Updates

Bonjour!

Ca fait longtemps! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've been pretty busy these last months and haven't had the time nor patience to wait hours on end for internet pages to load. Though I did recently buy an "internet key," which is a USB stick with a sim card that can connect wirelessly to internet via local phone service providers, the connection is too slow to update my blog. I have to travel to another city in order to have internet that is "fast" (AKA my email loads in under 10 minutes).

Anyway, enough of my excuses. I'll just do a quick recap of what I've been up to:

1. Spelling Bee! I've been organizing a few spelling bees for middle and high school students. The students had to spell increasingly difficult words in French and the winners won notebooks, pencils, pens and calculators. In coordination with some other PCVs, we're planning a National Spelling Bee in March. The regionals were held a couple of weeks ago in my village. The top three students will advance to the nationals. Support our efforts by donating here: https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=14-675-005

2. For the past four months I've been training a group of high school girls in journalism and computer skills. Just a few weeks ago we published the 17th edition of Aicha Magazine - a magazine written by and for young Guinean women to encourage and inspire women educationally, professionally and socially. We printed 1000 copies that are being distributed around the country right now. Thanks to everyone who donate to the project!

3. Sports! My girls soccer team just went to the finals in the annual school tournament, after beating teams from Boke and Sangaredi. The girls played great in the finals, though they lost 1-0 to Kamsar. Our school also started a volleyball team which I've been coaching. Our volleyball team recently went up against a group of PCVs in the region. The match was "Guinea vs. America" and Guinea won.

4. My alma mater, UW-Madison was just named number one producer of Peace Corps Volunteers. On Wisconsin! http://www.news.wisc.edu/22537

OK...internet time is up. I know this was a really short post, but I'll write more soon!