Vacation Time:)

I am really happy right now because in less than 48 hours my brother's plane will touch down in Conakry to begin a 3 week visit. I have a lot of things planned for us to do, but no real order they are going to be done in. All i know is that he definitely needs at least a full two days in my tiny village to see what life is like outside of the city. I'm also really happy because last night i recieved a message from a good friend back in jacksonville who i hadnt heard from at ALL since i left 10 months ago. i was so confused why she hadnt been talking to me, but her letter made me feel a lot better. OHHHH and i have to give a BIG thanks to my dad, from whom i recieved TWO packages on this last mail run full of pouch chicken and goldfish and reeces, basically my three foods i miss the most here! I LOVE YOU DAD!!! Work wise things have been really good in the last 2 weeks since ive written. i had 2 visitors right in a row, thanks Jess and Nick! While jess was in my village we hiked out with a friend from my village an hour out into the woods to a field that i helped an old lady clear a couple months ago and plant peanuts. It is now harvest time, so jess and i sat on the ground with the old woman, some of her grandkids and my village friend all day picking the peanuts off the stem. the old lady wouldnt let us leave until she had filled up a huge bag with peanuts for us to take in thanks for our work. it is really neat eating something that you have grown since the beginning! The next day jess and i worked with my reforestation group planting trees for a few hours, but since it is ramadaan here (guinea is a mostly muslim nation) the men were hungry and didnt have that much energy so we didnt do our usual 4 hours of planting. when nick came with the mail run (which is the car jess took to leave my village) we talked a lot about his sector, small business development, and how i could apply it to a couple of my projects here. i met with a man from Faranah (a town north of my village) who wanted to start a business with motorcycle taxis, but didnt know where to begin. i realized what a big factor budgeting is, and how little most people here are taught about basic funds management and saving. my eventual goal with that particular man is to begin a Village Savings and Loan, commonly referred to as VSL's here. im pretty excited about it but it will take a while to get off the ground (as do most things in my line of work here). I also recruited Nick to help me transplant my Moringa seedlings from my tree nursury next to my house, to a space we cleared in front of my village health center. We planted 42 seedlings in a big square, and next rainy season, when they are larger and stronger, i am going to make a live fence out of them, and make beds on the inside where i will plant more moringa to be used like a garden vegetable. I dont remember if ive talked about moringa before in my blog, but it is an amazing tree. the health benefits of eating the leaves and pods are enormous. It is full of protein, vitamin c, calcium, vitamin a etc. you can eat the leaves in an omelette, as a tea, you can dry them and make them into a powder to use as a nutritional suppliment etc. my goal is to have enough on hand to give a bag of leaves or powder to every expecting mother and any underweight and/or malnurished child that comes into the health center. it is such an easy way to really enrich the health of my village and im really excited about it. if you want to know more, google moringa. it is amazing.

soooo, it is really exciting that soon, because my brother is bringing me a new camera and you will finally get more pictures on this blog, so stay tuned haha:)

OHHH i forgot to say THANK YOU soooo much to kristin and matt for the awesome pictures yall sent me in your package. that was great!!! pictures mean so much to me here, so those along with the ones Aunt Marian sent me (THANKS!!!) from the wedding make the walls of my hut a lot more homey. i love yall!!! pics coming soon!!!

correction

i just talked to my one of my family members last night, who, frankly, i think is a little embarrassed about my last post. soooo i will clarify. i was NOT asking for money for Rio, b/c by the time i go there i will be finished with peace corps and have gotten my "reajustment allowence" which is basically a lump sum of money to help me restart my life in the states. what i was saying is that my bday and xmas are coming up, so anyone who was in the gift giving spirit, and/or planned on sending me a package (which i LOVE btw) i was just saying it would be better if i had some cash right now for my visa to mali.

ok, that is enough of that mess, sorry i ever got into it...

right now i am in a nearby friend's town hanging out with a few other volunteers for the weekend. i really like coming here not only to see my friends, but because the UNICEF office here lets us use their internet yay! since i have no cell phone service or land lines in my tiny village it is so exciting to talk to people from home and find out the new vp candidates etc.

