2 Marching Bands and a Funeral: Don and I spent the afternoon finalizing the furniture
for our apartment in Makeni. We were leaving downtown Freetown in stop-and-go
rush-hour traffic Just as we reached an intersection, we were stopped by a motorcycle
cop. A marching band, with people in high school graduation cap and gowns, entered
the intersection from our left and it was followed by a ton of people who were walking
and they were followed by a hearse which was followed by another marching band
which was followed by a ton of walking mourners. After all of that turned down the
road we needed to proceed on, we followed the end of the funeral procession and all
the other non-funeral traffic which was behind us followed us. Then we came to a fork
in the road and the police had the road blocked that we needed to go on so we were
forced to follow the funeral procession down the other road that seemed to run
parallel to the road we wanted to be on. But lo and behold, it only went a short ways
and we ended up being forced to go into the cemetery with all the other non-funeral
traffic behind us. Turning around on a one lane road was a CHORE and getting out of
the cemetery was a nightmare. It took us over an hour to go less than 5 miles. Home
never looked so good.
In the movie Fiddler on the Roof the song "Sunrise,Sunset " depicts a life of routine. In
Sierra Leone you never have routine. We never know from one day to the next what to
expect.
On the way home from the above experience, Don called the American vision Doctor
we are working with on a cataract training project for local doctors. The local doctors
will be trained on a new surgical procedure of removing cataracts practicing on pig
eyes. Don asked the doctor if he would be allowed to be trained and allowed to
practice on the eye of a pig. The doctor said, "yes" and chuckled! Oh boy! I sure am
glad I had my cataracts removed last November. Whew!
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