Thoughts I Think

A Day in the Life

2010-04-12T08:31:00.002-04:00

Sata Sacko opens her eyes to the first rays of morning light. Her thatched roof is perched upon the circular wall of her hut in such a way as to allow a ring of light to slip through the space between. Every day she wakes up to a halo from the rising sun.

Sata yawns as she strokes the bundle cuddled up beside her, her 3 month old son, Mory. Beside her on the mattress made from rice sacks stuffed with straw sleep two more of her children, Fanta and Hawa. These two are about 3 and 10 respectively, but no one can say with much precision since details of this sort aren’t closely followed.

From outside comes the rhythmic thump of corn being pounded into flour. Binta, one of the other wives in the extended family, is already working the large mortar and pestle. This sound will continue throughout the day as various members of the family take turns preparing the corn flour that is the staple of almost every meal.

Interspersed with the thumping are the calls of various livestock passing through the compound. Goats bleat, donkeys bray, and roosters crow as they mill about scanning the ground for food. As the noises outside grow louder and more frequent Mory wakes up. When she feels him stir Sata brings him to her breast to feed, an action she will repeat many times throughout the day in the midst of her various chores.

After Mory has had his fill Sata dresses herself with a t-shirt and a brightly patterned cloth and straps the infant to her back where he falls asleep once again. Sata will spend the majority of her day with her child on her back like this, a common sight in a place devoid of play pens or strollers where even new mothers are expected to work hard to complete their daily tasks.

As she steps out of the hut into the emerging day Sata can see who is already up. Aminata and Mali, two more wives in the family, are sitting around a cooking fire getting breakfast ready. They are mixing the corn flour that Binta is pounding with water and forming it into pea sized balls. These balls will then be boiled in a large cauldron to form a sort of porridge. Sata pulls a stool over to the fire and begins to form the balls as well. The four women exchange greetings and chat idly as they work.

Binta and Mali also have children snoozing on their backs but Aminata, the oldest woman in the family, is past the point of having a newborn to care for. Her husband, Nalen, is the main bread winner in the compound and her place as the eldest of his wives is a respected one.

That is not to say that there is a reason for her to assert her status as they converse. There are perhaps ten women living in the circle of huts and houses that form the compound and they are all married to one of the three elder men in the family. Rather than the reality show style rivalries one might expect to develop in this polygamist environment the relationships among the women are close and strong.

As the porridge cooks members of the family file out of their respective abodes to ready themselves for the day. Some children are wearing school uniforms while others are preparing for a day in the fields. The adult men are loading up their bikes and motorcycles with supplies to bring to the farm about 10km outside of town. More women congregate around the fire and each one is greeted and welcomed into the growing circle.

When breakfast is ready it is divvied out and as many as five or six people, usually segregated by sex, will crouch around the large bowls on the ground and hastily eat the hot porridge. As each person finishes they stand up and thank both the women for preparing the meal and the men for providing the food before they return to their preparations for the day.

As the men and children begin leaving the compound the women break off from the larger group and start the day’s chores. Sata has her and her children’s laundry to do so she heads off to the pump to get the water she needs.

The pump is another communal hotspot where the women from the surrounding compounds meet and socialize as they wait their turn to fill the containers they’ve brought. After waiting Sata fills her twenty five liter basins and carries them back one at a time by balancing the fifty five pounds of water on her head. If Mory wakes and begins to cry while she’s doing this she’ll soothe him by patting or swaying him from side to side, all without spilling a drop.

Once her water is collected Sata is ready to start doing the laundry. She uses a plastic washboard to scrub the clothes clean. A normal sized load might take her a half hour straight of scouring with her back bent over the board. As she works, her youngest girl, Fanta, reports back occasionally from playing in the neighborhood with the other children. Some days she’ll spend almost the entire day by her mother’s side, learning the ins and outs of the daily tasks that will be expected of her in the future. Sata’s other daughter, Hawa, has already reached an age where she can help out and divides her time between school, chores, and play.

Once the laundry is hung on the line Sata sits down with the other women who have stayed in the compound for the day rather than going off to the river to fish or to the fields to plant. Mali is cooking lunch which will consist of corn flour boiled into a gelatinous paste along with a thin sauce to dip it in. The women‘s socializing is interspersed with breast feedings and rocks thrown at goats wandering too close to the cooking meal.

When it is finished the food is again served in a large bowl with a group of males or females seated on stools or crouched around it. No utensil is used this time and the corn paste is simply scooped up by hand and dipped in the sauce before it is swallowed. There are far fewer people in the compound for the midday meal as many family members will take their lunch on the farm. Still, the scene is hectic as children dart to and fro between their mothers and the food, their fighting and playing fueled by a full belly.

After lunch, those left in the compound retire to the shade of mango trees and thatch coverings for some rest. The sun is at its peak now and midday temperatures in the village can reach 130°F. Doing any substantial work in conditions like this is just asking for heatstroke, it’s best to let the sun recede a little before returning to the day’s chores.

As Sata naps subdued green light filtering through the mango leaves dances around her. Mory and Fanta are dozing next to her. Hawa is playing languidly across the compound with a friend. The scene is peaceful and as you listen it seems as though the entire village has gone to sleep briefly. Even the incessant calls of hungry roosters have faded for the time being.

The midday break will crawl along for an hour or two before the heat has rolled back enough to allow people to return to work. Eventually the stillness is broken and people begin sitting up, yawning and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Sata is woken by Mory’s cries letting her know that it is time for another feeding.

Once Mory has had his fill Sata prepares for the next task of the day. She is cooking dinner tonight for the more than thirty people who live in the compound and she needs to start now in order to finish in time. Although the corn she will use comes from the family farm she will still need to head into the market to pick up some additional supplies.

Like most women in the village, Sata likes to look her best when going to the market so before she leaves she changes into one of her favorite outfits. She emerges from her hut covered from head to toe in vibrantly patterned blue and green fabric tailored into a dress and blouse. Her hair is done up in a matching head covering and even the cloth she is now using to strap Mory to her back compliments the ensemble. As she leaves the compound Fanta runs after her with her small legs working double time to keep up.

The trip into the market takes Sata along the dirt road leading through town. Family compounds line either side and she greets the women working in them as she passes. The thump of the mortar and pestle can be heard from every direction; it is the heart beat of the village.

As Sata enters the village center family compounds of thatched huts give way to small shops with stamped aluminum roofs. Modernization is slowly reaching the village and the metal roofs are an example of how life here is changing incrementally as the world grows smaller.

Soon Sata is in the market, which is a hum of activity at this time of day. Children chase each other among the stalls and vendors are constantly calling out to passerbys to inspect their wares. Women from all over the village are chatting and haggling over the various goods spread over tables and mats. The scene is a lively mingling of colors as the brightly patterned fabrics the women are wearing mix with the fresh produce and spices laid before them.

Sata meanders her way through the narrow rows between stalls stopping to talk with friends and purchase the items she needs. As she walks her basket fills and is soon overflowing with the evening’s meal. Bright red tomatoes and small yellow onions jumble with fragrant spices and peanut oil. Glimpses of green and red from the chili peppers complete the artistic compilation that her basket has become. With her shopping done, Sata finds Fanta who has disappeared with some friends among the stalls and heads back to the compound.

Upon her return Sata changes back into some more comfortable clothing and gets to work. She retrieves some of the firewood chopped earlier in the day by another woman in the family, builds up a cooking fire, and sets a large cauldron of water on it to boil. Once the water boils she will slowly mix it with corn flour as she stirs it into the same corn paste Mali made for lunch. The paste is called toh and is eaten at almost every meal.

As she waits for the water to boil, Sata begins to prepare the rest of ingredients to make a sauce for the toh. She pounds the onions, tomato, and pepper together into a paste and then sets them sautéing in oil over another fire. Once the paste has cooked some she fills the pot it’s in with water, sets a lid on it, and leaves it to simmer. She then turns her attention back to the larger cauldron, which has begun to boil.

With a bowl of corn flour at her side Sata sets to work making the toh. The process involves the slow addition of corn flour to boiling water interspersed with rigorously stirring the mixture with a special large spatula to ensure a uniform consistency. It is tiring work, especially as the toh turns solid and the stirring becomes a full on upper body workout. The fact that the whole task is done over the fire only serves to exacerbate the discomfort of having a baby strapped to your back on a day that is still well over 100°F.

As Sata cooks, family members begin returning from the day’s work. The men’s clothes are completely covered in mud from the rice paddies they have been in all day. A few boys come in driving a donkey cart loaded with sacks of fresh corn to be dried and pounded. Women come back with fish to be added to the evening meal. Everyone is tired but in good spirits. With the day’s work over they have a warm meal and a refreshing bath to look forward to.

As the sun sets the meal is finished and the family eats together from the large bowls underneath the night sky. Afterward amidst the expressions of gratitude for a well prepared meal Sata and a few other women collect and wash the dishes. Once this is done Sata gives Fanta and Mory a quick bath before taking a bucket to one of the straw fenced enclosures to bathe herself.

With all of her tasks complete, Sata joins the other women in the family as they sit around the embers of the dying cooking fire and finish the day in each other’s company. Almost all the women have a child with them; some are already asleep in their mother’s arms.

As they chat the night sky stretches above them with a vastness and clarity that is otherworldly. The stars of the Milky Way are so numerous and bright that they seem to be a finely sprayed mist cutting the sky in two. The half moon, radiating its silver light over the horizon, reflects off the women and makes their dark skin glow.

One by one, as the night progresses and the day’s weariness makes itself felt, the women retire to their beds. Eventually Sata follows suit. She bids the other women goodnight and lifts Mory and Fanta, who are already fast asleep, from her knees.

When she enters her hut Hawa is asleep as well. Sata lays Fanta and Mory down next to their big sister and then climbs into bed. As she drifts off to sleep she can hear the last fragments of conversation drifting in from the women outside. Slowly the voices fade and she falls asleep. Tomorrow she will awaken to another halo.

Market Day

2010-02-07T11:56:00.002-05:00

Standing at the edge of the school grounds I squint out over the long expanse of field before me. My high vantage point provides an excellent view and in the distance I can see a worn sign erected years ago to welcome a brigade of Bangladeshi engineers sent by the UN. In the intervening space baking in the hot sun sits row upon row of improvised wooden stands covered with tin roofs and UN issued tarps. Each stand is filled with wares and an expectant vender, waiting to make the first sale of the day.

Today is market day, a weekly event which brings sellers from all over the region through our town to sell the goods they’ve acquired along the way. Most of the items for sale come from the capital city, Monrovia, but a few vendors sport more exotic fare from nearby countries such as Ghana, Guinea, and Cote D’Ivoire.

