I find myself stuck downtown in the rain so I have decided to bore you with one of my current moral dilemmas. A mere year in Guinea has sufficed to convince me that no one, myself most certainly included, knows anything about anything. Its a liberating realization. It has allowed me first to stop pretending I know anything and feeling guilty when I don't, and second, to stop trying to fit Guinea/Africa into broader theories of development or international relations and instead just let it wash over me. The factors governing how cultures interact and develop seem to me so unbelievably complicated that parsing, grouping, prioritizing, or even understanding them seems better suited to poetry than to action plans and white papers. Even language constrains understanding. How many development experts or academics speak Puular? Using French as the default language has class and cultural implications and effects that govern who you talk to, about what, and what priorities they are likely to have. I bring these things up by way of introduction to a different idea; I am seriously uncomfortable anytime I feel like my presence is contributing to the process by which we make little Americans out of Africans. There has never been such a thing as a pure culture, or a pure environment. Genes and cultural traits have been mixing since time immemorial and I do not mean to suggest that the influence of one culture upon another is inherently negative. I think fear of cultural mixing comes from the mistaken belief that our cultures are distinct entities, and therefore endanger of being diluted. It would be more productive to look at cultural groupings like an assembly of twigs in a river bunched up behind a submerged rock or fallen tree. Some rivers flow faster than others, and whatever is holding the twigs in place can be different sizes, but on a long enough time scale an river will cycle out most of the twigs and new ones will take their place. However, I see significant differences between the cultural exchange occurring now and how I perceive cultural exchange to have taken place in the past. Today the power differential between peoples is so vast that the river analogy no longer applies. A few centuries ago I imagine villages and and people groupings and even emerging nation states spreading culture through the standard conduits of war, technology, language, etc....and people adopting the technologies and mannerisms that improved their lives and casting aside those that did not. Even among dominated or colonized people the occupier never exerted sufficient control over the interior to physically snuff out indigenous culture, nor did they have the tools of mass communication necessary to suffocate the native culture through images and broadcasts and the like. Today the economic power differential between the west and Africa is so vast that perhaps for the first time, one people group is succeeding (unconsciously) in eradicating a native culture and replacing it with their own, as opposed to the old model of mutual, if often unequal, exchange.
The anecdotal evidence for this is abundant. Young people don't just have the reformist urge common to young people everywhere, they actually want to be French or American. In one of Rachel's (my second closest neighbor) classes a tenth grade student wrote the following in an imaginary letter to an American penpal-- "I wish my ancestors were slaves so that today I could be American" This is a result of his ignorance of slavery, not just his desire to be American, but this type of sentiment is not uncommon. Take skin bleaching. Beutiful African women rubbing poison on their skin to look whiter...to me these are signs of cultural dominance. Even traditional family values are being subverted to psudo-western ideals--mostly those shown in 50cent videos. I would even posit that the nations yearning for democracy is a product of Western cultural infiltration. Why do some Guineans want democracy? Is it because they feel like they will have a voice, their 'human rights' are more likely to be respected, and they think that democartic institutions will lead to less corruption and more economic development? Maybe. Or do they link who and what they see on TV in Democratic countries with the idea of democracy, or perhaps because Western dominated institutions have been pitching democracy not only as a cure all but also as a pre-req for aid. Maybe. Probally some of both. But if there were democratic elections in Guinea they would almost certainly break down along ethnic lines and I am unsure if that type of democracy would truly be a stable platform for development.
My questions are the following; given the present geo-political situation, is it possible for America to offer aid and/or advice without overwhelming the recipient countries with American culture?
How does an aid worker of any type actively encourage the preservation of indigenous sources of meaning while being honest about their own ideas? Eg; Being white, educated, American, and comparatively affluent gives me an undue amount of influence when it comes to discussing certain topics....yet, my opinion is no more valid or likeley to lead to happiness then their own. How then does one engage in those converstations?
It is possible that this entire discourse is demeaning and does not give the people around me enough credit for being perfectly capable of filtering information for themselves, and I hope thats the case. However, I do think that the current wealth and ubiquitousness of western ideas is overpowering those filtering systems.
