the new colonialism

I'm just back from a very busy three weeks in Sierra Leone, finally with time to reflect on my trip and write something about it here.

There was no time to play the tourist on this trip, even the weekends taken up with work, but thankfully the work included visits to two of our smaller offices in the provinces and to some of the sites where we have been working.  So I was able to spend probably two whole days in total looking out of the car window (all whilst listening to the driver's favourite Bob Marley album on endless repeat).  I believe I was last in the country in early 2011 - gosh, more than eight years ago - and I felt that the place had changed a little in that time.  Definitely fewer birds.  We drove along small laterite roads into the mountains, where I expected (well, hoped, anyway) to see hornbills and maybe a turaco, but there was nothing, not even weaver birds.

I'm wondering whether this might be the reason:
the slash-and-burn agriculture that seems quite common in the country.

Or could it be all the trees cut down for charcoal?  Bags and bags of it on sale in all the villages we drove through.

But what was most concerning to me was the felling of the larger trees - again, evident in so many of the villages we passed and all, apparently, destined for China:

As in nearly all of the sub-Saharan African countries I've been to over the past year or so, the presence of China was striking.  Building roads, taking over the mining companies, taking out the forests.  Oh, and building casinos.  I even found myself sitting next to a Chinese guy on the ferry back to the airport, and he told me (in between racist comments about Africans) that he was in the country to set up a teak-buying business.

What I don't know is the extent to which China has a hold over the infrastructure of Sierra Leone (well, apart from perhaps over the roads they are building).  In other African countries they are making loans to the governments secured on major infrastructure assets, such as the port of Mombasa, and the international airport in Lusaka.  I heard that in Guinea they built a railway all the way from the coast to the bauxite mines near the Liberian border - a two-day journey by car and thus a route that could certainly benefit from a railway.  But the railway is for cargo only, no space at all for the locals to travel on the trains.

I wonder how it can be that these countries do not see history repeating itself, after all, didn't the British build railways into the interiors of the colonies so as to more easily extract their resources?  They got their independence once and are now walking with open eyes back into the same kind of relationship, but this time with China.  I'm always surprised by how warmly I'm received in Britain's former colonies, how little resentment there is (in fact none that I've encountered personally), but I am even more surprised to see those countries signing up for a repeat performance with a different master.  I suppose the leaders are easily bought off, and the ordinary citizens really have no say in the matter.

Another form of colonisation upset me rather more, which was the sight in one town of a few Islamic preachers of the more hardline variety.  They stood out enormously amongst the African garb around them, with their too-short trousers and their big beards.  Pakistanis, my driver thought.  So in a country where rural women often go around with nothing on their top halves and where Muslims and Christians inter-marry and convert from either religion to the other without concern (I questioned a Christian colleague there about his name - Mohamed - and he explained that his parents were Muslim but like most parents in Sierra Leone they let him choose whether to attend church or mosque - or, indeed, neither - and at 18 he decided to be Christian...), these guys are visiting the mosques and preaching sermons about how Muslims should be behaving, as a result of which the odd headscarf can now be seen, but more worryingly also a small number of black burquas.  With the introduction of Islamism (if that is right term) into the formerly tolerant Mali and Burkina Faso, and suggestions that it is spreading into the north of Benin and Togo (with two French tourists recently kidnapped in northern Benin), I worry about the future for Sierra Leone.  The driver told me there was no chance of such extremism catching on there, but they said the same in Burkina Faso only three years ago and now much of that country is infested, with schools shut and civilian fatalities up 7,000% so far this year.

My dear Sierra Leonians, wake up ...

getting out again in Dakar

Last week I was in the centre of town for a visit to the optometrist, and thought it was a good opportunity to go and see the new museum that I've heard about in the international news (not that anyone here in Dakar seems to know about it), the Museum of Black Civilisation.

