Unpacking Stories from Sierra Leone - The Dream Come True I Awoke From Too Soon

Jan 26

Originally posted March 22, 2020

A few days ago, I returned home to Malmo from my long-awaited trip to Sierra Leone.

It was my first trip to Africa, and without a doubt the most eye opening, challenging, and transformative experience of my entire life. Sadly, it ended about two weeks too soon.

While we were being swept off our feet on the adventure of a lifetime, something else was sweeping across the globe. At first, it was slow and silent… like an invisible wildfire… then, suddenly, it engulfed us all. COVID-19 is no longer silent or invisible, nor is it another far off problem that we can ignore. Now the pandemic is knocking on our doors.

Life as we knew it seems to have come to a halt, borders have closed, flights have been cancelled, long-awaited plans have abruptly changed… and our trip through Sierra Leone was no exception.

Just being there already felt a bit like living in a dream…

It felt like I was right where I was supposed to be doing exactly what I’m meant to do. I’ve never felt more like myself. At the same time, it felt a bit strange to be having the “time of my life” while the whole world was upside down. The second we finished a project shoot or took a break from editing to check our phones, Esteban and I were bombarded with COVID updates from back home, in the news, and our family and friends around the world. Before we knew it, the epidemic became a pandemic and the “dream come true” experience felt even more surreal.

We tried our best to carry on as usual… to focus and get the job done… but by our last weekend, we were both so consumed with worry that producing videos was just about impossible. At the time, we were also based in Kenema, a city in the eastern provinces where limited network connection and frequent blackouts made productivity literally impossible (even if we had been in the headspace for it).

Soon, our plans come to a screeching halt, too.

We were finishing up our project shoot last Monday afternoon when we received the message, “Just heard a rumour that due to the corona virus, Brussels and Air France will do their last flight from Sierra Leone this Friday evening.” I wish I could say it came us a surprise, but we both knew it was coming. Europe was closing borders, and it was only a matter of time before Sierra Leone did the same.

So that was that…

The next morning we woke up early (for what ended up being our final interview), packed our bags, and drove five hours back to Freetown. We checked into a hotel for the night (for what ended up being our last night). By the next afternoon, we were en route to the airport, boarding our flight (what ended up being the last flight from Freetown back to Europe), and making our way through several eery, vacant, almost post-apocalyptic feeling airports to get home.

It happened so fast from start to finish.

To be honest, I’m still attempting to process it all. I feel disappointed that our time in Sierra Leone ended so abruptly… and, yes, I know everyone is dealing with cancelled events, or classes, or events… but this feels a little different. This was a once in a lifetime thing that we waited nearly 10 months for… and just when we were getting the hang of things, it was time to go… not even back to reality… but to a strange alternate COVID reality where literally nothing makes sense.

We don’t know if we’ll get to go back to finish what we started, or if a similar opportunity will ever come around again… but, regardless of what comes next, I feel grateful to have had this opportunity at all.

Now that I’m back in Sweden, I keep finding myself scrolling through my photos, rewatching videos, and flipping through the random notes scrawled across the pages of my journal. Turns out, being in quarantine provides the perfect opportunity to slow down and reflect on the journey, and, hopefully… eventually…to find the words to do it justice. When I do, I hope you’ll give them a read because the world needs to know more about Sierra Leone… a beautiful country which has suffered a dark past, but it is also home to some of the strongest, kindest, most resilient people I have ever met.

I planned to write about the experience day by day… to unpack all of the stories from my suitcase chronologically… to line them up neatly in a row from start to finish. Sadly, my brain just isn’t wired that way… plus, the whirlwind of a way in which the trip unfolded has me totally incapable of such mental tidiness (even more-so than usual).

I suppose I’ve gotta start somewhere… and this is it.