Goliath

the kitten. Isn't he adorable? He's in one of the missionary kid's Easter baskets. We had a nice Easter dinner (chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh rolls, cupcakes shaped and decorated like Easter eggs, the works) and the kids did an Easter egg hunt. They even hid a couple eggs for each adult and we did ours after dinner, by flashlight. You know, I'm still not ready to have kids, but it is just so much fun to celebrate holidays with children. They get so excited!

Anyway, we had a great time with Goliath as well, although it was hard to let him walk around in all the excitement because he's so small!!

All dressed up with nowhere to go!

I can’t remember if I wrote about my student getting married or not, but here goes…

One of my favorite students, Aissatou, a girl from Cote d’Ivoire who got to Guinea a couple years ago, has been engaged the whole time I’ve known her. She always writes cute things on her homework, like, “Thierno and I went to the river this weekend. Then we danced at the nightclub. We have a very happy life here.” It’s kind of unusual to find someone who’s so excited about their fiancé here, so I was really happy to read it.

About 10 days before my last trip to Conakry she invited me to the wedding. This was on a Tuesday and she said the wedding was Friday. I confirmed, in French, “Do you mean it’s in 3 days?” She said yes, and that she would send a kid to come and pick me up to show me where it would take place. I borrowed an outfit from my friend (see accompanying picture) and made sure I was ready by noon, I wasn’t sure what time the kid was coming. I even put on some make-up! It was my first Guinean wedding and I was really excited! I’ve been to funerals and baptisms, but no weddings. Anyway, at about 2pm I thought, “Oh, no, they forgot about me!” but I really, really didn’t want to miss it so even though it made me uncomfortable to walk around town trying to find this wedding alone, I left my house in the heat of the day and started walking towards the neighborhood she lives in.

On the way I asked people where her wedding was, but no one seemed to know. I got tons of compliments on my outfit, though. Since I pretty much never wear Guinean clothes my parade through town caused quite a stir – lots of clapping and “eh, Porto, ca c’est bien, ca!” (rough translation: hey, white lady, that’s good, that!) Once I got to her neighborhood (way the hell on the other side of town, it was so hot out!!) I finally found a woman who only spoke Pulaar but knew her. With me speaking French and her speaking Pulaar, I discovered that the wedding was taking place the FOLLOWING Friday. I felt like a moron. A sweaty moron. But I’d put on a nice Guinean outfit, so I took some pictures with my host family anyway. The street you can see behind us leads to my school, and my old house is right next to where we are standing even though you can’t see it.

Monday I asked her what happened. She said, “Oh, Mrs., you didn’t understand, I told you it was next Friday, not last Friday.” Here’s the annoying thing. I didn’t want to be a bitch because she was about to get married and all, but I know for sure that she told me it was that first Friday. Then she almost cried when I told her I wouldn’t be able to come because I was meeting Camilo in Conakry. She told me that they had wanted me to assist – be the Guinean equivalent of a bridesmaid. Well, that would have been nice. But after she didn’t tell me the truth and then wouldn’t admit to it, I certainly wasn’t about to change my plans.

The bottom line is that I got all dressed up and had nowhere to go, and that I still need to go to a wedding here!

Posting Fiend

We have free internet at the office in Labe now and no one is around, hence the obscene amount of postings. I am trying to make up for lost time.

The Director's visit is rapidly approaching and so is Spring Break. And, just like in Daytona Beach, I guarantee I'll see boobs during my Spring Break as well. But they will be those of women working and not of drunk teenagers. Cam will be in Timbi and we have big plans to eat and exercise and watch Sex and the City. He recently discovered it and I hope he's not mad that I outed him on blogger.

Site has been both good and bad, I've been busy with my review sessions and am hoping that my kids finally understand enough to pass the test they are taking June 9th-13th. I really yelled at my 12th graders the other day - I warned them last week that there would be a test on irregular verbs in the simple past and this week made them write 15 verbs. Of the 10 kids who showed up (should have been 20), only 2 could answer more than 3. I was so pissed. What a lazy group!!! I said, "Next year I will be replaced and there will be a new PCV here. He or she will probably think that I was an idiot and didn't teach you all anything!! I'm going to be so embarrassed when the new person arrives and sees how little you all study at home!!!" They wouldn't even look me in the eye and promised to study this weekend. I didn't record the grades and said that we would redo the test Monday. We'll see what happens. With only 3.5 hours of English a week we just don't have time to memorize stuff during class. That they need to do at home.

