Today I celebrate KINDNESS

KINDNESS.

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.

Giovi is back! ...reblogging, from the Monrovia times...

Dear friends,

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)

Love,

Giovi