The only issue is that about 45 minutes into the convoy up to Makena, our car got a flat. We pulled over and ofcourse the spare tire was also flat. Luckily, or coincidently, the flat occurred outside of a few small houses, one of which contained an air pump. Again I say, coincidence?? Anyway, after filling up the tire, we headed for Makena, sans convoy. By this time it was pitch black outside and for those of you who have spent time in West Africa, there are absolutely no lights on any of the roads. In fact, you're lucky if the roads are paved and even luckier if they don't have massive potholes, police roadblocks, fake police roadblocks or random goats, chickens and dogs standing in the centre of your lane.
But our driver still put on the hazard lights and drove like an absolute maniac - thinking that because he was driving in the convoy earlier, he was still 'technically' part of it even though there were no other cars in sight. We stopped several times as clearly the tire was not on properly or filled up enough and the car continued to pull to the right. Nevertheless, we did finally make it to Makena.
In Makena, there is a 'luxury' hotel which is owned by a long-time friend of the President. By luxury, I mean that the room has a tv an air-conditioner. The oddest part about the room however, is that it overlooked, or rather is overlooked by the swimming pool area. The windows were actually beneath the pool level and thus, anyone sitting around the pool could look into the room. So I figured I'd just close the blinds and that would give me the privacy that I wanted. But nope. I walked into the bathroom, where there is also a window, except this one has no curtain. And it sits right next to the toilet and the shower. This morning I waved at people sitting at the table outside the bathroom window while I peed. And I'm pretty sure I caught an old woman checking me out while I showered.
Anyway, the real reason we were all in Makena had nothing to do with vacation or a 'luxury' hotel. Today, the Govt signed a $400m USD sugar processing/ethanol deal with a big European biofuel company. This deal has been in the making for over a year and now represents the largest single investment into Sierra Leone of all time. As such, there was a big ceremony and signing event. There was a full military display, band and about 250 guests including most of the cabinet ministers, the President, the various paramount chiefs (who's land will house the 30,000 ha sugar operation) and other diplomats and guests. Each speaker, and there were about 10 or so, gave a 2-3 minute preamble just welcoming everyone of importance by name. The amount of protocol followed is amazing. By the time the 4th person spoke, I had memorized the beginning of everyone's speech. Pretty amazing event and I was blown away when even I was named as contributor to making this deal happen. The deal will significantly increase GDP, create 4,000 jobs and potentially bring leading sugar technology to a country that is only using 11% of its arable land.
Back in Freetown now after the 3 hour drive back. To make things extra fun, we drove the last 20 miles on a dirt road along a mountainside on the outskirts of Freetown to avoid the city traffic. Decided to clean up when I got home and just as I slipped into the shower, boom, the power went out. So I continued my shower in complete darkness. This was easy though as I had practiced this this morning at the 'luxury' hotel in Makena where there is no power in the hotel during the day. I managed to use my cell phone this morning as a lamp so that I would not cut myself shaving. The Iphone clearly has many wonderful applications. But using it as a lamp has proved to be its most useful for me in Sierra Leone.
Laters...
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