One Fine Road
Katie McIntosh
October 25, 2011

I don’t think I’ve written a blog on the always exciting road conditions here in Koinadugu District, Sierra Leone. They are definitely a noteworthy everyday challenge, especially during rainy season, and especially in a vehicle rather than a motorbike. Sometimes you drive through rivers or slide down mud hills.

Let me tell you about one recent experience I had in a vehicle on a bad road.
 
On route to the village we were travelling to there is one hill in particular which anyone who has travelled the road knows quite well. It is steep, it is muddy, it is full of cracks from water, and during the rainy season it is VERY slippery. The last time I travelled on this road in a vehicle I thought we were nearly going to tip over on the way up – this time, it rained during the day and we couldn’t make it up the hill. When we arrived at the bottom of the hill at around 5:30 p.m. we came upon an Oxfam truck that was trying (and failing) to make it up the hill, along with a lot of people covered in mud trying to help. They had been there for a while. Our driver, thinking that Oxfam’s driver “didn’t know the road”, took over and tried to get their vehicle up the hill, but it turns out the hill was just too washed out. After waiting while the drivers made multiple attempts, I was told to walk up. Even walking up wasn’t easy!!! I nearly slipped and fell in the mud and I had to take off my flip flops and walk up in my bare feet (which of course got covered in mud). Even then I wouldn’t have made it if a boy didn’t help me out and let me hold his arm as he guided me up the hill. Once at the top I was covered in mud and resorted to washing my feet and shoes in a dirty puddle.

We waited for a long time while the drivers continued to make attempts at the hill and as it began to get dark we began to think we would be staying overnight. Oh yes, we were pretty far from Kabala and were not near any place where we could get cell phone coverage. We were in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, I guess the Oxfam truck had asked a passing motorbike earlier to go to the Oxfam office and send another vehicle to save them, and so eventually a pick-up truck showed up to save us! They had a special tow-rope just for these types of circumstances. A bunch of us sat in the pick-up truck at the top of the hill to give it weight so it wouldn’t be pulled down the hill and we put rocks in front of the tires to prevent sliding. Then the driver of the first Oxfam vehicle drove it up as far as he could, at which point they attached the rope. Once the rope was attached, the pick-up truck reversed up the hill until the other vehicle was far enough up the hill that it could drive itself. I was sitting in the back of the pick-up truck, but during this time two people were standing on the back and one fell off and he was nearly run over by the truck!!! He dashed to the side just in time though.

Next, we had to tow the CAUSE vehicle up the hill, but it wasn’t quite as easy (if you could call the previous attempt easy). After multiple attempts at doing the same thing we decided to try using the two vehicles at the top of the hill to pull the one at the bottom of the hill up. So there was a rope tied between the two Oxfam vehicles and then another rope tied between the second Oxfam vehicle and the CAUSE vehicle. Once attached, both of the Oxfam vehicles reversed up the hill and we finally got the CAUSE vehicle to the top.

Just as we were all getting ready to head home, a bike with two of my coworkers arrived to check if we were okay since we hadn’t arrived back yet. It was very nice to know people were thinking about us back in the office.  We all headed back to Kabala, but on the way our vehicle stopped in a tiny village…. for a disco of all things. That’s right, a disco. Upon our arrival in this tiny village there was techno music blasting and people dancing on the road. I can’t say that I was expecting to find myself in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere in the dark with techno music blasting!!!! What a great end to the day. We didn’t get home until about 9:30 p.m. and everyone was apologizing to me for the trouble, but I honestly thought it was quite an adventure.