August 20th

Two things I hate most in Sierra Leone – biting flies and driver ants. These little tiny gnat-like flies swarm to my legs and bite me so that I bleed and then it itches 3 times the amount of a mosquito bite. Benadryl helps some at least but haven’t found an anti-itch cream that will really help.




This whole employing lots of people really stresses me out. I know it’s great practice for future career but man it’s annoying sometimes. Food comes with the payment so I am now feeding 14 people a day. Most of them are fasting but some are not. So I have to put aside food for the one that aren’t fasting to eat at the camp and then the ones who are fasting, I put their food in different containers so they can bring it with them. One of the fasting men has just informed me that he does not like to eat rice in the evening so could I please cook him something else? I said “Rice is all I have! Rice in the morning rice in the afternoon rice in the evening. Rice rice rice!”



The men took 7 hours to dig a hole that should have taken 3 maximum. What they did was 2 would dig and the other 4 would watch. Then 2 would drag the dirt away and 4 would watch. Then 2 wove the mat while the other 4 watched. I hired 6 people so they could do all these activities simultaneously but I guess they didn’t figger that out. So then they didn’t finish and came back saying it was too cold (Like 75F) to work. I was pretty much fuming. It was recommended that while they dig the holes, I sit there and watch them so they would work instead of sitting around. I personally believe that that it is the biggest waste of time for me to sit there and babysit 6 grown men to make sure they are working when I have other things to do. So I appointed a man in the village I know and trust to watch them. I’m pretty mad at the community for sending me people who do not work. When I asked why I got lazy people, I was told it was these people who are the most jealous of the work Kenewa and Bockary are doing, so they were given the job so they wouldn’t make trouble. Yeah I’m still fuming. This is my work, my future, my degree, my life and they really should have chosen the best people for the job, not the ones who only want the job for some extra money. Argh. Frustration. Wouldn’t it be nice if *I* could choose my own workers?!?!?!?