Best and Worst Experiences in West Africa

Best and Worst Experiences in West Africa

14^th August 2006
In the great tradition of repeating similar articles to those I produced in the Philippines, here are my best and worst experiences.

The Philippines equivalent can be found here.

Top 10 Experiences

Shouting at Semeh Roberts
An unexpected highlight. Nothing was more satisfying on this trip for me. Shouting at someone profiting from the misery of his own people just felt good.
Meeting volunteers from all over the world
Well, they were mostly from North America, but nice meeting them nevertheless. This was number one on my Filipino list. It is just cool meeting people, hearing their stories and their world views.

I was quite surprised to hear how angry all the Americans were at George Bush. They were all left-leaning variety. Would of been interesting to see some of them butt heads with those on the right.
Laughing at the Wli waterfalls
That felt good.
My Epiphany
Hamming it up with Boyfriend!
I got a lot of laughs with the whole boy band concept.

It was effectively a piss-take of the whole recording industry. We spent many hours discussing marketing strategies and how best to make it big. I freely admitted that I was in it for the money and the chicks.
Togo
Road trips are always fun. We managed to pack quite a bit into the extended weekend. The monkeys, voodoo markets and waterfalls were all cool.

The density of the trip has it just edge out Burkina Faso and Mali.
Burkina Faso and Mali
I needed a decent break after the dramas on camp and this two week road trip hit the spot nicely. Was a shame we never got to Timbuktu and Mali, but it was a blast nevertheless.

Riding the stunt bikes was a big highlight.
Cape Coast
The Cape Coast trip came very early on in my West African experience, so it was a great chance to get to know my fellow volunteers.

The history of the place was fascinating.
Kokrobite
I made several trips to Kokrobite. See here and here for some stories. I am in Kokrobite as I write this.

Camp can be a depressing place at the best of times. Kokrobite provided the perfect getaway. It was close, cheap (by Western standards) and fun.
Being an heroic fireman
What I most like about being an heroic fireman was that it made me feel cool.

Interesting to note that none of my top ten involve teaching. It made number four on my Philippines list.

Bottom Ten Experiences

Being assaulted by old demons
Just like the Philippines, this is the same old number one lowlight.

I didn't really write anything specific about it this time. The closest I came to writing about it is detailed here.

I've got ways of minimising the damage, but it is still annoying that I am at the mercy of something that can pick me up and slap me about so badly. Understanding the root causes, inevitably both nature and nurture, is a useful weapon in my arsenal.

I have both the wonderful staff at Ashburn Clinic and Tara Clark - my clinical psychologist - to thank for my weapons. They are both, quite literally, lifesavers.

The slapping around in Ghana was a lot less than the slapping around in the Philippines, which is good. This is also a good sign.
The Corruption at CBW
It still makes me ill when I think about the purchase of the 4WD car. Such a shame that an organisation with a great infrastructure can be so corrupt. Seems like such a waste.

It will be interesting to see how this compares to Uganda.
Disappointment at CBW Primary
I had a blast at Pulao Elementary School. I got to know so many teachers and students and got very involved in the community.

I was expecting the same at CBW Primary School.

It did not happen. That was very disappointing.
Lack of Adult Liberian Friendships
I made a huge amount of adult friends in the Philippines. Far too many to list here.

It was disappointing to make only two adult friendships in Little Liberia, Dixon and M.D.
The Poverty
Living in such a poor place is just hard. Seeing children search through shit-infested rubbish tips is not something anybody likes to see.

There is a famous song in New Zealand called "We don't know how lucky we are" by a bloke called Fred Dagg. And it's true. I don't really appreciate how lucky I am. I am white, healthy, educated and born in a developed nation.

My options are large, while the options for the average Liberian are few.

It's just not fair.

In a way though, it is good to see these sorts of things, so you can start to appreciate what you do have and what you can do to help those less fortunate than yourself.
War Stories
The war stories never get easier to hear. Some of the ones I heard are detailed here. Some of the ones I heard are so harrowing and horrific, that it almost seems disingenuous to record them here, as if it would somehow lessen them.

Just as with poverty though, it is good to hear about these sort of things and have your awareness raised.
Losing my hat
*sob*
The tro-tro ride from hell
Ugh. Traveling at an average speed of 17 kph for 28 hours over pot-hole laced roads in a leaky tro-tro while it rains is no fun.

It almost sent Matty over the edge.
Getting Ill
I got something not dissimilar to the flu that knocked me out for a couple of days. Getting malaria was no fun either.

In a twisted perverted sort of way, I was glad I got malaria. It makes a great dinner-time story.

"Speaking of deadly tropical diseases, did you know that I once had malaria?"

I think I had it pretty good health wise. Annie was sick just about every day and Erin had malaria three times.
Cockroach in the underwear
Ewww!

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