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Monday, October 18, 1976, 5:00 pm - Day 266
Today starts my first day in the new program. Skep and I took the government bus down from Bo to Freetown this morning, and we are now at the water system program resthouse. It is a massive 2-story place overlooking Freetown. It has electricity, indoor plumbing, and hot water.
I only brought my backpack with me. All of my other stuff is packed up and sitting in the CARE house in Bo. In a few days, Peace Corps wants Skep and me to travel up north to help an agriculture volunteer, Elliott, prepare things. Elliott is building a water system for his village, and so part of the training program will be held there. We might be there for a couple of weeks.
Tommorrow morning we pick up our transportation - brand new XL 175 motorcycles. That will be better than spending the 60 cents for a taxi to get into downtown Freetown.
Last Saturday we had a party for Skep and my's going away. The food was excellent. We had cheese burgers, french fries, and cookies. I made up 100 peanut butter and 120 chocolate chip cookies for the occasion. There were 13 people there, and the cookies got all eaten up.
I spent last week without a motorcycle. Therefore, I didn't get out to the worksite very often. One night we had a heavy rain. The next night it rained again. On the second night, instead of stopping, it continued to rain throughout most of the next day. It was the most rain that I had seen. Out in Biawala, the river rose up over the bridge for the first time since it was built over 20 years ago. The road was under two feet of water at some of our culvert crossings. Even on the main road to Kenema, the water was up over the road in a few places. Rivers just appeared from nowhere.
About two days later, the Moa River was up to its highest level of the season. I would guess that the river has risen 20 to 30 feet so far this rainy season. The pit in our outhouse is filled with water almost to the top. The water seeps in from the ground because the water table is so high. All in all, the amount of water around Daru just after that rain would have to be termed unbelievable. To see the place during the dry season and have someone show you where all of the high water levels are, you would say that he was crazy and didn't know what he was talking about. Even when you actually see it, you can't hardly believe it.
Tuesday, October 19, 1976, 8:00 am - Day 267
I went to the movies last night and saw "Papillon". There was one guy there that just about ruined ours and everyone else's enjoyment in the movie. We first saw this man next door before the movie started. We stopped in for a drink and this guy was being ushered out of the door. He was telling everyone in general that Steve McQueen was the greatest motorcycle rider in the world, and just being all around obnoxious. I didn't think any more about it at the moment.
Skep and I went into the theater. I sat next to the aisle and Skep sat in the third one in, leaving an empty seat between us on which to put my raincoat. After about 15 minutes into the movie, this guy comes in and proceeds to sit in the seat between us. I had him wait so I could pick up my raincoat, and was a bit perturbed by him, as there were other empty seats in the theater, and so he didn't have to choose the one inbetween Skep and I. I didn't say anything then, but just went on enjoying the movie. A while later, he asked if I minded that he smoked, and I said that I would rather he didn't, so he didn't smoke. A while later, he started getting into a conversation with the people in front of us about the movie. Just about this time I began to realize that this was the same one that was ushered out next door. Every few minutes, I would tap him on the arm and ask him to be quiet. It would work for awhile, but then he would start talking again. He was beginning to bother everyone in the theater. He got louder and louder, capping it with the outburst, "What the hell, I'm an American!" I would say that he was a Sierra Leoneon.
A bit later, Skep and I got up and moved to another section of the theater. I figured that if the guy tried to join us again, that I would personally escort him out of the theater, and very possibly punch his lights out. I really felt that this guy deserved a good beating up. This was probably the first person that I ever felt this way about. He didn't try to join us. A bit later he got up and left, which was a great relief to the crowd. A minute later, he stuck his head back in and announced something about a Cal license number and that the towing service was there. he left again. About 10 minutes later, he was back again, this time with some fish. He offered Skep and I some, but we turned him down, and I had to control myself to keep from knocking his fish to the ground. He went back to his seat and didn't bother us again. He must have been the only one in the theater who was able to enjoy the movie.
