Blogs from Guinea, Africa - page 3

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

AFRICA I 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 weeks… Therefore, I’ve decided to start at the end of the trip and remember that less is more…I hope this short read does justice to the intensity of this journey… For Photos, Please see the following links until I have time to upload them here: Final Thoughts Jan 7th, airplane, Conakry to Brussels Distance to destination: 2784 miles, 4479 kms… Air Brussels en route from Conakry to Brussels…the TV shows random facts in English, French and Flemish…Ken is asleep beside me… This morning we all awoke with c... read more

Apparently a year has passed since I left the US. I’m marking the anniversary by spending three weeks where I got started in Guinea: Forecariah. I’m helping train a new group of volunteers that got here at the beginning of the month. For all there friends and family that may be reading, they’re doing really well and I know I can speak for the other volunteers and say that all their energy and enthusiasm is inspiring and it’s rubbing off on the rest of us. I didn’t think I had changed much since I’ve been here, maybe just learned to deal with things better. But being with the new group has shown me some things about myself, and I’m not necessarily proud of them. Yesterday, two trainees, Caitlin and Ben, came over looking for help. They’d ... read more

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 take trips like that, I begin to realize why everyone in the US thinks I'm crazy for being here. But that's how things are here. I made a lot of friends in the taxi. It really wasn't that bad except that whenever I started falling asleep the driver would yell and ask me why I wasn't sleeping. Anyway, I went to Kissidougou to ... read more

Sorry for the late entry everyone (and it won't be a great one at that ... I have to run and get to the taxi stand). I went down to Conakry for the 4th of July (and gorged on lots of American style food), but was asked to leave immediately afterwards to show the new Country Director my village. We've have a great staff here in Guinea, and the new director and his wife are only adding to it all. So I'm still alive, don't worry. I wanted to upload pictures, but it seems that their might be a virus on my card, so you'll all have to wait until I get it sorted out in August. Sorry! Things are going well. There was a stint there were I didn't leave my village for 5 weeks ... read more