When the heat wave hit me leaving the plane from Heathrow at Lungi Airport in Freetown, I knew any mental model would have its shortcomings. Until then SL had been a far-away one-of-many African country, undistinguishable from any others in Western Africa. So much has changed in merely 6 days.

First conclusion: There’s a lot of reality to go through before you may enjoy the idealistic image of 4,000 Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLIN) hanging neatly and well-functioning in several villages 7 hours from Freetown. There are people behind statistics (nothing beats the megawatt smile of a 4 year old Sierra Leonean kid staring up at you) and there’s immense organization, negotiation, planning, talking, re-planning and contemplation to go through. It’s hard work. Enjoyable, but demanding.

I spent my first 3 days in Freetown with Mathias. We had meetings, bought equipment, and took care of details. Now I’m in Sahn Malen village where I’ve only spent 3 days, but people from GMin have already been here for weeks just doing preparatory work. The real stuff starts on Monday with a 19-day distribution accompanied by a soccer tournament. Plus there will be an evaluation afterwards. We’ll be done in mid August. What a task! But I’ve never made use of a summer holiday as well as this.
Second conclusion: local contacts matter. Any bit of illusion that relief and salvation for people in the developing world arrives in a white man’s briefcase has vanished. This project works thanks to the close cooperation with locals on every level. Not doing a project for them but with them. It makes all the difference that some of our members are native Sierra Leoneans, that we have received extraordinary help from officials and the UNICEF in Freetown, that we have local translators and monitor teams. I can’t help thinking how helpless I would be if I decided on my own back home in Denmark to fly to SL and do something similar. It does not work like that.

Third conclusion: Africa is wonderful. I’m only 40 pages into my travel book Out of Africa by Karen Blixen. We have rather different views of the mental faculties of the natives but sure the scenery is spectacular. Freetown is a mess, quite frankly, but much more charming, open and safe than I would have dreamed of. Last October I spent 3 weeks traveling around the US using public transport and there is just no comparison, I feel much more welcome here. I’m much surprised. I imagined clinging on to my luggage 24/7 and adapting a tougher mindset. That lasted for about a day. Our room at the Freetown guest house sure looked Spartan at first but I soon came to see our 5 hours of working light bulb and semi-running water as pleasant luxuries. What a place.

- Lauge

A reconnaissance team was assembled (Mathias, Carlos and myself) to bring the nets back to Sahn safely. We left Sahn around 6 am and arrived in Bo at 11 am with the initial plan to spend the night in Bo and catch the 6 am Government bus to Freetown. We couldn’t wait. Three hours later, we were in a poda-poda on the way to Freetown. Our driver raced across the rather newly paved highway and got us to Freetown by 7pm, leaving enough time to pick up Justin Grinstead from the dock at Aberdeen.

At 10 am the following day, the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) informed us that the nets where actually not ours. Rather, they belonged to another NGO stocking up for the nationwide campaign planned in November. As we contemplated the effect of this rather unfortunate misunderstanding at Mr. Bangura’s office, Dr. Baker- head of the NMCP, walked in. We updated him and 15 minutes later, there was a complete 180-degree turnaround. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding between GMin and the NMCP, which guaranteed us 4,000 LLINs from their store. Once our nets arrive on July 9th, we will replenish their stock. We confirmed with the Against Malaria Foundation that this was okay.

The NMCP—who have been an integral partner in our endeavors—also made their truck available to us on the condition that we paid for fuel, the per diem of the driver and his mates, and engine oil. Obviously, this was cheaper than any other transportation means that would have been made available. Justin and I decided to travel back with the LLINS while Mathias, Sam (who was in Freetown to check his ear infection – which turned out harmless), and Lauge (our new arrival from Denmark), stayed back in Freetown for an extra day to execute other parts of the mission.

Our truck driver Mollay was very helpful and ensured that we arrived in Bo safely at 11 pm. At 10:30 am the next day, we were off to Malen. At 3:30 pm, our entourage arrived in Sahn Malen after nearly falling off a very narrow bridge. We met the Chief and headed off to the Community Health Center (CHC) where a battalion of strong guys (including those ultra-hunks Jake and Clem) was at hand to help unload the 40 bails of LLINs into one of the big storage spaces at the Center.

Some more cassava leaves, a goodbye to Mollay and his entourage, and off to the football fields for us.

Mission Status: Completed.

- David and Justin

The van—one window smashed, replaced with opaque plastic and duct tape, another spiderwebbed by the impact of a rock—showed up at 6am only half full. That is to say, its four rows of bleachers had only the minimum three people seated in each; only one or two were riding on the roof, with the luggage. We squeezed another eight into the van. My legs rested near my chest, on top of a dozen gasoline canisters that had been packed on the floor. I slept between potholes on the dirt road.

It was light by the first hill we couldn’t climb. The van stalled out going through a mid-road gully, and we piled out to push. After that, we’d all gotten out for the long hills, hiking up and jumping back in at the top. My knee, gashed almost a week before in my first Sierra Leonean soccer game, broke open again on one of these jumps, but at least these intermissions let us stretch our legs and buy a half dozen pineapples for the price of a can of Pringles.

