Dear Friends, how is everyone? I hope all is well! Greetings, greetings from deep in the mountains of Guinee. I'm sitting in a bamboo reclining chair right outside my hut under the shade of over hanging hay roof. The sun is going strong at this moment, but under the roof, I'm nice and cool. So, Yes, the other night, a frog came into my hut out of nowhere. I haven't noticed them before in the garden. He was smaller than my fist. I was a bit startled at first, then I kinda of shhh him out with my broomstick. To my surprise, I found him outside of my screen door the next day morning, so Could it be...? Okay, jokes aside. I really can't allow creatures of his size to coexist with me in the hut. I'll deal with spiders on top of the wall, occasionally ants on the floor (not many), but that's about it. I worried about how I'll be able to deal w/ insects (not a fan) before I came. Not to bad so far. So, are you ready for all the nitty gritty of my life in a small village?
My Hut
Oh, I love it! (well, minus those other tiny creatures that share it w/ me). It is cozy and cool, and apparently I still get high "ceiling" w/ living in the hut. Woohoo! I wish I can show you pictures of how I set it up, but you'll have to wait. I'm far from internet and phones. First of all, the roof of the hut is covered w/ a green plant that grow on vines, it managed to cover most part of the roof, with lots of leaves hang off the eaves. It produces a squash shaped green thing that can't be eaten, but used for containers when it is dried. The greens made the hut much prettier, but I think they will be gone w/ the dry season coming. My hut of course is round, The diameter is about 4m which is about 13 ft. The floor area is then around 110 ft sq. The wall is about 2 m high. My door is a bit shorter then me and not as wide as doors in the US. From the top of the wall to peak of "ceiling" is another 1.5m I guess. the roof is supported by many long sticks of bamboo closely spaced with one end outside of the hut, tied to a bamboo ring that is supported by wooden posts about 4.5 ft out of the ground. The long bamboo sticks then rest on top of hut wall about 1/3 up its length, there are about 3 bamboo rings outside the hut, and 5 bamboo rings inside the hut that hold these many long sticks together. All the long sticks come to a common point at the top. Then on top of this "superstructure" is 8 layers of over lapping straw (hay) roofing material. Oh, how can I forget, the mud wall is about 6in thick, reinforcing, you ask, I doubt there is any. The foundation/floor extends another meter all around outside of the wall, slightly set back from the edge of the eave, and raised about 6 inches above ground, so rainwater dripping off the roof will run off to the garden, staying out of the hut. The floor inside has a thin layer of cement topping. I have a 14" X 14" window a quarter of the circle from the door. My door faces toward the family's house also south, my window faces west. But because the eave come down quite low, about 4ft above the ground, it's not too bright inside the hut, which help the inside stays cool in addition to the straw roofing. Not a problem, because I can sit outside under the overhang and get plenty of natural light and be shielded from the sun and rain. It's like having a ring of porch circling my hut. it's amazing what eyes get used to when there is limited light sources.
The volunteer before me left me an amazing amount of stuff. I'm so lucky w/ all these inheritance, like a shelf for storing all my kitchen supply, toiletry and books, a 3 burner stove and a small gas tank still full of gas, a pot and a pan, a bamboo coffee table and 2 bamboo chairs, 2 "prayer" mats for sitting on or lying on, bowls and plates and silverwares. I would be be kinda broke if I had to but a lot of these things myself. I overspent on a used shortwave radio to replace the one that broke down at an auction in PC house to raise money to send girls to annual girls conference, but I'm very happy w/ the radio and happy to know that one more girl can go to conference w/ my purchase. It's a conference to empower girls and talk a lot about related issues.
So I have my shelf between the door and the window, w/ the stove and tank on the floor in front of it. I sit stool in front of the stove and cook. The coffee table and chairs are to the right of the window. The opposite half circle, in the middle of the arc is my single bed w/ mosquito net over it, w/ one metal trunk at each end of the bed for storing valuables and food. My bed is like a cot with a straw mattress, the pillow is also made of straw. i asked for straw because it's cheaper and cooler than foam mattress.