From my lookout above it all I can see the familiar items for sale from a distance. Plastic buckets and cookery are piled everywhere. Many stands are entirely dedicated to selling vibrantly colored fabrics which will be purchased and brought to the town tailors to be made into new outfits.

Even from this distance I can see one vendor selling the blue and white patterned indigo cloth which is made exclusively in the mountains of Guinea. I make a mental note to walk by later and see the fabric a little better up close, I’ve always liked indigo cloth and if the price is right I wouldn’t mind having some more clothing made out of it.

I’ve had my fill of just watching now and I pick up my bag and walk down the hill into the market. As I descend into the chaos of hundreds of people jostling to be heard my mind is thinking about the hidden items I may find that day. From a distance the market always looks the same, but it’s only as you wind your way through it that a patient eye can spot some unusual catch. Today I’m trying to find some new vegetables for a stew but I’m not hopeful, I’ve yet to see much beyond the usual fare of onions and chili peppers that one can find any day of the week.

As I weave in and out of the people, wheelbarrows, and children selling homemade doughnuts that dot the narrow walkways I’m constantly barraged on all sides by calls from marketeers hoping to entice me to their stand. “Friend, come in and see.” “Razors, 10 LD each!” “Cold water here!” and of course the ever popular one word invitation: “Whiteman!” I usually respond to these calls with a smile and a wave. I can’t stop at every person who invites me or I’d never be finished. Still I’m careful to take a quick glance at everything I walk past, amidst the cluttered piles of merchandise I know there are treasures to be had.

Then suddenly I see something that catches my eye. Spread out on a worn tarp an old woman has placed her collection of various used jars and containers. Piles of what I would have called trash back in the U.S. but here I know better. I think back to the bags upon bags of cooking spices littering my house and I know that I’ve found a solution. I walk over to the woman and, mindful not to be rude, I greet her before I start examining what she has for sale:

“My sista, how da day?”
“No Ba-o”
“How da bidness?”
“I trying small”
“Thank Go”
“Thank Go”

Now that we’ve said hello we can start to talk business. I crouch down and get a closer look at the containers she’s selling. Among the empty mayonnaise and medicine jars I spy a pile of spice containers, perfect. I ask her how much for each container, she replies that they’re 10LD each (which is about 14 US cents). Although the amount is fine for me I know I’m getting charged a white man’s price. I haggle a little, which is customary, and I end up paying 50LD for the 8 bottles I find. I thank her and tell myself to come back next week to see if she’s gotten any more.

By now I’ve wandered into the food section of the market. I walk past tables of smoked fish and chicken feet buzzing with flies. I pass a few woman selling vegetables but it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Dried beans and rice spill out of small sacks. Bulgur wheat is also for sale, along with various other grains I’m not familiar with. I buy a few onions for 5LD each, mentally beginning to piece together my lunch for that day. I pick up a head of garlic at 50LD which I find to be incredibly overpriced but I’m assured that the price is correct due to its rarity (“Da garlic bidness har-o”).

Cassava root and plantains are plentiful this time of year but I’ve had enough starch in my diet for the time being so I pass by them. Just as I reach the end of the food and I’ve resigned myself to another meal of plain beans I spy something red out of the corner of my eye. There, amidst piles of the usual market fare I see a woman selling cherry tomatoes. I smile to myself inwardly and run over to claim my prize. The tomatoes are perfect and I can tell they’re fresh, not moldy and infested with bugs like they can sometimes be. I buy a generous bag full of them for 10LD and I head home to make what I’ve now decided will be some sort of bean chili with rice.

As I walk out of the market I feel exhausted. It’s been almost a full hour of walking in the hot midday sun. I’ve been pushed and grabbed and shouted at. I’ve been constantly surveying the areas around me not only for merchandise to buy but for obstacles to be avoided such as animal droppings and tin roofing jutting out into the walkways. I want nothing more than to go home and relax with a bottle of water in my hammock.

But at the same time I’m already looking forward to next week’s market. I wonder what it will bring with it and in what ways it will change my small corner of the world. As I walk up the dusty road leading to my house I decide that before I get in the hammock for a much needed nap I’ll clean the bottles I’ve bought today and fill them with their spices. Another successful day.

Things I've thunk

2010-01-17T17:05:00.002-05:00

Three airplanes, five airports, two Peace Corps buses, two training facilities, a Peace Corps car, and a bush taxi. That’s what it took to get me to my new site, but here I am. Nestled between two French NGOs and facing a UNICEF made latrine my house sits enclosed by half a bamboo fence. I say half because the rest of it is either missing or in the process of falling down. Made entirely of cement it is a far cry from my housing back in Guinea. There are four bedrooms, three common areas, a bathroom, and a porch. The windows all have screens and everything is shaded by a ring of palm and coconut trees. When my principal showed us around the place it took all I had to keep my mouth from hanging open in shock as I mentally compared it to the mud and thatch hut I so recently called home.

If my new house was a surprise then the town follows suit. Sitting on the main road connecting Monrovia to the Eastern part of Liberia it’s one of the largest towns in Nimba County. The markings of development are visible as you approach by car as not one but three cell phone towers make themselves visible over the horizon. As you role into town you begin to see the signs for every international agency that contributed in rebuilding the community after the war. USAID, UNICEF, the EU, Action Against Hunger, Doctors Without Borders...

After you leave the car and begin to walk through the center of town you see three huge walled compounds surrounded by guard shacks and barbed wire. Now you’re in UN territory. UNMIL (The United Nations Mission in Liberia), UNHCR (The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), and WFP (The World Food Program) all have regional centers in the town. I can’t tell you how weird it is to stroll past them at night looking at the rows of spotlights that illuminate the electrified compounds and think back to my old village in Guinea where the closest thing was a string of Christmas lights my friend put up in his small shop.

Of course with the UN compounds come UN employees and all three regional offices are headed by expats (non-Liberians). A Bangladeshi man who everyone calls Major heads UNMIL which is in charge of maintaining the roads to ensure supply lines can reach UN troops up country. Jason, an American, heads UNHCR which mainly seems to concern itself with the large Ivoirian refugee camp just outside the town. Finally Laura, another American, heads the WFP which is currently distributing food to schools for a school lunch program intended as an incentive to draw more students to class.
I got to spend some time with the three of them when I first got to town. Fed, my housemate, and I got invited to a staff party at the WFP being held our first night here. After gearing myself up for getting back into the slowness and isolation of village life it was quite a wake up call. Specifically, you’re not in Guinea anymore.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention another big change. As you can see, I’m not alone out in the bush anymore. I have a housemate and another site mate. Fed, my housemate, is one of the other volunteers who transferred from PC Guinea with me. He’s a chemistry teacher and we’re both going to be teaching at the same school. Roz, a former volunteer from PC Costa Rica, is staying in the WFP compound and will be working with them in some way that involves parent teacher associations. I’m not really sure.

So yeah, I guess the over arching theme of this whole thing is that things are different. In some ways that’s going to be a good thing, you are certainly benefitting from the cellular internet I have now. In other ways though, it’s going to make the rest of my service more challenging. Peace Corps is not the UN. We don’t shut ourselves up behind barbed wire compounds, we lay on our hammocks behind tumbling bamboos fences. I need to be in the community talking with people to do my job. So I need to make sure I don’t get caught up in the universe of international aid that has landed here in Liberia.

Like one of the PC Liberia staff members said during our quick orientation; other organizations bring money, but Peace Corps brings people. So, I need to remember to be a person.

Liberia ho!

2010-01-04T12:50:00.003-05:00

Well, here I come back to you all like a dog with his tail between his legs after my shameful absence from updating. A thousand apologies, things got moving pretty fast during the evacuation and once it was over I sort of lost the motivation to blog. But I'm making my triumphant return with keyboard in hand and I'm looking to right my wrongs by filling in the gaps and pushing onward to brave new territory.

So the evacuation turned into quite a hectic experience (surprising right?). For most of our stay in Mali there was no information to be had and we volunteers chose to spend our time spreading any scrap of rumor that came our way. Things got pretty out of control for a while, I think the best two were that Michael Jackson was dead and that Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. Ridiculous.

Life continued like that for what seemed an eternity (but was probably closer to a week or two) when information started coming in all of the sudden. One day we woke up to find that the Peace Corps Guinea program was closed indefinitely, we were homeless. Soon thereafter Peace Corps Washington started flying in a small battalion of representatives to process the 100 volunteers milling around the compound. This is where things really started to heat up.

Within the span of the next week we had a slew of administrative loose ends to tie up and we had to decide our next step from an array of options including transferring to a new country, closing out our service, or reenrolling. Keep in mind that we didn't actually know what countries were available to transfer to and for the most part we didn't really have much say as to where it would be. I must say the whole experience was rather flustering and that week saw the preferred volunteer activity shift from rumor spreading to intermittent screaming and frantic resume writing.

In the end though my options came together pretty well and I decided that I wasn't really ready to leave Peace Corps yet. So I decided to transfer and now I'm headed to Liberia to teach math again and hopefully participate in the training of new volunteers.

Before I could transfer Peace Corps needed to set up my new site so I was sent back to the U.S. for a couple months to give them time to get it all in order. I'm certainly not complaining, I can think of worse fates than having a two month vacation during the holiday season to see friends and family.

I took full advantage of the break and traveled around the country to visit people who were inconsiderate enough to move away from my hometown. I spent some time in D.C. (which is just crawling with former Peace Corps Volunteers) and also made my way out to San Francisco. It was really great seeing so many people I hadn't seen in so long and it was a good time for me to sort of reevaluate my long term plans and get excited to continue with my service.

But all good things must come to an end and after two months of being a professional couch surfer I am shipping out again on January 9th to my new home sweet home. I'm really excited to see what's in store for me in Liberia. I think it'll be a much different post than Guinea was for a lot of reasons. First off it's an English speaking country so I can say goodbye to French for the time being. I've also heard that there's a huge international aid presence in Liberia which is certainly the opposite of my experience in Guinea. There are even still UN Peacekeepers there to keep the post-civil war peace on track.

So I'm heading in to my new post not knowing what to expect. I don't feel like village life will be incredibly different than it was in Guinea, but then again I don't really have anything to base that on. I guess I'm just gonna have to wait and see.