Feel free to weigh in. I'm off to lunch...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Bless the Rains down in Africa
The Good news is that my American Corn germinated yesterday, and its going to blow my neighbors mind. Guineans only grow field corn which you have to dry and burn before you eat it. When I take my corn right from the field, slap some overpriced Lebaneese fake butter on it, and pop it right into my mouth, they're going to flip. THe other good news is that the narco-rebels that were supposedley massing on our norther border were just a rumor. I could go on like this for a while, there has been nothing but good news in my life for quite a while...Except, the swimming hole that magically appeared behind my house once the heavy rains started is almost certainly filled with shistosaniasis (awful disease, i think its the next biggest killer after malaria). I've already swam in it so we'll just hope for the best. Almost immiedietley after my last entry Madeleine came and visited! She got here a few hours before I flew back in from Kenya so some freinds picked her up at the airport at 3am in Conakry, I was a bit worried, but she got out of the airport in no time and was spirited off the the PC Conakry house. I can't put words in her mouth, but I thought the trip was extraordinary. Guinea is gorgeous right now, I mean make you want to dance outside and convert back to paganism gorgeous. There are waterfalls everywhere, and more shades of green than you have ever seen in your life. We went hiking in this canyon near a village called Dookee with a few of my Friends, and at one point in the middle of a hike we repelled down a hole in a mountain side into a cave with a river running through the bottom of it. Everyone stripped down and jumped in this underground river and swam through the cave until the river bursts out of the side of the mountain in a waterfall. It was surreal.
Eventually we made it up to my site in the Fouta Jallon and spent four days greeting people and taking it in. I was worried we would be bored, but actually we both agreed that we would have liked more time to do nothing in the village. Maggie got to ride in an awful Bush taxi, eat a few plates of rice and sauce, and sport some Guinean clothes. As with Scott, having a visitor was wonderful and helped me look at this country with fresh eyes. Maggie was a fantastic traveler and put up with her one bout of Guinea sickness like a champ. I don't want to say much else because I hope to be able to convince her to write a blog entry, but it really was a wonderful trip.
Of course on the way out of the country the customs guy searched her bag, found her American money, took it, and told her she wasn't allowed to leave the country with it. But like a true Guinean she caused a big enough scene and eventually shamed them into giving it back. Guinea is a magical place sometimes, but almost as often it can be a real pain in the ass.
Since she left I have been living the life au village. My friend gave me some land in the middle of his family's field so I planted a bunch of American seeds that will probably not grow and convince everyone the white people should just stay out of the field, but Inshaullah we'll have some delicious carrots and beans and corn and tomatoes in 60 days or so. We are deep into the rainy season at the moment and every night the skies open up, but I like it. Everything, people included, are really vibrant. Even the cows which looked like they were going to keel over and die in April now make half hearted charges at you when you walk by as if to say....now that i'm well fed i'm putting you on alert...were taking over soon' The rain on my roof is great when it comes to lulling me to sleep, but it does drive a rather lot of critters into my house. I threw out an entire litter of baby mice living in my oatmeal the other day...I wasn't really that mad about the mice, the lost of the oatmeal was devestating.
I also walked into my bucket bath area, took my towel from a peg, and a snake dropped to the floor. I freaked out, ran out, grabbed by 10 year old neighbor and told him to arm himself and get into my bathroom stat. SO there we are, backs against the door to my latrine, huge pieces of wood in our hands, ready to do battle. I give him this manly nod like 'it will be an honor to battle this monster toghether', he nods back his readiness, and I kick the door open with the wood raised in front of my face. Yeah, it was my belt.
That one made the rounds of my neighbors in a hurry.
I have lots of plans for the next couple weeks (including the first step in launching my mango empire...have I told you about this yet? I'll wait a little but until I see how my plan to take over the world is progressing.) In all seriousness, I am definetley taking steps to see if exporting mangoes or mango products would be a viable business. It would be a great way to use a presently wasted resource in Guinea. I am in labe to price out wood for a huge solar dryer. I would like to form a co=op with some women in Fatako to start selling dried fruit. I'll keep you posted.
I am in Labe until Saturday morning, and can be reached at the following nummber...62874067
please call! I am going to recharge my phone asap.
