Swimming Adventure

 

Sister Juliana is so nice. As I’ve said, she is the head nurse at Holy Spirit Hospital. But she’s so much more than that. They call her the matron, and she’s not just in charge of the nurses. She’s also in charge of the cleaning staff, the drivers, the laboratory technicians, and more. But she always has time to sit and talk with me. She’s from Kenya and we talk about being so far from our families our families and life in Sierra Leone. Yesterday, we just happened to be talking about how hot it is here, and she says there’s a pool close to where she lives in Makeni. She asked if I would like to go and said, “Yes please!” It turns out the pool near her house is closed for renovations. But she knew of another one in the area and it’s closer to where I live. She then called Sandee to her office and told him to pick me up the next day and take me to the pool. After about 3 hours, he would pick me up and take home.

 

So today I was all sun screened and suited up for the pool. Sandee picked me up and took me to a place called Relim Leisure Center. You all are probably wondering if it was a good idea to get into a pool in a fifth world country. I had my reservations as well. I know better than to swim in a body of fresh water in Africa. But I did not come to Siearra Leone to sit in my little house all day. In fact, I know if I do, I’ll go crazy! I came here to see this country and meet its people and if going to a pool in a fifth world country is how I do that, then Imma gonna go do it!

But when I entered the facilities, I found a crystal-clear man-made pool with well-scrubbed tiles forming pictures of dolphins and ducks swimming in the water. The employees quickly used a pool tube to scrape any bugs off the surface and removed any stragglers with a net. I asked one of the employees if the pool was chlorinated and he told me the chlorine had been replenished 3 days ago, which was good enough for me!

 

The water looked heavenly. After being so hot and not being able to swim for so long, I didn’t care whether it was safe to swim in the pool or not. My instincts asked, “Is this safe?”, and my desires answered, “Who cares?” Dipping one tentative toe in the cool blue liquid was all I needed to get in neck deep. I listened to some small part of my survival instincts that didn’t want to put my face or hair in the water. It would have been blissful to get completely underwater, but I made sure to keep my glasses and hat on to dissuade me from the temptation of submerging fully. 

 

My surroundings as I swam were lovely. The pool was in an outdoor courtyard surrounded by palm trees and freshly swept mosaic tiles. Up above, surrounding the courtyard, there were hotel rooms that looked down upon the pool below. On one side, on ground level, was a refreshment center that provided refrigerated drinks, popcorn, and hookas: an interesting combo. On the other side was a lounge with a TV. The TV wasn’t on. I assumed it was off because there were no football (soccer) games happening. Football is very big here. I always know if a big game is happening because the power will go out and force people to go to public places to watch and then I can hear crowds cheering in the distance. And whenever a TV is on, there’s always a game playing.

 

When I was done swimming, I went over to the bathrooms and showers. These were the most luxurious things I have seen yet in Sierra Leone. First off, they were clean. Like, sparkling white, glistening bald Mr. Clean clean. Second, the toilet paper was on a roll attached to the wall. Every other restroom I have gone to, the toilet paper sits on the toilet water reservoir. And most exciting of all, there was a trash can. I have never seen any trashcans anywhere in Sierra Leone (expect the hospital).

 

While using the facilities, I also happened to notice a teeny, tiny little frog doing his best to blend into the tiles on the walls. He was doing a pretty good job too. His coloring was all white and he was scrunched up into a little ball with his eyes tightly shut. Did I poke him to see if he was real? No, because I am not about to touch an unknown animal with my bare hands. Did I keep an eye on him as I showered to make sure he didn’t decide to jump and scare me? Yes I did. Did I want to take a picture of him (and more than that, did I want to take pictures of the pool and the leisure center)? Yes, I did! But the phone I have been provided with is not very reliable. There is no guarantee if I take a photo, I will be able to share it with anyone, so what is the point of even attempting to take a picture? Anyway, when I was done, I left my bathroom mate to his camouflaging and returned to the courtyard.

 

I sat at a table shaded by a big umbrella in my wet swimsuit and ordered a delicious lunch of chicken and fries (or as they call it here, chips) and got yet another soda I have never seen before. The brand was KA and the flavor was “Sparkling Pineapple: A Taste of the Caribbean”. Delicious! As I ate, there was a nice breeze blowing through the courtyard and the heavenly sent of some kind of perfume in the air. Though I could also smell smoke and there was ash in the breeze too. I think someone was burning a trash pile.

Coming to Sierra Leone, nothing has been a surprise to me. Not the trash piles, not the blackouts, not the heat, not the bugs and the lizards, not even the hospital protocols. I expected and prepared for all of that. But today something did surprise me. I had an enjoyable, comfortable day. I had a day where I got to cool off and rest. I didn’t expect that at all. It was nice. I’d like to do it again sometime. Though next time, I’d like to go and spend the day with a friend. I think that would have made it even better. I hope someday soon, I’ll make a friend who I can share a nice day like this with.