Anyways I'm back now and I'm hoping to update this thing a lot more than I have of late. So for any of you who are still reading, keep watching the skies and I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Evacuation

2009-10-16T13:58:00.003-04:00

Here's a short post just to let everyone know what's going on. I guess the situation in Guinea was a little more serious than I gave it credit for. About a week after the events of that news article I posted Peace Corps evacuated all the volunteers in the country to a training compound in Bamako, the capitol of Mali. So we've all been here since Oct 7th in a weird consolidated state of limbo. For the moment Peace Corps Washington is deliberating as to whether or not they are going to suspend the program in Guinea. While they're making a decision there's really nothing for us volunteers to do but sit and wait.

A lot is going into the decision but it seems that a lot is going to depend on whether or not the U.S. State Dept allows non-essential embassy personnel to renter the country (for the moment they've all been evacuated as well). I'm trying to remain hopeful that we'll be returning in the face of all this uncertainty but a lot of people I've talked to are of the mind set that we're not gonna be able to go back. We'll see I guess.

Anyways that's all I can say for the moment. Once I get more info about the situation I'll write up a post letting everyone know what's gonna happen. Until then we'll all just have to be patient.

A nice place to visit

2009-09-29T10:07:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a trip to Mali. It was a good time, I went with a few friends and we took a river boat up the Niger River to Timbuktu. Timbuktu was a really interesting place and it was a really cool experience to be wandering around a city that is so ever-present in pop culture as some mysterious and exotic locale. The people who live there call it the door to the desert and you really do feel that way when you’re there. It’s dry and unbelievably hot during the day. There is sand blanketing the streets and there’s almost nothing green in the entire city. The architecture is really amazing and is sort of how I imagine cities in Morocco or Egypt might look. It could have been straight out of “A thousand and one Arabian nights”.

After exploring the city we took camels out to the Sahara to play in the sand and see the sunset, which was a really great experience. I had never seen a camel in real life before and I can now report back that they are one of the weirdest animals there is. Their teeth jut out of their gums like long white fingers and their feet look like huge mushy bags that squash out every time they take a step. Also, if anyone out there was wondering what sound a camel makes I would say it’s kind of loud warbly groan, pretty much exactly like a bantha from Star Wars.

After Timbuktu we came back down and did some hiking in a part of Mali called Dogon country, so named for the Dogon people that live there. The region has a really interesting history and you can still see the remains of the houses carved into the cliffs of the people who lived there before the Dogon. The landscape was really beautiful and it reminded me a lot of places I’d been in Arizona and New Mexico.

When it was all said and done I had a great time in Mali. The country is beautiful and incredibly varied. It was amazing to wake up one morning in the desert and goto sleep that night in a place lush with greenery and lined with amazing cliffs. And of course there’s always the allure of more developed countries and the inevitable western comforts they provide. I swear I think I’d be happy anywhere in the world these days as long as I could find a hamburger and French fries. Anyways I took a lot of pictures (not of the hamburgers) and I’ve posted a lot of them online. Goto the photo link on the right side of the page to check them out.

Unfortunately my return to Guinea was met with bad news. A round of protests against the government just took place in multiple cities around the country including the capital, Conakry. It’s still too early to say what actually happened but multiple international news outlets are reporting quite a bit of a violent activity and deaths. The last I checked BBC had put the death toll around 130 for the protest that took place yesterday in Conakary. Here’s a BBC article on the recent protest that summarizes what pretty much all the major news outlets are reporting.

Guinea rally death toll nears 130

At least 128 people were killed when Guinean troops opened fire on opposition protesters on Monday, rights groups and opposition figures claim.

Earlier police said 87 people had died, but local activists say hospital sources confirmed a much higher toll.

Human rights groups say they have had reports of soldiers bayoneting people and women being stripped and raped in the streets during Monday's protest.

Junta head Captain Moussa Dadis Camara denied knowledge of sexual assaults.

About 50,000 people were protesting over rumours that Capt Camara intends to run for president in an election schedule for next January.

But soldiers moved in to quell the rally using tear gas and baton charges and firing live ammunition into the crowds.

An eyewitness told Human Rights Watch: "I saw the Red Berets [an elite military unit] catch some of the women who were trying to flee, rip off their clothes, and stick their hands in their private parts.

"Others beat the women, including on their genitals. It was pathetic - the women were crying out."

Another eyewitness told the group: "I saw several women stripped and then put inside the military trucks and taken away. I don't know what happened to them."

There has been worldwide condemnation of the violence.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Guinean authorities to exercise maximum restraint, while the West African regional body Ecowas is reported to be pursuing sanctions against the military regime.

Anyways, I’m posting all this info to let people know what’s going on but I also want to stress that I’m not in any danger and Peace Corps has volunteer safety in mind with everyone decision they make. All the violence has been confined to Conakry and my site and the area around it is perfectly safe. So don’t worry, nothing’s gonna happen to yours truly. In fact Peace Corps has advised us that the best thing we can all do is go back to our sites and wait this out, which is where I’m heading right now. So I advise anyone who’s interested to keep up to date with what’s going on at the BBC website and keep in mind that no matter what I am safe and sound. So don’t worry. And check out my picks from Mali!

I Remember

2009-07-21T05:38:00.003-04:00

The new training group is here and PST is in full swing. It's been a weird experience seeing so many people viewing Guinea for the first time. I see myself in all of them and remember how, not too long ago, I was the wide eyed trainee stepping off a comfortable climate controlled airplane to be hit with the muggy heat of the rainy season.

I remember barely saying a word on the drive from the airport as I stared out at the streets littered with trash and people. I remember watching the ocean over the palm trees from the roof of the Peace Corps compound and thinking I had landed in a beautiful tropical paradise. I also remember my first trip to the market where I changed that opinion as I waded through rivers of sewage and tried to navigate my way through the labyrinth of unfamiliar sights and smells.

I remember constantly not understanding the people around me. I remember when I was still surprised that people would chant "White Person!" as I walked by. I remember not knowing how to take a bath with a bucket. I remember not knowing how to use a latrine. I remember thinking that toh was one of the worst foods imaginable, and then I remember getting used to eating it every day.

I remember learning that even if the person you're talking to is a complete stranger you need to start every conversation with them by asking about their family. I remember the first time I got offended when a stranger didn't ask about mine.

I remember learning to slow down. I remember realizing that tea is drunk for the two hour chat that comes with it. I remember walks down the windy paths of my village where people I have never met call me by name and invite me to dinner.

I remember all this and more as I see the new volunteers experience it for the first time and I realize that this is really what Peace Corps is about. We come here to a new world and we find it full of strangeness and unfamiliarity. At first we're lost and we don't feel like we have a compass to find our way. But little by little we change the way we see our new world, and in the process we change the way we see ourselves. By the end, the strangeness has peeled away and all that's left is a place we call home.

I don't remember when Guinea became my home, but somewhere along the way it did.

Ramblin Man

2009-07-05T14:41:00.003-04:00

I've been away from my site on various errands and business since the beginning of June and plan to continue this trend until mid august. Apparently I've been getting too comfortable in my village because I seem to have forgotten the headaches that go along with living out of a bag and moving from place to place for months on end. Quite frankly I'm exhausted, and I'm barely half way through my travel marathon. Between a trip to Conakry for errand running and American food eating, a conference on HIV/aids prevention, and stint at the training facility assisting in the planning of the upcoming pre-service training I'm beat. I'm just counting down the days until I'll be back in my own hut with my own bed and my own schedule.

It seems to me that the grass is always greener is a philosophy that's quite directly applying to my life of late. Towards the end of the school year I was feeling a bit burnt out and was really looking forward to some time away to collect myself. But now that I've had that time I'm really missing my little corner of the world and I just want to get back and feel at home again. Although I'm sure once I get there I'll start turning my thoughts elsewhere again. Seems to be the story of my life.

On a more upbeat note the new training group is coming in three days and I'm excited to meet them all. It should be an interesting few weeks, anytime a new group of Americans comes to country it's cause for celebration. And what's more as soon as I leave training I'll be heading out to Ireland to meet up with my family. After a year away I'm just counting the days until I get to see them all again. It's going to be a nice little reunion. Not to mention some real westernized food.

Anyways I'm not sure what the moral of all this is but I guess I'll be thinking twice before I plan another stint of multiple months away from site. Not that I'll really have the chance again once school starts.

G-18 Packing List

2009-06-03T12:13:00.001-04:00

Well it’s almost time for the next education training group to arrive in Guinea, which means I’m almost at my one year point. Unbelievable, I honestly don’t know where the time goes. I vaguely remember those last few months before leaving for Guinea as a blur of anxiety and numerous trips to Target. In an effort to try and make the process a little bit easier for those who are coming I wrote up a packing list. For all of you G-18ers out there reading this, keep in mind that obviously these are just suggestions and there are things that I think are useful to bring which might not make sense for you. So take everything I say with a grain of salt.

To all the rest of you, I’ll put up a more me-centric post (everybody’s favorite kind of post obviously) soon.

Things to Bring
• Photo Album - This is a great way to break the ice with your host family and people in your village. Throw some pictures of friends and family in there but also put a lot of pictures of stuff from The States that aren’t in Guinea or are done differently than here, like snow, or supermarkets, or pictures of you at work/school, or pictures of you cooking.

• Host family presents – You’re going to have a host family at least for training and you’ll want to give them some presents to thank them for having you, I think a new nalgene makes a good present. I brought two for myself to country but my host mom during training liked the one I was using so much I gave her the second one. They make a good present because they're pretty looking, useful, and high quality (which is something that is often lacking here). Other good presents are things that are obviously from America or related to America. Things with American flags, postcards, maps, American candy, etc. Don’t spend a lot on presents though, you might think a cheap present is no good but it’ll be nice here. And honestly it’ll mostly just be the thought anyways.

• Books – Don’t bring a lot, just a few that you really love or have always wanted to read. There are thousands of books in the Peace Corps transit houses in country left behind from past volunteers so you’ll never want for reading material. Don’t bring War and Peace, there are about a million copies here.

• Earplugs - Village life is loud! Crying babies, goats, roosters, people getting up at the crack of dawn. Not to mention when you're in transit houses with other PCVs and you just want some sleep. Bring some good earplugs, you'll be happy you did.

• Kelty Redwing Traveller 3100 - I definitely recommend some sort of mid sized backpack to use on trips in country. I like this one because it zips apart into two bags, a big one and a little one. When I go on bush taxis I put the big one on top with all my clothes and inexpensive stuff and then I keep my money and electronics in the car in the small one with me. That way if anyone goes through my bag up top (which happens sometimes) they can't get at anything I care about losing. Plus the small one is good for walking around in town.

• Something to break the ice with your host family (bracelet making stuff, drawing supplies, cards, something like that) - Moving in with a host family can be awkward, especially if you're language skills aren't cemented yet. Having a little activity you can do together that doesn't require too much talking is a good way to start off on the right foot.

