November 8 2025 - A Village Welcome and Life with Merel in Sierra Leone

📍 Location: Merel’s Village, Sierra Leone

📝 Episode Notes

Good day — November 8th.

I spent more time talking with Chris Roller today, and the stories he shares are out of this world. He recently finished a huge solar project with dozens of stations, and now he’s planning to ride a small motorbike back to Freetown before returning to Botswana for his next project.

After that, I made my way to see Merel and bumped into Abdul again. We packed up and made a short extra trip to retrieve a forgotten Wi-Fi piece. As we traveled, the landscape changed — hills, rivers, and areas affected by mining. Some rivers were murky from bauxite and gold mining, which is partially tolerated, but it’s complicated because villagers rely on these rivers for bathing and washing.

We traveled the last nine k ...