The everyday life

In the e-mails and texts I have received, you have been asking me different questions about how I’m dealing with the heath, what we are eating and how to shower in the jungle, if I have used my dry shampoo and how my life with the other volunteers are. I will tell you a little about it all. How to shower in the jungle? I got a quite nice room, it contains a bed, a table, two chairs and a clothes. I have gradually arranged myself in a nice way. I have bought a carpet and some other things to make it homely and nice. It helps a lot with candlelight and incense. The bathroom I share with Anne Mette. Every day, except from the weekends, a girl is coming to fetch water from the well. Each bathroom has three containers and that is for shower, toilet flushing and hand washing. There is an almost functional bathroom between our rooms, containing a shower cabin, a toilet and a washbasin. The shower is cold, but nice, no running water, it’s done by pouring cups of water over yourself and washing with soap in between. At the moment it’s so hot that you sweat almost doing nothing, and there is almost no wind. So yes, I’m having a shower every day. Have used my dry shampoo a little, sometimes during the day it’s nice to fresh up the hair. What to eat in the jungle? We are not doing much to get something to eat. Every day at 6.30 our kitchen ladies are coming to cook breakfast for us, then later the lunch and in the evening our dinner. It’s mostly rise, pasta and cus cus, with some kind of vegetable in a sauce. Before I came they had the cus cus with onion sauce very frequent – they were sick and tired of it, so I wasn’t popular when I suggested that we didn’t only had the pasta and rise, but also the cus cus. Now it’s ok, just not with the onion sauce. In the morning, luckily, we can choose to eat the porridge of oats. That’s nice. The bread and eggs doesn’t make me feel full for long time. We get a lot of carbohydrate, but on Wednesdays we get the fish for lunch, the meet for dinner and on Thursday we get the chicken. The other days its food for vegetarians, but that ok with me – the beans I really like and it makes you feel full in another way then all the carbohydrates. Dr. Bread is passing by the hostel every second day, and its lovely bread. Suddenly I like cheese spreads – a thing that I never eats in DK, but when a cheese-lover like me can’t get any normal cheese you find out that cheese spreads is ok. At the moment it’s season for the mangoes and the pineapples, and they taste so lovely and sweet. It’ like being in heaven – fruit heaven. As you can read I’m getting something to eat every day. At the moment I can’t complain about the food, even though it’s a lot like the same every day. Maybe I’m not that positive in a month.

2nd and 3rd week in the jungle – still having a great time

Monday till Wednesday (15-17th of March) was just about work. Because of the dry season here, there is no running water in the Laundry – the well supplying the Laundry has totally dried out, but hopefully the water will come back again during May, when the raining season begins. Because of no running water, the hospital laundry has been washed in the river – not so good, because it’s the same place where people from the Village are showering, washing their own laundry and bringing water to their house holding - but that has been changed now. I have arranged it, so that we now get the water from our (the Hostels) well – we get the water in 5 gallon containers and transport it by car – a temporary solution. In beginning of May the rain will come and the well at the Compound will supply us with water again. Wednesday afternoon, after work, I had my hair done in the African way by one of the hospital kitchen lady’s sister. It was a fun thing to try and nice to spend an afternoon with the locals and to see their homes. The look wasn’t as good as the local ladies hair, but it was so nice to have my hair away from my neck for a couple of days. Thursday I went to Makeni again, had to do some shopping and to try using the internet again. Now I have an internet account at the Hotel Wusum, I can now go on the wireless internet when I’m there, I just have to remember my computer wire – in this heat the computer is working hard to cool down, and it makes the battery time low. Friday we drove on a four hours trip, on a very bad road, to Koido, a Village/city known for its diamond mines. We went there and saw some lovely diamonds and hardworking African men. Koido was one of the villages that were hardly affected by the civil war because of the mines. The village was very dusty and showed signs of the war. But it was positive to see that there is actually a building up of the city going on – new houses popping up. We were supposed to stay overnight, but somehow there were no hotel in the city that had an available room for six, hmm. So we drove the whole long way back home after a nice dinner at one of the Hotels. Saturday, we (eight of us, volunteers) went on a kano trip on the river passing by Masanga Village – very nice to experience the area around us. Nice and relaxing, and a good way to get to know the other volunteers. In the evening we had a lovely birthday party for the medical student Caroline. Party – all night long... 3rd week (22nd – 28th of March) This week has just been about work, work, work. In the morning starting together with my Laundry ladies and then cleaning at the “Big Store” – A lot of stuff is send to Masanga from DK by containers, and we have a big storehouse for it. But at the moment it is not totally clearly for us what’s there and which things that actually can be used. So we have decided to start a clean-up and get a general view. One very small washing machine came up. Sometimes we had a good laugh about things that that we found. For example we found artificial breast limbs suitable for a white woman and things that can’t be used because it’s broken, funny funny. Wednesday late afternoon I would go for a quick run before the big opening of the new library. But what a stupid idea, my legs where tired and my mind was in another world, so 7 minutes from home a root in the road grabbed me and I fell as long as I’m. (NEVER tried to fall like that during running) Stupid clown, I felt very stupid, and the blood was running from my hands and knee... I didn’t think of it as a very bad crash, but my left hand was hurting. When I came home I found out that I had made myself a very lovely deep gash. Luckily I’m surrounded by two doctors, two medical students and another nurse, so I was quickly repaired and had a painkiller. Friday morning we said goodbye to Jasper, who’s going home after four month here. He and the other guys were going on a guys-weekend trip to Freetown. I moved in to his room during Friday afternoon – Anne Mette (whom I now are sharing bathroom with) and I cleaned, and in the evening we had a small housewarming. Saturday after one more day by the Pool at Wusum Hotel in Makeni, we had a nice girl’s night here at the Hostel.

Easter holyday at Banana Island – 1th-4th of April.

In the Easter holyday we went on a trip to the Island; Banana Island. It’s just outside Freetown. It was nice and relaxing – a jungle island with lovely beaches. We slept in small bungalows close to the beach and were eating a lot of lovely fresh fish. But it was also a weekend where it shows how intense and sometimes difficult it can be for eight girls being together in 24 hours for four days. On Sunday, on our way home we went to see the Chimpanzee Sanctuary – Tacugama - very impressive. Furthermore we went to the Village Charlotte to see Charlotte Falls. Because of the dry season it was a quite waterfall that we meet, but we had a nice trekking in the area – the nature surround is so beautiful, so I might go there again when the rain comes. On Easter Monday I went out on my own for the first time – Big girl now! I went to the Village Magburaka, the first bigger city from our village. I had to do some shopping and needed some time on my own. It was quite an experience, everyone around here is so generous and helpfully. There is nothing to be worried about, and that’s so nice to experience. I took a taxi from Masanga Village – on the way to Magburaka we were just six in the car. The driver and two of the other passengers (the Baker – Ibrahim and chicken John – working on the Poultry farm, both from Masanga) didn’t wanted me to find home by myself, so they were waiting for me, to drive me back home. So nice of them and then I didn’t had to worry about how to find a ride home, even though there is a lot of taxies and Hondas to get. When I came back home there was Danish lunch waiting for me – cod roe, mackerel, salami and Danish remoulade, it was so good – after one month with just rice, pasta and cus cus it was lovely to taste a little DK. This must be enough for now – still not figure out how to type in a right way, so that the spelling on my blog is legible. Hope that everyone has had a nice Easter!? I’m sending a lot of thoughts home even though you don’t hear from me that often.. XOXO Charlotte