Life returns to “normal” in Mile 91

Schools are frequented and a rudimentary medical service is provided at Mile 91, about half way between Bo and Freetown, according to the bishop of Makeni, the Rev. Giorgio Biguzzi. “The children are once again attending lessons in the schools, though there is really nothing left of them but the walls,” MISNA reports Biguzzi as saying. “The students sit on concrete blocks, some even bring chairs or wooden blocks from home.” At the local dispensary Biguzzi reportedly said that the nurses sleep on improvised beds and “do their best to help the sick, with the little medicine at their disposal.” These activities, says Biguzzi, demonstrate the “incredible willpower and vitality of the tragedy-stricken population.” Mile 91 falls within ECOMOG’s area of operations. “We do not have a base there,” Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade, ECOMOG’s spokesman told IRIN, “but our troops do make regular patrols in the area.”