I have been gone for weeks, trying to get my soul back in place. You see, when I left Sweden for my African adventure I was told not to worry about the shock of coming to Sierra Leone, but to be aware of the shock of coming back. I was told that I would arrive to Sweden in body, but my soul would only catch up some weeks later. And I think they were right.
One goes away for a couple of months and doesn't realize how much one changes...how much one grows...how much one learns... From everything I lived, the people I met, the things I saw, heard, smelled, touched and breathed in... I never realized I was coming back another person. One expects to come home and everything will be the same. But it isnt. And it never will be. And its so wonderful.
Its scary and new, to see the world differently...But Im so glad for it, and I hope it happens to me (and hopefully to you too) several times in this lifetime...
I´ve already cooked their groundnut paste sauce with lots of "peppah", feel like all food is missing some hot Salonian pepper hahaha... And I walk around in my lappás all the time (2 yards of cloth with beautiful prints which the women use for everything, including wrap-up skirts and dresses) causing curious looks and west africans living here to smile broad and make me feel like Im back there again...
But this surge of nostalgia came over me because I am writing my thesis which is based on the research I did around Tiwai Island... Looking back I only miss it, there is nothing I regret, and everything to thank for!
Thank you Salone and all the wonderful people I met there.
Tommy. I arrived in Freetown scared and intimidated, curious and surprised, and well...scared. Tommy Garnett picked me up at the heliport and took me to the supermarket. He said something along the lines of "Welcome to Sierra Leone, now Im going to treat you like my own daughter, so just pick whatever you'd like". And he really meant it. I got some shampoo and soap, and some yhogurt, and along with the canned tuna and the guava juice, I got confidence, comfort and a sense of safety. Tommy showed me then, and for the rest of my trip, nothing but kindness.
Millicent. I lost my bags. As you all know, I lost my bags at my arrival. I was glad I was safe, but still a bit upset that all my things where lost I dont know where. With all the patience in the world, Millicent, de admin person at EFA, helped me call around to find out about my bag, offered to help me have some clothes made, took me around town and made me feel welcome. She's taking me this week to have some traditional Sierra Leonean clothes made and constantly checks on me to see how I am doing...Milli has showed nothing but kindness.
Nancy. In Liberia I got sick. I got sick enough to I scare myself a bit and everyone around me. It resulted in nothing, no malaria, no weird parasite in my stomach, nothing. But before I knew this, I was worried and scared, specially when others started worrying. Nancy Bakoyah came to check on me every 15min on that friday, even though she knew I would be sleeping. She brought me very black tea and rice, and called me at night when she was home just to check on me. She then spent the monday after taking me to the pharmacy and to the doctor. Waited patiently around until it was my time and spent the whole day with me in the clinic. In a moment of vulnerability I had a woman to hold me, cheer me up, share smiles with, and keep me company. Nancy is tough and strong, and sweet, and she showed me nothing but kindness.
Magona. As I wrote not long ago, I arrived in Potoru, south-east Sierra Leone, freaked out. Scared of everything and insecure. I did not know how my interviews where going to go, I was worried about the cultural differences, about the flora and fauna, about...well as I said before, about everything. The Magona family gave me a room, a nice bed, great conversations, pinneapples and mangoes, light when I needed it, warmth when I needed it. Musu even accompanied me to the bathing room outside when it was dark, raining, and I didnt dare to go on my own. They shared their home, their food, their music, their hearts, with me. Momoh Magona, Daneh, Musu, Shiaka and Abu, showed me nothing but kindness.
Scott, Jan and Jestina These three people arrived and filled the guesthouse with such a positive energy I could not help but smile around them. Jestina helped me cook when I was in a hurry because they were leaving and danced with me to Glora Estefan's "Mi Tierra" as I cut the ravioli. Jan gave me some wise advice I will not forget, good chats, and the warmest hug when I needed it. And Scott... Well, Scott inspired me to blog about Kindness. My computer charger exploded 10minutes before they were each returning to their respective homes, and Scott took pity on me and left me his computer charger (probably one of the fiew Mac users in Sierra Leone at the moment). He had a deadline the next day, he had almost no battery on his computer left. He barely knew me really...but still he decided to show me profound kindness. For that I will thank him eternally.
