Being asked to pay. A long story.

I've read a good amount about corruption at the highest levels here as well as lower level corruption in the form of bribes, though I've never experienced that. This week I had two encounters that didn't quite feel like bribery, but still angered me.

In the first incident a friend with a car was driving me and another passenger back into town from the outskirts. We passed a soldier on the road asking for a ride. As it was dark and raining we gave him a ride for the half hour drive to town. My friend had plans so he let me and the soldier off at an area where we were parting ways. The soldier told me he was heading my way and we hailed the next taxi that came by. (One always shares taxis in Freetown, so this was normal.) I didn't pay attention to the soldier's conversation with the taxi driver but he apparently indicated I would be paying for him and then hopped out at his stop and I proceeded to my stop. As I tried to leave, the driver asked for the soldier's fare as well and I quickly realized what had happened. I refused to pay. We argued for a while but in the end I paid my fare only and then left.

The fare was small. And in retrospect, I felt bad that the driver was missing out on what he was owed. But it was about the principle. I shouldn't have had to pay for the soldier. Additionally, my friend had just given him a ride through the rain which was a very significant favor, making the offense seem worse in my mind.

The second incident was a bit more direct. I was on my morning walk to my office downtown and a police officer walked towards me, heading in the opposite direction. He waved and, with a smile, greeted me with his hand outstretched for a handshake. Plenty of strangers say hi to me but few want to shake my hand. We exchanged "good mornings" in Krio and he asked where I was heading. I told him to work downtown and he explained that he was headed out to his post in the next neighborhood. We were still holding hands in a long handshake and he leaned in to tell me his problem: he needed money to take a taxi to his post. I had just passed the spot on foot where he was heading and I wasn't about to pay for him. I told him that I didn't have money for a taxi and that's why I myself was walking and quickly left him there in the middle of the street. I didn't want to wait for a response.

Again, I was angered about the principle, not the money. I can afford to give someone change for a ride. I get asked for money plenty and I give out change or buy someone food frequently. But I'm really not OK being asked to pay for two grown men, both employed and paid by the government. (The government fails on a lot of fronts but its instincts of self-preservation are good enough to see that the military gets paid).

Both incidents were very frustrating. I do wonder if I my internal reaction was overblown. Some people are bound to look at me and just see dollar signs and I almost feel as if I can't blame them. I think my patience for small issues like this might have just worn out.

All that being said, these incidents have been the exception and I'm still glad to be here!

Group run

I've been running a couple times a week here and recently ran into a group of runners who invited me to the weekly meeting of the Hash House Harriers. This page gives a good overview of who they are, but basically it's a very informal running club with chapters all over the world. (If they've got a presence in Freetown then you know they're pretty well global.)

It was nice to run with a big group. There was terminology and customs to

learn, as well as a couple songs. I'm looking forward to meeting up again next week.

This is entirely unrelated, but here's a picture from the edge of the Kroo Town slum near downtown. I was trying to get a shot of the water's edge and the buildings of downtown in the background. Now it just looks like a picture of trash. This area will flood to ankle-level when the rains come, as the shacks in this area have all been built in the floodplain of a river. Apparently the government has told people to relocate, but there isn't ample support/will to make that happen.

At work this week

There's some staff turnover at the MFI where I'm working. Last Friday, the colleague I've been working with the most left. I'm now bringing his replacement up to speed. I think the replacement is competent, honest, and a good guy, but I'm not clear he can type. Additionally, the operations manager (essentially the managing director for the entire microfinance institution) is leaving this week.

Departures such as this could be a sign of bad things for the MFI: finding replacements could be a challenge and turnover could imply other issues. I think the former is true, as both departing employees were great. However, I think the fact that there's turnover doesn't necessarily signal problems here. Instead, I think it's encouraging that both these guys are leaving to do other things. As an outsider at least, I'm glad to see they were able to find opportunities elsewhere as it signals prospects in the broader market.

Separately, the U.S. match is happening Wednesday at the same time as the England match. I'm nervous about being able to watch the U.S. as I think the England match will get top billing here.

World Cup anywhere

I'm loving the fact that I can catch the World Cup matches just about anywhere and that I can catch any game for a quarter. (Sometimes the morning game costs half that... it's the matinee showing, I guess.) Countless businesses have a TV set up in the main room or out back. Little roadside cell phone shacks set them up in the shade. Families will even just invite people in to the living room.

So that means there's no excuse not to catch every game. Except if the power goes out, which actually happens just about every day.

In this picture from downtown Freetown there's a chalkboard in the foreground announcing the day's games. In the background is the Cotton Tree, the center of downtown and an important landmark.

Chimps

Sierra Leone is home to a dwindling number of wild animals, including the chimpanzee. Chimp populations face serious decline in the country for a variety of reasons: habitat loss, being hunted for bush meat, being captured for pets. In the hills right above Freetown, a local couple established Tacugama Chimp Sanctuary as a haven for the chimps they found kept as pets throughout the area. The program started with just a handful of young chimps and now has around one hundred at the center.

I heard a bit about the challenges of trying to keep their chimps alive and safe during the civil war, about a chimp escape a few years back, and about the center running out of resources to care for any more chimps that might come their way.

It was really neat to see the chimps up close and learn about the great things they do there. (There was even a sign with instructions on how to "speak" chimp.) Just sitting and watching them was the best part. At the same time it was tough to know the limits to what the center could do. I shot a video of the chimps snacking but it's too big to share given my internet connection. But a search might provide something similar.

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.

Jobs and Prospects

I've been asked for jobs a lot.  All sorts of young men who I meet ask politely but firmly if I can help them find work.  On the one hand I can see this as an encouraging thing: they're looking for work, not simply a handout, right?  But at the same time, it reflects their feeling that there are so few opportunities for young men here.  As a white foreigner, I represent an obvious first step for them in making their lives better.  It's inspiring and depressing all at once.  

The jobs conversation typically progresses from me asking about their education and where they've looked to me explaining my work here and how I don't actually have any jobs to give or connections I could make for them.  If the conversation continues long enough, they might ask for help getting to the U.S.  They are certain that if I can help them get established, they'll be able to find a job.  I don't deny for a second that my own prospects are much, much better than theirs.  But I want them to believe they have opportunity here.

Saturday night I saw a film that relates to this issue, that many young Sierra Leoneans only see hope when they look overseas.  The film was a documentary called "Babylon Illusion" that addresses the inflated perception many young Sierra Leoneans have of life in the west.  It was made by a Sierra Leonean who studied in the U.K. for a few years and compares the perceptions of the youth living in Freetown with accounts from Sierra Leoneans who moved to London.  The youth interviewed for the film in Freetown believe they'll make it big and have an easy life if they can just get to the west.  Those already in the U.K. tell of the difficult lives they have abroad.

As the filmmaker explained, he wanted to show the youth that life abroad isn't a gilded Eden.  He was creating a sort of public service announcement.  I can't say whether it will be effective in helping the youth refocus on their prospects here, but I'm left wondering what good alternatives there are for the young men here in Sierra Leone.

NBA Finals

The NBA Finals start tonight! I'm really excited that the Celtics made it again. It's been weird to have missed all the games up to this point. I found out last week that a South African satellite sports channel that reaches Sierra Leone may be showing the Finals. However, the game starts at 6pm in LA, meaning 1am here. I think the chances of being able to catch the games are pretty low, but we'll see.

On an unrelated note, here's a picture of the beaches that I mentioned a while back. The dugout boats on the left are from the fishing village of Tokeh. The water is incredibly warm.