Apparently my host dad here lived in the hut before. I feel bad because he likes the hut more because it's cooler. Also, the community built a brand new latrine for me. It's a 1.5 m wide by 3 m long masonry structure w/ a monosloped roof, sloping away from the hut. It is right behind the hut. Inside I shower, on the other side of the knee wall is the latrine with a hole in the middle of the slab, it is about 5" in diameter. The run off of the shower is channeled by a pipe to the latrine. The latrine is I think 3 m below ground. The latrine is solely for my use. The rest of the family has another one they use. But the little kids like 5 or 6 yr old, they just go off to the corner of the compound to pee.
My Family and the Compound
It is not quite like the host family during training, because by now I am able to take care of myself and cook meals. The first few days they've always given me dinner and when I started cooking myself, they still asked me if I want eat some of theirs. I felt bad that I'm eating their food so sometimes I'll share a little of what I made. It is easier for them to share things w/ me, because they have to cook for a lot of people (2 adults, 3 teenagers, and 3 younger kids), so giving me a little isn't hard, but I can't cook for all of them, so I share whatever I can for them to taste. Breakfast & lunch usually take care of myself, like oatmeal, powder milk, egg omelette sandwich, peanut butter sandwich, etc. Dinner sometimes I'll give my family a bowl so they know to give me some rice and sauce, or I'll eat baguette for starch along w/ veggies I cooked. I don't get to eat much fish or meat anymore once I'm in the village because: one, it is expensive (so I heard), two, there is no way to keep them long. My family has cooked a little bit of meat twice in the 2 weeks I've been here. In fact, I have not seen meat being sold here. I would think if one family slaughter a cow or sheep, they would have to sell a lot of it right away, cos they can't eat all of it soon enough and they can't refrigerate it. I've also heard Pulars love their animals. I'm working on asking my family to eat eggs instead just let the hens keeping them, to increase their protein intake. I've been told they don't necessarily know nutrition facts. They do eat an amazing amount of peanut though, so they get some protein that way. Anyway, I digressed. I'm also relying eggs, peanut butter and dried fish for protein. In the family, there is my "dad" and "mom" They both look old enough to be my grandparents it seems. But I have a feeling, they are younger then my actual parents. They have their 2 teenage sons here and 4 grand kids whose dad passed away and mother is in another town living with someone else. My "parents" don't speak much French at all. So I communicate mostly w/ 2 older boys among the kids. There are 2 - 6 yr. old twins, really cute, their sister is about 10 yr. old and another boy, all don't speak much French. But we get along well, play hide-seek sometimes, or I would chase them around tickle them. My family doesn't seem to be very educated, but they are really nice honest farming people, so I'm once again counting my blessing to live w/ a good family, and fun kids to hang out with. My "dad" also has old kids with this wife, but they are all living in the cities. The 2nd & 3rd wives lives in another village not far away, and I have met them and their kids. 2 kids in the family are my students, one in the 8th grade and one in the 10th grade. The 8th grader seems to be at the right age for his grade, but 10th grader seems much older. He speaks french much better and have been talking to me a lot since I have arrived. He says he is in his early twenties. I really appreciate him talking to me and therefore learning some in and outs about the village, but I have to be careful as how friendly or casual I can be w/ him, because here, teachers date students, and I don't want him to get any wrong ideas or other people start talking.
Already I'm getting male students who still here but won't go back to high school in the cities coming to visit me after hearing my presence. No female students, but that's probably because not many from my village make to high school. I do find myself talking and walking with male students more, because they are more curious about me and speak better French. Again, I need to reach out to female students so the previous volunteer's effort to get a female replacement won't be in vain.
So far I got a marriage proposal from a driver in the village all in good humor. Next time I have to try out saying "My family wants 10 cows for dowry", that will sure turn most everyone away. That's a lot of cows or "Did you finish university?"
We have a lot of goodie in the garden like tomato, spicy peppers, okra, bitter eggplant (not a big fan), cotton, but not much leafy greens or beans. So, I'm going to try to grow my own except I don't know the seeds I got is good for here, or if I should wait till after dry season. There is faucet for H2O right outside the gate of the compound, so it's very easy for me to get H20.
