Back on the Road

Stomping Out Malaria

Recently all eyes have been on Guinea and neighboring countries in wake of the Ebola outbreak. It’s a country few could’ve placed on the map just a few short months ago and is a place I’m proud to call home. Yet, as somebody who’s lived, worked, cried, loved, and laughed here for the past 18 months, there’s a disease that hits much closer to home.  While people watched aghast as 142 lives were lost to Ebola (an incredible tragedy) news sources remained silent on the largest public health issue and killer in Guinea and much of Sub-Saharan Africa—malaria.

For anyone that might not know or needs a refresher, malaria is a mosquito-born infectious disease caused by parasites known as Plasmodium. It begins with a bite from an infected Anopheles mosquito, which introduces the parasite into the circulatory system via her saliva.  The parasites eventually find their way to the liver where they reproduce. Malaria typically manifests itself as cyclical fevers, headaches, chills, and nausea, but if left untreated can lead to seizures, miscarriage, coma or even death.

Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds in Sub-Saharan Africa and is responsible for 14% of death and 34% of hospitalizations in Guinea.  The entire population lives in high-transmission zones.  Since January 2014, 556 people have been diagnosed with malaria in my community alone. Keep in mind these are only the cases of people who visited the health center for treatment and doesn’t account for the people who relied on traditional home treatment or simply didn’t have access to the health center.

Throughout Guinea, misinformation about malaria abounds. I’ve had many a heated discussion about whether or not you can get malaria from eating green/ too many mangoes (you can’t!!!). Others claim mosquitoes are only a problem in the capital Conakry and malaria doesn’t exist in my community. Regardless of whether or not somebody wants to believe it’s a problem, the numbers speak for themselves.

However, the good news is that malaria is a disease that is easily preventable and treatable.  In 2011 Peace Corps Guinea joined with all other Peace Corps Africa countries to finally eliminate malaria. There are over 3,000 volunteers like me who are striving to bring malaria deaths in our host countries to zero by 2020. It’s a goal that sounds daunting but is possible.

The largest component of this campaign as a volunteer is the dissemination of proper information about disease transmission, treatment availability, and proper use/ maintenance of mosquito nets. For the last month I’ve put many of my other projects on hold to educate my community. Together with other volunteers I completed a bicycle tour to educate five different communities over 3 days. In total we talked with ~600 people of all ages and backgrounds. Last weekend we hosted a net washing training and soccer game with half-time malaria talk in our regional capital. Tomorrow I’m kicking off my educational campaign in my community’s nightclub and at the soccer field. Even if they don’t come to learn about malaria, they surely will to watch me play soccer and dance. Pictures to follow.

I hope you learned a little something about malaria. Please share this with other friends or family members and help spread the word about malaria.

Books for Guinea

Disclaimer: This blog post is an open letter to friends and family, a shameless plea to help bring the love of reading to my community.

Ever day my little 5-year-old brother comes to my door with a simple demand, a single word, “Livre”. He wants to look through one of my  National Geographic’s. He loves the pictures and never tires of asking, “What’s that?” though I’ve explained every article a dozen times. It’s wonderful to share in his excitement. Whenever friends visit he borrows an issue and happily recounts his own version of the stories. 

However for most Guineans, books play a very small role in their lives. Like most people in my community, the only books my family owns are textbooks. Whenever I pull out a book while waiting for a taxi or lounging in my hammock, they assume I’m working. They’ve never read a novel. Libraries are a rarity and books in the region’s few bookstores are too expensive. A culture of reading for enjoyment or self-education is virtually non-existent. After all, the national literacy rate is ~30%.

Twenty-five other volunteers and I are working to change this reality by getting books into the hands of children and other interested community members. We're working with the non-profit organization Books for Africa to send 22,000 French books to communities across the country. We will share these books to create new libraries and expand existing ones.   The books will range from children’s reading books to high school textbooks. My community library will allow residents to check-out library books for the first time in their lives and host a reading room.  Our library will partner with the local literacy advocacy group to makes books accessible to the most community members possible. 

For transportation costs, we need to raise $20,000. Obviously, that’s
a lot of money, but essentially it is less than $1 per book. We can’t
find a better deal than that. Our local communities have shown their
dedication to the project by agreeing to raise $5,000 themselves to
cover port expenses and in-country transportation.

