Update on Guinea's news

The most recent news...

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/abd23075b5b6851f62247e3db4d1416a.htm
This article references the lowering of rice and petrol prices. Here's what will happen (easy for any person who understands econ or paid attention last time when he did this) - the supply will not be increased, so people who are lucky enough to get their hands on capital to buy a lot of rice and gas will do so, then bring it upcountry and sell it at the black market rate, which will be about the rate it is at now. Gas won't be affected as much, since there are gas stations that won't be allowed to sell it at a higher price. But I'd be shocked if people were able to find rice at the price that the President sets it at - I heard 86,000 or so.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6306765.stm

This article has basically the same information as the other one, but at least we are still making news on multiple web sites...I have a feeling that the level of news will decrease rapidly now that the violence is over. Non-violent discussions just aren't as interesting to the media outlets.

Now it's a couple hours later...

Our Country Director came to talk to us this morning. He basically went through all the discussions that the PC office in Conakry had with Washington and the political leaders in Guinea leading up to the decision to come here for training-vacation-consolidation. Sounds like they made a good decision given the information that they had. While things are calmer now, we are still waiting to hear who the President appoints as a Prime Minister. Hopefully he'll appoint one of the people that the union leaders and Guineans trust - possibly even someone who is currently working for the Vatican. We need to be sure that this person is in office and supported and that the strikes are unlikely to start up again. PC is worried that, since all the previous 4 strikes got increasingly violent, that they will happen again and it will truly be unsafe for us. I think PC is more concerned for my personal safety than I am! Our CD did tear up a bit talking about how impressed he was that we were all willing to stay here in Bamako as long as possible if it increased our chances of getting to go back to Guinea.

Actually, he told us a funny story about a volunteer in Conakry coming to his office during the most violent day to ask when they could talk about rescheduling Girls' Conference...that's when he got emotional, because he was so touched that the PCVs could still be thinking about getting work done while the country was in turmoil. We are a crazy bunch.

I'll update again with information about what I've been doing these last couple days. I left the entry on Camilo's computer and don't have access to it right now. Also - I took some pictures from here in Mali and will try and add a few. We have a giant turtle living on the grounds and it's so cool! It's kind of mean and will try and head-butt people, but can't move very fast. The turtle has been endlessly amusing.

Ummm, we are in Bamako now

So the strike was just lasting too long and PC decided to take us to the training center in Bamako until it a. calms down or b. we have to choose what to do if we can't go back. Now that we have internet and electricity all the time, I'm going to come back and give an update about what's going on in Guinea and how things are here.

But Bamako is amazing!!!! Last night we had cheeseburgers and fries at this nice restaurant and we sat on a patio and if I'd taken a picture you would have thought I was on a double date in the US. It was so great!! The PC is taking incredible care of us - we have shuttles running from the training grounds to downtown all the time, they will buy us anything we need, and Bamako is gorgeous. Of course a lot of it still looks like Guinea, but there are many streets that look like Europe. Assuming that this all passes over and I can get back to Guinea, I'm happy to spend a couple weeks here while the politicians and military work out the strike problems.

I'll do a better update later today and will post it - we have wireless and Cam has a computer!!

I'll also tell you about the ride here, it was so long and painful that you will cringe. But we are safe and sound and our huts have fans.

Thanks for everyone's emails and everything - I'm happy and fine and (at least for the first 2 days) enjoying this PC-sponsored field trip!

Day 13 and no resolution

Yesterday I sent this to my parents, but they didn't get it updated...

Things in Mamou are calm, although there were protests in the Forest region as well as Pita and Labe today, according to the latest information. There's quite a bit of information on Guinea on the Reuters AlertNet site, and an interesting article about food shortages here. The link to that article is http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21637020.htm.

