Dad's Visit

Poppa, thanks for coming to Guinea AGAIN! You have set a new record for parental visits! Everyone thanks you for the new DVD player and new movies!! Thanks also for all your training sessions on CPR and First Aid in the hospitals in Conakry!




We visited a slave museum in Boke and this was one of the holding cells.




I love when they keep the heads on.

My Dad went out to the new clinic and they gave him a chicken to welcome him. (Very big honor).

We watched the sunset over the river in Boke.

Broken down on the side of the road. I have spent my entire PC service this way.

My house! (Incase you forgot...)

My toilet!

My Dad was given this meat (chicken scraps like heart and lungs etc). He didn't let them down and took a big bite despite being totally disgusted.

This is where I eat lunch everyday, with my girls under the hut! My family has recentely moved and I'll miss this so much.

My Dad with the village infront of the new clinic! He's the lone white guy ten rows deep:)

My Dad with my family.

My Dad and I went to a village about an hour away to help with immunizations and they gave us a chicken. How do you get a chicken home? Tie it to the end of your motorcycle of course!

Vaccinations

Beautiful Guinea in all it's simplicity.

THANKS FOR AN AMAZING VISIT DAD!!!

My African Family

This is a tribute to the most wonderful Guinean family in the country. They have been by my side for the past year and a half and I love them so much. Unfortunately they have to move and I'm devastated. I will have to be in my village without them for the next 7 months. Thanks Bimou family for everything.

We eat lunch and dinner together out of one giant bowl and then sit around and chit-chat. Without electricity you just end up sitting outside in the dark and swappin' stories. I love it.

Outside my house with my little sisters and favorite people in the country

my little Beatrice

The whole clan!

It's an actual building now!

front room


some of extra money went to building a well so we can keep the center clean!



back of the building. we're putting a "bathroom" back there soon.

back door

back

front!

front door

Progress Continues in Kounfa

My heart goes out to Kate's family...

Peace Corps Volunteer Murdered in Benin, West Africa

Catherine "Kate" Puzey was found outside her home on March 12 in the village where she worked as an English teacher. Peace Corps and the U.S. Embassy in Cotonou are coordinating with local police authorities, who are currently conducting the investigation and will make a final pronouncement into the cause of death. The Government of Benin has expressed condolences to the U.S. government and pledged full cooperation and support in this matter. Ms. Puzey began her Peace Corps service in Benin on July 17, 2007. She had served in the Peace Corps as a TEFL English teacher in Badjoude for almost two years. She is a native of Cumming, GA. She was 24 years old.


The Puzeys said authorities have two suspects but haven't told them many details about the investigation. They said they don't believe her death was random. Neither the State Department nor the Peace Corps has commented on the cause of death. The Puzeys last saw their daughter when she came home in June for her mother's 60th birthday. Her mother then went back with her to Africa for a few weeks. They last spoke to her March 8, when she called them, as she did every Sunday, from a spot on her porch, the only place her cell phone worked. Emilie Jacobs-Finnegan, 31, spent her November birthday in Benin visiting her cousin. Jacobs-Finnegan said she was struck by how truly integrated her cousin was -- Puzey's best friend in Benin was a local midwife and she ate her meals with villagers instead of isolating herself at home.

Kate's funeral was held in Georgia on Saturday March 21 at the Birmingham United Methodist Church. President Barack Obama and the president of Benin, Dr. Boni Yayi, offered condolences to the Puzey family. Peace Corps/Benin Country Director Sheryl Cowan accompanied Kate's remains back to her family in Georgia and joined other Peace Corps and U.S. government officials, including acting Director Jody Olsen, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson ( R-GA ) and acting Regional Director for Africa Lynn Foden at the services. The response to Kate's death has been extraordinary. The Peace Corps community, Volunteers in Benin, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers ( RPCVs ) from Georgia and around the U.S have contacted and supported the Puzey family. Kate wrote in her Peace Corps Aspiration Statement in July 2007, "My international background has instilled in me a responsibility to act as a world citizen and I see the Peace Corps as my opportunity to take such action." Kate's love of service and community was shared by all who knew her. She will be greatly missed.

Birthday and random pics

Another birthday in Guinea! Last one overseas perhaps. I thought this birthday might be the first one that went by without a cake but Jess surprised me with a pineapple cake. We are ghetto in Guinea so instead of candles we use sticks of wood. Thanks also to Grandma, Aunt Leslie and Aunt Jan for my lovely birthday dress! And to my Mom for sending CHEESE!!!!!!


Jessi brought me white wine! Raven made me nachos! Best birthday a girl could ask for!


Raven is the greatest friend ever for making me my favorite food of all time. It is a hard task considering that you can find almost none of the ingredients here locally.


Everyone should be able to spend their b'day reading the Economist in the sand.


birthday dinner with Rob and Jess at the Beach Bar.


Celebrating at the Islands with friends


This passed week my friend Amber and I decided to take a trip out to Kankan which is on the other side of the country from where I live. It was a great time despite the heat, I honestly don't know how you volunteers do it out there in the desert. I thought my village was hot but you guys are amazing for being able to put up with that heat.


A group of volunteers were able to attend a fishing festival in a village out near Kankan. It was an experience rich in culture and we had a blast. Even though we spent the night on the floor of a random house with walls full of cockroaches, it was still fun.


Our group of whiteys were quite the hit at the festival. People would follow us around everywhere and watch our every move.

