Settling in to Sierra Leone

Well it’s been about two weeks since my arrival in Sierra Leone and some days it feels like I’ve already been here for years and some days I wonder if I just got off the boat. For those stopping here, I’ll sum it up…life in Africa is different…different than the States…different than Asia.

My first weekend here I went on a whirlwind tour of all the social life in Freetown – Franco’s on Sussex Beach, Alex’s for a dinner on the water, and Paddy’s for the late night dancing. My colleagues hadn’t ever seen anyone jump so freely into life in Freetown but I had Logan giving me a year and a half of distance orientation to Sierra Leone so it all seemed quite familiar.

Since then though it’s been all work getting into the operations of our office and seeing where improvements need to be made. I’m a bit overwhelmed by all the things that need to be done but I am energized by the challenge and I’ve learned that as much as I love building buildings I also love building systems.

Life is a bit harder in Sierra Leone and it took me a few frustrating days to get used to this new reality. We’ve had electricity for about 5 nights since I’ve been here (generators are a booming business), the water from the shower trickles on a good day and is dry on a bad one (I need to brush up on my plumbing skills), the roads are choked with traffic (it can take 2 hours to go 10-15 kilometers), and unemployment is always in your face (tons of people just work the traffic jams selling everything you could ever want – need to go shopping? Get stuck in traffic).

But for all the hardness of life, the people really do make Sierra Leone so appealing and welcoming. For all that these people have been through, they have every reason to be hateful and depressed, but they’re quite the opposite. I often walk between the GOAL house and our house separated by only a few hundred meters and within about 2 days I knew everyone (which is a lot of people!) who lived along that street. People wouldn’t let me pass without knowing my name, where I was from, who I was working with, how long I’ve been here, etc., etc., etc. It’s been quite fun to get to know all the faces and names.

Well the candle’s getting low and I’m getting tired so I’ll be sure to post again soon. Thanks to Dad for sending me the gentle reminder that it was time to post!

Farewell Ampara

Well I write you on my second to last night in Ampara. For those paying attention you may be saying “I thought you were leaving on the 19^th Dave!?” Yes, you are right, but I’ve learned in my old age that as soon as I write a plan down it will be swiftly scrapped for something quite different (remember the plan for Logan to come to Sri Lanka after Sierra Leone?:)

The new plan is this…I will be flying to Ireland on the 15^th or 16^th so that on the 17^th I can be at a training for my new job with GOAL, an Irish NGO. After three days of training in Galway, I’ll work my way over to Dublin for the health checks, visa stuff, and a bit more training and then as soon as my visa arrives I’ll be off to Sierra Leone. So by the end of September there is a good chance that I’ll be writing you from Sierra Leone!

You probably have a lot of questions based on this new plan and my imminent departure from Sri Lanka:

1) So when are you coming home Dave?! (I’ve heard this one a lot from my parents lately in a rather exasperated tone:)

Well I was really looking forward to that break and obviously being home, but sometimes the next thing comes calling a bit sooner than any of us expect. I didn’t think it was wise to turn down an opportunity just because it didn’t quite fit my ideal schedule, so I’m hoping that both Logan and I (together) can get home around Christmas time (you see I wrote that down so wait for it all to change…) Ohh and there was also the whole perk of seeing Logan a bit sooner:)

2) So I guess you will finally be living with your wife!?

YES! After more than a year we will be reunited under the same roof. This could be interesting and there will be a bit of readjustment I'm sure (for example she says that all the closets are full). We do know that our travel schedules will have us logging some serious miles in the air and on the roads. She’ll be splitting her time between Liberia and Sierra Leone and I’ll be splitting my time between two offices in Sierra Leone 6 to 7 hours apart, but we figure far better than our current situation and we're very much looking forward to it.

3) So what could you be doing in Sierra Leone that is more exciting than coming home to see your friends and family?

