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Iona is one of this year’s CAFOD gap year participants. Here is her update from the overseas experience of Step into the Gap.

Iona and Carmel outside Caritas Makeni

Sorry about the slight delay between blogs – we have been out in the far north of the country, not far from the Guinean border, in a town called Kamakwie, where internet is rarely available, and unbearably slow. So I figured you could all wait with baited breath and enjoy this post all the more for it.   On our first day here, wewere privileged to meet with the Paramount Chief who lives in Kamakwie. We all practiced a new handshake where you hold your shaking hand arm with the other hand which is a sign of respect to the person whose hand you are shaking. Sierra Leone has a system of chiefdoms, with head chiefs known as Paramount Chief.

The country has 149 chiefdoms, each of which has one paramount chief and a series of smaller chiefs filtering down to smaller geographical areas. This traditional system is closely linked to their political government, so the two appear to work hand in hand. It turns out that one of our CARITAS leaders taking us around is a potential candidate for the Paramount Chief role, and as a result it feels like we are being taken around by a local celebrity as literally everyone knows him.   As March is the hottest month of the year here, the temperature seems to be steadily rising every day –we had our first heat haze on the horizon today. We tend to visit the projects during the morning before the heat of the day gets too intensive.   This week we have been visiting livelihoods and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) projects. We went into communities which CARITAS (with the funding of CAFOD) has provided seeds for well-chosen crops which enabled the community to eat as well as selling their excess food. Continue reading →

Pete is one of this year’s CAFOD gap year participants. Here is his update from the overseas experience of Step into the Gap.

Wednesday 27th February, 4pm
Makeni Diocesan Pastoral Centre
This is definitely the hottest February day I have ever experienced. This morning we split up into two smaller groups and said goodbye to the coastal breeze of Freetown and travelled inland to our respective destinations of Kenema and Makeni, where we will spend the next two weeks. Carmel, Iona, Joe and myself along with our CAFOD officer, Denise have joined up with a charity called Caritas in the sweltering heat of Makeni.

We were driven here and introduced to our new hosts by Alex and Harriet of CAFOD. It’s a shame to leave them as they have been excellent hosts. On the way here they pulled over at a roadside market where we were instantly surrounded by excited fruit sellers. I was a little apprehensive at first due to the sheer volume of sellers around us but we followed our hosts lead and sampled some of the local produce, which was delicious. I went for a coconut, which turned out to have a surprisingly fizzy juice and then I bought some dried plantain for the road. I don’t know how many ways there are to have plantain but I’ve now had it spicy, sweet and dried and they’re all excellent. Those of you that know me can expect me to be forcing plantain into your lives once I return. Apparently it’s readily available in the UK but I’ve never seen it and I am widely regarded as one of the leading authorities on fruit and veg since the mysterious disappearance of the man from Del Monte.

I made a couple of observations about Sierra Leone on the journey that I’d like to share: the amount that Sierra Leoneans can carry on their heads (with no hands) is unbelievable, there is a huge visible difference between city and rural lifestyles and it is a surprisingly green country (one of the wettest in Africa I’m told).

Once we arrived in Makeni at midday, we were superbly welcomed by the entire workforce of about 25 people all assembling to meet us and have an introductory briefing. CAFOD doesn’t work directly in Sierra Leone but it does support and fund numerous projects and charities. Caritas, the international catholic charity is one of the key partners out here that CAFOD works through. Over the next few weeks we will be observing various Caritas project sites in and around Makeni and seeing the effects of CAFOD’s funding and partnerships. Continue checking in on this page as we will be reporting regularly on what we encounter.

For those of you worried about Naomi, fear not, we have not left her behind again. She has travelled with Hannah, Sarah, Lawrence and their CAFOD officer, Carol from Middlesbrough diocese. They too are joining up with a branch of Caritas and will be blogging their journey.

Pete.

Could you be a CAFOD Gapper?

CAFOD is currently accepting applications for next year’s Step into the gap programme. Make sure you apply before the April deadline!

Pete is one of this year’s CAFOD gap year participants. Here is his first update from the overseas section of Step into the gap experience.

Carmel, Joe, Denise, Pete and Iona in Serra Leone.

King’s Lodge Hotel, Freetown

24 hours into the trip and I am already exhausted. The fun started at Heathrow on Saturday evening with a few boarding gate issues and the original plane worryingly being deemed ‘unfit for flight’ but eventually we got away.

We touched down at dawn and then took a water taxi from the airport to the capital city of Sierra Leone, Freetown. The water taxi was an exciting novelty but received a mixed response from the group, upsetting the insides of half the group whilst gently rocking the other half into a serene sleep.

The first moment to pause and reflect on our witness found me sooner than I anticipated.  As I stood on the water’s edge at 7am on the first day a series of small children walked past our group each carrying a bucket of water upon their head. The apparent normality of this strenuous labour really struck me; they were here simply carrying out their morning business. They can’t have been older than 8 years old but they were doing this duty at first light in order for them and their family to have water to survive for the upcoming day. No doubt that they will be there at the same time tomorrow.

Our wonderfully welcoming local CAFOD chaperones, Harriet and Dennis then brought us straight to our hotel and after some much needed rest and recuperation they took us to Lumley beach for the afternoon. Although it is not intentionally named after the actress, the beach was both gorgeous and entertaining.

All along the vast beautiful beach were scenes of socialising and activity, which we enjoyed as we walked along the sandy shore. As I looked around at the tropical paradise I couldn’t help but feel I was on holiday. So I immediately ran to the nearest sun bed and put my towel down for the week.

Our first taste of Sierra Leonean cuisine was at a seafront restaurant so I felt obliged to go for the locally caught fresh fish. Now I love Blackhill fish & chip shop but I must admit that this was something else and has set the bar high for future meals on the trip! Maybe on my return I will suggest to Blackhill fish & chip shop that they add ‘barracuda and fried rice’ to their lunchtime special board.

We’re all retiring early this evening before proper work starts tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Could you be a CAFOD Gapper?

CAFOD is currently accepting applications for next year’s Step into the gap programme. Make sure you apply before the April deadline!