last week my friend Ciara came to visit me. i was was so surprised but in a good way. i showed her around my village, and we cooked together and spent a lot of time sitting out in front of my neighbor's house watching the world go by. good stuff. i never realize how integrated i am in my village until someone comes to visit and i can show them around. the highlight of her trip for me was when 2 important men from my reforestation group came by and made a big production of giving me 10 cola nuts wrapped in a big leaf (the biggest sign of respect you can make). they went on to tell Ciara how happy they are to work with me and how i was such a good worker (which made me feel guilty bc i really dont feel like i work that much, certainly not the 40 or so hours id be working in the states) but it is good bc it motivates me to know that whatever work i do do is appreciated. anyway, i was again surprised when on monday night a car full of people (admin and a volunteer) showed up at my hut. it is so rare that the actual director of pc guinea would come all the way over to my region (the one farthest away from the capital) so i was very impressed he and his wife made the uncomfortable journey all the way out to see some Haute Guinea region volunteers' sites. anyway, i should prob go now b/c there are some people waiting, but matt, i cant WAIT till you come and i can show you around. i love yall as always!!!

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!!!

ps...

btw, if you want to read katie's story in her own words check out her blog: tckinguinea.blogspot.com

much more eloquently put then i could have (plus i dont know the whole story and she does)...

back to the hut

tomorrow im taking the little plane back to the hut. im nervous about what live in the village is going to be like knowing that i dont have a neighbor for 75kms with no cell phone coverage...completely disconnected from EVERYTHING going on in guinea and the world. scary. anyway, i miss all yall and esp Katie and Melissa. Becky, i havent read the magz you sent me yet, saving them for the hut but i cant wait to tear into your package when i get back!!! thank you sooooooo much! i love all yall! ill try to update again in august when ill be in mamou for lifeskills (where we will have an AIDS training). until then, if you're the praying type, i need it right now:)

the conakry coastline as once again seen from Rob's balcony

we are in the shadows but that is because the sun is setting behind us. in this picture are my friends Jess, Raven and I. oh btw- this is Rob's appt balcony where we go to watch the sunset a lot (b/c the view is amazing) when we are in conakry

Raven and I in the taxi to our friend Rob's appartment last night. Rob was a former PC volunteer who is now working for the international school here

wtf

some of you may be wondering why im in conakry again so soon. well my friends, i would definitely rather be hanging out in the hut with two of my very best friends ive ever made safe and sound in their huts. however, sometimes life just works out differently than we have planned. here is what happened:

my closest neighbor and best friend here, melissa, who lives only 27kms north of my village, was medically separated from her service and sent home for reasons that are uncomprehensible to me and many of our fellow volunteers, as well as to herself. not only was melissa removed from guinea against her will within 3 days of getting the news, my other really good friend and amazing person, katie, was also forced to leave as well.

all of this came as a complete shock to everyone involved, and at the risk of getting kicked out myself i cannot reveal details in a forum as public as my blog, but just know that it was washington's decision, not the people on the ground, and as we all know, when people disconnected from a situation make a decision without knowing the whole story, or even ever meeting the people involved, the decision is often without justification and made on a "by the book" basis, as well as a "save our behinds" basis instead of a rational, case by case basis which was definitely necessary with these two model, well adjusted peace corps volunteers. a mistake was made here which i believe has hurt many more people than the people who made the final, un appealable decision can ever imagine, especially me, who has lost two of her best friends in a matter of days.

guinea is a hard country to live in, and a hard country in which to serve as a peace corps volunteer. losing two of our best has not helped this program, but this is a strong group and i know that whatever Katie and Melissa do after they get over the shock of such a hasty departure and culture shock of re-entering the first world will make a positive difference in many people's lives. i know they have touched the lives of every person in their villages, as well as each one of their fellow volunteers. You will be missed.

btw

please send stamps and dry ranch mix and BACON BITS!!!! omg i MISS BACON!!! haha, ok that's enough begging for this trip! oh and i really am craving some good gossipy trashy mags to read at site. we have regional libraries and in the conakry house, and we get newsweek every mail run, but no good celebrity gossip. i cant believe im going back to site tomorrow! i cant wait to show you my village, friends, and life here in Guinea, Matt. buy your ticket ASAP and email me the itinerary!!! ill update again in about a month hopefully. until then i love yall and miss you and SEND SNAILMAIL:) peace!

oh i forgot, my friend kim's blog is: www.beacongrown.blogspot.com

esp for matt, who may be really interested in some more pix and explanations of things he will see in sept/oct, check out my friends' blogs:
Mary and Dan: http://littleblurry.blogspot.com
Alison Jean: http://becomingbinta.blogspot.com

getting a ride in the peace corps car to Mamou for IST... this pic is a couple months old btw...oh and also, all the boys had decided that to be funny they would have a "best moustache" competition b/c IST was the first time we had all gotten together since we were sworn in 3 months before...silliness. from left to right: David, Alex, Adam, me, Zach, Melissa, Jess

small things

if anyone can send me a cheap plastic spray bottle that would be great. also, i really need a contact case and a toothbrush cover. thanks so much yall!!!

