Le Weekend...

N. & J. preparing our Salone meal

While the weekdays are defined by routine, weekends in Kailahun also have their rhythm and that rhythm is SLOW. Saturday is actually a quasi-work day in Sierra Leone so we tend to putter around in the morning and then go to work for about 11am where we stay until 2pm. Lately, we have instituted what I hope becomes a regular part of the routine. Our Sierra Leonean colleague N., taking pity on the pumuis and comes to the house to teach us how to cook proper salone food. What I had hoped might actually be a lesson, usually ends up being more “watch N. cook and stay out of her way”, but once in a while we learn a thing or two and we always get to eat the tasty results. The first week was jollof rice with fish stew, then came pumpkin and groundnut stew (we found pumpkin!) and most recently it was homemade ginger beer with the most ubiquitous and beloved of Sierra Leone dishes, jollah bei  (potato leaf and palm oil stew with rice).

Jollah Bei

N. sticks around and does her best to answer all of our thousands of questions about Sierra Leone, Kailahun and her life, and then it is more puttering until the power comes on at seven and we pray that there is a not-too-terrible movie on the telly.     

Sundays are even slower affairs and generally last for about 2½ weeks.  The excitement usually peaks first thing in the morning when I get to do the laundry. I know you think I am being sarcastic but I’m really not. Doing our laundry gives me a genuine activity for about an hour, it contributes to the two of us smelling less bad (I did not say good) and, it gives me a sense of satisfaction to see the clean(ish) clothes hanging on the line. The time I spend doing the laundry is when I am most reminded of where I am and how simple my life has become. I sit on the back step next to the banana tree with my laundry bowl on the ground, cold water and my locally made detergent. My hair in a bandana, I work on the clothes and commune with the ladies of the town while chickens run around my feet. I know it sounds crazy but I promise it really is pretty special.

With laundry done, so is the fun. 10am feels like it should be 8pm and Matt and I become seriously bored. Since we have few books to read, no electricity and no friends to visit, we count time while the children and/or chickens serve as the closest thing to entertainment. It has been a true exercise in “blankness” mixed with the odd moment or two of contemplation. Just think about it. Try to spend an entire day at home with no books, no television, no phone and few people. Do nothing, I mean, really nothing, for even three hours? Most of you are probably thinking "I WISH!!!"  but I promise it really isn't so easy. I dare not try to think about what this says about life in Canada or about my life in Sierra Leone it just is what it is and while I look forward to Sundays in Kailahun, they always leave me feeling ever so slightly desperate.

 C’est tout.