If you’re interested in helping our project, you can go to our project
page on Books for Africa’s website here
https://www.booksforafrica.org/donate/to-project.html?projectId=153.
Thank you so much for your time and support. Together, we can greatly
impact education in Guinea and help foster a love of reading.

My lil bro and I

Beekeepin

Whoa. It has been a long time since I've posted anything on here. Unfortunately I don't have much time for a full update, so I'm posting an article that I recently wrote about beekeeping for our technical exchange newsletter. Enjoy!

When approaching a beehive something in your most basic, animalistic biology tells you this isn’t good idea. Opening the lid, that voice gets louder, screaming at you to stop. It’s understandable. Bees can be dangerous. Yet even with thousands of bees around, a larger part of you, the part of you that collected bugs as a child takes over and thinks, “ Wow! This is awesome.” Somehow at that moment your fight or flight impulse disappears and all that’s left is clarity and an amazing job to do.

Yet two short years ago when applying for Peace Corps, beekeeping was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d never even been stung by a bee and couldn’t imagine any circumstance that would make opening a beehive appealing. Turns out you change your mind pretty quickly after six months of sitting at site doing nothing. Suddenly beekeeping didn’t sound like a ludicrous idea only done by people of questionable sanity. Now it was my project, my baby, and my reason for staying in Guinea.

At this point you might be thinking, “that’s all well and good for you, but why is beekeeping even important to PC Guinea?” To the skeptics out there: if your site has agriculture or any flowering plants bees play a key role in your community.  Often unseen and under-appreciated bees make sure we get to enjoy mangoes, cashews, oranges, and countless other fruits and vegetables. As Einstein famously said, “If bees let the planet, man would have 3-5 years left.”  Wow.

While bees naturally and plentifully exist in Guinea, few Guineans actually practice beekeeping. The majority of people who interact with bees do so either as honey hunters or beehavers.  Honey hunters are folks who search out naturally occurring hives and take the honey.  One step above honey hunting is beehaving—providing bees with a protective man-made structure where the colony can live but not doing any active hive management.  These hives are made from a variety of materials including woven grass, hollow tree trunks, gourds, etc.   Beehavers provide the bees protection as a means to facilitate future honey harvests.

While both practices are successful in harvesting honey, they can have detrimental impacts.  During harvest, hives are traditionally subdued by lighting a smoky fire below the hive. This calms the bees somewhat, but when the harvest is complete and angry bees are swarming, the fire may be left burning while harvesters flee to safety.  Unattended these can turn into devastatingly large brush fires.  Traditional harvesting methods may collapse entire colonies by destroying brood comb/ killing the queen or lead to bees abandoning the hive.

So now I’m sure you want to know how PCV’s can get involved.

We can assist local honey hunters and beehavers in adapting their practices to become beekeepers.  The main difference being that beekeepers possess enough understanding of bee biology and organization to work with and actively manage bees. Making the transition doesn’t require large financial investments, just training and practical application such as tweaking traditional hive designs to allow greater colony management and monitoring. For example, you might add top bars to a woven grass hive or make protective beekeeping suits from old rice sacks.

But even if getting down and dirty with bees isn’t your thing it’s still possible to work with local bee workers. Help increase honey quality and profitability by teaching local harvesters how to filter honey and recognize the differences between good and bad quality honey. If you’re feeling more ambitious, why not transform comb that would otherwise be thrown away into profit. It’s easy to purify wax and transform it into a variety of products including: candles, body butter, soap, or lip gloss. All are fun projects, great souvenirs to bring home, and possible to make with ingredients available at your local market.

Hopefully I’ve managed to convince a few of you that beekeeping would be an awesome project. If you want to learn more about bees pick up a copy of “Small-scale Beekeeping” (available at your regional house in both French and English) or feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or to get several GB’s of beekeeping materials. Be sure to apply to the upcoming beekeeping training, tentatively scheduled for June 16-20. Till next time, keep an eye on your local pollinators.

Back in Action

I feel like I need to start out with a big ol' apology to all of my previously-faithful blog following family and friends for falling off the bandwagon. The past few months haven't been easy ones for me at site and my access to technology minimal. Ergo, I had neither the motivation nor means to write.

I am delighted to say that is all behind me now. Things are finally picking up work-wise for me, and I couldn't be more excited about it. It's true what they say, that the days will seem to drag-on, but that suddenly you look at the calendar only to realize weeks and even months have flown by. Hard to believe I'm already over 1/3 done with my time here in Guinea, especially since it feels like my work has only just begun.

