A Grand Day Out
on Shona in Sierra Leone (Sierra Leone), 31/Jul/2011 14:01, 34 days ago
With a limited amount of time left in Sierra Leone, Cat and I have written“The List” of all the things we want to do before leaving. Included on this list is, among other things, ETATing in Kenema (tick), eating lobster at Hamilton Beach (tick) and fish carpaccio at Mamba Point (tick). In addition, we planned a “Grand Day Out” in the East End (near the hospital) in order to visit a few “tourist” sites in the area. More of a “Grand Half Day” (as I had to do a ward round in the morning), we set off after a lunch of groundnut stew made by the family who live under the stairs.First stop was the National Railway Museum in Cline Town. This was set up by a former IMATT colonel. There are no trains anymore in Sierra Leone (although the mining companies are now building a railway to transport the iron ore) but there used to be a railway from Freetown to Pendembu in the east of the country (365km). We had a fantastic guide who told us all about the history of the railway and showed us the restored rolling stock. The best thing was having a go on one of those things that looks like a see saw which you push up and down to move the wheels (if anyone can tell me what those are called I’ll be very grateful!) It was a lot of fun and we were all giggling like little kids when it was our turn.Next stop was the Star Brewery in Wellington. We had wanted to see around it but alas it turned out that we needed to write to the general manager in advance to arrange a visit. Ah well, wi don try. It was also interesting to drive along the back roads as we saw the“Low Cost Housing” and other areas where many of the patients live.To end our Grand Day Out we headed to 555 Spot, a bar on Bai Bureh Road where we met up with some of the nurses for a couple of drinks. It was good to see and chat with them outside of work and a nice end to the day. Many thanks to Alusine for driving us around.