normal chaos
Mommy Dupigny is doing much better today and is able to cook and walk about. Dave bid us goodbye yesterday. Dropping him off at the airport is a half-a-day affair. We were picked up at 2:30 PM and taken to church. There, several people had letters for David to take back to friends and family. After all the well wishes for a safe journey, We left the church at about 3:00.The journey is two part. The drive from Freetown to the ferry, took about 30 minutes. There were four of us including David, and we purchased tickets at the gate at Le1500 per person for second class tickets. The ferry which is supposed to leave the dock at 4 PM only began loading passengers at 5:00 PM. There were initially three ferries - years ago. One of which has been destroyed due to the lack of maintainance. The other one, named Fanta constantly has problems. The third one named Murzuk was donated to the country by the Libyan President Qadhafi. This is owned and operated by a private company and is hence fairly decently maintained. Murzuk however was undergoing repairs yesterday because she had gone over a sunken boat and destroyed her propellers. The only operational ferry was Fanta. Unlike the crew of Murzuk, the Fanta crew (owned and operated by the government) are not meticulous in their loading and unloading procedures (there really is no procedure). When the ferry arrived at the docks. A herd of people ran out even before the ferry was properly docked. There was a Mobile oil tanker on board which was driven out of the ferry. No sooner did the driver bring the vehicle to the ground and drive it up the ramp, the oil trailer portion of the truck disengaged from the main cabin of the truck and began to roll backwards without any control. Luckily there were no people or cars behind the disengaged trailer, and the trailer was not filled with fuel. We were spared from a catastrophe.
When they began the boarding process, cars from the rear of the queue drove up to the front for lack of supervision. We thought a fight would break out. Driving up the ramp into the ferry, cars were slip sliding, and almost rolled back into the water because of the steep angle, and poor traction. Five columns and seven rows of cars, mini busses, and SUV's were jam packed into a ferry much smaller that the Staten Island ferry in New York.
We finally embarked on our journey to the other shore at almost 6 PM. There are of course men, women, boys and girls fighting their way through the tightly packed ferry with baskets well balanced on their heads, selling bananas, toffee, powdered milk, books, maps, and soft drinks. There was even a man with his face painted white claiming he was a white man. He had his tie tied in a way that it hung down to his knees. His bum was padded, and he had clown shoes on. He walked around making jokes and extending his hat out to the passengers.
When we arrived, again there was a mass exodus of people coming off the ferry in a frenzy, and mad rush of people running into the ferry. There is no order in driving the vehicles out of the ferry. It is left to each person's discretion to bring their vehicles out safely and watch out for other vehicles making mad, uncalled-for U-turns on the ferry. A surge of black fume is released from the exhausts of diesel engine vehicles accelerating in an attempt to come off the ferry. We finally came off safely, our exposed body parts covered with thin layer of black soot. The drive from there to Lungi airport was about 30 minutes and it's just a straight path from the docks. At the airport, they charged us the fee to park the jeep and did not return change but shoo'd us off. We later realized that although they charged us the price for a jeep, they gave us a ticket that's meant for a car. So if we were to be questioned about parking, we would have no proof that we had actually paid enough to park the jeep.
There was a queue to get into the airport, but the guards did a horrible job at controlling the crowd. Employees at the airport came out and fetched people that they personally knew, and escorted them into the airport while those others who did not know anyone waited impatiently in queue. David in his very New York attitude, just walked right in and did not bother to even look at the queue or the guards. The queue, once inside zig-zagged about four times before ending at the officer at the gate. There is an airport tax of $35. That's dollars, yes. We waited outside looking in until the crowd outside filtered in. We were then allowed to walk in and wait inside. We waited until David passed the check-in gate and made a dash back to catch the last ferry that was to leave at 9:00 PM. We paid for the ticket. The man who we handed the money to promptly put Le5000 into his pocket as the place was very dimly lit. Tommy who was travelling with us saw this happen. The man then announced that that we were Le5000 short and Tommy got into an argument with the man, calling him a thief. Bro. John Samuel did not see what had happened and tried to calm Tommy down. Bro. John began talking to the man calmly, but the man wanted Tommy and I to walk into the office, and asked Bro. John to drive in with the jeep. He wanted Tommy and I to pay for first class tickets. Finally after heated arguements which drew a crowd, we gave him another Le5000 and drove in. We arrived five minutes to nine and waited in queue. There were some young girls on the side who stuck their heads into the back seat of the jeep where I was seated, seeing that I was an Opoto, and kept asking me questions in Temne which I did not understand. They then spoke in English and asked for water. I gave them half a bottle of water and half a pack of Bama-G Glucose biscuits. They stood there and had a conversation with me and kept asking me for money though I refused. They finally gave up and left. The ferry arrived at 10:30 and had trouble docking. It kept crashing into the concrete pillars on the side. Once docked, it was the same circus all over again. We arrived back in Freetown at 12:00 AM and learned that our tire was almost flat. It must have punctured coming up the ramp into the ferry. We drove back home with the half deflated tire.
It's a rough life but it's not hard to get used to. Corruption is exactly why Sierra Leone did not qualify for the G8 debt cancellation. It's evident everywhere. Unless you open your mouth and put up a fight, they will take you for a ride. It's quite the learning experience.
With David gone, I will have to spend the rest of the year making friends and learning the country. I will be assuming my running routine starting tomorrow. I found a boy named Usman (Kenneth) who will go running with me. Construction of a new school begins tomorrow and I will go help with that as well. Bro John Noel came out of a slight attack of malaria two weeks ago. He is now healthy and is working on the school construction. David will be in London for four days and then return to New York. You can grill him when he gets back. He'll have a lot of stories to tell. Don't believe everything he has to say about me ;)
posted by bthomas24 @ 7:51 PM
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