Vanessa

+Name: Vanessa
+Age: 29
+Location: Freetown
+Country: Sierra Leone
+Occupation: humanitarian aid work; digital It girl
+Ethnicity: New York hipster
+Religion: Someday it’ll become important
+Have Children: No
+Want Children: Yes. Tick tick tick.
+Last great book I read: King Leopold's Ghost -- an unbelievable account of the worst crimes of colonialism in Africa and the repercussions still felt today.

+Most humbling moment:
Most recent humbling moment: watching a six year old girl carry a pail of water the size of her own body from the well.

+Celebrity I resemble most:
Arrrgh. Nelly Furtado? Natasia Kinski?

+Best or worst lie I've ever told:
I'm coming home in a year.

+If I could be anywhere at the moment:
Finally, right where I am (for the time being anyway).

+Song or album that puts me in the mood:
A Norwegian cover of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" by a group called Magnet.

+Five items I can't live without:

My little little laptop
Crafty supplies
A digital camera (or two)
Some flashy accessories
A very small puppy

+Fill in the blanks:
Thinking about the things you want to do sexy;
Doing them is sexier

+In my bedroom, you'll find:
A mosquito net and a year’s worth of malaria meds. Batik sheets (red). An amazing painting by an indignous artist from Koidu (bright blue). Gara cloth curtains (yellow and magenta). A view to where the soldiers get high every morning.

+Why you should get to know me:
I’m doing this awesome awesome thing. Learn more about it.

+More about what I'm looking for:

A phenomenal journey. To come home (eventually) in one piece.

A house perched on a hill, surrounded by open fields, looking out over the mountains/jungle.

Okay, okay: a soulmate who wants children and lots of animals and who will be the emotional support I need to get my professional life (more fully) kick-started.