Brad and I just talked to our military buddy and he was telling us how he would do anything to protect us from harm, so that's nice. We hear that tomorrow it all might heat up again and he confirmed that information, so I guess we'll just have to see what that means. They are saying the same thing in Conakry. Last night's talks ended in stalemate. Neither side is backing down at all. They've brought in the Presidents of Mali, Senegal and Nigeria to help with the discussions, but it seems that today's talks didn't result in resolution either. In the interest of keeping out of the politics here, I'll just link to some information about what Conte is saying. Here's a quote from Conte - "Those who want power must wait their turn. It is God who gives power and when he gives it to someone, everyone must stand behind him," he said. And here's the article it came from - (that didn't work properly, but it was from the BBC)

This morning Brad and I had a very interesting discussion about development work and I'm going to try and get my thoughts together on what my philosophy is so that I can eventually apply to graduate school. One of my goals for coming here was to determine what development means and how to give assistance to the poorest of the poor without creating a culture of dependency. I think that the PC emphasis on sustainability is critically important, to the point that PC is willing to see a project fail instead of have it succeed because the volunteers did all the work. Most NGOs aren't willing to do that, but they are also dealing with a lot more money than we do with our small libraries and theater groups and whatever else. Anyway, while I hate all this uncertainty, it's nice to know that I still have a passion for what I'm doing. And it's nice that I have people to talk to about it!

Depending on how things are going tomorrow I'll try and come up to update. But if they set up military checkpoints at the road near here I'll probably just watch movies and stay at the compound. Try not to worry about us - believe me, we are in good hands with the Peace Corps! By the way, I checked to make sure that I could update and the admin guy said "Well, it's not like you are writing anything alarmist, are you?" and I laughed and told him no, because I'm not alarmed. If I did get alarmed I'd probably just not update because I'd be in a helicopter, car, motorcycle or canoe escaping!


Now for today's news...

Things here in Mamou were calm. As Brad and I left the internet the Mamou Governor came on the radio to say that he was calling off the military. They weren't allowed to fire shots into the air or anything. The governor said he would allow protests as long as they remained peaceful. And he also said the union leaders were welcome to use the radio to explain their position. So today there were protests but no shots and no one was hurt. Once again, I have no written opinion about this all, but you can imagine. All over the rest of the country things weren't as great and about 20 people were killed. But the people were allowed to have a voice in Mamou and they exercised that right respectfully. I love Mamou.

And for today's news...

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-01-22T213436Z_01_L22792400_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-GUINEA-STRIKE-COL.XML&archived=False

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-01-22-voa39.cfm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6286653.stm

I know it shouldn't be funny, but the BBC reports that they were chanting Bye-Bye Conte. Guineans love to say bye-bye, it's like Americans saying adios. And it always makes me smile when they do it to me, especially since they get such a kick out of it!

They all say pretty much the same thing, but it's interesting that more news outlets are picking up on the story. We volunteers are all still fine, but starting to get stir-crazy. And I haven't been to the market here, but we were told that food prices have risen sharply - an onion that was 200 francs a week ago is now 1,000. I can afford that, but most people here can't. It will be interesting to see how the food shortage and hike in prices affects the situation here.

I told my mom the other night that my worst-case scenario was that I would have to escape directly to Sierra Leone on a moto with Brad. We'd just point a compass south and go! She thought the image of that was hilarious (if you are PC admin reading this, don't worry, I was just kidding.) But, really, the worst-case scenario is having to leave this incredible country and try and fall in love with a new one.

By the way, I had a dream about going to the grocery store last night. One of those huge Midwestern ones. My dreams are getting lamer by the night!

All Quiet on the West African Front

Oh, Guinea. So typical. One day it's all dramatic, and the next people are all "Oh, I know. Yesterday was crazy. But everything is going well now! It's all good." Everything is not back to normal, but things in Mamou have calmed down and apparently the markets were open today and everything. I still heard gunfire this morning, but Brad and I found out that the military is using the shots to communicate. I knew they were just shooting into the air, but didn't realize it actually had a purpose. They also went around to all the neighborhoods firing rounds into the sky to "calm the people." i.e. let the people know that they were better off staying in their homes than taking to the streets and burning tires and acting like criminals. The gardeners and guardian were laughing at Brad and me about how the gunfire bothered us, cause they agreed that it needed to be done to keep the bandits from going out into the city! So apparently gunfire does calm the people. Just not the Americans! But Brad talked to his military friend who is stationed by us yesterday and he was all apologetic about the noise from the night before. He said they were thinking about us and felt bad cause they knew it would bug us! Gotta love Guinea - even the military worries about our mental well-being.

