I am enjoying Voinjama. I will have been here almost one month by the time I leave on Tuesday, how time flies. It's better than being in the 'big' city; this place is just a town, and I get to go out in the field a lot. All the people here are great, many of them are young (we just got two new young staff) and like to get out and do things. We had a farewell party for our administrator Quentin and protection boss Nicole, the latter who will be living with me in Monrovia. Today the new administrator arrived so we took him for a beer. The party was cool fun, it was an African theme so I got an Liberian dress made and got my hair plaited. I took the plaits out yesterday because they were driving me mad, although I enjoyed having long hair again, even if only for a week!
We had our new WatHab boss start with us in Voinjama last week, Mike, who's a geologist so is always picking up interesting bits of rock from anywhere he can find them! The field officers have a lot of respect for him already; I think much of it is to do with age. Older men here get called 'papie' here (older women 'oma') as a sign of respect, and it didn't take long for the field officers to give him that name! They are really interested in learning from him so I think they will work well as a team.
We have just hired two new hygiene promotion field officers too, and I have needed to stay longer to interview & recruit them and to brief them about the program. It will be a new experience managing some staff. We have also hired two hygiene promoters in Harper, so more things to do! I need to go back there again to check on the progress of my program and to meet them.
But on Friday I will hopefully be flying to Nairobi for one week's R&R. Currently I'm on the SN Brussels flight waiting list, so I'm keen to know if I fly or not. Hopefully it will be confirmed, because two ICRC people, one Aussie and one Kenyan, will also be there the weekend I arrive so we can party together! If not, I will be flying on the 9th July and will do my course followed by my week's break. This option is good work-wise as it will give me time to get to Harper, meet the new field officers, brief them on the program and check out what's happening. either way it will be good to get away from Liberia for a while, as while I'm enjoying it, it is quite tiring and a break will be nice. Now I just have to remember how to relax and decide what I'm going to do! Maybe a safari or cruise around some National Parks.
I need to learn some French in order to better communicate here, there are so many french speakers and particularly here in Voinjama, being close to the Guinean border, many locals speak french. Although maybe I should polish up my Mandingo, Kpelle, Kissi or Lorma ... it is a real mix of people here, which makes the town even more interesting. I got given a Kissi name when I visited a village called Mandikoma last week: Kumba, which means second female child in Kissi (this is because Julie, my boss, got the elder name of Sia. Mike got Sah, which is the name for the eldest male child. hehe... it was great fun. they even provided us with lunch, and it was great to share a meal with the villagers).
Voinjama has a resident horse that apparently used to belong to Charles Taylor. It is a big, white, grumpy bugger that doesn't belong to anyone but is fed by the locals wherever it goes. It needs a bit of TLC though, a good brush, scrub and haircut. Mike has already decided he's going to try and tame it! It's kinda strange seeing a horse just wandering around the town, in behind all the shops or near the clinic.
I'm missing the footy, and hearing that the crows are on top of the ladder makes me want to see a game! Although am loving the world cup here, espcially as we have pay tv we can watch the games, and they're on at a reasonable time too. It's more fun to go down to the local video club to watch though, and hang out with the locals. for the brazil v oz game, a yankee chick and i were the only tubabu's (white men) in there, and only two of three people barracking for oz! Good fun though, and great atmosphere. cool that we pulled off the draw against the croats, final 16 here we come! Don't know much about Italy's team, but it will be an interesting game nonetheless.
This morning my aussie mate Noela and I got up at 6 and took our cameras for a bit of a photography session. It was great wandering around at that time of day and we got some beautiful pictures. I've been a bit snap happy here, and have some great images. I also got my hands on a cd of images we had taken for ICRC by a professional photographer, which show the range of activities that ICRC undertakes in Liberia. They are all great quality, high res, beautiful pics and I will definitely be able to decorate my next living space (wherever that may be!) with some awesome shots of this amazing country.
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