I love you all, and I'll talk to you soon!
Con
Eventually we made it up to my site in the Fouta Jallon and spent four days greeting people and taking it in. I was worried we would be bored, but actually we both agreed that we would have liked more time to do nothing in the village. Maggie got to ride in an awful Bush taxi, eat a few plates of rice and sauce, and sport some Guinean clothes. As with Scott, having a visitor was wonderful and helped me look at this country with fresh eyes. Maggie was a fantastic traveler and put up with her one bout of Guinea sickness like a champ. I don't want to say much else because I hope to be able to convince her to write a blog entry, but it really was a wonderful trip.
Of course on the way out of the country the customs guy searched her bag, found her American money, took it, and told her she wasn't allowed to leave the country with it. But like a true Guinean she caused a big enough scene and eventually shamed them into giving it back. Guinea is a magical place sometimes, but almost as often it can be a real pain in the ass.
Since she left I have been living the life au village. My friend gave me some land in the middle of his family's field so I planted a bunch of American seeds that will probably not grow and convince everyone the white people should just stay out of the field, but Inshaullah we'll have some delicious carrots and beans and corn and tomatoes in 60 days or so. We are deep into the rainy season at the moment and every night the skies open up, but I like it. Everything, people included, are really vibrant. Even the cows which looked like they were going to keel over and die in April now make half hearted charges at you when you walk by as if to say....now that i'm well fed i'm putting you on alert...were taking over soon' The rain on my roof is great when it comes to lulling me to sleep, but it does drive a rather lot of critters into my house. I threw out an entire litter of baby mice living in my oatmeal the other day...I wasn't really that mad about the mice, the lost of the oatmeal was devestating.
I also walked into my bucket bath area, took my towel from a peg, and a snake dropped to the floor. I freaked out, ran out, grabbed by 10 year old neighbor and told him to arm himself and get into my bathroom stat. SO there we are, backs against the door to my latrine, huge pieces of wood in our hands, ready to do battle. I give him this manly nod like 'it will be an honor to battle this monster toghether', he nods back his readiness, and I kick the door open with the wood raised in front of my face. Yeah, it was my belt.
That one made the rounds of my neighbors in a hurry.
I have lots of plans for the next couple weeks (including the first step in launching my mango empire...have I told you about this yet? I'll wait a little but until I see how my plan to take over the world is progressing.) In all seriousness, I am definetley taking steps to see if exporting mangoes or mango products would be a viable business. It would be a great way to use a presently wasted resource in Guinea. I am in labe to price out wood for a huge solar dryer. I would like to form a co=op with some women in Fatako to start selling dried fruit. I'll keep you posted.
I am in Labe until Saturday morning, and can be reached at the following nummber...62874067
please call! I am going to recharge my phone asap.
I love you all, and I'll talk to you soon!
Con
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I've been seriously remiss in terms of blogging in the last couple months. I ask my ferinds and family to forgive my spat of e-laziness. Today's entry is coming to you from beautiful Nairobi, Kenya in the Norfolk Hotel. On June 27th I met my parents here to start what turned out to be a wonderful vacation in Kenya and Tanzania. The Norfolk hotel might as well be America, and when I arrived my culture shock was intense. After salivating at the thought of cheese and reasonable beer for 12 months I was unable to perform when the breakfast buffet demanded. I was too nervous, too overwhelmed by the options, and too entranced by western art on the walls, Africans speaking English, and the general cleanliness of the Lobby. I of course arrived in torn African pants and a travel-stained shirt...its a miracle they let me check in. I then proceeded to my room where, you're not going to believe this, they had showers (hot ones), an unnecessarily large bed, towels as tall as me and at my present weight about as thick, and a host of other completely unnecessary but rather delicious amenities that I just stared at and didn't use. Then I decided to go swiming to break my stalemate with Luxury. That went well, so I moved on to good beer. That went even better, so I ordered some Cheese. Anyway, this continued apace until by the time my parents arrived I was slightly drunk, extremely full, and Conor Godfrey was beginning to emerge out of the shadow of Abubakar Diallo. In truth it took me several days to get used to the food, drink, rooms, atmosphere etc...but after two or three days I felt much more normal.
