Ben's Guinea Blog

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2009-06-16T10:12:00.003Z

This is gonna be a long one

So I got a new number a couple months ago I am posting it now because the timing is perfect
011 224 62 87 41 00

Not that it matters since people tell me they can't get thru to me, its either the network or your all a bunch of liars.

So I'm still alive, been doing great health wise, only got sick for a day since Feb. And with everything else? It's complicated and I'm too lazy to write about it.

Last month beginning of May was my IST which lasted about 2 weeks. It was good to see everyone again. Most people complained about the food, but I was eating like a King! well at least compared to at site. The sessions were on average Shitty to OK. There were a few that I liked and found useful. Others that I didn't see myself ever finding any use with. The most interesting sessions were about VS&LS, and there were 2 others but I can't remember at the moment. I did learn how to play spades and hearts while I was there so it wasn't a total bust.

After IST I went to Conakry for my quarterly visit as my vacation. It wasn't all fun though, I did get some paperwork taken care of. But mostly I spent the time in the air conditioned video room watching classics such as Home Sweet Alabama and Transformers. I was going to check out the islands with the other volunteers that were in Conakry but changed my mind. I got 2 years so there's no rush. During our time in Conakry we had some CoSing volunteers from Mali stay at the house and that was interesting. They aren't as cool as Guinea volunteers that's for sure. No offense but we have coups and shit. They have boring sand/mud mosques.

I was suppose to leave with the PAM flight but the UNDP commandeered the plane and I got booted. Those fascists! Wait I don't even know what that means. So anyways instead I rode back in 9 hour bush taxi after waiting for it for 5 hours. At least I had my favorite Indian with me to share the misery. Where we surprised Nick in Faranah at midnight to crash at his place. So all in all I'm actually thankful that I got to ride crammed in a POS getting to Faranah instead of getting to Kissi in under 2hours.

Got back to Kissi the next day, the ride wasn't too bad only took 2 hours longer than it should of since we stopped at every village to pick up everyone. But by then I didn't really care, I was numb to it all so the ride wasn't bad. Stayed in Kissi for about a week before having to go to Kankan for Warden training. Wardens are people tasked with knowing the whereabouts of other volunteers that are their wardees and responsible for getting in contact with their wardees in times of crisis. Funny thing is for Lower Haute which is my region theres 6 people and 4 wardens. Do the math and that means there's 4 wardens for 2 non wardens. But I guess its always good to have redundancies. So if any shit goes down which may happen (this is exciting!)
we are suppose to consolidate at Jess's site, and if things get worse we are suppose to get to Kankan our regional capital. But if we can't get there for some reason, we are biking to Liberia. Sounds really fun so it probably wont go down like that. :_(

After that I got back to Kissi for a week again, I went back to Kankan for the Girls conference meeting and my monthly visit. Which was probably my best Kankan visit yet. It even rained a few times there which helped cool things down, but the 20 mosquito bites I got wasn't fun. As Sajay likes to say Malaria c'est pas bonne pour le sante.

Now since my free internet at UNICEF is gone for the foreseeable future, I'm at my city's only Internet cafe paying 5,000 FG for an hour. Outrageous! I can buy 2 bowls of rice and sauce for that. After I get settled in again, I start my projects, I have 3 in mind at the moment. There's a huge hill of rice husks outside my compound and I trying to figure out what I can do with it. Also me and my site mate are planning on getting out the the villages surrounding Kissidougou to start village savings and loans groups. Also once my NGO gets a computer (I doubt they can) I will start computer trainings for the agents there. The 3rd one which I think might be the hardest yet the funniest is coming up with a plan to see how Pride Finance can start taking deposits from people to increase their capital (like a bank) so that they can give out more micro credit. Since Pride doesn't get 100% of it's loans repayed their capital is slowly shrinking, and there isn't much incentive or methods for getting their money back. And with the current economic situation in the world, Pride will have a hard time attracting funders to increase and maintain their operations. So they have to figure out a way to do it on their own or go out of business. I have a feeling that the head guys over at Conakry don't really care and most likely run away with the money if it looks like Pride is going belly up. Pretty much the norm here in Guinea. Get what you can when you can cuz if you don't someone else will.