Whilst they have still not finished with the top (third) floor, and there is as yet no cafe/restaurant and no souvenir guide book, what is there is pretty good.  It starts with pre-history - various skulls of early humans - and then goes through the development in Africa of various strands of civilisation such as metallurgy, writing, and architecture, with a sizeable section on ancient Egypt (although I noted that the exhibits in this section are copies), a nice collection of key African artefacts such as Benin bronzes, Malian chiwaras, masks, and textiles from across the continent, some modern artworks, and a room on Islam and Christianity in Senegal, the latter room with far too little information but I have a feeling that room might not yet be finished.


I loved the Malian hunter's tunic and one of the Benin bronzes.















One thing that I felt was missing was music - the continent could easily fill a whole room of different instruments, with listening posts for the different kinds of music.  Isn't music an important part of civilisation?


The section on architecture reminded me of how fortunate I am to be so well-travelled.  It referred to a number of places that I have visited such as the pyramids of Meroe (Sudan), the Loropeni ruins (Burkina Faso), Askia's tomb in Gao (Mali) - and inexplicably omitted some others such as the Friday Mosque in Djenne (Mali) and the rock-cut churches of Lalibela (Ethiopia) - which relatively few people have had the good fortune to see.  Some of these being pretty much out of bounds given the security issues across the continent right now.  Speaking of which, this beautiful piece of modern art by Abdoulaye Konaté is entitled, "Non à la charía à Tombouctou".

re-assessing Dakar

So, another update seems to be in order!

I am fine following the mugging, grateful that the two men clearly did not want to hurt me, annoyed with myself that I was carrying more money than I was going to need for the evening, annoyed that none of the people driving past made any attempt to intervene (not even to hoot their horns to try to distract the muggers) and annoyed with the total ineffectiveness of the police.  They clearly had no interest whatsoever in investigating the case, despite my making four different visits to the police station (the process of reporting a stolen phone seeming to be quite bureaucratic) they never once asked me for a description of the two men - they were clearly only interested in getting the paperwork wrapped up.

The other reaction I am left with is one of sadness.  This would never have happened during the time of my first contract in Dakar.  In those days I could go out to watch live music that didn't start until midnight, and walk home on my own afterwards at 4am, with no fear whatsoever of anything bad happening to me.  Now I walk along a street at 9pm, and get told by people that I shouldn't have been there, that I shouldn't walk on my own at night, that I should always take taxis everywhere.  But the population of Dakar is apparently double now what it was ten years ago - and the average age of the Senegalese is 19.  That means a lot of young people looking for work, and there isn't very much work.  & so far as I am aware, no state welfare system for the unemployed, only the support of family and community which of course is weaker in Dakar than it would be in the countryside.  There are also plenty of immigrants from all around West Africa, adding to the pressure to find work, as Senegal is a beacon of stability in the region - but that doesn't mean a beacon of employment opportunities.

Not that I'm excusing what happened, rather just trying to make sense of it, trying to process what it means for my relationship with this country.

getting used to being on my own

I don't really have anything new to say but felt I should add an update on the loneliness bit, as I know that at least one of my readers was a little concerned about me.

Nothing has changed in a practical sense - the friendships with local men had to be terminated as I had anticipated, the man who'd given me his card at the British Embassy never responded to my follow-up message, and I haven't met anyone else to socialise with.  However, I am pleased to report that I no longer feel lonely!  I suppose I've got used to being alone already - and always have things to keep me busy, whether it is work, listening to music, sorting out my extensive photo collection, or just arguing with strangers about politics on Facebook.  & of course my periods of being alone here in Dakar are always interspersed with overseas trips for my work (Cameroon last month, Guinea next week), which are pretty intensive and leave me needing a few quiet days to recover.  I do also have the odd conversation with colleagues in the office here.

The only thing I think I have to watch out for is that having no-one to go out to meet leaves it very tempting to spend all my time inside my flat.  That I must avoid, as I would hate for my time here to come to an end with the realisation that I didn't make the most of it.  So tonight I am off to a bar to watch live music - yes, on my own, but who talks during a concert anyway?