I talked to my mom and dad today and they were obviously a little concerned after my last blog entry. They were also worried that I was going to cause a ruckus on Friends of Guinea because now parents are reading this. I certainly don't mean to cause a ruckus!! Thursday was the craziest day here and I heard that a kid from my school died. I haven't heard if he was one of my students - there are 3,600 kids at my school, so probably not. Apparently during all the protesting a bunch of people went to the prison and released the prisoners and the kid was killed by a guard while doing that. The purpose of releasing the prisoners was to say to the President, "Hey, if you can release your buddies, we can release our friends too." Yesterday we could hear some gunfire and some people, but nothing like Thursday. And today it was quiet all day. We heard some shouting last night and both ran to the porch to see what was going on - it was a bunch of kids playing soccer. We laughed about that.

The word is that tonight everyone is having a meeting - union leaders, ministers, even the President. And hopefully there will be a resolution soon...we'll just have to see. Doesn't look like the President is planning on stepping down, so it will be up to the union leaders to decide what their priorities are - get gas prices down, make rice more easily available, force the President to step down, etc. He did get rid of Fode Bangoura, a minister with no military or public support, so that was a start on the demands. I guess we'll have to wait and see what they report tomorrow about tonight's meeting.

To reassure everyone that Peace Corps takes this all extremely seriously, they offered to move Brad and me yesterday. It didn't matter that we weren't actually unsafe, they were more concerned about how we felt. If we even felt unsafe they were willing to come and get us. But we felt fine, so we told them we'd rather stay here. Yesterday was pretty business as usual in our compound, although we reached a new low in our movie-watching - Hilary Duff's Raise Your Voice. Not my finest hour. I did give Brad a haircut that was decent. Took me 90 minutes, but I don't have anything better to do, so it was no big deal. I used scissors and one of those razors that lets you choose the length it cuts to. Pretty exciting.

Here's some news links...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6280021.stm

http://za.today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-01-20T085837Z_01_BAN032287_RTRIDST_0_OZABS-GUINEA-MINERALS-PRICE-20070120.XML (This article focuses on how Guinea's strike-limited bauxite supply is affecting the whole market. Wow, Guinea. Making waves on the international market!!)

http://friendsofguinea.blogspot.com/

FYI - In looking for information I came across the NYTimes obit for Saddam Hussein. I didn't know he was executed. I am so out of the loop sometimes. In my own defense, I was in Sierra Leone on vacation when it happened.

So now the bauxite mines are shut down. Which is a huge source of revenue (for the government and for the rich people who largely control the country) and about the only place where Guinea is a player in a major market.

Sounds like Kissidougou yesterday was like Mamou the day before. I have talked to a bunch of G12 people and everyone is saying the same thing - they are bored as hell and are running out of things to do. I feel so lucky to have internet and my cell phone and DVDs and a buddy. And a cat. Even though Brad and I have now reached a new conversational low - last night we were arguing about how I think he spoils the cat and how he disagrees. Fascinating, no? :)

I still haven't left the missionary compound except to come up here. Not because I think I wouldn't be safe, but because I would feel like a jerk if something happened to me and it made the PC look bad, since they've asked me not to leave. I don't blame them for being so over-protective.

We still haven't heard about what the plans will be - for now we are just sitting tight and seeing what happens. I know it must be frustrating to have so little access to information and to your children, but the PC has been in contact with everyone (and virtually constant contact with me!) and we are all doing fine. And if I had to place my bets, I'd guess that G13 will be joining us sooner rather than later...hopefully that doesn't jinx them!

This entry is not in the most coherent order possible, but I have limited internet time and some dinner to cook. I'll try and update again tomorrow after I hear how the meeting went today. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and good wishes during the strike!