Paix out

So far so...

2009-04-08T10:12:00.002Z

Needless to say but i'll say it anyways, its been awhile since i've written a blog. 2 months now? if my math is correct. What have I been doing and how have I been fairing you ask? Well overall not much and not bad. First few weeks in Kissi were spent getting my site in order. For example getting screens made and installed, some furniture made. Dealing with carpenters here is a pain in the face, but it must be done. Although I did get introduced to a group of carpenters who were friendly by Kim Mason another volunteer (G11). Had a few people roll thru town and got a few visits which was nice. Mostly we just got together for dinner and chatted. Bulk of my time was spent reading.

On March 8th I almost blew myself up which was pretty exicting. So I was trying to light my stove to cook my dinner, and I had noticed that my setup was a little strange, but didnt think it was dangerous. So I lit my match and was moving it toward the burner and I turned on the valve for the stove and it usually blows up with it lits. So I moved my hand back quickly so not to get burned and can you believe it? I dropped the match and it fell on top of my gas tank. The gas tank caught on fire because as I found out later it leaked near the main valve. I stood there looking at the burning tank and thought to myself, "shouldn't this blow up...soon?" it felt like forever but it probably was only 5 seconds. Time tends to slow down a lot in situations like this (Ask anyones that been in a car accident). But I stayed and decided to close the valve good move I should think, but before using my hand I used a towel so I wouldnt get burned. Another good move if I do say so myself. I had to sit down for about 5 minutes afterwards to slow my heart down but afterwards I continued to cook my meal cuz I GOTS TO EAT.

In the same week I went on a little bike ride, for those that know me well, know I'm not really a biker at all. Not that I don't know how to bike but that it's an activity that I don't usually spend time on. Anyways I didn't have much else to do so I hopped on my bike and went. It was 75km and I finished in about 5 hours. The last 2k was the hardest, but the deed was done.

Picked up my bamboo rocking chair and took the mail run back down to Kissi, I don't think i'll be doing that bike ride again anytime soon. After dropping off my rocking chair which cost a princely sum of 220,000 GNF I took the the mail run up to KanKan with a few people for my monthly regional capital visit.

KanKan was asi asi, but too damn hot. And involved alot of walking since the regional house is in the middle of nowhere. Came back a few days later to Kissi where I've been ever since.

Also on a side note:
1 shirt and 1 shorts stolen. Well played Guinea, well played.

Things coming up, IST (In Service Training) on May 4th-15th. The plan is to go to Conakry after IST hopefully in a Peace Corps car. I think I'll stay there for a bit for my 3monthly visit to the capital then try to get on the World Food Program flight to Kissi from Conakry.

Bye

And then there was 28 and etc

2009-02-22T15:12:00.003Z

Well it seems its for real...we have finally lost one of our G17 members. Sorry to see ya go Dave but its your life and I can't fault you for your decision. You will be missed and Haute won't be the same without you.

Wow its been awhile since I posted...
Let's see after Swear-in we left Conakry on the 8th got to KanKan in 14 hours (not bad or so Ian says). I think its around 900kilometers? I could be wrong but 560 miles in 14hours?! In America it would take like 30 minutes!!..37 if theres traffic pfft. KanKan was fun but only got to stay for a day ;(

On the 10th we packed our choses and we were off! Sajay, Nick, Paul, Sacha, and I were the first to leave and reached Kissi fairly quickly. My installtion only took an hour or so, getting my baggage off the SUV took longer then meeting officials. You think they would put my stuff on top since I'm getting off first? Nope this is the Peace Corps we dont roll like that. They put my stuff at the very bottom of the stack, just brilliant! And I'm not complaining the Peace Corps has a system of doing things and it only makes sense if you think real long and hard.

