Sanjay in Sierra Leone 2011

Day 3 - First day of work

Today I sat down with Mohammed (the finance worker for the school) to start work. He was joined by a group of keen students - mostly ex-Educaid pupils who were now studying finance or accounting at college and who could feature in Mohammed's succession planning or share his work. The location for our work was the library, which is a pleasant environment.

Mohammed asked me whether I would prefer to work in the library because I might find his office an unpleasant environment because it's dark, hot and close to the toilets. Then I found out that this was also his room! When I asked him how he felt about living in this environment, he just laughed. In Mohammed’s general attitude and dedication to his work I see something that I've seen among many people at Educaid and among the finest of the charities that I've been involved with: love for the organisation. I hope I can do them justice.

 The first day seems to have gone well. When I talk to them about financial management, I continually ask probing questions to see whether they are understanding what I am saying and whether they are able to come up with applications and practical examples to illustrate the points I am making. They are refreshingly good at engaging with these discussions, and my hunch is that their keen minds have been prepared with a fine Educaid education.

Day 4 - Typical day

I have no need of an alarm clock here. I get woken every morning at some time between 6am and 7am by the clatter from the classrooms downstairs. The pupils sleep in their classrooms, so each morning I hear them rearranging the room to change from a dorm back into a classroom.

From 930 until about 5 I will spend some time with Mohammed and any other students who are interested in accounting. At some point in the day some food will probably arrive, either provided by the school or some people will have put together a kitty and sent someone out to buy something. In Sierra Leone, people eat very quickly. Someone told me that's because in the war you had to eat quickly before the rebels arrive - I think that was a joke though! It's probably more to do with the fact that the food will be in one small tub or dish and everyone shares the same plate. So you have to eat quickly to make sure you get your fair share. People also don't generally talk while they eat. This is partly to focus on the important task of eating, but also because parents tell their children that if you talk while you eat the food will go to your head (whatever that means).

Day 7 - Last day of term - Mohammed is busy

Today was the last day of term, so the students finished their final exam and made their perfunctory way back to the provinces. I remember the last day of term as being usually an exciting day when we would largely mess around and have fun when I was at school, but it doesn't seem to be the same culture here.
It was however a very busy time for my finance friend Mohammed who had to work very hard to make sure that he could salaries paid to all the staff. So I only got a couple of brief hours of work in with him, and that wasn't until the evening. It's most diligent of him to be willing to work on a Friday night after a full day's work. I like his work ethic, his propensity to laugh, and his integrity.

He has told me about his life story, and since he said that this is also on the Educaid website, I'm sure he won't mind me repeating it here.
When he was a small child his father couldn't afford to keep him so sent him to stay with a relative. From past experience of this in other parts of the developing world, I understand that this is a common approach to dealing with children when a family has lots of children but not much money.

This was in the 90s during the civil war, and when rebels arrived, you would be wise to be scared. The rebels and the soldiers had a habit of being brutal with people when they invaded a village. So when rebels arrived in Mohammed's village he ran and hid behind a log, and then walked to the nearest town, which I think was Kenema.
He spent some time hanging about on the streets offering to carry goods into vans for Le 100 a go (which is c. 2p at today's exchange rates). One day a driver got to like him (he was still a young child then) and took him to Freetown. When he got to Freetown he lost track of the driver and so ended up hanging about in the market during the day and then sleeping on the tables of the market at night. This went on for some time.

Then he joined a primary school for war-affected children. Most of the pupils were former child soldiers and violence was second nature to them. Guns were often smuggled into school. He learned to cope in this environment. I find this hard imagine now because he's such a gentle-natured soul, but he must have become tough - when the West Side Boys invaded Freetown lots of the pupils in the school rushed to join them, and they wanted Mohammed to join them because they thought he would be an asset. Mohammed wisely chose to hide from them and finished his primary schooling.

He then wrote lots of letters requesting sponsorship for his secondary schooling, but it looked like nothing would come of it so he got ready to become an apprentice to a mechanic. Then one day Miriam arrived. She's the country director for Educaid. Mohammed was a bit scared because he had never seen a white person before and thought she might be a spirit called a jinna which he had heard talk of in the villages. Luckily she was a human being who enabled him to get schooling.
He went on to join Fourah Bay College, which before the war was the most widely respected university in West Africa and had links to Durham University. He was also one of the 20% of the people in his year who did not fail his degree.

Today he still occasionally sees people he knew from before his time in Freetown. When they learn that he is graduate, they are impressed. Having a degree isn't as commonplace here as it is in the UK, so it's really meaningful. Mohammed speaks with humility, but I'm sure I can see pride behind his self-deprecating laughter.

Day 10 - Leadership team meeting

Yesterday evening Miriam (country director of the EducAid schools) returned from doing some work in the Congo. Today there was a day-long meeting for the leadership teams of the 5 schools of EducAid, which are in different sites in Sierra Leone.

I found out this morning that Miriam would like me to talk in this meeting, so I did so at 11am. We discussed budgeting and financial planning. I proposed changes to the approach which would give more autonomy and financial responsibility to the leadership teams of the schools.

If approved by the trustees, this will be a big step forward for those management teams, and I hope they take on this responsibility effectively.