So today I celebrate kindness. I remind myself every day that an honest smile, a simple call, an truly interested "how are you?", can make someone's day. These people have made several of my days during this trip... They are not the only ones, but I thought a small sample of the kindness I've met during this trip, and during my life, might inspire others to do the same...
So what has been your good deed for the day? Because as my mother always says, "All you need is love".
Love and peace, and nothing more and nothing less, than kindness, to you all.
Have a wonderful week! (And wish me luck in my frantic writing of this paper...)
Giovi
PS: Will try to post pictures but it is a bit difficult at the moment.
I am officially back to blogging. After... how long?
So yes, from Liberia we drove west towards the Sierra Leone border, and after 3 or 4hrs reached the little town of Potoru. This is where the closest EFA office is to Tiwai Island, and where Momoh Magona, the project manager for Tiwai Island, lives with his beautiful wife Daneh, his sweet daughter Musu (14), the charming little sons Shiaka(8) and Abu(5) and the caretaker Alusine live. I confess I was terrified before and at arrival. No electricity. No one I knew very well anywhere close. A town I knew had been invaded by rebels in the times of war. Fear of getting sick again. Fear of bugs. Fear of the jungle... fear fear fear... If anything, this trip has showed me how terrified I am of so much... And how I should try to take things a bit more easy... because after a couple of days in Potoru, I would have paid to stay a week or two longer...
Its funny how one loses track of time when in the wild, when one does not have internet, when one does not have electricity, when its hard to charge the phone, or the ipod, or whatever gadget one "needs" in the day-to-day life...
...Its even funnier to realize after a couple of days how you dont need, dont want and dont care about all these things... I wanted quiet, and whenever people turned on their noisy radios I just went somewhere else...I enjoyed the sound of the rain on the trees and ceiling (rainy season is starting and, as we say here, it rains cats, dogs and pigmy hippos). I enjoyed being awakened by the rooster and birds at dawn, and sitting quiet on the varanda reading a book or listening to Magona telling stories about life in the country... I woke up on a sunday with the singing and clapping of the catholic service given in the school infront of our house, for sure some of the happiest cristians I ever heard... I spent my freetime (we couldnt do interviews after dark) sitting on the porch, reading or talking to people, the neighbouring children who came over to say hi, so curious about this "pumuy" (white person), teaching me Krio or Mende, bringing music to dance, and smiles to accompany it all... It was lovely. Being in Potoru brought me peace. I am really happy I stayed there half of the time. I am not done blogging about this little town, but I must thank Magona and his family, from the bottom of my heart, for their kindness, their open hearts, their tolerance and their protection. Thousands of kilometres from my family, without anything familiar close, with little contact with the outside world...they managed to make me a part of their family. For that I will be eternally grateful. I will be back. I will go home and cook what Daneh taught me of her tasty & soulful dishes. I will be thinking of those children and hoping that Musu turns into the nurse she wants to become and that Shiaka and Abu grow to be good men, like their father. I will always have them with me. I felt at home.
I have a lot in mind now, being that I have gathered massive ammounts of data in my interviews with the communities around Tiwai Island, so my blogging will be delayed and shorter than before (I still have to tell more about leaving Liberia, coming to Potoru, doing the interviews, living there & the people, then living on Tiwai Island with the german researchers and the monkeys, and of the adventurous way back to Freetown...) For now Im transcribing all the interviews to my laptop (A LOT OF PAGES!) so I dont have so much time to blog...and actually, I also realize that now I dont have so much internet time left, so I will leave you for now with pictures and blog later...
EFA staff Liberia!
Two beautiful "Bahianas" (women in Bahia, in the northeast of Brazil, dress like this...)
The adventurous travel methods of West Africa... Can you count how many people are on the car? Is there maybe some chickens and a goat there too? hehehe
AND THEN I CROSSED TO SIERRA LEONE.....The people...the forest...the silence...the darkness...the beauty of it all.
The beautiful children in Moala (the same river crossing where I met Thiange), going to Potoru. I then learned my first words in Mende: "Bania lui a pumuy. Njalaá Giovi" = "Dont call me white person. My name is Giovi"
...Im waiting for the rest of the pictures, of Potoru and the Magonas, to download, but I think I wont have time with the internet... If it doesnt work I´ll try later...
