Musique

For this post I thought I would just share a few of the most popular songs in Guinea right now. I love music; I love the way it makes people think, smile, cry, dance etc...Music seems to always be resonating the air waves of Guinea and if you can't feel the beats then you can't understand the atmosphere.

I don't really know how to go about finding more of the traditional music online to share with you. But here are a few of the songs that are very popular on Radio Kamsar right now (and that my family loves to dance to). On any given day, or any taxi ride or on the radio you're bound to hear these songs.

1. Makale - by Tiranke Sidime (Guinea). This song is often referred to as the unofficial Guinean national anthem. I doubt if I've gone one day in Guinea without hearing this song.

2. Nwa Baby -by Flavour (Nigeria). This song is not heard as often on the radio, but I dig the beats and it mostly makes me think of my little host brothers and sisters in Dubreka. They would sing the chorus of the song while dancing around our yard. I had never actually heard the song until I went to site, so now it always makes me think of them (though after seeing the music video I'm not so sure I want to associate this song with them...)

3. Désolé - by Sexion d'assaut (France). A favorite of mine and my little brothers at my site:

Dedicate yourself

One of the toughest weeks of my Peace Corps service…yet also one of the best…

It started on Monday.  My brother Abou told me that his pen and French notebook had been stolen during class (9^th grade chemistry) while he was out of class running an errand for his teacher. No students owned up to it and the teacher couldn’t do anything to get it back. DISBELIEF. I bought a new pen and notebook for Abou and he spent hours and hours recopying 3 months of notes so that he didn’t fail the “contrôle de cahier” (notebook check) in 2 days. I lent him my flashlight so he could even stay up at night to finish in time.

On Tuesday my other little brother Issiaga got kicked out of class (5^th grade) because his hair was too long and needed to be cut. He didn’t have money to buy a razor so I got one for him. The elementary school is also requiring all students to  bring pictures of themselves to class to attach to the report cards - just one more thing that the students can not afford. FRUSTRATION. Tuesday night my little sister Hawa came home with her report card for 6th grade. She brought it over to me with a pen to sign where it said, “parent’s signature.” I guess being the only one invested in the education of these children my sister thought that I should sign there (I didn’t, I told her that her mom needed to do it). I also refused to sign it because she was failing all of the subjects. DISAPPOINTMENT.  She has so much working against her and she already has a 2 year old son. I told her that she needs to study harder and tried to explain the importance of education for her and also how she will be the one to pass on her knowledge to her son. Abou was sitting on the porch with us and I told him that, being the most responsible and smartest student of the family he needed to step up and be a role model and encourage the other children in our concession to keep going to school. I told him how DISCOURAGED I was about education in Guinea. As I was saying goodnight he told me, “Il faut pas être decouragé” – don’t be discouraged.

Wednesday. Feeling pretty down about education. I get to school and my 3 best students inform me that they won’t be in class because their family friend died the night before, but they didn’t want to skip class without telling me. SADNESS. I went to class wondering how students manage to make it this far with so many things going against them, when, 2 students from Terminale came into my class to make an announcement. They were asking students to donate whatever small amount of money they could to help another Terminale student whose hut had burned down and whose notebooks, uniform, and everything else had been destroyed. At this point I was just about ready to cry in class. Luckily I made it through the lesson. When I was finished with class and packing up my stuff Abou came into my classroom to ask for some chalk. He told me he wanted to do some math revision with our younger siblings. HOPE at last. I wasn’t sure if he was really going to do it, but when I got home a few hours later all of the kids were outside copying notes, 2 of my younger brothers and a neighbor were at the chalkboard on my porch doing math with Abou supervising their calculations. Tears of JOY. I have never seen of the kids in my family study outside of school. No one hardly noticed when I came home because they were all focused on what they were doing. HAPPINESS.

Thursday. My students, having sensed my discouragement the day before, came to me after class to talk with me. A group of 12^th grade girls and I spent about 20 minutes talking about the issues that students face and I told them they’ve made it this far and they need to do everything they can to keep going. One of my top girls wants to be a doctor and asked if I had any resources about medicine that she could borrow. She really enjoyed when we talked about parasites and wanted to know more about them. The next day I was able to give her a few copies of info that I had relating to that. FULFILMENT.

It’s easy to get discouraged working in this environment – poverty, suffering, sickness, etc... But at the same time there are so many people that are working hard to change their lives and to change Guinea and that’s what keeps me going.

Peace Corps staff reminded me of this when confronting  these hardships (I think it comes from a Buddhist saying):

1.       Accept that there will never be an end to all suffering

2.       Dedicate yourself to the end of all suffering

This is my dedication.

