From Alligators to Crocodiles

So hot. So very hot. Siguiri has been incredibly hot over the last month and a half. As I write this in my room with my fan (BEST PURCHASE EVER) on full blast and praying that the electricity isn’t cut any time soon, I can tell you I have never sweat so much in my life. Nights when there isn’t any electricity, my sweat leaves the outline of my entire body on the sheets. Yes, gross. I know. I drink water like crazy, avoid walking too much for the fear of sweating and pray frequently for rain. I can’t wait for the rainy season. Siguiri is known as one of the hottest spots in Guinea and I understand why now. They.  Aren’t. Kidding.

As for my work at RAFOC, I have actually been pretty busy. The organization has been working on trying to train more than 200 groupments in 3 months, which is a pretty incredible goal. I attended the agents’ training to train the groupments. I found it very interesting that the formation (training) of the agents was in French and the formations of the groupments were in Malinke. Both formations included a lot of pictures/drawings and discussion. What these observations tell me is that 1) due to the fact that most of the people in the groupments having a very low level of education, French is just not applicable at these formations and 2) Again, because of the low level of education, many people in the groupments cannot read or write, so the formations must be based on clear drawings and discussion between the trainer/agent and the groupment. These past few weeks have put into perspective the challenges I will face if I plan to help with future trainings. There are limits to what I can do, but also a great opportunity to expand on what RAFOC is already doing. I have observed formations of just women, just men and a mélange of the two genders. I have observed formations of children tailors, boisterous metal workers and neighboring soap makers. And while I can’t understand a word of what they are saying, they seem to be enthusiastic to participate. To continue with work, one of my favorite experiences thus far since being in Guinea happened about 4 weeks ago. I decided that I wanted to go “en brousse” (on the ground) to see the villages, groupments and the processes of collecting loans. This was a crazy and fantastic 3-day event. My bold move of walking into the boss’ office and telling him that I must go “en brousse” paid off in multiple ways. The team for this adventure included the 2 bosses, my agent friend Ceci and me. We started off our adventure by passing by the oh-so-famous gold mines, 30k north of Siguiri. It was a very interesting sight. I found it amazing/unique/sad/chaotic. The road to the mines were packed with what seemed like hundreds of motos, filed into rows and on the other side, stands upon stands of clothes for sale for the miners who get mud and dirt on every inch of their bodies. When we reached the mines, there seemed to be hundreds upon hundreds of people. I saw the men working the motors that shake the ground and women and children sifting through the dirt and mud for nuggets of gold. It was one of the most inexpressible events I have ever seen. It is just crazy that those little nuggets are what basically drives Siguiri in every way and in every sector. 

We continued driving north on the unpaved and extremely bumpy roads to the very isolated villages where RAFOC works. Because the villages are pretty remote, the roads are not very conducive to cars, just motos. So as predicted, we eventually popped a tire and got stuck in a ditch about 2 hours into our ride. Since it is Guinea, it was pretty hot and we were in the middle of nowhere, which may seem nightmare-ish, but it was actually a really great bonding experience. I was able to just chat with Ceci and one of the bosses about their lives, families, likes and dislikes, all while listening to the Guinean version of The Buena Vista Social Club. The boss even called me a “ball buster” because I have a very strong and direct personality. You know it! I am no gentle flower. LOL.   When we finally got back on our way, we split up into 2 teams- one on the moto and one in the car. I rode in the car with one of the bosses as we visited village after village collecting their loan money. Village after village, we were fed boi (a watery rice soup that can be sweet, depending on how they make it). Each groupment we met with gave us some type of boi. As the night grew near, we continued to visit villages, passing some beautiful sights of northeast Guinea including seeing the sunset between two large mountains (which is a rare sight here because the climate is more like desert) and row after row of mango trees. I even saw rain for the first time since being here! It rained like cats and dogs as the boss and I huddled in a hut with a 20-women groupment waiting for it to pass. I have missed rain, especially the after-rain smell. It was 11pm when we reached the last groupment of the day. We had been visiting groupments for the past 7 hours. I was so exhausted that I ended up sleeping for a bit under the stars as the boss talked to the president of a groupment and they shared a bowl of boi. We ended the night at Ceci’s family house, meet up with her and the other boss and went to sleep. The next day, we visited the local RAFOC office and then headed back to Siguiri. One thing that I noticed in every village was that I was a big hit with the kids. I was as popular as if I were Elmo filled with candy and puppies. They would just stare at me, tried to touch my arm or hand and followed me everywhere I would go. Ceci told me that I was perhaps the first white person some of them had ever seen. I was definitely a sight.

