Voinjama

There’s not a whole lot I can tell you about Voinjama, other than it is the seat of Lofa County, which is the equivalent to one of our state capitals (think Salem, Oregon, Richmond, Virginia; or Annapolis, Maryland; sorry DC, your equivalent is Monrovia).  Here’s a shot from the side of the building where we were holding the workshop:

Although it’s far from perfect - I love the panoramic feature of this camera.

Anyway, see that hill on the right hand side, earlier that morning I met a contractor working on water issues at the Guest House and he had a detailed satellite image map of Voinjama - and I saw that there was a road to the top of that hill!  After the first day’s workshop session, where do you think I told Andrew to head to?  I guess I’m pretty predictable.  Anyway, this is Voinjama from the top of the hill:

The city is pretty much surrounded by hills (they call them mountains) as well as on 3 sides by Guinea.  Of the 5 roads that lead out of Voinjama, four of them hit Guinea pretty quickly.  

One thing I can say about Voinjama is that it is full of life.  There’s a lot of activity, trade with Guinea, people, cars, motorbikes, donor-country SUVs, children and animals.  Here’s another shot a bit farther around the hill:

Note here too the abandoned buildings on the bottom right of this image.  Lofa County, along with Nimba County to the south (with, of course Guinea in-between) saw a substantial amount of fighting during the civil war.  Land disputes have always been tense here, which is why this is where our project is starting its work.

And then, still a bit farther around the hill:
 

And just because it’s such a cool feature, here’s a pano from the hilltop:

I think if you click on the panos (as well as any of the images) you’ll get a larger-sized image.