Friday, October 22, 1976, 6:00 pm - Day 270
I am in Alikalia now. It is a village 69 miles north from Magburka and 44 miles east from Kabala. Yifin is only 6 miles further east, and the Loma Mountains are only about 30 miles away. Yesterday was the first day in two weeks that a lorry has made it here. It came from Kabala. Skep and I came yesterday, leaving Freetown on Wednesday, and spending the night in Magburka, and coming over the worst part yesterday morning. We are in hilly country now, and the road likes to go up and down these 20% grades, and cross palm-log bridges or streams all of the way, sometimes when you least expect it.
I will have to get my camera out for the trip back because the views are just terrific. We are out of the thick high bush like there is around Daru, and into more of a grassland with lots of trees around, but not so many as to obstruct the view. It reminds me more of back home because the trees look like oaks from a distance.
Alikalia is the place where about two weeks of the training will be for the new water system program's trainees. Skep and I are stuck in the middle. We will be heading up some of the things, but in some of the others we will be just like one of the trainees. An agriculture volunteer, Eliot, lives here and is putting in a village water system as a side project. Skep and I are helping him get things all ready and organized for when the training program will start. Skep will be in charge of the Honda riding and maintenance course, and I am the appointed headman on this small bridge that we will be helping the villagers build as part of the program. The bridge will be in a swamp and will be 16 feet wide with a span of 8 feet. There will be 3.5 feet of clearance under the deck.
Sunday, October 24, 1976, 8:00 am - Day 272
I am in Kabala now. I arrived yesterday from Alikalia. The road is almost as bad as the one from Magburka to Alikalia. Some of the hills are really steep and rocky. A couple of lorries do travel the route though, so it must be possible. I passed one lorry on the road yesterday. It was waiting at the bottom of one of the steep hills, I guess just resting, storing up enough energy to make it all of the way to the top. When I got to the top of the hill, I saw all of the passengers, who had to walk up, probably both for safety reasons and also to lighten the load. It didn't rain, which was good, because the rain makes the road slick. I managed to keep from falling down. I had to get off and walk my Honda across two palm-log bridges. At the second one, the tires got stuck between the logs, so I had to stop and pull them back out.
Tuesday, October 26, 1976, 8:00 pm - Day 274
I am back in Alikalia now. I came back yesterday. On the way back, I passed both of the lorries that travel the route between Kabala and Alikalia. Both of them were stopped. Abu Baker's lorry was supposed to bring cement for use in making that small bridge during training. His lorry was stopped on the road and he was working on the engine. he told me that he would not be able to bring the cement because his lorry could not make it up the hill. I passed the second lorry, Kemo's, just 5 miles outside of Alikalia. It was stuck in the middle of a palm-log bridge, and Kemo told me that he had been there for two days. He was bringing us a barrel of petrol to keep us supplied here in Alikalia. Today, Kemo's lorry finally made it through to Alikalia, after having been stuck for parts of 3 days.
Listening to stories about this road and the lorries that go on it really makes you stop and wonder. This road from Alikalia to Kabala is 44 miles long and contains alot of steep hills. There are about 4 long ones going each way, that must be at least 20% grade. Besides being steep, they are filled with rocks that stick out, ruts that form, loose gravel, and slippery ground. I have to use first gear on my XL-175 to go up and down. They say that with a Honda 70, you have to walk along-side the motorcycle to make it up the hill. You would think that nothing but a 4-wheel drive vehicle could make it over this road, and that only when it hasn't rained. When you find out that these lorries go over the road each day, you find it very hard to believe.
Yesterday, when I found both lorries out of action, I wasn't surprised. I figured that I had to expect as much. Last Thursday, Kemo's lorry made it to Alikalia, and was the first lorry to make it there in over two weeks. He was able to make it back to Kabala the next day, then on the day after, when he tried to go back to Alikalia, he got stuck for 3 days. When he came in today, he was the first lorry to make it since he was here 5 days ago. I find it amazing that the lorry drivers would want to travel this route at all. I've been told quite a few times a lorry has slid backwards while trying to go up one of those hills, and slid all of the way down and off on the side of the road into the gully, maybe 15 feet below the road level. One time a palm-log bridge broke and the lorry turned over on its top in the stream. The hills are impossible and the bridges are tricky, but they still try!
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