In continuing with my self discovery, I have realized that I am not so awesome with change as I once thought. My stubbornness and extreme independence may work well in the U.S., but just leaves me closed off to people here. I have begun to make a conscious effort to engage the people around me more often. I have already overcome the fear and uncertainty of being a Peace Corps volunteer and feel like I have done well rolling with the punches thus far, much better than I ever thought I could. So, why limit myself now? Why be apprehensive around my neighbors, co-workers, ect? Like I said, the language barrier cannot be an excuse for me. I refuse to make it one. My new attitude of engagement has been going well. I am getting along fantastically with my neighbors/family. I talk to the adults quite a bit. I am even getting some cooking lessons. I watch the news with the dad when the electricity is on and play games with the kids. I am doing pretty well with integration this month. I have to say that Siguiri is really starting to feel more like home every day and for that I am very thankful. I am glad that my integration is going well so far. With that being said, I still often feel that I am lost without a sense of purpose here. I consider that to be an American problem. In the U.S., we are constantly going and always have to feel like we are busy or have some very important thing to do. So, when I came here, I figured I needed to search for a purpose ASAP. This task is hard because the culture and way of life here is so different to what I know that the only way I can get anything done in the future is by observing and shadowing individuals as much as possible. This is hard for an American. Where is the go-go-go? Why am I not doing something every moment of every day? I realize that this whole PC experience is a process that must start by understanding your surroundings as well as possible. That just conflicts with my American “purpose-driven” nature. I am trying to embrace this new way of thinking, but it has been difficult for me.  I am a bit lost with no idea of what I will be doing in the future. Oh, boy. I guess as they say; only time will tell and oh, yeah, take a chill pill.

I have also been doing a little exploring, which is one of my favorite things to do. I have really been enjoying take the bike or just a walk around the city, getting a little lost and finding new, cool places. Recently, I found this banana/plantains shop. This shop has the best advertising I have ever seen before. They literally have a pile of banana and plantains outside that is the height of the actual store. It reaches to the roof. It is crazy awesome! If you are looking for bananas or plantains, look no further. They have as much as you will ever need. On one of my walks, I also found an ex-pat store. An ex-pat store carries products and items that can’t be found in any other boutiques in the city and often reminds us of things back home. While it is not as big as the one in Kan Kan, I can find Coke Zero, fake chocolate cookies and toilet paper at this one, so I am happy. It was a good find. I look forward to continuing my adventures as I discover more about Siguiri. I am still on the lookout for a pool. Lol.

Right now, as you can probably guess, I am in Kan Kan for the group’s monthly visit. We are super excited since we recently purchased speakers for the house. This means that our usual dance parties will be even more insane. I will also be heading to Mamou soon for IST (in-service training) for about 3 weeks. Our first three months at site are almost up, so it is time to see everyone again and get the training to start projects. IST can’t come fast enough! With that being said, I will try to put up another blog post before Mamou if I can, but if not, it will be the beginning of June before I can put up another one since I don’t think that the place we are staying at in Mamou has any internet. My apologies, but you know how it goes around here. Lastly, I want to send a little shout-out to all my friends back in The States who are graduating from college this month. Congrats!

As always, wishing all of you the best.

XOXO,

Carolina

According to Einstein, I am insane. Einstein was once famously quoted as saying that if you repeat an action over and over again expecting different results, it is called insanity. Well, I am pretty sure Einstein would call me insane if he saw me in Guinea. Repeating actions over and over and over again is what Peace Corps volunteers, including myself, have to do. Often wishing for better results each time. Take, for example, saying hi. In Guinea, a salutation is vital to integrating yourself into the community and each time you do it, you wish for a better warmer reaction than the time before. Instead of tobabo (haute’s version of foté), you know you have made progress when you hear your actual African name. You know you have made progress when people start understanding what you are saying, even when in the beginning you had to repeat it a couple times. While I am still working on getting water from the well/pump, I can successfully open and close the door to my room now…after repeating the action multiple times and having a few locked-in situations. I am not proud of the fact I couldn’t open a door. Nonetheless, it is an improvement. And, I am all for improvements. Gold stars for me, even for the little things. So, I guess what I am trying to say is that I am OK with being insane. I believe you have to be a little to be here. Speaking of integration, it has been quite the hardship lately. I have good and bad days. Days where I am outside playing soccer with my neighborhood kids and days when I rather lock myself in my room. I have been struggling with how to keep myself intact (personality and all), while learning and adapting. When I am setting my boundaries and when I am just being stubborn? I am definitely learning a lot about myself while being here. Maybe I am not as accepting as I once thought. Maybe fear of failure and rejection has not allowed me to get close to anyone here yet. Maybe I am using my lack of language as an excuse. There is so much left for me to find out- good and bad.

