A not-so-quiet Saturday...

It’s Saturday afternoon, 3 pm.

It’s been a busy week and so I thought I would not plan anything for today. I didn’t set my alarm. I didn’t make any arrangements. I spent the morning at home: sleeping, cleaning, washing my clothes and drinking tea. I decided that since the management meeting took forever yesterday and I didn’t have a chance to go and visit Namina, I would do so this afternoon.

I called Alusine, the Welbodi driver, to see if he was available to drive and he was. We met an hour later at the office we park the car at. As we started to climb the steep driveway, the car stalled. It wouldn’t make it up the hill. Apparently the same thing happened the previous afternoon. This was a problem. I called Osman, the previous Welbodi driver and the guy I usually end up calling in evenings/nights/weekends to take me home, and asked for his advice. We somehow got the car up the hill and drove to Lumley to meet with Osman. The conclusion after a quick drive was that there was a problem with the clutch and pressure pads. I don’t even know what pressure pads are, but it was clear to me that there was a problem and the car had to go to the garage.

Since I still wanted to get to the hospital, Osman decided he would take the Welbodi car to the garage and Alusine and I would take his car to the hospital. Seeing as he doesn’t generally lend his car out, I double-checked if he was okay with that. He was and so off we went. Well, it’s been an hour now and we’re still stuck in traffic. Oh well, such is life in Freetown.

We’re almost at the hospital. I’ll pop in and see a child I treated in the feeding center and another one I saw at 10pm last night in the Emergency room (I happened to be passing by after visiting the ship and met a child fitting). I’ll print off some stuff I need for Monday, do some emailing and then head to the Hope Center to visit with Namina and family for 30 minutes. After that, I’ll head back across time, hopefully with better traffic. We’ll meet Osman again to see what the progress is on the car. I’m just hoping it’s not going to cost a whole lot of money! I’ll then head to Aberdeen and meet up with friends at Alex’s for dinner which will be nice.

For not planning a Saturday, it ended up being rather busy. And I have to say, it’s this part of being in charge of the logistics that I’m never too excited about. I don’t like car trouble. I have no knowledge of cars whatsoever, but I have to say I am fortunate to know some people who do seem to know to manage cars and try to advocate for better prices in the garage because they know we’re a small charity with small small money. I’m happy to have some Sierra Leonean friends I can call at any time to help me out of a tricky situation. And it’s nice I don’t have to sit in the garage all afternoon! And, at least I found out there was car trouble today and not first thing Monday morning. I am glad there’s always a way to see things in a positive light!