Me, Amber, Marissa and Sasha. This is how one eats rice and sauce in the village. No silverware! Just ball up some rice and sauce and shove it in your mouth. Deeeeelish.

Today we flew back from Kankan on the UN's World Food Program Flight (they let volunteers hitch rides across the country for free!) This would have been about 13 hours in a bush-taxi but it only took an hour and ten minutes. It was a 20 seater small plane and we were getting tossed around up there like a rag doll.

I had roughly 14 panic attacks during this flight.

What blog entry would be complete without including my two home girls?! Unlike American kids they aren't quite used to having their picture taken so as you can see they don't look too enthused.

The project is coming along nicely and the walls are going up! More pics to come soon!

Construction Underway!

ladies get the water to mix the concrete

everyone gets ready for the ceremony to start

everyone in the village chips in to help with the construction!

so cool to see where the walls are going

me and the village officials infront of the "first brick". I can totally get you an outfit like this too, just lemme know.

and it officially begins!

keeping cool in the shade as we map out where the walls are going

on the way to Kounfa, 2 hours on a motorcycle

Coolest day of my service so far as we kicked off construction on the project with the "ceremony of the first brick". The whole village showed up, a cow was sacrificed and the religious leaders chased the demons off the land. As soon as the village officials said it was go time, everyone started walking to help carry bricks. Children as young as five were helping. I will never forget that image and what a feeling it was to see everyone contributing and how badly they wanted to help bring this health center to their village.





I'll go out there in a couple weeks to check the progress! With some of the extra money we are planning to build a well behind the center which is awesome and will be a huge help with keeping the center clean. Right now I'm in Mamou for a training seminar and then a friend of mine and I are traveling to Kankan to attend Fish-Fete which is a huge fishing festival where you run into rivers and chase fish. Should be pretty cool.

Happy Easter from a Muslim country!

Teale and I coming home from a funeral. A dear friend of ours, Bella, died on Friday after battling liver cancer. He was a Guinean on staff for the Peace Corps and was as nice as they come.

Little Bea wears her barbies on her back to imitate her Mom.

Exercises at the beach.

Saturday nights in my village I make popcorn on that little pot you see behind the kids. They find the process amazing!

Our group is still going strong. G15! I love Ian's shirt that says "Yes Oui Can".

The money raised arrived in Guinea last week! Only in this country would getting the money here be so complicated due to a lack in international accounts. Someone visiting a volunteer had to bring a bunch of American cash in her carryon and the following day I exchanged it and handed it over to the manager of the project. The shopping is almost complete and we go back to the village tomorrow to start construction.

LET THE BUILDING BEGIN!!!

The following clip is from an HIV talk I did with the kids at a High School. After giving them a talk for about an hour, I decided to test them on what they'd learned with a little game. I played music while they passed around a balloon, kinda like musical chairs. When the music stopped, whoever was holding the balloon had to pop it and there was a question inside. They got a big kick out of it.

Quick Trip to Visit Amber and Justin

Last week I attended an HIV conference in Mamou. It was a great learning experience for both the volunteers who attended and the Guineans we invited from our villages (one per volunteer). The theme was ending stigmatization on HIV/AIDS in Guinea. It is a disease that affects every village but no one talks about it. People believe you can tell when someone has it. We invited several individuals who are infected to come speak at our conference and I believe it opened many eyes and they now know that you can look completely normal and be a high member of society and still be sick. A couple of the volunteers here are working on a project that involves a video of "normal" people talking about how HIV has affected their lives. We hope to get it on the local TV station. After the conference I was already halfway to my friend Amber's village so Katy Murtaugh and I decided to trek up and visit her. Good times had by all.

This is a great map of Guinea. The conference was held in Mamou and then you can see Amber and Justin's village (KOUBIA) North of there, east of Labe. They live in the middle of absolutely NOWHERE! I have a new respect for them for sure. On the way back, I decided to do Koubia to Conakry in one day (everyone told me I was nuts). It took four taxis and 13 hours and by the time I got to the house I wanted to both cry and shoot someone. Tomorrow I will go from Conakry and up the dotted red line along the coast to my village near Boffa.


On the way there, our taxi broke down and we waited on the side of the road for two hours. This two hours proved that Murtaugh is both way more patient than me and also a better person in general. Finally a truck (pictured behind us) rolled by and we got a lift. We sat in the back like illegal immigrants and even looked at each other once and said "This is one of those moments no one at home would ever understand!) We look pretty tan in this picture but nope, that's just a nice layer of dust.




Pictured here is Amber and her husband (far left). They are a married couple here and I love them dearly. We had so much fun this past weekend touring their village and seeing what their life is like there. Always fun to see how your friends around the country are living. Also pictured here is Caleb who lives nearby and decided to stop by to say hello!


This is the view from Amber and Justin' house. So pretty. At night we watched the stars and one night we saw a crazy shooting star that some of us are convinced was part of comet. Here we are walking down their hill to go eat some rice for lunch.



The gang outside the house and Caleb with his ever famous creepy picture face.


Two of my very best girlfriends in Guinea. Amber and Murtaugh.

Back to my village for another few weeks. Lots to do with the new project and I still can't believe how much money we were able to raise. Thinking of ways to use the extra money. I don't know how I will ever be able to thank you all.

Tour of Conakry House

Click on the link below!! My friend Dan is a genius and we made a video of the Peace Corps compound in November over Thanksgiving. It's "Cribs" Guinea-style!!



WATCH ME GIVE A TOUR OF PEACE CORPS COMPOUND!

ENJOY!