I wish you all a beautiful sunday, and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!! (Im lost in time so my poor mom had to remind me)
Dear friends and family (and any other readers that might pop up, greetings to you too),
I am now ready for my field work. I will be crossing the border to Sierra Leone tomorrow morning and arriving at Potoru, which is 16km from Tiwai Island. There I will stay at the EFA guesthouse, where Momoh Magona and his wife Daneh live and travel around to the communities during the day to gather my material. Hopefully after 10 days I should be ready to go back to Freetown and for the analysis.
I regret to say Im without internet in Potoru, so I will take a real break from blogging and hopefully come back full of stories and experiences to write and tell about...
My number in Sierra Leone again is +232 76 426935
Momoh Magona's number is +232 76 922792
...Just in case someone needs to find me hehehe...
So Im going to the bush. I dont know if I will stay many days in Tiwai but I really hope I stay at least a couple. It is easier to travel to the communities I must reach from Potoru than Tiwai, so I will keep it for my "freetime", the scaring of the bugs... I´ll experiment to see if they are more scared of me than me of them, I mean, I AM considerably bigger, right?
I bid goodbye to Monrovia, and Libeira. To its beautiful beaches and its tropical nature. To the palms, popó trees (papaya), mango, casava, plantanes and to the giant snails they sell in the market (never got a picture because I didnt feel safe taking my camera out in the moment). I say fairwell to the Liberian people, with their beautiful complections, curious eyes, quick smiles and hasty english, where "field" was "fee" and "white woman" was always "why woma"... I bid fairwell to Harry, Nancy, Ampem, Koli, Isaac, and all the EFA staff.. and to Ivo, the cool UN driver...and to Survivor the loving puppy, that one will really break my heart saying bye to. I thank God for the chance to come here, and visit the sites where EFA works, seeing the wells built and the trees planted, and the smile in the children's faces when one arrives, and for their singing... I thank most of all for their singing... Liberia will forever be in my heart, as one of the most difficult places I ever went to, but also as one of the most enriching experiences I ever went through...
I am sorry I did not find enough time to blog today but its been a rough day with everything one must prepare before a trip. I wish you all a beautiful weekend and a lovely week. And remember we are always more blessed than our sight allows us to see...I have definitly learned that here.
Ive had some complaints about my lack of blogging, and honestly I´ve been sick... sick to my stomach, homesick, missing friends and family, and just taken aback by the overwhelming emotions that accompany a trip like this...
...but enough of that. I was not going to blog tonight, but my sis and mom insisted, and well, lets just say I got inspired by a battallion that walked in.
I spent the day in the UNMIL office, collecting my thoughts and trying to channel my energies into my work. Ive realized that Im done with most of the work I can do up to now, and am now preparing myself for the collecting of data, which got delayed by my stomach acting up.
So as I write this, there are over 30 Irish military men and women in the room, six of them playing 2 guitars, an accordion, byron (an irish drum), a flute and tin whistle, and two played the BAG PIPES!!!!!!! All of a sudden I am transported to the land of the beautiful rolling "R"s, and to the happy sounds of music that reminds me of the immigrants music on the "Titanic", remember? The happy people dancing on the lower level of the boat? Smoking, drinking bear, playing cards, loving, dancing and laughing? This is what they sound and look like here... They jump from celtic songs to traditional folk music, and just fill the air with murmurs of a giddy, glad feeling... Everyone accompanies, those who can sing, do, those who dont know the lyrics bob their heads along the guitarr.... very memorable.
On the bottom corner of the last picture I happened to catch Jim, a very nice canadian (of course he's nice!), who is celebrating today his 36th anniversary, and it is the first time he is away from his wife. He has emailed once and called her twice, looks happily married. I write about him because it touched my heart to hear him speak of his long time life partner, and I wish that for myself and all who either have or want to find their other half to walk through life with... I also send a shout out to "pretty soldiers" Mr. Denis and Michael, who were so kind to explain and tell about the songs and Irish activities in Liberia. And thanks to the musicians, they truly made the night more interesting, thats for sure.
The next block of this post is dedicated to Nancy Gbakoba. She works at EFA, gracing the office into smiles with her strong presence, gorgeous outfits, funky hair-dos and sweet smiles. She has a great heart and has taken care of me ever since I arrived. Thanks Nancy for checking on me and trying to get me to eat and drink darkdark black tea when I was in bed, and then for taking me to the clinic yesterday, explaining things, sharing your experiences as a woman living in Monrovia and for keeping me company... I dont think she knows how much her presence has meant to me. I will be eternally greatful to her.
