It was 4am when the plane landed and I glimpsed at the first African land I’d ever seen; from the start it was clear that Sierra Leone was a very different place from home. Apart from one lost bag (Andy’s, not mine) and getting separated from the other passengers on our way to the sea coach, things were going slowly but mostly smoothly; the same could not be said for the sea coach. The sun was yet to emerge and from the dock, in the darkness, the small light of the ferry could be seen rising over the crest of wave and then disappearing into its trough. As it approached I made my way hesitantly to the floating jetty and looked deep inside myself for the courage to face what was sure to be a terrible crossing. The other passengers were not so calm. One burst rather loudly into a spontaneous and fervent prayer to Jesus for the safe return of our vessel.

In light of the bumpy crossing, I was even more delighted to see Abu and Chloe from Tacugama waiting for us. By the time we reached the junction to the sanctuary, my stomach had just about recovered from the sea coach, which was just as well because the last part of the road was terrible. But I felt a huge sense of relief that the journey was over and we had made it to what would be home for the next three months.

After a brief stay in the Eco-lodges Andy and I settled in to the volunteer house. We shared room 3 and we also shared the house with another volunteer called Catalina, a paediatrician from Argentina.

Catalina generously showed us the ropes of the house, including the wifi passwords (very important for my worried mum) and told us all her stories of her experience of Tacugama so far, as she had already been living there for 4 weeks; the three of us spent many evenings chatting away about all sorts of topics. In the house we had a shared kitchen, a common living space, two bathrooms and a veranda which overlooked the greenhouses and an old parrot enclosure, it was not the most beautiful view, but there was a comfortable hammock. We were made extremely welcome by Fatmata, the volunteer house keeper; she was a fantastic cook and she looked after us so well it felt she’s the “volunteer mum”. There were also many challenges to living at Tacugama:

• Firstly and for me the worst thing, was the cold showers.
• The rain!! During rainy season the rain really was relentless, so in the day you would get soaking wet every time you went outside; also the dense clouds prevent the solar panels from charging so we often went without power in the evenings.
• Boiling water every evening, so it was safe and cool enough to drink the following day.
• Mould. Because the climate was super humid and there was a lot of rain everything gets mouldy, luckily nothing a good wash and some sunshine couldn’t fix though.

Nevertheless, We have arrived in Sierra Leone, Made it to Tacugama and are ready for the adventure ahead of us!