About three hours into our two hour drive, we stopped abruptly. Steam and smoke came from the hood, making me particularly anxious to get away from the gas cans at my feet. On circling the car, I found the driver and his apprentice squatting at the back right wheel, removing what I would guess might be called the axel. Twenty minutes and a roll of Mana cookies later, we were back on the road.

Though it’s only been two weeks so far, these kinds of trips have begun to seem almost predictable. Which, really, they are: the vans we’re riding in are 25 years old, transported to Sierra Leone after years of hard use, and put to work on roads riddled with holes and steams and packed down with two dozen people. It’s a wonder they drive at all.

We just returned from our first weeklong stint in Sahn. It was a relaxed few days, spent mostly getting our bearings on the area and trying to determine which villages we’d focus on for our net distribution campaign. In the meantime, we hiked through the bush to visit these towns (and determine just how far away they were), play soccer with the local kids, and hone in our meager Mende skills. Carlos and Faaez made good progress on the OLPC campaign, meeting with the headmasters of the town’s two major schools, while Sam made a pretty spectacular spreadsheet of town populations and sleeping spaces. We ate fresh pineapple almost daily. Apparently we collectively own a goat.

David, Mathias and Carlos are off to Freetown to get our nets and solar panels, while Sam, Clem, Faaez and I are in Bo to do laundry for a day before returning to Sahn. This week we hope to get the soccer tournament underway, meet with the Chief, and—maybe—eat a goat I’ve tentatively named Johannes.

Update: Clem has made my meager naming job a crowning wonder of a name. The goat is named Johannes Wolfgang von Goate.

- Jake

You can see the images and read the blogpost here: www.gmin.org/blog/bomai

There’s also a picture of Kroobay at the very end.

Enjoy!

- The GMin team

After doing my one chore of the day, I chased out 3 baby geckos from under our couch to the great amusement of the constant crowd of 10 tupui (kids) who look through the windows of our veranda.

Everyone called out “Jacob” when I toured the village last night with Clement Wright. I tried to explain to every one that “Nja biye mia a Mathias”, but today I am still addressed as either “Jacob” or “Poomuin”. Others ask “When will Jacob come?”

GMin is back in Sahn Malen! (or at least “Jacob” is ). Jacob Lennheden is a GMin member who won popularity and fame on the soccer field during GMin’s first distribution of mosquito nets in 2007. Let’s see if the guys from the Harvard club soccer team can knock him off his throne.

We are to meet the paramount chief here in Sahn to discuss exactly which villages will receive nets, and we also plan to meet the local Red Cross unit and the District Health Medical Team in Pujehun. We are not doing another distribution in Sahn, rather we are targeting the surrounding villages who have not yet received nets.

Carlos and Faaez have met the 30 children who received XO computers in December. They have met with the principals of the two primary schools in town and are preparing the distribution of 100 more XOs. You can read much more about their project on their blog.

Things are peaceful here in Sahn, but there are also tragic moments. Three children passed away on the very day we arrived. One had gotten a fever the night before, and the next day he was no longer with us. We don’t know what happened to the other two.

In another event, one of our most important contacts here in Sahn, David’s cousin Ibrahim, was feeling feverish yesterday. We used one our rapid diagnostic test for malaria, and, to our consternation, it was positive. We went to the health clinic and Ibrahim got 24 arteminisin amodiaquine tablets to be taken 8 a day.

Malaria and other illnesses are very real here in Sahn Malen, and we are happy that our nets might protect the people of the Malen chiefdom who have welcomed us so warmly.

David and I will return to Freetown next week to receive Lauge and Justin, to buy supplies and to make sure that the nets arrive to the chiefdom on time. We’ve created a distribution plan to cover all the villages, and now we need to set up town meetings, organize the soccer tournament and, well, go house to house and distribute all the nets. Things are coming together, and we are very excited for the coming month where more than a year’s worth of hard work will be implemented.

- Mathias

• I’m known by—and now introduce myself as—“Chake.”
• My favorite billboard thus far: “Light skin? The latest cream for body success.”
• In case you were wondering: A cab ride costs Le800 = ¢25; a Star Beer costs Le1000 = ¢30; our guesthouse, the lovely Maria Nella, costs Le35,000 per night = $10.
• Sam, on his first night in town, was complimented on his fine “structure.”
• Many young people here go by rapping names, or at least many of those who hang out at David’s do. There’s Cisco, T-Max, Tatt, and Nelly, and Mathias has been dubbed—inexplicably—Akon. My efforts for Tupac fell through pretty quickly, I’m sorry to say.
• Clem and Mathias are doing pretty well in Krio; Sam and I can count to ten in Mende. Just ask me. I can also say “This food is delicious. Thanks.”
• If you were wondering how long it would take my shoes to turn from their gleaming, schoolboy white to a clay-colored brown, your answer is: one day.

- Jake