The night of the elections in Sierra Leone...

7 pm.
Voting stations are closed.
All of a sudden there is a lot of noise on our street.
Fortunately it sounds more like excitement rather than violence.
I climbed back onto the roof to see what was going on.

I was surprised to see so many people running up and down our street, cheering, excited.
An old lady was jumping up and down.
Young men with radios clamped to their ears.
And then the little kids waving to the “white man” on the roof!

The votes are being counted.
Apparently our neighborhood just found out which party is in the lead at their voting station.
Everyone is quite happy.

In other parts of Freetown there are some disturbances.
Areas to avoid according to an email alert.
It’s probably good we’re still on a curfew.

Only time will tell what the outcome is.
Which party will win.
How the people will react.
How this nation will change.