Arriving in Makeni

I arrived in Makeni on the afternoon of October 29. The hospital sent a driver to pick me up from Freetown and the road between the 2 cities is really good. It's paved and smooth....no craters right now;-) When we first pulled up to the house, I was greeted by a swarm of neighbourhood children screaming "oputo, oputo!" meaning white person. They all want to touch you, talk to you, and check you out. Apparently, that's the way it is every time you walk outside the house... you have celebrity status and can never go anywhere unnoticed or even unaccompanied by a local person asking to be your "friend" and requesting money. Everyone here speaks Krio or Temne, so I'm going to have to learn as much as I can!
Our house is pretty nice. We live in a place with a wall around the yard for security. One of the other volunteers who lives in another house that's not located in a compound was telling me that she had no privacy at all. There would always be a number of people peering at them through the windows the whole time they were in the house and the neighbours would just walk into the house if you didn't lock the door. I'm also glad that we have a kitten, Gingersnap, in our house because she keeps the mice, rats, and cockroaches away. The other volunteers I live with, Celine (from Vancouver) and Suzie (from England) said that the rodents were pretty bad before they got the cat. Suzie has had a planter built in the courtyard of our house and planted some vegetables there. I'd like to have some more gardens built so we can grow more veggies. The house has running water, so we have sinks, a cold shower and flush toilet. We have to use the generator to pump water from the well into a holding tank, and then the water runs by gravity into the house. The house has 4 bedrooms, living room, dining room, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchen equipped with gas stove. No refrigeration!
There are about 8 VSO vounteers in Makeni and there is also a group of volunteers that work at a Dutch hospital at the other end of town. It's a great group of people and they are taking good care of me.
We took a quick walk to the market but I haven't had a chance to take a good look around yet. I haven't been to the hospital yet. Everyone gets around on motorcycle taxis in Makeni so I'm glad I have my motorcycle helmet for those. We don't need to drive a motorcycle on our own as of yet. It costs 1,000 leones for a one way trip for an ocada (motorcycle taxi). I've been told that Le2,950 or Le3,000 are equivalent to one American dollar. It costs Le3,000 for a local beer. The canned and packaged food is quite pricey and in limited supply at the supermarkets in Makeni. We have to stock up when someone visits Freetown.
I'll try to post some photos soon. We have to go from place to place (hotel, hospital, etc.) and charge our electronics when they have the generators running. We use our generator sparingly because fuel is expensive.

I arrived in Freetown on October 24 after uneventful flights from Toronto to London (6 hrs), a 4 hour stopover, and then London to Freetown (6.5 hrs). The VSO driver transported me to the house I am staying in with other volunteers for a few days while I'm attending orientation. The other volunteers are taking very good care of me. We spent the weekend going to the beach (beautiful beaches!), hanging out at restaurants & bars, and exploring the neighbourhood.
I've eaten at restaurants since I got here because none of us like to cook and the availability of foods that we are familiar with is not great. In Freetown, we can get some things, such as peanut butter, cornflakes, and "herbal essences" shampoo at the supermarkets, which are primarily owned by Lebanese people. These items are about the same price as they are in Canada, so it's really expensive on the limited volunteer budget. The local foods are readily available in markets and stands along the street, but we either don't know how to prepare it or we're nervous about how safe the food is. It's going to be an adventure trying to feed myself;-)
The temperature has been very hot and it's quite humid. Most of the time, I'm sweating while just sitting still. It takes a lot of energy just to walk around. It's no wonder that things move at a slower pace here.
The house I am staying in in Freetown for a few days has electiricity from morning until 6pm, and then we have to use candles and flashlights at night. There's running water and a toilet, but very little pressure. We take cold showers because it's expensive to heat the water. We can cook (if we want to) on a gas stove. Another huge challenge is that there is no refrigeration, so we must eat anything that is perishable right away. The cockroaches and insects are plentiful, but I haven't had to deal with any in the last couple of days. The girls have figured out how to keep them at bay. I'm just waiting to slip into bed with a nice giant cockroach!!
Freetown is very congested with people and buildings. The streets are very narrow and it's treacherous for both pedestrians and motorists. The traffic in the center of town is horrible. This is what I've been most overwhelmed with is the crowding. The roads are made of dirt and in horrible condition. There is a lot of garbage everywhere and a lot of people selling goods at roadside stands everywhere. I don't think they have garbage collection. Many local people don't have running water or electricity in their homes. A lot of people live in little shanty-type houses. Many people use cell phones for communication because the land lines are unreliable and expensive. The internet is pretty widely available and the connections aren't too bad. The electricity flickers on and off all day. The people who live near influential people are lucky because the services are better to those areas.
I've had one encounter where I was very nervous.... another volunteer, Chloe, and I were on taking a taxi to restaurant, and we were stopped by someone who claimed to be from immigration. He asked us to get out of the car and show him our documents. He wanted to see our work visas and to know how much we paid for them. Being new volunteers, neither of us have our work visas yet. We didn't know if he was looking for a bribe or if he was legitimately checking for visas, but he let us go along our merry way after telling us to make sure we have visas. According to my program manager, they are trying to crack down on internationals who are working in the country without visas.