Im done for the day... I promiss to blog again when I have a better idea, a whiff of inspiration or more news.... I am leaving on friday to Sierra Leone and then will not have internet for maybe a week and a half. But I´ll blog before that.
So yeah, I am now on hold from any more travelling, for the legends of stomach problems that I thought I´d never get, finally caught up to me. So after several days of bed-time trying to rest the fever and weakness off, Ive come to check my mail and post something short so you all know Im alive and well (and drinking more water per day than any normal human being Ive ever seen).
Oi gente! Fiz uma pausa em matéria de viagem, pois a lenda dos problemas estomacais que este lado do mundo pode trazer finalmente me pegou... Estou de cama há alguns dias tentando descansar pra esperar a febre e as dores passarem, mas hoje melhorei e vim checar meu email e escrever alguma coisa pra vocês saberem que estou viva e bem (e bebendo mais água por dia do que qualquer pessoa normal consegue)
The first one is from a sweet forward I got... the smiling goat. I thought it was sweet, and every time I see it makes me smile, so I figure maybe it will make some of you smile too.
Esta primeira foto é de um email que alguem mandou... alguem já viu uma cabra sorrindo? Achei o máximo, e cada vez que vejo essa foto abro aquele sorriso...entao achei que talvez faria vocês sorrirem tambem.
The second is Survivor. He lives in the EFA compound and is the most loving and love-craving puppy Ive ever seen. Have you ever seen a dog welcome you with a hug? If you hold him in your arms he will spread like a baby and just thankfully lick your hand... sweet. We are trying to take care of him, feed him milk and have him grow to be a strong dog. (his brothers all died, which is why he's called Survivor).
Esta outra foto é de Survivor (significa "aquele que sobreviveu"). Ele mora na casa onde eu estou e é o cachorrinho mais doce e precisando de carinho que eu já vi. Onde ja se viu um cachorrinho dar as boas vindas com um abraço? Se você pegar ele no colo ele se derrete todo e abre as patas que nem um neném, e lambe a sua mao em agradecimento... Ele sobreviveu aos irmaos dele, entao estamos tentando alimenta-lo com leite (aqui estavam dando carne e arroz pra um cachorro de poucas semanas!), pra ele crescer e ser um belo cão...
Here you have two pictures of Tiwai... The first one is of where I will be living , the research center. There are two german biologists there studying the communication behaviour of primates on the island, so I will have some european company... Aqui vão duas fotos de Tiwai... A primeira é da casa onde vou morar lá, no centro de pesquisa. Lá tem duas biologas alemãs estudando a comunicação e comportamento dos macacos da ilha...então vou ter companhia europeia...
I will not be travelling to Tiwai tomorrow, for Im not well enough for that yet. News will come to you as soon as I know when and how I´ll be going.
Nao vou pra Tiwai amanha pois nao estou bem o suficiente pra isso ainda. Vou mandar noticias quando souber quando e como vou...
This last picture is of Thiangue, a pretty little girl I found on the way and that I never took the time to blog about because I felt she deserved one day all for herself. But I think this will do to get the message across. We were waiting in the car for the primitive ferry-boat to cross to pick us up, when I saw Thiange taking care of her little sister, of one or two years, and called her to come hang out with me. She of course didnt understand a word of what I said, nor did I understand the little she spoke, but she enjoyed seeing her own image in my camera and just staring at me, watching me watch and smile back at her... The ferry arrived to pick us up and she ran after, following us, and later while crossing I saw her by the banks of the river waving bye. I found the girl just enchanting, and imagined what would become of her in 10 or 15 years... I will hopefully and probably still be alive, growing, learning, travelling, seeing the world, working, maybe even learning another language... And Thiange?