And does anyone how to add permanent links to a site? When I tried to do it it didn't work. I know it's supposed to be idiot-proof. But I want to link to Cam's Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/51956952@N00/sets/72157594292674638/) and to a couple other Guinea blogs.

I hesitate to update

but still can't find much news online about Guinea, so here goes...

Things are bad. There is a lot of protesting today and it's travelled upcountry. Mamou has a lot of gunfire and tear gas explosions and protesters. We can hear it all even 4k from town. Right now I'm at the school next to the missionaries and I can even hear it from here. That's not to say this has never happened before or that I feel unsafe. I still feel perfectly safe up here at the missionaries and I know that it was similar in June, although I'm told the level of violence has escalated since then. But I don't feel nearly as confident that PC will continue here as I did before. I would love nothing more than to continue my service and welcome the next group, but we'll have to see how these next days pan out before we'll know whether that's a possibility. The last strikes ended with the President saying he would meet the demands after the strike was called off. But that happened (yesterday, I think) and the people aren't willing to do that again, since the demands weren't met the last 3 times. Apparently the President released all the union leaders who were arrested and offered to meet with them, but they refuse to meet with him until the head woman comes out of her coma and can join them.

If you read French, check out these web pages for news...

http://www.aminata.com

http://www.guineenews.org

They have up-to-date information. And probably enough French-English cognates that you can get an idea about what they say. I'm having a really hard time finding information in English. Stupid Anglophone countries don't pay attention to the Francophone ones!

Okay, I finally found an article about yesterday on irinnews.org, a UN news page...

CONAKRY, 17 Jan 2007 (IRIN) -

At least three people were killed in demonstrations against Guinean president Lansana Conte that rocked Conakry and several provincial towns on Wednesday, and a late evening meeting between strike leaders and the president failed to bring an end to the crisis.

Guinea’s powerful unions called a nationwide strike a week ago. Union leaders said they orchestrated Wednesday’s march because Conte "ignored" a written demand delivered on Monday that he retire the current cabinet and appoint a new prime minister to take over all his presidential powers.

A meeting late on Wednesday between union leaders and president Conte ended acrimoniously, according to Rabiatou Serah Diallo, head of the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG). "He threatened to have us killed if we didn't call the strike off," she said. Click here for her exclusive interview with IRINOn Wednesday evening, a banner reading “End the Conte regime, we want change” was still hanging in Kaloum, Conakry’s government district, after peaceful protests there in the morning that turned violent when riot police broke up the crowds with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

One demonstrator died of gunshot wounds, and at least six others were critically injured in demonstrations in Kaloum that continued throughout the day, witnesses and Conakry-based diplomats said. One man was also shot dead during separate clashes in the lawless Bambeta Cosa suburb of Conakry, residents said.

Marches in the provincial towns Mamou, Kankan, Fria, Nzerekore, Pita, Labe and Kindia were also broken up by armed police. In Labe, 250 km northeast of Conakry, demonstrators sacked government offices, and one was killed, according to residents.S

peaking on Guinean national radio, police superintendent Mansou Mansare denied that the security services were responsible for the deaths and said they were there to "protect the marchers".

Previous skirmishes in Conakry between youths and police have been confined to the sprawling city’s remote suburbs, mostly Matoto and Bambeta Cosa, and none has reached the centre before. There were no demonstrations in the city centre during two city-wide strikes last year.

The unions accuse Conte of having presided over the mismanagement of the mineral rich but impoverished country’s economy, and allege the aging president is now too sick to deal with the country’s chronic problems, a claim backed by foreign observers.

In a statement read on state television on Tuesday evening, Conte said he needed more time to consider the union’s demands that he change the government, but did offer to cut the cost of fuel and to force foreign mining companies to keep their revenues in the country.“The solution to the strike is in the hands of President Conte and the institutions of the republic,” CNTG's Diallo said on Wednesday, before the meeting with Conte. “We will continue the fight until our demands have been met satisfactorily.”

