Manuel's Visit and Cheryl's Journal

He arrives in 6 hours, at 3am. Needless to say we are really excited. I can't believe it's already July!

Anyway, here's Cheryl's account of her time here. I was going to shorten it but couldn't decide what to take out so I'll leave it to you, my (dwindling) faithful readers, to skim or read...

Cheryl’s Travel Journal…Guinea

The first four days of my Guinean adventure challenged me, shocked me, as well as force me to decide what my priorities would be for the rest of the trip.
The first unusual encounter began upon my arrival at the airport. After gathering my luggage, Camilo engaged in a bartering session with about twenty taxi drivers. I was quite impressed with Camilo’s bartering as he never backed down. It must be genetic as it so reminded me of Abuelita. Voices became intense as the process went on and the price ended up being extremely high. After this experience, I knew Camilo would be handling all the money. Finally, we made our way through the busy streets of Conakry to the Peace Corp house…
Most of my days began with Dolca, Kashi, protein powder and the 32 containers of milk that I carried across nearly two continents. Once I arrived, I found they have milk in Guinea. The first days were spent doing introductions and getting to know the area. My first trip to town was to the bank and for a delicious lunch at LaDamier, one of the nicest restaurants in Conakry. We hitched a ride with two Peace Corp employees that were going into town. Our means of transportation was a beautiful white Toyota Land Cruiser. Surrounding the Peace Corp compound were several of these fancy SUVs. My initial reaction was; Wow! This is going to be wonderful transportation! Soon, reality would set in! Another restaurant we went to was a Lebanese restaurant called, LeTrio. Many things on the menu they didn’t have but I found enough to wet my appetite. When it was time to leave and pay the bill, Camilo realized he didn’t have any money. We needed money to pay the bill and take a taxi across town to home. Camilo and Jen thought for sure they would not take US dollars and especially not twenties. Much to our surprise the waiter said, “Okay”. Also included in these first days was my first trip to the market.
The market is probably one of the dirtiest places I have ever been. It is filled with wall to wall people. Everybody is dripping wet with perspiration as well some with body odor. I, too, was sticky and sweaty. Animals such as chickens and goats run freely and some are for sale. Some vendors were selling vegetables, homemade goods and warm milk with flies swarming all over it. The small isles between vendors were narrow, muddy and slippery. Camilo’s appetite for the local non-refrigerated cooking turned my stomach. I would soon learn Camilo eats everything and anything! The heat was unbearable as it beat down on my back. I forgot to apply sunscreen and thought for sure I would be burnt to a crisp. Our visit included purchasing seven pagnes of fabric for a bit more than twenty five dollars. It was enough to make six sleeveless blouses and two skirts. The fabric lady forgot to give Camilo the change and she chased us down to give it to us. I couldn’t believe her honesty! The evening before we left for Boke we went to the Beach Bar, a local hang out for PCV which is located behind the PC. It was interesting to watch the local Guineans work out in their homemade beach gym. Some were very fit!
Our trip to Boke was in a taxi that seemed like it was fifty years old. We traveled on one of three paved roads in Guinea. Throughout our journey goats, cows, chickens and people would be walking along the road. Goats and cows would randomly stand in the middle of the road. The AC was the window rolled down all the way. At times the road was bumpy and it took us about four hours.
Upon our arrival into Boke we were met by Thierno, one of Camilo’s students. Thierno assisted our time in Boke. We stopped by Camilo’s house to greet his neighbors. His house is small with cement floors and dark. The kitchen had the most light when the door was open. It was like a playhouse; very small rooms, no electricity for the most part and extremely hot! I can understand why he has critters such as roaches and rats residing in his home. I can’t imagine being there for more than a visit let alone living there for more than two years. I can understand Camilo’s desire to check into a hotel with AC.
Our hotel most definitely had AC and electricity, but had a bathroom that was humid and stunk like a urinal. My thoughts were filled with massive amounts of bacteria and critters running around my room. I burned incense and frankincense to clear the place out. We locked up the rooms went into town to one Boke’s few restaurants.
Camilo and Jen ordered Chicken while I had French fries and bread. Being a vegetarian met its challenges; yet, I ate healthy and stayed healthy. Lighting was provided by a generator and at times it wasn’t working. As we waited, I was observing a fourteen or fifteen old prostitute dance around as she went into a room with an older man. As she finished spinning her tricks he left in a fancy SUV before we finished our dinner. Could I be certain that the young girl was a prostitute? Of course not, but more than likely she was. We returned to the hotel for a good night sleep, so I thought! It was difficult falling asleep with a strong smell of stench. Sounds of doors shutting brought flashes of the young prostitute entering the room with the old man. I’m sure many tricks were turned in this hotel as many of the residents were men and there is a night club adjacent to the hotel. I increased the AC to smother out the stench and I froze. A few hours into the night I thought for sure I was in the middle of a hurricane with the rain and wind slammed the walls. There was a half an inch space under the door where I imagined water seeping in and flooding my room. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep all night.
