Democracy is a wonderful thing. It was great to see the citizens of Sierra Leone excercising their right to vote.
My school was used as one of the polling stations. I walked over to OLGSS to do a little program with the boarding school girls and also to get a sneak peek at the voting process. Everyone was all lined up and smiling, excited to vote for their country's future. Sierra Leoneans are notorious for "black man time", as they call it, lol. For the first time, I witnessed Sierra Leoneans not just on time but EARLY!!!! The polling stations opened at 7am and long lines formed at 4am at many places. Things in this country are generally handled in a loud, unorganized, and chaotic way but everyone was quietly lined up, organized, and sorted to their voting booths. I swear, I'm in Bizarroland, where the fuck am I?!?! Lol. But it was great, it just showed me how much Sierra Leoneans want to move forward from their dark past.
So now, we play the waiting game. Based on unofficial results, supposedly, the APC's President Koroma is back for another term. The official results should come in about Tuesday. Everything seems quiet and peaceful for now, it'll be a wait and see. I just kept saying to everyone that I wish for a peaceful election b/c it will keep me in this country. My opinion is that I think there will be pockets of violence in certain politically heated regions like Kono, Kenema, and Kailahun but I highly doubt there will be nationwide political unrest. So I think I'm good where I am in Lunsar. Besides, I'm in a big town with supplies, I'm by a main highway, and I can access the airport in a fairly timely manner if need be.
For the meantime, I just proceed as is and continue to do my thing in Lunsar and work at OLGSS. Many of the schools closed down for elections with exception to Lunsar where all the schools only closed on Friday & Monday........it makes sense to me. The elections shouldn't affect a child's education. Besides, this is the last week of school and we start Term1 examinations next week. After that, we submit grades and then we're off for the holidays.
So here I am, simply an observer for Sierra Leone's elections. In the end, a Sierra Leonean will be the president for the country of Sierra Leone. Good Luck Salone! :)
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