Blogs from Conakry, Guinea, Africa

Ero stato avvertito: la Guinea e' difficile. Anni ed anni di malgoverno e di incuria hanno portato questo paese sull'orlo del collasso, ne hanno ridotto all'osso le infrastrutture ed hanno generato un ambiente in cui la corruzione e' l'unico sistema che consente alla gente di sopravvivere. Conakry, la capitale, e' una citta' difficile, ero stato avvertito. Sovraffolata ed intasata dal traffico sta per essere velocemente inghiottita dalla montagna di rifiuti che la sua popolazione produce quotidianamente; non vorrei mai dover pronunciare parole cosi' pesanti ma questa citta' rischia di conquistarsi, secondo il mio parere, il titolo di piu' sporca al mondo tra quelle da me finora visitate, ma forse e' stata solo un'impressione iniziale che mi e' rimasta stampata nella mente. La Guinea e' comunque un paese ricco di risorse naturali tra le quali spicca su ... read more

Last Sunday, my friend, Saliou, invited me to meet some of his family and his Imam. Saliou is a Day Worker in the Dining Room. We took a cab from the port and then walked about a half mile. This was followed by another short cab ride and more walking. Saliou knows I do not like to ride on motor scooters so fortunately he did not suggest that mode of transport. Cabs here are collectives. Find one that is going your way using the correct hand signal and pay a set fee. It is shared along the way with others who are going in the same direction. Saliou knows French and English well and acted as my translator. I met his sister, husband, and young son. They share a house with other people. We were invited ... read more

The orphanage I visited this week was about an hour away from port. It is easier to get out and about now. There are no demonstrations or unrest at present. Traffic is still a nightmare. But it is easier for the venders to go from car to car selling everything from peanuts to plungers. The older children living at the orphanage were in school so we played with the little ones for a couple of hours. There were seven of us from the Africa Mercy Crew and a translator. We arrived via Range Rover. The concrete house seemed to have about six rooms on the ground floor. There was a mosquito net over each crib. Some of the children have HIV and/or other medical problems. Malaria and cholera are on-going problems especially during the rainy season ... read more

There were demonstrations scheduled for today in Conakry to protest a U-Tube video. I don’t know any more than that. We are under curfew and only the Dental and Eye Teams were allowed to leave port. At about seven his morning, I went to the Dental Screening Site to help with crowd control. There were five of us who had the time off from our regular jobs along with some hired security people, who were local and spoke the language, who went on site. We went via a Mercy Ship Land Rover though the place is about a 10 minute walk from the port on a side street. It was partly cloudy. (It is still the rainy season here.) I looked very official in my yellow vest with the Mercy Ships logo. There were about 300 ... read more

I first stepped on Guinea soil last Thursday morning. I walked down the gangway with a bag of trash from the dining room. It was raining lightly. Though I loved the sail here, it was great to arrive after many delays and six days at sea. I like taking out the trash so I can go out. I tie the large black bags up when they are half full so I can carry them out myself. It has rained every morning since arriving, sometimes a drizzle and sometimes a down pour. The afternoons have been bearably warm and humid. Yesterday, we welcomed the day workers aboard for an orientation to the ship. The advance team did some training before we arrived. 85% of them are from Guinea which is required as part of our agreement with ... read more