Going in to edit this only three hours after writing it, to admit that I never made it to see the live music, as I was mugged on the way there by two men with a very large knife.  Thankfully I came away with just a large bruise, but without my bag, purse, money, mobile phone, ring and earrings.  I went to the police on the way home to report it (not sure why, really, what will they do?) and they told me I shouldn't have been on that particular road, that it is known to be dangerous.  Well I certainly know it now...

Christmas in Egypt

Trying not to let too much of my annual leave expire before 31 December, I booked a short tour of Upper Egypt (not a country I like travelling in independently due to the way the men behave towards foreign women).  So I joined five other people - four retired Brits and one New Zealander - in Luxor, for a tour taking in Dendera, the Valleys of the Kings, Queens and Workers, Karnak, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae, Aswan, and Abu Simbel, plus a few other places I've already forgotten the names of.

To be honest I hadn't expected that much, having previously seen the pyramids which are rather underwhelming - but I was quite blown away by the quality and variety of the decorations in the various temples and tombs that we visited.  It helped that we had a knowledgeable and passionate guide, who was able to explain the characters depicted in the reliefs and the meanings of the hieroglyphics (not that I can remember very much!), drawing our attention to all sorts of images that I would probably have overlooked if wandering around by myself.

There are so many pictures of this stuff available online, but I did want to just share an example of the detail and the way the reliefs differ - two different depictions of the face of the crocodile god Sobek, both from the Kom Ombo temple complex:

See how the first one is raised against its background, with the second cut more into the rock?  (I'm sure there are technical terms for both)  In other places there was still plenty of colour, especially inside the tombs at the Valley of the Kings and the nearby Valley of the Workers.  But generally just so much to look at that I really could have spent a full day at many of the temples, not just the couple of hours allotted us.  This slightly strange photo is looking up at the ceiling in the temple at Dendera, where you can see some preserved colour on the pillars and the ceiling.

Whilst motly spending time at archaeological sites, we also visited Aswan Dam, a few villages, and a couple of museums in Luxor and Aswan.  We travelled for four days by dalabiya (a large, comfortable sailing boat) along the Nile, which was very peaceful and allowed time for rest and relaxation.  I tried to do some birdwatching too, and did see many waterbirds along the Nile and hoopoes a-plenty in the hotel gardens, but nothing new. However it made me get up early a couple of times, and despite the lack of new birds there were some rather nice sunrises.

moving forward from the low point

One interesting side-effect of the low (lonely) patch that you go through after moving to a new country is the way it pushes you out of your comfort zone.  You have to go out there and try things, even when it would be easier to sit at home and mope, otherwise nothing will change.

So a couple of weeks ago I sent a mesasge to the Internations WhatsApp group (a group whose activity consists of one message about something irrelevant to anyone but the sender on approximately a monthly basis) to ask whether there was anything planned, and if not, whether we could plan something.  With a few mildly encouraging responses, I pushed further.  What about Thursday evening, meeting up somewhere?  Someone suggested the Radisson Blu - walking distance for me and with free entrance to the poolside area where a jazz band play during the evening.  So I made a promise to be there and encouraged others to attend.

Well, one person turned up.  Someone in the Egyptian Embassy, whose tenure has already come to an end and so is expecting to be reassigned to another post any day.  But it was company - and he offered to introduce me to some other people.  "Great!" I thought.  Firstly, well was I interested in deep sea fishing, as a group of them go out every so often to fish - only I'd have to be a strong swimmer as they sometimes get knocked over the side of the boat ... I politely declined that one.  So he had another option - a group who meet around twice a year to go out into the semi-desert and shoot birds.  Can you imagine?  Me, a bird-watcher, shooting birds?!  OK, third option - he would introduce me to the Senegalese lady who is organising the "Miss Senegal" contest.  Not really my cup of tea, but she could be interesting I suppose, so I agreed to that one.  Only he said it would be the following week and that week has already passed with no contact made.