Loneliness has also been something that I have been dealing with. Being alone in the farthest point that a volunteer is currently serving and being really far away from everyone that isn’t in Kan Kan can mess with our head a little. When you don’t know the local language and are considered super bizarre, particularly because you don’t know the customs and culture, it is not like people are clamoring to be your friend. At least not true friends that aren’t looking at gaining something from the friendship. For this reason, I am glad to have my neighbors. While, I still have no privacy, they are nice people. I have fun with the kids, hang out with the teenage daughter from time to time and spend some of my evenings speaking to the parents. They have helped me out of my shell and have served as my constant company and for that I am grateful. Something that continues to be a struggle for me however is the food. Not that the food here isn’t good. We are at the cusp of mango season, and I have already had like a million mangos. But, I miss my mom’s food, my favorite restaurants…cheese. I have even been having food dreams. I dream of mac and cheese, Greek salad, lentil soup, pad Thai and the list just continues. I swear that when I get back to the U.S., I will gain 30 lbs from just eating whatever is in my sight. I will be well worth it.

As for what I have been doing at site, I have been working hard on my assessment. I have been visiting many officials to get information about Siguiri, which have actually been the highlights of most of my weeks. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it all, but I have found out some pretty awesome stuff about Siguiri. I have found out that the city has 5 taxi stops, each which goes to different destinations. There are over 500 seats that are always filled up that go from Siguiri to Conakry, which is crazy to me since those 2 points are just so far away from one another. I found out by talking to the transportation director that Siguiri is a huge commercial center. It is the first main city in Guinea coming from Mali, so it is often very busy. When visiting the radio station to get some answers on communication, my homologue and I had to climb a hill to get to the radio station, and I got a surprise when I realized that I could see the entire city from the hill. Turns out Siguiri is pretty huge and covers a lot of land. Surprises like these are what makes days fun and exciting. I have been going around town once a week with my homologue practicing my French by talking to a bunch of officials and important people. I really hope that I will end up with a great presentation when it comes time to go to Mamou for in-service training. I hate to say this, but all of this interviewing and talking has been made easier because I took a certain reporting class in college. If you know me, I hated that class. It took over my life for a semester. I got through it and apparently now, I am reaping the rewards. Although it is in another language, I feel comfortable asking all sorts of question and use the same protocol as I used in the class.  I guess reporting wasn’t that bad….looking back. Lol. I have found that those unanswered questions about the new place that I am living in has peaked my curiosity more than I ever expected it too. I want to know as much as I can as I possibly can.

So, we come to mice. If you remember a previous blog post, you know that I am not a fan. I can take cockroaches and spiders by the ton, but mice…I can’t deal with one. Since moving into my room, I have encounter mice a handful of times. I think the thing I hate the most is the noise they make. That like toothy sound. I don’t know how to explain it, but is worst than nails on a chalkboard for me. Anyway, I have been using my makeshift broom to try to shoo them out of my room at all hours at the night. I literally can’t sleep at night if I have mice in my room. They are quick, make lots of noise in the dark and I have never had a death wish for something more in my life. I am dealing with the situation as well as I can. I am closing more often my door and trying to find mouse poison at the market, which apparently is very hard to find.  It must be something to do with reading about the black plague as a kid and knowing that rodents spread the diseases that makes me even more uneasy.

Since I have no running water, I am starting to realize how important water is to life here. I need to fill up my water bucket at least 2 times a day. If you think about it, you use water for showering, cooking, washing clothes, washing dishes and other things. You may not realize it, but you use water for everything. I have come to that realization being here, mostly because it is a lot of pulling or pumping to get water here and then a lot of carrying. Water is essential here.  Speaking of water, a couple of weekends ago, I decided to visit Chris, my closest PCV, at his site and, we went to see the river, the Niger River. His village is on the river and is an important nature landmark of my site, so of course, I wanted to see it. The pictures below are from that day. I had a complete blast. We walked by the beach, said hi to half of his village and made the spontaneous decision to wave through the water to the village across the river. Because it is the dry season, you can walk across with the water not going beyond my knees. A bunch of the girls from Chris’s village decided to join us, while teasing Chris the whole time that the hippos were going to eat him. After the river, we walked around his village and, since we are at the beginning of mango season, there were tons of mangos to eat. DELICIOUS. While the bike ride back made me very tired, overall, I had a great time.

