremely slow day as my colleagues were preparing for a trip to Cyangugu and I was continuing with the disability document. Jo and Pierre picked me up in their 4x4 around mid-day and took me for a slap-up lunch at New Cactus! Then presented me with an entire bag of chocolate and glossy magazines. Two days of full feeding and no paying - I was somehow in heaven :op

They've headed to Gisenyi for a break but they will be back on Friday so I'm going to try and drag them out to KBC as the best jazz/blues band on the continent are playing: Black, Blue, Uzungu. Giudi, Maxime, Anja, Coco and Cathryn should be coming too.

Then, last night I was settling down and watching a film that Dad sent out: Priceless. It's gone straight to the top of my favourite films ever list. Really very good, which helped even out The Duchess with Kiera Knightley, which had to be one of the most singularly depressing films I've seen in a long while, though it was nicely shot.

I'd got within about twenty minutes of the end when Cathryn called to say Brad had invited us over to his place ('his' now that Hirut's in Ethiopia) for spag bol and fun with a perforated coke can (don't ask). So I got cleaned-up and headed over.

We had a most excellent night just relaxing, giggling, and being silly. The three of us together is more than most people, even ourselves, can stand on the hyperactive, hyper-manic scale and it's best we remove ourselves from polite society once the beer starts flowing. It ended up at 2am with Cathryn and I crashing out in the spare room upstairs.

Not your typical Monday night, but we got up silly early. Brad was going to give us a lift up the hill on his moto but we both decided we needed to leave a little earlier as I had to be in the office by nine and desperately needed a shower before that. So we walked up the biiiig hill from Nyarutarama and hailed motos in our respective directions.

I felt surprisingly good, actually. Went to the office, there was nobody around so I invited Cathryn and Brad to MTN Bourbon for lunch where I planned on doing the rest of my work, but, after an hour-and-a-half wait almost for food, and then Cathryn dashing off to her next meeting, I decided to come home and get on with it. Which I have.

Brad will be sorely missed, as will Jo and Pierre. The past week I have been partying hard to make the most of my friends before they all leave again. One of the major down-sides to an ex-pat life, people are always on the move and you just have to groove with them whilst you can.

So, should be a bit quiet now until Thursday, when we'll have farewell drinks for Brad, then Friday when we're off to Black, Blue, Uzungu and possibly Torero where Kivu Writers are planning a showcase event :)

Should all be good. Bring it awwwn.

[NB 2013: My friends Vikki and Dai are currently on a round-the-world tour. They've already done Asia, Australia and they're on their way to Fiji. Sonny got married in September and also completed the Marathon Des Sables in aid of Cancer Research! Jo and Pierre are in the process of moving back to Rwanda permanently with their daughter Zuba.]

Two Person Lock-In

Is I beautiful?

Ooooh, what a hangover I had this morning.

Last night was Lies' hen night at SoleLuna but I was meeting up with Cathryn beforehand so that we could go together.

I met her at the Goat & Gorilla, which is the pub inside the British Embassy. It's open every Thursday but you have to be on 'the list' to get in - i.e. know someone who works there. I'd never been on the list before, so this was my first time and I was extremely curious. Managed to get Jane to put me down - very kind of her.

So, you go into the Embassy grounds and it's right round the back. You wouldn't know it was there. It's a lawn with an under-cover bar, a BBQ, and a small seating area. It's fab. You buy tokens for either FRW 2,000 or 5,000 but the beer is incredibly cheap! It's FRW 750 for a small draft Mutzig (so I guess 1,500 for a large - it's 2,000/2,500 elsewhere) and whisky for FRW 500! And if the guy behind the bar likes you, the token never seems to run out. I think there may be room to park a tent on the lawn...

Really lovely atmosphere, very relaxed, and they even ring a bell for 'last orders' like back home :op The brochettes (fish and goat) are outstanding, too.

Giudi, Anja and Alicia's sister Sarah (who is here doing research) were there, and so were Kieran and his lady, Jane, and a few other faces I recognised. We drank rather a lot and then headed to SoleLuna.