One person who couldn't make the Radisson evening did contact me to meet on a different evening, when he took me to a bit of pebbly, rocky beach with plastic tables set up where women cook fresh fish, although unfortunately he asked them to smother the fish in a very spicy sauce, so I couldn't really eat anything; again, it was company which was nice, but this was a Senegalese man and will probably follow the usual trajectory.  Also, whilst I was waiting in the Radisson hoping someone would turn up, I got into conversation with someone else who was there.  We agreed to meet another time and he suggested the pebbly beach with the plastic tables ... at least this time I was able to specify that I didn't want anything spicy on or with my fish!  We'll see whether any real friendship comes out of those two but I'm not too hopeful.

Then this week was the annual Christmas carols and mince pies do at the British Embassy.  I'd heard it was on from someone in the office, and she tried to get me an invitation but with no luck.  However, the invitations did not have names on, so we printed a second copy of hers and I turned up on spec.  At the gate I was asked my name by the guard, and as he looked down his list I thrust my passport over it to prove my identity, and he said I could go in - I rushed off into the house before he could conclude that I wasn't on the guest list!

There, again, I had to move outside of my comfort zone and interrupt couples and groups of people to ask if I could join them.  I hate doing it, but towards the end of the evening I discovered a very interesting group, working in the security industry (from researching the environment and advising companies and institutions to negotiating for the release of kidnap victims) and one gave me his card as he left ... I've dropped him an email to ask him to let me know if he hears of any activities or, failing that, to perhaps meet up for a drink sometime ... again, way out of my comfort zone but it's the only way to move forward!

where exactly is Eritrea?

I think there was more confusion amongst my friends and colleagues at my choice of Eritrea for a holiday than for anywhere else I have travelled to.  At least when I went to Chad, and the DRC, people knew where those countries were (even if they wondered why I might want to go there), but my mention of Eritrea brought many puzzled looks, one person even asking me if it was a Caribbean island...

Whilst I did know where the country was located, I should admit that I knew very little about the history of the place.  I didn't know that it had been colonised by the Ottomans, then the Egyptians, the Italians, and the British (briefly) before it came under Ethiopian rule in 1961.  I didn't know that not one country, whether from the West or from the Eastern bloc, supported them in their fight for independence.  & I didn't know that the Italians had built them the longest cable car in the world (at nearly 72km long) that was able to transport 30 tons of material every hour between the port city of Massawa and the capital Asmara - nor that the British dismantled it as 'war reparations', putting the parts to use in other parts of our then Empire.

It was interesting to learn all this whilst seeing remnants of Ottoman buildings in Massawa (alongside extensive war damage) as well as the Italian art deco architecture in Asmara and Keren.

The Fiat Tagliero building is of course the famous one, but I decided to share instead a pic of the main street of Asmara - a general view of art deco buildings, palm trees and tidy pavements - just to try to give an idea as to how unlike Africa the place seems.  It is also the sixth highest capital city in the world (at some 2,300m) and so is surprisingly cold once the sun has gone down.  But the remnants of the Italian occupation mean that warming plates of pasta, and cups of cappuccino, are easy to find!

The country is quite rugged, with mountains and gorges and some quite dramatic views.  Lots of cacti.  As for architecture, as well as the art deco stuff, it has old ruins, remnants from the period of the Aksumite empire (around 750BC) - stelae and walls ... the majority of it still unexcavated.  It would be a good place for a walking holiday, although the logistics are hard right now as a permit is needed for every place you go outside of the capital, with no flexibility available so you cannot decide you like somewhere and will stay there for an extra night.

The other thing I really loved about my trip was all the camels, especially the camel market in Keren.  Of course camels are by no means unique to Eritrea, but really - you can never take enough camel photos, can you?