I know I said I would write often,
but the past week has been a bit hectic. Sorry for the long delay. I am now
firmly settled in Voinjama in Lofa County, up near the border of Guinea. Below
is a map showing the location. And by firmly settled I just mean that I have
managed to unpack some clothes and get a quick feel for the place…that’s pretty
much my definition for settled these days.
Voinjama is a pretty big town in
terms of rural communities. There is more than one main road in the town center
and there are a couple of nightclubs and a few shops where you can buy some
foodstuffs…so by my standards, that’s pretty big. Wikipedia says the population
as of 2008 was a little more than 28,000. I guess I can believe that if you
take into account people living in some of the outlying areas.
I live in a house inside our
office compound. There are two other expat staff who have houses here too, a
doctor from Pakistan and a Public Health Administrator from Bhutan. The house
I’m in is for visitors and this past weekend a Canadian colleague, who was
actually born and partially raised in Poland, came to stay for a week. One of
the amazing things about my job is that I get to meet people from all over the
world. I often get to learn as much about their cultures as I do about the ones
I’m living in. One of the best times I've had in the field was having dinner in
Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo with 18 people from all over the
world including the USA, Canada, Belgium, France, Denmark, The Netherlands,
Lithuania, Serbia, DRC, Uganda, Tanzania, Guinea, Cote D’Ivoire, and Jamaica.
Aside from the nearby Pakistani UN
Battalion (PakBat) and the Jordanian UN Police Unit, there aren’t many other
foreigners in town. I’ve heard there are a couple of other NGOs with some
expats and I’ve heard there are two Peace Corps teachers, but so far I haven’t
seen anyone. Thank god
PakBat is here though. They open up their Officer’s Mess to the public, so, for
$3 a meal< I can have lunch and/or dinner. The food is amazing. I’ve really
only had Indian food before, and Pakistani food is similar but there are
definitely subtle differences. I’m not a huge dessert person, in the US I would
rarely order dessert at a restaurant, but it comes standard with the PakBat
dinner and they are so good. So far my favorites are this rice pudding-like
concoction that has milk, rice (I guess), sugar (or maybe honey) and some
spices, cardamom I think. There is also this concoction made of carrots that
basically tastes the same as the rice pudding but has a little bit different
consistency. I need to find out their names so I can Google the recipes. I bet
the carrot dish would be a great way to get kids to eat carrots. The dish isn’t
too sweet, but just enough to make it appealing. Not that I have kids, I guess
I’m just thinking of my little 2 year old niece who basically will only eat
rice. Actually, she would fit right in here. Rice is definitely a staple of
every meal whether eating at PakBat or a local restaurant...and by restaurant I
typically mean a stand on the side of the road with a woman, a bowl of rice and
some "soup" cooking over a charcoal stove...the soup could actually
be fried okra sauce or ground nut sauce or the dreaded water soup. I’ve eaten a
few local meals so far which were okay. The main problem for me is that they
are so spicy I can’t take it. I just don’t understand eating spicy hot food. If
it hurts to eat, why eat it?
On Sunday evening, my Canadian
colleague and I went into town to grab some Clubs, the local Liberian beer. The
two “bars” we went to weren’t open so we found ourselves sitting in a tiny
little alcohol shop with some locals. It was really fun and not something I
often get to do since I’m usually by myself and don’t often venture into local
establishments alone. Anyway,
hanging out with some good company, in a local place, having a couple beers at
the magic sunset hour was amazing. Every assignment I’ve had there has been at
least one moment where I have felt like “Yes, this is it. This is what life is
about. Right now I am exactly where I am supposed to be, doing exactly what I
am supposed to be doing, feeling perfectly contented.” That’s how I felt flying in the
helicopter last week and that’s how I felt again sitting in the local watering
hole.
Let’s see, what else can I tell
you now…there are some goats that live in our compound. One was given to our
doctor by the local community and she had some babies so now there are 4. They
are all black except for one guy who has some white spots and a white tuft of
hair on his head. Naturally I immediately thought of Stripe from
Gremlins (that's natural, right?)…so I have officially named them…Mogwai, Billy, Gizmo and Stripe. I
like having the goats around. They are cute to look at and do a good job of
eating all the mangoes that fall off our mango trees…and not just fall off but
slam against the tin roof of the buildings making a huge racket and startling
the bejeebus out of me every single time. The only bad thing about the goats is
having to dodge their goat pellets which seem to be littered over every single
walking surface. Yet another reason why one must always, always wear flip flops
inside the house. Who knows what your shoes really track in.
 |
| My goat friends - Stripe in the middle, surrounded by Mogwai on the right, Billy on the left and little Gizmo in the back |
There’s no running water in the
house right now. Apparently the water table drops so low in the dry season that
there is not enough water in the well for the water pump to work effectively.
The water table is starting to rise now that it’s the start of the rainy
season, but the running water probably won’t be back up until August. I don’t
mind not having running water. The only thing I wish was running was the
toilet, but it’s manageable by pouring a basin of water into the bowl to
“flush” it out. Taking a shower from a bucket is no big deal. In fact, I’ve
always kinda liked it. The only downside is that the water is freezing cold but
I’m too impatient to wait for water to heat up on the stove (I’d rather sleep
15 more minutes). So, I fill the cup with water from the bucket, hold my breath
and let it pour…any delay and you start to psyche yourself out. I can easily
take a shower and feel totally clean and refreshed with less than half a bucket
of water. I always feel guilty when I come home and have to wait for ages with
the water running while it heats up and then the nice water sort of lulls you
into taking a much longer shower than is really necessary. I think when I move
back home I will start collecting the running water while the temperature heats
up and using that water to make tea or wash dishes or water plants. Why let it
go to waste? If there is anything I have learned from the past few years, it is
that water is a precious commodity and we in the West take it for granted. When
you have to pump it out of a well, carry it one bucket at a time into the
house, boil and filter it to drink and boil it to make it warm, you appreciate
the fact that in the US all you have to do is turn a knob and you have all the
water you want, ready to drink and at whatever temperature you desire. That is
the luxury of all luxuries.
Well, lunch is over now so I
better return to work. Since I ended with water, I’ll leave you with a couple
of water related links:
Here’s an awesome website with 100
ways to conserve water:
The SteriPEN is a cool product
that uses UV light to kill waterborne microbes and sterilize drinking water…me
wants one!
www.steripen.com
www.steripen.com
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