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It was nice to think about a lie in after our early morning starts, but the baying of the dogs through the night, our neighbours at the Pastoral Centre talking late into the night, and the sound of the Muslim call to prayer starting at 5 in the morning, had us up and showering around 7. Breakfast was at 9 then we each had a responsibility to help clean up the truck. So finally, in the heat of the day we were free to do our own thing in the mining town of Kenema. We cleaned up, tried to cool down and stop the sweat trickling down our spine. and then set off for the centre. We were accompanied by a young man who showed us the way into town. It was about 25 minutes. Kenema is not a big town, but it is a mining town and therefore there are lots of little businesses buying and selling diamonds, plus of course some big diamond mines close by. I suppose we could have chosen someone to approach to do a tour of a mine, but after having lived on one for almost 10 years, I thought it might be a little tame to just "visit". Plus, I am not sure that the money would end up with miners as opposed to some tour agent. The other alternative was to go walking in the hills, but we didn't come across any adventure tours to hire a guide to take us and clearly didn't have the energy to find one. So instead we walked around the town and went for lunch in a neat restaurant, had a couple of beers, and chicken fried rice. Then we explored the new plaza, a little like the Tannery in Newmarket - it was just too new and nice for the rest of the town! We caught a moto-taxi back to the Pastoral Centre and sat and chilled for an hour or two chatting to some of the people in the centre who were essentially studying to be lay preachers. They finish their course on Friday and then head back to their villages to put their newly learned skills to good use. They were all very curious about our trip and it was interesting to exchange life styles and thoughts with the people at the centre. There were about 40 of them on the course. And then of course there were the youth. I think they had been told we were coming and they turned up just to talk with us.. Most of them were very good, acted as our guides over the town, and talked to us quite sensibly about things but unfortunately you always get the one or two who expect more. I guess you can't blame them trying to capitalize on the situation. It is a shame really because you want to help but it is such a mammoth task that to really do something meaningful as opposed to a packet of biscuits or a new pair of shoes would take a fortune. The lack of girls was obvious but when I commented on this the boys only said "they are at home".
So another different experience. I did my best not to be undiplomatic about religion!
In the evening Ray and I jumped on the back of a moto cycle, squished up tightly so that I could feel the heat of the drivers body on my chest through my shirt, and speeded over the ruts and bumps back into town for dinner. Some of the others had lunch at the Capital Hotel so we thought it would it would be a sane experience in anotherwise insane atmosphere and went there for dinner. Quite an elaborate premises, empty, pricey, and the food was lousy. The wait staff was adequate but no where near as charming as the local restuarant we had gone to for lunch. There was supposed to be a street party in town with lots of dancing, but we couldn't see any signs of it when we left at 10 to head back to the Pastoral Centre on another moto cyle taxi. I could get really used to zipping around on one of these bikes. It has quite renewed my lust to ride a motor bike!
We got back and packed before the generator was shut off for the night and spent an uninterrupted night till around 5 in the morning....and the call to prayer.
It was nice to think about a lie in after our early morning starts, but the baying of the dogs through the night, our neighbours at the Pastoral Centre talking late into the night, and the sound of the Muslim call to prayer starting at 5 in the morning, had us up and showering around 7. Breakfast was at 9 then we each had a responsibility to help clean up the truck. So finally, in the heat of the day we were free to do our own thing in the mining town of Kenema. We cleaned up, tried to cool down and stop the sweat trickling down our spine. and then set off for the centre. We were accompanied by a young man who showed us the way into town. It was about 25 minutes. Kenema is not a big town, but it is a mining town and therefore there are lots of little businesses buying and selling diamonds, plus of course some big diamond mines close by. I suppose we could have chosen someone to approach to do a tour of a mine, but after having lived on one for almost 10 years, I thought it might be a little tame to just "visit". Plus, I am not sure that the money would end up with miners as opposed to some tour agent. The other alternative was to go walking in the hills, but we didn't come across any adventure tours to hire a guide to take us and clearly didn't have the energy to find one. So instead we walked around the town and went for lunch in a neat restaurant, had a couple of beers, and chicken fried rice. Then we explored the new plaza, a little like the Tannery in Newmarket - it was just too new and nice for the rest of the town! We caught a moto-taxi back to the Pastoral Centre and sat and chilled for an hour or two chatting to some of the people in the centre who were essentially studying to be lay preachers. They finish their course on Friday and then head back to their villages to put their newly learned skills to good use. They were all very curious about our trip and it was interesting to exchange life styles and thoughts with the people at the centre. There were about 40 of them on the course. And then of course there were the youth. I think they had been told we were coming and they turned up just to talk with us.. Most of them were very good, acted as our guides over the town, and talked to us quite sensibly about things but unfortunately you always get the one or two who expect more. I guess you can't blame them trying to capitalize on the situation. It is a shame really because you want to help but it is such a mammoth task that to really do something meaningful as opposed to a packet of biscuits or a new pair of shoes would take a fortune. The lack of girls was obvious but when I commented on this the boys only said "they are at home".
So another different experience. I did my best not to be undiplomatic about religion!
In the evening Ray and I jumped on the back of a moto cycle, squished up tightly so that I could feel the heat of the drivers body on my chest through my shirt, and speeded over the ruts and bumps back into town for dinner. Some of the others had lunch at the Capital Hotel so we thought it would it would be a sane experience in anotherwise insane atmosphere and went there for dinner. Quite an elaborate premises, empty, pricey, and the food was lousy. The wait staff was adequate but no where near as charming as the local restuarant we had gone to for lunch. There was supposed to be a street party in town with lots of dancing, but we couldn't see any signs of it when we left at 10 to head back to the Pastoral Centre on another moto cyle taxi. I could get really used to zipping around on one of these bikes. It has quite renewed my lust to ride a motor bike!
We got back and packed before the generator was shut off for the night and spent an uninterrupted night till around 5 in the morning....and the call to prayer.
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