My first week at site was interesting...not many crazy stories or funny stories or crazy funny stories. Just a tussle with some carpenters, not only they got me to pay more...they had me wait longer they our set date and they had me carry my goods to my house! They know how to run a business, they don't need me to do anything for them what am I doing here? Home Depot can learn a thing or two from these Guineans. Mostly I read books, you can read a book real fast in Africa, I think its something in the water. I burned thru 3 in my first week, I gotta slow down or I'll be out of things to do.

My second week at site...which from my counting started last tuesday and has been a lot of fun. I've been getting visitors everyday or every other day ( I lose track of time here, I'm not saying it goes by fast cuz it doesnt) It's always fun to get Americans in town to just talk to.

Had my first African rain storm a few days ago, it was really really loud. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't worrying so much about my roof leaking. I woke up every 30 mins to check my ceiling.

So being in Asian in Africa...boy I thought it was bad in the States (I kid, but not really)
I'll write about it some other time, I'm all blogged out. Your curious aren't you tho?? Admit it you want to know haha well you have to wait!

Lazy

2009-02-07T19:24:00.002Z

I lied about continuing the last entry, I'm too tired and lazy to write stuff. So I'll wait once I get to Kissi to write blogs. Hope everyone is doing well, and for those of you asking what I want sent...Nothing right now but thanks anyways. I'll be leaving for Kankan tomorrow (regional capital) and afterwards officially installed at my site. Yesterday's swear in ceremony was fun, we had a BBQ tonight we got to meet the ambassador and other important peoples. Well I'm going to get off since theres people waiting to use the computer.

Adios

PST over, Swearing in tomorrow

2009-02-05T18:56:00.003Z

Tomorrow I will be swearing into service and offically becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. I passed my language test and I don't remember what I posted before, but for my program (SED) the minium level is intermediate high to swear in. Coming into Guinea I had no french but I did manage (barely) to pass, and its pretty crazy the amount of French I have learned in about 8 weeks of class. Something to be proud of I guess, and even though training was mostly boring and sometimes fun, I at least learned some French...I will continue this blog but I'm late for dinner.

Mamou

2009-01-09T19:04:00.002Z

Still alive and currently in Mamou for counterpart workshop and getting ready to visit my site which is Kissidougou.

I'll be working with PRIDE Finance

details to come perhaps in a month

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissidougou

Pictures

2009-01-01T11:36:00.008Z

Entering Forecariah the town we are living in for 9 weeks with our host families and for training.

Just a random picture of us under our usual study area, under the mango trees

Our first day learning the president died, as you can see everyone is happy nothing coup worry about.

Here is our Peace Corps Country Director Dan Evans giving us an update on the coup situation and he brought his family for a visit. Thanks Julia for bringing us brownies!

This is my host family, the little boy went to some other village for some reason and I haven't seen him in awhile.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T10:33:00.002Z

I'm in Conakry for New Years and will be leaving soon, only had 20 hours here but it was nice to have AC and internet. It's been awhile and a lot of stuff has happened.

So on the 8th we had our adoption ceremony, the ceremony itself consisted of a bunch of speeches, each PCT meeting there family, picture, then a lunch together. Afterwards I went to my new home for the next 9 weeks of training or Stage. After I dropped my bags off in my room, I had my first and only (so far) "WTF am I doing here" moment, but it passed quickly. My family name is Toure and the person I thought was my brother who I now think is my cousin (its hard to follow the family structure here) took me out to the river and the market even though I was trying to tell him I wanted to go back to my room. So my first day was spent walking a lot. My first night with my family was interesting to say the least, a bit difficult trying to interact with them. I have zero french and I think they expected to have someone who had some since their last volunteer was fluent. So my family and I were both at a lost what to do. But via hand motions and a french dictionary we made it thru the night. Going back to my host family, it is made up of one father his one wife and their 2 kids(1 boy age 10 and 1 girl age 7). This is certainly not the norm here, because in Guinea its normal for the man to have up to 4 wives and families are huge.

