Mamou, Guinea, West Africa
15 September 1999
Well, there's only 2 weeks left of training. I
finally made it to Guinea. GUINEA IS GORGEOUS!! Especially the
two regions I've been to: the Basse Cote and the Fouta
Djallon. I just started the national language, Pulaar. Ko
Michael mi innetee (that means "My name is Mike").
The temperature is fairly cool: 70's - 80's every day.
It rains fairly hard every day several times for a brief period, here in
the rainy season (not too humid!) I have been given my site: Ditinn.
It's a village of 4,000 people near Dalaba (a large city) and north of
Mamou, the training center.
I hear that my house has four rooms with an outdoor toilet
and indoor shower. I will be living in a 'duplex', shared with a
family (the Dad is a math teacher and he may tutor me with language). I am
able to see one of the best waterfalls in my country from my porch.
It's called Ditinn falls and it's a great area to hike. I have been
told that it is easy to spot monkeys. I have also heard that there
are chimpanzees in my sous-préfecture.
I have met the superintendent of school in my
sous-préfecture, my 'counterpart'. His name is El Hadj Seydou Conté.
He has 11 kids and several wives. He seemed very welcoming and
anxious to work with me. We had a counterpart workshop here in which
we discussed what volunteers' roles were, what our training was about,
made a plan of integration into the community, etc. This was a
stressful 2 days, but it was very beneficial
I just spent a week with 2nd year agro forestry
volunteers, this was called 'site visit'. This made me see what the
job is really like. Volunteers are always the center of attention in their
village. Life is very laid back also. It seems like every
volunteer does different types of projects, depending on the needs of the
community and the volunteer's interests. I have met a bunch of the
2nd-year volunteers. Many have seemed really cool, better than our
group in some ways.
I have made plans to go to Timbuktu
in Mali for the New Year. We're calling it Timbuk2000 (catchy, huh?)
It'll be a 4-5 day trip. We're going up the Niger River from Guinea
to Bamako, Mali. From there we're traveling by bus or bush taxi, up
to Timbuktu. Yes, this is really the mythological place that every
one talks about. I heard that the city itself is very dull and
unattractive. We are planning to ride camels in the Sahara desert
once we get there. I'll bring you back some sand!
There are 2 people that are close to my site. One is
a woman named Eli. She's a 2nd-year agro forestry volunteer and is
only 12 kilometers away from me. She likes birds and we have
discussed collaborating on a beekeeping project together. The other
person is a girl named Kate, she's new like me and is also in agro
forestry. She's pretty easy to get along with, yet I don't know her
all that well. A couple of my real good friends have been placed far
away, but that gives me all the chance to travel Guinea and do
'collaborative projects' with them.
Travel in Guinea is really horrendous. The roads are
pretty horrible (grated dirt mostly with many potholes
and many animals walking on them (cows/bulls, goats, sheep, etc.)
Bush taxis are European cars that were well
used before they got here. Chauffeurs pack in as many people (and
livestock) as possible. 3-4 in the front and 4 people in the
back. Travel is difficult, but it is never dull.
I don't know when I will next use e-mail, but it will
happen soon.
Mike
