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[ "Is Tuscan rendering appropriate for Africa?"] Friday December 24th 6:20pm
The night before I left to Kamekwilu, I went out with Petra, Anne and her new boyfriend Frederic. Anne has been really frustrated in Sierra Leone and has not been very happy with the level of professionalism. Anne used to have a really high position in one of Frances top banks, so maybe her standards are a bit high for Africa, but then Petra said the same, that the record keeping was really worrying and this was because` of the quick turnover of staff and a lot of inexperienced staff in all the projects. This has allowed a lot of corruption to emerge and at the moment there is a lot of equipment and cash going missing. Well I started to think that I suppose it is difficult to get experienced people with good backgrounds like me, Anne and Petra in these organisations. I suppose it is up to us to make the organisation stronger in the future. Well after our pretty intense conversation we went dancing at De Milles and had a really great night, we all got a bit drunk and I had a good talk to Frederic. He really loves Sierra Leone, speaks a bit Krio and works with community groups in Freetown promoting health awareness through drama. It was a great last night in Freetown. So now I am working in Kamekwilu, I am staying in a little guest house in Makeni and travelling everyday to Kamekwilu to do the renovations on the new base. I have been making estimates for the renovation this week. The house Claudia picked is a bit of dump, but with some work, it will look really nice. There are three families living there at the moment, but the landlord assured us they will be out by the end of the week. They are nice people, and seemed almost happy to leave when the landlord was there. I guess they realise the great work that Hope does. The landlord owns a lot of businesses in town and can't do enough to help us, he is a really nice bloke. He even owns a hardware store where we can get our equipment and said that he can give us really good discounts. He even has construction workers, carpenters and masons we can use. Claudia asked Peter to stay in Freetown and help sort out the Logistics office, well I thought that I had pretty much cleared things up. So Samuel who is the Hope construction supervisor arrived two days ago to help me. He said that Peter had cancelled a lot of the orders I placed before I left. I don't think Peter will be to popular in that office. Well I am not going to worry about that now, I have stopped being surprised by Peter. I've actually got a lot of ideas for the renovations, me and Jen were going to buy a house before I left so I was watching all the home improvement shows, like Backyard Blitz, Changing Rooms etc. and used to buy House and Garden pretty regularly. I wasn't sure if Tuscan rendering is appropriate for Africa, but it would look great with a crazy paving driveway and some large ornamental pot plants near the fuel store. Well take care till next time. |
Dave (me) Claudia
Angelina Ricardo
Claude Christian
Jen Petra
Bono
Anne Peter
Veronique Richard
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