Seeing my family was amazing. THey have not changed or aged a bit, and are as wonderful as ever. It was a reminder that the real sacrifice of being in the Peace Corps is spending so much time away from family and friends.
We met up with another family- the Howards-- to fill out our 14 person Safari. They were all great traveling companions and we could not have wished for a better team. The trip ranged from two parks in S. Kenya, Savo and Ambecelli, to the Nguro Nguro Crater in Tanzania, and back to the Masai Mara in Kenya. Talking about the trip would sound like a national geographic highlight reel, but every day really seemed better than the one before it. Before coming to Kenya I was resistant to the idea of a Safari because I imagined old British couples drinking Gordons and Perrier wearing funny hats waxing poetic about romantic Africa while a bunch of black guys carried their bags. This image is not all false (especially the funny hats), but the derogatory spirit of that description is totally unfair. I learned more about East Africa than I would have in almost any other way, and I enjoyed a bit of Romantic Africa without feeling self delusional.
East Africa is completely different from West Africa. They might as well be on different continents. The landscape, the people, the politics, all beat to different drummers on different sides of the continent. The tribes in E. Africa have only been there for 300-350 years, and subsequently colonization has had a much more significant impact on their society. When I met Africans on the street in Nairobi their mannerisms were so similar to the West that I thought they were putting on a show. One could argue that this is an innate racism-- believing that other people can not possibly be like yourself, but I think it stems from my experience in Guinea. In my village, and in Guinea as a whole, the more I live there the more I think that their culture is totally alien to my own. We can offer each other our common humanity, but in my village that humanity manifests itself in ways that are totally foreign to me. My guide on this trip thought that the difference in my experience stems from two sources; the pace of modernization in Kenya, and the relatively short history of peopled E. Africa. In W. Africa the ethnic groups have such long histories in the same place that colonization was unable to totally supplant the region's indigenous culture. In E. Africa British Colonization had a much deeper cultural impact due to the short pre-colonial history (obviously excluding early man) Also, Kenya is modernizing so fast that its difficult to preserve elements of traditional lifestyles, while in W. Africa the slow pace of modernization allows traditional lifestyles enough time to adapt and learn to live within the bounds of a more modern society.
The more I live here the less I know, those were merely some thoughts our trip leaders and I played with over the course of our two weeks.
I must sign off, but I am not merely done, so until next time.
I leave tomorrow morning for Dakar, then Conakry, where I will meet Ms Madeleine Mcdougall! Send her good thoughts and best wishes, everyone needs them in the Conakry airport.
love,
Conor
Seeing my family was amazing. THey have not changed or aged a bit, and are as wonderful as ever. It was a reminder that the real sacrifice of being in the Peace Corps is spending so much time away from family and friends.
We met up with another family- the Howards-- to fill out our 14 person Safari. They were all great traveling companions and we could not have wished for a better team. The trip ranged from two parks in S. Kenya, Savo and Ambecelli, to the Nguro Nguro Crater in Tanzania, and back to the Masai Mara in Kenya. Talking about the trip would sound like a national geographic highlight reel, but every day really seemed better than the one before it. Before coming to Kenya I was resistant to the idea of a Safari because I imagined old British couples drinking Gordons and Perrier wearing funny hats waxing poetic about romantic Africa while a bunch of black guys carried their bags. This image is not all false (especially the funny hats), but the derogatory spirit of that description is totally unfair. I learned more about East Africa than I would have in almost any other way, and I enjoyed a bit of Romantic Africa without feeling self delusional.