Horray for beesuits!

A traditional beekeeper w/ hive

I've been away from dear Timbi Tounni, and my beloved kitty, a lot lately, but it's been in the name of improving my skillset as a volunteer. I recently attended two Peace Corps trainings back-to-back. The first topic was Nutrition. It wasn't what I had expected as we spent most of our time discussing proper nutrition for pregant/ nursing women and small children. We had the opportunity to practice our skills by talking with mothers at the health center in Mamou about proper weaning and nutrition, and now my counterpart couldn't be more stoked about conducting sensibilizations at the Pita Centre du Sante as soon as I'm back in town.

The second training covered apiculture aka beekeeping and was more in line with my current project goals at site. I am working with the Timbi Tounni garden co-operative coordinator to form a beekeeping co-operative in Timbi Tounni and couldn't be more excited about it. Though I'll admit to being more than a little nervous about working with these popular pollinators when I signed up for the training. However, once the beesuit was on and the hive opened my anxieties seemed to dissipate. It's a pretty incredible feeling to be standing in the middle of so many bees and feel secure, akin to scuba diving except with bees instead of water.

Hopefully once I get back to site I'll be able to put this training to good use right away. My counterpart and I have already identified ten local beekeepers who are interested in joining the co-operative. You may be wondering why bother to start a co-operative if everyone is already keeping on their own. Valid question. Working together in a co-operative would enable them to try new techniques that can improve profits & harvest and be more environmentally friendly by spreading the risk across all members of the co-operative. It will also decrease costs by allowing them to share equipment like smokers and bee suits. Here's hoping that I'll be able to make these dreams into a reality in the not-so-distant future!

My other recent project ideas include refurbishing our local basketball court and hosting sports camps for the youth, starting an environmental club at the local middle school, conducting local biological surveys of flora and fauna (esp. frogs & toads!), and helping a local NGO get off the ground. Over and out for now, but keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have exciting news to share next time I see a keyboard.


Kamsar port



Inside the hive

A nalle e jam? (How's your day going?)

Being a Peace Corps volunteer, what in the world does that actually entail? Are you having fun in Guinea? What are you going to do for two years? I'll admit that many days I don't seem to know the answers to those questions myself.

HOWEVER--

I thought that today I could give you a brief glimpse into what a typical day for me might look like. Let's go for a ride, shall we? 

Baby chickens!

Most mornings I get up around 7:00 or 7:30. No need for alarm clocks since I have a remarkably playful kitten and an eastern-facing window-- not to mention a four-year old brother who's favorite morning activity is usually yelling.  As I pull back my mosquito net and search for where Bobo (that's my new kitty) has hidden my flip-flops I can hear roosters greeting the morning, the rhythmic bom-bom bom-bom of women all round Timbi Tounni pounding rice, hot peppers, leafs, anything really in their piles. If I get up early enough I can hear the call to prayer from the grande mosque on the other side of the main road. Though admittedly that's not usually a happy day since the first call comes at 6:00 or earlier.

Lil' sister and Bobo

For the next few hours I embrace a spending a little time on my lonesome. After putting on water to boil for my tasty pot-o-oatmeal and mug of tea I take a mental break from being in Guinea to do some yoga. (An absolute necessity with a lumpy bed and tiny milking stools for chairs. No ergonomics here!)  A major benefit of living in a one-room house is that it's easy to watch things bubbling on the stove while I'm in the bedroom! Once I'm all stretched out and in good working order for the day, I settle in for breakfast and some letter writing or book reading. Then there's the fun of washing dishes, always battling the chickens to get my job done and keep the dishes clean. It's become so important for me to follow a routine each morning, to slowly but surely create something reassuring and regular in this often unfamiliar place.

After my morning ritual is when the really fun starts. So many options, so little time. For being a place without many American amenities, it might seem strange that I'm not bored and feel I don't have enough time, but truly I do. Some mornings I head off to the weekly market to stock up on fresh produce for the coming days-- mangoes, avocados, and peanut butter galore.  Others I meet with local gardening groupements to discuss their current practices & challenges and garner insight into how I can best aid my community, bicycle through town and salue everyone I know (a BIG part of the first 3 months in Peace Corps), attend random trainings and community events (literacy training, glasses distribution, etc.), or undertake the ever challenging tast of washing my laundry. As a fun side note: running water is what I miss most in Guinea. Not showers, but the simple luxury of not having to tote all my water in jugs across the town or walk to the stream on the edge of town to do my laundry.

