A close shave

Bubble and squeak seems too tall an order today, so we get down to work and meet up with Israel, a local actor and animateur who will play Mr Advice the film’s narrator. He has been working with some actors and buying props already, as well as visiting the villages we will film in, with Greg and James.

In the hunt for a location to open the film with, James and I head to ‘The Beach’ a place we have been told has recently opened. We reach a spot by the river that has been filled with building sand. The owner agrees we can film there as long as we promote it to potential tourists. As you can see, it is a tranquil spot, and if you put river blindness, Schistosomiasis (a nasty thing involving snails), the six hour trip from Freetown and the fact there is nothing to do when you get there, I highly recommend a holiday there. A perfect location for us though, so we all return to shoot the opening scene.

Before dinner we decide to take a walk, my first real experience of Kambia town. The base is on Electricity Avenue, a bumpy lane with a handful of ruined stone houses and the square mud bungalows with corrugated iron roofs that make up most of the town. This is also my first experience of the stir that four white people walking around can cause. Children appear all around us giggling, waving, shaking hands and shouting Opoto (white skin).

We are heading towards Skandia house, a beautiful ruined art deco building on the river, when we become aware of a strange flute noise and a group of men walking towards us shouting. We carry on walking, not knowing what to do. “This is African culture” someone shouts at us, in a not entirely friendly way. We hurry up. “No cameras. Run away” the men shout. The two boys Moses has sent with us think we had better listen. We pass their thatched ’secret enclosure’ and everything calms down. It transpires we have met a secret society and the flute is a signal to the whole village to stay indoors. We didn’t find out what they get up to but hear rumours of initiation ceremonies.

We cook up a great vegetable curry, drink some Star beer and head to bed.