E esta ultima é Thiange, uma menina linda que encontrei no caminho e cuja foto nunca tive tempo de postar ou escrever a respeito como ela merecia. Mas acho que com isto vai dar pra entender a mensagem. Estávamos no carro esperando a balsa pra cruzar um rio, uma espécie de ferry-boat primitivo, quando vi Thiange cuidando da irmãzinha dela, de um ou dois aninhos, e a chamei pra vir conversar comigo. É claro que ela não entendia nada do que eu falava nem eu a ela, mas ela gostou de ver sua imagem na minha máquina fotográfica e simplesmente me observar e olhar como eu a observava e sorria... O ferry boat chegou e eu falei chau. Ela saiu correndo pra seguir a gente e depois quando estavamos cruzando ficou lá na beira do rio dando-nos "chau, chau". Achei a menina um charme e imaginei o que será dela daqui a 10 ou 15 anos... Eu vou estar, se Deus quiser e provavelmente, viva, crescendo, aprendendo, viajando, vendo o mundo, trabalhando, talvez aprendendo outro idioma... E ela?
I AM SCARED OF SPIDERS. I dont like them, they freak me out, and they unnerve me with their quick walks across the ceilings of the house. This one, if you look at the palm of my hand and not count the fingers, is as big as the palm of my hand...and if you see clearly, its eating the mother of cockroaches (just a tad smaller than my thumb).
Tommy Garnett has been trying to train me to not be terribly scared of spiders, or cockroaches, or whatever strange insect there is in these corners of the tropical world... He tells me that they are more scared of us and I am of them. And Im trying to take it in and realize that these creatures have been here for longer than we have, and that they probably will be here long after we are gone... They have as much right to be on this earth than I do. So Im trying to reach a point of respect towards spiders and cockroaches. But its not easy.
Yesterday I saw a pineapple that was for sure 2 or 3 sizes as big as "normal" pineapples, to the point when I had to ask what on earth it was, till I found out it was a pineapple. That happens to fruit here. And Trees. And well, guess what?.
IT HAPPENS TO BUGS.
So yes. I leave this weekend for Tiwai Island, to live there 2 weeks and carry out the interviews for my study, with the surrounding communities. Its exciting, and it feels good to finnally get the material I´ve been working so hard to get, to then analyse it. It feels great. But Im scared.
I will be on my own this time. I will meet and be accompanied by the manager of the Tiwai programme, who will also be my translator (the people around Tiwai speak Mende). And I´ll be living in the research center on Tiwai with two German researchers called Claudia and Dunja, that have been on Tiwai since January studying primates... If they survived, so will I. Right?
Jungle jitters from an urbanized internet-yunkie. Greetings to all the people I miss, you know who you are. I really really miss you today.
I have been away for a while...My chances of sitting by the internet long enough to write anything here have been fiew. I have been concentrating on the applications for next semester and in preparing project. Markus was sweet enough to leave my application in today (thank you boo), so I can now give my undivided attention to my work here. These past 2 weeks have been good to help me get used to the new setting, understand the dynamics of the culture and learn about the necessary cares that one must take here (for example, bucket showers, using Dettol in a bucket of water to desinfect the water before bathing, then smelling like a clinic for a while, but with your skin extra soft! hahaha). But now its time to get my hands into the mud and do some serious work, which feels good. (After my accidental Malarone overdose, which made me depressed and loose total interest on being here, im happy to feel interested in my work again! Lesson learned. Remember when you took your pills during the day. Do not overdose on malaria pills).
Sitting last week at the internet restaurant/lounge of the Royal Hotel, I observed that slowly the enormous room started getting filled with oficial looking people, with patches with the UN flag and several other nationalities on their arms... There I am, sitting on one of the couches, trying to do some work, and getting incredibly distracted by the 50 or so officials sitting a meter away from me... It turns out that they were the representatives for the police forces of the world (something like 40 nationalities) that are in Liberia to work for the UN. The Jordan official was leaving, so they were having a goodbye lunch. The Macedonian representative was very friendly and talkative, she asked me to take a picture of them with their camera and told me about the project they have to educate and empower the women who did not get education during the war... She was loud and very charismatic, the first Macedonian official to enter the UN Mission in Liberia. Here are the pictures I took, Argentina was also there, Sweden, Norway... very interesting.
That same day was Tommy's birthday, so after the day working i moved next door to The Living Room. Guess what it is? A FANTASTIC sushi restaurant! Very nicely decorated, lounge style, and with sushi worthy of comparison to the best Ive ever had (I eat a lot of sushi). I was surprised! I mean if anything, sushi was not something I expected to find here... But this is Monrovia, and I guess the most unexpected things can appear in unexpected places...