East Africa is completely different from West Africa. They might as well be on different continents. The landscape, the people, the politics, all beat to different drummers on different sides of the continent. The tribes in E. Africa have only been there for 300-350 years, and subsequently colonization has had a much more significant impact on their society. When I met Africans on the street in Nairobi their mannerisms were so similar to the West that I thought they were putting on a show. One could argue that this is an innate racism-- believing that other people can not possibly be like yourself, but I think it stems from my experience in Guinea. In my village, and in Guinea as a whole, the more I live there the more I think that their culture is totally alien to my own. We can offer each other our common humanity, but in my village that humanity manifests itself in ways that are totally foreign to me. My guide on this trip thought that the difference in my experience stems from two sources; the pace of modernization in Kenya, and the relatively short history of peopled E. Africa. In W. Africa the ethnic groups have such long histories in the same place that colonization was unable to totally supplant the region's indigenous culture. In E. Africa British Colonization had a much deeper cultural impact due to the short pre-colonial history (obviously excluding early man) Also, Kenya is modernizing so fast that its difficult to preserve elements of traditional lifestyles, while in W. Africa the slow pace of modernization allows traditional lifestyles enough time to adapt and learn to live within the bounds of a more modern society.
The more I live here the less I know, those were merely some thoughts our trip leaders and I played with over the course of our two weeks.
I must sign off, but I am not merely done, so until next time.
I leave tomorrow morning for Dakar, then Conakry, where I will meet Ms Madeleine Mcdougall! Send her good thoughts and best wishes, everyone needs them in the Conakry airport.
love,
Conor
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
I'm back! It is 800 local time and I just woke up in air conditioning! Through I strongly dislike Conakry, the air conditioning in the Peace Corps compound is hard to complain about. Last night I droped Scotty off after 7 days of intense, distilled Guinea. He arrived last Saturday in the late afternoon, and a few freinds and I greeted him at the airport with a couple of beers to welcome him to the continent. After 20+ hours in transit and a couple of beers he was probally in a good place to absorb Conakry...its a crazy place. That night we watched the sunset on the Beach before catching a cab downtown to see a Jazz band at the French cultural center. The beach bar by the Peace Corps compound is a PC institution. Everynight from 1600 to 1900 (sunset) the beach is covered with kids playing soccer, couples strolling, people swimming (not the best idea in Conakry water), and Peace Corps volunteers catching up after a few months at site. It is also filled with soldiers, prostitutes, and thieves, but live and let live seems to be the reigning philosophy on the beach. The next day we got up early and went to the docks in order to find a boat to take us out to an island off the coast of conakry. This was an experience that promoted Scott to say that I must never under any circumstances bring my parents to Guinea. When you get out of the taxi, 15-20 boat drivers all jump you trynig to convince you in a variety of languages to take their leaky unsafe boat as opposed to the identical leaky unsafe boat moored right next to it. The bargainning is intense and rather threatning, but fun once you get into it. We eventually got a decent deal, and headed out to the islands, bailing water the whole way. AFter fending off the people who want to hustle you on the beach, we had a great day. The next day it was off to the Fouta Jallon! (my region) we got a Peace corps ride a ways up the main road, but then took the taxi feautred on the left from the main road to my freind Luke's site. I have seen some bad taxi's in this country, but this one might have taken the cake. It didn;t even have a steering column, just a mess of wires under the steering wheel. But to our suprise and probally the suprise of the driver, the car made it the nessacary 16k. The next day we borrowed a few bikes and rode down into a valley 15k from Luke's site. At the base of the valley there was a beautiful river that wound its way over several small falls (20-70ft high) before tumbling 500feet in the tallest waterfall I have ever seen. We spent the day exploring and jumping from the top of waterfalls. (The ride out of the valley was rough-- but worth it) The next day we at some kola nuts (ceremonial nut/stimulant) to power up,and biked to another volunteers site in a village about 15k away. There we at delicious Pennut sauce, and spent the night au village. The rest of the trip was spend trekking accross the Fouta by bike and Bush Taxi, eventually ending up in Labe, the capital of the Fouta Jallon. We got to visit with a few volunteers, see a ton of the Fouta, and generally had a fantastic time.