My days are spent in class for most of the day, I'll give a sample day:
Sessions are either language class or technical training or medical sessions or info sessions about culture and other stuff. It varies day to day.

800 session 1
1000-1030 break
1030-1230 session 2
1230-1400 Lunch
1400-1700 session 3 and 4
1700 on is free time

I usually get back around 1700 to my house and take a bucket bath right away then eat dinner alone because I think my family eats at a different time and its considered an sign of respect to eat alone. If there isn't anything planned that night by the group I usually get under my mosquito net asap and try to do homework. It's hard to concentrate because of the heat and sometimes I just end up fanning myself until I fall asleep. I should be spending time with my family so I can intergrate, but having very poor french and not wanting to get eaten alive by mosquitoes means I just hang out under my net in my bed.

Speaking of french its coming along, I came in at the lowest level and now I think I've moved up to novice high. I'm just worried about the rate at which I'm learning. For my SED program they expect to have me at advanced by the end of my 9 weeks and its the 4th week already. Hopefully I'll be at intermediate high by the end of my training so I can swear in and officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer.

The tech sessions are usually like business classes and most of the stuff is review of basic concepts. But its helpful since they try to give it a Guinean context.

I have like 1000 pictures so far, I've been busy but it takes too long to upload so I'll just post a few pics.

Oh yea the military coup, nothing dangerous other than celebratory shooting into the air that lasted for 3 days. Hasn't really affected us since it was a non-violent coup and most Guineans are if not in support of it not against the coup since the last "president" was such ass.

I probably could write a lot more about my experiences but I cant think right now and I'm being badgered by Dorian and Mary to hurry up.

I'm pretty exicted about next week since we find out our site and get to go out to visit it so stay tuned! I'll probably be able to get on the internet in another 5 weeks or so.

Also I got a cell phone, check the side for my number, since its expensive for me to call out for too long and its free for me if I get called...this means if you want to call me use Skype or buy calling cards so its not so expensive.

to call me 011 224 67 22 68 04

Leaving Conakry

2008-12-09T06:14:00.008Z

Today is our adoptation cermony, where each of us will meet our host family. It is the start of the next step towards service. No longer will we be living at the compound, with access to sometimes running water and slow internet. Our training will take place in Forcariah which is about 100km from Conakry. We will be living and training there for about 9 weeks. So this will probably be my last post for awhile and I expect to have access to internet 1-2 times a month so the posts will be slowing down from now on.

Heres are some more pics

Pics

2008-12-08T07:47:00.005Z

The Peace Corps building.

On the road from the airport to the Peace Corps compound.

This is the view flying out of Dakar enroute to Guinea.

Holiday

2008-12-08T07:21:00.003Z

Today is Eid al-Adha and we are going to the market this morning to buy supplies to make food since the holiday means the staff won't provide it. I might get a shirt from the market just because it gets so hot sometimes and the fabrics they use here are much more cooler. Last night we played Mafia and everyone sucked including myself, but it was really fun. Yesterday we have the 2nd session of cross cultural stuff, and then a nice "how to" by current volunteers on how to do laundry with a washboard, how to use the water method, techniques to squatting for eating and shiting, and etc.

I have a bunch of pictures but I upload them later.

Downtown in Conakry

2008-12-07T07:24:00.003Z

Yesterday after breakfast we had the medical orientation with Dr. Tryon(sp) he told us all the things we needed to know when it comes to being healthy and what to do when sick, and where to find information. We got our med kits and malaria nets, he also showed us how to assemble and break down the water filtration system (2 plastic buckets with a filter). Afterwards we had the RSO for Guinea come and he gave us a talk about security and tips to keep in mind. Usual common sense stuff like dont walk around with stacks of cash cause you'll get jacked. Then Cliff from USAID came by to tell us what projects and groups were happening in Guinea. Lunch was then eaten and it was good. The remainder of our training day consisted of language level placement and some cross cultural material. I was placed in Novice Low for French, no surprise there. We closed traning for the day and went into downtown Conakry for dinner at a resturant there. The drive was awesome, almost as good as the first one from the airport to the compound. The city is was alive, people playing futbal in the streets and life happening everywhere. The food at the resturant was the best we had so far, probably the best we will have for a really long time. In terms of food, living conditions, indoor plumbing, electricity, and access internet (although those last 3 have been going on and off regulary). The way we have been living these past few days is not the norm and it will most certainty be the easist we will have it.

