March 23rd

Whew! It has sort of been a very long time since I posted to this blog. Sierra Leone has been interesting, to say the least. I’ve gone through 2 bouts of malaria, been harassed by police and drunk men, and a whole lot more. My legs even now are a mass of mosquito, tsetse fly and other bug bites. I am listening now to the sound of sooty mangabeys calling. I think it means the visitors who are doing the morning forest walk have stumbled upon them since they are doing their alarm call (the mangabeys, not the visitors). I’m not sure if my research has gone well. I’ve had a lot of difficulties with a lot of things. There has been an ongoing protest by the villagers against the Environmental Foundation for Africa. I’m probably not even supposed to be telling this, but as it has been on the national radio, seems I have a small right. Plus it affects me personally as well as professionally. Once the protestors decided they did not want to allow their pump water to be brought to the island anymore. Well, that water is the stuff I drink and cook with, not being a big fan of river water. I had a meeting with the leaders of the “revolt” to say “Hey do you want me to continue working on your island?” They said yes and I said “Well I need water to work!” They agreed with my logic and voila I have water. EFA was a little pissed at me for doing that, saying it gave the protestors power they didn’t deserve or something like that. EFA sometimes pisses me off because they don’t give the protests any respect, saying it is only these 3 leaders stirring up trouble. But from what I have seen and experienced, nearly 6 of the 8 villages are in sympathy with the protests, not with EFA. If they took the people seriously and stopped thinking of them as backwater locals who are ignorant of anything, maybe everybody could sit together and talk things out. Instead, EFA comes in with the paramount chief, police, reporters, and tells the protestors to stop protesting. And that seems about it. Maybe they are trying to do something more behind the scenes. When I mentioned my concerns that I could be kicked off the island to Tommy, he scoffed and said “You don’t really believe these people do you?” Well I could go on this for hours but I’ll probably get myself into trouble if I go further. Suffice it to say, I went to do some village interviews, and people did not want to talk to me because they thought I was working with EFA. It has just been really frustrating the whole way around.

My professor is coming on Sunday. I am nervous and happy because I am getting new supplies – new underwear, some yum spices, new shoes, and hopefully a new laptop. My laptop died. It made me pretty sad. But I guess I was expecting it for awhile.
Ants. Ants drive me CRAZY. These little red ants are everywhere and I can’t get rid of them. They don’t bite, they just crawl into everything. My computer, my bread, all over the dishes, EVERYWHERE. Also driver ants suck. Well ok they bite. And boy can they bite! They even bite your shoes. If you make the mistake of stepping into their line, they immediately swarm you and bite the first thing they can get their pinchers into, and they don’t let go! At least they don't itch afterwards like tsetse flies or the lots of other species of biting things. My legs being fine evidence to that.

March 26th

I do wish bad things would stop happening. This place is kind of crazy. Last week a huge tree fell on 3 teenage boys, killing one instantly and maiming the other two. Two days ago 2 men drowned while simply bathing in the river. Two of my friends were stabbed in the head during a disco and had to have stitches. One of my assistants' father died before that. Also the villagers caught 1 poacher with a gun who had killed some animals on Tiwai. OK none of these are really related, it's just kinda crazy I guess. It's never boring here, except when I am aaalll alone on the island, which is a lot unfortunately.

I miss home, but I know the minute I get home I'll miss Sierra Leone. So I just have to keep that in mind. But gosh sometimes it is tough here.