Peace Corps Problems

As the dollar falls against most other currencies and the Peace Corps budget remains the same, PC worldwide is officially in crisis mode. Country budgets are stretched as far as they can go and more money is absolutely necessary if they aren't going to decrease the number of volunteers.

Our new Country Director is an amazing guy and has tons of management experience, but the Guinean staff here is dropping like flies, particularly the senior-level people. It's a perfect storm - PC doesn't have enough money to offer competitive salaries and the mining companies are all flush with cash.

In a country with literally no safety net (one of the great things about the West) I can't blame the staff members for moving to the mining companies where they will make a lot more money and will be able to feed their families as well as save enough to retire. But it is still disheartening - the mining companies have paid off the government officials and virtually none of the money they pay to the government makes it to the people - the World Bank still has to bail the government out and replenish the coffers with loans. If the companies did nothing other than pay taxes that could be used for infrastructure I would be all for them. But they are just as corrupt as the officials here - their payments go to personal bank accounts, not taxes. It's a strange dichotomy - since there is little in the way of jobs or infrastructure, Peace Corps/NGOs and the mining companies are essentially the only options for the educated elite. Obviously those two groups don't have much in common!

My guess is that in other countries where diverse public and private sector jobs are available (Romania, Mexico, Morocco), the Host Country Nationals (HCNs) who work for the Peace Corps are there because they believe in the ideals of the organization, even if they could be making more money somewhere else. I know that our staff members who are leaving love the Peace Corps, but they cannot resist the pull to the mines and the chance to finally make some real money - plus, it's a job that will always be there, where with the PC there's always a chance of evacuation and program closing...the mines have invested enough money here that they will never shut down, even if there is civil unrest.

I'm disappointed that such a talented group of staff members is leaving and hope that Peace Corps Washington gets the money they need to retain the staff that's left here. If the office doesn't replace most of the talent it will be extremely hard for the volunteers to successfully do their jobs and to keep morale high.

Sacrifice (advance apologies for the virtual soapboxing)

Camilo made me watch all the keynote speakers from the DNC, even though political speeches always make me wince. While I am excited at the prospect of living in DC with Obama/Biden in the White House, I have been thoroughly disappointed by the political rhetoric used by both parties this past year. From Clinton and McCain's support of the stupid gas-tax holiday to all the anti-trade talk about manufacturers having to ship their jobs and materials off to China, I'm just getting a little fed up.

Last night I heard Obama reference the fact that virtually all Americans think the economy and government are on the wrong track. While this may be true, it's not going to be impossible to fix - it's just going to take some sacrifice. What ever happened to "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country?" Yes, I am in the Peace Corps and just quoted JFK. You can feel free to defriend me on facebook...

A falling dollar and expensive gas is a big deal, but anyone in America is still part of the luckiest group of people on Earth. To put $4 gas into perspective, just remember that there are over 6 BILLION people worse off than the average American. Here in Guinea the per capita income is $500 and gas costs over $6 a gallon.

We've been at war now for 5 years and our government has never asked any of us, except our military, to sacrifice anything. Nothing. We increased our dependency on foreign oil and kept buying bigger cars and now we complain about the cost of running those cars. We complain that our jobs are being moved to China and India, but that's the cost of doing business in a global economy. As we move almost entirely to a service-based economy we need to make sure that all Americans have a specific skill set so the jobs that get moved are replaced by better-paying, higher tech jobs.

In Thomas Friedman's book The World is Flat he writes that due to globalization there are currently 300 million educated and qualified Indian and Chinese people who are ready to take our jobs. The geographical benefits that we once enjoyed in the US don't matter nearly as much as they did even a decade or two ago. What should we do? Close our economy so they can't compete with us? Even an amateur economist will tell you that everyone loses in the long run under protectionist We can still be competitive, though. We just have to make sacrifices - paying our teachers more, studying harder and being smarter about the subjects we study.

Even in Guinea, which has a very low level of education, I see that jobs once entirely left to Americans or Westerners, like low-level NGO or Embassy positions, are now almost entirely filled by Guineans. While this doesn't help me as I set foot in the working world again, I know that in order to be competitive I need to get back to the States and get a graduate degree so that I have something to offer prospective employers.