Since I am a communications student, I could not help but notice all the informative posters, posted all around the city, containing info about getting help if one has been raped, how to avoid "runny stomachs" (diarrhea), about AIDS and testing yourself, condom usage, violence and mob attacks... Different organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders and different NGOs are behind the posters...They came as a chock really, but I imagine that in a place in post-conflict state, where the media is limited (TV only runs some hours, since there is no electricity without generators) a good way of reaching the masses is through enormous and very depictive artwork...
Here is another message that I liked, found in Peter's t-shirt. He is one of the ground officers working with the school projects for EFA... Here you see him with Harry and a school teacher, holding up one of the seedlings planted in a school tree nursery... I need to write this in portuguese later, for my grandfather, because the plants in the bottom picture are Cacau trees!
(Miss Beatriz, a very sweet lady with her very sweet pupils... right next door from the children who sang for me...)
My one day of rest, Thinkers beach with Nancy, Kaiza, Tommy and Ampem (EFA staff)... We had some music (Mr.Garnett with his modern ipod and speakers has an incredible portable soundsystem) and Nancy and Kaiza even did some dancing!
Olá a todos... Novamente hoje não tenho muito tempo para o blog. A Libéria é um país fascinante, onde eu encontrei pessoas fantásticas, passei por cenas bizarras e só curti tudo... Não estou com ânimo para escrever agora. Estar aqui realmente me pegou em cheio hoje. O pós-guerra, condições de vida terríveis, sem água limpa, sem eletricidade, higiene muito ruim, sem empregos, salários de miséria, para dizer o mínimo... e ainda assim eu vejo pessoas sorrindo, sendo amáveis, recolhendo os pedacinhos e seguindo na vida. Eu estive em várias escolas nas áreas de refugiados hoje de manhã, com o pessoal da EFA (Fundação Ambiental para a África), para ver os lugares e os diferentes grupos que eles tentam alcançar. No momento eles tem um programa educacional para crianças, para aumentar a consciência ambiental delas, conseguir que elas plantem árvores, reciclem, ensiná-las sobre fornos ecológicos, através do teatro envolver as comunidades, melhorar as condições sanitárias e dar-lhes ferramentas para a auto-suficiência (se as crianças tiverem uma plantação de frutas e mandioca no quintal da casa, eles podem ter uma refeição na escola). É isto, eu visitei três escolas diferentes, com crianças de diferentes idades. E na última... bom... Eu não acho que faço justiça a eles se eu descrever a sensação de entrar numa sala de aula e ter 30 crianças pulando das cadeiras e cantando seja bem-vinda. Eles não sabiam que eu estava chegando e realmente tocaram meu coração (Vejam o vídeo)
Seja bem-vinda... como está você? Você é muito muito bem-vinda, você é bem-vinda aqui!"
Vou tratar de escrever mais nos próximos dias. Aqui vão as fotos que eu tinha prometido.
(Mãe, você pode por favor traduzir isto pro vovô e vovó?)
Paz, amor, e todas as coisas que eu não posso expressar em palavras,
Giovi
PS: Hoje a única música na que eu podia pensar era esta de Violeta Parra... Vou traduzir para o inglês, apesar de que a emoção da letra só pode ser mesmo sentida em seu idioma original. Para meus amigos que falam espanhol e para os chilenos lendo isto, vocês sabem exatamente o que eu quero dizer.
"Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto. Me ha dado la risa, y me ha dado el llanto. Así yo distingo dicha de quebranto, Los dos materiales que forman mi canto, Y el canto de ustedes que es el mismo canto.
Y el canto de todos que es mi propio canto. Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi everyone... Again today I dont have much time to blog. Liberia is a fascinating coutry, where I´ve met fantastic people, been through bizarre scenes and just enjoyed it thoroughly... Im not in the mood for writing right now. Being here really got to me today. Post-war situation, terrible living conditions, no clean water, no electricity, really bad higiene, no jobs, making wages that seem abusive, to say the least... and still I see people smiling...being kind...trying to pick up the pieces and live on...
I went to several schools around the refugee areas this morning, together with EFA, to see the sites and different target groups that EFA tries to reach out to. At the moment they have an educational programme for children to increase their awareness, try to get them to plant trees, recycle, teach them about eco-stoves, through teatre try to involve the communities, improve the sanitary conditions and give them tools to self-sufficiency (if the kids have a plantation of fruit and casava in their back yard, they can have a meal at school)... So yes, I visited three different schools with children of different ages. And the last one...well... I dont think I would do it justice if I described the feeling of walking into a room and having around 30 children jump up from their seats and burst into singing to welcome you. They did not know I was comming and it really touched my heart...
