Today I was sat in the office working on a report when I received a telephone call from somebody from the compound (Ceesay Kunda) asking me where I was and telling me that my house smelt of gas. Concerned about the potential gas disaster I told the caller that I would return home immediately and I quickly set off on my motorbike. As I left the office the Regional Director asked me where I was going and I briefly explained the nature of the call I had received and he too urged me to head home with haste.
As I arrived at the compound I was surprised to see the two men from the compound (Dad and Step-dad) calmly sat outside, especially considering the potential danger, however I dismissed it as 'cultural differences' and quickly rode through the gate.
As I pulled up to my house there was a whole crowd of compound people gathered round laughing, clapping and shouting something. It took a few seconds to work out what they were saying but then it became apparent that they were saying, 'April fools, April fools'.
My first thought that went through my head was, 'are these people for real?!!!' They called me from work telling me about a gas leakage all as part of an April fool’s joke? I'm at WORK for goodness sake!' However within a few minutes I burst out laughing - half of me was relieved that my house wasn’t going to blow up and the other half of me was amused by the compound people's lack of awareness of the inappropriateness of their April fools 'joke'.
Bless em!!!
