TIA: for better (the goal of GAF and our internships) or for worse (the end of my day today.)

June 2

Today was actually about forty hours long. The night before we left, I stayed up until the sun chased me to bed for a bit, making sure the printer and computer were compatible. The Eee computer looks like it will be a good choice, but I had to change it to a different distribution of Linux because the preloaded one was not being widely maintained. In any case, now I’m lying in a bed in an International Hostel in Freetown, Sierra Leone. There’s fork lightning across the sky, and sparks from what is probably some kind of power surge coming from the outlet. Don’t worry, my computer’s running on battery.

When Katie and I landed in Freetown, they popped open the doors and a blast of hot, humid air immediately overwhelmed eight hours of air conditioning. The airport itself was about the size of the 60m jet in which we flew, and had an assortment of tacky yellow signs welcoming us to Sierra Leone. With little trouble Katie and I were through immigration and customs, and we walked out directly into the welcoming handshakes of Dr. Barrie. We also met Amadu, the project manager for the nutritional feeding clinic that the Sierra Leonean face of GAF (called National Organization for Wellbody; NOW) runs. From this moment until the moment I got into my hostel room, we were almost constantly surrounded by people trying to help us for a price (at best) and trying to rob us (at worst). A driver in an old SUV took us back to the ferry at breakneck pace, past stacks of houses that clearly never see winter. You can tell by the way the corners don’t totally match – that would be very unpleasant at -10 C. There’s loads of palm trees around, but the vegetation in general wasn’t very thick. Mostly I was struck by the number of people everywhere.

We missed the 6:30pm ferry, so we had to wait until 9. We wandered over towards a stand that seemed to be selling drinks and then a woman pulled out a table, tablecloth, and chairs for us. We all talked until the ferry came, occasionally shooing away beggars and intrepid phone card salesmen. At some point, Amadu chuckled and said “TIA... this is Africa.” I’m not sure whether he was explaining the dilapidated yet overworked cars, the scores of people trying very hard to help us in return for the right to guilt us into giving them money, or something else. It could have been any of them. In any case, as the sun set through the haze, Africa made a strong first impression on me; that of foreignness. I’ve had the good luck to travel a bit, but I have never been somewhere where my knowledge, habits, and identity are so blatantly foreign.

My second impression of Africa comes from the ferry. We had first class ferry tickets, which meant we sat in a large square lounge in plastic lawn-chairs with diner-style red carpet on the floor and loud music videos on a small TV. The room was packed and humid. When we finally arrived at Freetown around 10pm, there was a huge crowd clamoring at the door to the first class lounge. A small fight started, and a couple of people complained to someone who may or may not have worked for the ferry. We decided to wait. A concerned businesswoman in a white pantsuit warned me to watch my shoes, which were stuck into the waterbottle holders on either side of my backpack. I thanked her and Dr. Barrie helped me tie them on to my bag even tighter. I had my passport in my left pocket, shielded by my guitar, and my wallet was in a pocket in my jacket, which was bunched under my arm. Dr. Barrie and Amadu were worried, and it looked to me like waiting until the obvious crowd of thieves dispersed might be wise. But we went ahead, and it was intense. The corridors and passageways from the first class lounge to the dock were lined with boys and young men, and their hands were desperately trying to take our stuff – either legitimately, so we would pay them for carrying it, or illegitimately, without our knowing. The stairs were metal, sharp-edged, and steep, and even though we had extra help it was hard to carry our bags down them. When I got to the bottom I tossed my jacket in my hand to make sure the weight of my wallet was still there. It wasn’t.

A brief yelling match between Dr. Barrie and the owner of the ferry ensued. It’s pretty clear that the crowd of pickpockets were not passengers on the ferry; they were probably the bag boys that just waited around. The ferry owner seemed interested in keeping this incident quiet, and assured me that this was the first wallet ever stolen on his ferry. That’s a little unbelievable. I may get it back, if the thief pilfered the cash right there and then dropped the wallet. But I probably won’t get it back.

The wallet contained ~83 USD, ~5 CAD, my American and Canadian bank cards, two credit cards, my health card, my student card, my driver’s license, the medical insurance card from GreatWestLife, my London library card, and my family’s Roger’s membership, which I accidentally took with me to Sierra Leone...

The thing is, I wasn’t angry at all. First, it didn’t seem like getting angry would do anything. Second, while it sucks to be robbed, I didn’t lose all that much money, none of the cards are needed while I’m here in Sierra Leone (save possibly the medical insurance card. I still have the Princeton travel insurance card), and everything can be replaced in August when I come home. To be honest, I just hadn’t expected to be in a situation like that immediately after arriving; I was planning on cleaning out my wallet into my “important stuff” folder tonight.

They also stole Katie’s glasses, which turns out to be much more inconvenient than my wallet!

I wonder what the thief is doing with the cash. While I’m not condoning his theft at all – I would love to still have my ID cards and cash – it’s pretty clear that he needs it more than I do. More than anything, this has made me think of the weird parallels between begging, theft, and aid. That’s all for now.

Quick disclaimer for all those who are now worried: I’m getting all my money for the summer from the NGO, and my passport, student visa, and travel insurance are all being stored safely at Dr. Barrie’s house for the entire summer. This was already the plan; I would have given him the contents of my wallet as well. He has given us ID cards for in-country use.