Oh, Guinea

I still don't know what's going to happen with us, but the latest news coming from Guinea is that people aren't happy that Conte still hasn't chosen a Prime Minister. There was talk of protests today or tomorrow but we haven't heard anything concrete. We thought he might announce the Prime Minister's name today, but he didn't. Conte did manage to go to the bank and take 600,000 euros out of his account, so you can imagine how the population feels about that.

Here are the conditions that PC says have to be met for us to return...
- a Prime Minister has to be announced, installed and have popular and political support.
- the PM must make changes to the system to prove that power has acually been changed.
- the strikes need to be announced as "cancelled" instead of the current "suspended."
- it all needs to happen in 10 days.

So I'm not feeling great about our chances of going back. It's hard, but I'm actually not that sad about it - while I would love to keep working in Guinea, I think that the political change that's happening now is way more important than my teaching English. And I do feel bad that we bailed at the first sign of trouble, but this is a fight for Guineans to handle, not me. I do not subscribe to the theory that nothing good can happen in Africa if Westerners aren't there for it and think it's fantastic that Guineans are exerting their rights and ideas, even at the expense of my service.

Okay, I just heard that the unions have set a February 12th deadline for Conte to announce a PM or the strikes will continue.

Now to be selfish for a minute:

I actually don't want to go back anymore. Or at least not in the next 2 weeks. Here's why: I joined Peace Corps to move to a community and work. In the current political situation school is completely disrupted. Even if strikes are called off they could happen again in 6 months and then I'd just be back in Bamako not knowing what to do. I'd rather start over again somewhere else and spend 2 years working. It's just too hard not being able to buy plane tickets, know if I'm going to be teaching and/or if I'm safe in my community. The group that was leaving in March has been on "standfast" 4 times during their service, and each time the strikes were longer and more violent. PC only wants to be in places where volunteers can be productive and it's getting harder and harder in Guinea. The tipping point has been reached.

Here's what will happen in a more realistic scenario than Guinea meeting all those conditions and us returning to our communities (this is what I would have happen given the slim chance or returning...not that I'm going to have a say about all of this):

I will go on Administrative Hold until the summer. We still aren't sure what that means in terms of health insurance, medical clearance, or per diem. Peace Corps will let me choose a country to start my service over this summer. Hopefully we will have first pick and I can choose an education program in West Africa - I love W. Africa and have enjoyed teaching, so I'd like to just continue with what works. Camilo and I will do some traveling in Mali before heading to Morocco and then overlanding to Spain and possibly to see a friend of mine in London. Then we'll fly back home. I'll get to attend Zach and Rachel's weddings in May and June and will also manage to finally take the 2 econ classes I need to apply to graduate school. I'll possibly go to Colombia and hang out. I will try not to live at home much in order to preserve my relationship with my parents. Then I will repack for PC Togo/Cameroon/Benin/Burkina Faso, bringing tons of tuna, Crystal Light, almonds and treats and not much else. I can get shampoo, clothes and most other things in W. Africa. A good frying pan, food, a sharp knife and a headlamp are about the only things I really need from the US. Then I'll go through training again, taking the language more seriously and the lesson planning less seriously (because now I am good at it). Then I'll move to another community and spend 2 years teaching.

Another less likely scenario is that the Guinea program is temporarily suspended and reopens this summer, in which case I could head back instead of starting over somewhere else. That's not totally likely, but has happened in the past. I do think that Guinea could meet the PC conditions, but the 2 week timeframe is not realistic. Four or 5 months is much more likely. I'm hopeful that the situation will not deteriorate into civil war because of the pressure that other countries in W. Africa are putting on Guinea. The region was destabilized for so long that the surrounding countries are really trying to exert their power and keep Guinea from causing trouble for it's neighbors.

The music festival was so fun! You can see pictures on Camilo's flickr site...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51956952@N00/sets/72157594510772937/

We stayed in tents (oh, my God it was so hot starting at 8am and continuing until 8pm). The town was gorgeous and interesting and the festival was completely organized. The music was fun and everyone was dancing and it was all sponsored by Bavaria beer. What a riot. A bunch of PCVs did a pirogue race, which looked exhausting. Camilo and I ate really good food, including a ham and cheese omelette. I love beer and pork in conservative Muslim countries. We spent a lot of time listening to music and walking around town. One highlight was riding a donkey cart driven by a 10 year old boy. Possibly the best thing about that was when we tried to give him money and he wouldn't accept it! We forced him to take it, but it was extremely hospitable of him to turn down our offer. While it was sort of funny to be tourists and there were a lot of foreign people, the festival was still fun and I'm very glad I went.

Last night we watched the Super Bowl at the ex-Marine House. There were brats and burgers and beer, but I was so tired I knew I'd pass out if I drank a beer and just stuck with the brats. Since it didn't start here until 11:30 I left after halftime and slept until 11:30 today. After lunch I headed to town to buy some goat cheese and salami and ice cream. Yum.

I don't want to sound flippant about my situation, because it is really serious and I do occasionally stress about it. I'm just trying to make lemonade of the situation and enjoy the time I have here. Plus - if I could love my community in Mamou so much I'm sure I can find another community to love just as much.

Thanks again for all your emails! I do appreciate your thoughts. Hell, I might be seeing a bunch of you in a couple months...