Tiana's lens

First things first, do not be fooled by simplicity of this city’s name. Freetown is anything but free. With it being the largest and busiest city in the small but beautiful country of Sierra Leone whether you are a native or a tourist, chances are you will likely need a guide to survive here.

To be fair, Freetown is not as populated or as busy as Lagos, with its estimated population of about 21 million people living alone in that city. Freetown on the other hand boasts of an average of 800,000 inhabitants of diverse cultures, nationality and religion all working some sort of magic to meet their individual needs.

Below is a list of what you need to know/not know/do/not do in Freetown.

• Always greet!! This fact cannot be overemphasized enough. It doesn’t matter your affiliation or non-affiliation to people you meet in taxis or a group of young men sitting under a shade or a lady sweeping her verandah that you don’t know. The rule is simple, you greet. This is especially applicable of you are the younger party.

• Always hold double your estimated transport fare. Now if you are like majority of the population in Freetown and you do not own or have regular access to a car, you will be taking the local transport frequently. However with no fixed routing system and based on your urgency, the weather or the driver’s discretion, s/he might charge you two times the normal amount. Though it is up to you to agree, its best to just double your budget for unseen situations.

• Taxi/Poda-Poda/Kekeh/Bike!?!? Long years, you’d be taking your shower and send your kid to go fetch a taxi and the driver would wait until you’re done, but that Freetown is long gone. With the population growth, the closest you can get to this is to charter. However there is the choice of the shared taxis, the crowded mini-buses/poda-podas, the usually reckless bikes and my favorite the breezy tricycles or as we call it Kekeh.Which has quickly become a favorite here. Just know that these are your choices of surviving public transportation in Freetown.

• Careful when asking for directions So I had to go to a funeral at the Eastend of Freetown and I had never been there before. I boarded a Kekeh hoping that I’ll get there quickly as I had been told it was a ‘straight’ road. Two hours later and after asking about four different people at different locations and had boarded two kekehs and a bike, I still arrived late, exhausted and just tired. Make sure you have a proper idea of where you’re headed or you just might end up somewhere else.

• Do not go to the Cenral Business District [P.Z} with a weak heart Every seller claims to have the best fruit, the best price or the latest design. If you are easily swayed and have a purse full of cash you just might find yourself going home wit two bags of items you had no idea you ‘needed’. Like the one time when I was persuaded to buy a pair of trousers that I ended up wearing at home because…

• Be friendly to your vendor Chances are you’ll end up friends or as we say in krio, ‘custament’ and that easily translates into premium goods being kept specially for you and prices slashed reasonably for you. Goods might even find their way to your doorstep or your WhatsApp inbox, depending on your arrangement. This will boost your survival as you get the absolute best and you’ll be grateful for that.

• Tailors and Seamstressess cause acutual heartbreaks Learn to tell them you need your clothes at least a week earlier than the day you actually need it. Because even with this logic, you’ll still get it later than the actual day which is a week late from the original date you had given the person.

• Know that there is food available whatever your budget. There is a good mix of high-end restuarants in Freetown where the ‘posh and prime’ eat and relax. You also have the mid-range places where you can get a decent meal, take nice pictures and still go home with some money in your pocket. Then you have the local eatries where you’ll meet interesting people and conversation and still leave with a full stomach and a full purse. But as always judge with your eyes and mind before eating.

• Always opt to get mobile money. With the long queues in the banks and the ATMs sometime unable to dispense cash, you might easily find yourself cash-strapped. So its better to activate your Africell Money or your Orange Money if you are someone who minds walking around with money. And just for convenience sake as you can pay bills and do lots of stuff with your mobile money.

• You get more gists at Salons or public transport than on radio or TV. Trust me there are more juicy conversations in salons and public transports than you can possibly imagine. Its not uncommon to see someone passing his/her phone in a salon showing a picture, reading out loud a message or ‘talking’ about our ‘influencers’. In public transports, you are usually going to meet that one conversation starter. In all this be careful, because if you are hotheaded it is easy for you to get trapped and end in an argument.

These are the first ten tips on #Surviving Freetown on Tiana’s Lens. More to come. With a place as interesting and as diverse as Freetown we are sure to have lots of laughs right? Share your thoughts and ways you have been surviving here in #Freetown.