“One
does not know they are insane until they achieve sanity.” I don’t know if I
heard that somewhere or read it, but it’s been going though my mind a lot this
holiday season. These past few weeks have felt like one long healing journey.
When December first came around, I just couldn’t get into the holiday spirit. People do decorate for Christmas here in Sierra Leone. The hospital was especially festive. They put up a tree with streamers and Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling in the front waiting room. I was invited to several different Christmas parties. One was the staff Christmas party which didn’t start until 9 pm and involved a lot of dancing with flashing lights and speakers turned up to the maximum volume so it felt like a club. Another was a Karaoke party that doubled as a birthday party. I even had Christmas carolers come to my house and sing to me. So, it did feel Christmasy. It was all very lovely and beautiful and fun, but I just couldn’t get excited about Christmas or New Years. I felt so drained and tired all the time. I thought maybe it was because I’m so far from home and miss my family and friends there. Or maybe I’m just not used to celebrating in a warm, tropical climate for Christmas. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
Then,
my neighbors Chiara and Michele from Italy invited me to go with them to
Freetown for Christmas and then a town called Kabala for New Years. I haven’t
left Makeni since returning to Sierra Leone in July and I had wanted to explore
more of the country. Plus, most things you need to buy for everyday life come
from Freetown, like sunscreen and bug spray and shampoo and conditioner. I
figured I could get some errands done there while celebrating and exploring.
So, I accepted. The drive there takes about 3 hours, as long as you aren’t
stopped at any checkpoints for too long. Luckily, Michele and Chiara use a
Catholic Diocese car, so the police always let them through with no problem. No
one messes with the priests and sisters. Chiara and I stayed at her friend’s
house in the high mountain range above the sea while Michele stayed at a
Sisters’ convent that has a guest house in the mid-city area.
That night we ate at an Italian restaurant called Gigibonta. I feel like I need to explain something to everyone. Chiara and Michele are both Italian. And to Italians, food is everything. Food is life. Living in Makeni, all my Italian friends do their best to make food that is up to their standards. And when it comes to pasta and pizza, that standard is very high. Their cross to bear is the lack of proper ingredients and chiefs with the skill to make the food that they enjoy. But Gigibonta is Italian approved! True, the food will never be as good as food straight from Italy, but it is better than anything they have in Makeni. From the first bite of pizza, I could tell what they were talking about. It had been so long since I had really good, authentic pizza. The staff was even good! In Makeni, there are a few restaurants, but they never write down your order and never bring the food out warm or tell you if something is available or not until 2 hours later. At Gigibonta, the food was prompt, correct and piping hot! Best of all, Gigibonta has gelato. Italian approved gelato. I hadn’t had gelato in years I almost cried from happiness.
Because the house I was staying in was farther from the inner city, the neighborhood was very quiet. My main cross to bear in Makeni is that a lot of parties go on around my house. From 8 pm to 6 am, it’s none stop partying. I haven’t had a good night sleep in a long time. So, to sleep in silence for a full 9 hours was bliss. I woke up and was able to enjoy a quiet breakfast. I felt refreshed and renewed for Christmas Eve. God bless Chiara. She managed to find all the right ingredients to make lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner. She made it from scratch. To make lasagna is hard enough, but to make it in Sierra Leone is a miracle. We invited expats from all over to celebrate with us. There were mostly Italians. But there were people from Ireland, Singapore, Germany, and America. We all swapped stories of our Christmas traditions and experiences in Sierra Leone.
I feel like I’ve been complaining about living here for most of this blog. I’m not trying to make it sound that I hate living here. I don’t. I truly enjoy the experience. But there are so many things about living in another country that just kind of wear away at your soul. And I knew something was wrong with me, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it until I was able to experience certain luxuries that make life a little easier. For example, there are taxis in Freetown called Kekes. You can’t get them in Makeni. When I need to go somewhere, I either wait for a hospital driver or a friend with a car or walk. Also, I was so happy eating a variety of foods other than chicken and rice. I can live on chicken and rice. But “variety is the spice of life”, as my mother used to say. It was so nice to have Italian food and have other options available. I felt…I don’t know…myself again. That sounds dumb. I was still myself in Makeni without those things and I still am, but I realized I had missed them and had begun to feel despondent without realizing it. I think I really needed that time away.
Christmas day was an even better experience. We had mass in the early morning. People were entering Saint Anthony’s church to organ music playing “Blue Christmas” by Elvis Presley which made me laugh. The actual service had more religious Christmas music like “Go Tell It On The Mountain” and “Mary’s Boy Child”. After church, we changed into our swimsuits and drove to the beach!
We
had been invited to a party at a private beach. The sea was clear and blue with
a pristine white beach next to a tropical green jungle. We played games on the soft,
powdered sand and swam in the ocean for hours. The party was a potluck, so
everyone brought something they had made at their homes. A French expat had
managed to make a pineapple upside-down cake, which was impressive. It’s hard
to find good cake here, much less make it yourself. Some British expats had
hired people to grill fish on a barbeque. Everybody ate so much we felt ready
to burst. We all relaxed in the sand to watch the sunset while Afrobeats was
playing. A Christmas paradise.
We
also explored Freetown the next two days. I was able to buy things I needed.
Some of us met up at a very nice hotel and had lunch at their patio restaurant.
The view was gorgeous! One of my friends said she didn’t want to go back to
Makeni. I understood where she was coming from. Freetown has a lot going on and
has a lot available. But when it gets right down to it, I wouldn’t want to stay
there. It’s way too crowded and busy. It’s a nice place to visit but not a nice
place to live.
We
came back to Makeni and stayed for two days to change the clothes in our
suitcases before we headed to Kabala. Kabala is located in the northern part of
Sierra Leone. All my coworkers and local neighbors told me that it gets very
cold there at night so I should pack warm clothes. To be clear, “very cold” was
like 68 degrees Fahrenheit. I didn’t even need a sweater. I just needed a
blanket at night. Many people from all over Sierra Leone travel to Kabala for
the New Year because on New Years Day, everyone climbs to the top of Wara Wara
Mountain (It’s a hill. When you grow up in the Sierra Nevadas, anything below
4,000 feet is a hill). Kabala is called the Town of Mixtures, which sounds like
a lot of bartenders live there or something. But it refers to the cultural and
ethnic diversity of the town. Tribes from all over Sierra Leone live there side
by side. A lot of expats live there as well. It's more of an agricultural town
than Makeni is so there is more of a variety of fruits and vegetables there.
We
stayed at a guest house at the local parish. On New Years Eve, we attended an
evening mass in the Holy Martyr of Uganda church. After we had all received
communion, everyone was sitting very quietly when we all heard the sound of a
bell being rung and suddenly, everyone was cheering and shouting and singing. I
checked my phone and sure enough, it was midnight. We had reached 2026! The
partying went on for the rest of the night. The were performances in the town
square and people were setting off fireworks everywhere. None of us got any
sleep until 4 am.
The
next day my friends and hundreds of others climbed to the top of Wara Wara
Mountain. The hike was a little rough, but so many people carried speakers with
nice climbing music which made it more pleasant. The view was beautiful. You
could see Kabala below and how many people had come to celebrate New Years. The
crowd at the top was massive. Afterwards, we were covered head to toe in dust
from the clouds that were being kicked up by the masses. We were all so dirty
and sweaty, but we had so much fun we none of us really minded.
All
in all, it took experiencing the actual holidays for me to get into the holiday
spirit. I still thank God that I came here and get to experience so many new
places and traditions with new friends. I can’t wait to see what this new year
has in store!
