It's almost the end of my fourth month in Sierra Leone and I'm finding that things are changing, but even more so they're staying the same. The Ebola epidemic was already beginning it's downward trend when I arrived, but now four months later, we still haven't managed to get to zero. We're now stuck in a tricky middle ground where we have to be constantly prepared for a surge of cases, but at the same time have to turn our attention towards recovery projects.
For me, this means dividing my time between my original role of managing the OICCs and my additional responsibilities as Freetown Health Manager. With the OICCs, every month requires me to try to anticipate the future and determine whether or not we can get funds to keep it open, what to do with the staff employed there, and what our long term plan is. At this point, I think we're all comfortable with it remaining open through May, but it's April 26 and I don't yet have the funding secured for May 1. This kind of constant uncertainty and narrow focus is a sharp contrast with Freetown Health, which is a long term health project with a broad array of activities. Trying to juggle the two, along with new projects that will likely be thrown my way, is proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated.
As things change and stay the same at work, the same thing is happening in the rest of my life. Since we're still in the midst of an epidemic, albeit one that is losing steam, our options for a social life in Freetown are still limited. There are still only four restaurants open after 6 pm, and every Friday night inevitably means going to the only one with a DJ: Country Lodge. Our lives have reached a level of monotony that can become quite depressing. Our Sunday escape the beach, though, is now no longer a possibility. The official stance of the President is that beaches are off limits, although the authorities had become lax on that issue and we were able to go the beach with no problem. Until Easter weekend when a group of staff from the Ebola Treatment Centre in Port Loko were arrested for going to the beach. Since then, the beaches have been off limits for all staff. As far as we can tell, we're the only NGO that has this restriction, so it's something that's really frustrating for all of us. When you have such a limited option of things to do, having such a key one taken away is really no fun.
It's funny even the little things that grow monotonous. I didn't bring a lot of clothing with me, just like everyone else. We see each other so often and all have such limited wardrobes that we all wear essentially the same thing, week after week. I open up my closet in the morning and internally sigh as I think about wearing the same thing I wore last week, and the week before, and for every week in the past four months. Our office isn't exactly surrounded by restaurants and the streets are dusty and full of traffic, so going out to lunch isn't really a nice experience. We have a woman at the office who cooks, but every single day it's rice with chicken and fried plantains. Every. Day. The chicken always has bones, but she only gives us a spoon, so I spend my lunch time desperately trying to get some meat off of the bone with a spoon and inevitably making a mess of the task.
In the midst of this monotony, though, things are changing all around me. In crisis situations like this, people are usually given six month contracts. Many people extend, but all around me, my social circle is deserting. When I first arrived, I just took all of the people around me for granted because I saw them so often, but now people are leaving left and right and I'm finding the my social circle was somewhat fragile. Luckily, though, my flatmates aren't going anywhere. It makes me sad when my friends start leaving, but if any of my flatmates left I think I would be in really bad shape.
I think that the way that I'm feeling is just part of the stages of living abroad. At first it's all new and exciting, but as the new wears off and the small frustrations start to seem bigger, you find yourself feeling dissatisfied with your life. I've been through it before, so I know that this feeling will pass with time. And I know that when I have to board that plane to head back home, that it will be hard to go. And also, there are of course some ways to break up the monotony.
Last weekend, my flatmates and I went to a chimpanzee reserve just outside of Freetown. It had been closed for months because of the outbreak, and had just reopened. We stayed in an ecolodge in the heart of the jungle where we could hear the sounds of the chimpanzees and other jungle animals all around us. As soon as we arrived, I felt this wave of calm wash over me and I continued to feel that way for the entire weekend. We didn't do much, went to see the chimpanzees, went on a hike, and ate food and drank wine and just relaxed.
I'm also distracting myself with making plans. I've worked out my schedule for the future and I'll be leaving Sierra Leone at the end of the first week in August. And I'll be taking a trip to a few countries in Europe in June. For right now I think it will be Germany, the UK, and Ireland but I'm still working out the details. And on August 19, I'll be starting my DrPH program at Tulane! It feels great to have made a decision and I'm really excited about new challenges in a new city. Onward and upward!
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