Haja
Haja manages the day-to-day administration and is great at arguing with people (police, customs officials, baggage claim...) on our behalf. However, she has told the Extra Mile director that the volunteers drink too much tea and use too much toilet paper, which is a bit questionable - especially as some people, no names mentioned, seem to be periodically constipated.
Ishmael
Ishmael is amazing. He is always here and has shown us how to get around, find the Internet cafe, not get ripped off, introduced us to the teachers, translates etc. He also sweeps, cleans, and gets us water, pineapples, and mangoes at discount rates. Haja treats him quite poorly and is always yelling at him. There is only one key to the compound and yesterday she forgot to give it to him. He had to wait five hours for her to return to get in. For all this he receives the grand sum of 70,000L ($25) per month. He is also studying and in high school although he is 19. Here you have to pay for school, extra for any handouts they give you, and even more to sit your exams! He cannot afford to go to a good university because of the cost...as an example, the best university in Freetown is 4,000,000L per year, or $1,200. Today I asked Ishmael what other African countries he had visited, and he responded Guinea and Liberia. He had fled there trying to escape from the rebels in the civil war. He told Sue that he had seen his father butchered by the rebels and was forced to become a child soldier, but was able to escape when getting some water. After six months the Guineans and the Liberians forced the refugees back into Sierra Leone.
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(Ishmael's the one on the right :)
Hawa
Hawa cooks and does the laundry (by hand) and is very shy. She also appears to be a full time nanny to Haja's 4 year old son Jacky - who Haja ignores most of the time. When we finally claimed our luggage I had packed so much into my suitcase I could only lift it an inch at a time. However Hawa deftly hoisted it onto her head and practically ran up the stairs with it. The women have lovely posture as a result of carrying bundles of produce on their heads.
Jacky
Jacky is addicted to the aps on my iPad and I frequently hear a tiny knock on my door with a little whisper "can I play the game?". He is half SLian and half Belgium, totally adorable and hard to refuse - which has probably decreased the shelf life of the iPad. The children here really are as cute as they are in the media, and wave and touch our hands as we walk through the miles of huts and shacks they live in. It is very different from Western culture where we are taught as kids "DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS!!!"
Sue
Sue, 61, is a very funny, down to earth English woman who is here for six months. She's quite amazing - deciding not to settle into retirement but rather come to SL to teach. She has been incredibly helpful and has made our lives so much easier. Haja thinks she is having an affair with Mr. Batia, a teacher at Sue's school, but who knows what to believe around here. Good for her if she is.