THANKS:)

I really want to take a minute to thank first of all Aunt Marian for sending me all those wonderful pictures of Matt's wedding. They are going to really brighten up the hut seeing all my family on my walls:) I also really want to thank Wally for sending me a letter. Snail mail means so much over here since it is so rare that I get to use the internet. I will write back a proper letter, but mail here takes FOREVER going out of guinea (one of my friends JUST recieved a letter I sent back in DECEMBER!!!) so i didnt want yall to think i didnt appreciate it! Thanks again!

my publix/winn-dixie/albertsons/piggly wiggly/safeway/whole foods

notice that the gas guage is on empty, the oil and engine light is on, and the speedometer doesnt work, and the car in front is, well, you can see for yourself. just another day in a bush taxi...

the last pic was the last one of the ship...the next couple of photos are just friends photos that i thought were interesting haha...welcome to a typical Guinean market...i really think i believe the phrase "a picture is worth 1000 words"

***Note to Matt: are you going to give a travelers check to one of the ladies selling rice/peppers/bananas/onions/magi cubes under those umbrellas? no, that is why you must bring cash.

Conakry Port

all of us on the bridge: (from the left) Brienne, me, Teale, Alex (our guide who works on the ship), Andrew, Zach

on the Bridge steering the ship:)

me in the engine room

engine room

view from the ship

Visiting the Ship

Thursday the third of July, two of my friends here were eating lunch downtown (in Conakry) when some men came up to them and asked if they were American. They replied that they were, and that began a conversation between the groups about what they were doing in Guinea. The conversation led to an invitation for the next day for any of us who wanted to come visit their ship. It turns out these men are merchant marines (not associated with the military, basically just men who work on boats to ship things around the world). They were in Conakry for a few days unloading a huge supply of rice for the United Nation's World Food Program. My friends asked if we wanted to go the next day (yesterday) and we got a group together and went. It was really interesting, even just the procedure to get into the port (we had to get ID's and talk to a bunch of officials), then finding the boat was tricky b/c we had gotten the name wrong. However, once we were onboard, it was easy to find the man who my friends had met, and we had a great time touring the boat for the next couple hours. these are pictures from the tour:

Happy Birthday America!!!

I'm back in Conakry for a few days to celebrate the fourth. almost all the volunteers in country are here and the house is crazy. tomorrow we are having a big bbq, and our proximity to the beach makes me feel almost home:) i just got news that my brother matt is going to come visit me in september and i couldnt be more excited!!!! YAY matt!!! my dad spent a few minutes of his phone card last night trying to convince me to convince matt not to come haha- he says he is worried enough about me without having to worry about another child in africa! haha. dont worry matt, you're in good hands and i have an exciting and scenic itinerary planned! oh and pops, my friend on the computer next to me just told me her cousin and husband are coming at the end of this month, so that is 4 non-pc people visitingn (i know you think matt is the only one silly enough to come here voluntarily...other than the volunteers of course haha!!!)

in other news, before i tell yall what ive been up to lately, im going to update my list of stuff i want hahah. (really, im in africa...no i have no shame asking for stuff!!! haha!) here it goes:

1- batteries: i need both AA and AAA. I prefere lithium b/c it lasts so much longer and that's impt b/c it is much more energy in a tiny package but ill be happy for any type:)

2- people mags and us weekly (that is "us" like the pronoun, not U.S. like the united states)

3- splenda or other sugar substitute

4- jacksonville magazine...i want to read about home from time to time

5- PICTURES!!!!! i miss yall and want to see you in action whatever you've been up to

6- stamps (letters arrive much quicker being sent with a friend going home for a visit than waiting 6 months for the guinean mail)

7-seeds...flowers, veggies, whatever

8-if anyone sends me a dvd or vhs of the new Sex & the City movie you will be my best friend for life...this goes for a vhs/dvd of any seasons of desperate housewives and/or grey's anatomy...no, my hut doesnt have a tv, but conakry does, and believe me, it gets plenty of use when we are unwinding every couple of months!!!

