Malaria/AIDS workshops

I am currently doing a malaria/aids workshop in a city in the middle of the country. it is great to see my friends but the days are long. i dont have much time to update this, but i wanted to inform everyone a little about my schedule. Tomorrow im leaving here and going to my regional capital with all the people from my training group, G-15, who are also in my region. there we will greet and have a party for the new training group who got here in July, G-16, whose sites will be located in the haute region. then, i will accompany a new volunteer to their site and sort of do an orientation sort of thing since they dont have Guinean counterpart (it is an education group so they are all teachers). anyway i should be back to my site within the week. i want to say a couple of thank yous, first to my friend ashley from whom i recieved a snail mail letter today. i love you ashley and cant wait to come see you in orlando when i get back and meet your baby girl!!! also i want to say thank you to my cousin Holly who wrote me a really nice email and gave me lots of great encouragement. these workshops have convinced me to foray into the public health sector a little bit, and one of my friends, nick (a small business volunteer) has made plans with me to come to my village soon and help me start a village savings and loan. i want to tie that in with community developement, so i am going to form it as a way to not only help people get small loans to start a business, but i want the village to use some of the revenue to fund free condom distribution. i will be giving malaria and aids lectures in the schools, hotel and bars around the village but a lot of people always give me the excuse when we talk about aids that they cant afford the condoms. instead of looking for outside funding i think it is a lot more sustainable to have the village do it themselves and end the cycle of dependence. anyway, that is what im looking forward to right now.

BTW, my brother Matt is coming to visit in september (the 17th through the 7th of Oct) and i CANT WAIT!!!! I want to give a big THANK YOU to the whole West family (who is now part of my extended family!) for facilitating it. i know how much you helped and i want you to know it means the world to me!!! matt, prepare to have the craziest adventure of your life!!! :)

Melissa and Katie, we all miss you so much and this whole conference has been sprinkled with story after story of things we remember about yall. i love you both so much and am really wishing that your lives in america are adjusting well. i cant wait to see you again, but until then eat as much cheese as possible for me:)

As of tomorrow i will have been living in a hut in Africa for 6 months. to all of you who thought i would have quit by now, HAHA! i havent and dont plan on doing it until 2010, when i plan on going to Carnivale in Rio de Janeiro. anyone else who wants to experience the craziest party on earth with me, you have 2 yrs to save for a plane ticket. drop me a line:)

speaking of saving, i am living the life of a volunteer right now, so i dont really have any money to travel to surrounding countries. unfortunately, almost all my friends are heading to Mali in February then taking a train to the west african soft ball tournament in Senegal. senegal is free to enter, but the Malians just raised the price of their visa to 240 dollars. yes, U.S. dollars. which, is realllly crappy for me because i just dont have that kind of money. the visa lasts 5 yrs but still, isnt that a little crazy? anyway, my bday is in december along with xmas, so if anyone is interested in donating to my cause (i feel sort of bad about begging, but not as bad as if i miss out on sharing this tradition with all my friends here), please just give me your email under the comment section and ill hook you up with my dad who has a joint bank acct with me. my friend put a paypal thing on her blog but im sorry i m just not that technically savy. i love all yall soooo much!!! ill keep you posted on any incoming donations until i reach my goal, or the event passes. ill type more when i get to conakry to pick up my brave brave brother:) until then, im thinking about you all every day!!!