Too Fast...

I knew we were going too fast. But let’s start at the beginning. It has been three weeks since I cut my hair and I decided today was the day; it felt like I had a fur ball on my head. So Titus and I headed down to Pastor Emmess’s Church since this is the only place within a couple miles with a 220v to 110v inverter to use my professional grade barbers clippers. Titus told me he is a professional and could cut my hair with only a comb and razor blade…That’s how they cut their hair here on a regular basis. After a serious of generator electrical issues there I was sitting under a mango tree with a group of kids tentatively watching my every move as Titus began cutting my hair. The kids were laughing as my hair was being cut, and like Titus said he is a professional I have a good looking hair cut.

We thanked Pastor and headed back to the highway where we whistled and hollered at bike going by and he stopped and me and Titus jumped on, that’s right three guys on maybe a 125cc motorbike. This is a normal thing to do here and that is how I make my commute daily, with no problems. But this guy well was a bit wobbly but nothing to unusual for here.

So like I said in the beginning we were going to fast…When we were making the turn back into my compound the bike didn’t turn and bing bang boom we were crashed into a ditch, luckily we were only going about 10mph. I kicked the bike and pulled my leg out and gave Titus a hand up. We stood back as the driver tried and tried to get his bike out and he eventually did, and then I paid him. That’s right. We were relatively unharmed aside from scratches on our legs and hands from the pavement and rocks, but hey I got my hair cut. 

NewSteps work is going well

Here are a couple pictures of how the work at newsteps is going, it was all 5ft tall when we started, as you can see the large mounds of grass of in the distance. 

What Dreams are made of.

I woke this morning with two things on my mind….Coffee and spam & eggs. I quickly rolled out of bed and undid my mosquito net and went over to  my new kerosene cooker I bought last night and fired it up and set a pot on the fire to heat water for my coffee. My new French press works great and the coffee Pat got me is awesome from Caribou in the student union. Next I cut up the onion, peppers, and spam I needed to make my two egg omelet, put my frying pan on the stove and mixed it all together with some oil I bought in a plastic bag, I hope its cooking oil. I cooked it all up real good and in the process I started sweating a little, forgetting that I just cut the peppers up with my hands, I used my hand to wipe off my forehead, and now my head is on fire,but In all it has been a great morning so far aside from my face being on fire. As I am writing this it is pouring down rain, we will probably get 1-4 inches today, about like every day that I have been here. 

Garage Sale

Today John and I went across the mountain road to the other side of Freetown where we met with a lady from Canada that has been here for 24 years and has decided to move and is in the process of selling out her belongings. She had a whole tool room that we bought all the tools she had for a pretty good deal. I got some good axes, saws, metal mesh netting for the chicken coop and a lot of wrenches and sockets. She was also selling out her kitchen goods and I got a heck of a deal on pots, pans, and silverware so I can start doing some of my own cooking.

It was a pretty eventful day in all, I left the compound this morning and when I returned they boys had cleared most of the land behind my building and had the grass all piled up to be used for mulch in the vegetables. By tomorrow all off the area should be cleared and we will start on the chicken coop at the end of this week hopefully. I am going to learn how to make my own bricks to use for the base of chicken coop. The boys are wanting to get like a 100 chickens, but that is not a reality at this point, I am thinking maybe 50 tops, we’ll see. My internet here is not quite fast enough to post pictures so I will have to delay uploading any for now. 

Hmm…What to write about?

Well my first week here has been good. I have got a lot of work accomplished so far and I am now officially recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and fishing in Sierra Leone. I have the real certificates to prove it! I have been back and forth all over Freetown doing this and signing that and surely something else along they like enjoying an ice cold Coke from China, fully knowing that I am breaking no pop rules, but hey TIA-this is Africa.

I have been to all my sights and all of land has been cleared, but not yet stumped. I made the payment today to have the first 7 acres cleared and it was only 3.1 million Leones. Seriously what a deal to have all the stumps removed by hand on that much land. We have started clearing the inside of my compound after I went this morning for some new gloves and Cutlasses to the market in Waterloo. Public transport is my means of traveling right now since my container is running behind and I got into my first fight today trying to get a seat on the pota poah- it’s like an oversized van where everyone sits 4 wide and 5  deep-that’s right 20 passengers and lady with a live chicken in a bag. But anyways I may have elbowed an old lady then kicked a small boy but I got that seat on the van. You see transport is so cheap here that people fight for seats in these vans because my 30 mile trip only cost me 50 cents and an hour and a half of my time…

So my Container well that’s another story in itself I have spent a lot of energy fighting to get in the country duty free, but you see they wanted 40 million Leones in just Duties…But with the help of a really great lady named Zainab Kamara it is going to be duty free. The Ministry of Ag signed off on my Bill of Ladings today so now after I signed a few more papers today its look like they are going to be fine.

On another note I went up to Wellington and caught the last half of the service on Sunday and spent the afternoon hanging out with the boys and girls at the orphanage catching up on what happened this summer and when my family and friends are going to come see me so they can meet them. Oxford surprised me with my Driver’s license, I forgot that Jesi and I went to get them earlier in the week. So everyone got a kick out of looking at my driver’s license. 

More to come...

I'm here!

Hey everyone I am here in Salone and doing fine. I am staying with John Campbell a well drilling missionary for the first week to get set up and take care of all of the paperwork I need to get done in Freetown so the container will arrive with no problems...Today Jesi and I went into Freetown and got our drivers licenses, and what a deal we didn’t have to take tests or anything just pay for them! It reminded me a lot of the DMV back home, crowded and not so organized. Next we headed to the U.S. Embassy so she could get some paperwork done and so I could register with them.  

It rained for most of the day and it is still raining so about 10-12 hours straight so far. I have an umbrella but over the course of the day I got soaked many times getting in and out of the public transport cars. We went to the supermarket in town and I found and bought some good avocados and potatoes. The avocados look a lot like the ones from Florida but they are cheaper!

I am going to move out to my location this weekend at Newsteps in Waterloo, and I hear that most of the senior boys from the orphanage are out there and are excited and ready to start working and have got most of place cleaned up.

Well anyways tomorrow I am heading back into town to sign some more papers and then I am going to go out to the Farms and see how the land clearing is going/looking because the ministry of agriculture is coming out Friday to make sure I really have a farm so I can get duty free on the container.

I miss everyone and hope all is well!