Showing Guinea to a freind forced me to see Guinea with fresh eyes. It threw into sharp relief all the things that no longer merit a second glance for me but are far from normal. I felt a lot of preassure to convey the 'real Guinea' to Scott, when I am just beginning to understand Guinea myself. I wanted him to see how hard life is here, but also how beautiful it is, and I found it harder than I anticipated to convey them both at the same time. In Conakry you are truly just antoher white person unless you know people here. People are constantly trying to hssle you and rip you off-- but that is not Guinea. Urban poverty does horrible things to people. If someone in my village treated me like some people in Conakry, he or she would be outcast.Once we got up-country it was much better, and easier to point out the parts of Guinea that make me happy to call this country my home, but I think it was still sometimes hard to see beyond the poverty and filth that obscures a wonderful people. I think that one of the greatest crimes of the western media is to give off the impression that people are always miserable in impoverished Africa. The classic images-- swollen bellies, angry young men, corruption, disease-- all of which exist in abundance, do not come anywhere close to portraying Guinea (Africa). While people certianly do suffer in may ways, those images all neglect the vibrancy of Guinean (African) life. The mix of ancient and modern ideas, the colors, the languages, open air markets, huge families eating and praying toghether, spontaeneous Reggae conerts, being invited to meals every time you walk by a family eating outside, everything. I hope Scott got a taste of both.
Since I last wrote on my blog life at site has been great. I have been a little bored with teaching, and have therefore been throwing myself into different project. I have built about 10 mudstoves, 2 solar dryers, and will soon be breaking out my compost to plant a garden before the heavy rains start. I love building the mud stoves...you need a bunch of cow manure, hay, water, and termite mound (they have HUGE erminte mounds here)and you can make a sweet stove that lets these women use about 1/3 of the wood and cooks the rice a little faster. I tell all my neighbors that if their kids can gather all the materials that I will come and build it. The first mud stove I built mostly by myself with everyone looking at the crazy white dude covered from head to toe with cow dung, but for the second stove I came armed with all the nessacary vocabulary in Puular and those kids didn't know what hit them. THey thought they could just show up and watch the crazy Porto (white person), but oh no, American's don't give out free lunches... I had them running all over town in 110 degree heat filling buckets of cow dung and termite mound. It was awesome. If I have children at some point in the future, I feel bad for them already. My time in Guinea has garunteed that my kids will be doing about 5 times the chores of any normal American kid, and complaing is going to fall deaf ears.
I am going to jump off and try to write a proposal I am working on (more information coming later...), but I want to quickly thank everyone who sent me a letter through Scott! I can't wait to read them.
I am here all day tomorrow if anyone has a chance to call!
love,
Conor
Showing Guinea to a freind forced me to see Guinea with fresh eyes. It threw into sharp relief all the things that no longer merit a second glance for me but are far from normal. I felt a lot of preassure to convey the 'real Guinea' to Scott, when I am just beginning to understand Guinea myself. I wanted him to see how hard life is here, but also how beautiful it is, and I found it harder than I anticipated to convey them both at the same time. In Conakry you are truly just antoher white person unless you know people here. People are constantly trying to hssle you and rip you off-- but that is not Guinea. Urban poverty does horrible things to people. If someone in my village treated me like some people in Conakry, he or she would be outcast.Once we got up-country it was much better, and easier to point out the parts of Guinea that make me happy to call this country my home, but I think it was still sometimes hard to see beyond the poverty and filth that obscures a wonderful people. I think that one of the greatest crimes of the western media is to give off the impression that people are always miserable in impoverished Africa. The classic images-- swollen bellies, angry young men, corruption, disease-- all of which exist in abundance, do not come anywhere close to portraying Guinea (Africa). While people certianly do suffer in may ways, those images all neglect the vibrancy of Guinean (African) life. The mix of ancient and modern ideas, the colors, the languages, open air markets, huge families eating and praying toghether, spontaeneous Reggae conerts, being invited to meals every time you walk by a family eating outside, everything. I hope Scott got a taste of both.
Since I last wrote on my blog life at site has been great. I have been a little bored with teaching, and have therefore been throwing myself into different project. I have built about 10 mudstoves, 2 solar dryers, and will soon be breaking out my compost to plant a garden before the heavy rains start. I love building the mud stoves...you need a bunch of cow manure, hay, water, and termite mound (they have HUGE erminte mounds here)and you can make a sweet stove that lets these women use about 1/3 of the wood and cooks the rice a little faster. I tell all my neighbors that if their kids can gather all the materials that I will come and build it. The first mud stove I built mostly by myself with everyone looking at the crazy white dude covered from head to toe with cow dung, but for the second stove I came armed with all the nessacary vocabulary in Puular and those kids didn't know what hit them. THey thought they could just show up and watch the crazy Porto (white person), but oh no, American's don't give out free lunches... I had them running all over town in 110 degree heat filling buckets of cow dung and termite mound. It was awesome. If I have children at some point in the future, I feel bad for them already. My time in Guinea has garunteed that my kids will be doing about 5 times the chores of any normal American kid, and complaing is going to fall deaf ears.
