One Eleven Photography

I’m back in Accra, Ghana now following an adventurous helicopter flight from Freetown, Sierra Leone to the Lungi International Airport.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, the airport is about 15 miles from city, separated by a decent sized body of water.  There is no bridge so airport transportation options include a helicopter, hovercraft or the ferry (which we took into the city when we arrived).  We went for the gusto and took the chopper.  It was a short but thrilling ride.

Before leaving Freetown on Tuesday, we attended the inauguration of the Mayor of Freetown which was presided over by both the President and Vice-President of Sierra Leone.  Mayors in Sierra Leone are more like governors as there are no states within the country, so it’s a big deal.  There was a military marching band, Sierra Leone’s version of the secret service packing some serious heat and lots of rambunctious locals with the type of loud horn usually reserved in the US for football games.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008 (Freetown, Sierra Leone) – We are in the middle of Sierra Leone’s rainy season and we have definitely experienced what that means over the last few days with heavy, heavy rain throughout most of each day.  The rain gets so strong that city streets turn into small, ruddy rivers and the actual rivers that flow throughout the city swell, bringing water levels with in yards of makeshift shacks that have been constructed anywhere and everywhere.  Near the center of town, we discovered people living under a bridge with no significant protection from the elements that I could see.  All I can say is that, for these people, it is all about survival.

(Sierra Leone) While we were in Makenie, a few hours outside of Freetown, we stopped at local restaurant so our African compadres could have a proper lunch (American stomachs don’t do well off of local food, which is said from experience).  As we waited for them, we started accumulating a small group of children–something that can be expected anytime we get out of the car.  As usual, these kids were extremely poor but so incredibly beautiful and remarkably happy considering their environment.   One girl, who was probably around 10 years old, was strikingly beautiful.  She wasn’t wearing a shirt, only a skirt.

Everywhere I go, I see children wearing only a dirty shirt with no pants or a dress that is probably their only piece of clothing–some of the younger ones are completely naked.  It’s these types of encounters that make the enormity of the problems Sierra Leone faces years after the civil conflict has ended so overwhelming.