Blogs from Guinea, Africa

There comes a time in a persons travels in Africa where one starts to think, ‘That’s it I’m through with pretending I don’t have much money. I’m sick of deluding myself that I can’t afford to pay for that extra space in the bush taxi or a flight to save a days travel. It’s time to act like a rich westerner.’ For some reason this explosion of resources in the financial sector happened with my comings and goings with the Guinean capital Conakry. After the 20 and a half hour bus ride to get into Guinea and waiting for a couple of hours a few days later for one last person to fill the already overcrowded car. It was up to the westerner to pay up and get the front seat all to himself for the ... read more

I was scrambling up the side of a Guinean mountain when…when I realized the faint game-like trail I was following had disappeared under a small avalanche of rocks. Looking back out across the valley I had just traversed, the few tiny huts and peanut fields of the last village before the mountain were barely visible amongst the vast green forest below. After unsuccessfully searching the area for the continuation of the trail, it seemed the options were either to return down the steep slope, defeated, back to the last village, or try to push forward and get a vantage point from the mountain’s top, which it seemed couldn’t be far off. I had hiked over 30 km that day and the only people I had encountered were in the villages, so the thought of two ... read more

Disclaimer: The contents of this page, and all links appearing on this page, do not represent the positions, views or intents of the U.S. Government, United States Peace Corps or Peace Corps Guinea. Kindly do not republish anything found on these pages without explicit permission of the author. I wake up at 7:30. I rush out of bed. I have to meet someone at 8. I quickly get dressed and run up to the roof of the Peace Corps office. I begin praying the morning service of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. The guard tells me later it's the first time he's ever seen a volunteer pray. I sneak glances into the courtyards of my neighbors. Women are getting water from wells. Men are in front of their houses brushing their teeth. Everything is ... read more

Looks like I will be here another night because my VISA for Mali won't be done until the afternoon. I guess that is ok, it might be worth it to walk around the city a bit feeling healthy for the first time. It poured rain last night, like, really really hard rain. The most rain I have ever heard or seen before. I had a really delicious meal of fish and pasta for dinner before wandering around the streets aimlessly looking for something to do. I found nothing which I guess shouldn't be too surprising. The only thing to do here is buy scultures or football jerseys, neither of which I am really that interested in. The men are always surprised when I tell them that I don't watch football. Football is the only thing that ... read more

Ok kids, here's the deal. I'm still hanging out in Guinea (18 months down, 8 to go). A year ago I started fundraising through Peace Corps to renovate the elementary school in my village. This thing was built by the French, back in the day when colonization was still in style. In the 50+ years since then, no repairs have been made. So basically, it looks like a bomb hit it. If it were in the US, it would be demolished as a public health risk. But this is Guinea. So the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders have class there. Cool, right? So. My commnunity asked Peace corps for help. Around $8000 worth of help. Through a series of small miracles, a little less than $2000 actually came through. With that money, we took off what ... read more

Gute Fahrt und viel Glueck - das war das Motto vorgestern auf der Fahrt von Kankan nach Conakry, einmal quer durch Guinea. In den meisten anderen Laendern bekommt man nur eine gute Fahrt gewuenscht - hier in Guinea reicht das wohl offensichtlich nicht. Zu bewaeltigen waren ca. 600km, angepeilte 10-13 Stunden im'taxi-brousse' (Buschtaxi), meistens ca. 20-25 Jahre alte Renaults oder Citroens mit drei Reihen, die voll sind wenn 10 Leute drinsitzen, sodass die Bewegungsfreiheit sehr stark eingeschraenkt ist. Losgehen sollte die Fahrt eigentlich zwischen sechs und sieben uhr morgens, aber da die Taxis grundsaetzlich warten bis sie voll sind, wurde es mit der Abfahrt dann doch acht uhr. die ersten 100km gingen relativ zuegig vonstatten, danach fingen die schlagloecher an. und zwar von einem ausmass, wie man sich das kaum vorstellen kann. zum glueck ist auf ... read more

I’m going to try to be as respectful as possible while writing this; however I’m sure that at some point I’ll fail. For this I apologize to whomever I offend. A year and half ago, if you asked me, I would have told you that hardline feminists annoy the hell out of me. They still do, most anyway. (That is to say women who said the only reason they wanted Clinton for president was because she had a vagina; women who only apply their “principles” to white upper or middle class women therefore excluding the majority of their supposed constituency.) However, much to my ire, I know find myself constantly talking, thinking, writing, crying, and screaming about gender. (Sorry college friends, there is no difference between “sex” and “gender” here.) It’s with me when I go ... read more