Life in Makeni

Makeni is considered a large city in Sierra Leone. It has certainly grown since I was last here 34 years ago. However it is very different from a city in the UK but probably typical of an African city in a developing world. The main road from Freetown to Makeni is a very good road and is called a freeway and there are a few other roads in Makeni that are very good but the majority of the roads are red laterite roads with many hollows and bumps. During the month of January and part of February the climate in Makeni is a little cooler because of the Harmattan winds which blow in from the Sahara desert but the down side to that is that everything gets covered in dust. When you get up in the morning you find a thin layer of dust over everything. Many people carry small pieces of material with them and before they sit down they’ll wipe down the surfaces. You see this a lot in Church. Just like back home the days are getting slightly longer here but it’s not as dramatic as back home. The first month I was here it was still pitch dark at 6.30 am but now it’s much lighter at that time. Also in the evening darkness fell about 7pm but now it’s a bit later around 7.20pm. Darkness just falls suddenly. There is no twilight.  Around 6pm there is a haze that lies above Makeni. This is from the dust and smoke. Everyone cooks outside and there are fires all over Makeni in the evening time. Some of the fires are for burning wood to form Charcoal.

Selling bags of charcoal.

You will then see small bags of charcoal that are up for sale sitting outside some of the houses. Many houses will have small tables or stools set up outside selling something. Sometimes its oranges or bananas or sometimes it might be a small tray with a few empty glass bottles as I saw last night when I was out for a walk. Whenever I go out for a walk all the young children will call out to you ‘Porto’ ‘porto’ or ‘Oporto’ and many of them will run up to you wanting to touch you. Oporto means white man which comes from the Portuguese who were the first settlers in Sierra Leone, . Most of the children are lovely and very friendly but you’ll get a few cheeky ones who will start asking for money. They still associate white skin with money. They think all white people are rich. On every street there are now wells and every evening you’ll see children filling up buckets of water and carrying them on their heads to their houses.

The only cow in Makeni

There are Mosques all over Makeni. Apparently Gaddafi  gave Sierra Leone money to build a mosque every two miles. Though the country is predominantly Muslim they get on very well with the Christians.  All the streets in Makeni are very busy with motorbikes. There are hundreds of them around. They are also used as taxis and to transport all kinds of goods.

Sierra Leone is rich in minerals and during the past two years many international companies have moved in and started mining. This has resulted in many local people finding employment and are being trained as plumbers, electricians etc. There is vibrancy about Makeni and its great early in the morning to see so many people on their way to work. Sierra Leone is now only beginning to recover from the terrible civil war that that wrecked the country. Though the majority of people would not have much money they all look healthy and are well dressed. Football is very popular here and you will see boys all over the place playing football.

Selling furniture

There are swamps dotted all over Makeni and the local people cultivate these and grow corn, cassava, potato leaf and ground nuts. They remind me of allotments back home. Everyone here has a mobile phone. There are no land lines. So when the mobile phone was introduced about 10 years ago it took off big style!!!. When I was here 35 years ago the exchange rate was two Leones to the sterling pound. Now it’s Le6800 to the £ !!! It’s a plastic bag that one needs to carry your money around in rather than a purse. At the weekend I had a flood in my bedroom which was rather ironic for a country where water is a precious commodity. A plumber came to fix it for me. It wasn’t a big job but he still spent a couple of hours at it. The price he charged for completing the job was Le 10,000. That is roughly £1.50  So that gives you an idea of wages here.

These photographs are ones that I took at random when I was out for a walk last night.