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It is dark as I sit here on deck, periodically checking the level of water in the bilges and making sure that the anchor doesn’t drag. Tonight’s security guard, Brima, is asleep on the aft cabin top. The smell of garbage fires has been strong all night, as the wind has been coming from the land, so I keep hoping for a change in wind direction.
Freetown harbor is far from the cleanest place in the world. Like most harbors in the world, it has its share of water-borne debris: plastic bags, oranges and melons, a dead dog and a whole lot of other junk have floated by, but the worst part is the air, which leaves the white paintwork grimy and in need of cleaning almost every day.
(later in the day)Every day can't just be work, work, work. Today, after coming off watch and finishing up tasks on the boat, Drew, Gina and I went ashore and met with Samuel, a SL native who has been helping Amistad's crew and serving as a guide for us. We all went to lunch at a little shack of a place called NIX NAX and had African food, including Jolof Rice, cassava leaf stew and groundnut soup (which, for those of you who know peanut soup as it is served in Virginia, is very similar except that it also has meat, which kind of makes it worth eating, though I still think it tastes like hot peanutbutter...). All four of us ate until we were ready to pop and the meal only cost us about 25,000 Leones (about $8.50 US).
After lunch, we all visited the Sierra Leone National Museum, which featured a large exhibit on the Amistad event of 1839 and also several photos and paintings of various historically important people and a section of artifacts that would be right at home in the Smithsonian or the American Museum of Natural History. I pointed out a kora (a West African harp-type instrument) to Samuel and asked him about the traditional music of Sierra Leone and if it might be possible to find some musicians performing somewhere while we're in port. He seemed fairly confident that we might be able to work that out.
After visiting the museum, Gina went off to do her own thing in town and Drew, Samuel and I took a mini-bus to the Aqua Club, which used to be THE PLACE for swimming, sunning and sailing in Freetown. During the civil war, it was closed down and has only recently been reopened by the nephew of the woman who originally ran the place. After paying the admission for Samuel ($1.60 US) and being told that Amistad crew members were welcome as guests of the establishment, we swam in the saltwater pool, sat in the shade, read, played rummy and enjoyed several beers (for less than $1.00 US each) before catching a taxi back to the navy base. I didn’t get any photos of the place, but will do so next time I go. I am very hopeful that the Aqua Club and other such places here in Sierra Leone will be able to make tourism a viable industry here in Sierra Leone. With prices here being so low, I expect that families in Europe will be able to travel here and stay for their vacations more inexpensively than they could go to Mediterranean resorts.
Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to meet Samuel, whose uncle is a Methodist District Superintendent (or some similar title) and visit some churches. Having visited churches in Hong Kong and in Mainland China during my travels in 2001, I’m looking forward to adding experiences of African churches to my understanding of global Christianity.
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