Despite what I might write in the next few hundred words, it
is good to be back in SL. The last time I was here was in 2007, as part of the
Adventures of Paddy and Rob. It was a carefree time, for us a healthy mix of
cycling around the country, swimming across rivers to pick up canoes for
transporting bikes, visiting dodgy Lebanese diamond dealers through four levels
of armed security and catching world breaking barracudas. For the country of
Salone, it heralded the first free and fair elections since the Civil War, an
event that erupted into a 2 day street party across the capital. After 3 months
in the country, I left instilled with a feeling of hope for this young
democracy, compact and filled with natural resources (gold, diamonds, aluminum,
and oil and iron ore about to come online) was going places. However, after 7 years of being away, my first
impressions one week in are a bitter pill to swallow. Although the tragedy Ebola
still dominates the news and being here only makes it all seem more real, for
me the backdrop is the more depressing story.
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| Kroo Town through the old army bridge |
I won’t re-run all of the catastrophic stories of Ebola,
many people have written about it with much more first hand experience. So many
elements of it make it such an agonizing experience for the country of Sierra
Leone – the pain that patients endure is amplified by the fear and isolation
they, their families and communities experience. As always the personal stories
are the most heart-breaking, across Connaught hospital posters commemorate
doctors, nurses, staff and students – all heroic workers in the prime of their
lives, cut short too soon. For those
many workers that have so far survived the epidemic there is no accolade (yes,
even Time People of Year) too high. From my colleagues in the Kings Sierra
Leone Partnership here from the very start of the outbreak, to 2 the 2nd
year qualified Doctors from the Sierra Leone army who, from scratch, set up and
ran 2 treatment centres – seeing over 600 Ebola positive patients – I take my
hat off to you.
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| One of several commemorative boards in the hospital |
When Rob and I visited before, I remember poverty; I
remember seeing basic rural dwellings upcountry, and the slums of Freetown. I
remember a city that, although busy with street hawkers, still wasn’t yet an
over populated and chaotic scrum (maybe these are a rose tinted reflection?) With
that sprig of hope I mentioned before and the stories of 6, 7, 8% growth I read
in the papers, I thought when I came back this time, despite the Ebola epidemic,
things would be better. And better to me, I guess, looks like something in line
with my experiences in E Africa capital cites, slums that have waste management
systems, basic sanitation, provision of schools and healthcare, and with some
evidence of urban planning and infrastructure projects going on. In the
capital, things for a burgeoning middle class to spend money on whether it’s
shops and leisure, or (as in most African countries) a higher class of schools
and healthcare. But, it wasn’t here and
isn’t here, Sierra Leone was poor and is poor, so poor it’s difficult to know
where to start to describe the inequity that people here experience compared to
almost any other country in the world. And I really don’t mean this in a
patronizing “wow, it’s such a poor
country, they really need help kind of way”, or in any way mean to dent the
pride of a country rich in other aspects of life. But, in terms of the
opportunities available to Average Joe and Jane Salone, things are tough.
Tougher than most could imagine and, in my experience so far, with limited
change over the past few years and, unless there is a seismic shift post Ebola,
not much likelihood post Ebola. There
are stats that support this by placing Salone down the international scales,
healthcare wise its maternal death rates and doctors per person, economics wise
GDP person and world development index but for now, I’m just basing these,
albeit limited, first experiences of being back.
The picture I’m trying to paint is inextricably linked to but
is also independent of Ebola, and should change with or without Ebola. The poor
sanitation and lack of education are part of the reason it started and spread. The
lack of influence and purchasing power on a global (pharma) market and absence
of health infrastructure are the reason there is no vaccine already and part of
the reason that the level of care that’s provided in many places is so basic
that the best you can hope for (and don’t always achieve) is to give someone a
clean sheet to die on.
If I left seven years ago with a feeling of hope, that one
day I’d get to come back to a country flourishing, instead I’ve come back to
country that I feel has been downtrodden, forgotten and then, when its
completely down, kicked even harder.
Before I left, a friend told me try and tell the good news
stories of Sierra Leone, I’ve failed miserably (sorry buddy!). So before I go and
so I can try start where I left off, here is something positive. At the moment,
all shops are meant to close on Sundays and after 7 pm, and a normally busy
thoroughfare street became quiet. These kids took the opportunity to play an adapted
game of British Bulldog and, by the looks of it were #lovinglife despite #ebola.
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| British Bulldog in Kroo Town slum |
From the Ebola standpoint, I echo the hopes of many others
by saying that maybe Ebola can be the ill wind that blows some good and be the
catalyst for the world to act together and bring about some change, although
this will require massive global commitment, as one article puts is a
post-Ebola “Marshal Plan”. Personally, I feel it’s the least we owe these forgotten
countries.
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