Today the plan is survival language traning in french after breakfast, with sector meetings afterwards, then preperation for home stay (living with host family during PST), and maybe if I'm lucky, a bunch of needles in my arm.

In 2 days if all goes according to plan, I will be living with a host family and will have to say goodbye to the luxury of the Peace Corps compound. That being said, luxury is a little misleading because by American standards it is indeed poor living, but its not that bad. Well I'm late for lunch. Peace.

Day 2

2008-12-06T07:07:00.003Z

Just back from a 630hr morning run with both couples, and it was a trip. The neighbourhoods around the compound are relativily safe and it was fine except for the bad air. Figure its a good idea to get in shape, you don't know when the ability to run fast and far will come in handy. Yesterday, Dec 5th, we had breakfast which was a baguette and hardboiled egg with a banana. Then did pre-service training, breaked for lunch which was rice and sauce with chicken, then we started our medical and language interviews. Makan was my french interviewer and he was an awesome dude, he laughed everytime I answered I used Spanish for words I didn't know in French. Medical was no big deal, weight, BP, etc. Then the fun started, we had Shannon come from the US Embassy to give a talk and answer questions about Guinea. Then we had dinner which was beef, salad, and fries. Then most of the group went out to the beach bar, the beer was terrible and I didn't have more than 2 sips. We then ended the night trading horribly bad and unfunny jokes from our youth. We talked about better stuff but I'm late for breakfast and gotta run. Oh and instead of going to bed after the group died I came to the computer room to do nothing basically and slepted at 200hr. Yup I went running at 630hr so I'm on running on about 5 hours of sleep.

Time difference

2008-12-05T08:18:00.001Z

I noticed after I posted my last entry it says posted on Dec4 when its Dec5 here, so my blog thinks I'm still on California time. So for now just and 8 hours to whatever timestamps. I'll try to figure out how to edit the time zone I'm in so its not confusing.

On the other side

2008-12-05T07:10:00.001Z

So I was going to post an entry yesterday, but when I was almost finished typing, the power cut out and wiped my entry out so I gave up. Not that I'm that lazy but the internet here is really really slow so it was fustrating. But its a new day so i'll give it another try. Its 715hrs local time as I sit here typing this, which is amazing considering that I never wake up this early in the states. Probably the malaria drugs or just the exictment I feel, or maybe a little of both.

Note: When referring to the time, I am talking about the local time of where I'm at.

I arrived in Conakry yesterday about 22 hours ago and the drive from the airport to the Peace Corps compound was one of the most amazing things. I was stepping into another world and as one of my fellow volunteers put it, "I feel like we are in movie." I wish I could have captured more of the drive, but we were moving fast thru the streets and the of traffic in a developing nation is chaotic. Dirt roads, no lanes, no lights, no rules basically. I did manage to snap a few shots but they dont capture the full experience. After we arrived at the compound we put our bags into house and grabbed any bunk that was open. We sat with the current volunteers that had come to welcome us at the airport and help train us as they regaled us with stories. Its nice to know they are there to tell us the real experience of living in Guinea. Then at 1230hrs we went to lunch which consisted of rice, fish, yams, other vegatables I couldnt indentify, bananas, and oranges that were colored yellow. Whats the big deal right? Sounds like your typical Korean meal right? Nope not even close, but on the other hand it wasnt all that bad. After I ate my rice, the Peace Corps director Dan tells us to chew the rice softly in case of rocks. I guess I got lucky or I just shallowed my rocks in any case it wasnt that bad of a meal. After lunch we had a little break and I decided to nap before our orientation and welcome meeting that was at 1430hrs. The meeting was basically introduction of staff, general info, Q&A session, filling out forms, and just preparing for the next day which would be the first day of our training. When the meeting closed we had free time for the rest of the day, as I was saying before, I used this time to try and post an entry. Then I sat around and talked with people until dinner. Which was salad and spagetti, I ate some much I felt like throwing up. A bunch of people went to the beach bar after dinner but I wasn't feeling so good after eating so much spagetti. I just hung out with my Group 3 peeps (Juliann, Mary, Dave, Nick and me) and played cards (Fluxx) and lost every game. Then we played a stupid game called "I have done..." as a game it was dumb but as a way of getting to know other people it was the opposite of dumb. Then the beach bar people came back and called us losers and lame for not going, but turns out they were the ones that joined us to play with us. It was 2300-2400hrs when everyone called it a day and we went to sleep.