Conte seized power in a coup in 1984 and has been returned to power in successive elections since 1993 that have been widely criticised by the international community. Donors and human rights groups feted the growing strength of civil society's opposition to Conte’s regime while protests were peaceful, but warn that civil strife in Guinea could threaten progress made in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone which both experienced devastating civil wars until 2003.

So that's what happened yesterday. Here's the link to irinnews.org's information about Guinea...

http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Guinea

I'll try and update as soon as I can. Things will calm down tonight again. I'm also going to try and remember to ask the PC if it's okay that I'm updating and whether or not I can report on what PC is doing, but know that they are on top of things and know where every single volunteer is and have a way to get them safely out of their sites, if that becomes necessary. So please don't worry about us, it's the people we work with and for who you can worry about.

PS - I hear that Friends of Guinea emails are blowing up and that everyone is super-worried, hence my hesitation in updating. Please try your best to understand that PC is doing everything they can to make sure we are safe and that all volunteers are currently safe. I'm not a parent, so I don't totally understand, but I know that parents sometimes worry about their children unnecessarily...try and keep a sense of perspective about it - we are all fine and safe and just getting a little bored with nothing to do and no school. The PC is a great organization with every possible resource to take care of us even in a worst-case scenario, which this situation is not.

By the way, I slept until 11am today!!! It was amazing. But slightly embarrassing to be greeting the guardian at the house at 11 when he got up to pray at 5...

Oh, crap

Well, it appears I spoke too soon. I am also using a keyboard that does not have an apostrophe, so excuse that as well. My apostrophe usage will be limited this post.

Today the proverbial shit hit the fan, from what I can tell. Yesterday Brad and I biked to my house and things seemed perfectly normal in town. It was dusk and you would have never guessed there was a strike going on except most of the boutiques were closed. I saw a bunch of friends and said hi to my family. Unfortunately, my dumb self lost my keys (there is still a combination lock on the door, so all is good) and Brad figured out how to get in. Anyway, I had planned on going home yesterday, but the pull of the recliner and DVDs were just too much. So I stayed (again) at the missionaries last night. Thank goodness, cause apparently today things got hectic. Here is what I know...

• The woman who met with the President on Monday and presented the list of demands was shot. I am not sure who shot her, but heard that she is still alive.
• Tear gas and shots were fired in Mamou, although we have not heard of any injuries. Brad was in town today and he came back and said it was a little nuts and that I should stay put up here. In my recliner. So I watched About a Boy. Love Hugh Grant. So adorably rumpled.
• Union leaders were (all????) arrested.
• Downtown Conakry was a mess today. No idea how many people were hurt, but I heard 2,000 protesters were there.
• Flights are cancelled. I know someone who was supposed to be arriving from Dakar tonight and he is not coming in. Not sure when they will start again.
• The strike continues. The President responded to the syndicates demands, but they rejected his response.

I apologize if any of this info is wrong, I am repeating things I have been told, but the international media seems to be ignoring us so far, so it is hard to verify!!!!

While I am no longer as confident that this would all pass this week as I was before, I still think it will all calm down quickly and that life will get back to normal. I would not characterize the current mood here as one of war. People are just poor and have little ways of expressing it. As far as the violence goes, I am in one of the bigger cities. All of the volunteers in villages are much more likely to die of boredom than anything else. Stuck en brousse with nothing to do, no one to talk to, no market, no school. Ick. And if I were black I could have been in town today without worrying. But I am white and need to remember that I stick out. So better safe than sorry. I would not want to be on the news as the stupid American girl who was wandering around while some drunk guys stole her stuff or hurt her cause the police were occupied with other things.

Please do not worry about us! The Peace Corps keeps better track of us than most parents and we have a great administration here. Plus the violence is in Conakry, a 5 hour drive away. If I were living in Minnesota and there was violence in Illinois no one would think anything of it, but for some reason when people think of Africa it is like one big city. Even 4 kilometers out of town things are normal. Brad and I took a walk just now through some fields where students have planted crops and it was really nice and peaceful. I hope G13 has the opportunity to see it soon!!