9-dried berries- esp strawberries

10-any kind of nut (whole, UNSALTED, UNROASTED) BUT peanuts...NO peanuts plz:), i esp love whole raw almonds and cashews YUM:)

11-bacon...this is a tricky one but bacon bits are amazing!!!!!! seriously, im tearing up just thinking about the package i got with bacon bits

12- GOLDFISH (the cheeze flavored cracker, not the animal)

13-i really need a small contact case...matt, maybe you could bring that along in september?

14-Dad- can you send me one or two white stretchy speghetti strap tank top undershirts from my closet at home? THANK YOU!!! oh, and i have a black stretchy cotton sleeveless dress in there too- it is high waisted and goes down to about mid calf...i know i have about 100 black dresses, but just read the description and try to match it:) it is heavier than most of my other black dresses and pretty well lined with the same black stretchy cotton material. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! i know how much you'll hate looking for it:) oh, and you sent me my blue arabic dictionary, but right next to it on the bookshelves in my room should be my green Hans-Weir dictionary (arabic). if you could send that too that would be awesome.

15- plain cotton underwear from kmart...i bought some cheap ones right before i left that have worked out well- they were joe boxer bikinis size 7 (undies sizes are wierd there)

16-reeces peanut butter cups/m&ms/ chocolate in general

17- cheap plastic spray bottle


well, that pretty much covers it. now onto what ive been doing this past month:

ive started working with a forestry group reforesting an area near my village with seedlings they planted before i got here that are pretty well developed. i built a fence with the help of a friend (no easy task) to enclose my tree nursury and keep it from being eaten by the wandering cows/goats/sheep, and have started to plant tree seeds there. so far ive planted moringa (super fast growing tree with miraculous health benefits), neem (leaves are a good natural pesticide when mixed with water), african mahogany (a type of teak), and a bunch of mandrin orange trees. i also started a garden of my own to try to diversify my diet. there ive planted carrots, tomatos, onions, okra, beans, parsley, cauliflower, cabbage, iceburg lettuce, watermelon, pumpkin, potatos and corn. when i left a few days ago the sprouts were just starting to come up on a lot of them , so i cant wait to see what it looks like when i get back. i have also started a co-op for honey/way production using the Kenyan top-bar beehive. it took a while to explain all the merits of this beehive over traditional beekeeping, but the group seems pretty motivated now and excited to begin. if it goes well the first year, im going to try to set them up with one of my small business developement people to write up a business plan and figure out how to expand to the larger markets of surrounding villages and cities. the president of the reforestation group has been awesome to work with, and even gave me some new ideas that i hadnt even thought of- like aqua culture- raising fish! this is going to be a crazy two years. i miss all yall sooooo much and love to read snail mail letters so dont forget about me hahah!!! that's all i can think to write right now....An Beh Kofe (until next time!)

if anyone can send me fabric, esp some jersey knit stretch fabric that would be great. fabric here does not breathe at all and is really uncomfortable, which is sad because getting things made is really cheap and if i had some better fabric i would love to take advantage of that opportunity while i am here:) thanks!

