Today was our last day with our professors, Dr. Bocchini and Dr. Buceta. We said our goodbyes at the World Hope Office and set off on a busy day of interviews with a temporary addition to our team for today, Matt. Since we arrived in Makeni late last night because of our trip to Freetown, we were tired, but ready to get back on the ground to survey. We wanted to capture a different demographic today, so we travelled to an area that was about a 5 minute drive from central Makeni. Our translators referred to the area as “the military barracks”, perhaps because of its close proximity to the former President of Salone’s compound. A part of the village is called “Graceland” and is supported by the United States government to recycle plastic into reusable consumer goods. We noticed that parts of this village seemed to have better construction than other areas we surveyed. One house had tiles, curtains embroidered with gold-colored stitching, and a beautiful entryway. A lot of the homes in the area seemed to have Islamic-influenced construction with intricate detailing and archways (not pictured). Our translator, Salifu, told us about a house he is constructing in this area for his family and showed us where it would eventually be located. Another highlight of the day was getting African names from a woman who had trouble pronouncing Lindsay’s name. Anna’s new name is Emme, Lindsay’s is Hawanatu, and Matt’s is Mohmed. We will have to start practicing and using our new names in the future.
Our day of surveying was successful as we completed a total of 33 interviews, our most in one day. It seems that getting between 15-20 interviews done during a full day is reasonable and will keep us on track to obtain enough data while we are here.
While interviewing at the “barracks”, Nate discovered that a nearby village was desecrated by the 2014 Ebola outbreak. It would be interesting to learn more about their experiences with the disease as well as their daily habits. Our only concern is that because Ebola is somewhat stigmatized in Salone, they may not be willing to share that they, or someone they know, had Ebola.
After finishing our interviews, we headed to dinner at our usual restaurant and Nate went to a sports bar later in the night to watch the Liverpool game, trying to be a typical Sierra Leonean. Although he didn’t exactly feel like local yet, it was great to see the passion and community that is formed through a common love of soccer. We’ve noticed that the easiest way to start conversation and make people more comfortable is to discuss their favorite soccer teams (the most popular seems to be Manchester United).
Overall, we had a very successful and interesting day and gained some valuable insights about life in Salone.