A virtual tour of my new home and tasks ahead

Now that I have settled in to paradise, let me give you a virtual tour: Mr. Ali and Courtney picked me up from Aberdeen port after a smooth, night speedboat ride from Lungi, where the airport is located. It was quite late getting back so I said some hellos and made a beeline for my beach hut. After 8 hours of sweet sleep with nothing but the sound of the waves lapping against the shore, I awoke to a symphony of noises serenading me from the forest behind. Breakfast with the team and a tour of the grounds from the already well-integrated Courtney who arrived a month ahead of me. First stop compost toilets (her favourite), solids in the back, liquids in the front and the addition of some saw dust turns this concoction into powerful fertilizer for the banana trees and permaculture garden next door. This is where the magic happens! From tomatoes to squash to Aubergine – the aim for the team this season is to introduce a wider variety of herbs and to become 100% self-sufficient for the tribe and guests. Salone looks a lot different at the end of the wet season, lush greens and flowers cover the red dirt, it’s a feast of colour!

Next is the chop house, breakfast is oats or eggs and toast, lunch is local chop (Cassava, country rice, fish) and dinner is a fish BBQ with whatever the local fishermen have managed to catch that day and salad from the gardens. No complaints from me! Kat, an Australian nutritionist who lived here last year spent a great deal of energy ensuring high standards and very importantly reduced the consumption of palm oil by about 80%.

The solar house is a funky looking wooden structure that powers the entire project. Light is turned on when it gets dark at 7.30pm each day and we have bonfires on the beach, but that’s more atmospheric than functional, well not if you consider roasting marshmallows a must. The lightning storms, which happen about every third night, are a spectacle to behold as well but with the end of the rainy season they will cease to be pretty soon.

Accommodation ranges from organic looking earth bagged honey domes, to wooden beach huts and camping on the beach for the more adventurous. I am currently living in one of the beach huts that look out onto the lagoon but will be moving around depending on our occupancy.

This place really is a little oasis from the polluted and overcrowded villages and towns. Being in such a beautiful environment is definitely food for the soul! Tribewanted has successfully built a sustainable model of tourism that is run by and for the local people and welcomes guests from all over the world to enjoy the culture and beauty of Salone and contribute to the protection and development of the local area. Many of our visitors are international NGO workers looking for a place to come and chill after a stressful week, each with their own story, making the dinner table conversation enthralling at the best of times. International tourists are on the rise but nowhere near the levels of neighbouring African countries as Sierra Leone is slowly losing its war-torn stigma.

My role here is community development co-ordinator and in my first week I have been busy getting to know who is who in the village. I have had some meetings with the community and established a committee comprising of one or two representatives from each main group incl. the Harbour Master, the Community Headman, the reverend/teacher, the Imam, women, some youths and elders. This committee will be my source of information and link to the wider community and one big task ahead is to conduct a needs analysis in order to develop both a short-term and long-term plan for the development of John Obey. Other projects on list include working with the committee and other locally operating NGO’s to come up with an alternative to the sand mining, which is rapidly destroying the beach next door.

We actively encourage guests to get involved and learn about community culture and development. I am in the process of creating some reading material outlining responsible tourism in a developing country and take our visitors to see the current projects while they are here. Others prefer to wind down from the stresses of their own jobs and enjoy the nature, the local beer and the comfy hammocks.

Anyway time to get back to work!!!

Blogging from 37,000 feet - next stop tribewanted SL

It has been a strange few days leading up to my departure, forgetting about the knee operation, I’ve been overcome with all sorts of doubts, concerns and emotions. Some of which are pretty new, until now I have been fairly good at taking things as they come. My inner voice sounds a little like this: ‘what the hell am I doing?’ giving up a well paid job…to volunteer in a country that might just be better off left to its own devices. It seems, on top of everything I’ve grown quite cynical recently as well. All of these thoughts have caused me to really look inside and figure out what exactly is driving me, and what it is I want. While I’m still not ready to put into words exactly what and where I want to focus and concentrate my energies I do know what values are driving me. Here is how I see things: It’s pure chance that I have been born into a society that boasts a developed and mature heath care and education system, an infrastructure that affords the majority of people the opportunity to live, thrive, grow and develop. As I myself have done absolutely nothing at all to deserve these privileges I consider myself extremely lucky and it feels only natural that I want to learn more about how I can help reduce the suffering/increase the welfare in the less developed and privileged areas of the world. It is humbling to learn more and make the connections between the two very contrasting worlds that exist. Especially considering the interdependencies, for instance how much our daily lives in places like Europe are dependent on sourcing resources from places like Sierra Leone for our mobile phones, computers, cars, jewellery, construction etc.

With that in mind I am faced with an exciting prospect that I hope this new venture and adventure will shine some light on. How can I turn my curiosity and passion into a profession or business that will allow me to build and sustain a good life while living in alignment with my beliefs and values…. Exciting times are a here and something tells me that there is much more to come in the next few months. I am already inspired from the brief conversations with Ben and Susie during my 12 hour lay over in London. Being around proactive, likeminded people is as reassuring as it is interesting and I am sure tribewanted is going to be a melting pot of adventurous, conscientious, motivated team members and visitors. More to come….