so my three week span of internet access and phone service is about to come to an end as i am heading back to the village tomorrow. it has been a crazy couple of weeks. IST was GREAT in so many ways. i absolutely LOVE all of my volunteer friends, and am so sad that this is the last time we will all be together in one place until our COS (close of service) conference in 21 months. it would be impossible to gather a more interesting and diverse group of people in one place at one time. haha, well enough mushy-ness about how much i love my friends:) in other news, Agroforestry volunteers (me) had to stay three extra days at IST to have some intensive counterpart training/working together workshops. Just for a little background, agfo volunteers usually have some of the most confusing and/or strained relationships with their government counterparts because our work is sooo non-structured. each community is so different in terms of geography and agfo needs that it is really up to the volunteer to seek out his/her counterpart to do in depth site analysis to figure out the best plan of action for their specific area. Unlike Health volunteers, who have a set list of objectives and sensablilizations to give at their health centers, or Small Business Developement volunteers who are assigned an NGO (with an office) to work with throughout their service, Agfo volunteers have neither of these structural aids which might help give them any direction for their work. For example, i was assigned two counterparts, both the Chefs Adoints Cantonnement Forestiere in my village, which could be called deputy forestry chiefs. one is a woman and one is a man. the woman has her family in another village about 65 kms from my village and is often there for weeks at a time. the man (who has 3 wives), i get the feeling has a little uncertainty about me being a woman and in the first couple of months was definitely questioning my intelligence and/or worth as a worker. i saw him very rarely and he did not ever show any signs of taking me seriously. i decided that he would get the most out of the IST so i invited him to come to the counterpart sessions there. ohhhh boy was it useful. i could actually see the wheels turning in his head as a gave small group presentations and spoke to other volunteers counterparts about my village in french. at several points during the workshop he actually turned to me in disbelief and said "tu peut parler francais!" you can speak french. it was only then did i understand fully that in the beginning he had made some serious pre-judgements about me that had been hindering our relationship ever since (which, to be fair, im sure i have done/continue to do about him as well).
The actual content of these workshops also had a great impact on my understanding of the educational system here and how it affects/will affect my work here. the biggest thing i learned is that, unlike the united states, creativity is NOT stressed here in the classroom. instead, children learn the information through memorization alone. we had one activity where we split into groups of 3 counterparts and 3 volunteers each with the assignment of coming up with different sustainable ways to disperse information on agroforestry topics to stakeholders in the village. this was an easy assignement to us volunteers, who have grown up in a system of education where we are used to splitting up into groups and brainstorming ideas together. However, for our counterparts who are used to copying information off a board and memorizing it, the task proved to be a bit more challenging. I asked if any of them had any suggestions. One said a tree nursury. "no" i said, "we are looking for ways to disperse information, to tell people about something or how to do something, not that thing itself. For example, if you wanted to tell people about how to do a tree nursury, perhaps you could use the meathod of having a small group of people come to a meeting and teaching them, and assign each of them the task to go out to the village and teach 10 people each. this is sustainable because the small group of people now becomes the teacher when the volunteer leaves. now, do you have any examples of how to train people in a sustainable manner?" this question illicited a bunch of blank stares, and a couple of eye rolls from my fellow volunteers, one of whom when to get our APCD (associate pc director, in charge of the agfo sector) to re-explain the directions for the group work. after he explained and walked away again, one of my friends gave the example of having an experimental garden with a group of interested sustanance farmers to teach new agfo technologies with no one party losing too much if one fails. "can any of you come up with an example of one meathod to teach villagers like the two examples we have given?" more blank stares. one of the counterparts says "fuel saving mud stoves." at this point im really starting to get agitated. i walk over to the head of all agroforestry in the guinean government and ask if she could re-explain to our counterparts that we are not giving examples of agfo practices, but instead supposed to give creative ideas of how to teach these practices in a sustainable manner. after her explaination, i ask if the man who gave the mud stove example could perhaps come up with a way to teach the villagers how to build a mud stove. this was met with more confused looks. i felt like banging my head into a wall. i sighed and said "ok, if i wanted to teach the villagers how to build mud stoves in a way that they will remember and be able to teach to others, i might perhaps have a mud stove week, in the same way people recognize world aids day. throughout the week i might plan informational events, and demonstrations, offer free help if someone wanted to build a mud stove, and perhaps have the week culminate in a big fete where the villagers could come to eat food cooked on a mud stove. ok. now, can any of you think of one example of a new, innovative or creative way of dissiminating information among the villagers?" the counterparts do a miniature huddle and after a few minutes, one says "what about moringa." Moringa is a tree which we are supposed to promote for the nutritional value of its leaves. "do you see that column over there?" i ask. "if i wanted to get to that column, i could go over the table, around the table, under the table, i could hop around the table, i could pick up the table and push it aside, i could have a friend move the table for me, or i could grow wings and fly to the column. the question is not to give me different examples of the type of columns out there, it is to give me examples of MEATHODS OF GETTING TO THE COLUMN." this was my last attempt, and the counterparts finally did come up with an example we could work with. however, this sort of exhaustive learning process was the kind of thing repeated over and over through the last three days of IST, and although at some points i wanted to pull out my hair from frustration, i really believe it was the most productive three days i have had since i first got to my village.

