Adjusting

I've been home for two weeks now. It has been an awkward climb back up the Human Development Index.

There's so much I miss: the excitement of day to day challenges and surprises, the singing, the dancing, the African joy de vivre. The last nine months were so crowded and colourful, that Canada feels kind of dull. Too easy.

It's been great spending time with family and friends. And food. There's so much to eat! I am also really enjoying long hot showers and having clean nails.

It's good to be home. It's just going to take some time until I feel at home.

The Gold Coast

Pics - Slave castle in Elmina, women sleeping in Kumasi, crocodile smile near the Cape Coast.

I was able to squeeze in one final West African trip before my departure and chose Ghana. My friend Kate and I spent a week in the Cape Coast, Kumasi, and Accra, marvelling at how developed the country is. Electricity! Water! Money that isn't taped together by the bank! We didn't have a chance to visit the rural North where there are many issues from water access to witch camps, but comapred to Sierra Leone, Ghana feels like a Western nation.

Accra was surprisingly boring, but the country has a lot going for it. Things work. Saying that, in a weird way I kind of enjoy the challenges in Sierra Leone. Struggle comes with appreciation. Sierra Leoneans make the most of the little they have, which creats an upbeat energy throughout the country. This is the x factor that visitors fall in love with.

It's time for me to start wrapping up and packing up. Eight months has been the right amount of time, even though it's gone by incredibly fast. I know I will be sad to say good bye.

Slum Village

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world, and Kroo Bay is one of the poorest communities in the country. These are some photos from a slum story I'm working on with a local reporter.

Holy Water

Water is sold in bags here, like milk is in Canada.

This one made me laugh.

Sierra Leoneans are very religious. Atheism is not an option. You're either Christian or Muslim. What's most impressive is that the two groups live in harmony. Both are also superstitious, and still hold onto traditional beliefs. For example, someone may go to church every Sunday yet still consult a witch doctor or juju man.

One of the most popular sayings is "by the grace of God". It's really the only way to explain how people get by in one of the poorest countries on the planet.

Best Excuse Ever

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile but I was in Timbuktu. I didn't even know where Timbuktu was until I heard about Festival in the Desert, the concert that inspired the trip.

Kim and I made our way to Timbuktu by the African equivalent of planes, trains, and automobiles - buses, broken down vans, cow, ferry, and boat. It was an awesome adventure.

Mali looks unlike all the other African countries we've visited. At times I felt like I was walking through pages of a National Geographic, especially in the Dogon villages. Mali is very different from Sierra Leone. While both countries are at the bottom of the Human Development Index, there's more in Mali. More infrastructure, tourism, and money. The electricity and water was more reliable in the middle of the Sahara desert than it is in Freetown!

The festival was fun and we met up with my friends from Canada, Hannah and Tania, plus everyone else we had met in Mali it seemed. Music was hit or miss. Highlights include watching the main stage in sleeping bags in the desert, front row for private jams arranged for The Guardian, and following around an Inuit circus.

It feels good to be home, although it's only home for another month. I'm both ready and sad to leave. It's been one of the best experiences of my life. But I still have a month left, and lots to do in that month!

Compliments of the Season

This is my first Christmas away from my family, and away from the cold.

Sierra Leone doesn't feel very Christmasy to me. No snow. No mall Santas. No Toblerone.

The government promised to deliver electricity to Freetown before Christmas, but it hasn't reached my street yet. It came on over the weekend, but unfortunately only lated for 20 minutes.

There are signs of Christmas-garland in the taxis, carols here and there, Christmas cards for sale on top of women's heads. But the reality is that Santa runs out of gifts by the time he reaches Sierra Leone. Africans don't focus on that. They go all out with the little they have, celebrating what really matters-peace, joy, family, and friends.

Merry Christmas! Or as they say here - Compliments of the Season!

Amistad America Inc.

A replica of Amistad has sailed into Freetown. It's very symbolic. The original La Amistad captives were from Sierra Leone and Freetown was founded as a home for freed slaves.

The Freetown visit is part of the Atlantic Freedom Tour, a 14-month voyage commemorating the bicentennial anniversary of the British and US abolition of the slave trade. The organization behind the project is AMISTAD America, Inc. That makes me laugh - the incorporation of slavery.

Upon arrival, Atlantic Freedom Tour crew members shouted "Freedom!" Thinking about freedom at the Amistad launch, I felt sad. And I don't usually feel a sense of sadness here. Sierra Leone has recently fallen to the bottom of the UN Human Development Index. Life expectancy is 41.8 years, literacy is at 34.8 percent, school enrolment at 44.6 percent, and GDP per capita is $806 USD.

Is this how the freed slaves pictured freedom?