I am currently on an all soup diet. I had brought up some chili and Brad added some minestrone and we got cheddar broccoli from my house yesterday. I think they are all Bear Creek or Country or something. I will have to send those people a thank you note for keeping me fed. I do not want to start eating the food at the missionaries in addition to sleeping in their beds and watching their TV...

Do not hestitate to post a comment here or on facebook if you have any questions. I know it is annoying to try and find information about Guinea on the news, I remember when the last strike happened in June and I could not find a word about it except a 2 sentence AP Bulletin. Grr. If Guinea had oil I do not think there would be a problem finding information!!!

I will try and update again tomorrow. Cross your fingers...I will be reclining with In Good Company and other assorted movie favorites. Love Topher Grace.

Strike continues, but all seems calm...

Here's an article from the BBC yesterday...

Guinea police clash with strikers

President Conte seized power in a 1984 coup

Security forces in Guinea have fired live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters on the sixth day of a national strike.
Youths destroyed cars and blocked streets using burning tyres and debris, after public rallies were banned.
Unions called the strike over the high cost of living and to protest after President Lansana Conte allegedly freed two prominent corruption suspects.
Most shops, offices and markets are closed, with no public transport.
"Groups of vandals are burning tyres and smashing car windows. They've even tried to break into a police station to recover arms. We've been obliged to intervene and we're controlling the situation at the moment," a senior Guinean police officer told Reuters news agency.
Many arrests have been made.
This is the third general strike in a year.

Diabetes
There have been growing calls for President Conte to step down.
He is in his 70s and in poor health suffering from diabetes.
He is also accused of personally securing the release from prison of Guinea's richest man Mamadou Sylla, and former minister Fode Soumah, last month.
The unions say the strike must continue until both men are back behind bars.
On the eve of the strike, courts ordered the seizure of Mr Sylla's assets.
Last year, Guinea was ranked by Transparency International as the most corrupt country in Africa.
Mr Conte seized power in a 1984 coup and has since won three elections.

We have no idea how long the strike will last - I heard that the President would be responding to the demands today, but so far haven't heard any more. I'd love to give some opinions about this whole thing, but can't because PC isn't allowed to give political opinions about the host country.

For those coming with G13 (I saw a couple comments but this stupid slow computer wasn't letting me respond...)

Please don't hesitate to join us! It's too bad that Guinea never makes the news unless it's for something bad, cause there's a lot going on here that's fantastic. Guinea is still a fun, safe place to be and I'm sure that my parents feel more secure with me here than they ever did when I was in Manhattan.

Here's a typical day in the life of Standfast Jen:

10am - wake up.
11am - make breakfast. enjoy an hour or so of hammock time, until the sun starts beating down on me.
1pm - go to town and get some stuff from the market or take a nap.
3pm - think about cleaning my house.
3:05pm - back to the hammock.
6pm - make dinner.
8pm - feel a little guilty about wasting entire day and choose a shelf to reorganize.
9:30 - hmmm, bath or no bath? difficult decision.
10pm - talk to Cam and people in Conakry until I fall asleep, with a guaranteed 9 or more hours until I wake up.

On Sunday I rode my bike up to the missionaries - they are ridiculously nice and I'm staying at their house. We weren't sure if the protests yesterday were going to get violent and I figured it was just better to get a couple kilometers out of town. Seems like nothing happened here - there were shots fired in Conakry, but no one was injured or killed. In Mamou there are lots of military guys around and things are quiet, but nothing has broken out. The missionaries are in Conakry (they had to get their kids on a flight back to boarding school in Dakar a couple days ago), so I've been chilling in their house. They have a recliner, DVD player and a cat. It's been a nice couple days. There's another volunteer who is living at the guest house on their property and he and I have been hanging out and watching a lot of movies - Superman Returns, the Bourne Identity and Supremacy, The Wedding Singer, She's the Man (go ahead and judge, our options are limited...) and Season 2 of Lost. My schedule has remained basically the same - replace "hammock" with "recliner" and "book" with "movie" and that's pretty much it. I'm planning to head back home tomorrow - I can't take advantage of their kindness forever!! Plus things didn't get heated in Mamou yesterday, which was the big day of protests, so it should be fine to return home. Don't get me wrong - I'm safe at my house and have plenty of people to keep me company and take care of me. But it would be easier for the PC to get to me at the missionaries because my house is on this ridiculous rock hill that's hard for cars to get to.