Lastly, and sadly, my CED (community economic development) program has been cut. It sounds more severe than it actually is, but it does mean that Guinea’s programs have been reduced from 4 to 3. It is mostly due to budget cuts and PC headquarters in Washington restructuring itself. I am really sad about it because it means there are no CED volunteers that can continue the work I do and second, it means that not a whole lot of volunteers will be the Siguiri area in the future.  The main changes will be in our reporting of what we are doing. The type of projects and things we can do at site will not change, thankfully. It makes me sad, but like everything in Guinea, we must continue on.

So, that is it for me this month. I am sorry this post was not more exciting as it took me a couple of tries to complete it. As you may or may not know, there was a coup in Mali this past week. I am OK, although there is tighten security in the haute area and the boarder to Mali is closed. Just make sure to keep PC Mali in your prayers.  I hope all is good back in the states and as always I will continue to update you all.

Bon Chance and Bon Courage,

Carolina

Chris and some of the local girls in his village

Niger River

Look at who got their hair did!

So, I am here in Siguiri! It feels insane to finally be starting my service. I have always heard about that moment when the Peace Corps car comes to your house/place to drop you off can be fear-inducing and can often lead to crying/hyperventilating and/or deep shock. For me, I felt weirdly calm as I saw the antenna of the Peace Corps car slowly drive away down the street outside of my compound. I think because I was the last one to be instilled, I was ready to just get it over with. No more hanging out with Americans.  They dropped off all my stuff in my room, asked me if everything was OK and got back into the car to drive away. It wasn’t until a few hours and a broken water filter later, I realized that I was truly alone. Alone, alone, alone.  I didn’t feel any sort of freak out moment until the first night. It wasn’t a true freak out moment, as much as an I-am-overwhelmed-with- baggage, this- tiny- room-omg-I-don’t-have-a-water-filter moment. The darkness and being alone just added to that feeling. But, I quickly felt better the next day and my mind was consumed by organizing and setting up my room. My room is not very big, and I don’t have entire house to furnished, so I made sure my setting-in allowance went far.  I am really excited because I started a photo wall! On one of my walls, I put up the 20 photos I took me from home of my family and friends. It is coming together and, I will continue to add during the next 2 years. I would really LOVE LOVE LOVE to get photos of what everyone is up to back home. Send me photos! I also had some shelves made and put up my UF wall covering and Angie’s painting. It definitely has started to feel more like home with some of my old things that used to be in my room back home and from college. I am still waiting on getting a hammock and radio. I think I will save a little money and get them later. During my first weekend at site, I went to the market and got some kitchen essentials, including a charcoal cooker, and some other things for the room. I have a nice, unintentional blue and yellow theme in the room. The walls are yellow and a lot of things that I bought are blue.  I am almost done with all of the little details. I will post some photos when I get a chance…someday.

One of the interesting things about having been at site for 2 weeks already is how the lack of schedule and routine has affected me. PST was all about schedules, sessions and time periods, which is vastly different to my time now. I can make my own schedule now, which has been interesting. The first few days were nice not to have anything to do but get accustomed to my surroundings. But around day 4, it started to get a little boring, and being a American and just me, I realized I need to figure out when and what time I need to be in the office.  I have been going to the office almost every day over the past 2 weeks, but that is going to change when I get started on the community assessment. The community assessment is our 3-month project where we go around to many, many different people, agencies, ministries and ask them questions about our community to get to know the community better and start looking into what projects we might be interested in doing. At the same time though, I feel bad for not helping out or participating with my organization, who are the ones hosting me, so I am trying to figure out what I can do on a smaller scale to help. I have been thinking about helping with some simple computer training and English for the agents at my organization twice a week, while doing the community assessment the other three days. There you go…I have created myself a 5-day work schedule. We will see if I can stick to it. This community assessment has created some anxiety due to my lack of French and Malinke and the possible responses to the questions. Will they tell me about problems/issues that their workplace might be having or will they just say that everything is OK? I am sure I will be fine, especially since my counterpart agreed to help me, but still…I am sure this is going to be no less than interesting.  One of the things about the haute region that I am noticing is how little number of people actually speak French. Unlike some other West African countries, people in Guinea grow up learning their local dialect and then French in school. So, you often know someone’s education level by how much French a person knows. Since haute is a pretty poor region of Guinea, I am finding less people that speak French and more that speak strictly Malinke. I am trying to adjust to the idea of learning 2 languages at the same time. I am not thrilled by the idea, but realize that it is essential.  