The next morning as I waited for Cami and Jen to awake I was dying for a cup of Dolca. I couldn’t wait to get out of the smelly room. We found taxis were difficult to hail as we were quite a ways out of town. Cami paid a motorcycle to go in and send a taxi back. This is the first time I have gone this long without a cup of Dolca since my hysterectomy. We met Thierno at the market and went to a tailor to have my blouses made. Cami introduced me to all his favorite vendors. We purchased items to prepare dinner and headed to the Peace Corp house in Boke. I liked this PC house as it was clean compared to Conakry, but there was no AC, limited electricity and no running water. It was quaint and I felt comfortable. Jen and I decided we should stay at the PC house instead of the hotel because I didn’t like the hotel and the taxi situation was difficult. Cami was unhappy because he so wanted AC. Thierno, Cami and I went back to the hotel and packed our things quickly and moved to the house for the next four days. Jen prepared lentils and we spent the rest of the evening with electricity integrated with solar.
The next day we went to Thierno’s house for lunch. I was so touched that his mother prepared a vegetarian sauce for me. Thierno’s area had several houses made of grass huts. There were lots of children running around, women working very hard while the men prepared and drank tea, and performed their prayer rituals. Their bathrooms consisted of outdoor areas inside fences made of grass. Luckily, my bladder really held out nicely on this trip. I always carried plenty of Purell and toilet paper. The Purell I used often but rarely had a need for toilet paper. The rice and sauce was delicious! Needless to say, I asked for the recipe. We had a wonderful afternoon and everyone was so gracious. Thierno’s mother cried when we left. Jen and I returned to the PC house and Camilo stayed with the men for tea.
The view across from the PC house was majestic! Down below was a winding river and far across in the distance was towering Mosque. Outside the PC house were a hundred goats running around and inside the gates we had a goat and the baby. By the time I left, I had the mama trained to come for Kashi. We spent a quiet evening with intermittent electricity.
Djoubairou has a good size family with many children. For lunch they killed a chicken for us. Jen and Cami enjoyed the chicken while I ate the sauce and rice. Again, it was delicious! Later, we prepared Fettuccini Alfredo for Cami’s students. I finally immersed myself into the culture when I no longer focused on the dirt and insects. I had so much fun with the kids. At least thirty kids came running from the neighborhoods and played Frisbee. They took me by the hand and led their white goddess to a shaded area to prevent sunburn. They were cute as they chanted “I love you!” They led me back to the house and my feet were filthy. Djoubairou’s mother brought out a pan of water and Djoubairou’s younger brother, Boubacar, gently washed my feet carefully washing between each toe. He patted them dry with a cloth and put my sandals back on. I was touched with how he attended to me. When we arrived the mother had the children change into clean white shirts. All the children were beautiful and very gentle especially Djoubairou’s family. . Djoubairou is a good student and a good son who takes very good care of his family. His mother is such a good woman; gentle yet strong and very attentive to her husband and children. They gave Jen and me a gift of fabric. We spent six hours there and I had tears when I left. The mother wiped my tears with the palm of her hand and placed her hand on my heart. We could not share words as I couldn’t speak French, yet, there was this profound connection. There was immense learning for me in these two days. When I changed my perception and let go of limitations I felt there were no boundaries. We as people erect the boundaries with our distortions. I felt such respect and admiration for Camilo because he had no boundaries as he made himself one their family. There is so much learning to take from this trip but this is probably the greatest learning for me. Beyond color and culture there is so much to share and verbal language was irrelevant. Camilo put his heart and soul into these students, not just in school, but also outside of school. He became a part of their life; an important influence in their lives. As I was introduced to the many people I witnessed how much Camilo touched their lives. We visited the vice principle of the school and he talked about the good qualities that make Camilo the good person he is. This community will miss and remember Camilo. The hot nights in Boke didn’t matter because the experience was so rich. Tomorrow we will leave a place that I will probably never visit again and yet, I feel such a part of.

