Donal H GODFREY and the one legged football team

Today over breakfast whilst chatting with other guests I was aware that a door just down from the lovely breakfast table kept opening a little then closing again, this went on for about half an hour. Finally a man emerged, a tall proud man who came and sat beside me.

I said good morning and he replied the same. He was a shy man and when he became a little more relaxed he explained that he had kept looking and waiting for everyone to go so he could come to the table, when he realised I was still there he needed breakfast so he plucked up the courage to come to the table.

I didn’t really understand at this point why? He asked me about my travels and was amazed that I had travelled so far on my motorcycle, how on earth do you manage meeting different people all the time, never really knowing or trusting people. I explained that it wasn’t really like that for me, I just ride and stop and deal with the situation at hand. He told me that he wanted to go to Bissau but couldn’t find the courage, how would he manage, what’s it like there etc etc. I told him not to worry and that he should go but he wasn’t convinced.

Donal was born in America, Florida to be more precise and he had a story. In 1964 when he was about 6 years old he witnessed the Klu Klux Klan bomb his house and he narrowly escaped with his life, he talked about slavery and oppression and how he had lived his life in fear.

Donal introduced me to something I had never heard of before, PTSS? What’s that I asked? ‘Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome’ he replied and he explained how 500 years of oppression, violence and abuse of black people has left its mark. His early experience never left him and it’s shapes his daily life today. I never really thought about the effects of Slavery on subsequent generations but it makes total sense.

I know about PTSD and how that effected my life but this is a whole different kettle of fish. Donal talked about how he had been through life being constantly oppressed and how this still happens in the USA. When the Slaves were liberated all those years ago there was a power change. The plantation owners still needed a skilled labour force and it was the liberated slaves who had the skill set, the problem was that the white Americans still oppressed the black workers as they now claimed that the Africans were taking their jobs, the atrocities continued with public hangings and violence against the Africans for a whole different reason. In his world this continues to this day. He had a very bad early experience and I’m sure that shapes his opinion but I do understand it from his perspective.

Donal asked me if I had written a book, I can’t claim that but I know quite a few people who have. ‘I have a book’ he replied and went to his room to show me. On reading the prologue I got a better idea of his story, it looks like it could be a challenging read but I might just give it a go.

He served as a submariner and talked about his experiences underwater, one thing that made me smile was when he talked about ‘periscope privilege’. When they had been on board for long periods when this event occurred there was a queue of maybe 50 submariners waiting for their turn to look at the outside world!

Donal was here to give a speech to a conference based on this subject and his book. He reminded me of the authors I know from the travel world but the subject matter is very different, he’s living off the proceeds from book sales much like the Authors from my world. He moved from the States to Ghana to find inner peace and he feels he’s now found it. What different lives we lead eh?

Breakfast was over and we went our separate ways, I wish him all the best for his speech today.

I don’t have much to do but I do need to address a couple of issues with my pannier racks today so I break out the tools and start work. One of my pannier securing bold has come loose and will not tighten., I need to investigate. It turns out that the thread has stripped and needs to be sorted. It’s not straight forward and I have to think laterally to sort it out.

I venture out to try and find a longer bolt and a nut, it’s not that easy but finally I find a chap with a bucket of old bolts, we tip them out on the floor and bingo, I find a couple that may do the job. I did want a longer bolt but that’s not going to happen.

Back at the bike I end up cutting off one of the seat mountings which enables the existing bolt to do the job, ideally not what I wanted to do, but it works. I tighten everything up and the rack is secure again. A quick check over everything else and all appears to be fine for now.

Im hoping to get my Liberia visa tomorrow so I want to be ready to leave if I’m successful.

I venture out for a walk in an attempt to find beer, the attempt is unsuccessful so I return back to the hotel. This hotel is right on the beach and as it’s Sunday there’s a lot of activity. There are many young boys playing football and others doing circuit training, kick boxing and all manner of other fitness related things. It’s a bit too hot for me to even consider joining in so I sat in the sun and observed!

Something caught my eye just down the beach, there was a young man on crutches, he had lost a leg. Then I noticed another and before you knew it there were others. I took a closer look and realised that there was an entire football team of one legged players, they were giving it everything and doing a fine job as opponents to the two legged opposition! I have never seen disabled people move so fast, I was pretty impressed to be honest and watched as they played a hard and fast game. The things you see on a Sunday afternoon on a beach in Africa eh!

Im eating at the hotel this evening and waiting for my meal as I write, it’s a very warm evening and the humidity is high, There was a tropical storm this morning and the mosquitoes are loving the damp conditions.

As i’m waiting for my meal I have a conversation with the elderly lady who actually owns the hotel. She’s French and is 84 1/2 years old. She first came to Guinea in 1958 and has a long and interesting story of her own, she travelled here by ship with her new husband and has years of back and forth to France and West Africa. She’s a strong lady and I like her, she enquires about my travels and we spend some time talking about various subjects including the Queen, I show her photos of when Sally and I visited Buckingham Palace for the Royal Garden Party and she’s impressed!

She breaks off to have a heated argument with one of her staff, my she is strong and holds her own with the young man, I keep my self to myself! She returns with a home made cordial made from hibiscus flowers and we continue our talk for a while until she breaks off again for another go at the young man. I realise that she is quite a character and sit waiting for my meal, I may have met my match there, I wouldn’t like to cross her…

10 Indonesians just arrived at the hotel, I’d better post this as the internet is rubbish and they want the password!

I’m not impressed by the waterways leading out of the city, it’s very similar to my experiences in India, a septic horrible mess being washed out to sea, the results of this are blatantly obvious. I though we had a plastic waste problem in the UK, we do but I think we hide it much better!

The Police in Guinea are heavily armed and so are their vehicles. I often hear them speeding down the road with troops in the back all with arms ready!

I spotted this tyre bead breaker outside one tyre shop, it’s made from the half shaft of a heavy vehicle, I bet it does the job very well!