Day 12: Gbendembu

Although we were planning on taking a break today, after the rain yesterday we went to survey in the village of Gbendembu. This was the farthest village we are going to survey on our trip, about an hour outside of Makeni.

We left the hotel at 8:00am to have a full day surveying, and decided to help wake up ourselves, our driver Bakarr, and our translators Sulaiman and Salifu with some American classics such as “Old Town Road” and “Mo Bamba”. Upon learning our translator Sulaiman was more of a Drake fan, we all sang “God’s Plan”.

Our day in Gbendembu began with the Chief welcoming us to survey in his village. He completely agreed that the best way to understand the on the ground situation is to speak with individuals, and we began by surveying the Chief himself. The village was very welcoming as well. Everyone we asked was willing to speak with us, and just as much as we thanked them for their time we were thanked for coming and asking them for their thoughts as individuals. Lindsay and Anna were even blessed before and after an interview for this project, even though it was the woman who spontaneously took 20 minutes out of her day to help us. Nate got proposed to again– I think we’re all kind of hoping he says yes one of these times and stays in Sierra Leone.

The day was very successful with a total of 38 surveys completed in one day– the most we have done in one day thus far!

We celebrated and took our translators out to dinner with us. As Salifu said, “It was a recreational moment.” We are looking forward to surveying in the village of Rosanda tomorrow.

Leave a Reply