• U.S. postage stamps and self sealing envelopes – The Guinean postal system sucks so if you want to send mail back reliably just put a U.S. stamp on it and give it to a volunteer going back to the states to drop in a mailbox there. There's always someone going back so this works fine. Also bring self sealing envelopes, the kind you have to lick don't do well in the heat. I didn't think I would do that much writing so I didn't bring stamps, but then I had people send me them in packages. It's a good way to keep in touch and you'll have plenty of time to write at site. Make sure you get people's mailing addresses before you leave though! Also you might want to get the U.S. postage pricing figured out before you go. I'm never quite sure if I need to put extra postage on my heavier letters so I always err on the side of caution and stick an extra stamp on. If I knew the actual prices I wouldn't have to waste stamps.

• Simple cheap weather thermometer – You almost definitely won’t have internet at your site. It's easy to forget how awesome it is to have internet and just be able to look up little things you want to know right away. I always want to know what the temperature is at site but I have no way of finding out. I wish I had one of these.

• World Map - For the same reason, no internet means no access to maps. You'll probably listen to a lot of BBC world news at site and it's nice to be able to look up where the different countries they're talking about are. Plus it makes a good decoration. It also helps to remind me that I’m not alone in the world when I start to feel a little isolated at site. You can buy these in Conakry if you don’t feel like lugging one across the Atlantic.

• Dictionaries, an English one and a good comprehensive French/English one - Again, no internet/computer so if you're writing letters at site there's no spell check. A good English dictionary is super useful for writing letters also if you plan on reading and studying a lot it's useful. I've heard it's necessary to have if you plan on studying for the GREs (which you can take in Conakry). Peace Corps will provide you with a French/English dictionary but in my opinion it was kind of lacking. Bring a compact but comprehensive French/English dictionary with you. I have the one made by Berlitz with the blue plasticy cover and I really like it.

• Rechargeable batteries and charger - Batteries in Guinea are really shitty and I’ve heard they can blow up and ruin electronics (but I’ve never actually seen this happen). Rechargeable batteries sidestep this problem. You'll probably have access to electricity to recharge them somehow at site or at least on monthly regional capitol visits. I recommend it, plus it's good for the environment.

• Headlamp and flashlight - No electricity means no light (duh)! Headlamp is a must and a backup good long lasting flashlight too. I got the generic PETZL headlamp and I really like it. It's LED so it lasts a long time and it's bright. For a flashlight I have the Princeton Tec Attitude. That's also LED and it doesn't drain batteries that fast, it's small, and bright.

• I was told to bring a monthly planner, I never use it but I could see how it could be useful. I just make my own calendars at site, it's something to do.

• Mach 3 with replacements - The razors in Guinea are crap. I'm glad I brought them.

• Seeds - If you plan on gardening bring these. They're easy to buy in the states but harder to get in country. I can only find the few vegetables they grow here and I wish I had more variety.

• Cash - It's hard to get money out of a U.S. bank account in Guinea so if you've got any money you want to use for traveling I'd bring it with you and just keep it locked up with Peace Corps in the main office. Don’t worry about bringing money though, Peace Corps pays you enough to live comfortably and travel. And if you do bring money don’t go overboard, I wouldn’t bring more than $1,000 - $2,000. To give you an idea of how much money that is here, we get paid $200 a month and that goes a really long way. Travel money is nice but by no means necessary.

• Pillow - Someone told me to bring one before I came and I'm glad I did. That being said, if you can possibly avoid bringing one, don't bring it. They're big and bulky and a bitch to carry around. And you can also buy American style pillows in Conakry.

• Camp towel - It's not necessary but it's nice to have a small towel you can stuff in your pack for trips. There are volunteers here who just use a strip of fabric they bought in country and that works well also. I like my camp towel though.

Things Not to Bring

• Too many books - Bring the ones you really want/need but don't bring more than that. There will be tons of books in country from past volunteers who left them and if push comes to shove they make a good care package item.

• Too many toiletries - They're really heavy and you'll be able to find everything you need in country. Just bring enough to get you through the first month or so of training until you're comfortable enough to go out and hunt for them yourself.

• Too many clothes - Pack light! A) you'll want to buy Guinean clothes in country B)You'll probably wear your clothes for a lot longer stretches at a time than you do in the States because hand washing your laundry is awful and there's really no need to be clean. Also you can find tons of cheap American style clothes here like t-shirts and jeans, so if you need more you can buy them.

• Too much survival/wilderness type stuff - you're not gonna be camping for two years, you'll have a home with comforts. In general most outdoorsy stuff won't be all that useful.

• Too many bags - I recommend a large duffel bag and the Kelty I was talking about earlier. Keep it light, trucking around a lot of baggage is no fun.

• Too many things to pass the time - I brought a bunch of little things to pass the time with like a hacky sack/harmonica/Frisbee and I don't really use any of them. You'll have a bunch of time on your hands but you'll probably read a lot and do other things that are more productive.

• Dress clothes - Peace Corps will tell you to bring dress clothes, don't be fooled! Dress clothes aren't really that necessary except for maybe one or two functions. I brought all the dress clothes they told me to bring and maybe wore them once. I'd recommend bringing some outfit that you can wear casually but is also nice enough to get by at some sort of embassy event or something like that (like a polo with comfortable brown slacks). Honestly, you're a Peace Corps volunteer, people expect you to be dirty.

• Food - Some people brought some food from home but in general it was gone quickly and I don't really see the point. You're not gonna miss American food right away and by the time you start missing it all the food you brought will be gone. Plus you'll get used to the food here. And food is a great care package item.

General Things to Think About

• Anything you forget to bring is not a big deal so don't stress out about packing. Honestly you could probably show up in country with the clothes on your back and be fine, you'd be surprised the kind of stuff you can find in country. Also, if you ever really need something that you forgot it can just be sent in a care package (although this is a headache to coordinate and mail can get stolen so try and get it right with the important stuff the first time around).

• If you don't use it in the States you probably won't use it in Guinea. Life's different but in general you won't need all sorts of weird different stuff.

• Keep visibly expensive items to a minimum. There's some stuff I brought (like ipod speakers) that I just don't use that often because it's awkward to have really conspicuous nice stuff when everyone else around has nothing. Nice stuff is good, but make sure you can be discreet with it.

• Communication back home is nice, try to plan it out. Get yourself a mass mailing list, collect people's e-mails, mailing addresses, and phone numbers, figure out good calling cards for people to buy so they'll know ahead of time what to do to get in touch with you, start a blog. The blog's actually kind of bitch to update but it's worth it, it keeps people connected to me who would otherwise just drift away.

• That being said, communication back home is tough. Keep that in mind and say your goodbyes to people you might not talk with for two years.

• Make yourself Journal. It can be boring and I often lack the motivation to do it, but force yourself to do it. You'll be really happy you did. I look back on my entries even now just from the beginning of my service and I'm really happy I have them. Your journal will be something you'll have for the rest of your life and it'll help you remember your time in Peace Corps. Just do it!

• Stay in the moment! It can be easy at times during service (especially on bad days) to be in a bad mood and just count the days till it's over. Resist the urge to do that! This will be one of the most unique experiences of your life and don't fall into the trap of not appreciating it as it's happening.

Ok, I think I’ve touched on the big things that I wanted to mention. Good luck to everyone out there and I’ll see you soon!

Always look on the sunny side of life

2009-05-15T13:14:00.000-04:00

You know who’s a bad mofo? The sun. Yeah, that’s right, I crossed the sun the wrong way this month and it fought back, with a vengeance.

I like to go for a morning jog these days at site which I usually do before school just after dawn so the sun isn’t much of an issue. But the other day I didn’t have school so I slept in a bit (until an unbelievably late 8:30am). So, by the time I went for my jog it was 9am and the sun was already blazing. That’s life en Afrique. After an hour and half of jogging and working out outside I realized that I needed to call the Peace Corps main bureau and try and get some business done. Being a Friday (the Muslim holy day) I knew the bureau would close at lunch so I needed to head out right away and bike to the closest place to get cell phone reception, a hill about 7km away.

So I took off again under the ever fiercer sun and proceeded to spend another hour and half or so on top of that hill with no protection whatsoever from all that wonderful UV radiation coming my way. Big mistake.

By the time I got home I began to feel a bit woozy and fatigued. I chalked it up to, well, fatigue. After all I had already jogged for about an hour and biked a total of 14km that day. I figured chugging some water and chilling in my hammock for a bit would cure what ailed me. Unfortunately it was not to be.

As the day wore on my general state of well being got worse and worse. The fatigue gradually turned into full body aches. The mild feeling of wooziness turned into severe aching all over my body, nausea, and an inability to stand up without stumbling around looking like I was drunk. I started to get a splitting headache and a fever which eventually got up to 102 degrees. In short, I had a bad case of sun stroke.

I spent the rest of the day moaning in my hammock just trying not to throw up and wishing the aspirin would do something to make my head stop feeling like it was about to rip in half. Not a fun situation, not to mention the fact that my host family was giving me a nice old dose of “we told you so”. Although, to be fair, they did tell me so, there’s a reason people here spend the entire day hanging out in the shade.

Anyways I spent the rest of that day and a good part of the next morning recovering from the sun stroke and didn’t really feel 100% until two days later. But, every day here brings a new lesson, and I learned mine something fierce that day; when in Rome… Stay out of the goddamn sun!

South of the Border

2009-04-15T07:44:00.003-04:00

I just got back from a week and a half vacation with some other volunteers in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It was great, after spending 9 months with only the bare minimum for amenities it was nice to be in a place where you can actually find some luxuries. There was electricity, running water, toilets. You could also buy tons of American style food on the street there; hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, chips, root beer. I couldn't believe it, in Conakry I get excited when I find someone selling steamed cassava root (which is actually really good).

Freetown also has a lot of really cool buildings and architecture. A lot of the houses from the British are still there and in some sections of the city you can look around and almost pretend that you're in some kind of trendy part of San Francisco or something. Considering that they're coming off the heels of a civil war I don't really understand how Freetown is so much better off than Conakry, but it was a nice change of pace.

After we spent a few days on the town we headed out to a beach about an hour outside the city for a week or so. The beach was also strikingly different from anywhere I've been in country. There's no real tourism industry in Guinea and as a result there isn't any money going to keeping the beaches clean. So I've yet to see a beach here that I'd want to swim in. Usually the sand is littered with trash and you can be sure that there's at least a couple sewage ditches emptying into the water nearby. But the beach we went to in Sierra Leone was pristine. The sand was white, the water was clear, there was even a lagoon that you could float along in like a lazy river. It was probably the nicest beach I've ever been to and for most of the time it was damn near empty so we had the whole place to ourselves.

