Freetown Hash House Harriers

Last night Joe and I moved into the flat where we'll be staying for the rest of our time in Freetown. We live above our Lebanese landlord (and his family), who happens to be a founding member of the Freetown Hash House Harriers (an international running group I used to run with in Muscat). So today I managed to tag along and run with them in an area near Hamilton Beach (out of Freetown and down the west coast). 


It's hard to describe the Hash House Harriers without sounding like they're a bit of a cult! But I'll do my best... Made up of expats and locals, they get together once a week to go running, following a trail of flour along a route set up by a "hare" (one of the runners) earlier in the day. After the run, everyone stands around drinking beer, singing Hash songs and sometimes doing initiations of new members and forfeits based on events during the run. Everyone has a Hash name and refers to each other only by these names during runs. Just read that back and realised it definitely sounds like a cult. Oh well. It's still a great way to get to know people quickly, especially in the short time I'm in each country. At one point I found myself running next to the guy in charge of youth programming at UNDP, so (slightly breathlessly) managed to explain the focus of the work I'm doing with Restless Development and set up a meeting to talk about opportunities next week! 


After the run we stayed on at the beach for the rest of the afternoon and I got to know some of the other Hashers, many of whom belong to the large Lebanese community that lives in Freetown. According to my landlord (Mr Jabba), they came over from Lebanon at the turn of the century, intending to go to the USA to find their fortunes but the boat dropped them in Sierra Leone instead and they never left. He and his wife (also Lebanese) were both born in Sierra Leone and have never lived in Lebanon. Both their children attend the Lebanese International School, and there are Lebanese restaurants all over Freetown. I seem to be living off falafel wraps and tabbouleh (no complaints). I even ran into a Lebanese Danny Devito lookie-likie at Hamilton Beach. Very random, and not something I thought I'd be writing about in a blog about my time in Sierra Leone!

Post-run Hash circle

Initiation of new member - Hash naming 

With the Lebanese Danny Devito lookie-likie!

Hamilton Beach

Ow di bodi?

Di bodi fine. (How are you? I'm fine). That's about as far as my Krio has got at the end of my first week in our Freetown office. It's actually strangely easy to understand but when I try to speak it, I just sound like someone trying to do a (very bad) Jamaican accent. 


It's weird to think I started this week cycling into Westminster in the rain and am finishing it walking through the hot and dusty streets of Freetown. 


Joe and I were greeted by the whole office on Thursday morning, with singing and dancing in true Restless Development style and then spent the rest of the day getting to know everyone better. I'm going to be working particularly closely with Jalloh (the Youth Leadership and Advocacy Programme Manager) so it was really useful to spend time with him building up a clearer picture of the work we're currently doing in Sierra Leone around civic participation and policy/advocacy. 


The intermittent internet connection here is already proving to be a real challenge and it takes me ages to even open an email, let alone respond to it. (I'm writing this blog at a pricey internet cafe with the only wifi connection in Freetown, appropriately named "Bliss"). I've been trying to set up outlook so I can download emails and work on them offline, but even that doesn't appear to be working properly. So I'm getting to know Mahmoud, the IT guy, pretty well. Reckon he might start hiding from me soon! 


On a positive note I'm now a millionaire! I changed £250 and got 1.6 million Leones! The largest note here is 10,000 Leones (about £1.50) so you have to carry large wads of them, which is really weird when I'm so used to relying on debit cards and barely carry cash in the UK. I definitely feel like the "new kid on the block" and am sure I've got my 10,000 and 1000 notes confused on more than one occasion already. Lucky taxi drivers!

Joe and Mohammed looking out from the office balcony

Restless Development Freetown office

Off to Freetown by plane... and speedboat!

Leones. Well done Mr Bradt! So at least I know what the currency is now (even if I don't have any).

I met up with Joe (who's doing a 3 month volunteer placement with our finance team in Freetown) at Heathrow and had a really smooth flight to Freetown. BMI - you surprise me (in a good way).

Direct flight with BMI (-:

What was even more of a surprise was the speedboat ride from the airport in Lungi to Freetown itself. Very James Bond-esqe. But sure it will lose its novelty by the fourth time I do it!

Finally got to the guest house at around 10pm and experienced the first (of many) power and water cuts and the first (of many) washes in a bucket of cold water (by candle light)!

At the Lungi jetty, waiting for the speedboat to Freetown

About to brave the wobbly bridge to the boat

With Abdul on the crossing

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go

I've just finished my last full day in the Restless Development London office, followed by a crash course in variance analysis and quarterly budget re-forecasting over a pint with Robyn (Programme Quality Director) and a lovely surprise goodbye dinner at Lou and Ollie's. Wonder when/where I'll next eat bangers and mash?!


Tomorrow I'll be kicking off four to five months "roaming" our Country Programme offices in Africa to support our teams to develop a clear vision and strategy for our youth civic participation and advocacy/policy-related work. I'm really excited to be starting in Freetown (Sierra Leone) because there are general elections this year and (hopefully) lots of opportunities to tie the work we do with young people into voter education, peace building and youth participation in decision-making processes. If you want a bit of background to Restless Development, check out the short animation on the homepage of our website - it sums up what we do and where/how we do it: www.restlessdevelopment.org


I feel like I'm in a bit of a whirlwind at the moment, and haven't even had time to read the background section in my Bradt guide to Sierra Leone so have absolutely no expectations, which may be a good or a bad thing... Either way, I'm getting on a flight to Freetown tomorrow and will hopefully at least know what the local currency is by the time I get there!

A surprise bangers and mash goodbye dinner at Lou and Ollie's

My life for the next four to five months

Homemade cupcakes by Lisa!