Plane Ride from Guinea to Sierra Leone

When WMF first traveled to Sierra Leone, the diamond war had just ended and parts of the country were still under rebel control. The disarmament process was just starting.

All international flights into Sierra Leone were suspended. The only flights available were from neighboring Guinea.

The plane we took was a small-medium size plane. There were no boarding passes; we were to file into our seats much like being ushered into church pews. We were directed to fill up each row before the next row became available. A large Ukranian man supervised the process. He was friends with the large Ukranian men piloting the plane.

I saw and heard chickens on the flight.

I was tired, having flown through London, so I closed my eyes after takeoff. I only opened my eyes half-way through the flight. To my surprise, something like smoke had filled the cabin. I didn't scream because no one else seemed alarmed about it...like it was an everyday occurance. I had looked around to see whether an emergency was imminent.

My theory is that the cabin wasn't pressurized and clouds were coming through the inside of the plane. That maybe we didn't climb to a high enough altitude for pressurization to be necessary but that low lying clouds were able to permeate the cabin.

The ride itself was like any other flight. But I'll always remember the cabin full of smoke on our way to SL.