To top it all off when we got back to Freetown on Easter Monday to spend the night before we left we found a huge festival going on. Apparently Easter is a really big holiday there and there were tons of people completely packing the streets all night long. People were singing and dancing and dressed up in different traditional costumes. It was a lot like how I imagine Mardi Gras in New Orleans would be. It was a cool slice of local culture and it was an interesting way to finish up the trip.

So yeah, I had a good vacation. It was just what I needed. I like Guinea a lot and I like my life here but it's definitely good to take a break once in a while. Not to mention that it's always interesting to see a new part of the world. Now I'm back off to site feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work. I put up some pictures from the trip so if you want to check them out go to the photos link on the right side of the page.

God willing

2009-03-20T13:30:00.000-04:00

Well hello again. Apologies all around for the sabbatical I’ve taken from updating this thing but I find that as my time away from regular contact with computers increases my ability to spend any prolonged amount of time with them decreases. I’ve had many points in the last few months where I set out towards an internet café with the intention of posting an update here only to be deterred at the last moment by any number of things from the unbearable heat (142 degrees Fahrenheit a few days ago) to my general fear of all things electrical as of late.

The good news for all of you loyal fans out there is that wheels have been set in motion that should eventually end up with me in possession of a small laptop I can use to prewrite e-mails and blog entries. So with any luck I’ll be kicking up the update frequency by quite a bit once that gets here. We’ll see though, nothing’s certain in a place where people habitually add the phrase “god willing” to simple comments like “I’ll be back in five minutes” or “I’m going to the bathroom”.

I’ve been advised recently by a certain gringo friend of mine that the best way to draw people in to the wonderful charade that my life has become is via an anecdote. So in the spirit of illustrating the uncertainty of even seemingly simple things here I present to you all the story of my chicken farm.

I decided recently that I had too much time on my hands and not enough chickens in my stead (the number at the point being zero). So, I figured the optimal two bird with one stone solution would be to build a chicken coop and give raising a few of our fowl friends the old college try. So I talked to my host dad who, knowing full well that he was in for a windfall of shared KFC, immediately took a liking to the project and helped me build a little mud hut for our future guests near our family’s concession.

Now, I feel it’s necessary at this point to explain the general viewpoint towards chickens here. Villages in Guinea are all teeming with chickens and various other birds such as ducks and Guinea fowl. Supposedly they all have owners and everyone can find the ones they own when they want them but I don’t really know how since as far as I can tell no effort is spent here keeping one’s animals detained in any way. In fact most of the fowl in my village don’t even get fed and they just wander all over town all day long looking for spare bits of corn or rice.

As a result of this somewhat haphazard approach to chicken raising almost all of the chickens here are what are called “village chickens” which give only a small amount of somewhat stringy meat but also are very resilient to disease. In other words they’re a good bird to have if your idea of raising a chicken is letting it run around for six months on its own and then one day grabbing it and lopping its head off for dinner. But that’s not what I wanted, I missed chicken wings that don’t look like they belong sitting on the table of a miniature doll house. I wanted real meat! Which brings me to the second kind of chicken one can get in Guinea, the infamous “Tubabu chicken”.

A tubabu chicken is a chicken that has been bred from genetic lines coming from western chicken farms. As a result they are nice and plump and they lay a bunch of eggs but they’re not very hardy at all. In fact they need a bunch of vaccinations and they need to be fed a regular balanced diet or they won’t live to be much bigger than an hor d’oeuvre. Obviously all of that special treatment can get costly which is why tubabu chickens (which is Malinke for “White person chicken”) don’t general end up in the hands of your average Guinean. But I figured, hey I’m a tubabu I might as well live up to my namesake and get me some nice plump meaty chickens to start my farm off right.

So, my next trip into Kankan I decided to buy some of these infamous birds. I walked into the market under the typically blazing hot African sun and began what I hoped would be a quick process of getting to the nearest tubabu chicken stand, buying my tasty new buddies and retreating back to the shade of the volunteer house, god willing. Well as you can probably guess the ordeal turned out to be neither quick nor painless and after four hours of searching high and low chasing down fruitless leads in the hot crowded market I was at the end of the road. The trail had run cold and it seemed that there would be no buffalo wings in my future.

Just as I turned dejectedly to head home and sulk out the rest of the day sipping lukewarm water mixed with rehydration salts one of the vendors in the market who knew the mission I was on came running up to me excitedly pointed to a guy walking by with a big cage full of what must have been thirty or so month old chickens. I had found the mythical beasts, they really did exist and after a bit of haggling I was told they could be mine for 5,000 FG (about $1) each. I agreed to buy six and asked the guy to load up my basket with four hens and two roosters, a ratio that I thought would lead to many delicious little chicken nuggets further down the line.

So my newfound friendly chicken vendor starts pulling out what appears to me to be random birds from what looked like all identical chicks. Worried that I wasn’t going to get the right ratio of males to females I made sure the point was made again that it was important to me that I got exactly four hens and two roosters. He said he understood and although I might not be able to tell the difference he was very adept at distinguishing the two from each other. So he loaded my six new chickens into my basket and we said our goodbyes as I headed off to the vet to vaccinate my new babies, uneasy but (naively) confident that the vendor knew what he was doing.

So I get to the vet and set my chickens down. He gets the vaccines out and we start making small talk as he’s getting the job done. I let him know that I’m planning on breeding these chickens in my village and that I hoped to have a whole farming operation going in the future. He just looked at me and kind of laughed and told me I’d have to think again, because my chickens were “infecund”. Not knowing the definition of infecund but assuming it meant something along the lines of sterile I asked him if he was sure and he nodded his head, no doubt about it.

Well, I was understandably upset as the prospects of my whole farming operation diminished with the realization that all I had were these 6 chickens that for some reason or another had all been rendered sterile. He finished up the vaccines and I paid him and thanked for the help. Just as I was getting ready to leave he said in passing that the smart thing for me to do would be to get some nice village hens when I got back home and breed them with the tubabu chickens I had with me. He said the babies wouldn’t be quite as meaty as a purebred but it would still be a huge improvement over village chicken. When I asked him with a puzzled look how my sterile chicken were going to do any mating at all he just laughed at me. “Your chickens aren’t sterile,” he said “they’re just all males.”

My reaction was definitely a mixed bag, on the one hand I was happy to hear the news that I would be able to have my farm after all, but on the other I was pretty pissed at the guy who sold me the chickens who either knew well and good that they were all roosters or was just lying when he said he knew how to tell the difference. Either way it wasn’t too big of a deal and when I got home I bought myself 5 young village hens to stick in with my gang of roosters.

I guess I didn’t learn my lesson the first time though because now my “hens” are getting old enough to where even I can readily tell the difference between them and roosters. Well, imagine my surprise when lo and behold 3 of the 5 hens started cock-o-doodle-dooing all day long and sprouting those tell tale red crowns that are the unmistakable sign of a rooster.

So now, when originally I wanted a 2 to 1 ratio of hens to roosters, I am the proud owner of a chicken farm consisting of 9 roosters and 2 hens. Although the situation is a bit annoying and it’s not the ideal way to start down the path to a steady diet of chicken and beer at this point I’m just thankful I’ve even got any hens at all.

I’ve talked it over with my dad and he agrees I messed it all up pretty royally but he says not to worry. When the time comes we’ll just ask around in my village and find someone willing to swap me some hens for some roosters and we’ll be able to restore a more reasonable male/female ratio in my endeavor. So soon we’ll be heading off looking to make the third time a charm, god willing of course.

Electric kool aid Obama test

2009-01-30T10:48:00.001-05:00

This month has brought some exciting news, electricity! That's right, yours truly has emerged from his 18th century style obscurity to take his rightful place among the great technophiles of our time. Well, actually that might be a bit premature seeing as how for the moment I'm only using the electricity for a light bulb and to charge my cellphone (for the cell phone reception I don't have), but I'm dreaming big. Plus you gotta love the incongruity of living in a mud hut that's connected to the grid.

In case you're wondering how a little village in the middle of nowhere got electricity, we've got Canada to thank. More specifically, a guy who was born in my village moved to Toronto for six years and when he came back he had a bunch of money to spend. As a gift to the community he bought a huge generator and ran wires all over the place. Now, for a portion of the total gasoline cost anyone can get electricity in their home for the four hours a day they run the generator. It's 12,000 FG (about $2.25) per month for a light and 25,000 FG ($5.00) for a wall outlet. Although pretty much nobody in my village has anything to plug in so even the people who spring for power only have a light or two. Still, big news.

In other news I've been at IST (in service training) for the last week or so. IST is a training session we have to go to after a few months at site to discuss teaching techniques and secondary projects. It was nice to see all the other volunteers in my group but the training seemed a little, um... repetitive. But hey, the food was good at the facility and I got to watch the "new" Batman movie. So no complaints.

Other than that the big deal here has been Obama's inauguration. Everyone in Guinea is super pro-Obama and are looking to him to fix all of Africa's problems. We'll see how that goes... I got to listen to the ceremonies live on BBC radio at my site. It was pretty cool to hear the inaugural address at the same time that he was giving it rather than just hear highlights on world news later. I guess you can tell how much my standards have been lowered when live radio becomes a major event in my life.

Merry Christmas and a very merry coup d'etat

2008-12-26T13:55:00.003-05:00

It's only been eight days since my last entry but a lot has happened here in that time. For those of you who haven't been keeping up to speed, on Dec 23rd Lansana Conte died after twenty four years as president of Guinea. According to the constitution the president of the national assembly is the successor in the event of the death of the president. However, only a few hours after Conte died the military staged a coup d'etat, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the old government. The leader of the coup, Capt. Moussa Camara, is now the self-proclaimed president of Guinea.

In the time since the military took over all the volunteers in Conakry have been confined to the Peace Corps compound on lock down. So over the past few days we've basically been spending our time waiting and speculating about whether or not Peace Corps was going to be evacuated from the country. In the beginning it looked like it could go either way but now after a few days of playing wait and see it seems like the situation is stabilizing. When the new president was announced people took to the streets to cheer, apparently relieved that there would be a return to some sort of stable government. So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we're going to be able to go back to our sites soon.

Anyone who's interested in reading more about what's going on here, BBC has been covering the situation really well. Here's a few stories they've run that give a good overview of the events of the last few days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7797629.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7799279.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7800163.stm

Due to the lock down we had to cancel our trip to Sierra Leone and all of the new volunteers had to stay at the training site for Christmas so we didn't get to meet them. It was a little disappointing having to change all of our holiday plans but at the same time it's been an interesting experience to see how everything has played out so far. After all, how many people can say that they've lived through a military coup?