I’ll be starting out in a country logistics coordinator role basically tasked with making sure GOAL's operations run smoothly (everything from the vehicles to the purchasing) and then after a couple of months be moving into a partnership coordinator position where I’ll work to build the capacity of GOAL’s local partners working in a variety of different sectors. Upon hearing this Logan quipped that the equivalent to these two positions might be "beating your head against a wall." Despite the bleak assessment, I'll hope to soften the blow and look forward to the new challenge.

4) Will you miss Sri Lanka?

Of course. I’m struggling to answer this one in more depth than that though as I’ve had little time to reflect! There are so many things that I will miss but there is a select list of what I will not miss as you can imagine.

I know that I count my blessings every day for the opportunity to start an office in Kalmunai on the east coast. While never in the plan when I arrived, I have a hard time imagining what my Sri Lankan experience would have been like without this office. It feels a bit a child to me– frustrated and depressed by every setback and prouder than ever at every accomplishment. So I’m not looking forward to leaving it and I assure you that from the shores of Africa I’ll still be checking in.

I guess more than anything the office represents for me what can happen when you confidently and faithfully take on the feared and unknown. Almost everyone said Kalmunai was dangerous, and almost everyone said it was nearly impossible to build housing there – two opinions that almost convinced us not to go. But when I look around at what we’ve done in the past 9 months and how I feel in the communities I have found the reality to be very different.

And finally, for the record here are all the things I can think of that I will NOT miss…the roads and especially the buses, wedding cake, tea, fixation on status and everyone else’s business but your own, Poya Day, ESPN Asia (it’s horrible), and drumroll please…watching cricket (I know this is blasphemy here but if you think baseball is slow and boring it’s like the 40 yard dash compared to cricket).

So…10 days and counting…I've told Logan to clear some closet space!

The Answers...

Many of you have been asking me when I am coming home from Sri Lanka knowing that I'm wrapping up sometime in September. I've been avoiding the question because I have difficulty planning next week's schedule, but here's my best effort to nail some dates down....

September 19th or 20th...I'll depart from Ampara to Hikkaduwa
September 29th...depart from Hikkaduwa to Colombo
October 1st or 2nd...depart from Sri Lanka to the US

From there, unless my next job in Sierra Leone dictates otherwise (which is still in the works -- keep your fingers crossed!), I'll be in the States for a while to visit and bum off of family and friends. Then I'll head for the shores of Sierra Leone to catch up with some girl that I met a few years back and hopefully start an exciting new opportunity!

So in the next month and a half, I've got a ton to do both personally and professionally. I'm looking forward to whatever will be next but I'm certainly sad to leave Sri Lanka and the project that feels a bit like a child to me.

Sunsets and Elections

For those of you not up-to-date on the latest West African newswires, Sierra Leone just had a landmark election, and Logan served her part as an election monitor. To read the latest click here.


As for my part of the world, it's harvest time and not rainy season here quite yet so I'm still enjoying remarkable sunsets out here in Ampara as we do various programs for the kids and play soccer here on the weekend evenings.

Just Ask

My friend and I were talking over here on our porch one evening about what makes leaders great. The whole discussion came out of a leadership and management training and discussion that I'm doing with my staff who are becoming managers day by day as I transition out of Sri Lanka (September for those wondering!).

We came to a lot of conclusions, and threw around a lot of good ideas, but overall I think we lamented more at the fact that there seems to be a real lack of great leadership in the world. Maybe we're just getting old, but in asking the "why" we came to what I would say was an important insight as the 2008 election inches towards us...

We asked when the last time our leadership asked us, implored us, or demanded from us to contribute to society or our country?

I couldn't think of any time that Bush, or to be fair, any current political leader, asked me to contribute something more than money or a vote -- rather in the case of global warming, Katrina, Minneapolis, or Iraq the mantra was and is that "we've got it all taken care of...no need to worry." I can tell you that the same type of thing happens here in Sri Lanka.

It seems an age where leaders feel they need to make promises -- about our security, our health, or our jobs -- so that rather than sacrificing or giving we can go on living our "comfortable" lives. What they don't seem to realize is that promises at their best don't inspire and certainly don't solve problems. Just think of the great leaders in our history -- they didn't promise anything and had the humbleness to ask for help because they knew they needed it.

