I've befriended a guy named Joe, a volunteer for a bicycle NGO here in Lunsar. I feel like I was meant to meet this guy as part of my journey of finding myself, happiness, or whatever it is I'm hoping to find here in Africa.
Joe is an author originally from the Bronx but is now living in a small village south of France with his wife and kids. Now in his 50s, he has lived a colorful life of travel and adventure and continues to do so. He had the balls to give the big F-U to the "American Dream" facade that many of us, including myself, have signed up for. I've really enjoyed his company and hearing his stories of travel on a bicycle, meeting his wife in Nepal, and his lovely self-sustaining French village. In meeting him, it reassures my feelings towards sitting in a cubicle, living in a beige home in the suburbs next to a shopping center with a Starbucks, and living forever in debt...........things that just make me feel trapped in this Stepford Groundhog's Day. It doesn't have to be that way. I mean, to each their own, but for me, I can't be happy that way and coming to Salone was my first step to changing that. Joe is a great example of happily living "off the grid" and doing it on his terms. I want that, I want to strive for that.
Joe's here for another month so I will enjoy his company in the meantime and make use of my bike to check out the neighboring villages of Lunsar.
This past Sunday we biked out to Chemende to talk to Boss K. Really, it was more for the bike project and I was just there for the great ride through the African bush. So interesting to see the impact foreigners have on small villages. I'm so used to children chanting "Opoto!" or "Hello!" in this really weird high pitched voice as their way to mimic the American accent, lol. As we biked towards Chemende, there was clearly a strong Italian influence.......everyone was saying "Ciao!", lol. Uh ok Buon Giornno??? Lol! Aside from the Italian curveball, the scene was pretty much similar to my bike ride to Kamasundo. Topless old grannies with their sagging boobs down to their waist and hoards of half naked children chasing us on our bikes as we try to dodge chickens, goats, and ditches, haha!
We finally arrived in Chemende where we met Boss K and also acquired an entire posse of children that followed us like a shadow throughout the village. So funny how I'm used to the children staring and following, lol. They would all try to cut each other off so they could be the closest to my bike to have the opportunity to touch the back fender as we walked through the bush to the village school made from handwoven grass. The school had a hole on the side wall, the goats had started eating the school, haha.
Part of Sierra Leonean hospitality is offering your guest a chair. Often, they INSIST on you sitting down, they don't let you stay standing up, no matter how much you INSIST on standing, haha. Boss K had already arranged on having chairs put under the shade of the tree next to the school. So we sit down to talk business as we become swallowed by a hoard of village children who quietly sit and observe "di opoto dem". Joe & Boss K talk shop as I smile and wave to these curious rugrats. In Temne, I would ask "Nes a mua?" and they would tell me their names and they'd giggle when I would say, "Mine yi Yainkain." This one girl, Mariama would give biggest smile whenever we made eye contact. How cute is all of this, really. It was, haha, you still get poster picture Peace Corps kumbaya moments, lol.
When Boss K found out that I was an OLGSS teacher, he showed me one of my JSS1 girls, Kadiatu. She walks the 7+ miles to school everyday to and from Chemende. So right now, we're looking into getting her registered for the bike program to ease her commute a bit.
We wrapped things up and I slathered on another layer of sunscreen as the children curiously watched me. I was about to put the sunscreen back in my bag then I saw Mariama smile at me again with her huge white teeth and I decided to give her a little dollop. She rubbed it on her arms, copying me. Mariama was the center of attention as all her friends circled around her and sniffed her arms. All you heard where kiddie whisperings of "Eeeeehhh....Ofolfol...." which means "nice smell" in Khathemne.
We head out and all the kids give us a double thumbs up and their biggest smiles. The thumbs-up, Joe's doing, he taught them this, lol. This village will be "thumbs-upping" for generations, haha. As we slowly bike away, the children start running after us and laughing. It's all great at first but then they start catching up and it starts transitioning to more like a horror flick chase scene, lol. So this is the part where we pick up the pace to prevent kids from jumping onto our bikes because YES, they will do that, lol. We speed off, wave goodbye and head back into Lunsar town to end our day with some couscous at a local kukri.
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