Regardless of the change of plans we've still been making the best of our time here and it's been nice seeing everyone who made it into Conakry before the lock down was imposed. I've been having a great time hearing everyone's stories from their villages and I've also been spending a lot of time in the kitchen. I didn't realize how much I missed cooking until I got back here. Cooking at site is really time and effort intensive so I hardly ever do it, opting instead to just eat all my meals with my host family at site. But since getting back to Conakary I've been cooking up a storm and having a great time doing it. So rest assured I'm still enjoying the holidays.

Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on here and that I'm OK. A lot's been happening over the past few days and I'm sure a lot is yet to come. The new government is still forming itself but as always seems to be the case in Guinea we're just going to have to exercise a bit of patience and hopefully everything will work itself out.

Fêtes and Freetown oh my oh my!

2008-12-18T17:18:00.003-05:00

I'm back in Conakry now for some much anticipated R & R. I got in yesterday from Kankan and I'll be here until the 27th, then I'm going to spend New Years in Freetown with a bunch of other volunteers. I've been anticipating this trip for quite some time and now that it's here I'm really excited for it. I've heard Freetown is beautiful and it will be nice to spend some time on a beach where you can actually go in the water.

Adding to my excitement is the fact that a new group of volunteers just arrived in country at the beginning of the month. The first time I'll get to meet them will be when they come up to Conakry for Christmas, which is just one more thing to look forward to. I'm really excited for the new people because I remember what it was like arriving in Guinea and having everything be new and foreign. It's quite a shock at first and it makes for some interesting times.

As far my own life goes it's moving along, petit á petit. Tabaski, which is the Islamic celebration of when Abraham climbed the mountain to sacrifice his son, was at the beginning of the month. It's the biggest holiday of the year in Guinea. There was tons of dancing, eating, and visiting from extended family. It reminded me a lot of Thanksgiving actually which was sort of a nice substitute for not being at home this November. Plus my family slaughtered some goats and a cow and we ate meat with all of our meals which never happens normally. It was delicious.

Also because of the holiday, school has been closed for pretty much the entire month. Which left me plenty of time to read, dance, read, eat, read, and sleep. It's been a tough month, which is why I need a vacation.

In other news I finally got my act together and went through the photos I've taken so far in country and posted them online. There's a link on the right hand side of the page but here it is again for those unable to turn their head slightly.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jreffsin

By the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to everyone. It's so easy for me to forget that it's the holiday season since the temperature never drops below seventy here. I don't know what I'm gonna do after I go home, I'm shivering when it does hit seventy and just looking at pictures of winter in Massachusetts makes me cold. Who knows though, maybe by the time my service is up global warming will have taken care of all the snow for me. Fingers crossed.

America, exotic disease, and goats

2008-11-26T07:52:00.011-05:00

Well, another month gone by and here I am again. The month's been a bit up and down for me. At the beginning I was having a good time just being back at site after my last trip to Kankan. When I tried to come back after last month's trip I ended up not being able to get a ride and was stuck in the city for a few days. Being stuck like that with nothing to do made me antsy to leave and it was a really nice feeling coming back to site after being gone. My village definitely feels like home now.

On top of that I got a bit of a hero's welcome on my return because everyone in my village was celebrating Obama's win. There was much tea drinking and it was generally agreed that the U.S. is the greatest democracy in the world. It's funny, I often get the feeling that Guineans love my country more than I do. Although I must admit that I'm getting more in the patriotic spirit with Obama taking the reigns. It'll be interesting to see how he fares in the face of such overwhelming (and probably impossibly high) expectations. It's quite a time to be an American abroad, especially in Africa.

As I said though the month wasn't all good and towards the end I started getting a bit down. It was mainly due to a bought of some flu-like illness that left me incapacitated in my hut for a week with a fever and severe fatigue. To make matters worse I felt guilty the entire time because I was missing so much school and I'd already missed some this month when I was stuck in Kankan sans ride. Although when I voiced my concerns to the principal he just laughed it off saying "Don't worry, health above all!"

With me out of the running the school was pretty low on teachers. Before the school year started the principal held a meeting with us to voice his concern over the lack of teachers at our school this year. Although there were 6 different classes at the school at that moment we only had 5 teachers. He had appealed to the head of education for our region to send more teachers and he told us that soon we'd hopefully be getting some more.

Well, as it turns out, they didn't exactly heed his call. In fact the only course of action they took was to transfer the only other math teacher away from our school. After the principal made an attempt to deal with that by teaching some classes himself we had some more bad news.

A few weeks ago I was sitting around with my family at dusk when somebody ran into our courtyard to tell us that something had happened to the French teacher and we should come quick to the health center. All I was able to catch was that it was something serious involving a gun. When we got there I found that the staff was removing the remnants of pieces of a revolver that had exploded while he was out hunting and lodged itself in his right hand. I saw all of this as I walked up to the health center since the staff were doing all of this basically with his hand hanging out the front window. It was the only part of the center at that hour that had enough light falling on it to do the procedure. Although I can assure you that the man was suitably vocal about his discomfort to have alerted me to what was going on had I not seen it.

Although he'll be ok with a lot of rest and recuperation it still left our school down another teacher for the moment. So already by the time I got sick we were operating with only 3 teachers and the principal meaning that each period there were two classes of students who were left to entertain themselves without supervision. As far as I can tell their favorite past time during this free time is congregating outside my classroom having contests of who can yell louder. Let me just say there are a lot of strong contestants. I can only imagine the chaos that must have been ensuing at the school in my absence with half the students free to do as they pleased at any given time. But hey, health above all.

Being cooped up in my hut all week worrying about the state of affairs at the school was, to say the least a bit of a downer. Especially lacking the energy to go for a stroll and collect my thoughts. Usually, in my free time I like to walk around my village thinking or talking with friends. It's nice to just take in the sites and everyone's always happy to see me and greet me as I walk by. Apparently this constant aimless strolling is a bit unusual as far as Guineans are concerned.

My behavior has caused one guy that I often walk past to give me a nickname reflective of my new found hobby, Sofé bah. It means the wandering goat (bah being the rather logical name for goat in Malinké). There's a constant stream of goats that roam the streets here eating whatever is in the path, earning their share of thrown rocks and shouting as they get into people's dinners. I've been fortunate to avoid the rocks and angry outbursts so far but apparently my habitual walking is more goat like than human in this neck of the woods and the name seems to have stuck for the time being. Although only with a few guys, most people I pass on my walks still prefer to call me by the nickname I've had since I got here, white man.

~Jesse

How Da Business? Fine Fine.

2008-11-01T06:04:00.001-04:00

Happy belated Halloween everyone!

I’m in Kan Kan for a few days to relax with some of the other volunteers so I’ve got some time to post here. Sorry for the lack of updates but I’ve been at site for the last month and obviously there’s no internet there. Get used to it, I live in an African village. C’est la vie.

It’s been quite a month. My village is really remote, even by Guinean standards. So I haven’t had any contact with other Americans for the entire month. As you can imagine, that can be quite a plateful at times.

The actual day to day happenings of life are pretty uneventful for the moment. School only started 3 days ago so I’ve spent the majority of the month just trying to get to know my community. Almost nobody there speaks French so I’m having to start all over again with the language learning process, this time with Malinke which is a local language spoken here. There’s no lack of people who want to help me practice, which is great, but there are definitely times when I just want someone who will speak to me in French so I can have a real conversation.

When I’m not wandering around my village trying to blunder my way through a usually nonsensical interaction in Malinke I’m usually spending time reading or with my host family. Activities with them involve eating toh (corn paste served with dipping sauce), teaching me Malinke, eating more toh, and asking me if the things we have here can be found in the U.S. (yes we do have the moon and stars back home). Did I mention we eat a lot of toh?

Tea drinking is also a huge pastime here. Wherever you go in the village you find tons of groups of men sitting around with little charcoal stoves boiling tea. The process of making/drinking the tea takes hours and it’s really more of a way for people to socialize than anything else. The socialization aspect of it is nice but I’m still getting used to the tea itself. It’s made with a really bitter green tea which they then load up with an unbelievable amount of sugar. The result is quite, umm…. sweet, to say the least. As the honorary guest at any gathering I always get the first and biggest cup of tea. Lucky me.

Slowly, the more I get used to my community and venture around further I’m starting to find the little secrets that I missed when I first got here. The market lady who makes awesome peanut butter cookies. Or the goat meat salesmen at night who grills delicious kabobs on an old oil barrel. Or the perfect time to show up at the bakery to get the fresh baked baguettes right out of the brick oven, mmmmm. I’ve also started to explore the surrounding area. There are plenty of paths and hills around here to check out. It’s a good place to go for a hike. Although you always have to be wary of snakes and scorpions.

So I guess you could say I’m slowly figuring out my new life here. The language, the people, the customs. Little by little it’s coming to me. It’s not always easy (in fact I’d say it’s pretty much never easy) but it’s definitely been interesting so far.

I’ll leave you with a little story from one of my first weeks at site, before everyone there knew there was a white guy in town. I was lying under the mango tree in the middle of my family’s concession one night when a man walked through on his way home. In the dark, only sensing that there was someone there and not knowing who I was he gave me a polite “I ni wura” (good evening) and kept going. When I responded in my obvious American accent he stopped, did a double take, and came up to me. “Eh! Tubabu! (White person.)” he said excitedly. “What’s the matter? Are you lost?”

I sat up and looked around at the rows of huts and my African family sitting with me. I listened to the drumming coming from the shortwave radio. I thought of the fact that the closest American was 5 hours away and that it was pretty much impossible for anyone I know to contact me. I shrugged, “I guess so.” He smiled and told me over his shoulder as he walked away “Have courage.” As he disappeared down the path I settled back down against the tree. Have courage indeed.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

2008-09-25T20:35:00.001-04:00

The day is almost upon us! After two and a half months of training tomorrow I will be sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. I must say I am ready. Although I’ve had a great time during training and it was definitely a necessary part of adapting to life here it’s time to strike out on my own. Not to mention that swearing in will be followed by two consecutive days of BBQ and swimming in the pool at the Country Director’s house. Eh Allah.

Wednesday was our last day at the training site. We had a farewell ceremony with our host families. The actually ceremony itself was pretty run of the mill as far as things go here. We started an hour and fifteen minutes late. We sat through a bunch of speeches. There were some certificates handed out. And everyone got warm soda, which the Guineans had to save for later since almost all of them are fasting during the day for Ramadan.

