Almost a Year in Country?!?

Hello all. Posting a quick update mostly on school and teaching adventures but of course I have to get doggie update in there! Missing everyone but keep an eye out for a visit home from me soon!

Tonka

Tonka goes out almost every day ‘en brousse’ with one of my students. She has turned into a pretty good hunter, as my student comes back with stories of the animals Tonka traps and kills with him. His family has invited me over for dinner to eat the animals that Tonka has killed, but I am still not sure my stomach can handle rat or squirrel more than once! When she isn’t with my students, she enjoys chasing sheep and goats all over my village! She is not terrible fond of cows and will bark inessentially until the cow moves. Most Guineans are unexplainably scared of dogs, but slowly people are starting to warm up to Tonka.

School

In early May, we took the ‘Brevat Blac’ or the practice test for the big national exam that my tenth graders have to pass. Unfortunately, not one of my 15 students earned enough points to pass. I was definitely discouraged but I rallied quickly and we spent the rest of the school year in review mode! No one has passed this test in my village for the past four years so I am working really hard to give these kids the best chance possible! Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about the other teachers at my school. Sometimes certain teachers don’t show up for 3 to 4 weeks and student encouragement is not an applied technique at the schools here. I am often a witness to teachers insulting their students. I do my best to ensure my students that they are, in fact, NOT stupid and that everyone has the possibility to finish school and do what they want with their lives. My biggest challenge is my three girls in my 10^th grade. The teachers often ask the girls why they bother coming to school or why they haven’t found their husbands yet. The French teacher consistently tells one of my girls (Lamarana) that she knows absolutely nothing. I was proud to hear that Lamarana stood up to him the other day and told him that she is intelligent and she does work hard and she does know things!

I have spent the past week in Labé while my kids took the actual national exam or the ‘Brevat Noir’. I got together with most of my kids several times for review sessions in math, physics and random chemistry information. Some of my students called me every day after each subject; some days seemed easier than others! I was proud of the work my kids had put in all year and I was confident as they went into the math portion of the exam on June 1^st. However, quickly after the test was finished I discovered that my kids had been previously given the exact exam question in the required review session the night before. My principal had required all my students to go to the school the evening before, but had not mentioned anything to me. I was only aware because my kids called me to ask why I wasn’t giving the review session. Of course, I realized the reason the next morning after the exam. Needless to say, I felt frustrated and rather betrayed by my principal who knows how hard I have been working AGAINST cheating this whole year. Unfortunately, corruption is a wildly out of control problem in this country. The teacher that gave the review session the evening before was able to pay money in order to gain access to the test questions. I plan to meet with my kids back in the village to discuss the situation and hear their thoughts and feelings on what happened.

Transportation

My transportation continues to be a frustrating adventure. When school is in session, I am confined to Noussy through Wednesday afternoon. If I need to get into the city, my choices are to wait on the side of the road for a car to pass or I take my bike the 18 kilometers to Labe. The bike trip is challenging, as the trip from Noussy to Labe is essentially straight up a mountain. I often take the waiting for the car on the side of the road option. Just the other day, I waited four hours for a taxi to pass through. I then waited another three hours for the driver to pick up about 50 large bags of charcoal. I finally made it Labe after almost 8 hours and I only live 18 kilometers away! But such is life in the middle of a village in Africa!

As always, I am doing well!  Now that school is officially out of session, I have more free time. I plan to dedicate that time to improving my Pular and continuing my integration into my community! Also, my wonderful parents have agreed to bring me home for a visit in late August, so if you are around I would some to see you!

no thanks, I don't want to marry you!

Teaching Adventures

I have 16 tenth graders who come to school fairly consistently. Some kids walk more than 10 kilometers to get to school each day. At the end of the school year, my 10^th graders have to pass a national exam in order to continue onto the high school level. About 10 of my 16 kids have shown an incredible amount of dedication. No one in my village has passed the exam for the past four years, so I would be thrilled to see even one person pass the test! I have taken on teaching physics as well as math to my 10^th graders because our physics teacher has pretty much stopped coming to school. I think I might take up teaching physics for all the grades next year! The past few weeks have been challenging for everyone at school as the heat continues to get more and more intense. But we fight through our exhaustion together and I think they finally understand vector coordinates! Some of my students have started coming over to my house after school to continue working math problems on my white board! Of course, as soon as the problems are over, we move onto playing cards or trying to solve the Rubik’s Cube! By the way, I have successfully solved the Rubik’s Cube that was sent to me! Thanks Machinskis!

