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Sunday, November 20, 1977, 9:00 pm, Day 663
I am writing from Yengema now. The party is over. Last Friday I came down out of Kamiendor, and that evening I spent in Yengema along with 9 other volunteers who came. We partied until 3:00 AM that evening as a warmup, because the actual party wasn't supposed to be until the next night. We got about 4 or 5 hours sleep that night.
Saturday morning a bunch of us went over to the NDMC (diamond mining) compound to play a little golf. It was fantastic! Alot of British expatriots live there, and walking through the area was like walking through a nice quiet suburb at home. When we reached the golf course, we were awestruck. The concensus was that it was as beautiful as any course back home. Looking down the first fairway, it had a backdrop of giant rocks forming a hill with forest cover around the base. These rocks were easily 200 feet high and they were just beautiful. The course itself was also great. The grass was green and all neatly trimmed. The terrain was rolling and it was all developed with drains and culverts all over the place to handle any rain water. The greens were made from packed black sand and were very fine. We only played two holes, but it was great. It was my first time ever to play golf. I ended up getting a 12 for a par 3 hole. My best shot of the day turned out to be one that I shot left-handed. Both left and right handed clubs were in the bag, and my ball was sitting in such a spot such that it was impossible to hit right handed. I think I just got lucky.
That afternoon we got a softball and bat and played three flys up for awhile, until we broke the bat. After that we played basketball, 3 on 3, halfcourt. It was my best game of basketball ever. I probably scored about 5 or 6 baskets, while the most that I ever scored during a game before was 1 or 2. We lost 18 baskets to 15, but it was a good game. Basketball has never been my sport before, but this time I seemed to be doing about as good as anyone else.
That evening we all went over to Jaiama Sewafe, 23 miles down the road, to go to the official party. There were ten of us, and we were met by about 20 more. This time we partied until 4:30 AM. we got 3 hours of sleep that night. We were surprised that we were able to stay awake that long, considering what we had all gone through the night before.
This morning I had to fix a flat on my motorcycle. The back tire went flat just as I reached Jaiama Sewafe the evening before, so I waited to fix it until this morning. I took the wheel off, took out the tube, fixed the flat, and then put it all back together again. As I was packing up my tools I noticed that one was missing. I figured that it must be inside the tire, as that was where it had fallen when I last saw it. I took everything apart again, and sure enough, there the tool was, inside the tire! It reminds me of the old doctor-in-surgery joke, where he sews the patient up, forgetting to take out all of his instruments.
I'll be doing some shopping tomorrow and then get back on up to Kamiendor.
Tuesday, November 22, 1977, 8:00 pm, Day 665
I ended up buying about 60 or 70 leones worth of stuff yesterday. I bought some eating and cooking utensils for use at my Thanksgiving dinner. I am planning to cook up that canned ham that has been sitting around here forever. With it will be mashed potatoes and gravy, peas, olives, bread with butter and jam, and possibly a pumpkin pie. I don't know how good the dinner will come off. I want Sia Kundi and Tamba Kabba and Small Bondu and possibly a few others to come, but they don't seem at all thrilled about the idea. I think it is the part about my cooking up Western food that is doing it. If it doesn't include rice, then they don't want it. Sia Kundi keeps saying that I could go ahead and prepare my meal, but that she is going to cook rice as usual. I don't want to end up having to eat Thanksgiving dinner all by myself. I want to share it with the others, so as to let them see just what a typical American meal is all about.
Today, Moiba and I went down to the well site to lay out the excavation. I cut alot of bush poles and we fixed it all up, putting in sticks and nails such that when a string line is stretched between the nails, it marks the spot where the digging has to be.
This afternoon was a little unusual. It almost appeared as if the people were trying to set me up. A young woman arrived in Kamiendor today. It is her first time here. She came from Freetown. her brother is in Kamiendor, and she wanted to go see her grandfather who lives in the small village of Sagbawa, 6 miles on behind Kamiendor. They brought her to me to carry her on to Sagbawa on my Honda. I finally agreed. Part of the begging used was one statement about the woman holding me close for all of the way there. I got the hint. After the trip, people were asking me why I didn't spend the night in Sagbawa, meaning that I should sleep with her. The woman herself, volunteers her name to me and also gave me her address in Freetown. She said that she would meet me tomorrow in Kamiendor, and also that she wanted to write to me when she was back in Freetown to express her gratitude for all that I have done for her by taking her for 6 miles on the Honda. If I didn't know better, I would think that the people imported this girl especially for me, the way they have been carrying on.
There is one thing that I am not, and that is that I am not a fast mover when it comes to women. If things start developing too quickly, then I start getting drawn off. With me, I need to meet a girl quite a few times before I could feel comfortable enough to try a few things.
Friday, November 25, 1977, 8:00 am, Day 667
I had my Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and I am satisfied with how it came out. In attendance were myself, Sia Kundi, Tamba Kabba, Small Bondu, and Momodu, who is an apprentice to Kabba. They all came ready to eat, and eat they did. It's good to see people enjoy food that you've gone to alot of effort to prepare.
Main course was the ham. It was a one-pound, precooked, canned ham. I cooked it up anyway, with some brown sugar sauce. It was quite tasty and it got all eatten up.
The next course, and the main filler-upper, was the mashed potatoes. I didn't know how to make mashed potatoes, so I had to just fake it. I must have done all of the correct things, because they came out magnificently. First I peeled them. Next I washed them and put them in water to boil. After boiling awhile I took them out and mashed them. After adding a little salt they were then ready to eat. I found a gravy mix to go along with this. It didn't come out too good, and I came very close to just throwing it all out. As it is, there is alot left over and nobody dares eat it.
Next, I cooked up a can of peas. They came out okay, but peas are the one thing that the people are unfamiliar with, so they didn't go over too big with them. The bread that I had gotten managed to get alot of little ants inside, so it didn't go over too big with me. The other people didn't really mind, though.
For dessert, I made up a chocolate cake. It was two layers, complete with frosting, and it went down good. I had two pieces, even though I was already full from the rest of the dinner.
Besides the invited guests, there were up to 10 other people hanging around by the door, often spilling out into the room. They were mostly small boys but there was also one old granny there. I let the granny stand around, but the boys I kept having to push back outside the door. They all got any and all leftovers. I didn't let them bother me, though. I made sure that each person at the table had had his fill of each item before I passed it on out the door. The cake, I held in reserve, though, giving them only one piece among them.
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