banana islands

MOST IMPORTANTLY: The ship is currently experiencing a severe water shortage, meaning no showers, no laundry, no hot water, paper products in the dining room, and potentially cancelled/postponed surgeries for our patients.  While the engineers are working on fixing this, please pray for a fast solution to this problem.  Thanks.

Yesterday, I went to the Banana Islands with a group of 10 other Mercy Shippers.  The Banana Islands are a group of three islands off the coast of Freetown's peninsula.  Our journey started with an early 6:30am departure, when we all hopped into a rented poda poda (the 21-passenger vans that function as taxis), and we headed for the village of Kent, about an hour's drive outside of Freetown.  The traffic was minimal that early in the morning, so the ride was quite pleasant with the window's down and the cool morning air rushing in.  I had very low expectations for the condition of the roads to Kent, but to my surprise, the whole way there consisted of a paved, two-lane road.  Once we arrived in Kent, we were led down a rocky path do a little bay that was filled with wooden boats, fishermen, and their families.  We eventually found our captain, Dalton, and we loaded into the wooden fishing boat that would transport us to the islands.  This boat was a bit smaller than the one I had taken to River No. 2 Beach (see previous posts), but it did come with about 6 life jackets.

THIS JUST IN (6:34pm): The Captain just announced that we can all take ONE two-minute shower (cold water of course).  I'm saving mine for tomorrow after screening at Kissy.

Anyway, the ride lasted about 25 minutes in very calm waters.  When our boat finally arrived on shore, he reached in the boat and threw overboard a very large pink fish.  Just as I was about to ask why he did that, he told us that it was our lunch! More on that soon.  We gathered our items and headed up a footpath following behind the captain's son on his bicycle. Trekking through a small village, we arrived at the oldest well on the islands, and then walked down a small hill to arrive at the guest house that would be our base camp for the day.  About 900 people live on the islands today, most of them descendants of former slaves from the 18th and 19th centuries.  One resident, however, is Gregory, the Greek owner of the guest house, and his British-Sierra Leonean girlfriend/wife.  Details were few.  Gregory, who among other things claimed to be an ethnomusicologist, runs a small guest house on the island, and provides food for day-trippers.  It was about 9:30 by the time we got settled.  Gregory said lunch would be served at 1pm, so our group split for the morning.  About half went for a short hike, while my group went to find the ruins on the island, walk through the village, and then to the beach.  After a quick walk back past the aforementioned well, another local found us wandering in the wrong direction and led us to the ruins of an old Portuguese church in the forest.

Since there was no cement on the island back then, the Portuguese explorers/settlers would crush up oyster shells to use as a cement-like building material.  Our guide then took us to the site of a former British embankment to show us the cannons they used to fire at French ships who would try to steal the slaves.  Several cannons were still planted in the undergrowth.

We continued our walk, passing by a (presumably Episcopal) church as we followed the trail into the forest.  Near the church was a starfruit tree, literally dripping with fruit, a reminder that we were indeed on a tropical island.  

At this point, I had worked up a bit of a sweat as the heat and humidity was picking up as we got closer to noon.  Upon reaching a fork in the road, we could hear the crashing waves, so we turned right and beheld a glorious sight:

The water was incredibly clear.  Not crystal-clear like on commercials for Caribbean vacations, but clear nonetheless.  We were the only people on the whole beach.  We played in the surf for a while before breaking to take some photos and then headed back to the guest house to get ready for lunch.  As promised, around 1pm our group was presented with a veritable island feast.  Dalton, the boat captain, had prepared the meaty grouper, simply grilled and garnished with fresh limes, rice, couscous, a tomato-onion-garlic-oil sauce, fresh bananas, coconut, pineapple, and fried breadfruit.  Everything was delicious and the fresh fish was out-of-this-world.  We took our time eating, sitting under the guest house's canopied patio with views of the ocean.  In my rush to enjoy the food, I completely forgot to take photos of it until after the dishes were cleared.  I think someone took a few pictures, so I will see if I can post those later.  Feeling refueled, most of us climbed up a steep staircase/ladder to a platform in the trees, to read and take naps.  

We spent the rest of our afternoon up there until about 4pm, when we settled our bill and headed back to the boat, and then the poda poda.  The whole day, including the poda poda, the boat ride, the meal and soft drinks cost me only 83,000 Leones, roughly $19 USD.  Considering that I would have probably paid more than that for an equivalent meal back home, I'd say that the day was a bargain.  

On the ride back to the ship, our poda poda got behind a truck filled with dancing, smiling children.

Where they were going or why there were so happy, I do not know, but I could relate having had a pretty good day myself.  

Tomorrow is another screening day for the Eye Team, and then Tuesday, most of the team is leaving on the first upcountry trip to Koidu.  Please pray for their safety and I will post more details as I get them.  Wishing you and yours the best from sunny Africa!