Anyways. I digress. After all of those morning delights comes lunch! Always a reason to rejoice. Often I cook for myself in my lil' kitchen. Common meals include spaghetti, stir fry, egg sandwiches, or pancakes. But the possibilities are pretty wide. Made some pretty tasty peanut brittle and tomato soup the other day. Though I'll admit that my cooking space is a bit more cramped than I'm used to (see above). When I don't feel like cooking there's always somebody who's more than happy to invite me over for rice and sauce or I can buy keke, rice and sauce, and other tasty treats in town.

By this time. The sun is HOT! It's generally accepted to be the hours of repose here between 2 and 5 or so. During those hours you can usually find me chilling out at my house: writing letters, reading, playing with Bobo, doing projects around the house or garden, hanging out with petities, or napping. All activities always accompanied by glorious music, BBC, or This American Life (and the roosters and sheep bleating).  Some afternoons I pass the time visiting my friends & family, teaching an after-school English course, or exploring the wild lands and forests surrounding Timbi Tounni. Then again there's always the fun of getting pump water.

At 5:00 comes another call for prayer. And as many people head to the grande mosque for prayer I often go to the trails and forest not far from my house to find some mental solace of my own. Going up and down those hills, like so so many before them, brings such peace to my soul-- even if it's followed by five petites who decided to join.

In the final hours of daylight, it's dish washed, bathing, and maybe a little frisbee playing before the cockroaches and ants come out for the evening. Another day in Guinea comes to a close with some more BBC, journaling, and phone chatting. And, of course, there's always the pure joy of collapsing back into my bed for some well deserved rest and sweet dreams.

Thanks for joining me for the atypical that has become my new normal here in Guinea. It never fails to amaze me just how quickly that definition can change!

No Butti Seeda? (Are you better?)

Local butcherie

 ** Disclaimer: Some contents are not for the weak of stomach**

Some days the hilarity of the universe is hard to believe. Yet every morning I continue to wake up and find myself living in West Africa. I’ve finally moved into a new place—a cozy one-room house with a porch in a compound with a family. It’s been a shift from my old too-big for me mansion. I’ve got a nice outside pit latrine and then a separate outside room for showering—a good way to keep all the bugs and smells far away from me.

Bathroom on the left, home on the right

Now that I’m no longer homeless and am back in action Timbi Tounni is slowly but surely becoming my home. It’s a great feeling to be on a first name basis with the woman I buy oranges from and to have running jokes with the local chauffer.  I never cease to be amazed that I can effectively communicate with people in not only my second but also third language, some times anyway. By making a public spectacle of myself running through Timbi, I’ve developed a following of petites that join me on my nightly rendezvous. All of us do the four-mile loop through the community forest and back down the main road in town. Everyone thinks it’s a ridiculous site; I’m inclined to agree.

WORMS?!

However, it hasn’t all been roses this month. After visiting the doctor in Labe and taking a round of treatment, I still continued to see worms.  Days of denial later I finally picked up the phone and called the Peace Corps medical staff.  To my dismay, they said before they’d send me more meds I needed to send them photos. So, like it or not, I took photos of my intestinal worms for the Peace Corps and e-mailed them away.  The next day staff confirmed my fears; I had a tapeworm.  I took additional meds and thought my troubles were finally over, but sure enough a week later the worms persisted. Calling the medical staff near tears we agreed I needed to visit Conakry for further testing.

After ten hours in a taxi the last thing I wanted to talk about was intestinal worms, but sometimes life doesn’t give you a choice.  The next morning I handed over stool and blood for testing to finally identify my bodymates and make sure I’m not anemic or infected with other random parasites. The whole ordeal was pretty ridiculous. Only in Peace Corps Guinea are parasites dinner conversation.

The guilty party

The next day the results came in. The culprit you ask? Who are those demons living within my bowels?

POTATOS!

In short, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with me. None of the above. It turns out that after that long, long ordeal of battling worms, they were never there to begin with (or got wiped out in the first two rounds of meds). The mysterious worms I’ve been seeing for weeks are in fact undigested potato peels! What?! If that’s not a hilarious Peace Corps story, I don’t know what is.