2012

Hello!

I’m back in my village from a very fun and educational time in Dubreka with the new trainees. I actually spent most of my time in Yorokoguea, a tiny village on the outskirts of Dubreka – which was relaxing and peaceful. It was neat to see what Public Health training is like – it’s very different than our educational training was. Here are some pics from Conakry/Yorokoguea:

Christmas dinner in Conakry (with Goat as the main dish)

 Some of the new trainees and Ravi, CED PCRV

 Public Health Group

 
Current agroforestry (Lacey), public health (Annie and Karen), community and economic development (Janice), and education volunteers (me).

Public Health Trainees in action!

 

The latrine in the back of the volunteer trainee house. I never thought a latrine could look so beautiful.

Went for a morning walk with Annie, PH Volunteer from Kankan, and saw some beautiful views of the mountains surrounding Dubreka.

Hi!

I arrived back in my village the weekend before class started up again, so I was able to spend all day Saturday in the fields with the women’s group. We’re in the eggplant harvesting season now, so I helped the women pick eggplant. There are only 2 men that help with the field work, but they have become my friends since they’re they only ones who speak French.

Noumouyah:

These are some of the women I work with.

Lunch time! Rice and peanut sauce

This is Nabi, one of the men that helps us. The other day another farmer stopped by and when he saw me he greeted me in French  “Hey la blanche, ca va?” and Nabi corrected him and said “Non, elle est une noire.” Apparently I’m no longer a white person, but a black person. Little kids have also gotten in the habit of calling me “foré” which also means black person in Susu. I think this is because when they were yelling “foté” I responded by saying my name isn’t white person, which they took to mean that my name is black person…oops...



After a long day of work...

This is what eggplant harvest looks like

When I got back to school I my students and I talked about our wishes for the new year. I told them that Madame Liz wants health, peace and for her students to stop cheating. My students told me they wanted health, peace, money, happiness, success on the national exam in June, less problems in Guinea,and more solutions to their problems.

Some of my (best) 12th graders and me in 2012!

Sali Mafo! Seasons Greetings

Wo nu wali!

This edition of blog-posting I finally have pictures from my site! I'm in Conakry celebrating Christmas (we have a week off of school for the petit congé) and helping out at the training of some of the new (public health) trainees.

Nxunyi - chez moi

My front porch - where all the impromptu English classes, physics, chemistry, and math tutoring, random family dance parties, and dinner happen.

 My living room/kitchen, repping PC-Guinea with my hand-made batik from an artist in Conkary. On the table is my gas stove (on the left) and my water filter (that tall thing on the right). On the left is the hallway to my bathroom and bedroom.

 Me bedroom: huge bed, suitcase of clothes and trunk of books. And of course the mosquito net (which doubles as a spider, cockroach, cricket, and mouse net).

Issiaga, nxunya xamema, my little brother, in his school uniform next to my house (with the other houses of our concession in the background).

 One of my other little brothers, Abou, sitting on the ledge of my front porch.

My front yard. Mango trees and babies. Our well is also there - it's difficult to see, but it's that piece of metal behind the mango tree on the right. Beyond that is the soccer field. Speaking of which...

Soccer field. It's dirt, with one goal post made of metal bars and the other made of 2 palm tree stumps and a bamboo stick across the top.

A crowd along the edge of the field during the 12th grade V 8th grade game. It was a tie, but unfortunately we're (12th grade) out of the tournament now. The last hope for Lycée lies with Terminale. 

8th grade comedians (that's what they call themselves) . Every time the 8th grade plays these guys come dressed in the silliest clothes and dance alongside the field and rally the crowd. Proof that kids are kids anywhere in the world and that middle schoolers are goofy everywhere.

 The soccer jerseys (Chelsea) for the girls soccer team after the screen printing was finished - front (left side) and back (right side).

Pepper Farm! This isn't actually the one I work on with the women (unfortunately I didn't take any pics at the women's farm yet). This is a plantation out in another village that I visited, but it looks pretty much like any pepper plantation.  

12eme Science Experimentale - the class that I'm Professeur Principal of, AKA in charge of their grades, dealing with discipline problems and other misc. things. Unfortunately about 10 students were absent the day I took this (it was taken yesterday, the last day before the petit congé, so naturally a lot of students were gone). I teach them 8 hours a week - 4hrs of physics and 4hrs of biology. Average age: 18 (range from 15-22).

