http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Guinea , Conakry en-us Thu, 23 May 2013 02:34:25 +0000 Thu, 23 May 2013 02:34:25 +0000 I am leavng the Africa Mercy for Vermont in a few minutes. This is my last messge. Thank you for visiting. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-752211.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-751792.html Move Your Body for Jesus was sung by our lead singer when we visited the Solidarity Village for the Handicapped. Even though that is what Africans do here I had not heard the expression sung before. The children joined in first. They were not shy. They jumped up and down and moved to the rhythm of the drums. There were also praise songs in French English and the local language. One handic http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-751057.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-749590.html The babies were beautiful healthy and well cared for at the orphanage for abandoned babies. Three will be on their way to homes very shortly. There were twin boys who have been adopted by people in Ohio and a girl who will be going to Alberta Canada. It takes about a year before an adoption is completed. When babies are abandoned on the street they are most likely to be taken in by people who w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-748205.html There were demonstrations scheduled for today in Conakry to protest a UTube video. I dont 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-743777.html The lines extended around the block. Fortunately it was a sunny day with no rain at all. I was told that there were 3500 people lined up around the block. There were about 500 crew members and day workers doing security taking histories doing vital signs escorting cleanup etc. Yesterday was screening day for Africa Mercy. It was held at a large building called the Peoples Palace. A Palac http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-740949.html 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 sin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-739276.html It is a clear sunny day at sea. I am sitting on the bow. It is just awesome. There is a super tanker in the distance. There are crew members who do pirate watch. Hopefully we will only see more tankers or fishing boats. We left Tenerife after some minor delays yesterday about 11.00. We have moved ahead one hour for Conakry in Guinea. Will be arriving on Wednesday. We will get briefings starting n http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-737798.html The surroundings is in risk. Alongside with worldwide warming top to international warming we might quicker or later on expertise devastating and catastrophic events that can tag the conclude for most lifestyles. One of the main factors for this problem is the wellliked and make use of connected with paper. Document is built out of bushes and also the a whole lot much more bushes that people de http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-677110.html There comes a time in a persons travels in Africa where one starts to think Thats it Im through with pretending I dont have much money. Im sick of deluding myself that I cant afford to pay for that extra space in the bush taxi or a flight to save a days travel. Its time to act like a rich westerner. For some reason this explosion of resources in the financial sector happen http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-610011.html 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 stre http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-421417.html 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 1013 Stunden im'taxibrousse' Buschtaxi meistens ca. 2025 Jahre alte Renaults oder Citroens mit dre http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-411888.html AFRICAI am having difficulty paring down my emotions thoughts and experiences from Guinea into a single blog entry which may undoubtedly become more of a novel than a light read on an experience of only 4 weeksTherefore Ive decided to start at the end of the trip and remember that less is moreI hope this short read does justice to the intensity of this journeyFor Photos Please see http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-375351.html I just heard someone mention off hand on the radio that Senator Obama won Indiana. As with the entire election this is nothing short of a miracle. The impossible can happen. I know everyone's tired of hearing about the election but please indulge me a little because this story needs to be told.On November 4th at 10 PM about 20 men and myself gathered in my mayor's living room. I must emphasi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-347012.html Hanging out in Guinea for more than 9 months now. Things are going relatively well I'm still healthy and Ramadan is almost over alhamdulilah Last Saturday I took a taxi directly from my village to the town of Kissidougou. The ride ended up being 19 hours. We broke down a couple times and had to stop to break the fast at sunset. But even then it shouldn't have taken that long. When I ta http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-325542.html Typically Amazing Travel StoryBecause there are no taxis that go from my Regional capital to my site I thought I'd try taking a taxi to my prefecture capital first and then to my village. I got to the taxi stand at the late hour of 9 AM and became aquainted with 3 girls from the prefecture capital who had just finished Terminale we run on the French education system here which means everyone g http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-309918.html 22 April 2008 Random NotesMy boss was here for a day a is was wonderful. I was able to vent all my frustrations and worries. She calmly reassured me that they were all normal and I'd been handling them the best I could. She said she picked me for my village because I was a little more outgoing a little more prepared both of which surprise me. I don't care if she said that about all the vol http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-278519.html That's right today 35 of us we're sworen in as Peace Corps Volunteers in the beautiful country of Guinea. We've officially started our 24 months of service Crazy stuff. I'm really excited and nervous at the same time to be off literally in the middle of nowhere for a good while.We're chilling for awhile now but I'll be off to my site for good on the 15th. This means a couple of things for http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-244276.html Random exerts from my journal over the past two weeksDecember 8 Tonights my first night with the new family. There are supposedly about 15 people living in my house. I don't know if I've met them or not. My sister Oumou is in charge of me. She takes really good care of me. I have my own huge bedroom and bathroom. I'm so spoiled. Not to mention that it's dark it's dark and the electrici http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Conakry/blog-230129.html