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In the morning a number of people from the mine came to introduce themselves, including a white South African. He told us the story. The yard was owned by African Minerals who were managing the mine for the Chinese. They mined iron ore. The mine had only been open a year and the containers for shipping were picked up full and delivered back empty to the yard we were staying in. The raw ore is shipped from Conakry to India where it is refined, then the finished ore product is shipping to China. The mine was about 30 minutes away. The Chinese had bought 7 mines from the SL government - 100 per cent Chinese owned. They were working on the outside of the first one and it would last about 70 to 90 years before they would have to dig into the mountain and down. Do the math - that is huge - 630 years of mining secured at today's price. The Chinese government gave the SL government a couple of billion for infrastructure and most of it has gone in the politicians pockets. The mine empoys about 4000 people. After hearingthis story,the episode with the Chief starts to make sense. The Chinewse have bought him out to keep the destruction they are causing to the country quiet. Thus no one allowed in the area. Money drives everything here and it was strange that the chief wouldn't agree to us staying when he was offered money on a per capital basis. But if he is being paid by someone else, then of course it makes sense. Anyway, I am not sure if that is the story or not, but it was a strange experience to have in a land that doesn't otherwise restrict tourism and in fact is trying hard to promote it.
The sad thing is there are signs everywhere about the pit falls of corruption, but it is clearly alive and very well. How do you stop it? What things can a country do to stop the elitism at the top levels and the severe poverty at the lower levels. Amolng many others, this is clearly one of Africa's big problems, and development by the Chinese is unlikely to stop this.
Once back on the main road we left the mountains of the Bumbuna area behind and most of today was spent on bad roads and finally good roads passing through fairly mundane countryside. A few on the truck have mentioned the amount of driving we have done this past week, and we are not getting "value" for our money. However, that is Africa. There really is not much else. It is a study in another way of life.
We pulled into Bo after lunch. Bo, used to be a railway town and my Dad would travel by train up to Bo in the 40s then continue the rest of his journey by car to the Yengema mine. Bo wasw chaotic. The buildings were unique with their old colonial architecture. Many ruins, many new buildings half finished and going nowhere, and complete chaos in the market. We were shopping for food group and the market was easily the narrowest isles, the most chaotic layout, the most chaotic people, and fun. You were literally pressed together with other black women most of the time. One of them told Annie to be careful of the money in her pocket. Most of the vendors spoke English so navigation is easy, but it is quite an experience. Produce was hard too and we had just about given up when once really nice woman sent her young daughter off with us to show us where we could buy tomatoes, potatoes, lettus, cucumbers, bread and eggs - all outside the market on the street!!
To night we are camped in a school yard just outside Bo. The moon has grown to about half, Ray is on cook group, and we have a ton of people around us,watching, staring. Are they learning our movements, are they wondering who we are and where we have come from, are they thinking at all???
In the morning a number of people from the mine came to introduce themselves, including a white South African. He told us the story. The yard was owned by African Minerals who were managing the mine for the Chinese. They mined iron ore. The mine had only been open a year and the containers for shipping were picked up full and delivered back empty to the yard we were staying in. The raw ore is shipped from Conakry to India where it is refined, then the finished ore product is shipping to China. The mine was about 30 minutes away. The Chinese had bought 7 mines from the SL government - 100 per cent Chinese owned. They were working on the outside of the first one and it would last about 70 to 90 years before they would have to dig into the mountain and down. Do the math - that is huge - 630 years of mining secured at today's price. The Chinese government gave the SL government a couple of billion for infrastructure and most of it has gone in the politicians pockets. The mine empoys about 4000 people. After hearingthis story,the episode with the Chief starts to make sense. The Chinewse have bought him out to keep the destruction they are causing to the country quiet. Thus no one allowed in the area. Money drives everything here and it was strange that the chief wouldn't agree to us staying when he was offered money on a per capital basis. But if he is being paid by someone else, then of course it makes sense. Anyway, I am not sure if that is the story or not, but it was a strange experience to have in a land that doesn't otherwise restrict tourism and in fact is trying hard to promote it.
The sad thing is there are signs everywhere about the pit falls of corruption, but it is clearly alive and very well. How do you stop it? What things can a country do to stop the elitism at the top levels and the severe poverty at the lower levels. Amolng many others, this is clearly one of Africa's big problems, and development by the Chinese is unlikely to stop this.
Once back on the main road we left the mountains of the Bumbuna area behind and most of today was spent on bad roads and finally good roads passing through fairly mundane countryside. A few on the truck have mentioned the amount of driving we have done this past week, and we are not getting "value" for our money. However, that is Africa. There really is not much else. It is a study in another way of life.
We pulled into Bo after lunch. Bo, used to be a railway town and my Dad would travel by train up to Bo in the 40s then continue the rest of his journey by car to the Yengema mine. Bo wasw chaotic. The buildings were unique with their old colonial architecture. Many ruins, many new buildings half finished and going nowhere, and complete chaos in the market. We were shopping for food group and the market was easily the narrowest isles, the most chaotic layout, the most chaotic people, and fun. You were literally pressed together with other black women most of the time. One of them told Annie to be careful of the money in her pocket. Most of the vendors spoke English so navigation is easy, but it is quite an experience. Produce was hard too and we had just about given up when once really nice woman sent her young daughter off with us to show us where we could buy tomatoes, potatoes, lettus, cucumbers, bread and eggs - all outside the market on the street!!
To night we are camped in a school yard just outside Bo. The moon has grown to about half, Ray is on cook group, and we have a ton of people around us,watching, staring. Are they learning our movements, are they wondering who we are and where we have come from, are they thinking at all???
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