On our journey back to Conakry we happen to pick up another volunteer, Liz. We will spend one night in Conakry to prepare for our trip to Timbe Medina, the location of Jen’s sight. We went for pizza at the Beach Bar with some of the other PCV. Not bad pizza! We have been lucky to find good, safe drivers. The way to Timbe Medina is curvy reminding me of Colombia. The landscape is absolutely beautiful and the more north you get the temperature drops. As we were traveling I saw a family of big, slender, reddish monkeys, which I think were the red colobus monkeys. They say this species is near extinction. The body and head was the same shape as well as the color and the long tail.

We stopped along the way for treats; French bread, oranges and bananas. I found myself really liking Coke on this trip. We arrived in Timbe in the evening after nine hours and it was raining. The road to Jen’s was long and bumpy so it seemed as if it took forever. We had stopped along the way to pick up stuff for dinner. Jen and Cami made pita bread sandwiches filled with hummus and veggies. They were delicious. I ate very well at Jen’s house and she is quite the cook! Jen’s house was the five star resort of Guinea. It was spacious and somewhat new and clean. I had a wonderful king size bed with a bathroom right off the bedroom. Can you believe it had a bathtub! Too bad there was no plumbing! We had electricity most of the time, but no running water. We heated up the water for our cup baths and it felt so good. Most days we went into town which is a thirty minute walk. It was hot during the day but for the most part cool at night and I didn’t sleep under a mosquito net. Jen knows all her neighbors. Marley, the woman across the street, reminded me so much of Rafiki from the Lion King. Everything from her laugh, her physical appearance to the dialogue of her Guinean language reminded me of Rafiki. Jen also had missionaries for neighbors. I was amazed at how long they had lived here. The streets were covered by cows and goats grazing. Some of the children were afraid of our white skin and others spoke out to get our attention. They called us, “portos” or whites.

Jen also hosted a Fettuccini Alfredo party for her students. I was amazed at how many female students showed up and they were dressed beautifully. There was a good turn out of about thirty students. Before they left they cleaned the yard and the house which was a big help to us because the next day we had to wake up early to go to the waterfalls.

The road to the waterfalls was long and bumpy. It was market day so all the people were walking for miles to bring their goods to sell at the market. It is incredible to watch women carry goods on the head. They never seem to spill! When we arrived at the waterfalls we had to walk for a bit through the woods. I was scared to death to walk across the rocks as they were so slippery. Jen and Cami succeeded but Cami made me nervous as he was a bit unstable. Jen is quite adventurous and makes everything look so easy. I stayed behind and sat on a rock and listened to waterfall in front of me. The vegetation was beautiful; just like you would see in a movie or in National Geographic. As I sat there, I often would check behind me to be certain there wasn’t a lion or a baboon watching me. Jen said there were baboons in the area. Cami and Jen returned and we moved down the rocks to catch another view of the falls. Jen was very attentive and at one point both Jen and Cami had both my hands while my feet flew from beneath me. They had such a strong hold nothing happened and I regained my balance.

We sat on the rocks and had a little lunch; I had French bread with peanut butter and Cami and Jen had tuna with French bread. By one o’clock we were headed back. We stopped by the market to pick up my fabric, grab a few things for dinner and headed home. Tomorrow we would head to Duki so we thought.

