Last weekend me and Moonie got invited to Charlotte Falls with Simon and Maro (2 other VSOs that live about 15 mins walk away from us)..S&M sorted us out with a vehicle from the National Electoral Commission (Simon’s employer)…and off we went..

Charlotte Falls is about 30 min drive from Freetown….on a very bumpy road. It’s so beautiful there, really secluded and serene, up in the hills. A couple of young guys from Charlotte Town offered to show us around, and we had a really nice day swimming and basking in the sun. Blissful! Unfortunately I managed to slice my left foot on a jagged rock, and yesterday I ended up at the doctors in town to get a tetanus jab…Great! Just when I thought I was done with jabs, after the 20 odd I had in London! Had a peek under the dressing the doc put on for me yesterday and it looked absolutely vile. YUK. Lol.

I’m sitting at work right now, enjoying the cool breeze of the office fan. It’s hot. And it’s only going to get hotter, although I’m told that it gets cooler til December, then we’ll all fry til March/April when Harmattan (dry season) will end and it starts to cool down again. Nice! It’s wet season at the moment, and boy is it wet. It seriously rains here. A lot! Umbrellas make good shields against the forces of nature and good walking sticks for the rocky roads.

I really don’t know what to write in this blog thing. The idea of writing my thoughts and then posting them on the WORLD WIDE WEB is a bit weird to me…. So any suggestions about what you’d like to hear about on here would be great!

So til I get some suggestions…. :o)

17th Oct 2006

So I’ve been here 4 weeks now – weird. Does it seem like that long since I saw you lot in London last?! It’s one of them cases of it not feelin like that long, but when I think about being in London, it feels like it was light years ago.

Moonie arrives tonight…am very excited about that. As is half of Freetown cos he’s carried goodies for them from London..!! Yey!

Things have started to get quite hectic at work…YAPAD (Youth Alliance for Peace and Development), the organisation that I’m working for, has just received quite a bit of funding from the Princess Diana Memorial Fund to carry out a three year Advocacy programme…which is what I’m working on (my title is Advocacy Advisor). I got told last week that I’ve got just under 3 weeks to plan a 5 day Advocacy Training Workshop. So yup that’s keeping me on my toes, to say the least! I’ve been spending a lot of time visiting YAPAD’s member organisations (there are 40 in the Alliance)…there are SO many youth organisations here, although “youth” is the UN definition which is 16 to 35…that’s over 75% of the Sierra Leonean population = LOTS OF PEOPLE. Some of the organisations are amazing, and seeing what they’ve achieved with young people since the war is truly inspirational.

My biggest frustration at the moment, is that a lot of the young people who were effected by the war (either being child combatants, or maimed, or had family members killed in the war), are now in skills training, so they’re learning tailoring, or batik, or some kind of construction or woodwork…which is great. Except, there’s no market for their end products. There are thousands, literally, thousands of hairdressers here with no work. URGH. Development issues. Development agencies – DIVERSIFY PLEASE!!!!

Anyways, I have a funny feelin that my generator is about to run out of fuel, so I better sign out here, and save this, so I can post it online tomorrow…

Till next time…..! Xx

Sun Oct 8th 2006 (ok, so I'm still behind, but more blogs to come, promise, promise!)

So here I am.

Sometimes I kinda forget where I am.

Yet when I get up in the morning, and can see palm trees, tin roofs, and the sea from my bedroom window, I am reassured, that yes, I am actually here in Sierra Leone!

I’ve only been here, lets see, 11 days…I’ve had a weeks worth of VSO training, including health and safety briefings, cultural briefings, and a crash course in Krio…which is the most widely used language here, similar to Patois. I’ve also been introduced to the world of INGO/NGO workers….which is simply HUGE. Bloody ex-pats. lol

I started work yesterday. Our walls are that vibrant sky blue colour. Glossy. We have 3 desktops, and 1 laptop. We have a generator, but no internet.
Actually, change is due.
As I type, I can hear the banging of hammers….shouting of work men.. We are being renovated! Yey!

Very soon we will have a brand, spanking new office.

There’s 6 of us in the office. Four Sierra Leonean, and 2 VSO volunteers….that’s me, and Marie-Anne, from VSO Philippines. It’s a happy office, a busy office, and I think I’m going to enjoy my time here.
We’re just about to kick start 3 advocacy programmes, and since I was hired as an Advocacy Advisor, I think I may be quite busy..


Home. Home is a mansion. I live in a 5 bedroom house with just 2 other guys. Which means we always have 2 spare rooms, do feel free to drop round if you’re in the hood! (BTW, we also have very nice beaches) So apart from me, there’s Dave, who was recruited at the same time as me in London, and Dennis, from VSO Kenya. At the moment, my biggest concern is not being able to cook…and my biggest craving is noodle soup. Hmmm dilemma. Don’t suppose anyone wants to DHL me a bowl, no?

Speaking of which, the post isn’t very reliable; well maybe it is but it’s snail pace. But if you do feel to send me something, send it to the VSO office:

VSO Sierra Leone,
3A Milicent Drive,
Off Wilkinson Road,
Freetown,
Sierra Leone
PO BOX 10

So back to food. I can’t cook because we’re having issues with our gas thing leaking. I don’t really know the ins and outs of it, but I know gas leakage ain’t good. And the second barrier between me and my noodles is the lack of light. Apparently our generator, which was bought by Ajay (ex-VSO/YAPAD volunteer, who left last Mon), decided to die about a week before I arrived. Great! So romantic settings complete with candles, it is. Oh and one more thing on food. We have no chicken. No chicken cos SL was importing it all from the US, and stopped on account of bird flu.

Anyhows, that’s about it for now. Do drop me an email, it’s always nice to hear from home/wherever it is you are right now. It’s always nice to hear from friends….that’s what I meant to say.

Be safe,

With love,

Krystle
Sept 21st 2006 (PS. I wrote this a while back, just haven't had a chance to post it up here yet...sorry...will be on here more..)