Nick Hewer: Countdown to Freetown Page #3

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then you've got the dread of doing

some serious damage to something.

And you want to be

somewhere in the middle.

There's nothing worse than

being in the middle of nowhere

with a cracked sump.

Nick hits tarmac

with over 400 miles to go,

increasing speed

to make up lost time.

I'm hurtling through Africa

without stopping.

Not doing anything!

I haven't spoken to anybody!

It's the bloody Paris-Dakar Rally,

this is, with a trailer!

Nick wants to make sure

they hit Freetown the next day.

I don't know where we are.

A dawn start,

and the last 300 miles.

Unknown to Nick,

a bent axle has shred a tyre.

Let's have a look.

It's gone right through the metal.

Is there someone here

that can change a tyre?

Yes, in Boffa.

That's where we'll go.

No problem.

Every day on the road

means less time in Freetown

to turn James into a businessman.

If we had a machine, this would be

done in seconds, wouldn't it?

And also, all of them would come away

with all their toes. Blimey.

Who wants a boiled egg?

Vouz avez le gasole?

Hold on, let me smell this.

Where has this come from?

Whenever guys are in a hurry

to sell you something

and then clear off,

you know you've got a problem.

It's like Coca-Cola.

It's horrible.

The engine's all right -

pinks a bit, but it goes. It's fine.

After nearly 5,000 miles

and a gruelling last few days,

Nick finally enters Sierra Leone.

Well, we're in.

It should be a moment to celebrate,

but an exhausted Nick knows

there's over 100 miles

still to drive before Freetown.

What do I know about Freetown?

I spend, I don't know,

three or four days there.

All I know is that

everybody's sawing wood by hand

and anybody who can

do it faster and cheaply

must be an attractive sort of

proposition - simple as that.

The last leg passes close

to where James was raised -

areas that were devastated by

Sierra Leone's ten-year civil war.

Fuelled by the country's diamonds,

the population were exposed

to unimaginably brutal acts,

leaving thousands of children

traumatised and orphaned.

The war ended in 2002.

Ever since, kids have been

pouring into Freetown.

Nick hopes James will

help many with his saw.

Finally, the outskirts of the city,

notorious for traffic madness.

Very disorientating

because there's no streetlights,

no road markings, no street signs,

as far as I can see.

Despite the chaos outside,

Nick remains resolute.

We're going to make sure it succeeds.

I haven't come all this bloody way

to have a failure on my hands.

I tend to try and,

um, finish what I start.

I haven't seen him

for a couple of years

and my only concern, really, is,

is he a really good, keen kid,

you know, really genuine? Or...

is he a bit of a chancer?

Security is a big issue in Freetown.

Nick drops the saw

where it should be safe,

but car and trailer have become

inseparably bonded.

Try it.

Mohammed, too many cooks...

I think I'm swallowing

mosquitoes. Is that possible?

The thing is,

this button's not pressing in.

Nobody locked it? Well, bugger.

It's going. It's going.

I think the problem was this brake.

That's crazy!

To unhitch without the brake?

Can we go now?

Yeah.

Are you happy, Mr Nick?

I'm very happy, Mohammed.

At last, Nick can head

across town to his hotel.

He plans to get everything up

and running for James tomorrow.

Morning, Mohammed.

Hi.

A very busy day.

Why have we got a busy day?

We haven't got long,

so we'd better go and see James.

He may say, "Who are you? Go away.

I am now a fisherman,"

or we've got to train him, of course.

James is very, very intelligent.

Any time I've called James to

discuss with him, he surprised me.

I think if we leave now,

it would be good for us.

Mohammed has made contact,

but James has no idea

why they want to meet him,

but straightaway, they fall victim

to Freetown's cursed traffic.

Mohammad, we're been sitting here

for nearly two hours.

It's 11:
30am! Where are they off to?

It's like a city on the move.

Nick has cut it tight

to get James set up in business

with only five days

before he leaves.

Nick Hewer's mission, to prove

a street kid in Sierra Leone can

become a businessman,

is about to be tested.

We're leaving,

you know... five days' time.

A lot to do in five days.

But Freetown's traffic is

stealing his time.

Nick is basing the saw he brought

for James in the charity's compound

until James finds

premises of his own.

How is he going to get this... with

a forklift into that building there?

First off is the generator.

It will fall off.

Uh?

That will fall off.

Last one.

With the generator deftly

dropped into position,

time to deal with

the half-tonne saw.

Nick wants it under cover,

but it's too big to fit.

We leave it outside, just there.

Maybe we telephone you tomorrow,

when we have thought about it. OK.

He wants everything working

before presenting it to James,

so a local mechanic gets to work.

Feeling unwell,

Nick retires to the car.

Nick organised an engineer

to fly out...

..Steve, who's stuck in traffic.

Eventually, he arrives.

Start it up, turn the key.

The generator runs,

but it's producing no

electricity to power the saw.

What happens is, when this thing

fires up, these should shoot up.

They've basically disconnected

the two wires there

and took the transformer away.

That transforms the engine power

into electricity,

and we're not producing any

electricity, so the saw won't run.

Conveniently, the local mechanic

knows where to buy a new one -

for 500.

Is this a brand-new transformer

or is it a rewound transformer?

So it's 500 approximately, and you

can get that within the hour?

Sorry to disturb you, young man.

They've took

the transformer off the end.

And they want 500.

500? Ridiculous.

Well, they shouldn't have

taken it off in the first place.

Well... I tend to have to

agree with you.

I'll have a word.

Does the transformer sit

outside the casing?

It sits on here.

I think we're being

taken for a fabulous ride.

It's not there now

and we've got a gun to our head

and we've got to give the man 500.

What a rip-off.

I'm irritated.

Bring me a piece of paper back, OK?

You'll be back in one hour? OK.

If it's a brand-new transformer,

it's going to come

in a manufacturer's box.

If it's a dirty old used one,

we'll know he's...

Captured it.

I'm going to go and sit in the car

because I've... I've got a problem.

'I think the environment

is very hard.

'Terribly hot.

'And one false move and you become

a frequent visitor to the lavatory.

'Anyway,

the trouble is that I'm wiped out.'

He don't deserve that, does he? Eh?

An hour later, Nick is woken to see

what his 500 have bought him.

Is that supposed to be new?

It's a very old piece.

It's very old, it's not a new one.

Not a new, just...

Let's have a look at the bill.

Can we stick it on so we can see

whether it actually runs?

I would say that that's almost

certainly the original one,

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