Church was different. A choir in bright colour robes led the way. The speakers are often loud but the vibrancy so lifting.
Then on to one of the slums I have been visiting for a while. The one filmed in our video. We met the local councillor, Mr Bangura who was keen to share her insights. One group were proud to show us how the community had come together to pay for the materials and were digging a channel to let the water run through the shacks. It was not deep enough they noted but all they could afford. It will block too because of the amount of waste that flows form the town in to the community.
Zechariah told me of his hopes for a new life. At 35 he had known little else. He had a paint business and was also a mason and carpenter. He lifted his paint and went to town to sell it when he had some. No one we met was employed.
Sadi had just arrived in the community. He had built a mound to reclaim some land above the water level (just) and had put some sticks and used metal as he was making his house. “Why here?” I asked, as the place is just dangerous and full of effluent. “I have nowhere else to go” was his reply.
People around asked for a school for help, the cries coming from every quarter. The scale is overwhelming with over 6,000 people in this slum alone. I told Mrs Bangura I did not want to raise expectations as initially we could only help a few. She understood but we are perhaps the one sign of hope they have seen. We arranged for Katherine to return.