The actual saying goodbye part of the whole affair was pretty sad though. Over the months of training I had some great times with my family and although I’m excited to head out to my site I’m also going to miss them. My little brother actually started crying as they were loading my bags onto the cars. But we all have each other’s numbers and we made some plans to visit. I told them it’s not adieu, it’s just à plus tard.

After the ceremony we boarded the bus and left for Conakry. I must say the relative comfort of the Conakry house is a welcome change of pace. Simple things like AC and reliable Internet can do wonders when you’ve gone without them for so long. It’s also just nice to have all of G-16 (and others!) in the same place for some final R&R before we leave for our sites.

Of course I still have stuff I need to do and getting ready to move to site has a whole slew of headaches that go along with it. Today we spent a good part of the day trekking around in the heat going around to different stores in downtown Conakry trying to get all the supplies we’ll need for installation (Peace Corps jargon for “move into site”). So far I’m doing good, I’ve got most of the important stuff like tuna fish, chocolate powder, oatmeal, and nutella. Saturday we’ll be reserved for the less important items like actual supplies for my house. I mean really, who needs to buy a stove when you can just eat nutella all day long?

Spending the day downtown was a bit of a trip. We don’t stand out quite as much in Conakry because Guineans here are more used to seeing white people from the embassies and such but we still garnered our fair share of attention. Most of it was pretty benign, like people yelling out Barak Obama’s name at us. Or trying to sell us calculators. I don’t know what the obsession is with calculators here but every time I go anywhere in Conakry there’s always a ton of Guineans who follow me around trying to sell them to me. Maybe they just assume white people will buy anything with electronics in it.

While most of the attention that we get here either falls into the category of “Hey look a white person! Weird!” or the category of “Hey look a white person! Let’s try and sell them something!” sometimes we get some attention of another variety all together. Such was the case today when, for some reason, the Guinean police decided to start stopping all the foreigners (a.k.a. white people) they found on the streets and demand to see visas.

Now, Peace Corps’ policy is that we don’t walk around with our passports on us and all we have when we’re en ville are Peace Corps ID cards. So when the police decided to start hassling volunteers for their visas they were none to happy to find they only had PC IDs. After many minutes of arguing about the necessity (or lack thereof) of showing them our visas they took a bunch of people over to the police van (where they were keeping a bunch of Asian people who were frantically talking on their phones, probably trying to get someone to come down and bail them out) and proceeded to have a ten minute long argument over the phone with our doctor, who was the highest ranking Peace Corps staff member anyone could get on the phone. After the argument they finally let everyone go, apparently having been convinced that, indeed, it was not necessary to act as though the entire city was one large boarder crossing. Although the situation eventually did resolve itself it was definitely a reminder that we always have to be on our toes when we’re in the big cities here.

Wow, time certainly flies when you’re using the internet. It’s already way past my bedtime here and I need to get up early tomorrow to head over to the Embassy for the swearing in ceremony. I’m scheduled to give a (possibly nationally broadcast) speech in Melinke which is a local language that I can barely greet people in at this point. Suffice to say I need as much sleep as I can get to be able to muddle my way through the page long oratory me and a language trainer wrote up together. I’ll try and post another update through the barbeque induced stupor that I’ll be enduring for the next few days.

~Jesse

Usually it makes hot, but now it makes cold

2008-09-17T13:34:00.003-04:00

Just a quick update.

Right now everyone in training is on a 3 day trip to a town in the middle of Guinea. We're staying ensemble in a forrestry school in the mountains. We just got here but it's looking like the cool mountain air will be a nice little break from the hot humid weather that we get at the training site. The school itself is really secluded and overlooks the town from the top of a mountain, it's very monastaryesque.

Training is fast drawing to a close for me, which is exciting. PST (Pre Service Training) has been a great introduction to life in Guinea but I'm definitly ready to begin my service already. We leave for Conakry on the 24th for our swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Embassy and then I'll officially become a volunteer (as opposed to a trainee).

Hopefully I'll find some time in Conakry to jump on a computer and write a more substantial update but it might be a little tough, we're definitly going to be pressed for time when we get there. In addition to preparing for swearing in (I have to give a speech in Malinke at the ceremony) I also have to work out my banking situation and run around to various markets around the city buying supplies for my site.

I hope everyone's doing good and enjoying the onset of fall in New England. I've decided that although I miss everyone back home, and the food, and the cheese... Having different seasons (especially fall) is going to be one of the big things I'm going to miss during my time here. Oh well, enjoy it double for me. Next time you goto Raos pour out a coffee in my memory.

~Jesse

Hi From Haute

2008-08-15T07:10:00.002-04:00

Bonjour tout le monde!

It’s time for a long overdue update. So I’ve been in Guinea for just about a month and now that my life in training is pretty well established I figure I’ll give you guys an overview of how I spend my time here.
Monday through Friday I have to be at training site by 8:00am which means I’m up by 7:00. Before I leave for the day my mom gives me breakfast which is always bread and tea. At the training site we have 4 different courses each day with small breaks in between. There’s always at least one language course and the rest are a mix of technical training, culture, health, safety and security, and more lang.
Our trainers are mostly Guinean and they’re an awesome group of people. All of them are completely over qualified for their jobs (there are two former Fulbright scholars on staff) and the fact that they’ve decided to work with Peace Corps instead of taking a higher paying job elsewhere really says a lot about their dedication to their country’s well being.
At midday we get a break for lunch. Tuesdays and Thursdays they feed us at the facility and we usually get some combination of rice, sauce, salad, and various other deliciousness. Bureau lunch (as it’s called) is always a cause for celebration.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday we’re on our own for lunch and I usually go to the market and get food there. Choices in the market are pretty limited and I usually get rice and sauce, an egg sandwich, or meat on a stick.
Rice and sauce is by far the most popular meal here. I’d say the Guineans I know eat it for at least two meals a day. Every day. Always. There are three different kinds of sauce, leaf sauce, soup sauce, and peanut sauce. It’s all pretty good but it can get a little monotonous at times. And there are rocks in the food because everyone dries their rice by spreading it out on the street.
After lunch there’s more training until 5:00. At which point I usually head home and hang out with my family. My family here is really amazing and my parents are two of the kindest people I’ve met in my life. They’re always willing to help me with my French and they never lose their patience with me no matter how inept I prove at figuring out life here. They don’t have any direct children but the family unit in Guinea is really fluid and right now I have two cousins living with us.
I usually eat around 7:30 or so and dinner is always plain spaghetti with meat, avocado salad, or french fries. That is, of course, my dinner. My family eats rice and sauce. For some reason my mom doesn’t believe that I can eat rice and sauce everyday with them and she insists on making me a separate dinner during the week. On the weekends I get rice and sauce with them and it’s awesome because my mom’s a great cook.
After dinner it’s dark and that means not a lot goes on. The town I’m in gets a few hours of electricity at night every few days. So days with power mean the whole family watches poorly dubbed B movies from the states or static on the TV (which is the only thing my family’s antenna picks up).
Nights without power usually consist of sitting in the dark living room with my family listening to French radio. None of which I understand. Sometimes I’ll listen to the BBC in English in my room or read a book with my headlamp. After a few hours of that I go to bed so I can start all over the next day.
Those are the weekdays however, weekends are a whole nother ball of wax. And by that I mean the time I would be at training turns into me sitting around with my family some more. Highlights of the weekend include hand washing my clothes (which takes forever), playing soccer, and rice and sauce.
There’s also usually at least one opportunity to hang out with the other trainees and go to one of two bars here. I use bar in the loosest sense of the word since almost everyone here is Muslim and doesn’t drink so we’re usually the only people there. I honestly have no idea how they stay in business but I don’t ask questions. It’s the only place in town to get a cold beer and if you’re willing to wait the hour they take to make you can get french fries too. They even have Ketchup!
So that’s pretty much my life here for the time being. We all found out last week where our sites are going to be and now we’re on a week long trip to visit our sites. My site’s in the north eastern corner of the country and I’m about 20km away from Mali, which means that anyone who wants to come visit can fly into Bamako and we’ll be relatively close to my site (maybe 8 hours or so).
My region is the hottest in Guinea and supposedly temperatures during the dry season can reach 125 degrees. Yay! Right now I’m in the regional capital, KanKan. Hence the internet access. We just got in last night but so far the city seems really cool. It’s the second largest city in the country after Conakry so there’s a lot going on. The market is supposedly gigantic and there are a lot of really cool artisans here from Guinea and Mali. Tomorrow I get to go visit my site and I’ll finally get to see my home for the next two years. I can’t wait. I’ll try and post an update when I get back if I can make time. For now though I’ve got to go since my time at the internet café is almost up. I hope everyone is doing well back home. Peace.

~Jesse

First Impressions

2008-07-11T16:27:00.006-04:00

Hello everybody!

So I made it to Guinea in one piece. We arrived in Conakry yesterday around 9:00am after about 20 hours of travel. Our journey from the states was long and very tiring. It began with a bus from Philly up to JFK, then a plane to Dakar, Senegal, and finally another plane from Dakar to Conakry.

Arriving in Conakry was quite an experience. Peace Corps met us at the luggage pick up and I'm sure we made quite a scene with everyone walking around introducing themselves. Meeting a lot of the staff who would be training us and helping us during service was really exciting. There's a group of volunteers who delayed returning to the states at the end of their service so they could welcome and help train us. All the volunteers I've met here have been really awesome and have immediately made us feel right at home. They've been an unbelievable resource for trying to figure out life here in Guinea. I feel like I could pepper them with questions for days and still not run out of things to ask. Fortunately they don't seem to mind.

I haven't had an opportunity to see much of Conakry yet since the only time I've been out of the Peace Corps compound has been on the ride from the airport and on two short trips to the closest market. The little I have seen though has been really eye opening. The poverty here is unbelievable. The streets are lined with little run down shacks and are covered in trash. And I literally mean covered, when I'm walking I have to make a conscious effort to avoid stepping in it.

Despite the poverty the Guineans I've met have seemed genuinely happy and most of them have been extremely friendly to me. When walking down the street many people will greet you and ask you how you are doing. White people are quite a novelty in Guinea and we get a lot of stares as well as people (mostly small children) shouting "Foté" at us (which is Susu for white person). The shouting isn't malicious though, it's almost a game that the kids here play, it's really more of a chant than a shout.

Even though the city is dirty I still really like it here. The climate is really beautiful (although stiflingly hot) and the trash, stares, and shouts lend the city flavor.