Loads of people were there including Meg, Isadora, and Lies' friends and sister. Not often you sit down at a table surrounded by people you don't know and have such an excellent night. I was talking to Karen, who works for the UN department that Isadora's with, Brittany, who is one of Meg's volunteers, and another lady who used to work for Meg and now works in Uganda. They were a really good laugh and much fun was had by all.

When they eventually left, Cathryn and I decided to stay for one last beer and a catch-up. We were the only people there by this point and weren't sure if they'd serve us. But they did... and then left! All the staff went home :op

About twenty minutes later the lights went out!

So, we sat and finished our beer in the dark and then let ourselves out and got motos home! Really weeeird.

Today, I suffered slightly. Not as much as Cathryn, who had to get up at six to go to work. I just had to go to the bank then swing past Lies' for a final dreading session. Her family were all there and, whilst I took care of her hair, a guy gave her a manicure and pedicure whilst two women were drawing mendi patters on the bridesmaids' hands.

Afterwards, I came home and met up with D who had the Single Parents Network banner from Kampala - it's fantastic! Seriously excellent banner, can't wait to put it up at the stall and take some photos for the website :)

He's also got 500 flyers printed. Not bad, great to have something to hand out, but a few spelling and content issues I could have done without. Even though I'd given him the content he still changed a few things and there hadn't been time before he left to print a draft. It's really nothing major - I'm just a bit of a perfectionist with things like that. We'll correct it for the next batch. As I say, it's just excellent to have something to hand out. Not folded yet though, so I'll be busy each evening doing that until the event.

So, after he left I've just been prepping myself for tomorrow. Cathryn and I will be helping out with 'protocol' at the reception. We get to wear Rasta coloured mushananas! But it does mean being at Saint Paul's for 8am. Hence the face mask. Setting my alarm early to be ready for it. It's going to be an excellent day - the Deaf Intore troop will be performing. Hope to have some pictures eventually. Really looking forward to it.

Ineza Pictures

Pictures from Ineza Guesthouse in Butare where Martine and I escaped for our weekend away.

Martine, looking lurvely.

 
Yes, I know, smoking - but it was a lovely sunny day, and umuganda. Just chilling out waiting for the world to roll back into action.

Traditional Rwandan bee hive made from banana leaves.

Avocados in their natural habitat.

Li'le spirit hut?

Gorilla in the Trees!

Pretty Flowers

Around the yard...

Beach #2

This is an extract from my African travel blog, where you can read all of my adventures in Sierra Leone.

Picture from Flickr

Just had one of the best days of my life!

Woke up feeling pretty rough but dosed myself up with some extremely strong, possibly marginally illegal, knock-out cough syrup, which put me on a sedated high for most of the day.

Claudette, Hirut's cousin, came to pick us up. Before the rose ceremony yesterday, we stopped by the guest house her aunt runs, and met Claudette, who had just arrived from the UK with her friend who is also Sierra Leonean and an officer in the MET. A couple more of their friends, also SLs living in London, Jay and his sister Angela, were there and we had lunch together and a chill-out.

Today we all took a drive about two hours up the road, past Lakka Beach, to Number Two Beach (or 'Beach Number Two') - famed as the nicest beach in Sierra Leone.

It is indeed very special. Miles of absolutely bright-white sand and clear ocean. We took over a couple of beach huts, set up the umbrellas, then I took a wander around the craft stalls and bought a tie-dye red sarong.

We brought tons of food: jollof rice, meat, even chocolate, and a big cooler full of cold drinks.

Me at the Beach Hut

I spent about an hour-and-a-half swimming, with the golden beach skirted by high, rolling rainforest. Truly a little piece of heaven.

After the main heat of the day passed, Jay, Hirut, Olga, Natasha and myself took a walk along the beach to the mouth of a sandy estuary. To get there, we had to swim an extremely fast-moving channel, apparently one person dies on the beach each year due to strong currents and quicksand, of all things! But we made it across fine and us girlies sat in the shade and paddled in the warm, shallow water admiring the hermit crabs and little fishes whilst Jay went and called a local guy over with a boat that looked just like this one (actually it probably was that one!).