I haven't really had a car since college, so I can't completely grasp the impact gas prices have on the average American (besides my parents, who should unload a vehicle or two anyway!) But I do know that we created this mess and dependency. Here's the speech I'd like to hear about gas prices..."I'm sorry that your government failed you when we chose to ignore the dangers inherent in dependency on foreign oil. The next few years are going to be tough as we make the transition from oil to clean fuels. It will not be easy, but in the long run it will improve our nation's economic health and security." I'd like to see the gas prices continue until we have fully invested in new technology - otherwise we are going to forget about it and go back to our old habits until the next crisis hits.

We have many things to pay for during my lifetime - the messes in Afghanistan and Iraq, Social Security, universal health insurance (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it finally happens), investments in new, clean technology, educations that will keep us competitive in a global marketplace. But that money has to come from somewhere and I wish politicians would just be up front about the costs and what we need to do as a country to make it happen.

So we have our work cut out for us. But we are still the most creative nation of people in the world and will have no long-term problems adjusting to global competition. Trust me - after teaching in Guinea, I know what the French left behind in the schools - nice penmanship, zero creativity. Americans are committed to solving the nation's and world's problems and know that it's going to take time, money, energy - and leadership. I sincerely hope the next president doesn't let us down the way GWB did.

Long time, no post

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted, I apologize to those of you (are you out there?) who still faithfully read the blog!

After Girls Conference Camilo and I headed to Forecariah to help with training. One of the great things about training is that it's tediousness prepares you for life in Guinea. One of the terrible things about training is how tedious it is! Luckily I don't have to attend all the sessions so I have been averaging a nap a day. And it's been raining enough that my sweating has been minimal. The new group is awesome - we are all so impressed with them. They have great attitudes, are handling everything well and are exceptionally cool people. While I'm sad that I'm not going to be here to enjoy them, Guinea is in great hands.

Our site visit was from Aug. 14-21st and I took Luke (my replacement) up to Timbi. Lucky guy. We had dinner with the missionaries one night, with our new Swiss/Spanish/Guinean couple friends (did I write about them? If not I will, they are hilarious and awesome) another and a PCV stayed with us the first night. I also introduced him to all my people in Timbi - the telecenter guy, the market ladies, my neighbors and guard and some of the people at the school. We met up with the principal in Labe and he looked almost teary saying good-bye to me! I didn't feel too emotional, actually, even though it was my last trip to Timbi. While it was sad to say good-bye, I'm ready to go and have spent so much time away from there this summer that it already seemed like I'd moved out.

Since returning from site visit we've all been busy with Practice School. For me that means that I watch trainees teach for 4 hours a day. In Simple English. Doing lessons I've already taught at least twice. I've been reading quite a few books...and I have so much more respect for my students - the terrible wooden desks are killing my butt and back! No wonder they'd make excuses to leave the classroom, I'm doing the same thing to give my (increasingly old!) body a rest!

Last night we had sangria and banana pancakes at the Volunteer house (as opposed to the houses where the trainees live with families, the official PCVs have graduated to having our own place). It was delicious, but after reading my Morocco Lonely Planet it just didn't hit the spot...I am having scarily erotic fantasies about tagine. Soon, soon.

Tomorrow Cam and I head back to Forecariah until Thursday. I'll post again when we are back at the end of the week!

PS - We are currently streaming Obama's acceptance speech. I can't wait to vote. But I wish he'd calm down his anti-free trade rhetoric and hope that's just pre-election pandering. Free trade is good for all countries.

Girls Conference 2008

Above is our group photo - my girl, Aissatou, is standing next to me and is wearing blue. She was such a good participant. She's really bright and was one of the older girls so she helped some of the younger ones out with their French. I found out that she was in the Ivory Coast until 3 years ago, which explains why her written French is so strong. We talked about the possibility of her organizing a smaller scale Girls Conference in Timbi Madina next year with my replacement.

As promised, here's the scoop on Girls Conference...

Day 1: The girls and the PCVs arrived in Mamou and we began our three day diet of rice, sauce and bread.

