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Tuesday 17th:
Left at six for Bumaru, the village where the very first shot that initiated the war was fired I 1991. The town chief there was supposedly the first rebel (RUF) to be captured by the Sierra Leonean army. After a long Fambuk Tok session and a very succesfull Play31 delivery, we proceeded to Sakiema, Biwaila, and finally Jopolwahun. Those communities finalized our field trip and I must say it was really, really good to be back in Kailahun district. It’s so different from the western area (let alone from Freetown). The idea of using Play31 in the small communities in direct connection with the reconciliation process seems more and more ingenious to me (I can say that because the idea was partly John’s) and I will certainly work on developing that concept. More on that to come some day.
Now, the music in the car: Yesterday I acted as designated dj most of the time which resulted in somewhat of a diversion away from only hip hop and reggae. We touched upon Jan Johansson, the Good, the Bad and the Queen, Malk de Kojn, but finally ended up with Dr. Dre’s 2001 and the Roots collected woks. Good times!

Wednesday 18th:
Before we left Bo, we fixed out registration stuff with one of the motorbikes, tried to negotiate the price of the guest house (they charged us extra because they had allowed us to stay two men (Robert and I) in the same room, which supposedly is illegal in Salone), and stashed up on fruits ad libitum. We reached Freetown after a looong drive in the rain (luckily, we sat in the car while Mohammed was driving the bike – yikes!). Back in Tong I finally met up with Harriet who has come all the way from NYC to work here for the summer. Cool! Nothing much more to tell from this Tolkienish travel day.

Thursday 19th:
Literally spent all day on the world wide web. Amazing how a full work day can be consumed by the electronic highway: The Play31 blog – as you may have noted reading this—couldn’t be updated and I had to create a new one. 200,000 emails and Facebook stuff, not all pertaining to play31, though.
Ended down by the beach in a long an interesting discussion on what we can really believe in in this world. The group agreed that it seems to be true for all cultures that people have a desire to reproduce themselves (expressed in many more or less admirable traits), that incest between a parent and child is a big No-No, and that virtually no animal (including humans) consume their own excrement. Therefore, we concluded that those three things are the only phenomenon/ideas/taboos/values that can be said to be universal. That leaves a lot of good explanatory skills for human right workers (as well as religious people and other “imposers”) I reckon.

Friday 20th:
Interesting day! Went to a Parliamentary Hearing on Fambul Tok. John Caulker, the Director of F.O.C and Fambul Tok was on the stand and took critical questions from a range of politicians (and Paramount Chiefs, who are essentially pseudo-politicians). As always, everyone loves the concept of Fambul Tok, but the politicians were obviously very eager to gain some influence in the process. Politics! I usually tease John by saying I know he’ll be President of Salone in 20 years. He always denies that he would even be interested, but I can honestly think of very few people I’ve met in this country who wouldn’t hands down vote for him. Quite inspiring.
Had a short time to discuss new ideas for Play31 with John later before leaving work early to wander the streets of Freetown. (After next week, many important thoughts concerning Play31 will have been fleshed out and I will duly report to you the constituency).
Meant to go and watch the Miss Salone competition at the beach but was tired and fell asleep with my the Economist, which I had bought earlier for the same amount of money that could feed a Salonian family for a day. I just saw it and had to, had to get it.


Saturday 21st:
Walked all the way down o the beach in the morning, enjoying a quiet rain and dramatic sky on the way. Once there, I met a group of young men pulling up a net full of fish from the ocean. I decided to lend a hand and started the tedious job of pulling the rough rope thereby causing severe damage to my unskilled, untrained hands. When we had been working hard for some twenty minutes to the sound of the leaders rhythmical but monotonous chant I asked how much was left, expecting we would have another ten minutes to go. “I think it should be around two hours”, he responded. So I decided I was not cut out for the tough life of a fisherman.
At night, the manager of one of the big cell phone companies had a big fest in his mansion by the water. It was the fist time I’ve ever seen a swimming pool in Salone. Funny fun party with loads of food and drinks and energetic music and dance. Late night!

Sunday 22nd:
Absolutely nothing pertaining to Play31 to tell about from this Sunday. Great day at the beach playing with my friend Thomas and a horde of other young men. Whereas the oral greetings here are always very amicable and welcoming, the reception I get as a “pumui” (Mende for white man) s rather rough at times and I had a cool gangsta-limp the rest of the day due to various bruises.
Ended up cheering España all the way to the semi-final. Olé!