Hard Rock Cafe Lakka

... showed up 4 hours late and then wanted to cut the ceremony short, right in the middle of a song prepared by the elementary school students, because he was hungry. Regardless, everything that was supposed to happen, happened and I am just glad it's over. I go back to my village on the 11th. I'm looking into doing a project that teaches Health Center directors or employees how to detect malaria in a microscope. So look for updates on that; I might need help from home.

... in a pile in the middle (the headphones were slung over a rope at the back, along with the webbing that presumably was there to hold down baggage on the of chance that it was used). This was the third helicopter used for this purpose in the last 6 months. The previous two had crashed on the way to the airport, killed most on board including the Liberian football team and sports minister. Still, it was a fast (albeit, noisy) trip back. Most people ...

... to Bo. Leaving for Moyamba It usually takes about 8-9 hours to travel the 150 miles to Bo as the roads are so bad but we also have to drop two volunteers of in Moyamba which is about halfway there. An added concern fro the journey is that "Clive's law" has come into force and I have an attack of diarrhoea the night before the journey and spend most of the night in the bathroom before getting up at .00am. We are supposed to leave at 6 but eventually ...

Day 6 Friday Oct. 5, 2007 Up at 7:30 am and met with an NGO known as The Center Of Victims of Torture centered in Freetown. Our intention was to determine if there were any partnering possibilities. They work exclusively with the psychological and emotional aspects of the individual. The psychological recovery programs here are almost non-existent, but we are hopeful that we can refer some of the amputee victims to them for counseling. Once again, determining the purpose ...

Day 5 Thursday, October 4 Up at 7:00 am and off to see World Vision as our first NGO (non-governmental organization) . The reason for our meeting was to discuss what activities World Vision does in Sierra Leone and see if there are any partnership possibilities. They have no outreach to the amputees specifically. They were very interested in working with us and sharing their entry and exit strategies as well as their logistics for setting up programs ...

Day 4 This is a very brief description of a very long and tiring but fruitful day. We started off with visits to the departments of social welfare and child protection and then on to education, science and technology. The big score here was the discovery that the government has automatic acceptance for free tuition and room to the SL University for disabled individuals as long as they can meet the ...

Day 3 This morning was a business day, meeting with the Ministries of Health and Sanitation, and Development and Ecconomic Planning. Our meeting with Dr. Roberts was moving because he was able to relate his personal story of survival during the civil war as he spoke from the heart. He is very knowledgable about the health and conditions of his country but he is also frustrated by the lack of personel to bring about the ...

Day 3(1st day in SL) We arrived at the ferry in the dark at 5:30am but we could see villagers walking down the road to start their day. As the sun rose we were able to visualize our surroundings and knew immediately why SL is the 2nd poorest nation!! YOU JUST CAN'T IMAGINE! At first there was little activity but as 9:30 approached the village was bustling with petty trade and annoying, persistent vendors. The border in Tijuana pales in ...

... trying three oth** suspect hotels we found ourselves climbing up one particular hill to get to the YMCA which turned out to be friendly with cleanish rooms, cold wat** show**s and electricity between 7pm and 1am. The room looked back up the hills wh**e an entire community of Si**ra Leonean wh**e living in corrugated shacks below our window. The oth** side of the building was the t**race which looked down to the ocean and ov** a lot to the town, including to the right the ...

... kids who are in hospital after the beating and they look pretty ****ed up. They have broken wrists, ankles, ribs and fractured skulls but they are still waiting for X-ray results 5 days later, so none of those injuries are in plaster or anything. They just have shitloads of stiches in their heads. And the depatment has just come to visit but not given them any money for food or medicines (which all cost extra in SL hospitals). The kids parents havent even been notified yet so ...