I am going to jump off and try to write a proposal I am working on (more information coming later...), but I want to quickly thank everyone who sent me a letter through Scott! I can't wait to read them.
I am here all day tomorrow if anyone has a chance to call!
love,
Conor
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Coming to you live from an internet Cafe in Labe, i just wanted to let the support crew back home know that I'm still kickin. Its been over two months since I went to the regional capital, and as you know, Guinea is not exactly staked when it comes to internet connections (or other luxuries such as water, roads, or electricity) Though a recent discussion with Peace Corps medical Staff has confirmed that the award for hardest Peace Corps Post country does not go to Guinea, but rather to our northern neighbor Maurataina. The infrastructure is equally bad, but its in the middle of the dessert and so conservative they don't even sell beer in the capital city. Both of which win it serious points....
Of the last two months I have spent the last 4 weeks at sight without seeing any other volunteers. Yikes. That may not seem like a long time, but even living in the bush, I usually still manage to bike to another volunteers site once every two weeks or so. At the end of four weeks my temper was on a short leash. You know you need to leave site when you suddenley want to throttle the little kid who hangs outside your house for asking for the same things in the same whiny tone that he has been asking for since you arrived (money, music, an American woman to marry, etc...) At that point you must calmy go inside, grab the peace corps stress manuaL 'Pas de Panique' (don't panic) and read one of the numerous useful articles written by PCVs. In this case I read the brief section entitled "ten reasons not to hit a petite" They include:
1. What would your friends at home think
2. His mom can beat him way better than you can
3. its way to hot to leave your porch and chase him
All true. But before the dark side began to take over in the last couple days, I was having a great couple weeks. Recentley I have been throwing myself into learning Puular for a variety of reasons. First, its a great language. While it certainly can't describe newfangled technology (like after the iron age), it is so descriptive for all the elements of human behavior that remain relatively unchanged for that last couple centuries. Raising kids, marriage, friendship, making fun of those friends, cattle, infidelity, spirituality, getting old, and a variety of other constants. My Puular is now good enough to trade insults with my three year old host brother Misbau...every night I will say something like "Misbau Sokkaade" (You're eating like an animal), and he'll fire back with something like "Abubucar Domude" (You show up around mealtimes hoping to be fed) General hilarity ensues. Now you may say, with reason, that knowing some obscure Niger Congo language that I will inevitably forget in two years might not be the best use of my time when french suffices for many situations, but, its something to throw myself into, and in the words of another Peace Corps Volunteer, "while knowing that local language certainly helps you communicate, it also just makes you a bad ass".
School has been great recently too. Let me see if I can give you a quick update on your "tokara" (namesakes) Uncle Mark, Amy, and Taylor continue to dominate, but recentley Pat and his crew have been making serious gains. Bammy (Jane) gave birth to the philosophy teachers baby (talk about not following your namesake), and I discovered that Madeleine has a three year old at home(though she still kicks some serious butt in school) Tyler and Tucker are a dynamic duo that are both fun and on the ball, and leslie has recentley been on an impressive run (word from the other teachers is that she dominates other classes too) Oh, and Cole, while not the strongest of english students, is a math whiz who dominates any type of the logic question I work into my English classes..... who would have guessed. The rest of you are polite and well mannered even if your not shining stars in the world of Fatako English.
Other news in Brief: I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Scotty Kit Ying Wong, who will be the first of the tribe to make the trek to Guinea and will be arriving in mid APRIL! How awesome is that!
I, as always, feel like I am just getting started now that my time is almost out, but I have all day tomorrow and I think I will definetley be getting back on. I'll go ahead and make that a promise....talk to you tomorrow!
