Mawolo Compound

My home, as I referred to it for the first time today (Nov. 13 – I was walking home and a boy asked where I was going), is one of six small houses in the Mawolo Compound, opposite the SKD Sports Complex (recently renovated soccer stadium). There are 2 bedrooms, living room with attached dining room, small kitchen and bathroom. I enjoy a pleasant breeze from the Atlantic when I sit on the front porch to watch the lizards chase each other. My neighbor has a pet monkey that I’m pretty sure is racist! Seems to get along fine with everyone else but looks at me disapprovingly and sometimes sticks its butt in the air directly at me. Our houses are all painted cream with red trim and don’t have power or running water. The bathing via bucket in the bathtub doesn’t bother me as much as the inability to flush the freaking toilet! Nelly (Jerry’s daughter) is staying with me so I don’t wander off or starve to death! Lol There is a man who guards the gate, we don’t know his name but he proved helpful when our toilet wouldn’t ‘flush’ the other day and when we need our generator fired up each evening. The wall around our compound is maybe 6 feet high with a spiralling spread of barbed-wire along the top that spans an additional 2 feet upwards – i think it’s there to keep the riff-raff out, not so much the wildlife since there aren’t big guys like elephants in these parts. The compound was built post-war (in the last year or so) and having a fence with a guard is a selling point since there are many many people in this area and it’s nice to have your privacy a bit.

I have a TV – this amuses me considering there’s no current except when the generator is on which would make it impossible to hear the TV if I even had cable or reception of any sort. I’m aspiring to have a radio someday soon that way I can stop being so creepy: always sitting on my front porch pretending to read a magazine while I listen hopefully for the sounds of a neighbor’s radio! Nelly doesn’t say a lot, yet! I think she’s warming up to me though – yesterday she said ‘It’s hot’! I might of pee’d my pants with joy except that I had sweated out what little water I had consumed that day! She is 21 and is almost done with school at this point – because of the wars all public education was practically suspended for like 14 years. There’s a man (Ali) who stays in the compound who owns a construction business in the city center and knows my AYDAP colleagues – he let them borrow his truck to pick me up from the airport. He comes by to check on me most evenings, and has a couple younger guys that work for him that stop by sometimes too. They’re very ready to assist and aren’t even creepy! Haha I would talk to the monkey if he didn’t hate me! At this point I’m still figuring out the basics which are pretty overwhelming – but I’m eager to talk and joke with anyone who wanders by my porch! There are also 2 baby girls aged 14-18 months. The still cry when they see me (even though the one is half white) but I’m hoping that soon they won’t be scared any more!

Oh yeah, my mosquito net looks great above my bed – it’s like a princess bed! Haha And my 60 SPF sunscreen is rocking my world - a little dab will do ya, I decided the first day when I discovered how sticky/smeary it is. And I think I’m tanning through it, or maybe that’s just dirt!