I was wearing a sun hat, slathered in factor 50 sun block and such, but I was getting a bit worried I'd burn to a crisp. I am so jealous of African skin when it comes to being in the sun. There's me hiding under the umbrella, fussing over re-applying cream, and everyone else is just 'yeah, whatever,' straight out the sea, drying off by lying in the full blazing sunshine, no sun lotion - no problem *sigh*

Anyway, we piled into the little paddle canoe and started off up the river in search of a waterfall Jay said he'd visited before.

"What's the river called?" I asked.

"Evocatoo," replies the boatman.

Oooh, that's exotic, thinks I, wondering why everyone else has burst out laughing.

"River number two," Natasha translates from Krio. Oh! lol

"Well, you can't say Sierra Leoneans aren't logical," said Hirut: "Beach number two, river number two..."

Now, only Jay knows where this waterfall is and we're expecting to pop up there and get back in time for the others to go too, maybe about an hour round trip. About 45 minutes later, we're starting to wonder where on earth this waterfall is and almost die laughing when we finally see it. In the dry season, there's just this trickle coming over the rocks.

But we get out of the boat and start scaling the rocks, which are lethally slippy when wet. I fell into a pool and had to be helped out by Jay and Hirut. We slipped and slid our way precariously up to the very top, where there was a deep, cool pool of fresh water. Jay and I drank from the river, we were so thirsty (the guide said the water was fine to drink) and then I went for a swim and got Natasha in too. We were worried that if we went in, we wouldn't be able to get out again because it was so slippy. After I proved you could do it, she joined me.

It was over all too soon, and we began the long journey back, the sides of the river a tangle of tropical tree roots. Herons and kingfishers flying around us, and a glorious setting sun.

We'd been gone about three hours when we got back, walking in triumph across the white sand back to the huts. It was too late for the others to go, and they'd already started packing up, but it was such a special journey and we had such a good laugh on the way. Definitely the highlight of the trip.

We all said goodbye and Claudette drove us home. It's her 30th birthday next weekend and she's having a big beach party at #2, we're so sad we won't be here to enjoy it.

We're back now and I'm heading to bed as I'm shattered. The medicine's worn off and I'm feeling distinctly wobbly. My lungs feel like someone's sandpapered them down from all the dust on the roads. Such an excellent day, but must sleep. Thankfully, my potential sunburn has turned into a gloriously golden tan :op

Sunset at Beach #2

The Most Wonderful Party in the World

This is an extract from my African travel blog, where you can read all of my adventures in Sierra Leone.

We did indeed finish the ironing at around 1:30 in the morning! We had a wake-up knock at 6am. Hirut's parents stayed at the beach house with friends last night, setting up. Above is all of our ironing put to beautiful use. Although, apparently, it was all irreverently gathered up and dropped on the floor! Noooooo... :oO

There was yet more dainty work to be done on arrival: the folding of napkins. Then pinning them with ribbons. But, oooh, don't they look pretty? NO! Don't you DARE wipe your mouth on that!

This is Shenge beach, about two hours out of Freetown. Completely secluded.

Down where the marquee is, you turn right, go up some steps, and you're at the beach hut. Herbert's trying to turn it into the next holiday home venture. They've formed a committee, planning a hotel and more beach huts. If they can balance tourism and still maintain the seclusion, I think they're on to a winner. It's a truly outstanding area of natural beauty.

The dinner was extremely scrummy. Llyal's mum and dad (absolute top people) had brought back smoked salmon from the US, so we tucked into that, followed by a wonderful buffet including lobster, caught locally, and chocolate and rum cake for pudding. The wine flowed freely, as did the Baileys and Champagne.

Family also gave speeches to celebrate Herbert's birthday, and Hirut also gave one. After which, I made for a long walk up the beach and discovered the crabs! Little holes in the sand about the size of your fist, and when the tide comes in dozens of crabs appear and scuttle about on the sand, running into the waves and back out again - they're so cute :o}

The sunset was absolutely spectacular.

At night, when most of the guests had left, we sat outside with Hirut and Llyal's parents and picked at the remains of the lobster whilst drinking fresh tapped palm wine. The kid came to change the cans and I watched him walking up the trees attached by a hoop of bark like this guy on the SL Tourism Video.