We woke up to rain, cold and little hope of sunshine. Upon our arrival in Pita we decided to head back to Conakry. It seemed to be a quick journey back. We were planning visiting the islands off Conakry on Tuesday. Two hours out from Conakry we stopped to use the bathroom. Yes, it was my first time. Jen was outside the door, “yes…you can do it!” Also two hours out Jen spoke with the head of security with the Peace Corp. He asked our location and instructed the driver to take a different route as that morning there was gun fire because the police and custom officers were unhappy with their working conditions and took their bosses as hostages. Of course, we safely arrived home and because of the disrupt, we will not be going to the islands. During the night I woke up to a noise. I thought possibly Jen and Cami were moving furniture upstairs. After I opened the door and noticed the lights were off I knew everyone was sleeping. I went back to bed thinking the noise was just fire works. Guinea is too poor to have fire works and I soon realized it was gun fire. I slept through the night and woke up to wonderful cups of Dolca and spent the entire day preparing my travel journal for Cami’s blog. The chaos in Guinea is just another day in Guinea and tomorrow will be different. Speaking of tomorrow, I fly back to the states.

To sum up my Guinean adventure I would have to say it was deep personal learning for me. National Geographic is there to read and documentaries are available to watch, but it isn’t the same as living it. And I have just a taste of two weeks. I learned that in the US we are very spoiled and we need to work harder and live on less. Many of the world problems today are due to our massive consumption. People in the US really don’t have a clue. I didn’t. I know that it is possible to live on so much less and that some things just aren’t so important. The more things you acquire the less time you have. The less you have the more time you have to interact in relationships. All women should have freedom. Guinean women suffer tremendously. I really question how much poor we really have in the US. We have opportunity in the US. The Guinean poor have very little, possibly no hope of opportunity. Feeling clean doesn’t require a fifteen minute shower. A bucket of water is sufficient. Clothes can feel clean after a nice bucket bath. Clothes can be worn many times before washing. It is amazing how fresh they smell after just hanging them out. My heart broke for the animals, but broke for more the people. Children stay focused longer and easier as they don’t have all the external things to occupy their attention. Mental health doesn’t seem to be an issue as they are more concerned about survival. Meals include what is available and it is always fresh. Leftovers are scarfed up as there is no refrigeration and many hungry people. Guineans are grateful for the smallest things; my leftover Coke. The people of the US are lost, confused and totally clueless. It saddens me to think that we may as a culture have to suffer severe consequences to wake up. Guineans never assume the next moment. Americans assume their material goods and basic needs such as; water, electricity and food will always be there, and therefore, use more than they need and waste what the don’t need.

Without idealizing my experience, it is my hope that I don’t forget to remember all that I have seen, lived and learned, and actually make an attempt to live it.

She left out the part about how we got to the airport and found out the flight was canceled and also the part where the fat customs ladies tried to get money out of her by holding her bags hostage! Luckily she didn't have money to give and the bags are safely back in Meadville. Hopefully we can get Cam's dad to write a similar journal!

Mission Accomplished

Dubya style, that is. This is the week of the big test that determines if my kids pass out of high school and into college and today was the English section. Cam's student called him and said there were 2 sections. One was a paragraph with a bank of words at the top that the students had to fill in and then answer questions about and that second was changing sentences from the passive to the active voice. Here's why my portion of the mission is accomplished - we studied both those things many, many times and very recently!!!!!!!! It's a crapshoot, you never know what's going to be on the test, but I did about 10 different exercises using the first section's form and spent 2 weeks on the passive v. active voice. Thank God!

Now it's up to my students - did they study at home? Did they pay attention during the test? Did they second guess themselves and cheat off some kid who had no idea what the answers were? At least I know I did my job and taught them everything that was on the test. Phew.

I'll let you know this fall (perhaps it will be the series finale of blog postings, as I'll be back in the US when the results are in) how many of them passed. Then I can really stand in front of a banner that says "Mission Accomplished."

Girls Conference Postponed...

Boo. We'll let you know when it's rescheduled. Now that I'm writing this I think I may have already written about it, but it's late and I'm leaving at 7am and don't feel like looking. At any rate, it's postponed, not canceled. I'll keep you posted. Camilo and I will be here in just over a week to pick up his father, yay!!

Anyway, I'll be in Timbi all next week, but will be sure to write more next time I'm in Conakry.

Bye Cheryl!

Cam and I took Cheryl to the airport last night. I lied and said I had an e-ticket so I could accompany her to check-in. Here in Guinea only people who are actually flying are even allowed inside the airport. That's because it's such a big deal to fly that literally an entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, kids who have nothing else to do) will go with the person flying and wait with them! Since lines don't really exist here, the airport would be absolute chaos if they allowed everyone inside...

