At around 9am on our second Sunday, Dr. Maring and I set out to interview Rebecca, we saw where her house was at the top of a steep hill, but we had no idea how to get there. Surprisingly, it only took 20 minutes to get to her house, which seemed so far away at first. We got there early, so we explored a little bit of the area around her house which had a well that was seemingly just for a few houses to use. It was covered with a pump and had an open barrel with water next to the pump, there were also a few stray buckets scattered around the well. While it was nice to see that the people that lived in that remote area did not have to walk all the way down the hill to the stream to access the spring box, it was another reminder that there is no access to fully clean water.
We had asked a man if Rebecca was home and a short while later, she poked her head out of her porch and invited us in to her home. Walking in, it was very nice, she had small appliances, including a small television and stereo system and three couches. As we sat down, four children ran into the room, Rebecca introduced three of them as her own and one as the daughter of a woman that lived in her compound. She explained that she and her husband built up the compound as a place for people coming in from the provinces to stay if they did not have a place to sleep. This was our first time hearing something like this and it made us so happy to hear about such a wonderful initiative. As we talked more about the area and her life, we found out that she lived right next to the Chief of her area.
Rebecca walked us over to his house and I was most surprised with the manner in which they spoke, I had a very different construct of the social hierarchy in my mind that was much different from reality. While I had expected a rigid chain of command, there was a candid and light nature to the interaction between Rebecca and Mohammad (the Chief). She joked and poked fun while translating our questions for him and they both laughed throughout the interview! We learned a great deal about how a Chief is picked and how fluid the structure of hierarchy is. Once we finished our interview with him, we walked back to Rebecca’s house and she showed us the makeshift toilets that some of the residents of the compound used and the much more sturdy toilets she used. Seeing the difference between these two toilets and hearing how Rebecca understood that a proper toilet was critical for good health those who were not. But because they live within close proximity, it seemed as though there would be an easier flow of information between people which was reassuring. Before we left, Rebecca had made a plate of fruit for us and lovingly insisted we take it with us, we took a fruit native to Sierra Leone that looked similar to an avocado. On our way down the mountain we were escorted by Rebecca’s children and a few of their friends as they expertly scaled the rocks and hills, while Dr. Maring and I carefully eased our way down. Being able to spend such a long time with Rebecca and to understand what a typical lifestyle is within Allentown was a treat and so eye-opening for us. Hearing from an involved and educated woman about her hopes, concerns and successes was so helpful in our understanding of her society and the background for a public health intervention. Many of the insights she shared with us will inform our continued PHWB work.
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