Day 1 was a busy day. We started with breakfast in the hotel and held a morning planning meeting before the 9 Am departure time. We went to the World Hope office with two of the other teams, cramming into a truck in order to fit since one of the vehicles our cohort would be using for the fieldwork period had still not arrived from Freetown. We went to see Jawara’s land, where it became apparent that the plan we had come with would need to be modified. In order to work with the space available, we would have to shrink the grow house, change its design (include a brick foundation to accommodate the wet, loose soil and use more robust and insulating concrete brick walls).
We took some measurements and notes, spoke with Jawara, and began developing a new plan. Went to the market to obtain both grain for spawn expansion and construction materials It became clear that grain was not very abundant, and was quite pricy. (Jawara informed us that it was typically more available and inexpensive in November/December) Slightly discouraged, and also realizing that we would need to carry whatever we purchased for some time, we decided that we would look for construction materials first. Jawara took us to some hardware stores near the clock tower in order to get quotes for all the construction materials we would need.
We stopped at several shops and spent considerable time asking questions at 3 of them. It emerged that prices for things like cement were highly fixed and did not vary considerably from place to place, while tools and other smaller or more niche items exhibited greater price dispersion. We were incredibly relieved to find that most hardware stores carried hydrated lime (billed as whitewash in some cases) at relatively affordable price––in our communications with Jawara in the months before our arrival he had mentioned that he was unfamiliar with it and did not know if it would be available, which would have been a major problem given how essential it is to our pasteurization process.
We also stopped to look at 55-gallon drums for pasteurization and determine pricing––about 500k leones per drum–– and Jawara took us by his favorite café, where we chatted with some people he knew. Finally, we went by a lumber shop to get a quote for the wood we would need for the house construction. After gathering our prices, we walked, we decided that the grain prices and scarcity meant that we should use sawdust spawn for the time being instead. Once we were satisfied that we had the things and information we needed, we called Naakesh to ask for a ride, which we had expected to be waiting for us at the clock tower. The ride ended up being a truck full of some of the other teams, whom we went to the supermarket with. (We found some energy drinks there, one of which [Maltina] was micronutrient-fortified and similar to the alternate products we have been researching over the past few months. They tasted good.
We returned to the WHI office after the supermarket to revise our plan based on the information we had gathered that day. Soon it was time to go to dinner, and afterwards at the hotel we spent some time finishing our building budget to show to Khanjan. Finally, after 9 PM, we pitched him a number. We explained our plan, told him the estimated cost, and waited for his reaction. Khanjan told us what I think we already knew, even if not consciously––what we were proposing seemed far too time- and money-intensive than what made sense for us. “We’re not here to create permanent structure, and we’re not really here to create a structure at all. We’re here to show that we can grow these mushrooms in this environment. We knew he was right––a stone house would not be the best. We would have to break the news to Jawara. We discussed how this development would affect our plan for tomorrow and discussed how the structure might have to change, but Khanjan advised us to make that tomorrow’s problem given how tired we were. We went to bed exhausted and crashed hard.

The team with Jawara at the World Hope office.