One more month to go until another major Peace Corps milestone: In-service Training. Two weeks of reconnecting with other G23 volunteers, sharing project ideas, and learning new skills. Should be a blast. In the meantime I’ll stay busy meeting gardening groupments, studying Pular (the local language), trying new recipes, and transforming my house into a home.

Moringa ollifera. The miracle tree (look it up)

Seeda Seeda (Petite a Petite)

On jaaraama! Greetings from the Labe (largest city of the Fouta Djallon)! I find myself here today for a variety of reasons: housing issues at site, possible intestinal parasites, and the much more pleasant goal of getting a brief snippet of American culture: pizza, movies, and fellow PCV’s.  It’s weird to leave site after living as the only English speaker and porto (white person).  You’ll never know just how delicious a or orange Capri Sun and chocolate chip cookies truly are until you live somewhere where you haven’t truly eaten unless you consumed beaucoup rice.

Swearing-in day

Life au village has been slowly but surely been getting better. I know have actual destinations when I make my daily rounds promenading about town. Folks know my name, and love that I too have the last name of Bah-- making me a sister, daughter, or aunt to 99% of Timbi Touni.  At our weekly market I’ve been able to get vegetables and am cooking for the first time in almost three months. It’s wonderful to have that freedom once more. Can’t wait to make breakfast burritos, pancakes, and maybe even try a little bit of baking.

Most evenings recently I’ve found myself tearing it up on the local basketball court (shocking I know). Don’t think I’ve touched a basketball since middle school, but it’s been a great way to hang out with the local teenage boys. Not to mention, as the only female out on the court it’s been a great way to be more visible in the community and meet new people.

Though my time in Timbi Tounni has been short, it already feels more like home than I ever would have imagined just a few short months ago when I got on that airplane.  Some things about Guinea seem so obvious now it’s hard to believe I ever didn’t know. But for those of you interested in making your own voyage across the pond here’s some quick insight:

-The plates and jars of tennis ball-sized white balls are in fact just peeled oranges. Eating is as simple as biting off the top and sucking out the juice. Voila, instant juicebox! (Unless of course it’s actually laundry soap, hopefully you can tell before taking a bite).

-Unlike America where you rely on gas stations solely for roller foods, slushies, and lottery tickets, gas stations in Guinea are an oasis. Most are complete with air conditioning, yogurt, imported snacks like Pringles and Snickers, and, if your lucky, cold beer! Never discount the magic that could lie behind those glass doors. Be bold in trying unknown snacks, sometimes the blind squirrel that you are may find a nut. Tried and true standby include Biskrems & Glucose cookies.

New friends at Timbi Tounni

-Everyone love love loves it when you speak local language—especially the market ladies.  Say hello, ask how the babies are, find out if there’s evil about before demanding the price or placing an order. It just might make a big difference in how much that price is.  As my own Pulaar improves over time I’ll try to share an important phrase in each post (this is for you MOM and DAD, French may get a taxi, but Pulaar will make you friends).

            

            On jaaraama                                   I greet you

            Tann alaa ton?                                Is there no evil there?

            Beyngure nden no e jam?               Is the family well?

            Paykoy koy?                                   Are the kids well?

The response, you ask?

            Jam tun.                                          Peace only. (always, even if not)

            Onon le?                                         And you?

Hard to believe today marks my three-month point into Peace Corps, that’s what, 1/9 of the way through?  I’m excited though undoubtedly anxious to see where the next three and twenty-four months bring me.

Oo-o! En ontuma!  (Bye! See you later!)

Fatimata

Hiking along the coastal mountains

Stagairs No More

Training is over and all of G23 has made it to official volunteer status here in Guinea! (a remarkable feat to be sure). Checking in today from limbo here in the hot and humid capital city of Conkary. We've packed bags, said goodbyes, and left our homes and host families in Dubreka to move on to new adventures. Now the real Peace Corps experience is about to begin. Tomorrow morning I'll hit the road bright and early for installation at site.