"Welcome... how do you do? You are very very welcome, you are welcome here!"
I will try to blog some more the next coming days... Here you have the pictures I had promissed.
(Mae, você pode porfavor traduzir isto pro vovô e vovó?)
Peace, love, and all the things I cannot express with words,
Giovi
PS: Today, the only song I could think of was this beautiful one by Violeta Parra...I will translate it to english although the emotion of it really can only be felt in its original language. To my spanish speaking friends and chileans reading this, you know exactly what Im talking about...
"Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto. Me ha dado la risa, y me ha dado el llanto. Así yo distingo dicha de quebranto, Los dos materiales que forman mi canto, Y el canto de ustedes que es el mismo canto.
Y el canto de todos que es mi propio canto. Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto."
"Thank you to life, for it has given me so much. It has given me laughter, and it has given me crying. Then I can distinguish happiness from disgrace, The two materials that form my singing, And your song, that is the same singing.
And the song from everyone that is my own song. Thank you to life, for it has given me so much."
Hello dear friends! I have been gone from the blog and will probably be a bit gone this week, because at some point a girl has to to study right?
I will reserve my comments on Liberia for a moment when I have more time, but I will for now put up some pictures for your entertainment. (although Ive been trying for a while and the internet connection doesnt want to upload pictures, I will do it tomorrow instead)
I have these past days sat at Mamba Point Hotel's lounge and tried to write the questions for my study, as well as today written a good part of my masters application (its crazy to have to do this here but it must be in the 15th of April!). While doing this, I managed to meet a series of interesting people from all kinds of organizations, such as UN, World Bank, Government advisors, Doctors Without Frontiers, SIDA, etc... Actually, not in that lounge, but nevertheless interesting: I had dinner today with a very nice Swedish lady who works for SIDA and did her Minor Field Study (that I am here doing) in Tanzania some decades ago, pretty cool uh!
So far Liberia is being a great place to rest from all the insanity of the past months (I went from sleeping in the jungle to staying at a nice hotel with wifi), meet interesting people and get my writing act together.
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Oi gente! Desapareci um pouco e provavelmente vou sumir durante a semana, por que tenho um trabalho pra fazer e nao dá pra ficar escrevendo blog o tempo todo né?
Vou escrever depois sobre a Liberia em detalhe, quando tiver tempo. Por agora vou botar umas fotos pra manter vocês interessados hehehe... (mas agora estou tentando ha um tempo e a internet está lenta demais para subir fotos...vou completar este blog com as fotos amanha)
Estes ultimos 3 dias tenho ficado no Mamba Point Hotel, tentando escrever meu trabalho e o documento para aplicar pro master (tenho que entregar antes do dia 15 de Abril!). Enquanto sentada no sofá do salão de internet do hotel, tive a oportunidade de conhecer um monte de gente interessante, que trabalha em diferentes organizações, como Medicos Sem Fronteiras, Nações Unidas, Banco Mundial, do governo Sueco e da Liberia, etc. Conheci tambem uma funcionaria da SIDA, organização que financiou minha bolsa. Uma senhora muito simpatica que tambem fez esta aventura de MFS ha um par de décadas, viajando pra Tanzania...muito legal!
Até agora a Liberia tem sido um bom lugar pra descansar da maluquice que tem sido minha vida os ultimos meses (passei de dormir na selva pra dormir num belo hotel con internet sem fio), conhecer gente interessante, e começar a trabalhar seriamente nas coisas que devo escrever.
Dear friends, I have officially entered the world of crazy. As in these past days have been crazily fantastic!
One minute im in the guesthouse, and hoping onto a pick-up with the EFA staff, travelling towards east-Sierra Leone...The road was bumpy and quite bad at some places, but the government is slowly taking care of that, and at some point we found ourselves driving on a new smooth road, worthy of the Swedish highways people admire so much... The other minute I get the honour of experiencing another world...by the side of the road one sees glimpses of how life is in the countryside of Sierra Leone... I keep thinking everything here is so different, but with some minor details, I observe the same as anywhere else.