The Peace Corps compound itself is really nice. It's walled in and has guards posted 24/7 at the gates. There are two main building which consist of the volunteer house and the administrative building. The living quarters are really nice and another trainee was talking about how it's almost like we're on the set of "Real World Conakry". We even have AC, which is a luxury I won't have once we leave here on Monday for our training. So I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

I'll leave you guys with a picture I took from the compound roof to give you an idea of what it looks like here.

Btw here's my address for people who want to send me mail.

Jesse Reffsin
Corps De La Paix Americain
B.P. 1927
Conakry, Guinée (West Africa)

If anyone decides to send a package send it via the post office and not DHL. You have to pay to receive packages in Guinea and a package via post costs me about $1 to receive whereas a package via DHL can cost upwards of $100.

Ok well I have to go because I'm using one of the only computers here and I don't want to tie it up for too long. I'll probably be pretty cut off from the internet for a while but I'll try my best to keep the blog updated. Until then, au revoir.

~Jesse

The storm before the storm

2008-06-29T15:58:00.003-04:00

So, it's been a while since I posted. That's partly because I've been busy and partly because I'm still in the U.S. and I can still talk to most of the people who would be reading this. However, since it's been over a month since my last post, for the sake of continuity (and procrastination) I'm posting a quick update.

I've got eight days until I leave for staging and I just wrote up a to do list. It's so long it's depressing. Most of the stuff is pretty easy but there are just so many loose ends I need to tie up that it's a bit overwhelming. Not to mention I haven't started packing yet... I'm having trouble getting motivated as my current living situation consists of sleeping in my parents' living room with all of my belongings lumped into piles around the house. It makes tasks so much harder when they all have to be prefaced with moving a bunch of crap out of the way to even find the thing you're looking for. But really I'm just being lazy.

It's crazy to think that in 10 days time I'll be living in Africa with a family I've never met who speak a language I barely know and have a ton of customs that are completely foreign to me. I'm excited, but it sort of seems like this is happening to someone else. I don't really feel like I'm about to leave the U.S. for two years. It's been so long since I first applied for Peace Corps last July and I've gotten used to thinking of Peace Corps as something I'll do in the future as opposed to the present. I'm having a tough time wrapping my mind around the fact that it's about to become a reality.

At the same time though I'm really excited that my departure date is almost here. It's been such a long wait and I'm antsy to get going. I've been operating at such a high level of stress and anxiety trying to make sure I get everything done that it'll be a relief to finally be done with this preparatory stage. Even though I know that once I get to Guinea I'll be faced with a whole slew of new challenges I feel about as prepared for those challenges as I could hope for and I'm ready to meet them head on.

Alright, well enough procrastination. I need to start tackling this to do list. I think if I start now and don't sleep until I leave that I just might be able to get everything done in time. Here's hoping.

~Jesse

Presenting... Guinea!

2008-05-17T23:29:00.005-04:00

The Peace Corps has three goals that form the basis for all of the work the organization does around the world:

To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

In the interest of the third goal and to give everyone a better understanding of what my life will be like while I serve, I’m going to give a little information about Guinea and what I will be doing there. Most of my info is coming from the Peace Corps welcome pack, the CIA factbook, or Wikipedia (yay Wikipedia!).

Guinea is a country in West Africa. In 1958 it became the first French African colony to gain its independence at which point Sekou Touré became Guinea’s first president. Following the death of Touré in 1984 General Lansana Conté took over as head of the Guinean state via a military coup. Conté has served as president of Guinea since 1993 when the country held its first democratic elections.

In recent history there have been various protests and strikes against the policies of Conté and his government. These strikes have been spurred by many issues such as government firings, appointees, and the rising cost of living due to increased fuel and food costs. At the beginning of 2007, in response to protest related violence, Peace Corps evacuated all volunteers from Guinea for a period of six months. Things seem to have calmed down considerably since then but there is still ongoing talk of strikes and government protests.

Roughly the size of Oregon, Guinea has a population of about ten million people, two million of which live in the capital city, Conakry. The officially language is French but many other local languages are spoken in the country such as Malinke, Susu, and Pular. 85% of the population is Muslim, 8% is Christian, and 7% practice indigenous beliefs.

Guinea is a notoriously wet country. The Niger river, the third longest river in Africa and the principal river in West Africa, originates in the Guinean highlands. The country’s terrain is pretty varied. It includes four distinct regions of coastline, mountains, savannahs, and rainforest/jungle. There are two seasons in Guinea, a rainy season from June to November and a dry season from December to May.

One of the poorest nations in the world, Guinea has a GDP per capita of $2,100 which places it 209^th out of the 229 countries listed in the CIA factbook. 47% of the country’s population lives below the poverty line.

Guinea’s economy is mostly centered around agriculture and mining. The main export of Guinea is bauxite, accounting for about 80% of its international trade. Bauxite is a general term referring to a rock composed of hydrated aluminum oxides. 99% of metallic aluminum is produced from bauxite which makes the ore a practical prerequisite for anyone trying to manufacture aluminum. Guinea contains about ½ of the world’s bauxite reserves. Other leading exports include coffee, bananas, palm kernels, and pineapples.

While Guinea has a much lower occurrence of HIV/AIDS than a number of other African countries the World Health Organization declared in 2005 that Guinea was facing a generalized epidemic. 1.7% of the population is HIV positive. In the U.S. only 0.3% of the population is HIV positive.

I will be serving in Guinea teaching math to students between 7^th and 10^th grade. I’ll be teaching any number of the following subjects: algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. My class sizes can range from 25 to 100 students with the average class size being 40. I will be assigned to a school located in a village or small town. I won’t find out where until I begin training and the Peace Corps staff can determine where they want to place me.

I’m leaving for orientation in Philadelphia on July 7^th and will be arriving in Guinea on July 10^th. July 10^th through September 27^th consists of pre-service training which covers things like technical, language, health, and cultural training. During PST I’ll be living with a Guinean host family. Housing at my site is provided by the local community and is different from site to site. It could be anything from a one room hut, to a communal living arrangement, to my own house. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Ok well that was a lot of information but at least now you guys have some idea of where I’ll be for two years. After all that, I’ll leave you with two facts I stole from my friend, Lecesse’s, blog which I thought were pretty interesting.

The Peace Corps uses less money a year than the U.S. government spends on coffee for the army. Also, the Peace Corps uses less money a year than the cost of half of one day of war in Iraq. Obviously the military and the Peace Corps are two completely different organizations and it doesn’t really make sense to directly compare their expenditures but I still think it’s worth mentioning. War is expensive and there are many better things we can spend our money on.

~Jesse

Why Peace Corps?

2008-05-05T12:34:00.001-04:00

My decision to apply for the Peace Corps probably caught a lot of people by surprise and I’ve gotten tons of questions as to what my motivations for wanting to serve are. It seems like this question always comes up at weird times and I never really know how to answer it. I mean how can I condense my reasons for wanting to spend two years volunteering abroad into a quick blurb that I can tell people at parties? Whenever I’ve tried to do so I’ve just felt disappointed with my inadequacy to accurately explain myself. So for my inaugural blog entry I’ve decided to try and put the speculation to rest and explain my reasons for joining the Peace Corps as best I can. Keep in mind that I doubt I could ever offer a complete understanding of all my reasons for wanting to become a PCV so bare with me and, as always, take what I say with a grain of salt.

It probably comes as no surprise that a main motivation of mine for wanting to serve is a desire to help others. It’s a sad fact that there is an enormous gap in the quality of life enjoyed by the worlds richest and poorest nations. Being lucky enough to live in the U.S. middle class means that I’m never going to have to worry about many of the foremost concerns that accompany life in the developing world.

I’ve been able to get a quality education at very little cost. I have ready access to medical services that allow me to live my life unhindered by illness. I’ll never go hungry. I live in a house equipped with electricity, heat, and running water. It’s no secret that the things I’ve just listed are beyond the reach of many people in the world. It bothers me that we allow this gap between the rich and the poor to exist without giving it much thought.

Our society is built on moving forward. As a people we’re constantly inventing, discovering, and exploring. These things help us improve ourselves and our quality of life. Being mindful of how we can advance our society is obviously important, but in my opinion, paramount to moving forward is ensuring that we leave no one behind. That’s exactly what we’re doing when we stand by while so many people lack so much.

I imagine there was a time when it was acceptable to focus merely on our own problems. When travel was slow and communication was limited it probably made sense to think of the world as a collection of isolated nations who had only to think of themselves. But today this is not the case. Countries can communicate with each other at a moment’s notice and we can be almost anywhere in the world in less than twenty four hours.

As the concept of globalization surfaces again and again in our popular conscience we need to realize that it means more than simply merging the world’s economies or connecting the world’s people. As we continue to become more global we must also begin sharing the world’s problems. Because in a truly global society the world’s problems are our own and by neglecting any part of the world we are neglecting a part of ourselves.

Ok, since I’m beginning to feel the rolling of many eyes through my computer screen I’m going to step down off my ideological soap box now. I’m obviously no saint and my decision to join the Peace Corps was as self motivated as it was otherwise. I hope to get a lot out of this experience and I’ve heard from many people that volunteers often come away from their service feeling like they’ve gotten more from their time abroad than the people they went to help.

In a lot of ways this makes sense to me. My primary assignment is fairly rigid, I’m going to teach math to 7^th through 10^th graders in Guinea for two years. While I’ll be taking on secondary projects during my time of service my main focus will be on educating my students. It’s a great assignment to have and I’m happy and excited to start working in my future community. However, I expect the things I’ll learn from Guinean culture and the people I interact with will far surpass anything I could teach in the classroom.

There are tangible things that I’ll gain as a PCV such as fluency in a new language or skills as an educator that drew me towards service. Things like this are a plus and they’ll look good on my résumé when I return home, but I think the thing that attracted me most to the Peace Corps won’t fit nicely on a piece of paper. More so than anything else I was seeking out an adventure.

People who knew me well before I decided to serve may not have known I was thinking about joining the Peace Corps, but they certainly knew I didn’t want to graduate and immediately start on a career path. I’ve always tried to be experience driven in my life. I want to go places, I want to meet people, I want to see the world. I find the idea of being tied down to a job directly out of school to be completely antithetical to those goals. Instead, I want an adventure, and Peace Corps is a great way for me to find one.

Well, I think that’s about the best I can do to illuminate my motivations for wanting to be a PCV. Hopefully I’ve made my choice a little clearer to everybody out there. If nothing else I’ve found it helpful to write this. It gave me a chance to reflect on my reasons for serving and to clarify to myself why I was undertaking this entire experience.

Once I get motivated I’ll put up a little information about Guinea (not New Guinea!) to help give everyone an idea of where I’ll be living for twenty seven months. Until then be good and keep checking back for updates.

~Jesse