Since last posting I had the opportunity to meet my community counterpart and then spend five days visiting Timbi Tounni-- the village I will soon call home. Those days were a crazy blur of meeting local officials, touring the local community forests (of which there are fifteen), attepting to utilize my meager knowledge of Pulaar (the local language spoken at my site), eating new foods, and doing my best to not get overwhelmed by it all. I am happy to report that my visit was great. Although nothing is finalized yet it looks like I'll be spending time working on expanding the community forest program, sharing the wonders of moringa olifera, the "miracle tree", assisting with the national mosquitoe net distribution locally, and hopefully many more things to come.

Home in Timbi Tounni

 Despite all the uncertaintity that comes with moving to a new place, regardless of whether or not you speak the language or know anyone in the area, I am excited and optimistic about moving forward. My counterpart and community are incredibly excited to have me-- I'll be the fifth volunteer to date, but the first working in AgroForestry.

Making mud stoves at training.

My host family



Getting Dirty

Agroforestry work is officially underway! Ground has been broken and beds created, seeds planted and a tree nursery established.  My bed hopes to someday bear fava beans, bush beans, corn, and the magical moringa tree. Fingers crossed that I’ll get to enjoy some of the harvest before training is through. Our most recent initiatives have been fence construction and creating our three-bin compost system. It’s been hard work, in the hot sun and after school, but it’s worth it to feel like I am finally making progress on what I came here to do and getting my hands (and feet and clothes and face) dirty in the process.

It’s been strange to have to relearn gardening fundamentals without the tools and amenities that are easily accessible in America. For example, instead of buying pre-made mesh for our fence we’ve been lashing and weaving together palm fronds in between the branches we’re using as posts.  Or to water the garden we can’t just set an automated watering system or even turn on the hose, we’ve been hauling the water by bucket from across the compound. Many of the plants we sowed in the garden beds are familiar to me: green beans, corn, okra, carrots, etc. but that’s about where it stops. The native flora and trees we’re using are all foreign. My garden homework this past weekend was starting my own tree ID notebook and seed collections.  I’ve never wanted a well-organized dichotomous key so badly before!

*Shout out to all my BLM-ers for their fabulous herbarium & seed collection skills*

Yesterday we took a break from the hard work to visit some nearby cascades—complete with swimming hole! It felt wonderful to relax and be completely immersed in water after living in this relentless heat and humidity. We swam, played Frisbee, ate hummus, and tried (unsuccessfully) to tan our pale knees and stomachs--truly a world apart from daily life in Dubreka. 

Bonjour Fatimata

 

Today I find myself in the village of Dubreka here in Guinea.  It’s a home to a few ten thousand in the Basse Cote not far from Conakry and the Atlantic. What a tropical paradise it is! (Meaning it’s absurdly humid most days) Most morning I’ve been running through the village and out along a dirt road through the rice paddies and then up to a fishing port along the river—all while watching the sun rise through the mist and palm trees. Jealous yet?

Life here is truly a different world from my Cleveland life. Our first days in Guinea were spent getting oriented at the Peace Corps office and volunteer house in Conakry, the capital city.  Conakry is home to ~3 million people and is a bustling and lively city. The Peace Corps office is right on the Atlantic Ocean; the view of the beach from the volunteer house’s open-air top floor is incredible! Needless to say, I spent many hours up there watching the sunset, writing letters, napping, and ceaselessly trying to improve my hacky sack skills (no such luck yet).

Last we departed Conakry and moved to our current home here in Dubreka. At our adoption ceremony we were formally welcomed into the community, thanked for our upcoming work, and met our host families. It was an exciting but nerve-wracking affair consisting of a few speeches and beaucoup dancing followed by our first meal together as a family. If this ceremony was so much fun, I can’t imagine how great a wedding will be! With much anticipation Barbara and I headed home to our new home.  The first few days were challenging, but this once foreign place is slowly, but surely starting to feel like home.

I live with my host mother, father, and many brothers, sisters, and cousins. On one of my first days in Dubreka I officially became Guinean and was christened with local name: Fatimata Camara.  Everyone gets so excited when I introduce myself as a local. My language skills leave something to be desired, but I’ve been having a great time getting to know my host family and Dubreka—lots of saluating and laughter is essential!

School has started, and days are crammed full with intensive French, cross cultural training, agroforestry info sessions, and gardening. By the time I get home in the evenings its time to eat, take my bucket bath, do homework, and hopefully relax briefly before going to sleep. They weren’t kidding when they said I’d be super busy during pre-service training! Sorry if the letters are few and far between for now, it’s only because I’m trying to be a responsible student.