And this leads to integration. Integration is one of those funny things. From just the past few weeks, I have realized that I am more stubborn than I realized, and I am a bigger fan of the “fuck yeah America” club than I thought. I really thought that I would be all for integration when I came here, but I am finding myself being resistant to complete integration.  My American ways when it comes to privacy and space are not going to change anytime soon. I like and find both to be very vital. But, on the flip side, I am finding it fun to say hi to everyone. People in the street are often amused by the little Malinke I know.  I don’t particularly like saying hi all the time/all day, but I am getting used to that. I am trying to get used to being stared and pointed at 24/7, but that one might take longer to get used to.  I am taking integration one day at a time.  Like life in the U.S., some days are better/more productive than others. Some days my attitudes and spirit are in a better place than others. Some days, I wish I was back in the U.S. where people understand me and 2 years doesn’t seem like an eternity.  Other days, I feel like maybe I can make a small difference here.  I am just trying to remind myself that all of this “fitting in” will take time.  Speaking of America, I have had stronger bounds of homesickness lately. There will be moments, minutes, hours where I wish I was back home. I miss my family, friends and a familiar place often, particularly when I am alone. I have been able to keep in check most of the time, but I have those moments, and I am sure I will continue to have them. I miss American convenience a lot too- washing machines, restaurants (good food), ect.

So, now for the neighbors- the good and bad. Some days, I have a better attitude about my neighbors than others. They live right in front of my room, and we share a courtyard. To say that there is a lack of privacy is the understatement of the century. I have become the Paris Hilton of Siguiri. My lack of domestic abilities have amused them tremendously. I can’t get water from the well. I can’t carry the water to my latrine. I can barely cook for myself. I am sure in their eyes; I am the entitled American girl who has never had to lift a finger. I am slowly changing their minds since I have done laundry for myself and cooked for myself (although, I made a killer beans and potatoes dish the other days that even the neighbors said was really good). However, the laughs and snickers I usually get when I try to do anything from across the way, can sometimes put me in a bad mood. If you know me, you know that I am a very independent person. I hate being baby-ed or told what to do or how to do it; again, I can be very stubborn. So, my capacity to deal with the neighbors that stare out at my room all  day, talk about me in Malinke and having to say hi every time I need to use the bathroom can be very emotional taxing. However, on the other side, they did feed me the first couple of days at sight; they are endlessly helpful and are very nice. I realize this experience will make me learn how to take the good with the bad more often.

My market is a good 15 minutes away. I have been out and about exploring Siguiri a couple of times since I got here. My market is a bike ride away, and I am slowly finding out where some places are. I know where to get a cold soda, where to get some tea and breakfast and where the lettuce lady is. I think I am making progress. I have biked to the market with both my closest PCV, Chris and a Swiss biker who passed by Siguiri on his 2-year African biking adventure. The Swiss biker is trying to make it to South Africa and back in 2 years on a bicycle. He was really nice, had a lot of stories to tell and, it was just nice to have a visitor in my city. Work has been good too. On my first day, the chefs of the organizations took me to the boonies of the Siguiri prefecture to have a groupment pay back their loan and start a new cycle. While the whole thing was in Malinke and I didn’t understand a word, it really cool to see the groupment and my organization in action. This past Thursday was my best day here yet. I was able to finish my English to French translation of the community assessment, sat in on a groupment meeting with the chef, learned a little Malinke from my co-workers/the other agents, said hi in French and Malinke to half of my neighborhood on my way to get breakfast and had a overall good feeling about the day. For a second there, I felt like I could actually do this. It was a change than the usual “I feel overwhelmed/what is it that I can do to help” feeling.  Let’s hope this feeling continues to grow over the next few weeks.

So, where am I now? I am in Kan Kan for my monthly visit to see the other PCVs. We have been swapping stories of the first 2 weeks and just having a good time hanging out with one another. I think we all have missed each other and the environment in the PC house. As far as my internet situation, it hasn’t gotten any better. I have yet to see an internet café in Siguiri and the internet at the house doesn’t work, so the only way to get internet is going to an internet café in Kan Kan. Just be patient with my posts.

I miss you all tremendously. You have no idea.

Wishing you all the best for Siguiri,

Carolina

My host cousin and brother!

CED working our best 90s poses

WE ARE VOLUNTEERS!

Some major African swagger with Kenny and Abe