Field Trip to the local "hospital." I talked with the doctor and lab tech and asked if they would let my students come in and look at Plasmodium (the parasite that causes malaria) in their microscope. They happily agreed, and after buying gas for the generator and getting soy bean oil to use as immersion oil we were able to use the microscope. The study of the malarial parasite is part of their national curriculum so it worked out perfectly. I think it was a pretty neat opportunity for my students, none of them had ever used a microscope before. The photo on the left is the lab tech explaining what exactly they will see in the microscope and on the right is Mamadou checking it out.

Seasons greetings to all and a Happy New Year! In the words of my Proviseur, may 2012 be a year of health, happiness, success and, surtout, PEACE.

FC-Chicago

Hello all ! Happy belated Islamic New Year (celebrated two weeks ago) !

Things at site are going great. This month I’ve experienced a lot and as usual I feel like nothing I write can do justice to the feelings, sights, sounds and smells that I experience. But here goes…

A L’école

Teaching is getting easier everyday, Ala Tantu. For the most part my students are well behaved and have patience with my often mispronunciation of French. The past few weeks students have veen campaigning for positions in the student government. The positions are : Premier Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Arts and Sports, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Health and Hygiene. The campaigns consisted of candidates and 5-10 of their supporters coming into each class and giving a brief speech, while their supporters pretended to film them and hold up their cell phones as if they were reporters with microphones. The elections were held this week after class and one of my students was voted as the Premier Minister !

The inter-class school soccer tournament began this week. Each grade plays against the other grades and there is also a team of teachers. The teacher in charge of the tournament told me I could make a women’s teacher team and I laughed pretty hard and said me and what other women ?

The kick-off match was the teachers against the 7th graders. I thought the teachers would win hands-down, but I severely misjudged the 7th graders. « 7th grade »  is a misnomer because, while they are in their 7th year of schooling, they are not at all the age of 7th graders in the US. I swear some of them looked like they were 18 years old (quite plausible). We lost 0-1. There games will continue every night for 2 weeks. The way the students show up to support their classes – singing chants, dancing, making signs – reminds me very much of Homecoming week at my high school, it's very nostalgic. 

Yesterday my class, 12th grade, played against Terminale, the « grands joueurs ». Apparently, as I was informed afterwards, no class has ever been beaten so badly as my class, with the final score being 1-6. There are 2 games left, if we can win them both we’ll stay in the tournament.

FC-Chicago

My girls soccer team, FC-Chicago (the girls wanted to name themselves after my « native village » but FC-St. Charles was too difficult to say) is starting to shape up. There are about 40 girls (grades 7-10). When I was in Conkary for Thanksgiving I splurged almost half of my monthly allowance to buy soccer jerseys for the girls and have the name of our village screenprinted on the back. In hommage to my highscool I picked jerseys that are orange and black. The girls are pretty stoked and the boys are jealous.  Practice has become increasingly difficult however, because the boys season started and they’ve taken over almost every soccer field (AKA open dirt area) in the district. However, I have been able to bribe some of the teams to let the girls play for an hour  by letting them use one of my real soccer balls. 

Bengbe Side (planting peppers)

My newest endeavor has been helping a women’s cooperative on their pepper/eggplant farm. Last week I biked 4kms through the palm forest out into the next village (village is a generous term here – there were approximately 3 houses and maybe 5 huts) to get to their farm. There are approximately 100 women that work in the copperative but at any given time only about 20 of them are working on the field. They showed me around the farm and taught me how to plant and fertilize peppers and eggplant. My comprehension is somewhat slow since the women speak only Susu. At about 2pm the women take a break to eat rice and sauce that they prepared in the woods over their log fire. We sat around a common bowl and ate with our hands. It had been awhile since I ate with my hand (since Dubreka) and apparently things got a little messy because the 65 year old women next to me took her head scarf off to wipe the oil off my face. For an instant I felt like a baby, but then I felt the overwhelming sense of comraderie, gentillness and love that these women have.The President of the co-op asked me if I could teach the women how to read, write, and do basic math. That’s quite a task, but Inshallah I will do my best to help them. 

Wasalaam

Bonne Fete de Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from Guinea!

This year I am thankful for the following things:

-My contagious, parasitic skin infection (Scabies) has been cured. What I thought was a bad case of heat rash turned out to be a little more serious. Being a biologist and all I thought it was kind of cool to get a parasitic infection, however, I'm quite happy to be over it.

-I have a house with a floor that is not made of dirt, a roof and ceiling not made of grass, and a toilet
-Every night I get to sleep in a bed (and without bedbugs!)