But my Terminale kids continue to impress me - we did a text this week about UFOs and then they had to finish one of the stories. (I know, not that relevant to their lives but something like this was actually on the English test to graduate from high school, so I have to cover it...) Most of the stories were pretty blah, but one group wrote that the man the couple had seen was actually the woman's brother who had been in another country, but she didn't recognize him because he was wearing a helmet. He didn't recognize his sister because he wasn't sure he was at the right house, so he disappeared. You have to understand the Guinean/French system of rote memorization to really appreciate the creativity. But they really had a hard time, even in French, thinking of an ending to a story.

The first week back in Timbi was pretty rough, I'm still in disbelief about Eve's death. I'm glad they caught her killers and somehow knowing that they had honored her at the Smith Center last week allowed me a little bit of peace too. What a horrible situation for everyone who knew her. I've been using the time at site to really think about my place in the world and how I can best make use of my time here on earth. Not easy topics. My poor dad - I called him last weekend and basically forced him to talk to me for 40 minutes about all kinds of stuff. At the end he was like, "Um, I had no idea this would be such a reflective conversation." Dave must have been really uncomfortable!!!

Good news on the third year in Guinea front - it looks like Camilo and I will be in Labe. Both the World Food Program and Tostan (they work to end female circumcision and improve girls' education) want PCVs. So we would still be under Peace Corps, but getting the experience of working with those organizations. Of course, that all depends on things staying calm here, but as of today I'm pretty confident. That being said, here's the latest news...

Guinea: Fears of strikes and unrest
CONAKRY, 26 March 2008 (IRIN) - Guinea's powerful trade union groups are considering whether to go ahead with a general strike at the end of March and risk a government crackdown, like the ones that occurred in January and February 2007 which led to the deaths of up to 200 civilians.
'We are continuing consultations for a successful outcome of the crisis,' said Raibatou Serah Diallo, the secretary general of the National Confederation of Guinean Workers.
Unionists last threatened to strike in January 2008, claiming President Lansana Conté was breaking the power-sharing agreement that brought an end to last year's violence.
Guineans have endured four union-led strikes in last 15 months to protest high food prices, worsening living conditions, corruption and President Conté's leadership.
Government position
The government is keen to stave off a strike according to an unnamed interior ministry official. 'We are actively participating in dialogue with the monitoring board… and we will put all our energy into dialogue to prevent the tragedies of January 2007 from recurring.'
A civil society-government monitoring board, made up of government representatives, trade unions, and civil society representatives, set up in 2007 to monitor progress with government and union agreements, is also meeting to consider how to prevent the strike from taking place.
Union asks
Following the 2007 strike the government appointed a new prime minister, Lansana Kouyaté, and agreed to devolve power to him. But Ibrahim Fofana, secretary general of the Guinean Workers Union said progress on reforms is too slow and Mamadou Diallo, spokesman for Forces of the Nation, a coalition of trade unions, political parties and civil society said Kouyaté has still not been able to take the reigns.
"The Kouaté government has become dysfunctional, and we only hear contradictions from the president.'
Unions are also calling for greater progress on investigations into those responsible for the violence in 2007 and for more information on the misappropriation of public funds.
Frustration and fear
Despite mounting frustrations at the lack of political reforms, worsening living conditions, and rising food prices, many people in the capital say strikes are not in Guinea's best interests.
'Last year there were many deaths, extensive property damage, robberies and even rapes', Alhousseiny Tounkara, a trader in Conakry told IRIN. 'The only result of the strikes was regret.'
Abdoulaye Oumar Camara, an engineer in Conakry told IRIN, 'If the trade unions focus on the real concerns of Guineans then they may succeed, but if the strikers just show blind support for Kouyaté's camp then it will lead to nothing.

That's from the UN Relief something or another web site. Basically, who knows? I always meant to try and get rid of my control freak tendencies, so this has been good for my personal growth.

I hope all of you are well, it was really nice to get all your thoughtful emails and comments.

Promises and Polygamy

Marriage here is, in a lot of cases, like marriage used to be a couple hundred years ago in Europe and America - practically a business transaction. So polygamy doesn't shock me - you aren't going to generally be jealous of other wives because in a lot of cases you don't love your husband anyway. But my neighbor and I were talking the other day and what she told me really got to me.

