Living in Makeni is kinda like swimming the length of a pool underwater. It’s a fun challenge, but after a while you just gotta come up for air. Itching for a breather, we took a weekend at Sierra Leone’s old faithful: the beach. August is the rainiest month of the rainy season, but we didn’t care. We just wanted out.On arrival in the tiny fishing village at Mama Beach, we saw the wooden sign nailed to a tree. Warning: Poro Society Area – KEEP OUT. Given the mystery and rumors surrounding this male secret society, we weren’t sure what to make of this. James summoned the courage to ask an old man about it, and he replied, “Oh, that’s just to keep the tourists away.” Ah ha. Tourists. Yes, wouldn’t want to see any of those around here…
Funny thing about the beach in the off-season, the guest houses are all closed. Go figure. So up the hill and down the empty road we trod, four crazy foreigners looking for a taxi in the pouring rain. We took shelter in a cozy security post beside the road, where the guard was reading the New Testament and simply described the jumble of giant, rusted equipment behind him as “The Company.”
Eventually we flagged down a taxi to Kent, where we persuaded the lone guest house to take us in. Despite one ultra-rainy day, the weekend was filled with naps and swims, frisbees and lobsters. In other words, success.
The kids and I went to a rural village to report on early marriage. During the village chief’s interview, he kept repeating something like this: “It is unacceptable to send your child to marriage before she reaches the age of fourteen or fifteen!” After that she’s fair game, sell at any price, he seemed to be saying. Some people have a different definition of the term early marriage.
On the same trip, we went to mass and the priest asked “What is it that brings happiness to your life?” and waited for answers. Right away, a man in a back pew shouted “Rum!” That drew a few laughs (though it wasn’t a joke), but then he was one-upped by the next guy who very earnestly said, “Well, the time that I can really feel true happiness…is after I go toilet.” Amen, brother.
