On being offered drugs

No, not those kinds of drugs.

Some semi-official folks came by my street and asked if I wanted a free dose of medicine that would help to eradicate infections. They mentioned swollen feet, elephantiasis, and I think malaria as well. The bottle said albendazole which I looked up later. I told them no thanks, I didn't want to take their limited amount of free medicine. From what I subsequently read, it sounds like important stuff. But definitely took me by surprise at the time.

Unrelated, but here's a couple pictures of Freetown. The first is from a hill above town in the evening. You can see the town sits on a wide bay. The land across the bay is where the airport is located. The national stadium is visible in the lower right. The main downtown area -- including a couple buildings around ten stories tall and all the government offices -- can be seen in the middle of the photo. Homes and shacks fill in all the other areas.

The Freetown evening commute, taken from a second story restaurant window. My office is a block from here. The tallish building cut off on the right side is the old American Embassy. The Embassy now sits on a massive compound in the hills above town.

A soccer field (or "football pitch") at a school near my home on the west side of town. Downtown is waaay off in the distance. The hills in the background show how Freetown is right on the water yet surrounded by hills. You can see a storm rolling in. I was soaked a few minutes after taking this.



1 comment:

Unknown said...

When I was there, the US Embassy was still in that old (ratty on the inside, too!) building in your photo. These shots are lovely -- thanks for showing.