CONOR
Of the last two months I have spent the last 4 weeks at sight without seeing any other volunteers. Yikes. That may not seem like a long time, but even living in the bush, I usually still manage to bike to another volunteers site once every two weeks or so. At the end of four weeks my temper was on a short leash. You know you need to leave site when you suddenley want to throttle the little kid who hangs outside your house for asking for the same things in the same whiny tone that he has been asking for since you arrived (money, music, an American woman to marry, etc...) At that point you must calmy go inside, grab the peace corps stress manuaL 'Pas de Panique' (don't panic) and read one of the numerous useful articles written by PCVs. In this case I read the brief section entitled "ten reasons not to hit a petite" They include:
1. What would your friends at home think
2. His mom can beat him way better than you can
3. its way to hot to leave your porch and chase him
All true. But before the dark side began to take over in the last couple days, I was having a great couple weeks. Recentley I have been throwing myself into learning Puular for a variety of reasons. First, its a great language. While it certainly can't describe newfangled technology (like after the iron age), it is so descriptive for all the elements of human behavior that remain relatively unchanged for that last couple centuries. Raising kids, marriage, friendship, making fun of those friends, cattle, infidelity, spirituality, getting old, and a variety of other constants. My Puular is now good enough to trade insults with my three year old host brother Misbau...every night I will say something like "Misbau Sokkaade" (You're eating like an animal), and he'll fire back with something like "Abubucar Domude" (You show up around mealtimes hoping to be fed) General hilarity ensues. Now you may say, with reason, that knowing some obscure Niger Congo language that I will inevitably forget in two years might not be the best use of my time when french suffices for many situations, but, its something to throw myself into, and in the words of another Peace Corps Volunteer, "while knowing that local language certainly helps you communicate, it also just makes you a bad ass".
School has been great recently too. Let me see if I can give you a quick update on your "tokara" (namesakes) Uncle Mark, Amy, and Taylor continue to dominate, but recentley Pat and his crew have been making serious gains. Bammy (Jane) gave birth to the philosophy teachers baby (talk about not following your namesake), and I discovered that Madeleine has a three year old at home(though she still kicks some serious butt in school) Tyler and Tucker are a dynamic duo that are both fun and on the ball, and leslie has recentley been on an impressive run (word from the other teachers is that she dominates other classes too) Oh, and Cole, while not the strongest of english students, is a math whiz who dominates any type of the logic question I work into my English classes..... who would have guessed. The rest of you are polite and well mannered even if your not shining stars in the world of Fatako English.
Other news in Brief: I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Scotty Kit Ying Wong, who will be the first of the tribe to make the trek to Guinea and will be arriving in mid APRIL! How awesome is that!
I, as always, feel like I am just getting started now that my time is almost out, but I have all day tomorrow and I think I will definetley be getting back on. I'll go ahead and make that a promise....talk to you tomorrow!
CONOR
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Same Tree- New Phone Number
All Con left his phone in a bush taxi (I am sure we can all relate to this) and he now has a new phone number- 224 60925214. The 224 being the country code for guinea. His office hours remain the same, 11-1 EST every Sunday. --His web lackey- his pops.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Yikes! I only have 15 minutes on the internet to say a quick hello, so I want to start by thanking anyone who participated in my wonderful birthday, from those who sent packages and cards, to those who called, to those who said hi via facebook...it was all wonderful. I have a support group Peace Corps volunteers would pass up a shower for and that is saying a lot. I could not ask for better friends and family. I am so sorry I can not respond individually, but truly, know that it makes my day/week/birthday to have heard from so many of you...
Inshaullah I will be bale to get on the internet in the next couple days for a real blog entry, because in thinking back on the last month it does seem that a lot has heppened, some of it very amusing, and i'd love to share.
Thanks again for being wonderful people
love,
Con
Inshaullah I will be bale to get on the internet in the next couple days for a real blog entry, because in thinking back on the last month it does seem that a lot has heppened, some of it very amusing, and i'd love to share.
Thanks again for being wonderful people
love,
Con
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Phone Service Thru Thrusday January 29th
All, for the next few days, thru thrusday Jan 29th I will have phone service- I am in a regional capital for a few day. Number 011 224 665 437 19 (use skype-very cheap). Con (as relayed to web lackey-aka pops).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