Carry things on the Head
So I couldn't have been able to get my stuff from the hut of the past volunteers w/o my 3 "brothers" help. The youngest one is about 10. They are so strong. They carried everything on their heads for 3 km to bring things over. Like carrying a large metal trunk full of stuff by one person. I'm so impressed. There isn't other way, not like I can rent a car or something for these kind of errands.
Harvest Peanuts
So now I know why peanut butter isn't cheap, in fact I would charge more, and I won't waste a drop. it's so much work to harvest a little peanuts. I helped out my family one morning over at the field by the house of 2nd & 3rd wives. They just wanted to show me the village, but I insisted on helping. First it takes a lot of time to pluck out all the peanut plants out of the ground, then you have to pick peanuts one by one off the roots. One plant on average give 10 peanut (shelled), in 4 hours we must have gone through hundreds of plants for a large rice sack of peanuts, and that took 6 of us. It is a tedious & labor intensive work. Then the peanuts are dried in the sun with shells on, afterwards, they get de-shelled, then roasted, then ground with a hand cranked machine to get peanut butter. I was happy to help for one morning, but afterwards I couldn't spend all my time on this time consuming harvesting. I wonder if U.S. has a more efficient way to harvest it.
First Week in Village
So we are lucky enough to have a week at our sites before school starts. I made sure to pay visit to the sous-prefect which is the administrative official of my village appointed by the president of Guinee, and the principal of my college (middle school) the day after I've arrived, since formality and following protocols are important here. You got to make the important ppl happy or at least greet them whether or not you like them. So far I don't feel like I have to pretend w/ the important ppl here but things can always change. There are another 10 - 20 small villages under mine, and many students come as far as 7km everyday on foot to come to school. I plan to copy the map hanging on the wall of sous-prefect's office, and try to visit as many villages as I can in my 2 years here.
So I pretty much spent the first week setting up my "studio" but, play w/ my little "brothers" & "sisters", take morning walks while listening to French news radio. Study French here and there. I definitely feel more comfortable w/ my French since that's the only way to communicate w/ ppl, but unfortunately w/ men only since they are more educated. I love greeting the older ladies in Pular, and when they hear me say 1 or 2 things their eyes just all light up love to shake my hands. I can say most food sold in market in Pular and ask prices, but prices are answered almost always in French. according to my books, ppl don't bargain for food. There is also odds and ends in Pular I've picked up. Some pronunciation isn't easy, and supposedly it is written so that helps.
So the first time going to the market was daunting and I still sometimes dread it a bit of going toward the center of the village, which is just an intersection really with some stores on one corner, where all the taxis and trucks stop to rest. I still Haven't quite figured out the taxi system yet, only one or 2 day out of a week, there is a taxi for me to take to go to my regional capital. It's very different and difficult sometimes to be the only person around who has different color skin. There is always someone starring at you, especially at the market that is so crowded w/ people, but as soon as I greet them in Pular, they all very happy to respond. Sometimes though I wish I can just walk out and not have to greet everyone passing by or sitting on the side of the road, but I still haven't quite figured out the custom, and since I'm new, I figure I should be more friendly.
First Week of School
So after me asking a few times, I was told that there is a teachers' meeting the Friday before school starts. About half of teachers showed up. It is a week into school year, still some teachers aren't back yet. Some teachers here are contractors not permanent teachers, because of shortage. So some teachers may decide not to come back and go somewhere else or do something else. I learned at the meeting that we have 3 - 7th grade class because this year there are 162 (This number may also be 762) - 7th graders. That makes total 8 classes between 7th -- 10th grade in the College. 3 - 7th, 2 - 8th, 1 - 9th, 2 - 10th. The problem we are facing is: One, we only have 7 classrooms. Two, we haven't got enough tables and chairs for all these new students, and 3 classrooms out of 7 aren't in too good shape. One classroom, at least one roof beam needs to be replaced. The good thing is there isn't really much load on the roof beside the dead load of roof structure and corrugated metal, and rain runs off right away due to the monosloped roof configuration. The school was trying to get finance from the Canadian Embassy, but they closed shop recently. Right now we are looking at asking German Embassy or Japan Embassy or I'll find out if they can put up a project donation request on the Peace Corps website, so please check the link I've placed in link section often to see if you see my school is up there. Thanks!
