In the morning we met up with K and a friend of hers, A, who worked with the UN. A was canadian and had been sent to 55 countries. A also wanted to see the school. We hired the hotel car, a Nissan 4WD, and the driver. We ended up 4 in the back but after the share taxi experience I was very comfortable.
The traffic was atrocious. When it wasnt gridlocked, it was chaotic, fast and all over the place. If you know Ghana, imagine an entire city like Kaneshie Market. cars and taxis pull in, and to do a U turn, you just do it and beep. There are no traffic lights, give way signs, or roundabouts anywhere. The only controlled intersections have a uniformed policeman doing his best. The policemen here have a perfect copy of the NYPD blue uniform, same hat, same badge. All policemen are unarmed, as UNMIL and the Liberian Army have the only arms still, until the police force is mature as an organization. Apparently policemen do arrest thieves, but only with the help of an enthusiastic crowd of civilians. I think the thieves are glad to reach jail. One area, Redlight, is the wild west and no westerner goes there alone or after dark. We drove through there and there was a policeman every 20 metres on the road.
The driver was abysmal. Slow, jerky and could have been a learner. The drive took an hour across town.We reached the school to learn that we were actually visiting 3 different schools, no 2 close to each other. K and A were under time pressure so we tried to hurry things along. The Nissan cracked its exhaust and we sounded like a tractor. It bounced around and rattled alarmingly. To be fair, out of town the roads were terrible, with enormous potholes, rocks and ravines. K and A bailed out and got their own driver to come and rescue them, so we now had 2 vehicles.
Mental note: Landcruisers are good. From now on, its a Landcruiser or nothing.
The houses started to be mud, thatch, wattle and daub, with the odd concrete block house. Most people looked desperately poor. There was no electricity anywhere.
We visited the school. I got there around 2pm. I hadnt realized, but they had been waiting for us. The school day finishes at 12.30. I thought it was still on. then the principal asked if the little ones could go home (4-5 yo) as they were hungry and hadnt eaten. There is no school feeding program. Then it dawned on me that 550 students had been kept back for the visitors. They released the preps, and we were surrounded by children who hadnt seen westerners. They all wanted to touch hands and crowded around your knees, giggling. Unfortunately my camera battery was flat.
I made a speech to the whole school and thanked them all, and told them what a fine school it was, and good luck with the studies. Then the students went home. K asked the teachers some questions and we inspected the temporary school. They have class sizes of 60, in rooms 8m x 6m.
Home we went, via 2 more schools. K and A zapped home in the LandCruiser, and the rest of us survived the journey home in the Nissan with the learner driver.