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Thursday, February 16, 1978, 4:00 pm, Day 751
Things have happened lately. Yesterday morning I recieved a check for 760 leones which was made out to me. At 11 o'clock I climbed inside of the truck that was going to take cement up to Koidu. By 2:30 PM, after alot of stops and delays, we finally left Freetown. We then took on and let off passengers all of the way to Kono, finally reaching the chief's house at 10 or 11 PM. We spent the night there, and then at 8 o'clock this morning we went over to the Koidu water treatment plant and unloaded the cement.
Then this afternoon I discussed with the chief and the district clerk about hiring a tipper to haul the cement to Kamiendor and to also haul the sand when it got there. I explained to them that the check for 760 leones wouldn't be cleared by the bank for another week. So I couldn't get ahold of the money until then. Finally, the chief suggested that he hire the tipper and that I would pay him back when the check was cleared. They tell me that they will try to arrange for the tipper this afternoon. They don't want me anywhere around though, because they say that the price will be greatly increased if he sees that a white man is paying for it.
Therefore, it looks like I will finally be able to get back up to Kamiendor tomorrow. I did some gift shopping today, and tomorrow morning I will have to buy some food supplies. It is looking like I might be close to 100 leones over budget for this month. Saving money in Freetown really cramps my style, so I find it impossible for me to break even. If I stay up country, alot of the temptation to spend is gone, and so I am able to get by alright, as long as I don't spend too much time in Freetown. That has been my downfall for this month.
Sunday, February 19, 1978, 9:00 pm, Day 754
It's raining a bit now. It's a good thing that it wasn't doing it yesterday at this time, because I would have had a fit or something. Yesterday evening ,the first batch of cement reached Kamiendor. Just as it was getting dark, a tipper pulled into town. It had 50 bags of cement in its bed. It had also left another 25 bags half way dowb the hill. I was amazed that it was able to climb the hill at all. It made it up over the first steep section with all 75 bags, but then stopped to unload some before trying the second steep section. In town he unloaded them at the side of the road. He said that he was unable to bring up the other 25 bags which he left down the hill. I think that the driver was sort of shying away from that hill. He didn't want to have to come up it again. And not without reason. He said that he had never seen its kind anywhere before. A 30% grade bad road is enough to make anyone shy off.
So, anyway, this tipper brought the cement, and no one was actually expecting it. We were shy on people to haul the cement. It ended up that 6 of the bags that were left down the hill had to just stay there all night. That is why I say that it was a good thing that this rain didn't come yesterday.
The tipper went back to Sefadu yesterday and says that he will probably come up again tomorrow with the final load of cement. He will then stay in Kamiendor for awhile to haul the sand.
Kamiendor Road is in the process of getting fixed up now. A Terex 8230 bulldozer is working on the road now, and will soon be joined by a grader. The bulldozer started 11 days ago at Jagbwema and is slowly working its way this way. I estimate that it should reach Kamiendor sometime in May, if it doesn't manage to break down first. When it does reach here, I plan to be ready for it.
Yesterday, I had people out bush clearing on the route for the new road on Kamiendor hill. People were supposed to come today also but nobody showed up. I went out and worked, though. I didn't actually get much done, but I at least started. I worked at putting in the grade line for the road. To do this I want to put in a 3 or 4 foot wide footpath, and it was this that I worked on today. I only managed to do about 20 feet, and even that I didn't complete.
The trouble was that I was working in the hottest part of the day, and it had been quite awhile since I had gotten out to do some hard work, so I just wasn't used to it. I just completely burned myself out, so that I got tired by just standing up again after sitting down to rest. Part of this might have been caused by the fact that I was trying to move alot of rocks. I had this 12 pound pry bar, and it makes a person good and tired when he has to handle it for awhile. Also, I had a few rocks which I couldn't move, but upon which I used all of my strength for awhile. It is this using my maximum strength that quickly burned me out. If I could keep a bit under maximum, then I would be able to last longer, but I can't last that long at maximum output.
Tuesday, February 21, 1978, 9:00 pm, Day 756
These last three days now I have spent out working on the road. I now have about 130 feet of road footpath done. When I am fresh, I can get alot of work done. Like today, in just about the first hour, I had done about half of what I completed today. It seems like it took me another 3 hours to do the last half. This was because the sun had come out by then, and I find it very hard to be able to maintain any kind of working pace when standing under direct sunlight in the middle part of the day. Even with my white floppy hat to shade my head, I still get quickly exhausted. I think that I am doing better now, though, than I did that first day, two days ago. I was never completely dead tired, and I was able to complete enough footpath early enough, so that I was able to quit work early, and still know that I did some good work.
We got alot accomplished today in just those few hours of working. What I need is a good overcast day. Then, I might be able to maintain a pace all day. I could really get alot done if I could work about 8 hoursat the same pace that I was at for that first hour of today. That would be about 150 to 200 feet that way. I feel that I am good for 100 feet anyway. Today, I stopped at about 60 feet, but I was only there in the morning.
I was really having a bit of a downer this evening. It probably was set off by the fact that I slapped Sata twice today. After I finished work this morning, I walked back up the hill into town, and lansana gave me some oranges. I took them on over to the shop, hoping that I could get one of the ladies to peel them for me. I met Sata first. She wanted an orange. I gave her one, with the intension that she would peel the rest for me. Instead she just went off, peeled her own and ate it. Then I met Hawa. She wanted an orange also, so I gave her one, with the same intension, but she did the exact thing that Sata had just done.
I was still tired, exhausted, and even still sweating from the work that I just got through doing. I was given these oranges in appreciation for my work, and I very much wanted to be able to eat them, as working hard gives a person a big craving for food. So here I was, I had these oranges and I wanted to eat them, but was too tired and exhausted at the moment to be able to peel them. Then I meet these girls. They have no sympathy or compassion for me at all. All they wanted were my oranges.
After Hawa got her orange, I sat down at the shop to rest for awhile. Fatmata wanted an orange also, but I was now unwilling to give them out, as I wanted to eat them, and I had worked hard for them, while they had done nothing. After sitting down and resting a bit, I decided that it was best to be on my way again, to get to my house, wash, and eat my oranges. I got up, and as I was walking away, I noticed Sata out of the corner of my eye, just as she was sneaking up behind me and putting her hand into my bag, so as to get another orange.
This was when I hit her. in the process of turning towards her and moving the bag back out of her reach, my left hand automatically swung around, slapping Sata's right cheek. This was followed a split second later by my right hand swinging around and slapping her left cheek. By then, Sata realized what had happened and moved back out of my reach. Myself, I felt satisfied, as I felt Sata had really deserved it, from the time that she ran off with that first orange. I told Sata that if she came close to me, I would slap her again. She kept her distance, but as I continued on, walking towards my house, she walked along with me, keeping about 10 feet away. she left off when I started the climb up to the higher section of town.
It is hard to tell what her reaction was. She never says much to me, and this time she didn't speak one word. Her Krio isn't too good and she is the quiet type anyway. She usually communicates mostly to me by way of sign language. This time, when I slapped her, she pulled away, but kept her eyes fixed on me the entire time. Her lips were sealed shut, and I am not at all sure of what she was thinking. I haven't been back to the shop yet, to see what everyone's reaction was to this incident. I was going to go back this evening, but felt too tired to be able to talk to all of the people, to get my side of the story told good enough so as to let them realize that I was in the right.
The rest of this evening being a downer is comprised mostly of my feeling too tired to want to do anything. I couldn't relate well to any people that talked to me, because I just wasn't into it.
At 8 o'clock I laid down to rest, and I feel much better now.
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