-I have one of the most interesting, fun and challenging jobs in the world :) Everyday I go to work with the opportunity to inspire and encourage the future engineers, scientists, doctors, pilots, and ambassadors of Guinea (this is what my students tell me they want to be)

-I have great friends and family all over the world who are continously supporting me and encouraging my work here

-I live in a beautiful place where people are incredibly generous and friendly

-The people in my village are so grateful and appreciative of my work and the Peace Corps presence in Guinea. I'm thankful that they're thankful.

-The best Thanksgiving gift was that, in a taxi on my way to Conkary yesterday (to celebrate Tday with some other vols), about 100km from my village, a group of construction workers on the side of the road all waved at me and yelled Damayé, Damayé Camara!! (my Guinean name) when I passed by. I have no idea who they were, but apparently they were from my village and recognized me. Feelin' good.

Peace and Thanks!

L'ecole

Wo nu wali!
I've finally found some time to give you a more detailed account of my experiences in my village (and to find an internet cafe!). I've decided I should write about my school, seeing as that is where I spend most of my time...

La Guerre
The day before the first day of school one of the other professors gave these words of wisdom to me, Demain, la guerre va commencer. Or, in English, tomorrow the war begins. He said this in a joking manner but I couldn't help but feel slightly terrified for the first day of class.

Inshallah
One of my host brothers (actually the son of my principal) came to visit me from across the village. As he was leaving I said "won tina a l'ecole" - see you tomorrow at school (susu). And his response, ominously foreshadowing, was Inshallah, or if God wills it (in Arabic). I thought that was a silly thing to say, because of course there would be school tomorrow, it's the first day of class (whether or not God wills it)!...There was no school the next day. Long story short, it was the day after independance day and at the last minute everyone decided that there shouldn't be school (I did not get this memo, however, until I was the only person to show up at a school of 2,000 students and 28 teachers). Thankfully, classes started the next day and things went smoothly, sans probleme.

Some tidbits about my school:
-The school bell consists of someone banging a wrench 3 times against a giant metal wheel, which I suspect used to be part of a train
-Some students walk for miles to get to the school, others have moved in with family or friends living in this village so that they can attend school. The high school serves a very large area, so I know most of my students probably have gone to a great difficulty to be there
-Many students missed the first week, 2 weeks, or even month of school because they didn't have enough money to buy the school uniform or notebooks. When I questioned my own host sister about why she wasn't going to school the first few days she told me she didn't have a uniform. Well, we marched right over to the market and bought one, for a whopping $4.50.
-Some of my students are essentially the same age as me. At least one of my students has a baby and she's often late to class because she was at home breast-feeding her. I'm actually surprised this girl has managed to stay in school after being married and having a baby (way to be!). The girls that continue to go to school are really courageous, they have a lot going against them. My principal calls me the defeneder of the jeunes filles (young girls) and he often refers to me as the mama of the school. Now that I'm also coaching the girls soccer team I've really gotten a chance to know more of the girls attending school.
-One of my host brothers (I feel like I have a million of them) said something very profound, and disheartening about his education (which I fear may be true for a lot of students in a lot of places around the world). He said, A l'ecole on etudie. Dehors l'ecole on apprend - At school we study. It's outside of school that we learn. At school the students are used to simply memorizing the facts or formulas they need to know, without understanding them or their applications. There simply aren't enough resources (especially, for example, in a class of 100+ students) to do activities to help the students learn and discover things on their own.
-Each class room (there are 21) is cleaned by the students. The boys clean the chalk boards and empy the trash and the girls take turns sweeping the class room everyday after class. These kids literally work for their education.
-It is my principal's dream to build a library and a laboratory at the school. The school is well organized and has a lot of good teachers (not to mention great management). I think it's absolutely feasible and I'm going to do what I can to help him realize his dream...because it's my dream too.
-There are an endless number of things to derange (disrupt) your class. For example, bats fighting in the ceiling, giant vultures landing on the metal roof, lizards running across the floor, and very loud weddings, baptisms and assorted parties happening right outside the window, to name a few things.
-Apparently last night someone messed with the lock to the school office and cleverly broke it so that it could not be opened. Before class could start we had to call a locksmith, who, with the help of some of the teachers, hammered through the cement wall to unlock the bolt. Ahh...nothing like taking down walls before starting class at 8am. (Note: The professors with the name Sylla blamed this lock fiasco on the professors who are Camaras - the "joking cousins" never gets old!).

That's it for now, folks. Oh, and I should just say, we're VERY excited for the next group of volunteers, G-21, coming to Guinea in a month! Soyez la bienvenue!