So here I am

On a chair provided to me by a nice guy who is a salesman at a local street shop. So here I am, looking at the traffic and the people going by. I am in Magburaka waiting for my driver to turn on his cell phone so I can call him and tell him to come and pick me up so I can get back to Masanga. I have been to a meeting with the DHN (District Health Nurse), went for a stroll at the marked afterwards and spend a while on an internet café. It is actually quite nice sitting here observing, people are as usual friendly, forthcoming, and eager to speak with you. At the marked I ran into a man that recognized me. I meet him at the surgical ward at Masanga Hospital where his father was admitted with a huge wound on his foot. The father died shortly after I saw him, probably because he refused feed for a long time so literally he was no more than skin and bones.

I have rented a bike from the local bike shop, so now I get around a little faster than usual. It is not a very good bike but it works, it is red, and it even has two gears :) I have missed biking so it is nice to have one again.

Pure luxury

A couple of weeks ago some of us went on a trip to a big dam near the town Bombuna. The dam has been under construction for a long time because the war slowed down the process. But now it is finished and it produces power for Freetown. The capacity is 50 MWat but it only produces 18 MWat which is what Freetown uses, this is because many people still have generators and because the power still is somewhat unstable. I was actually there once before, which is the reason why I decided to spend my afternoon by the pool with a good book while the others went to take a look at the dam. We were invited to stay for the night so we got each a room with power, air-conditioning, and warm and cold water. You could even put the paper in the toilet and the flush actually worked! Everything was for free even food and drinks. While I was writing this I sat by the pool with the most spectacular view over beautiful green mountains all the way around and behind my char was a mango tree.

The other night we heard news about a magician coming to the village. The main trick was to revive a dead man! We simply had to see that. It took place at the community center in Masanga village and there was already a party with a DJ playing way too loud African music as we arrived. The party took as always place outside the room with the loud music, probably because of the entrance fee of 1000 Le, and out there the music was actually ok. The children were already skilled dancers; at an age down to 6-7 years or perhaps younger they tweaked and turned their lower bodies in a way that to me seemed much too sexual for their age. But I guess that is just the way they dance here… The trick finally started, after multiple encouragements from our side and just as many “last chance to enter, we start right right now!” it was a show of patience from our side. During 45 minutes two men sat next to a third man who was covered in a large rough blanket. The two men held a piece of the blanket in each hand tugging it continuously. Afterwards the magician crawled in under the blanket and five minutes later the blanket was removed and the man was “dead” with “blood” on his neck. It was though a little hard not to look at his belly that went nicely up and down as if he were breathing… After having threatened the women spectators to give more money if they should not wake up in the night bleeding, the “dead” man was carried out. THAT was my cue to leave as I nearly fell asleep!

Today I attended my first labor case. It was exciting and everything went fine, even though the umbilical cord was around the baby’s neck when it came out. Afterwards I was handed the baby to dry and wrap in a lappa (a piece of fabric). It was a fine little girl who immediately was named Zainab Konteh.

Tonight I finally got to the third kind of animal I have had in my room and which I really do not welcome. A mouse started nesting in my desk drawer where it ate my papers and the drawer itself! I already tried to bring a dog to my room during the night, but that didn´t help much as it only growled at the mouse but took no action… Then tonight the mouse did something very stupid; it went down the bag in my bin, luckily I was up because it made so much noise, so I quickly grabbed and closed the bag and then I squeezed! Perhaps a bit disgusting now that I come to think about it, but I was just so annoyed with the mouse and afraid that is would escape the bag if I did not do something quickly!

So long for now.

Se pictures in the Danish version of todays blog post.