Every day in Sierra Leone is different, and every day brings it's own challenges and breakthroughs. There can be high highs and low lows, often in a very short space of time. Part of this way of life has produced something that I like to refer to as the "laugh-cry continuum". Let me explain...
During the course of any given day, a number of situations arise where, depending on where I am on the continuum, I may feel like reacting to a situation with either laughter or tears. As far as possible, I try to opt for the former, following my Dad's advice that whatever happens in life, keep a sense of humour. Wise words. Thanks Dad.
Here are some examples:
Last night, after a particularly long day at work, we didn't have any water in the flat. Bearing in mind that it's around 33 degrees with very high humidity, it's not much fun when there's no water. So I decided to take our two buckets down to the outside tap and fill them up so we could at least wash dishes and have a bit of a wash ourselves. Very stupidly I forgot to put on my flip-flops and when I got outside and it was dark I stepped straight into some chicken shit. Cue laugh-cry moment. It was a close call, but managed to somehow see the funny side.
At night, if our landlord's in and there is a power cut, there is a generator that comes on in it's place. The only issue is that in order to switch from national power to generator power, we have to pull a lever in the kitchen. During any given evening or night, this may happen a number of times. It's great when it's either national power or generator throughout the night because it means the fans keep running. But when it's a mixture of the two, it's often quite a broken night's sleep because you get hot very quickly when the fans aren't running. On one particular night, just after I arrived back from Tanzania, it happened four or five times. It wouldn't be so bad but going to bed can be quite a complicated procedure because of getting in and out of the mosquito net. Once inside, it's not possible to turn out the lights so getting in and out is all done by torch. As well as the torch I also need to remember to have my phone inside the net because it doubles up as my alarm clock and an eye mask because the curtains don't block out the light. During the ear infection week, I also took a bottle of olive oil in with me so I could pour it into my ear before lying down. If I forget any of these items or need to switch over the power it can provoke a laugh-cry moment. Most of the time I manage to chuckle, but I when it's 4am and it's the third time I've switched the power over, it's not always easy to keep a sense of humour!
I think one of the most amusing tests of the laugh-cry continuum came today when I found myself juggling a programme modelling session with Jalloh, booking flights to South Africa and skyping with our London office to try and get approval for said flights. Somewhere between all this I went downstairs to buy some bread and bananas as I realised I hadn't had any breakfast. It was only when I got back upstairs that I realised the back zip of my skirt had come undone and I'd been walking around the office with my underwear on full show. No question - definitely a laughing moment!
During the course of any given day, a number of situations arise where, depending on where I am on the continuum, I may feel like reacting to a situation with either laughter or tears. As far as possible, I try to opt for the former, following my Dad's advice that whatever happens in life, keep a sense of humour. Wise words. Thanks Dad.
Here are some examples:
Last night, after a particularly long day at work, we didn't have any water in the flat. Bearing in mind that it's around 33 degrees with very high humidity, it's not much fun when there's no water. So I decided to take our two buckets down to the outside tap and fill them up so we could at least wash dishes and have a bit of a wash ourselves. Very stupidly I forgot to put on my flip-flops and when I got outside and it was dark I stepped straight into some chicken shit. Cue laugh-cry moment. It was a close call, but managed to somehow see the funny side.
At night, if our landlord's in and there is a power cut, there is a generator that comes on in it's place. The only issue is that in order to switch from national power to generator power, we have to pull a lever in the kitchen. During any given evening or night, this may happen a number of times. It's great when it's either national power or generator throughout the night because it means the fans keep running. But when it's a mixture of the two, it's often quite a broken night's sleep because you get hot very quickly when the fans aren't running. On one particular night, just after I arrived back from Tanzania, it happened four or five times. It wouldn't be so bad but going to bed can be quite a complicated procedure because of getting in and out of the mosquito net. Once inside, it's not possible to turn out the lights so getting in and out is all done by torch. As well as the torch I also need to remember to have my phone inside the net because it doubles up as my alarm clock and an eye mask because the curtains don't block out the light. During the ear infection week, I also took a bottle of olive oil in with me so I could pour it into my ear before lying down. If I forget any of these items or need to switch over the power it can provoke a laugh-cry moment. Most of the time I manage to chuckle, but I when it's 4am and it's the third time I've switched the power over, it's not always easy to keep a sense of humour!
I think one of the most amusing tests of the laugh-cry continuum came today when I found myself juggling a programme modelling session with Jalloh, booking flights to South Africa and skyping with our London office to try and get approval for said flights. Somewhere between all this I went downstairs to buy some bread and bananas as I realised I hadn't had any breakfast. It was only when I got back upstairs that I realised the back zip of my skirt had come undone and I'd been walking around the office with my underwear on full show. No question - definitely a laughing moment!
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| The mosquito net trap! |
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