Yesterday we took all the boys to watch the Leone Stars game in Freetown. This seemed like a military operation with a total of 40 people going, including all the boys, the staff, our Freetown ‘fixer’ Mr Bah, our driver Mr K and the coach driver.
The Leone Stars are the Sierra Leone National football team and the Academy Manager of the Craig Bellamy Foundation, Johnny, is also the manager for the Leone Stars. Coach Tom from CBF is also the Head of Performance Analysis for the Leone Stars so the boys were all really excited to go and watch the game and see Coach Johnny and Coach Tom on the national pitch.
We woke up to a beautiful bright and sunny morning at the Academy and all the boys were in good spirits. A broken down bus couldn’t dampen them and the boys set to pushing the huge bus along the bumpy ground to give it a jump start to get it going. In typical fashion the driver had casually declared that the bus never starts without a jump start if its been sat still for too long - TIA! The boys travelled in a hired coach with two members of staff and the rest of the staff headed off in the CBF mini bus with the CBF driver Mr K. We had two boys in the mini bus with us so had a great time dancing along to some Afrobeat on the way.
Unfortunately the good mood didnt last long.. About 45 minutes into the journey the heavens opened and torrential rain started! The closer we got to the National Stadium the worse the weather got, and the worse the traffic became too!
We managed to get there about half an hour before kick off so it wasnt too bad - unfortunately it was still tipping it down and the rain lasted for the majority of the match. Only the staff had managed to bring waterproof jackets so being the kind hearted people we all are (!) we soon stripped off and gave the boys our jackets to share amongst them in an attempt to keep the kids warm and dry. The rain itself isnt cold by our standards at all but to the boys its freezing so it wasnt a hard choice really. My only concerns were the money I was carrying on behalf of the Academy in case of emergencies getting wet and my dyed red hair leaking red all down my back!! Fortunately neither happened!
'The Girls' soggy at the stadium: (Laura, Dutchy, Soph and me)
Everyone still had a great time and it was hilarious watching the players slide around on the disgustingly wet pitch - even the referee took a tumble, much to the amusement of the crowd.
At halftime we caused a bit of a stir by dancing along to the band further round the stadium and some local children took great delight in laughing at the ‘apottos’ in the leone stars shirts soaking wet and dancing away to african rhythms! And of course they were also keen to get their hands on Dutchys M and Ms!
The Leone Stars won the game 3-2 which was great for Johnny and Tom (although it was 3-0 right up until about the 80th minute so that was a bit of a shame!) and we all headed back to the academy.
Whilst at the stadium two boys had said they werent feeling so bright (generally feeling poorly) so I was keen to have another look at them. Both boys said their headaches had improved since taking some paracetamol and were feeling better. I took their temperatures anyway and both boys came in at 37 degrees which is normal. I still wasnt happy though, particularly as one boy had been feeling ill in cycles of 48 hours which, from my last trip out here was ringing a bell, so I did malaria tests on both - both turned out to be positive!
This isnt surprising really as its rainy season here at the moment so its also malaria season. The boys dorm windows have mesh on them to prevent mosquitos but they keep the dorm doors open at night until they go to bed so the mesh isnt very effective!
Malaria is pretty common here, for obvious reasons, and as soon as the medication kicks in the boys feel much better. It astounds me how treatable it really easy - 3 days worth of tablets and thats it.. If it is that simple why do so many people die from malaria every year? Its not even as if the drugs are expensive, one course costs anywhere from £2-3, which is cheap by our standards but a little pricey for over here. Really frustrating!
First positive malaria test:
