Sightseeing and Premier League

Masanga is seeing its fair share of ”[op-a-då]” (definitely not spelled that way but pronounced similarly – meaning ’white man’). Besides hosting both the volunteers/interns leaving and Masanga and the new people such as myself a party of ten people or so working within the realm of Café Retro are here to renovate the Education Center, where Hinduja and I will be working from. First of all let me underline the fact, that they are doing a terrific job in collaboration with local workers. You can really see the changes from day to day, and the work will result in a much brighter, prettier and more functional Center. But it is a lot of people in a small place, and the local kitchen women really have a challenge in keeping up with demand.
Most of the newly arrivals (interns including yours sincerely and Retro-workshop members) went to see the waterfall up in Bambuna this Sunday. The second day of my stay in Masanga. It was a beautiful site yet untouched by tourism and exceptionally naked of shops selling small souvenirs as you would have seen in many other countries. The entire afternoon were spend swimming, talking and sun-bathing on the rocks at the foot of the fall gazing at the rainbow embedded in the falling water.

Sierra Leone is a country of football (European-style) to such a degree that my guidebook describes, how DJs in Freetown can pause their music and shout the name of Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal to get the crowd going wild. Therefore I was anxious to watch a top-match in the Premier League with the locals. An earlier pit stop in Bambuna town had diverted my attention to the giant signs there doing commercial for the days match between Arsenal and rivalling Manchester United. One of the seasons absolute peak matches. It was a chance, I couldn’t miss. Before leaving the waterfall, I had talked half the people into going (to my delight many of whom was the girls staying for a long time – a good sign indeed) back to watch the match. We arrived at Bambuna town square to the sound of two loudspeakers cranked to max., streaming the match commentary, so that everyone in the village couldn’t miss what was going on, and who was in the lead.
We paid the 1000 Le (1,5 DKK) to enter a room concealed by a black carpet. The small room was crammed to the brink (almost literary) by locals glued to the small television screen. Not a word being uttered as everyones full attention was on the game. And with the final scoreboard reading 1-3, it was a spectacular match.
Bambuna like every Sierra Leonean village I’ve visited have their own local market, where you could buy everything from the major English teams jerseys to fly covered fish. My mom would have loved it. In the town centre we witnessed both a child dancing in “devil” costume and an old man drumming African rhythms.

Back in Masanga I retired after a cosy night with good company ready for my first real day of work in Sierra Leone. A day that offered both a board meeting with the leading figures of Masanga, and a meeting with the District Education Officer of Tonkilili district. One of the eleven districts comprising Sierra Leone.