By Joseph Lamin Kamara
It is Saturday, February 14 in Freetown, the capital city of one of the countries worst-hit by the Ebola epidemic - Sierra Leone. By their appearance, the people here are not Ebola-affected as one would imagine a society in which, according to government figures, the ravaging disease has killed over 3000 people with over 8, 000 infected with the virus. The ban on district level travel has been lifted and it`s observed that sitting modes in vehicles have been reversed to their pre-Ebola limit; measures government put in place to control transmission of the disease.
As a result, the spirit of Valentine’s Day is here despite the disease is into its ninth month.
I am in my room chatting, on WhatsApp, with my own valentine who lives thousands or millions of miles away from me. She has just sent me a video clip when I hear a clamour of people outside.
“They say there is a house burning at Sanders Street. Where’s this house burning now?” my uncle paces into the living room, inquiring.
Outside our apartment, people, in their hundreds and even thousands are already scrambling out on Naimbana, Jones, Lewis, Sanders, Guy and other streets. At 20 Guy Street – which is traditionally articulated “goy” – I can see houses very close to each other being razed down by an obstinate fire. It`s determined, arrogant and audacious, as if it has been sent on an errand. It`s widespread, increasingly blazing and fanning out to neighbouring structures on the same and Sanders Street. Neighbours, community men on rooftops, by wallsides and on ground are swinging hands and splashing water.
The national fire fighters here now but prior to their arrival the one storey board house, which is the parent house this compound, has almost fallen to the ground. A salon has been swallowed. A carpentry shop has almost been razed down.
Women and children are standing dejected with hands on heads. Some are wailing and some rolling on the ground as the fire men with three trucks carry on with their work.
The man I am directed to as the owner of the compound is incredibly smiling among consolation givers. As always, I think he will not be in the right frame of mind to talk to me so I humbly, with smile as well, request his contact number.
When James Caulker speaks to me the following day at his mother-in-law’s residence that sits a few kilometers on Lewis Street off Guy Street, he describes the burning of his compound as his own valentine gift to God.
The compound which is near Sanders Street and Krootown Road in Central II of Freetown contains four structures. He says he has gone to Church to affirm his agreement with God.
“If He thinks it is necessary for it to happen now, then I agree. That was my valentine yesterday to God,” Caulker tells me. He however notes that if the incident is “humanly motivated, let Him [God] find out.”
Properties worth over 17 million Leones, he says, have been lost to the inferno. “[But] the only adverse effect is the distance my wife now covers to go to her business centre in town,” Caulker laments. But the good new is, a “very good Sierra Leonean” and a “very good friend”, whom he refuses to name, has already offered him a “nice flat” at Juba Hill in far western Freetown. That’s where, he tells me, he now lives together with five other members of his family including his wife and two children.
The 69-year-old retiree of the Sierra Road Transport Corporation is jobless.
“But by God’s help I will build the compound again,” he prays, sounding normal and faithful to God.
Fire incidents are normally frequent in Freetown, especially during this time of year (dry season) and the reasons vary from faulty electrical wirings to forgotten burning candles or stoves. There have also been cases attributed to mischievous acts.
Caulker can`t say for sure the reason for his predicament but he seems to have suspicion. His is a divided family and he has particularly had a strained relationship with one of his children who he says has threatened to burn the house and kill him.
Before the death of the boy`s mother, the father narrates, he abandoned the compound for two years. “He was giving problem and his mother was supporting him,” Caulker says.
The sexagenarian says the son and one of the daughters he bore with his first wife failed to maintain harmony with him and they always quarrel over parts of the compound. He says the quarreling children have gone as far as court level. Caulker who says he`s never had two wives at the same time wonders why his family live in acrimony.
Valentine’s Day is a memorable one of love sharing. It is a day people demonstrate strong sentimental attachments to their lovers, relatives and friends. But the day has been celebrated by romancers more than any other persons. Here is a story of a very famous legend, as culled bellow from the online outlet Target Online.
In 269 A.D., a defiant Roman priest Saint Valentine together with his friend surreptitiously continued to conduct marriages between young lovers even when their warlike Emperor Claudius had prohibited marriages because he thought that was preventing young Roman men from joining his army leagues. A death sentence was then pronounced for Valentine, which was to be achieved through beating. While in confinement, the priest fell in love with a young woman who was thought to be the Emperor’s daughter when she visited him. Before he was killed on 14 February Valentine wrote a letter to the lady signing it “From your Valentine.” February 14 has since been celebrated in honour of Saint Valentine since 496 A.D., when Pope Gelasius set the day aside.
In Sierra Leone, like in most parts of the world, young people, mostly students, have bought valentine cards and inscribed them ‘Guess Who’ and given them to different people to take them to their lovers. The trick is to figure out whether the recipient has another or other lovers. Subsequent valentine gifts have been in the form of kiss, sex, snub, rebuff, loss of virginity, beating and teenage pregnancy.
That has been the case even before Ebola. Late last year, a few months into the epidemic, Politico published a story that indicated a 100 percent drop in condom use in the country which gave the feeling that there was a corresponding fall in sexual intercourse. That`s because medical advice has prohibited body contacts, and sexual intercourse for three months after surviving the Ebola virus.
However, deceptively, it appears that there is a sharp increase in the carnal affair despite the disease has been ravaging the country and its people with a terrific celerity. Teenage pregnancy and carnal assaults have greatly increased between 2014 and 2015.
© Politico 24/02/15