I learned that different trees have a different taste, from sweet, medium, to strong. The cans are emptied in the morning and evening.

It was a wonderful day. If anybody is going to Sierra Leone and wants to rent a beach hut in a stunning area of undisturbed beach, this is a project to look out for. Sierra Leone should definitely be capitalising on this type of tourism, although it's hard outside of Freetown because the law says the land belongs to the various tribes, and anything on it. Which is bad for development because who wants to invest in a building that could just be repossessed at any moment? This project is still just within Freetown though, so it's freehold. Interesting legal quirk.

Today we've just been recovering in front of the TV. Watched a couple of movies: Girl Interrupted, which I remember wanting to see when it came out but never got around to. Not bad, marginally entertaining, Angelina Jolie at her angry-sassiest, bit Sylvia Plath. The second was absolutely fantastic: Mr. Brooks. I'd never heard of it before, but it was like Dexter in film form. Extremely well done - there has to be a sequel.

We also went to the first tailor and picked up our clothes: red sequined skirt, matching tie-dye skirt and halter-neck. Very pleased with them. Will take some photos at some point.

Christmas Day in Freetown

This is an extract from my African travel blog, where you can read all of my adventures in Sierra Leone.

Forgot to mention: Tuesday morning, before I went to meet up with the VSO lot, Hirut and I went down to Lumley Beach again - she for a jog, and me for a swim. Alhaji insisted on accompanying her with the bottle of water, we can't stop laughing - he's a very sweet guy but horribly overprotective!

Yesterday was Christmas Eve. We spent it at Big Market in town, a place where you can find all sorts of curiosities, like these spirit bottles:

They're Mende and their original owner had given them up because he said they caused him too much trouble. They were his distant relatives and had been in the family for many generations, but he felt they brought misfortune.

Hirut was considering buying them, and I told her she'd best ask what's in them first as it might cause problems for customs. Luckily, Elizabeth the cook is Mende and when she showed her the picture she said there would be nothing in them. I remain unconvinced ;)

The neck rings on them (I think it mentions this in the Wiki article too) are because Mende see rings on your neck as a sign of beauty:

Mende people consider a beautiful neck to be one with rings: they are a sign of beauty because they suggest wealth, high status, and are sexually attractive. The rings indicate prosperity and wholesome living, and are given by God to show his affection for a fortunate few. As well, the rings indicate a relationship with the divine: the Sowo itself is a deity from the waters, and the neck rings represent the concentric waves that are formed on still water by Sowo's head breaking through the surface. The spirit comes from the water, and what the human eye sees on the necks of women "is human in form, but divine in essence", as portrayed in the mask. - Wiki

So, I guess these two are women.

You thought being put in a home was bad, but just think, your great grandchildren could sell you on to a flea market for an arranged price :op

There were loads of masks from SL, Mali and West Africa upstairs. Lots of cloth as well. I bought a beautiful necklace, and one for Hirut for Christmas.

Downstairs we found the herb sellers:

Everything from curing insomnia to growing your man a bigger mojo! 'You take my medicine, id work,' she'm say.

The long black pods, on the right, you burn like incense sticks to keep away the mosquitoes.

If that doesn’t work, the light wood in the sacks is stewed down into a tea to cure malaria.

At the front, under the white bags, you can just make out little bags of pebbles. They’re grey not white, and these are the famed ‘edible stones’ some women get addicted to eating when pregnant. I bought one to try it, but haven’t yet. You can either eat it or rub it on your skin as powder, to take out the oil (natural powder puff), or grind it up with water as a face mask against heat rash. It’s supposed to suck all of the impurities out of you.

I also bought 'black soap', which is made from banana-leaf charcoal and rolled into small balls. It's also good for heat rash and skin cleansing - amazing smell to it. They also had tiny little bottles of crystallised mint for smelling salts, and others of ground mica: natural mascara. Cosmetics as well as medicines.

