Run the Water
Each morning around six, the procession on Signal Hill begins.The squatter camp residents behind us trek up and down the hill filling empty jugs with contaminated all purpose water from a public pump. There are two to three containers per individual. Babies are strapped to backs and water containers are balanced on heads hands.
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| Water run |
I wonder how they feel as they pass the mammoth eyesore that is our water tank.
They are acutely aware that this house is occupied by "Internationals."
For every household that has plumbing and electricity, there are more than several that do not.
Make-shift shantytowns and squatter camps are scattered throughout the city. It is a typical way of life.
These camps are similar in structure to the Favelas in Brazil or the slums of Mumbai India.
Some are festering waste lands running in congruence with contaminated streams whose waters are used for the functions of everyday life.
To contrast, you will often find parallel to smaller squatter camps, newly constructed 3 story manors, some still under construction with high cement walls inlayed with glass shards and barbed wire.
Their grounds are manned by security around the clock.
These camps are similar in structure to the Favelas in Brazil or the slums of Mumbai India.
Some are festering waste lands running in congruence with contaminated streams whose waters are used for the functions of everyday life.
To contrast, you will often find parallel to smaller squatter camps, newly constructed 3 story manors, some still under construction with high cement walls inlayed with glass shards and barbed wire.
Their grounds are manned by security around the clock.
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| The balcony view |
Many of these towering structures are constructed by expatriates who've decided to "Put down roots" in the country. Others are erected by citizens living abroad. This kind of marginal transparency separating the haves and have-nots seem to be typical of the country. Even so we spent 11 days next to impoverished neighbors who did us no harm & were as curious about us as we were about them
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Mama G.
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One wonders in a country where the boundaries between the two are often skeletal; that the crime rates aren’t exceedingly high - as they once were. Out of curiosity, neighbors the resident sqautters call me over to sit with a group of inquiring minds. They have questions about the black American lady and what she is doing in this country
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We exchange questions, laugh each others jokes and smoke cigarettes with Mama G, the resident matriarch.
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| The Ladies |
With the country's average life expectancy being less than fifty years old, many of these ladies are already widowed.
Still they want to know how they can find an American husband.
These people, my neighbors, offered piece of mind which in turn quelled negative pretenses, doubts and fears.
Below, are images of the more abysmal living conditions throughout the city. These vast camps house overflowing numbers of people making these shanties further laden with communicable disease and infection. Children are being raised under conditions that will ultimately shape the rest of their lives.
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| Typical camp |
The end result of such dire living conditions affect the country as a whole. When this is your day-to-day living, optimism is fleeting. However the most astonishing phenomenon that I witnessed in each of these incredible situations was the ability of people to still find joy in everyday life.
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| Squatter Camps |
Less than a mile from the squatter camp pictured here, we find ourselves driving through 2 lavish wedding processions complete with imported foriegn vehicles as gifts while a swarm Sierra Leoneans draped in their finest, flock the streets. Is there is a working- middle class population in Sierra Leone? It seems as though in this country, you are either wealthy or... you are poor
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| Inside the Shantys |
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| life prevails |
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| contaminated streams spread infectious disease |
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wedding part no.1
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Wedding party no.2
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