Her name is Marley, I've written about her before, and she and 2 other wives live together in a compound across the street from my house. Their husband lives in Conakry, where it is certain he has girlfriends. Marley was really upset the other day because he had asked his other wife, Adama (who neither Marley nor I like, she's super annoying), to come to Conakry and stay with him. I could tell Marley's feelings were hurt, I know she hasn't seen him since at least November. Then she told me that when they married he promised that she would be his only wife. And, as I've heard many times in Guinea, once she was nice and settled and her body had given way to gravity and childbearing he took another one. There's no such thing as alimony here, divorce is definitely more shameful for a woman than a man, and Marley has little education and no real way of supporting herself or her kids without her husband's money(and his family members abroad who send cash). So she's stuck all alone with these wives and her husband isn't even around!

A more promising case is that of someone Cam and I know in Boke, she has a good job and is a really smart woman. When her husband announced his intention to take another wife (after promising her that he wouldn't before she agreed to marry him), she left him and divorced him. She's fortunate because she has an education and an income, so she had the option to leave.

Anyway, polygamy in theory is fine with me, I guess, but I don't like liars. And that's just what some of these men are. It's hard to blame them completely, though, because the societal pressure for rich men to keep taking wives is strong. I just don't know. People here seem to think that Camilo and I are funny when we walk around town - my Censeur commented that I don't walk behind Cam. I'm not sure if that makes me want to laugh or cry...it does make me grateful that Cam has so many strong women in his life, particularly his mother, so I don't freak him out too much with all my feminist opinions.

I think that education and development work hand in hand. With education and job opportunities women have choices and with choices they can do what they want to create the best possible lives for themselves and their children. So I'm just going to keep plugging along here in Guinea, hoping that through my teaching and even just my presence in town I can help keep the wheels of development turning.

One of the most common reasons given when a guy tells me he wants me to find him a white wife and I ask why is that "black women aren't faithful." Clearly they mean African women, but the thing is that very few people are faithful here - they just don't see the value in it because many relationships are pretty superficial. I told my students the other day at my review session that they needed to treat their girlfriends well and be faithful to them; otherwise they couldn't possibly expect them to be loyal and faithful. That's just stupid. I'm not sure if my point got across, but at least I tried. I also tried to teach them about global warming using an article for Time for Kids. I think that lesson made more of an impact than my "If you hit, cheat on or disrespect your girlfriend she will not be loyal to you."

First Semester Results

were finally announced last weekend. Yes, in the middle of March. I went to school at 10am for the announcements, which took FOREVER. They called all the kids who passed (50%, or a 10 on our 20 point scale) out of the classrooms by class and announced all their names. Sadly, only about half of the kids made the cut. They were announced from first through the last kid and the first 3 from each class got to come up and shake the Principal's hand as well as some important guy from the Rural Development Committee in Timbi (hereafter referred to as Important Guy - IG).

It was a little funny because when I got there I just took a seat and was waiting. I neglected to notice that at some point all the women around me got up and moved to a special section, so I was left right next to the RDC guy and the principal! It's always amusing that I get treated as a man here. Anyway, over the course of an hour and a half we get from 7th grade up to my kids, the Terminale classes. And right before they are announced, the IG gets a phone call. And does he look embarrassed and turn his phone off? No, he answers the call, scoots by me and goes out to the middle of the courtyard to talk. I was so angry, I couldn't believe how rude he was. The Principal made some announcements to try and pass the time, but after about 10 minutes was forced to continue the ceremony without him.

Here's the thing. First of all, Guinean kids are hardly ever recognized for their work and this was one of only 2 opportunities during the whole year to celebrate those who make an effort to learn. Second, only 10 minutes prior to his getting up, he was telling me that Guinean students are lazy and don't try and don't want to learn. How can you expect kids to want to learn and to respect you if you don't treat them with respect and celebrate their achievements? Ugh, I just wanted to punch him. But since that wasn't a possibility I settled for leaving without saying goodbye to him. It just put such a damper on the end of the ceremony, which was pretty pathetic to begin with. It is so difficult to be a Guinean student.

Exercise

I've been kind of a fatty lately. I decided that I'd be able to have self-control if I sent all my treats from my suitcase in Conakry up to Timbi. Turns out that I don't have any self-control. They are almost all gone. But at least they are making me feel guilty, so I've been exercising a lot lately (including the bike ride to get to Labe this morning!)

