Living Conditions

Our first half-day (Monday 8/2) was spent at Wellington orphanage in Freetown, and we then traveled to Njala University later that day. We stayed in a guesthouse at Njala for nine days until the following Wednesday, 8/11. From there we returned to Wellington Orphanage until leaving on Friday, 8/13. So, by this means we were able to compare the facilities between both locations.

Common to both was no air conditioning or heat, nor continual running water, and gas-powered generator electricity from about 7:30-8pm to 11:30p-12a. Wellington set aside a room of bunk beds for us to stay, but in order to do this many kids had to double-up in their bunk beds. Some children even slept on the outside balcony floor so that we could sleep in beds. Bathing is a challenge in both locations because it usually involves taking a “bucket shower.” This entails scooping water from a large water bin into a regular-sized bucket. You then take your bucket to the shower area and wash away. I found it greatly helpful to use an empty water bottle to pour water over areas being washed. It sounds bad, but let me tell you---taking a bucket shower feels great after spending all day getting sticky from sweating bullets in the heat. I did technically take one shower with running water at Njala. See, each guesthouse does have a water tank that is filled with water and filters into the sinks, showers, and toilets. But, once that water runs out there is no running water. The water tank is usually filled up every business day, but our challenge was that we were there the whole weekend and the water tanks are not filled over the weekend. To make things even more challenging, the tanks were not filled on Monday either. Even with that, the one running water shower I did take was really just standing under a steady trickle of water coming out of one showerhead shutes. So, it ended up being easier to take a bucket shower anyway. I frequently took a bucket shower after 11p, so that sometimes the generator would turn off before I was done with my bucket shower. It was always sad when the generator turned off, but we got used to it. Fortunately each room in the guesthouse was accommodated with a LED-light lantern, so we took those with us when venturing to other parts of the guest house.

No running water meant flushing the toilet with a half-bucket of water. So, we followed the “If it’s yellow, leave it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down,” policy. Going to the bathroom with no running water poses challenges for many reasons you can imagine. At home we are so used to washing our hands after going to the bathroom. In Sierra Leone we still “cleaned” our hands after going to the bathroom, but it was usually with handi wipes or with antibacterial gel. This reminded me of when I was in elementary and middle school; that there was a time before antibacterial gel and handi wipes when we just washed our hands with soap and water, or just didn’t find it so necessary to wash our hands every five minutes. Anyhow, by the end of our time there, handi wipes became a precious commodity because we all had run through pretty much our entire supply. We were actually using a can of Lysol multi-purpose disinfectant wipes the last few days there. The ongoing joke was that Lysol wipes are at least multi-surface wipes—if they’re good enough for the kitchen counter, then they are good enough for skin!

Since conserving water was a must, all of us (at least the girls) used facial wipes to clean our faces in the morning. Since we could not ingest the water, brushing teeth had to be done with bottled water. Fortunately we were supplied with bottled water every day, but it was important to conserve some for toothbrushing later on. We also reached a critical point with toilet paper toward the end of the week as well. Thank goodness one of the girls in the other guesthouse had a small roll we could use.

The guesthouse rooms had screened-in, curtained windows. Fortunately we did not have problems with mosquitoes there, but that may also have to do with the fact that my roommate and I sprayed Raid bug spray all over the place ever other day. We also were sure to apply bug repellent every morning and evening. It’s funny because halfway through the trip I realized that my bug repellent became what I considered my “body lotion,” because I did not bring any kind of pretty-smelling lotions or sprays for fear of attracting mosquitoes. Wellington had curtained windows, but they were not screened. There were definitely more critters visible there. We did not have mosquito netting, but I just slept with a sheet covering my body every night (yes, it looked funny and this mainly trapped my smelly bug repellent into a confined space while I fell asleep each night).

After a few days at Njala we had the opportunity to have our dirty clothes washed. I expected it would probably be gone for a couple days. Well, little did we know it would be gone until the day we left. So, most of us wore the same outfit at least three or four times. This wasn’t so bad because eventually all of our clothes were drenched in sweat; we just got used to it. But, it sure is nice to have a clean, dry outfit every once in a while. We discovered that the delay in returning our clothes was not completely the washer’s fault. It turns out that when a first batch of clothes were returned after four days the men in our party inadvertently kept a large bag of clothes under a chair in their guesthouse. This bag turned out to contain the majority of our clothing.

All things considered, we were staying at some of the best accommodations in the country. I never did see what the Njala dorms were like where our students stayed that week. I can only imagine our guesthouses were at least ten times nicer than them. On more than one occasion I walked by some dilapidated structure—like something that used to be a small house, but was basically destroyed by the war—and think there was no way a person could live there. I’d walk by it again and realize a whole family was either living there or conducting some part of their daily life there—like cooking or washing clothes.