A disrupted (though not entirely unusual) morning volunteering in Makeni, Sierra Leone has compelled me to write a blog. Inspired, more than anything else, by the absence of any of the technology with which to do it! I woke up to grand plans to create forms (loan repayment agreements, bio-data, holiday requests) attend meetings and with a bit of internet, I mused, I may even venture to write an email to my girlfriend and catch up with some friends. Alas, it is, at least to some, a public holiday. The resource centre with electricity and Internet is closed and many of the people I’d like to see are taking the day off. So, without battery in my laptop, and most information hiding away in emails these lofty aims are put on hold. With only pen and paper I am limited but then these limitations also limit the number of distractions I have – Sierra Leone often provides opportunities for moments of focus that never occur when I have ten tabs open on my internet browser.

The Collective – Sierra Leone is the reason I’m here. The Collective is a new social enterprise founded by Charlie Habershon and Alex Farrington. It works to provide skilled graduates to a number of charities already established in Salone. These include Street Child of Sierra Leone (me), The Craig Bellamy Foundation (my three housemates, Johnny, Will and Joe), in future The Sierra Leone Film Festival and, I’m sure, more. So The Collective helps charities to spot the gaps in expertise and experience and fill those gaps with the right people. The volunteers are mentored throughout the process as well as receiving a weeks training at the incredible eco-resort at John Obey beach - Tribewanted. It’s a bright idea as there are plenty of great charities in Sierra Leone already; The Collective facilitates their success and furthermore, through placing a cohort of volunteers at different charities in the same house, encourages inter-charity sharing of information and skills. Every cohort, with its mixture of personalities, skills, experiences and volunteering roles, is a collective itself and the model affords a unique opportunity for connectivity between ideas and projects that develops the volunteers as much as the charities they work for.

Street Child of Sierra Leone have seized upon a similarly unique opportunity. Given the paucity of good bars and restaurants in Makeni, Street Child set up their own – The Clubhouse – with all profits going back into the charity. Street Child have also been alert to the rapid expansion of mining enterprise in Salone and have set up bars and shops in several miners camps, with an expansion plan to match the growth of the industry. The knock on effect of building a commercial aspect into the charity is that funding is created ‘in-country’. This encourages a more sustainable existence for the charity than over-reliance on donations from the West. The idea of practising profitable yet ethical business in a developing country appeals to me as it marries business sense with social responsibility. African Minerals, for example, improve their ethical standing simply by providing food and drink to their camp staff through a Street Child outlet. Just as The Collective fills gaps in communication and skills, Street Child takes advantage of a gap in the market and turns it into local employment (all the branches are run and staffed by Sierra Leoneans), economic growth and sustainable charity funding.

My role within this project is ultimately to try to improve the profitability of the commercial units always with the caveat that the ultimate aim of the commercial units is to significantly reduce the number of children living permanently on the streets. My day-to-day work and experiences could be broken down crudely into:

-       Improving the efficiency of the commercial units

-       Training, empowering and facilitating the improvement of the local staff at the commercial units.

-       Marketing The Clubhouse to a wider audience, both local and ex-pat (the shops and bars in the camps have a finite number of customers).

-       Demonstrating and improving the links between the commercial and charitable projects of the charity.

To return to the premise of writing this blog, perhaps the most lasting lesson I’ve learnt out here so far is to use the moments without internet, power, or the people you need, to good effect. These are the moments we don’t often get in the UK and they are the times when I have been able to reflect on what I’m doing, both as a volunteer and in a wider sense. They are also the moments that I’ve used to read (more than I ever did during an English degree), explore the city and now blog! I’ve come to see that many of the frustrations of working in Sierra Leone, though problematic, are in fact a part of the beauty of being here!