My missionary friend invited me to do Tae Bo with her, she has a TV and works out at 7am every morning. I went there yesterday for the first time and it was kind of surreal to be kickboxing in Guinea! But fun. Apparently Billy Blanks is a big-time Christian (did any of you know that? I didn't. Somehow that strikes me as really strange...) and he has a Tae Bo video called "The Believer's Workout." Dee said it was a little funny for her to exercise to it, so I can only imagine how funny it will be for me to do it!! I'll let you know how it turns out. Do praying and Tae Bo go together? Can I pray that my arm jiggle will lessen? I'm just not sure about that.

I've also been running, which I am enjoying more and more as it gets easier. I also think it's hilarious when the ladies clap for me as I pass by them. The other day 2 old Guinean men shouted out, "Congratulations! You are courageous!" to me as I passed them. They must have been 100 years old, but they gave me the biggest toothless grins. It's so heartwarming to gather up so much goodwill as I jog along (running is a bit of an overstatement). I was worried that people would think it was strange, or that my sleeveless top and cropped tight pants were inappropriate, but they seem to love it. Plus, knowing people are watching me inspires me not to collapse on the ground next to the nearest tree. And 2 days ago I got caught in the first rains of the year - I hadn't seen rain in Guinea since November-ish. It was just so exciting. Camilo's friend told him that God sends an early rain to wash all the dust off the mangoes. I tend to believe the scientific explanations for rain, but that didn't make it any less fun for me!

Guard Sex

Omg. Ewww. Guess what? Last week I was cooking dinner at about 6pm and I realized that my guard and his wife were in their room - it's attached to my house but has a separate door, one that is just outside my kitchen. They had the door open, but there's a curtain hanging over it.

Anyway, I'm minding my own business and all of a sudden I hear some moaning and groaning. EWWWWW. So I start clearing my throat and coughing, hoping they'll get the hint. No luck. Finally, I turned on some music, but it didn't completely drown out the sound. And I can't remember what I was cooking, but I really couldn't just leave it. It was gross. I was glad when it was over.

About 2 days after that the wife asked me how much it cost to go to Conakry and I told her (it's about $13, in case you care to make the trip someday). A few days later I realized I hadn't seen her, or my guard, for a couple days. My neighbor told me that she left him and didn't say goodbye, so he'd gone back to the village to try and find her. He came back, alone, a day later and told me that she'd gone to Kindia, which is about 7 hours away.

Here's the thing. He's about 40. She was apparently 15. If you marry a child, don't be surprised when she acts like one.

French lady

Imagine my surprise 3 weeks ago when I saw an older white lady at my school! Then I realized she was French and I got nervous to talk to her - I have severely Guinean French, and was really embarrassed to introduce myself. Turns out she's a retired Physics professor and was just in Guinea for a couple weeks on a project. She was really nice and didn't seem to have a problem understanding me - and she was good at Special French, speaking nice and slowly so I could understand her. All was going swimmingly, and then she invited me to join her and her colleagues for lunch. Never pass up a free lunch.

So I got in the car and started telling her about all the teachers that my school is missing, namely, a French teacher for the middle school. Kind of a big problem. I thought I was doing a good job explaining myself, but I could just tell she didn't understand me. It was so embarrassing! I got all quiet and was so ashamed. Then we sat down for lunch and she asked me to switch seats with her, because she's deaf in her left ear and wanted to be able to hear me! I was so happy! Not that she had a hearing problem, but that it wasn't that my French sucked that she couldn't understand me!

Yay for me! I talked to a real French lady for 2 hours!

Drunk student

Okay, I'm going to try and write about a couple things in a series of short blog entries. Starting with the DRUNK STUDENT that showed up in my class 2 weeks ago! He has since sobered up, but I couldn't believe it. He was drunk. At 8:30am. I would love to know where he found alcohol actually, it's been a rough couple weeks and it would be nice to have a cold beer or two at the end of the day.

So he was drunk. And hadn't been in my class before. Apparently he had a motorcycle accident or something and had been in the hospital. Anyway, he was so disruptive, saying things like "Oh, no, Mrs. I think we should do the exercise this way instead." And I said "I am the teacher. I don't even know you. You are drunk. Leave me alone and let me teach." Finally I forbade him from speaking.

As I'm writing this I realize that I can't properly explain why it's so funny that he was drunk in my class. I'm going to stop, because it's just not interesting for you. Trust me - it was funny for me! The next story is funnier, I promise.