Other exciting side notes:

-Oranges and bananas here are incredible! So sweet and juicy!

-Peanut sauce & rice= happy belly

-Carrying water on your head isn’t as hard as you might think, it’s the getting it off your heads that’s the real challenge!

Greetings from Guinee!

Checking in today from the beautiful town of Dubreka in Guinee, not too far from the capital city of Conakry. After many many long hours of traveling we arrived in Guinee last Wednesday in the evening. The next three days were a blur of orientations, vaccinations, humidity, and Francais in Conakry.

On Saturday we had our adoption ceremony. I now live with a family here in Dubreka and have been christened with the Guinean name Fatimata Camara.

Time and light are running short.

Au Revoir.

A New Friend!

Barbara and I are excited to report that a new friend will be joining us throughout our Peace Corps travels.  Our new arctic buddy Bowdoin came down to join us all the way from Brunswick, ME. Can't wait to hit the road together bright and early Monday morning!

Two arctic buddies getting ready for an African adventure

As soon as I manage to organize the mass chaos that my room has become and get things packed up and ready to go the obligatory packing list post will be coming your way!

The chaos. 

Mega Time on the Mega Bus

What started out as a short 4 day jaunt to meet up with my frogolist field partner Night Ox aka Marissa quickly snowballed into a weeklong bus trek across the midwest. I figured I was closer to Minneapolis and Madison then than I will be for the next 27 months, and it would be foolish to let such a magical bus-travelling adventure pass me by!

So Barbara and I packed some bags and headed out on our maiden Mega Bus voyage. The Mega Bus is the double-decker big brother of Greyhound, complete with WIFI, outlets, and wonderfully reclining seats. What a luxury to enjoy the miles without paying tolls or worrying about falling asleep at the wheel. So we headed off to spend three glorious days exploring the windy city: visiting the Shedd Aquarium and Lincoln Park Zoo, indulging in incredible veggie fare at the Chicago Diner (they have the most delicious meat-free hot wings!!), and carving masterful jack-o-lanterns.

It was wonderful to relive my favorite frog-catching, toad-licking memories from the summer and create new ones during our big city adventure-- a round of "Warm Kitty, Soft Kitty" anyone? What a huge difference from the days of Camp Skanks where we lived and worked from our beloved Dodge Durango named Dylan for 3 1/2 months. But alas, 325 Ryan Gosling movies, 453 bottles of wine, and endless amounts of laughter later my time in Chicago came to an end, and it was back to the bus with me.

The best pumpkin I've ever carved (right). Seriously!

Barbara made some new friends at the Shedd

After seemingly endless miles, minutes, and cornfields of bus sitting later, we found ourselves in the best parking lot Minneapolis has to offer. That's the thing about Mega Bus, the stops are pretty random and often inconspicuous, denoted only by a small street pole sign. But I digress. . .

Despite the short notice we managed to snag ourselves a native Minnesotan tour guide to show us around. (Thanks Sam!). With more than 10,000 lakes to choose from, it's hard to know where to start but we went for the classic: Superior. As it was my first trip to Duluth and the north shore, we went on the whirlwind tour: hiking the Superior Hiking Trail, visiting the lift bridge, checking out the acoustics at the UMD library, and topping the day off with delicious food and brews at Fitgers Brewery. While I'd never concede that it's the greatest Great Lake, it was spectacular enough that I'll call it a close second--to Erie of course.  ;)

Duluth's famous lift bridge 

Not 48 hours after arriving in Minnesota, I once again found myself on the Mega Bus-- this time going to visit my brother in Madison, WI. I'm grateful we had time to catch up now before the Thanksgiving and pre-Peace Corps stress avalanche comes calling. Although the visit was painfully short we managed to squeeze in plenty of sib bonding time.  For all the great things we did, the cherry on top had to be visiting his office. The halls and grounds are filled with countless works of beautiful artwork, culminating in a visit to the ever popular rideable banana. I don't get it, but I do love it! 

After 30+ hours of Mega Bus travel time, I'm happy to be back home in Ohio until I ship out for Guinea. These days it's back to reality as I prep for my going away/ holiday palooza party, work on fine tuning my packing list, and get ready for Thanksgiving. Time is flying! 

Signing out for now, but the obligatory packing list post will be coming soon (as soon as I know what I'm bringing myself)!