I know it has been way too long since I wrote... But you can only imagine..... Our time in Sierra Leone has been amazing from the moment we anchored off Murray Town, one of the poorest communities in Freetown but home to so many wonderful people, to this very moment now, as I sneak below to dash something off to the web site in the middle of our tours today. Just inches away from my head, an endless stream of feet are shuffling by on deck. Ten feet behind me, one of our local interpreters shows the public the three king planks that run the length of the deck which are made of Iroko wood from Sierra Leone (Salone as the local newspapers refer to the country). Ashore thousands of people, from hundreds of school groups, to elders from villages who have traveled two days to get here, gather in long lines while our staff, the local interpreters, and a gaggle of guards, MPs and others whose affiliation we do not know or may not even exist tell the Amistad story to groups scattered throughout the compound here waiting.... The children all come in groups from school - in perfectly pressed and mended uniforms of all colors.

Perhaps the most surreal element of our time open to the public has been the appearance each day of a marching band. Once gathered under a tent of bush poles and tarps, the band plays for hours on end. DeSouza.... Christmas carols..... The Star Spangled Banner.... All the standards.... As the lines creep forward to view our exhibit, and the sun beats down relentlessly, the band keeps on playing.... And it is not until the last person in the crowd has climbed back up from the ship, that these young people put their trombones and trumpets and tubas down - and take their own turn coming aboard.

Like Sengbe Pieh before them, the Sierra Leonians are resourceful - from carrying huge loads on their heads all the time, to finding ways to sneak in and see us not once but twice.... Their smiles, their laughter and their direct questions (What are you doing for Sierra Leone?) keep all of us going throughout each long hot day...

Below Heather manages to cook up a big meal of beans and rice each day - which we share with the interpreters despite it being well over a hundred plus degrees and stifling humidity in the main salon. It is amazing anyone eats. We consume water 1.5 liter bottles at a time - as if they were small cups. And we run errands to purchase water several times a day... There is no local water we can even load into our tanks.

They have birds that loom a bit like magpies or crows with big white bids and a white collar band - the locals call them minister birds - for their tuxedo like appearance and the fact they tend to "conference" a lot as Johnny says, like ministers. Rev Paul, who will be joining us, will have to get a picture with them.

It seems a breeze has blown up from aft of us, and the stern is getting a bit of a beating, so I should go take look.... There is so much to tell I will try to blog again- it is almost impossible to capture any of it....

From the aft cabin - under the feet of Sierra Leone - eliza

Comments (0)