Jack Bauya

For the third and most exciting report to-date, I'll be predominantly sharing the experience of spending three days in my village. It was a truly significant milestone for many obvious reasons, but I was still surprised at some of the emotions that came up. As usual, bear with me...

My home for the next two years will be Bauya, Sierra Leone. Bauya is a small village in the Moyamba District of the Southern Region, and in Mende (the local language- remind me to come back to that) it translates to...wait for it...“somewhere you get peace and tranquility.” So yeah, it doesn't suck. I've gotten various estimates on the population varying from 1,000 to 2,500, but I spent three days there and saw a few hundred people at most, so I'm thinking their census data is slightly off. It's surrounded by the rainforest, so tons of fruit trees and monkeys are now a part of my daily life. As with most other things here, the plushness of the forest is difficult to describe. “How green is it?” you ask. Bauya is SO green that the word green is green with envy. It's SO green that my first secondary project is going to be writing Webster's Dictionary and having them replace the word “green” with the word “Bauya.” Anyway, the village is a formerly thriving and currently not-so-thriving train depot. It's on the road to Freetown and during the war was absolutely demolished by the rebels. As with everyone else in this country, however, the people are wonderfully hospitable and so very eager to revive their village.

Getting there from Bo was a challenge. Apparently any transportation in this country is a challenge though, so that's something to look forward to. My principal and I arrived at the taxi depot (called a lori park) at 8:15. We sat around until 11:30 waiting for the van to fill up enough to be worth it for the driver. The ride itself was pretty stellar on account of the landscape and only having to pull over once for a blown tire. We arrived in Moyamba at about 2:30 by which time all the taxis had left for the bigger towns, so we waited. Luckily, two of my closest friends here, Alli and Meghan, will be living in Moyamba and had arrived earlier in the day, so I called them. I got a quick tour of Alli's school (picture Oxford, England transported to the middle of Africa- yeah I know, it's hard), had a glorious chuckle over her cornrows, and with that my principal called me and told me that we got a taxi.

The road from Bauya to Moyamba is a combination of unbelievable beauty and potholes. It's like someone went through with a shovel and dug holes in the dirt road to ensure that no vehicle can go faster than 10 mph so as to get maximum enjoyment out of the landscape. It's 9 miles away and takes about an hour, which kinda sucks considering I have no market in my village so I have to go to Moyamba every weekend. Positive side- Meghan's house is baller and I have a bed there already. Getting on with it, I arrived in Bauya around 4ish. We checked out my house which is still being worked on, but it looks so awesome. It's a stand-alone two bedroom house with the kitchen and latrine in the backyard. I have a mango and banana tree in my backyard, as well as okra, beans, corn, kren-kren (leaf used for lots of gross sauces, but at least it's green), and lots of flowers. I have a front porch with plenty of space for a hammock and a small back porch that faces the sunset.

After checking out the new digs, I dropped my stuff off and changed to go meet the paramount chief. There are fourteen chiefdoms in Sierra Leone, each headed by a paramount chief. All decisions regarding the village must be approved by them. ALL. My chief, Chief Banyon, is a really really cool guy. Very well educated, very funny, and so down to earth- I'm very eager to work with him. We also met the town chiefs, section chiefs, the local counselor, and my neighbor, the Cannon (Anglican priest). I'm not entirely clear on their roles, but they all seemed very excited to meet me (I know, obviously right?). That night we had some dinner, some poyo (wine tapped from the palm trees, translated as “from God to man”), and just relaxed. I'm a big fan of their relaxation policy- pro pro pro.

The next day we walked around and met more people, relaxed some more, and discussed my role at the school. You'll be glad to hear that I'm the Vice Principal of St. Peter's Junior Secondary School and slated to generally save the school from caving in on itself. It hasn't had a principal for a number of years, there's only one building, and it sounds like attendance is a joke. The good news is that it doesn't sound like I can screw anything up worse than it already is. The bad news is that I'm clearly not going to be relaxing as much as I'd like to. Freakin Peace Corps. The following day we had a town meeting which about fifteen people showed up to, but it was awesome. Everyone said how excited they were that the Peace Corps is back because not only does it represent progress, but it shows that education is again a priority in Bauya. I absolutely feel that I have the full support of the community and couldn't more welcomed.

So we're back in Bo finishing up the last couple weeks of training. Emotions are running fairly wild, so I'm working pretty hard to stay present. Seeing my village was really intense. It took two and a half years from when I originally applied, but it was worth every second. Now, however, we have to deal with the idea of leaving these thirty-eight people who have bonded over the emotional roller coaster of a lifetime. It's going to be incredibly difficult, but I'm comforted by the idea of being pretty close to three of my closest friends, and in the same region as many other close friends. All that being said, I keep reminding myself what I'm here for-to educate and empower the people of Sierra Leone. Boom shaka laka.

Upcoming events:

• There's a talent show on Wednesday. I'll be singing a duet with Kat which should be juuust precious. I'm also joining one of our trainers, Cisse, singing a folk song from his homeland (Guinea). – update-- songs went well. The great success was Chrissie and I doing a Weekend Update style newscast called PCT Update. Hilarity ensued.
• We head to Freetown on Thursday to get our bank cards and actually check the city out.
• This weekend we'll be shopping and getting ready to leave.
• We swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers this coming Friday.
• We leave for our site a week from this Sunday.
• Whoa.

If there's anything I'm missing, or anyone wants to know, or has a suggestion on how to make this better/more informative, please don't hesitate to email me and let me know your suggestions. Thanks to those of you who have emailed with updates and to say hi (Special shout out to Kimi and Brady- your letters are freakin amazing, and I'm so thankful to have friends like you...love you!). I'm sorry for the lack of response on my end, but it means more than you could know to hear what's going on in your lives. I miss everyone immensely, but I truly am at peace here, and so very home.

Until next time, Peace and Love,

B