I had one friend explain to me that his girlfriend was really wealthy and had a visa and offered to arrange for one for him so that they could go to New York together, but he couldn't do it because his wife would want to go to the airport and say good-bye. I asked if she would really make the 10 hours minimum trip from the Fouta just to do that and he said that yes, she would, and she wouldn't be happy to see he was traveling with his girlfriend! My suggestion to him was that he break up with his girlfriend and just be happy with his wife, but I"m not sure he took my advice.

Anyway, I got lucky because inside the airport everyone knew I wasn't traveling but the men wanted to marry me so they didn't mind that I was in there. Even telling them that Camilo was waiting for me outside didn't deter them! Being in Guinea can be such an ego boost...even if their love was more about my passport than my charms...

Camilo and I are planning to head back to Timbi tomorrow. The teachers are striking, so there's a chance the kids will have some small demonstrations. Here's the situation - the teachers are mad because they didn't get paid last month. As far as I know they've been paid now, but they were even more ticked off about it because the gendarmes got all their demands met after they went on strike and were shooting and all that. And since it's totally normal to skip work, the teachers only really have power during this time of the year, when they are needed to protor the final exams. So the kids might get mad when they can't do their high school exit exams...can't really blame them. We heard that most of the teacher's demands have been met, but there's a question on the timing. If they agree to go back to work on the assumption that they'll get a raise soon and then they don't, they've given up the position of power they have right now. So, as always, we'll see...

Fettuccine Alfredo Party Take Two

Two things to notice about the above photo. One is the girl on the left in the prom dress. She's really bright and good at English and I have no idea what she was thinking! The other is the girl on the right with the baby. Until she showed up with that baby on her back I didn't know she had one! It explains why, although she's friendly and respectful, she was absent a lot and didn't ever study at home. It's so hard to be a woman here!

While I invited all my students, I was nervous that the kids I like wouldn't make it and the ones I didn't would show up and eat all the food! So I was happy to see that the best ones showed up and that my bitchy pregnant girl who answered her phone in the middle of class stayed home. The girl in the front was a student last semester. Her husband is in Spain, she's met him 2 or 3 times, and she has a gorgeous house. Unfortunately, our school authorities wouldn't let her continue her studies. She's totally bored at home and has nothing to do. Poor thing. The guy behind her is my absolute best student. His speaking skills aren't that strong since he's only learned English by reading books, but his written comprehension is phenomenal. If he ever got a scholarship to study in an Anglophone country I'd be thrilled...I told him to finish university here and then to search for money to study abroad.

Here are my girls and neighbor Marley. They really enjoyed the food and even bought little plastic bags to bring the extra home so their families could try it!

This is at the party we had for my students. The kids were shouting "Barack Obama" when this guy showed up in his suit! Of course I needed a photo.

No Flights

Cam's poor mom. She's been so understanding about the flies and transport and rain and lack of comforts, but tonight we took her to the airport only to find a sign on the door saying that, because of the customs/police strike, the flight to Brussels is rescheduled for tomorrow. Although everything was calm today in Conakry, the police and customs people are still on strike. We haven't heard if the teacher's union reached an agreement with the government, but will hopefully know about that tonight.

It was a little bizarre to see the gendarmes in camo directing traffic instead of the police, who wear navy uniforms.

Oh, Guinea.

Souma Falls

Isn't this waterfall lovely? Cam's mom didn't get to see it because getting there required crossing over some rocks and water that were a little scary. She waited in the sun next to the river instead! Unfortunately, with the rainy season here, I'm sure this was the last time I could see the waterfall. The water is just starting to rush too quickly and it's too deep. I couldn't believe how much more water was there compared to my camping trip over Spring Break!! But it was nice to go one last time.

Cheryl - what a good sport

That's the car we took to the taxi station in Conakry. I don't think the picture does it justice. The car was old 50 years ago and was barely functioning. It's my worst nightmare that someone falls out of the car due to the doors not closing properly! And it's an even worse nightmare to imagine that happening to someone who's only been in Guinea a few days!

Cheryl accepted the invitation to try and pound the garlic. It's really tiring!! If done properly, the toned arms that the giant mortar and pestle (right, that's what it's called in English? Sounds weird for some reason) are much better than anything a fancy trainer could do.