another interesting thing i want to talk about a little bit. at the end of one of our sessions, the trainer who was flown in from washington to help us work through our difficulties with our counterparts split us into two groups- one for counterparts and one for volunteers. each group was asked to make a list of the most frustrating aspects of working with our counterparts (or for them, their volunteer), to this point. some notables from our list included "he sometimes shows up an hour late for meetings, and a couple times not at all," or "i have doubts about his motivation," or "he doesnt take my ideas or suggestions about potential agfo projects seriously." The counterpart's list went something like this: "my volunteer sometimes goes into their hut after work and shuts the door and doesnt want to socialize with us," or " my volunteer doesnt always want to go to babtisms with me" or "my volunteer spends too much time with children," or "my volunteer is not fluent yet in malinke/susu/pulaar (local languages)." at the end we got back together as a group and talked about the lists. one really interesting thing we noticed was that all the things on the volunteer list were work related, and all the things on the counterpart list were related to the social aspects of life. interesting. well, somehow we made it through, and on sunday got to go to a farm near the conference area which was really interesting. it was started by a man who wanted to use certain agricultural practices to increase his yields, and now makes more money through his farm than he does with his government job. one interesting practice i enjoyed learning about was that every year before he plants his rice he plants peanuts in that field, because peanut plants fix nitrogen and other nutrients in the soil, which makes his rice harvest better. my counterpart and i had a lot of time to walk around the farm and talk about things we saw and how or if we could incorporate those practices in banian. i raised the idea of an experimental field and wanted to know what my counterpart thought of getting together with a group of motivated farmers to work that land and try out new ideas in a low risk setting. anyway, he seemed really receptive to it, but we'll see how it goes when i return to site tomorrow and actually put into practice all that ive learned these past couple weeks. as always, i miss yall sooooo much! ill write more in july:)

btw, for all yall who havent sent me a letter yet, get on that asap, i miss you!!!

Sarah Provost, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 1927
Conakry, Guinea
West Africa

more life in africa

first of all, thanks becky for putting all those pix up of matt and kristin`s wedding. geez i feel far away now... IST has been a really great experience for putting everything in perspective. i can talk to all my friends and hear about their problems and successes and get new project ideas. most of yall already know, but i started teaching an english class 3x/week. i do it from 5pm-7pm monday and thursday, then saturday i do a review of mon and thurs at the same time. I am going to begin work soon with a real life african ¨garden club¨ or what they call a ¨groupement dàgriculture,¨ and will give lessons on things like crop diversification for food security, proper spacing between plants for better yields, composting, organic pesticides made from neem leaves, live fencing with nitrogen fixing trees (which put nutrients back into degraded soil), and nutrition in general. I am also going to work with my Chef Cantonnement Forestiere to create a tree nursury of 5000 trees to reforest some deforested areas around my village. I am also interested in starting an environmental education class in the elementary school and have them create their own school garden and tree nursury so we can have hands on classes and teach which trees do what for the soil, or how to use leaves as green manure. anyway, for all yall wondering, that is what i hope to accomplish in the next two years. i listen to the bbc (on my shortwave radio) every morning and night as i eat breakfast (oatmeal with powdered milk and cinnimon-plz send splenda!!!) and night as i eat dinner (usually bananas with peanuts, supplemented by things i get in packages haha). the rest of my life in my village usually consists of me spending a lot of akward time sitting with my neighbor family (who has finally learned i do not like fish heads floating in a palm oil sauce poured over rice) while the mom cooks aforementioned meal. sometimes i go to baptisms which are a lot different here, less ceremony, more socializing, usually culminating in a goat having its throat slit. the other guests always have a good laugh trying to get the toobaboo (¨white foreigner¨in malinke, the local language in my village) to dance. wild. there are a lot of moments in the village i wish my friends/family could see me b/c yall are never going to believe my stories when i get home. i am regretting now my past life of exaggeration haha. anyway, i never really know what yall want to know about my life here, but IST lasts for another week so email me while yall can and say hi or whatever. I MISS YOU ALL!!!!

