Meetings in Africa vs Canada. People sleep during meetings, same as in Canada. Today I was in a committee meeting set up by the minister of Land for legislation reform, when a lady awoke to the sound of her cell phone. She answered it, and began a loud conversation right in the middle of the meeting. I felt like I was in a Saturday Night Live skit. This is pretty standard in these parts. Also standard is an extreme disregard for punctuality. African’s openly call this BMT – Black Man Time. Really. Today’s important meeting was scheduled for 11am. A gathering of important people – Lawyers, Department heads and Directors. We made it just in time for the opening remarks, around 12:00. (Photo: Me. "Buy low, sell high". Freetown Market.)
I have learned to bring food to meetings, because they always morph into marathons, like the reality show Survivor. Very much like meetings back home. Not like home, people thank god a lot and sessions always start with prayers. However, most shocking is the death rate of young people and its affects at the work place. It’s probably a lot more shocking for me than everyone else here. Yesterday Osman, of our maintenance staff, returned to work after a week of leave. His 1-year-old son died. Children are very susceptible to diseases like malaria, and parents tend not to take sick kids to the hospital until it’s too late. I know a few nurses and doctors in town, and the stories are incredibly shocking, like the high number of amputations due to advance infections – something we’re not used to in the west. (Photo: A female local council candidate register's for one of our capacity building programs. Her son sat with her throughout the 2-day session)
Ticker: The neighbours have expanded. The new baby has been named Laura, after my roommate. … Management picked a fine time to add Admin Manager to my responsibilities. The engine of the office – the secretary – has taken 3 weeks leave and our director has decided to fire a bunch of people. I am the messenger. It’s been almost 2 months since employees have received pay cheques – sponsor cash hasn’t made it to the bank account yet. … There is no gas (to power our stove) in our kitchen. There is no gas in Sierra Leone. The shipment has encountered further delays. Looks like I’m eating out again.
In 1462, Portuguese explorer Pedro da Cintra mapped the hills surrounding what is now Freetown Harbour, naming shaped formation Serra Lyoa (Portuguese for Lion Mountains). Its Italian rendering is Sierra Leone, which became the country's name. During the 1700s the major slave trading base in Sierra Leone was Bunce Island, located about 20 miles into the Sierra Leone River, now called the "Freetown Harbour."
The 2007 estimate of Sierra Leone's population stands at 5,866,000, the majority being youth and children. Freetown, with an estimated population of 1,070,200, is the capital, largest city and the hub of Sierra Leone economy.
Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one-third of the population). The military, which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country's stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 presidential election, but still look to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) - a civilian UN mission - to support efforts to consolidate peace. The new government's priorities include furthering development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption.
Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone's exports. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation. A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining.
1 comment:
i guess my boy you will be doing the dirty work....don't tell me meetings in Ottawa did not supply the food?..you gotta be kidding!
Post a Comment