The Never Ending Trainings

I just finished a weeklong training in Mamou with all the volunteers from my stage. We talked about the craziness that is our lives including the highest of the highs at our sites and the lowest of the lows. It was so good to see the volunteers that I haven’t seen since our initial training! The Fouta volunteers got lucky and we got a ride to AND from Mamou in a Peace Corps vehicle. That means we did not have to pay the price for a taxi and we got all the comforts of a government vehicle! No need to stop for the military with government plates!

General Life

Although I have adjusted to life here in Guinea, my adjustment in no way makes my days any easier. So many things that we take for granted in the states require great effort here in Guinea.

If I want to take a shower, I have to fill a bucket with water and then haul the heavy bucket across my compound to my latrine. Forget warm water! If you want a warm shower, you have to boil water beforehand. And where does your water come from? You turn a knob and you have your choice of hot and cold water. Here, I take a 10-minute walk to get to our village’s pump. It’s a hand pump that requires about 2 minutes of pumping before water even starts to flow! You fill your bidon (10 or 20 liter oil can) or your bucket and then you make that 10-minute walk back to your house. The past month or so I have been incredibly grateful to my students and other children in the village who have helped me with this rather challenging task. I bought a large trashcan type bucket and I am able to store larger amounts of water for drinking, bathing and cooking.

In the village, we only have a market once a week. In Noussy, our market day is Saturday. Market day means dressing up in your fancy clothes and walking around greeting your fellow Noussy-ians. I guess people buy stuff too. I head out to the market around 11:30 AM every Saturday with the same program. I drop my phone and my computer off with a trusted student to be charged and then I wander around the market greeting the market ladies and trying to find onions and tomatoes and as many veggies as I can get! Of course, I have to stop by my favorite nene’s stand to eat some delicious keke and practice Pular.  I have made friends with many of the market ladies despite my horrific Pular. In the states, I drove to Kroger and marched up and down the isles filling my basket with whatever I needed (or wanted) and when I was ready to check out, I almost always went to the self-check out. Because really, who wants to have human interaction anyway? In Noussy, I interact with everyone I buy things from and everyone I don’t buy things from. The whole day is hilarious and heart-warming and challenging all at once!

Transportation has been one of my greatest challenges thus far in Guinea. My village is located about 18 km away from the major city Labé. I am lucky to be living so close as sometimes I need to get into the city to use the internet for school, for taxes or just for general entertainment. However, my village has zero taxis that transport individuals to and from Labé. Why is this? Well, everyone in my village has motorcycles! A motorcycle ride from Noussy to Labé only takes about 30 minutes and is extremely cheap. Motorcycles are strictly off limits to volunteers, which leaves me with my trusty bicycle to get me to and from Labé. I am getting pretty good at hauling my heavy bags up the mountain on my bike and I know most of the people who live along the route!

Politics and Ethnic Tension

The political situation has been up and down in Guinea for the past few months. There has been some violence although most of it has been contained to Conakry (the capital). As of right now our travel throughout the country is limited but as I don’t really want to leave my village, I am fine with that. My only concern is the possibility of an evacuation, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.  Know that I am safe and happy in my village and I am truly lucky to be outside of the large cities in times like these.

My Doggie Tonka

My dog has gotten much bigger as you have probably seen on Facebook. Most Guineans are still incredibly scared of her, but I love to see the little kids that learn to love her after a few visits to my house. Every morning, I hear the “petits” walk by my house yelling “Tonka, viens!” or  “Tonka, on va manger?”. They want Tonka to come play with them outside the compound. Tonka often takes that option but she always comes back home! Sometimes she goes with one of my students

Overall, things are still going really well. I have really tough days and really great days.  Apologies for my slow updates. I have found that successful blogging is rather challenging for me. I struggle to find the balance between the good and bad parts of my life here. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me!