Finally headed back to site

Today Camilo and I did more work than either of us has done in so long we don't want to admit it on the blog. We finished our Girls Conference Proposal and Budget - a major coup since we thought it would take much longer. We even managed to get some information together to send out to the current PCVs on the mail run leaving tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get quite a bit of interest.

It will be fantastic to have this conference - one year from now we will have lost all the institutional memory about it and it's always harder to start something from scratch. Basically, each PCV gets to bring one girl from his/her village for a 4 day conference. Each day will have sessions dedicated to topics like: nutrition, study skills, women and Islam, HIV/AIDS, etc. We are even inviting some of the successful local women in Mamou (including the infamous Madame Diallo and some of my other friends) to have a panel discussion about the difficulties in trying to be successful and still be a Guinean woman. Anyone in the US who has ever thought it was difficult to do it all (including me) really does have no idea. Most of the women I see have arms women at Equinox pay $150/hour to aspire to.

We are hoping to get the proposal approved soon and then it will be on the Peace Corps Partnership page, where you can donate if you would like!

I'm trying to think of other interesting things that have been going on, but am coming up short. I have my routine of school and night classes and special classes at my house and it's all been going well. My house is still lovely and mouse-free.

Oh, a funny thing...my guard is back. Did I already write about that? He was gone for about 3 months and just got back. With a wife. Apparently he went to the village and didn't return until he found someone to marry. They had their first fight last week - it's too bad I don't speak Pulaar cause it sounded interesting! The poor girl can't be more than 20 and must be so bored. She has no friends and nothing to do. I'd love to befriend her but have been so busy at school that I just want to relax and clean when I'm home. So our interactions are limited to the basic greetings and pleasantries.

The PC Director from Washington will be here in Guinea from April 11-14. All people from my group are heading to Conakry on the 13th to have dinner with him before he leaves. The next day we are headed to the islands off the coast of Conakry for our Close-of-Service (COS) Conference. It should be really fun. I'm hoping to have some third year leads by the end of it...but I need to be back in the US by Memorial Day 2009, because my friends Farrah and Harris are getting married! (Paparazzi names are Harrah and Farris. Camilo calls them that on accident all the time.)

Okay, it's 11pm and I have at least a 10 hour travel day ahead of me. My next blog posting will probably be in a week or two, depending on when I make it to Labe.

For a funny story about devil possession in schools, see Cam's latest blog entry. Kind of like hysteria in the Victorian times. www.africami.blogspot.com

Thanks to everyone who emailed me about Eve. Getting work done on Girls Conference today reminded me that it's my responsibility to live up to the ideals that she and I discussed at length. I'm hopeful that they will get the suspects in custody soon - pictures are at wral.com. Two men tried to use her ATM card at 2 different machines and were caught on surveillance cameras. One of the pictures is really clear and I sincerely hope this matter is laid to rest quickly. Your thoughts and emails were appreciated more than you know.

Update is coming

Is it ridiculous to update saying that I'm going to update? As for my family members, Aunt Diane and Hannah are on my favorites list and my immediate family still needs to confirm that they read the blog...

I continue to be really upset about Eve. It was just a couple months ago that I called Camilo to tell him that I'd met the new SBP at UNC and that she was my soulmate. I really did use that word. We'd planned to meet one time at Yogurt Pump but ended up having so much fun and had so much to talk about we made more dates to hang out before I left. She and I were our own little sorority of recent female SBPs and had so much in common. I was just sure she'd be a friend for life. Everywhere I went the people I care about and admire most at UNC told me how highly they thought of her and it devastates me to think that we lost such a great leader and friend over something so stupid. I hope we all get some closure about what actually happened.

So a real update is coming - I'll actually be in town until Tuesday morning due to a cavity that needs to be filled Monday.

Eve Carson

I got into Conakry yesterday and checked the internet for the first time in 3 weeks this morning only to find out that my friend and current UNC Student Body President Eve Carson was murdered in what appears to be a random act of violence near campus. I had the pleasure of hanging out with her a few times in Chapel Hill in May and just immediately fell in love with her.

The news really has me shaken and devastated. I'm not feeling like blogging about my current exploits in Guinea today.

I'll update the blog tomorrow. Complete with a public shaming for my family - turns out they don't read the blog. If any of my immediate family members email me before I update again they will be spared. That means you - Abby, Michael, Barb and Dave.