Struggling in the darkness

Wednesday, January 16, 2013 (Day 7)
Makeni

By four I am just about ready to go home and chill. I hate the whole idea of working 9-5 because I feel that it has nothing to do with productivity and everything to do with satisfying staying in one particular place for a certain number of hours. It has been a very productive day (8.30-3.50) and I can begin the walk home in the sun feeling like I have achieved something with my time; achievements that have nothing to do with furthering my material wealth. Ric, the CBF overseas volunteer, calls me and we discuss possible areas of improvement for the CBF league; one of the most important certainly being the lack of an under 17s league for the under 14s to aspire to.

The girls come home half an hour after me and we end up sitting out on the veranda as the light fades drinking and putting the world to rights. You've got to love Kate's boundless enthusiasm for everything and Jayne's focused ability to dust herself down and to start again, whatever life throws at her.

I join our young-and-always-friendly house manager, Alasund, at the local 'football cinema' for the first half of Arsenal versus Swansea. It costs 1000 (about 15 pence) to get in. They have live English commentary and 35 minutes later, Manchester United's FA cup replay with West Ham kicks off on a second screen. There must be close to 60 or 70 lads in here on this small side street, a few yards from the New London mosque. Bob reckons there are 300 of these football cinemas in Makeni alone. Imagine how many pairs of eyes across Africa are watching these games. 

I am feeling agitated when I get home because there is no oil for the generator and it makes me feel like I am participating in some kind of physical and mental endurance test. I am here to work hard and to try and unwind in the evenings and having no electricity isn’t helping my mental state. I am also feeling irritable because when I go to the pitch black toilet I bump into a huge spider and then, when I go to bed, a particularly nasty insect appears to be smiling at me, having taken up residence inside of my mosquito net.  
Yes, I can see the pattern of my moods clearly now: Positive and upbeat during the hours of light; feeling trapped at home once darkness invades everything.