Wilkinson House

It's hot as hell but cooler than I thought, about on par with Ghana. We have running water and electricity from 7pm-1am from a loud generator outside.

My co-workers (two worked for Much Music) are young and very funny and fun. They seem like very good people. Rob, one of the trainers who has been here for 8 months already narrowly escaped death at the hands of a mob in Guinea and was hospitalized with cholera so caution is needed.

We’re going around to different media outlets and organizations with Ben and Nikki from JHR. We visited the JHR office (no phone, no computer, no fax, no internet, no photocopier. Two desks and electricity for 4 hours a day). Visited the UNIOSIL (UN in Sierra Leone) compound… a city unto itself. Lunched at the Crown Bakery with its awesome air conditioning, fresh pineapple juice, and only visibly gay man in Sierra Leone (the manager or owner).

Then met with SLAJ (Sierra Leone Association of Journalists) in a tiny office where they refused to make eye contact with the women, could hardly hear over the roar of the generator. Two years ago one of their members was killed by police. Met with the Independent Media Commission (their version of the CRTC), run by a very intelligent woman at a nice facility. I have found almost everywhere in Africa that the women are more intelligent, more passionate, more reasonable and more committed to change. Africa would be better off if the ratio of men/women politicians and leaders were reversed. IMC also houses ABC TV, which is off-air because they’re missing a part. Their expecting either a part to arrive from Italy, or an Italian to arrive to fix it.

Then went to Forah Bay College, the main university in Freetown where I’ll be doing some training sessions. Their jlism dept has digital editing and better radio setup than we had at Carleton, but the students took us aside as told us they aren’t actually allowed to touch it.