On the Strike
on Freetown Blog (Sierra Leone), 27/Mar/2010 11:06, 34 days ago
When you write a blog it's easy to forget that it's like writing a letter and nailing it to a tree - you have no idea who might read it  or how they might interpret it. The healthworkers strike has been a huge factor influencing everythingthat has been going on in the Ministry over the past 10 days, as youwill realise if you listen to yesterday's report from the BBC World ServiceandAfrican News Live. There are enough rumours, opinions and theories about the strike flying round Freetown to fill many pages, but I have no intention of adding to them by commenting further here.All I will say is that, unsurprisingly, this is all a massive distraction from the operational task in implementing the Free Health Care Initiative that should have been the focus of our work now. Making changes from such a baselineof poverty and devastation was always going to painful, fraught with risks and with huge potential for mistakes to be made. Sometimes I'm not sure if I can do much in these short weeks to support colleagues responsible for steering the way through all this, but being given the chance to try is a great privelege.On a personal note, I am pleased to report that I am writing this from the Simple Goal Guest House and that  the mattress on my bed is very comfortable. And that late last night, sitting at a beach bar with a cold beer, the pressures of the work did not seem like too high a price to pay for being here.http://africannewslive.com/?p=1788