IST

Today my brother, Matt, is getting married. I am in Africa. Last night I called him to wish him luck, and my whole family was together and put me on speaker phone. That definitely led to a little bit of an emotional breakdown, and I had to quickly get off the phone before I lost it all together. At least I am at In-Service-Training so I am with all my other Peace Corps Volunteer friends who can give me some support and act as my surragate (sp?) family as I really feel the distance between me and my biological family. I am about to go to a meeting but more later today... GOOD LUCK MATT AND KRISTIN!!!! i love yall sooooo much and wish you the best on this adventure of love:)

PLEASE SEND ME:

http://www.safetycentral.com/hanwatmisfan.html

***any of the fans on this page with LOTS of lithium batteries

http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/cvs/gateway/search?page=1&Query=contact+solution&ActiveCat=65

***any of these 3.5 or 4 oz bottles would be great, and can you send like 3 or 4 so i can keep one at all the places i travel to a lot (conakry, kankan, kissidougou etc)

and SPLENDA and GOLDFISH and RAW ALMONDS (not grilled or salted or anything) and CHICKEN IN THE POUCH and SUNFLOWER SEEDS (no shell)

geez i love yall :)

check out my friends' blogs too:

tckinguinea.blogspot.com
lizzieinguinea.blogspot.com
alloflifeisaforeigncountry.blogspot.com
www.travelpod.com/members/kylejesw

oh, and i just finished reading this on my friend Katie's blog:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

--Mark Twain

yea, what he said.

my outhouse building on the left and my hut on the right. the fence is around the whole bathroom and hut area to create a little private area for me away from the prying eyes of curious children.

the view from the "toilette" room looking at my "shower"

the inside of my "bathroom"~i was standing in the "shower" looking at the "toilette" room (if you walk b/t the half walls/shelves, there is a hole in the concrete floor which covers a pit, like a well, which is where i squat when i need to use the bathroom). the room where im standing slopes so when i pour water on my head from my bucket, it drains outside.

so, as most of you know, i am on my once per three month visit to conakry. it has been an amazing trip. it started off with a free ride on the 15 person World Food Program jet from Kissidougou to Nzerekore, then Nzerekote to Conakry. Since I got here friday i have had the best time i have had since i got to guinea. i never know what to write on this thing other than the pictures speak for themselves. it is so hard being alone in my village, but so amazing coming together with some of the coolest and craziest people i have ever met- my fellow volunteers. their stories make me feel like im not alone here, and snap me back to reality, which i sort of lose touch with after a couple of weeks alone in the hut. my in-service-training is in two weeks so ill finally have a chance to see EVERYONE, not just the people in my region, but people i havent seen since i was sworn in as a volunteer a couple months ago who are in Basse-Cote or Fouta (the other 2 regions of guinea where volunteers are placed). yesterday i finally got a chance to visit the islands- as im sure you've seen in my pictures. they are beautiful and so far removed from the dirty and polluted streets of conakry. i really felt like i was back in florida. oh i miss jacksonville soooo much. OH i want to thank Kristin and Matt sooooooooo much for the awesome care package i got, OH and Dad too because i got another one from you when i got into conakry a couple days ago. i love yall sooooo much and miss yall. i cant believe im missing the wedding but ill be there in spirit haha! i really need (want) someone to send me some contact cleaning solution- no rub disinfectant stuff. i brought 3 huge bottles but i need a couple of small bottles to keep in Conakry and Kankan and Kissi because i visit those places a lot and dont want to lug around my massive bottles. it would be AMAZING!!! and SPLENDA!!! the food here (as yall know) is really bland and so ive been putting a lot of sugar on everything (salt too haha) and im terrified of getting diabetes (not to mention my expanding waist-line haha). that would be AWESOME!!! and as always, goldfish or salty/cheezy crackers/ lowfat pringles, whatev. i love yall so much and am sorry im such a needy person haha. in the peace corps i have literally lost all shame i might have ever had about begging for anything i might be successful in getting. being here does that to everyone. 22 more months...

write me snail mail:) just do it!

random staircase in my village- no one knows who built it or what it led to, but someone said maybe it was the italians. wierd.

a pig doing what he does best- this was taken in Jess's village where there are lots of pigs b/c it is about 1/2 christian (my village is about 100% muslim so no bacon for me)

one of 3 mosques in my village

Jess on a visit to my village. There are so many of these crazy boulders and rock formations all over the area.

a three hour tour;)

jetsetting in style haha!

our runway take two

our runway

us on the boat going home- starting from left and going clockwise- melissa, jim, me and julie- the people in the background are random people who got stranded on the island and hitched a ride with us...

some kids playing in the water on the west side of the island

our beach- sorry that last one didnt show up (hmmm?)

our beach