The House

Only me again!
The house……. A tail of great hope, new beginnings and of trials and tribulations!!!!!

Firstly, I should really give a shout out to Dr. Abs Dumbuya and his wonderful family for their kindness in taking me in…… A complete stranger when they had just had a brand new baby, amazing generosity. I cannot thank them enough…… Not only for the room, but for the love and laughter they shared with the mad Englishman who must to them seem and nutty as a fruit bat! God bless them all.

The move hasn’t been straight forward, but nothing EVER is here! When I describe the following events, please remember, I’m not exaggerating. Also, if you imagine that everything you do here works pretty much the same!

When I signed the contract for the house we was aware of some maintenance issues that needed to be attended to…… The plumbing wasn’t working properly, and the water had been cut off as the previous tenants hadn’t paid the bill. The electricity was in a similar state. It also needed a lick of paint and lots of floor tiles had lifted due to poorly mixed cement underneath them. I said providing there was water and electricity I was happy to move in so long as repairs were made……. So I have duly moved in……………
Water….. I estimate that we have had 12 visit by various plumbers….. Some of which were “Gomer” (the water board) ones, others trained professionals (pha!) whilst always having water in one form or another…. Stand pipe, some taps working, others not, then the others fixed, only to find the ones that were working had now ceased to function, to everything working but wet floors everywhere to a home made waterfall cascading down the exterior water tanks!!!!! I’m not joking! The thing that makes me laugh, is that out of every plumber who came, one did the job he was asked….. Leaking tap in my bathroom, he found a second hand replacement, fitted it, it worked, no leak…….. Sorted you would imagine…….. Ha ha, this is Sierra Leone!!!! The landlord thought that the bill (100,000 leones divide by 7410 if you like) was an exorbitant amount of money to pay and so refused to do so…… The plumber came back and removed the working tap (good for him!), and gaffer taped the old one back in!!!!!! Why?why?why??? So a new plumber was asked to fit in a new tap, which got done today. Whilst fixing Niagara falls outside! Touch wood, please Lord God above me, that’s the last plumber I see here ever…… “Dog” could do better!

Oh, I haven’t mentioned “Dog” have I? Well, she sort of came with the house…… Along with a man called “Fodie”. Fodie was looking after the house for the landlord, and has been very helpful. He would have to go back to renting a room in the slums if he was not living in the house. She was just here…… Seeing as I came to Sierra Leone to home people, it didn’t seem fair to make them homeless. Either one of them! Fodie pays rent…. Home Leone has an income 30,000 per month (divide?!) A sterling job I’ve done……. Not sure Nigel was so impressed :0/ However, he has been helping me with lots, and not all things have a monetary value. Dog is Dog…… She’s lovely, but a pretty useless guard dog…….. Never barks, and runs at the first sign of danger!!!!! I’m hoping for some chickens, I think they’ll make better guard dogs!!

Where was I…… Oh yes, the house saga……. Electricity, for a change, the electrician had a good idea what he was doing, and was only really delayed by having no mains electricity or generator to work with. So, all fixed you may think……. Are you getting the trend yet? Oh no, the electricity is pay as you go, but there is also a standing charge each month……. I go to the electricity company to pay for credit and low and behold there is 20 months of unpaid standing charge on the account! I pay, get credit too. Return home to wait for the electricity to come on (you need power to enter the code in to put the credit in) when it does eventually come on, up the ladder to enter the code….. Success! We have lights without having to heave our newly brought generator around the back!!!! Wonderful……. For 5mins!!!!!!! We have a dodgy meter…… Electricity comes on, a few minutes go by, meter clicks, no electricity……. The rest of the street is fine. Hmmmmmm, that’s one to go back to the landlord on…… Tomorrow!
The painters are great…… They can paint anything……. And do! Windows, walls, floor….. Anything else that’s in their way and can’t be bothered to cover up! It’s that bad that I start giggling to myself! I’m probably going nuts……. No, scratch that, I got there a long time ago!!
Apparently the tiler is great! The best in Salone (local for Sierra Leone) wish me luck….. I’m going to need it! I’ve not seen him yet, hopefully he’ll start soon.
Oh, the welders have to come to fix the back gate…… And you know I’ve had no luck with them if you have read Nigel’s blogs!
I’ve been trying to organise furniture as I don’t have a stick yet….. Nigel and I went to see some Polio survivors that he’s worked with when he was here before. They make beds. (You can buy home made beds on nearly any street in Freetown) So, I think it would be lovely to give these people the work to build the beds for us….. A week they say….. I can do a week sleeping on a mattress I think, so I place the order. Feeling good about myself. Picked them up today, they look lovely, I was very pleased….. Until I get them home…… 6inches too short for the mattresses!!! You have to laugh! Another job for tomorrow!
So here I am, camped in the one room that needs least work, all my stuff littered around me, can’t put it elsewhere as I have workmen everywhere…… And am I feeling sorry for myself??? It would be easy to do so. But I can honestly say, as God is my witness, not one slightest bit….. I just have to look over my veranda balcony and I can see people, real people, who are living in absolute squalor. Desperately struggling to survive. My hardships are trivial in comparison.
I pray that our project homes many many people.
There’s more, but that’s the next blog!