This woman had cures for things you didn’t even know you could get! Vaginal douche anyone? :oO

So, we had a lot of fun poking around the market and looking at all the curiosities. Then we swung by Lumley Beach for ice-cream and a drink, and returned home for some quality TV watching: Spiderman 3, 13th Floor and the fantastic US series Dexter, about a serial killer who kills serial killers, who's investigating himself as a forensic scientist! It's excellent and Jaime Murray from Hustle was in it, too! Think I'll have to buy it at some stage.

We really veged out. Then we decided to go to Paddy's, which is one of the main nightclubs in Freetown. It's a big bar and dance floor under thatching, open on all sides, but still really warm that night. We got there around 11pm, which was still really early, so we perched at the bar and had drinks until it livened up, then had a bit of a boogie. I wasn't really feeling the vibe: lots of chairs but a very small dance area, so felt a bit cramped. They had a brass band playing carols when we first got there, then it gave way to the regular top 10. Was fun, but I wasn't 100% in the mood, so we headed home quite early, around 2-ish. I was finding the continuous stream of social events a bit of a shock to the system.

Today (Merry Christmas everybody!) we got up really late and had breakfast, then Hirut's Aunt Mamoona came to visit. Really nice lady who's lived in Ethiopia for years with her husband. They've just retired back to Sierra Leone, so she's getting used to the change. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner on the balcony of yams, cassava, meat soup - then a buffet of plantain, jollof rice (a major national dish), meats, salad and all sorts. It was scrummy, and followed by chocolate cake, iced jelly and ice-cream.

We exchanged gifts late in the day, under the tree. I'd bought a necklace for Hirut and she'd bought one for me. Her parents gave me perfume, and I had one 'mystery gift' which arrived in the post about a month ago. I'd saved it and taken it with me. I had no idea who it was from, and it was wrapped in red monster paper. Inside was a beautiful bag in my favourite style, made from funky fabric. I realised it was my friend Vikki who had made it for me. I'd asked if she could replicate one from an old bag I had that was falling apart - she's great at sewing - and she had! Was really sweet of her. :)

Mum and Dad both phoned, but I didn't talk long. The line with Dad was really bad - huge delay between turns, and it's hard to talk in a public area, so I said I'd catch up with them when I get back.

Was a lovely day :)

Nairobi, Accra, Freetown

This is an extract from my African travel blog, where you can read all of my adventures in Sierra Leone.

View from helicopter window coming into
Freetown from Lungi Island.

Made it!

I was panicking a bit yesterday, as I was still totally out of whack from the food poisoning and a big fall out with VSO over the housing situation. I hadn't totally finished packing, but decided that, as we had to be at the airport for 2am, it wasn't really worth going to bed. I got everything packed up just in time. I was worrying about the baggage limit, I didn't remember my suitcase being that heavy! Mostly it's the metal and plastic casing, I think - adds on top of the content.

At 2am I get a text from Hirut, who's picking me up outside Ndoli's, saying she thinks she just woke the taxi driver up. He was supposed to be at hers but he fell asleep! So, she was running late. They finally beeped me at about 3am and I ran over to meet them.

Kanombe airport was quiet. We walked straight through check-in feeling dazed and slightly confused at being up at such an ungodly hour. Thankfully, we didn't have too long to wait in departure as our flight was at 4am.

I passed out immediately and slept straight through to Nairobi, which takes just over an hour to reach.

Nairobi was actually far more pleasant than I remembered it. Hirut enlightened me that not all of the toilets there are squat holes. I hadn't noticed the sit-downs tucked away to the side. There were also vastly more shops and cafés than I found the first time around. We only had three hours to kill there, so we amused ourselves in the jewellery shop. I bought a pretty turquoise charm in the shape of Africa, with a little gem of glass about where Rwanda is. It's to go on a charm bracelets my mother started when I was born. Everywhere I go, I get something for it.

The next leg of the journey was Nairobi to Freetown, which is about five or six hours. The plane went via Accra in Ghana, where we sat on the tarmac for an hour whilst the flight crew changed and passengers got off and on.

Accra is a massive city with great big squares of water where I think they grow something. It was kind of cool to stop off there, even if we didn't get off the plane, and nice to be travelling in daylight to see it all.

Eventually, we got back in the air for our final hour-and-a-half to Freetown. The flight took us over Benin, which is somewhere else I've always been interested in. It was exciting to be so close to these places I'd only read about.