So, the leader I'd elect in '08 is the one who demands my contribution to the problems we must confront. I'm still looking....

Livelihoods and More Houses

Well after about 6 months of data gathering and investigations into roughly 750 people which was no small feat, our livelihoods program in Ampara had their first distribution for about 150 families still living in IDP camps since the tsunami (If you think that's a long time talk to the war-displaced, some of whom are going on 20 years). Next month we'll do 350 in another division, and the month following another 250 in another division.

For a variety of reasons we have set up a system where our beneficiaries essentially receive a voucher that is only valid on one day at one store for 4-5 very specific assets that are based on their trade and skill level. Almost like a Target Gift Card, but not quite. Out of the 750 people receiving items they fit roughly into 33 different trades. So, for example, a "Carpenter 2" would receive wood planer whereas a "Carpenter 1" would receive a hammer, chisels, and so on. In addition to the carpenters there are tailors, masons, gas sellers, fish mongers, Bombay sweet makers, grocery store owners among many others.

Once these people receive these items from the supplier, we'll follow up with training in their trade, bookkeeping, and savings clubs to ensure that the asset actually contributes to the overall improvement of their livelihood. Below you'll see a few pictures from the distribution.

In other news, we've just had what felt like a ton of pomp and circumstance to open about 30 more houses in Ampara and on the West Coast. Our totals for completion are somewhere up around 60 with roughly 100 under construction (I'm in the process of pulling together all the numbers!) We'll also be completing a school library and playground this week over in Ampara. The bulk of the work is still ahead as we are about to embark on a few very large community facility projects that have been in planning for way too long.

No one was going to miss this...

Mindy doing her duty - she looks like a politician running for office.

The Divisional Secretary of Karaitivu wondering what I'm taking a picture of at the Housing Opening for 17 houses there.

A young housing beneficiary offering the Hindu prayer (Karaitivu is almost entirely Tamil and as a result either Hindu or Christian)

Back from Bangkok

Many of you didn't know, but I spent the past weekend in Bangkok, Thailand. No special reason...just wanted to see a place that is so close (3 hrs by plane), but seemed so far away. Among many other things we...saw Spiderman 3 on IMAX, ate at the New York Steakhouse, took it easy at Starbucks, saw Thai Boxing, went shopping at one of the biggest outdoor markets I've ever seen, strolled through the Grand Palace, and took a water taxi ride up the river.

I've attached a few pictures below, but if you like, you can see all the pictures here and here.

During our stay there we also met up with some people running Night Light - Bangkok which is an organization working against human trafficking and prostitution in Bangkok by providing counseling and economic alternatives (primarily making very high-quality jewelry and marketing it in the US -- take a look at their online store and please buy something!).

To put it simply, they are doing an incredible job addressing a huge problem. Prostitution, brothels, and trafficking is hard to ignore in Bangkok. There are traces everywhere -- from the American and European men traveling on the metro clutching to young Thai women to the numerous massage parlors offering the "special" massage. For many this lifestyle is either no choice at all or the last choice they've got, and when someone takes the time to counsel them and provide an alternative hundreds get out successfully.

First stop...Starbucks:)

This fella is called the Hermit Doctor. While Buddhist, Thai's have put their own spin on the whole thing and are very superstitious and will worship just about anything that they think will bring them good fortune. There is a whole amulet market that sells well...amulets...that will protect you from all kinds of things.

A mural in the Grand Palace...just one of many depicting the life and time of Buddha.

The Grand Palace shines even on a rainy day thanks to many reflective tiles that cover everything...
Thai architecture is very distinct and far more gorgeous and practical than I had anticipated.
The Emerald Buddha -- the most revered image of Buddha in all of Thailand. I have never seen so many images of Buddha...sitting, standing, stepping forward, reclining....
Speaking of reclining here is 40 meter long Buddha reclining...


The water taxi -- quite convenient for a city choked by traffic.