Is It Wrong??

Well congratulations to me!

I’ve past the 3 month mark. Yep that’s right - I have survived 3 months in the land that was formally known as ‘White Mans Graveyard’ , which given the state of my health prior to leaving the UK is a miracle in itself! Mmmmmm maybe the pain of all those injections was worth it, although having not seen a rabid dog, or taken to stroking monkeys, I’m still not convinced about the 3 luminous pink rabies shots.

Now, I ended the blog last time informing you all of my escalated position to director and merely alluded to the fact that other staff were off. Well, let me enlighten you. I was actually acting as the Director, Support Services Coordinator, Finance Manager, Logistics Manager, Community Based Rehabilitation Consultant and oh – myself.( I think the trauma of the week left me incapable of updating the blog)

So, what did my new found status afforded me? Well I have become intimately acquainted with the water system within the director’s house, the rifts and grudges between the driver, Sierra Leone employment laws, the process for suspending staff, and most importantly how to flirt outrageously with ministry officials to get contracts signed.

 Oh God damn it, I admit it; yes, during the week that was as things got increasingly bad, my neckline responded by increasingly getting lower.

I am not proud. It was the act of a desperate woman. The only problem now is that I am having to avoid answering the phone as I think I may of err, well, agreed to go on one (or two) dates!!

So here’s the thing – is this wrong??

I mean I don’t think it’s a particularly good long term business strategy, but if it works short term (and I am only really going to be here short term), shall I just work with what I’ve got???

And ultimately the charity believes in ‘partnership’ working – I’m just doing what I’m told…..

Mmmmmm, I’m not sure, and so for now I’ll just continue to avoid the phone calls from the MP eh??

So while this is coping strategy number 1 (actually 2 if you count 'peanut butter finger' being the first), I’m not sure the next is much better. Let me introduce you to another pillar in my life:

Pegapack.

These little beauties come in the Gin, Whiskey and Brandy variety and I get 13 for a £1. BARGAIN OR WHAT!! My extensive research has concluded that the Brandy is by far the nicest and by the time you get to the end of it, it tastes virtually as sweet nectar.

Now, while I’m all for immerging myself into the local culture I am not too sure that coming home from work and sucking on one of these bad boys is the way to go!

What do you think – is this wrong??

You see, living here is full of these daily dilemma's, my culture and way of doing things competing with my environment. And I have to say my ‘Britishness’ is very apparent, not only with the national staff but also among the 3 French men. So what does it mean to be British here in West Africa? Well to the national staff, they see the British as being strict, and liking rules and regulations, sticking to these ridgidly. I am sure they had much more to say on this matter but lunch time was over and so we had to go back to our desks.

And the French are very, well French. They appear to like to use a lot of unnecessary words, talk to much and want to complicate and convolute things. They see the British as being too straightforward and logical. Well on hearing this of course I got straght to the point and told them my opinion on the matter!

And as for developing my language skills gereally, I am managing to understand Krio ‘small small’ (a little). Krio is in fact very bad pidgin English and as my best friends family are from Hull,  I’ve  got a heads up really. (that’s it, just lost all my facebook friends – Love you really, thank you for my postcards!).

Anyway for this week ‘job done done’, so ‘we go si bak’

xxx