Sunday, March 19, 1978, 9:00 pm, Day 782

Last Friday I went in to see Mr.Dainkeh at the MEP office in Freetown. He had some questions about the Kamiendor material list, which was already sitting on the Minister's desk, waiting for him to sign. It seems that we missedcommunications somewhere. The list that he sent the Minister had included on it both the Phase I materials and the Phase II materials. The Ministry was only to pay for the Phase Imaterials, but now the Ministeris being asked to sign for it all. This is about 4000 leones more than was agreed upon before, and it might be causing some of the delay. CUSO is supposed to be supplying the money for the Phase II materials, so that list shouldn't have been sent to the Minister. Mr.Dainkeh didn't want to try to correct this mistake. He wants to wait and see if the Minister will sign, and then the extra materials will just be kept in the supply store. The extra ones could all be used on the Yarya project.

When I reached Sefadu this evening the Chief informed me that maybe tomorrow we will get a tipper. That was bad news. It shows just how much gets done while I am away. When I last left Freetown, the tipper arrangement was supposedly all made, and it should have gone up to Kamiendor that very day. Now I find out that, eleven days later, it still hasn't left. The chief says that the reason is that the agreement was made with the owner of the tipper, but that the driver of the tipper refuses to go.

I am not too worried or upset at all of this. I am now at a point where I realize that there is no way that this project will get finished this dry season, and even a possibilityof not next dry season either. Therefore, I am not going to go busting my butttrying to get things done quickly or on time, as everyone else seems content to let things left undone.

I still plan to come back and construct Yarya's system next dry season. With any luck, Kamiendor's system might get finished at about the same time.

Now, about my financial situation. Being that I have now left Freetown and plan to spend the remainder of this month up country, I might be able to recover enough lost ground so that I won't come out too far behind. I find that to live in Freetown I need to make about 15 leones a day, or about 100 leones per week, if I don't want to crimp my style. That is about what I averaged for this last visit. It's too bad that Peace Corps only gives us about half that much though. That means that I either spend more than I make or I try to cut down. I still have about 600 leones in the bank, so I can still afford to splurge for a while more. At the rate that I am going though, it wouldn't take near as long to use up that money as it used to. I used to spend just 100 leones per month. But not now.

Now for some of the girls. As I said before, Fatu met me at the City Hotel Friday morning. We were to go shopping together, but Fatu changed her mind. She didn't want us to be seen together in the streets in the daylight. She said that she had friends and family that might see them, and so she was ashamed to be seen with me. I told her that I wasn't going shopping by myself. I ended up giving her 10 leones to buy materials to make her a dress. I told her that she wasn't to use the money to but anything else except the material. I didn't want her to just waste the money.

Now for Mabinti. She came along with Fatu that morning. While we were there, Mabinti told me that she wanted Jim Olsen. Therefore, I gave her Jim's address. She said that she wanted to write him, and that she wanted to go up to his village. I told Mabinti about Diana and about how Jim didn't want Diana any more. This all later got me into a bit of a palaver, and I guess that I hurt a few people's feelings.

That afternoon, Friday afternoon, I met Steve Barrnet, an agriculture volunteer from Massingbi. Steve and I went over to The Rooster for dinner and then came back to the City Hotel for a few beers and to wait until it was time for the movie to start. While we were there at the City, Diana showed up. I got into a good long conversation with her. I showed her all of my pictures and also chatted about all of the different job possibilities for a woman there in Freetown. Finally, it became time for us to go to the movie, and so I invited Diana along. It was an American skin-flick called "The Female Response", and then a Chinese Kung Fu movie.

At about 12:30 the movies were done, so we walked back over to the City Hotel night club. Steve called it a night here and went home to bed. Diana and I looked in the door of the place and saw that it was Bingo night. Instead of playing music, they had a guy sitting there calling the numbers over the sound system, and all of the people were sitting around playing Bingo. I didn't want Bingo, so we left and went over to the Odion Club. It had just closed for the night, so we then went across the street to the Tamarack Snack Bar. We met Sally there. I remember her as "the witch lady" that bit Fatu's hand that time.

Together we three stayed there and had a few beers until the place closed at about 1:30. Then we went over to the Strand Club but they were already closed. We then continued on to the Tam Tam Club. We stayed there until it closed also. This was at about 3:00 AM. When they closed, Sally, Diana, and I each took his last beer and we came outside and sat on the stoop in front of the building. We were there for over a half hour. I showed them a mind-using item that is done with 5 bottle caps. Starting with a certain pattern, the caps then have to be moved around a certain way until the required final pattern is reached.

Finally, at about 3:30, Sally went on home, and Diana and I found a taxi also. So far, during this whole evening, I never said anything about Diana coming home with me. Diana was still hung up on Jim so I figured that she wouldn't agree. Well, when we got in the taxi, Diana just told the driver my address, so Diana came on home with me. Even though we slept together that night, Diana didn't agree to go all of the way. She tells me that she is waiting for Jim to make the first move. When she sees that he has gone with another woman, then she will switch over to me. That is where this palaver thing comes in.

The next day we met Fatu at the City Hotel. Mabinti was there also. Diana told Fatu what she had told me. The night before, I had told Diana about what Mabinti had talked to me about. Mabinti now says that she was just joking, and that she doesn't want Jim. Fatu told me that I shouldn't have told Diana about Mabinti. Fatu feels shamed towards Mabinti, because Fatu feels that Mabinti talked to me because Fatu was her friend. Fatu didn't actually come out and get mad at me for sleeping with Diana, but I could see that she was a little jealous. It seems that there is a definite pecking order involved here.Diana is the oldest. Fatu and Mabinti are just little kids compared to her. It seems that if Diana decided that she wanted me, then Fatu would just have to give me up. Fatu was unwilling to cross Diana. So Diana is on top. Fatu is lower than Diana, and then Mabinti is even lower than Fatu.

Being number two though, I guess you try harder. With the fact that I spent the last night with Diana known to Fatu, Fatu decided that she would have to do something to try to keep me. She came home with me that afternoon and wanted to do it then. I told her to wait until that evening. I was too tired to go out that night, so I gave Fatu some money and she went out to the movies. Later, she went to OK's, and when her money was all gone, she came home to me.

Fatu now says that she is going to come up to Kamiendor in another week. She says that she will leave Freetown on Monday. I reminded her of everything that she needed to know for the trip. I will be very surprised if I see her up there. Traveling alone, and she has to spend a night in Sefadu where she doesn't have anyone that she knows. I don't think that she will do it. Now, Diana on the other hand, seems interested in coming up to Kamiendor. I think that my situation with Diana has progressed nicely, and my future might lie with her. Diana can get along with all people, while Fatu just gets in palavers with them.

Monday, March 20, 1978, 1:00 am, Day 783