So Day 7 and the strike continues. In better news, Madame Diallo finally returned from Bamako! I haven't seen her since before Thanksgiving and it's been hard. Normally I go to her boutique every day - she's fun to talk to and it's a good time for me to meet other people in the community - so I've missed that social interaction and am looking forward to seeing her and checking out the fabric she brought back from Bamako (Aunt Diane - I'll let you know if there's some stuff that would be good for quilting!!) Tomorrow night I'm headed to her house to say hi and inevitably eat something. I don't think she would let me out of the door without consuming rice and meat and potatoes and whatever else she has around.

My goal for the rest of the strike is to try out the recipe for Rosemary Olive Oil bread that's in the cookbook. It's important to set realistic goals. I'm consistently amazed at how busy I can keep myself while still doing nothing. My intentions were to get some more lessons planned so that I don't have to do as much post-strike. But so far I've just had too many books to read and food to cook.

My worst nightmare is that PC would pull out of Guinea. I'd much rather stay and complete these 2 years - I've been so happy here that it would be a major bummer to have to start over in another country with another group of volunteers. But I recognize (after many years...) that life does not revolve around me and my wishes, so I'm just going to continue to hope for the best and improve my cooking and French skills (although not French cooking, that would be too complicated for my Dutch oven).

Hope everyone is doing well!! I'll try and update again soon.

Reuter's article about the strikes

From Reuter's South Africa:

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea's two most powerful unions called on Wednesday for an indefinite general strike from next week to protest against the increasingly erratic rule of ageing President Lansana Conte.

Previous nationwide strikes have been over the price of basic goods and fuel, triggering widespread rioting and bringing the West African country to a standstill, but the latest planned action appeared to be the most overtly political yet.

The unions said the stoppage, called across the whole country from January 10, was to denounce Conte's "repeated violations" of the country's basic laws and would continue until the rule of law was restored.

"We're putting on the table all the demands both of our supporters and of the population at large," Ousmane Souare, one of the main union negotiators, told Reuters.

"We've gone beyond the limit of what is acceptable."

Union leaders cited Conte's personal intervention last month to release one of his former allies, who had been arrested in a corruption probe, as well as the constant reshuffling of his cabinet which they said undermined his credibility.

There was no immediate reaction from the government, whose officials were unavailable for comment.

Guinea is the world's top exporter of bauxite, the raw material for aluminium, but most of its people live in poverty.

A stumbling economy, rampant corruption and powerful but fractious military have raised fears of instability in a country once seen as a bulwark against wars in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast.

The deteriorating health of Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s who seized power in a 1984 coup, has heightened nerves, raising the prospect of a dangerous power vacuum in the former French colony as rival factions compete to succeed him.

He personally secured the release of former ally and Guinea's richest man, Mamadou Sylla, in December along with a former central bank deputy governor, an act which the unions said rode roughshod over state institutions.

Last week he revised a cabinet reshuffle apparently under pressure from one of the rival political cliques vying to succeed him, presidency sources said. It was the second time in 2006 he had abruptly overturned his own cabinet reshuffle.

"There is no longer a State. You have the impression that when he signs certain documents he is not completely lucid. It's a scandal," opposition spokesman Mamadou Ba said. "It's shaming for our country."

I'm sure this will all seem real once the strikes start, but I have to admit that even here in Conakry none of this affects my life. I have medicine, enough money (yes, $80 a month is actually enough to live on, even though I can't buy furniture with it), a support system, and a job. So maybe this one will be bigger and scarier, but so far it's just business as usual for me. Some people who were here for the last strikes said that the news of the strikes didn't even make it to their villages until after they were over!! Oh, communication in Guinea.