Life. Children running around, playing, smiling and waving, an old woman getting water from the well, a girl sitting on a chair and another fixing her hair, men carrying wood to make a fire or sell, chickens, goats, huts, mud, earth, plants, bamboo, palm trees, forest, mango trees EVERYWHERE (its mango season!)... I did not sleep one minute. Tommy said I had to see it all. And Im glad I did.
We stopped for a while are Bureh beach, where T is building a beautiful house by this amazing beach...
Later on, some 4-5hrs later we start stopping in a dark city called Bo.. people everywhere, children asking for money, no electricity, candles everywhere, music and life in the street... Soon enough we stopped at Lois' home (Tommy's sister). I got to borrow the bathroom (I tell you peeing in the dark , it's a true adventure! hahaha). We were fed Lois' wonderful Sierra Leonean rice (when cooked its white with purple lines, and tastes healthier than white rice) and really yummie hot sauce with chicken (It's my personal mission to get used to hot pepper here hehehe!). Then I got emotional for being taken into this family with such warmth, in my first easter away from my own family, they smiled, teased me for being scared of cockroaches and Lois gave me one of warmest and most comforting hugs I've ever gotten. Boiima, her daughter, has for sure one of the prettiest smiles in Salone, and we´ve promissed eachother to go out dancing when I get back (everyone seems surprised that i love and like dancing so much ahahha, but you guys know me, I cant resist the rythm ) (oh and by the way, Salonean music is GREAT to dance, I will bring some back with me for the next party!)
After the short but sweet visit, we left for Tiwai...and if not Lois' hug, I dont know what could have prepared me for what was coming next... When you tell me forest, I think of the Swedish forests, pine trees, wild hares and rabbits, deer and maybe even moose... all of a sudden the road starts getting narrower and narrower, and we start seeing less and less villages by the road-side, and around the vegetation starts getting thicker and thicker... and Tommy says that we are driving to the end of that road, until the river, to cross to Tiwai...
No lights anywhere, we arrive in a village full of huts, more curious children looking through the blackness of the night at me with curious expressions...And then the car goes to short but even bumpier stretch of road until the river. Across the smooth waters a great mass of vegetation rose like the enormous living creature it is. And something dawns upon me. This is not a forest. This is tropical vegetation...This is JUNGLE!!!
It was such an incredibly exilarating feeling, the mixture of fear and nervousness and fascination... This industrialized girl being taken to the bush ahahahaha... So there I go with my bags on my back and the laptop on my hand, praying for the boat not to turn over so the laptop doesnt get wet, and laughing out of all the emotion inside... after some minutes of riding in the quiet black waters, with the locals driving through the pitch black night as if it was the palm of their hands, we arrive at some side of Tiwai Island. No lights. Nothing. Hand lanterns (torches) show me glimpses of a hammock tied on trees, and thick tropical vegetation. In the dark I follow these men, Mika, Momodu and Ibrahim, which I would later learn are experts in the forest, the trails, trees, animals, primates in the area, etc...We walk for some minutes through the darkness, surrounded by all kinds of sounds, crickets, birds, monkeys, grass, wind, earth, water, rocks, dew... It was so beautiful.
We arrived at the clearing where EFA has their settlements and set up a tent for Tommy while the locals brought me a ready-made tent with a matress and pillow inside! I tried to go to the bathrooms but realized that the strange bugs and roaches would make me go out in the wild... Isnt that strange? I rather pee out there where they all live than in a bathroom where I find one or two bugs! Go figure...
So yeah, I slept listening to the song of nature, with a candle outside my tent, and just savoured every second of it...
...you guys, if you ever have the chance, please go sleep in a tropical forest. Ive never rested so well even though I slept very little...
Here are some pics of the sweet kids on the village close to Tiwai, oh, and the girls here tie their babies on their back in the sweetest way, to be practical and for comfort and safety... here you can see it a bit:
Enough for today. I arrived to Liberia yesterday, am now in Monrovia getting a whole other list of experiences, but I will blog about that next time...
Im good, happy and thankfull.
Bless you all in this easter sunday, may you all enjoy the day surrounded by your loved ones...
An inspired human being seeking knowledge from the world, in order to be able to help it to self-help!!!
Um ser humano inspirado, procurando o conhecimento e sabedoria do mundo, para poder ajuda-lo à auto-ajuda...
