Yesterday (Saturday) after finishing up serving breakfast I went to the fabric market with three friends. It was about a 40 minute walk to get to what they called the 'fabric market' but it was basically through markets and crazy busy streets the entire time. This was my first Sierra Leone market excursion, and I couldn't help but make many comparisons to shopping in a Beninese market/city.
The biggest difference is that the people here are MUCH less agressive. In Benin, as a white person walking through the market for the two or so hours we were out, I would have been grabbed at least a dozen or two dozen times, mostly by the arm/wrist but sometimes by the chest or bum, too. Sellers in Benin would shove product in your face and you had to physically push your way around them and then they would follow you like crazy and not leave you alone. You'd also get tons of yelling of 'yovo' and shrieking children following you around. Here, I felt like just another Sierra Leonean given how much attention we drew - very little! I was only grabbed once by the wrist by a money changer. The sellers weren't shoving anything in your face and if you didn't agree to their price, they didn't bargain like crazy, they just let you go.
SO while the markets were much less agressive, they were MUCH more crowded than any market in Benin. The streets here are so narrow and sellers right up on to them, it's amazing more people aren't hit by cars, but they somehow get out of the way. There is much more of a trash problem here, and than is saying something considering how bad the trash problem is in Cotonou - but it really is worse here. In Cotonou at least they have decent attempts at sewer lines but here it just runs through the streets.
Freetown does not have any 'nice' buildings like Cotonou does. Freetown is more like the rest of Benin, if you take the niceness of Cotonou and Porto Novo out of it! One big run down village. That's what ten years of civil war does to a country. One thing I noticed was that most of the buildings here have glass windows, or are intended to have glass windows, though most are broken. In Cotonou, unless you have air conditionin, houses and buildings just have metal shutter type windows with no glass.
Anyway, I didn't buy anything. The fabric here isn't as good of quality as in Benin and I knew going into the market unless I saw something I absolutely loved I wasn't going to buy anything, but it was really fun to experience. We were looking for fabric for Darren, a friend from England who needed to get some African clothing made. We went to the tailor after buying fabric for him. It was a really nice day and I'm glad I wore sunscreen!
So that's all from yesterday. Once I got home I fell asleep for about an hour before getting up to serve dinner. Today I served breakfast and promptly fell asleep afterward for three hours. It's been my heavy work week this week, with SO MANY DISHES, I've worked 5 13-ish hour days, with breaks in between meals. Next week I only work two days, wednesday and thursday. Wahoo! Thinking about going to the beach next weekend. Hope it works out. Will probably spend some time at the Hope center this week, I just love those kids. Roger, the last patient who is still here from Guinea, is going home on Monday or Tuesday, so I will need to spend some more time with him. I'll probably go back to Cheshire house on Tuesday, that's the place with the Polio kids. We'll see what other adventures find me this week! For now, to the shower. I have to serve dinner in a little bit! I'll take pictures as I know that reading blog posts like this one, with no visual entertainment, can get boring. :) we don't want that!
Hey, if you read my blog, send me a note, would you? Tell me what is going on in your life. I miss you all!! Hugs, Krissy
The biggest difference is that the people here are MUCH less agressive. In Benin, as a white person walking through the market for the two or so hours we were out, I would have been grabbed at least a dozen or two dozen times, mostly by the arm/wrist but sometimes by the chest or bum, too. Sellers in Benin would shove product in your face and you had to physically push your way around them and then they would follow you like crazy and not leave you alone. You'd also get tons of yelling of 'yovo' and shrieking children following you around. Here, I felt like just another Sierra Leonean given how much attention we drew - very little! I was only grabbed once by the wrist by a money changer. The sellers weren't shoving anything in your face and if you didn't agree to their price, they didn't bargain like crazy, they just let you go.
SO while the markets were much less agressive, they were MUCH more crowded than any market in Benin. The streets here are so narrow and sellers right up on to them, it's amazing more people aren't hit by cars, but they somehow get out of the way. There is much more of a trash problem here, and than is saying something considering how bad the trash problem is in Cotonou - but it really is worse here. In Cotonou at least they have decent attempts at sewer lines but here it just runs through the streets.
Freetown does not have any 'nice' buildings like Cotonou does. Freetown is more like the rest of Benin, if you take the niceness of Cotonou and Porto Novo out of it! One big run down village. That's what ten years of civil war does to a country. One thing I noticed was that most of the buildings here have glass windows, or are intended to have glass windows, though most are broken. In Cotonou, unless you have air conditionin, houses and buildings just have metal shutter type windows with no glass.
Anyway, I didn't buy anything. The fabric here isn't as good of quality as in Benin and I knew going into the market unless I saw something I absolutely loved I wasn't going to buy anything, but it was really fun to experience. We were looking for fabric for Darren, a friend from England who needed to get some African clothing made. We went to the tailor after buying fabric for him. It was a really nice day and I'm glad I wore sunscreen!
So that's all from yesterday. Once I got home I fell asleep for about an hour before getting up to serve dinner. Today I served breakfast and promptly fell asleep afterward for three hours. It's been my heavy work week this week, with SO MANY DISHES, I've worked 5 13-ish hour days, with breaks in between meals. Next week I only work two days, wednesday and thursday. Wahoo! Thinking about going to the beach next weekend. Hope it works out. Will probably spend some time at the Hope center this week, I just love those kids. Roger, the last patient who is still here from Guinea, is going home on Monday or Tuesday, so I will need to spend some more time with him. I'll probably go back to Cheshire house on Tuesday, that's the place with the Polio kids. We'll see what other adventures find me this week! For now, to the shower. I have to serve dinner in a little bit! I'll take pictures as I know that reading blog posts like this one, with no visual entertainment, can get boring. :) we don't want that!
Hey, if you read my blog, send me a note, would you? Tell me what is going on in your life. I miss you all!! Hugs, Krissy
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