Les Copains d'Abord

I'm a little scared of Conakry and tend to stay at the PC compound once it gets dark. There's a bar that serves pizza and beers on the water (which is SO dirty you couldn't even imagine, much less go swimming) and a guy who makes chwarmas, but they are both close by and are really the only places in Conakry I've been once night falls. But before Christmas we went out downtown to this classy-ish bar that has live music and it was really fun. Then last night we went to this club, Les Copains d'Abord, that's near the PC house and it was awesome. It was a friend's birthday and there were a million people in town, so a group of over 20 showed up there. There was a lot of drunken dancing and then this American guy (we don't know who he is or where he works, but he knows our Country Director) bought us drinks all night! I had Bailey's, beer, wine, all things I normally can't afford. As I was leaving I said to the guy "Thanks so much. I guess if you know Steve you know how ridiculously nice this was of you," and he kind of laughed and said "I know." I bet every American in Guinea knows that PC people are poor. If I end up in the Foreign Service and go to a country with PC in it, I will always buy their drinks.

Another story of people taking pity on us - when we were in Sierra Leone we wanted to go to this beach that was just past River Number 2. So the map must have been inaccurate because we drove and drove and our taxi driver was getting so pissed cause the road was bad. Most West African drivers drive like they have no regard for their lives or their cars, but not this guy. He was driving so carefully it was ridiculous. So he was super-pissed about the road. Finally he stops and is just yelling at us, but his English is nothing like ours and we don't really know what he's saying, although we know he's mad. We tell him just to turn around and go back to River Number 2, but then he says we have to pay him 150,000 Leones (we had agreed on 60,000). We say no. He is really irritated with us at this point and is probably not used to white people haggling so much over prices. Then 2 cars come, which is amazing since we are in the middle of the bush and there's nothing around. Also amazing cause the guy told us that he was mad that there was no one around in case his car broke down and we didn't really know how to respond. They happen to have a bunch of Sierra Leoneans who live in Ohio in them and we explain the situation. Basically, the family ended up paying the guy 40,000 (about $12, but it was extraordinarily nice and a lot of money in SL) to add to our 60,000. I gave the woman my parent's phone number and told her that if they are ever in Wisconsin they should call my family. It was just so lucky for us that they showed up when they did. (**Mom - if someone claiming to have met me in Sierra Leone calls and has a Midwestern meets West African accent, she's telling the truth. Buy them a drink or take them out on the boat or something.)

After leaving Sierra Leone I think I want to write graduate essays on the differences between Guinea, which has been peaceful for 20 some years, and SL, which has not. Because while the peace was good for Guinea while the rest of the region was destabilized, it was pretty clear to me that SL is in a better position to develop now. Not that I'm advocating a war here, but I just thought the juxtaposition was interesting.

I can get a PC ride to Mamou on Monday and miss a day of school or I can just go via bush taxi tomorrow, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Regardless, I'll be safely holed up at home by Wednesday and will make a good faith attempt to get some lesson planning done so I don't have to worry about it once classes start again (what with my 10 hours of teaching and 2 hours of lesson planning I'm awfully busy)...

Strikes are coming

And G13 isn't arriving until the end of the month. Strikes start on January 10th. I'm headed back to Mamou with a bunch of books on Sunday. I'll write more about this later, but it shouldn't be a big deal at all. The only concern is that there will be a gas crisis and it will be impossible to keep the PC office open (cause it's virtually all generated power here). If that happens they are required to evacuate us until it's over. I hope that doesn't happen cause I am looking forward to getting back to site.

If anyone is supposed to come over with G13 and they or their parents are freaking out, feel free to contact me. You can find me on Facebook or leave a comment here, cause I'll be able to check the internet from site. I'm going to update again before I leave Conakry.

Hope you enjoy the pictures from Sierra Leone!

View from River Number 2

This was taken from our porch, it was so nice! The room was $50 a night, which was super expensive by my standards, but the beach was gorgeous. Love Sierra Leone.

NYE

I'm really just loading this photo so my mom and sister can see that I did wear the dress. And the heels, although you can't see them here. We ate a yummy dinner and did some drinking and dancing. It was great.

My class

I still have a hard time controlling them. You can see why.