The first thing I noticed about Sierra Leone is its thick, green, dense jungle. Trees everywhere, and a huge winding river through it all. Very beautiful. Then we came down to land and this river just opened up into a massive tropical estuary of golden-white sand, tiny bark carved canoes, numerous palm trees, islands, and little beach-side settlements. A very impressive descent.

At immigration, a woman approached. Hirut's dad had said this lady would take care of the visa, so I filled out a form, paid my $95, and my passport was stamped.

The main airport is situated on Lungi. To get from the airport to the mainland, you need to take a helicopter!

Sweating in the sudden tropical heat, all the worse for just having stepped off an over-air-conditioned flight, we battled our way to the exchange bureau to change $s into Leones. We bought our tickets, then walked to the air hanger next door and awaited our final flight.

The helicopter was quite an experience. A huge, I guess, military-style contraption with all our luggage piled up down the aisle, making it feel pretty cramped. Passengers buckled in on benches either side, facing each other. I was next to some Ghanaians on their way to Freetown for a wedding. We all looked a little nervous and wondered if we'd have to parachute out when we got there.

A lot of fun, though, and a beautiful way to meet Freetown. The photo above is from the window as you come in to land - so many heavenly beaches.

Hirut's dad, Herbert, was waiting at the pad with a big air-conditioned 4x4 to pick us up with our luggage. My initial fears of him being part of an elite Sierra Leonean mob, for managing to make my visa issue 'disappear', were set aside pretty quick. He's a retired economist for UNDP :op

The drive through Freetown was really interesting. It reminded me a lot of Kampala because there were street vendors and food sellers everywhere. A country coming out of a 10-year, devastating war; a non-functioning state, and still there's this whole enterprising sub-economy going on: bright coloured clothes, fruit and sweets stacks on huge platters on people's heads, children playing and laughing. So vibrant and alive. The key feature Rwanda is missing, really. For all Kigali's clean streets and immaculate public grass, its African soul is a little flat. Like you walked into the box office administrative department of a street carnival.

Having said that, the poverty was more visible, and the effects of war and neglect upon the buildings were clearly seen.

From Flickr

Taken by Hirut

Eventually, we turned off the main road (Wilkinson) and up a long winding hill to a very big house at the top :op

It was beautifully decorated with Christmas wreaths and ornaments, extremely tasteful. The house was in four tiers: Hirut's parents' quarters at the very top; a huge communal living room in the middle, with a balcony for eating breakfast on and from whence you had a distant sea view; the ground floor was the kitchen, TV room, office and dining room; then, as the house is on a slope, there was another ground level to the left of the garage, which opened into a large guest annex with kitchen area, large white leather sofas for sprawling on, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. We were completely self contained with our own fridge and TV, venturing up only for breakfast and dinner, which was prepared by Elizabeth, their cook. Extremely spoiled. The shower also had warm water when there was electricity, and the bed was a king-sized sprung mattress. Heaven.

Soon after arriving, we were served food: traditional Sierra Leonean dishes of new rice (red with the husk) and curry made from greens and fish. People eat lots of fish as SL is right on the coast. Greens are a type of leaf vegetable, like spinach, which is finely chopped. It was a mouth-wateringly spicy dish after so long eating the bland, flavourless melange of Rwanda, where everything is just boiled with a pinch of salt. Food in West Africa is hot, flavoursome and down-right wonderful :op~

Cutting greens SL style from SL Tourism Board DVD

[NB 2013: When I say the taxi 'beeped' me, I don't mean he sounded his horn outside my gate at that time in the morning. The practice of 'beeping' in Rwanda means calling someone and hanging up. They can see who called on the screen and know that it is time to act on whatever arrangement you have made - i.e. to say they have arrived at a venue or that they are waiting for you. It can also just mean 'I'm thinking of you'. It's a good way of saving credit as you are not charged for the call unless someone picks up the phone. However, sometimes people beep as a way of asking you to call them back because they've run out of credit. It's tricky to know what the meaning of a beep is, but you get there with practice. Also, for those who are curious, I think the helicopter was an Mi-8.]