The village will hold a meeting to see if we can gather some local resources to alleviate the situation. I'm also thinking of suggesting that we hold 4 out of 8 classes in the morning, the other 4 in the afternoon, since normal school day for the college is 08:00 - 13:00. 2 - 2hr classes and 1 - 1hr class. This way we can just use the 4 nice classrooms for now, but I'm skeptical as if that will pay out as I have a feeling people here aren't as flexible or quick to changes, or do things very fast. Like the first day the classes were suppose to begin, the students spent on uprooting grasses overgrown in courtyard, and dust off the classrooms. The rest of the week only half of the assigned classes took place, because some teachers aren't back yet or the teachers are holding meeting during class hours. I didn't understand why meetings aren't done in the afternoon, instead of using up valuable class time. Already I have been warned that there will be unplanned interruptions throughout school years, that makes finishing the schedule difficult. But what I'm stressing or rushing for, they have their culture and speed, I can't change it overnight, and do I really want them change to the American style of rush rush rush all the time? I don't know.
I will teach all 8 classes totaling 18 hours a week. The 10th graders are keeping their normal hours, but all other grades reduced their 3 hour of physics a week to 2, since I'm the only one teaching physics. Already I'm only suppose to teach 12 hr/wk, (set by PC) because I still have to have time to prepare and do other paperwork. I'm tempted to say that I can teach 3hr for all grades but I think I should try out 18 hr first before over-promising.
For all my first classes, I did little introduction of where I came from and why I'm here, did a little pep talk, and had all the students filled on a sheet of paper for each class their names, which village they live and how far, their interests and asked them each to teach me something in Pular.
The most common first name for boys is Mamadon or Amadon, for girls is more varied. I'm taking on my family name here of Diallo. Here, they love to joke between the different last names, all the people with last name Balde or Bah will tell me that Diallos are thieves and I should take on Balde or Bah instead, all in good fun though. I've learned to joke along, too. For you New Yorkers, remember Amadou Diallo, the immigrant who was innocently shot dead w/ 40 bullets in New York a few Years ago? He was from Guinee, but I don't know which Village.
Odds & Ends
So lots students have asked to if I can teach them English. I told them they will have to wait a bit. People love to ask me if I'm Chinese or Japanese/ I tell them I'm Chinese and American at the same time. Just like they are Puehl and Guinean at the same time. I tried a few times at fasting but failed terribly. It is very hard to not be able to drink. They love to ask if I'm fasting or not. One of my favorite moments here so far is hide on my "porch" w/ my "brothers" & "sisters" during a strong rain storm, listening to the rain. Another is sitting out in the open under a sky full of stars and wait w/ my family for dinner to get ready.
If there is anything I haven't covered and you want to know please ask. Like I told my kids, I love questions!
Hope you are all well and stay warm! (It's actually get a bit chilly in the morning and at night here). Monthly mail run should be here in a day or two. I hope it is full of letters and goodies! ;-)
Another idea I've been thinking is the possibility of organize a library. It is pathetic that how books are pretty much non-existent here in the village. I really feel that kids cant retain or expand their knowledge as well without books, keep in mind that they can't even afford text books. So I wonder if there is a way to collect children books, picture books (educational). Maybe I can donate them to the elementary school here, I think middle school kids will find lower level books interesting since they rarely see any books. The hard part is find them in French and cheap or free. I wonder and NY city public library book sales has French books, or put a sign up at YMCA for parents to donate children's books, and I can translate some simple ones. There is also a french institute in UES (60's) maybe they have some ideas?
I really want to get some books of all different levels w/ pictures or not, literature, science, magazines, to hands of my little kids here in the village, one to help them retain French, other to broaden their horizon and peak their interest. If educational stuff, biology, physical science, health, geography, are all welcome.
Oh if you guys are still sending me stuff, those Chinese dried mushrooms and shrimp are always welcomed, seasoned salt (make sure plastic bottle to cut down on the weight), ramens or just plain chinese noodles, (but I think ramen is lighter, and I like the seasoning packs), curry powder is always good, marshmallows (to share w/ my family over fire!) I might not have varieties of things to eat, but I have all the necessary nutrients covered w/ what I have here. Some large sturdy trash bag will be great!
until next time...
- Bonnie
14:57, Oct. 09th, 2005
