An unusual arrival into Freetown

This time three weeks ago we were stepping off the plane in Freetown to be hit by a familiar smell - Africa. For those who have never been its something that you can't quite put your finger on to explain. But for those of you who have stepped off a plane and taken your first breath of the hot, humid air you will know what I mean. After 36 hours of travelling from Texas it was just good to be arriving at our destination - or so we thought.

Now a prize has to go to the wonderful planners who decided to put the airport in the furthest place possible away from the centre of Freetown, across the other side of the bay. The distance by car would not be too bad if the roads were up to scratch. But surprisingly they aren't. Subsequently the journey of a few miles takes at least 3 hours.

There are several other transport options for getting into the centre - ferry, helicopter, hovercraft and water taxi. The former three have all dealt with some safety issues (surprisingly) in recent years so Mercy Ships decided the latter was the safest option. However its definitely not the least stressful. To watch your bags being loaded into a van, people loaded into a separate one, driven down an unlit dirt road to wait in a hotel whilst watching your bags being unloaded from the van and carried onto a boat (which you will not be on) to arrive at the other end without you certainly raises the blood pressure. Once guided onto the boat (which is moving in the opposite direction to the jetty) and life jackets (!) donned the boat speeds 25-30 mins across the bay to finally arrive in the (almost) centre of Freetown. Heavily jet lagged with a serious lack of sleep makes for a slightly trippy experience which all arriving crew members to the ship will experience this year. From landing at 7.30pm we finally arrived at our hostel at 11.45pm. Our first test of the patience needed so often here to accomplish so many things. I can feel myself mellowing already.

On a side note (and because I forgot to post it yesterday) I read the lyrics to the Sierra Leonean national anthem (which was sung at the ships arrival ceremony on Sunday) and thought they were so wonderful that I should share them with you:

High we exalt thee, realm of the free;

Great is the love we have for thee;

Firmly united ever we stand,

Singing thy praise, O native land.

We raise up our hearts and our voices on high,

The hills and the valleys re-echo our cry;

Blessing and peace be ever thine own,

Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.

One with a faith that wisdom inspires,

One with a zeal that never tires;

Ever we seek to honour thy name

Ours is the labour, thine the fame.

We pray that no harm on thy children may fall,

That blessing and peace may descend on us all;

So may we serve thee ever alone,

Land that we love our Sierra Leone.

Knowledge and truth our forefathers spread,

Mighty the nations whom they led;

Mighty they made thee, so too may we

Show forth the good that is ever in thee.

We pledge our devotion, our strength and our might,

Thy cause to defend and to stand for thy right;

All that we have be ever thine own,

Land that we love our Sierra Leone.

More posts to come this week!