David Crosweller’s Journal

Neighboring the Kondurwahun village in the Pujehun District is Gbongay, a community already benefiting from a partnership with Wherever the Need. The following are excerpts from the journal of David Crosswell, Wherever the Need founder, during his time there.

“We covered the 200 miles from Freetown to Bo, Sierra Leone’s second city, in about eight hours. The road is bad and the vehicle took a terrible pounding – although it was to get worse! Our aching bodies were pleased to step from the car for the last time that day and enter our hotel, which was a step up from the previous place I had stayed, having both water and electricity, albeit the latter thanks to an overnight generator…

“I had already warned Dom and Tara to have their cameras ready because I was pretty sure that it would all kick off once the car was parked up. The villagers did not disappoint. There was a lot of dancing and singing, I was hugged by complete strangers and had to shake hands with anyone who was in front of me. It is difficult to convey the atmosphere, but I can assure you it is unlike anything one would normally experience…

“Lunchtime followed and then an amazing football match between the Arsenal Bees and another team, with all the players coming from Gbongay and the next three villages that have been identified as needing help. I won’t list a whole description of the events, except to say that it was played in atrocious conditions on a pitch that was no better than an unkempt field. The players gave their all in a game that was full of incident and the Bees eventually ran out winners 4-2…

“The next day we were to see three villages in the same Chiefdom, Pejeh, and one in the adjacent Chiefdom, Soaa. Each village had similar needs and they all asked for the same basic help. This was for water, sanitation, livelihood, a new school building and help with new housing. One asked for washing/shower facilities and one for animal husbandry. They all wanted new community centers. I repeated the same message of us providing the building blocks and their effort completing the program...
“The final village was Kobeibu, but as we arrived it was getting dark and despite the fantastic reception we could not stay long due to us wanting to get on to a ‘proper’ road before night enveloped us. This despite the fact that the village presented me with a goat…

“The return journey to Freetown was started early on the Friday morning as we had a meeting with a relative of Senesi, who is the Deputy Finance Minister. I asked him about the G8 debt relief program and asked whether there had been any benefits to Sierra Leone. He answered simply - “no!” He then told us that of the US$150 million that was at the disposal of the Government – the entire budget – 20%, US$30 million, immediately went on interest repayments…

“Finally I would like to tell a short story. Driving back from Gbongay after the football match I remarked how happy the people were. Oh yes, my hosts agreed, water and the possibility of a brighter future has given them much optimism. Then they said, “…and of course, no children have died.” I asked them what they meant and they told me that until the new pump had been installed, on average one baby/small child dies every two weeks because of polluted water causing serious illness. I was stunned. Sometimes you forget what benefits clean water bring…

“Overall this was a fantastic trip and I am really pleased with the way things are progressing. There is so much work we can do in Sierra Leone and we have the makings of an excellent infrastructure, and I am confident that this will grow with time.”