Fettuccine Alfredo Party Number 1

Here's Djoubairou's family as well as some assorted local children who couldn't resist the chance to be in a photo. The last time I saw them the mom was pregnant and the dad couldn't leave his bed because he was so sick. It was wonderful to see him outside, even though his mobility is still really limited, and to see that the baby, Adama Bella, was nice and fat. I love fat babies.

I'm quite the organizer, huh? It's not easy making pasta for 30 using coal stoves! The party was a huge hit, we are at one of Cam's student's houses in Boke. He invited his English Club and we drank Cokes, ate pasta and as a grand finale the Club sang Akon "Don't Matter." The best part of that is that one of Cam's close friends, Thierno, cracked his voice in the worst possible way right at the beginning. After that I was trying so hard not to laugh that I couldn't really pay attention! Luckily Cam caught it all on video.

Djoubairou's family was incredibly gracious, allowing us to host that party and cooking for us. They made an amazing rice dish with chicken, it was the best Guinean meal I've eaten in Guinea...we are going to ask them to make it again when Cam's dad comes, but will bring the chicken (alive...) since we know how much of a struggle it is to make ends meet here. Oh, it was delicious! They also gave Cheryl and I fabric as a gift. It was too sweet.

Cam's mom went out to play frisbee with the kids and it was hilarious. She was the Pied Piper of Guinean children, there must have been 50 of them all surrounding her! I kid you not, they started coming from the hillsides. I thought it was the funniest thing. She doesn't speak French (neither do the kids, really) so she was trying to get them all in a circle to pass the frisbee around. At some point she started shouting, "All right, all right, all right!" like it was some kind of pep rally. The kids started doing it too and they were all clapping and kept on shouting all right...it went on for a couple minutes before they lost interest. I lost interest in it long before the kids did, they were so excited to have a white woman in town wanting to play with them!

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

I'm just sure that I've used that subject line before, because it's true!! After the soldiers caused all that drama a couple weeks ago the police and customs people decided to do the EXACT same thing and strike. Unfortunately, customs officials and police are necessary for a functioning airport so the airport was closed for 2 days. We heard the Air France flight coming in last night (yes, there are so few flights that depending on the day and the time you know exactly what flight it is!) and we heard that they sent scabs to the airport to do the customs and security stuff. Cam's mom is leaving tonight so I really hope that's the case!!!!

Here's the BBC article about the police strike. As always, rest assured that we are safe. All the problems are going on in town and that's far from the compound. After this post I'll put up some pictures from Cheryl's trip here. Despite the continuous political uncertainty we had a great time and she seems to have really enjoyed it, despite the flies, heat, and waking up to gunfire in Conakry! She wrote about 5 pages chronicling her experience so I'll pick out some highlights and put them up as well.

Guinea troops clash with police

Fighting has broken out in the West African state of Guinea between soldiers and striking police officers.

The two sides exchanged gunfire at the headquarters of a riot police unit in the capital, Conakry.
Some police officers have been on strike over pay and conditions since Monday, and held the head of the police force hostage for several hours.

The protest follows an army mutiny last month that led to salary increases and promotions for the soldiers.

BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says soldiers exchanged fire with a group of striking policeman.

A number of casualties have been reported on both sides. Some police have been taken to an army barracks.

At least two soldiers were killed, a senior army officer told Reuters news agency.

Witnesses told Reuters and the AFP news agency that the bodies of at least four policeman were seen laid out afterwards.

Risky precedent

Protesting policemen took the police commander and other senior officers captive after starting their strike, before releasing them later on Monday.

A police delegation was expected to meet the prime minister on Tuesday. The police are demanding provisions of rice as well as improved pay. With prices escalating, basic salaries can barely cover the cost of feeding a family, our correspondent says.

Last month, the government set a precedent that some people would describe as risky, he says.
When soldiers went on the rampage over their conditions - and held one of their own superiors captive - they were rewarded with promotion and a payment of more than $1,000 in salary arrears.

The country's aging president, Lansana Conte, recently sacked the prime minister who had been appointed last year as part of a deal to end deadly anti-government protests across the country.

In much of West Africa, police supplement their incomes by extorting bribes at roadblocks.

Our correspondent says that while the army and police can use their guns to demand more money, the rest of the population has to struggle on, increasingly frustrated with Guinea's politicians.