Police

I had my first run in with the Sierra Leonean police.  A neighbor friend and I went to her village overnight.  My friend offered to drive us on his motorbike to the village of Musaya.  We arrived close to the first police checkpoint and my friend Serah got down from the bike to walk across the checkpoint because you are technically not allowed to ride with three people on a bike.  As the driver and I approached the checkpoint they told us we had to pay 4,000 leones.  I was thinking they just wanted my money so I begged them to not make us pay because they probably just eat the money anyways.  They let us pass without paying and we were on our way.

Making pancakes in the village, Musaia

My friend and I had a lovely time in Musaya.  I got to meet many of her family members.  We also got to go swimming in the river there which was wonderful because there is no river in Kabala to swim in.  We also make pancakes over a fire the next morning which was quite an accomplishment.  As we were waiting for our driver to come back and pick us up, he called saying the police at that first checkpoint held his bike because it was not licensed.  They took his bike all the way back to Kabala to hold the bike at the police station.  He then took his father's bike to come pick us up.

When we arrived, we went straight to the station to attempt to get the bike.  Unfortunately, we suspect the reason why they held the bike was because they knew he was carrying a white woman.  And unfortunately it is believed that white women have money.  We went to the station to beg for the bike if they gave us two months to license it.  They told us to come back the next day to try. After going to the station, the officer right away had our driver make a statement.  He did not even listen to anything we had to say.  He wrote a statement for the boy and said someone had to come bail him out before he has to appear at court on Wednesday.  We called a friend to come bail him from jail.  The three of us pleaded with the man to let the boy go.

There are many problems with this whole system but the biggest one is the fact that it is extremely expensive to get your bike licensed.  The driver would have to pay 750,000 leones ($175) to license the bike.  How is he going to afford 750,000 for a license when he only makes 25,000 a day?  So it is very common for bikes not to be licensed here.  The other problem is that if he goes to court, he would have to pay 500,000 Leones fine and then another 500,000 for court fees.  If he cannot pay, they will take the bike or they will lock him up.

So the best option here is to pay off the police.  My friend who bailed the driver attempted to pay the man 40,000 leones bribe but he would not accept it while I was around.  The poor officer was quite afraid of me.  I could see his hands shaking.  After talking in private with the boss, they asked for 100,000 to drop the charges.  We ended up giving him a total of 90,000 Leones.

Learning to winnow rice at a teacher's farm

There are so many things wrong with this system.  The fact is that police take bribes because they simply do not get paid well from the government.  So how are you supposed to make a living if the government does not pay you well.  You are almost forced to take bribes.  But it is also unfortunate that I happen to be white and that skin color plays such a role in the issue.  That is why they held the bike, that is why they were hesitant to accept a bribe and that is why when they did the bribe was high.  I was hesitant to go to the station, buy my friends were saying since I was the one who begged the police to let us not pay the 4,000 tax at the first checkpoint, that I should go and plead with them.  Also a parent at the school also works at the station so we were hoping this would give us an advantage, but unfortunately it didn't.

My students starting to make our football net out of plastic water bags

Aside from the police, I have spent a couple Saturday's at one of the teacher's farms.  I have learned how to winnow and fan the rice.  It is truly a form of art that I am still trying to master.  The first time, it was a learning process at the farm.  The women were all laughing at me because I was not good at it.  But, the second time I went to the farm, I knew what I was doing.  The villagers found it quite amazing to watch me work.  I don't know what people think white people do, but they have this idea that we do not ever do any physical work.  So I enjoy breaking this stereotype.  It has given me the idea to start my own garden.  We shall see what comes of this idea.

Watching class 3 play class 4 in football.  My girls beat class 4 girls!

In my classroom, I have had a series of projects we have done with these grafting packets.  They are plastic bags filled with clean drinking water.  You can see them all over Sierra Leone.  They litter the streets because there is no place to throw them away.  We began by collecting the grafting packets to make a football net.  Class 3 crocheted the packets together and we gave the long ropes of grafting packets to class 6 who began to make the football net.  We have almost completed one football net.  We are also studying plants in Science so we planted seeds inside these grafting packets.  They cut the top off the packet, then they filled it with dirt, and planted the seed inside.  The students have absolutely loved watching them grow!  Some of them have even planted more plants at home.  It has been a joy to see how much they have enjoyed this.  Our last project with the grafting packets has been to make mats.  We have crocheted them together and then weaved the ropes of grafting through the frame.  They are turning out so well.  I am making them do one mat for two students so it has been quite the lesson in learning how to work together.  As we continue to reuse and recycle in our classroom, I hope that this has some lasting impact on them because taking care of waste in Sierra Leone is a huge problem.