Day 2: Cam and I led the official and unofficial openings - we played icebreakers and the local officials came to welcome the girls. Guinea loves hierarchies and pageantry! Then Cam and I did a session on public speaking and videotaped the girls giving short speeches about themselves. This was followed by sessions on Excision (by a local NGO, Tostan), Women's Roles, Environmental Protection and Business Techniques.

Day 3: Health day - sessions on HIV/AIDS, Nutrition, Family Planning and Anatomy, Depigmentation (skin bleaching?! is that what it's called?), How to Organize a Workshop and Study Skills. Which one doesn't belong? Study skills. But the Tostan people showed up on Day 1 after being misinformed (not by Cam or me!!), so we moved the schedule around a bit so they didn't have to stay the whole time. This was probably the most necessary day as it provided the girls with a lot of new information about their health and we were able to dispel some myths about pregnancy, AIDS, etc.

Day 4: Started with a women's panel, including my friend Madame Diallo (she's never been to school but is a successful merchant who has sent all her daughters to be educated), a woman named Fatoumata Bah from the Mamou Artisan's Federation, and Aminata Barry, a high school chemistry teacher. The panel was rounded out by Odette Leno, an Admin Assistant at the PC office here in Conakry - she was a fantastic addition to the conference and all the girls really looked up to her. We then took them to the Health Center, which is run almost entirely by women. The women took them on a tour and told them about how they became health workers. After lunch we had a Women's Rights session and then presentations. The girls split into 4 groups and we had 2 skits, one poem and a story all relating to the themes we studied during the conference. For dinner we had a banquet (a special rice dish with MEAT!! Big deal.) and then we all went to the nightclub.

The nightclub was hilarious. The girls were dressed straight out of rap videos. Just so skanky!! Cam told me he felt like he'd stumbled into an underage porn site. The guys were all so uncomfortable!! Hell, even I was a little uncomfortable! But the girls had fun and were all really excited about the club, so we just sucked it up...

The next morning everyone headed back to their sites. Some of the girls were crying and they all made sure to tell us how much fun they had. We couldn't have asked for a better conference and thank you all so much for your support! (That being said, we kept a list of ideas for how to involve more Guineans in the presentations next year and little things we could change...but for a first time post-evac conference it was fantastic!)

Above is the presentation of the poem the girls presented on HIV/AIDS.

On the left is the woman from the Artisan's Federation, in pink is the high school teacher and to the right is our own Odette.

Mary is helping the girls plan a workshop to present when they return to their villages.

Raven is helping the girls properly put the condom on the wooden penis. Well done, Raven! Not sure what's going on with the girl on the left's hair...most girls got it braided especially for the conference!!

Me, me!!! Pick me!!!!

We got a student at the Forestry School (ENATEF, where we stayed) to take us on a walk around the grounds and explain some of the projects they are doing. These seedlings are for sale and help keep the school going (although I frankly think that PC workshops are the real breadwinners for the school...they rip us off for the food, which is why we had to find someone in town to do it in order to make the budget work!)

So all in all it was a great success. I look forward to hearing how next year's conference goes and am sure it will be even bigger and better than this one!!!

Moved out, Conference over

I moved out of my house on July 30th and it was only a little weird. I have 3 more days left in Timbi (when I bring my replacement, Luke, who's awesome) and I've been really putting off saying my good-byes. Is it wrong that I want to slink out of town? It's just too hard to tell people that I'm going for good...but I did figure out what to say when people plea one last time for a visa to America. I tell them that I can't arrange that, but if they get visas on their own I will happily show them the same hospitality in the US that they've shown me here. That seems to go over well. The good news for Luke is that he gets to keep my house after all, the family that was planning on coming back is going to put it off for a year because they can't afford the tickets (wife plus 4 kids) from Portugal to Guinea. Lucky guy.

On the 31st Cam and I went to ENATEF, the forestry school in Mamou. We did last minute organizing before everyone arrived on the 3rd and we were so glad to have that time, because the conference went extremely well and with no real hitches! We were sure there would be some crisis or something - this is Guinea, after all. But it was a huge success!! We'll post photos in the next 2 days. I sincerely thank all of you who donated to the cause and assure you that your money was well spent.

Now I'm in Conakry and going to Forecariah on Monday to help with training. I'll post a longer entry about the Conference later, but it's 11am and I need some breakfast!!