That was pretty long, but theres more. That was only Day 1 in Guinea but Day 4 since leaving home, so I got 3 days that I should write about.

On monday I caught the 630am AA flight to Dallas, which went smoothly, at Dallas it was a different story. I and my fellow travellers were held up and had to sit in the plane on the runway for an hour because of air traffic at Philly. Then after we took off we were in luck since we got a strong tailwind which cut down on our flight time, but ended up in a holding pattern waiting to land for 45mins. At Philly I got a shuttle to my hotel which ended up taking longer than it should have, about 1 hour longer since the police decided to block off the streets to my hotel so the shuttle had to drive the long way around. So it was around 7pm local time when I checked in, I saw 2 of my fellow early arrivals; Jessica and Dorian as I waked in. After dropping off my bags I went down to have dinner with the girls. Another early arrival (Scott) came while we ate. After dinner we went walking around looking for dessert. I was thinking cupcakes, but I guess they were thinking beer. We found a bar a few blocks away and had a nice time. Afterwards we decided to stay up and wait for a delayed early arrival (Nick) but midnight came and went with no news of Nick so I went to bed. He came in around 130am, turns out he was my roommate, and told me of his terrible day with airlines then we crashed. Next day or Day2 or 12/2/08 we met up in the morning to go get breakfast, we meet another who came in earlier in the day (Sasha). So the six of us went and got some decent breakfast before coming back to the hotel, losing Nick but picking up Ian and John who hand just come in. We went walking the streets to see stuff and we saw stuff. Turns out Obama was in town and was meeting the governers only a block away so we waited outside to see if we could see him, but all we got were frowns from Secret Service and blank looks from police. We then decided to go to the Whole Foods because Dorian and Jessica wanted to buy brewers yeast. And of course it wasnt where they thought it would be. On the bright side we did get to see more of Philly even it was mostly bars, lingerie shops, and strange glass art on the side of brick buildings. We went back to get ready for our registration.

Which consisted of paperwork, icebreakers, history of PC, anxieties, aspirations, policy, logistics, and etc. It was led by Kate and Ryan and it was sometimes informative, sometimes fun, sometimes boring, but all necessary. During the boredom, I decided to do some demographics.
G17 - 29 people 14 males 15 females. 3 older people(40+) and 4 minorites including myself. Rest were white. I forgot how the agfo and health groups broke down, but my SED group has 13 total. Oh and I counted 8 people wearing glasses. Nerds! After the meeting ended a bunch of people met up to go out to eat, but I passed, ordered some pizza and finished up my paperwork and went to sleep.

It breakfast time and I want to get some food before its all gone and I'm in need of a shower so I'll make Day 3 brief.
12/3/08 - 630am wake up time, checking out, loading buses, yellow fever shot at clinic, ride to JFK. Get to JFK check in, eat lunch, do some drugs, got on the plane to Dakar at 520pm. Arrived in Dakar around 6am the the next day and then caught the flight to Conakry at 830am and arrived at 9 something am.

Ok that was really long but

Off to Guinea soon

2008-12-01T08:00:00.000Z

It's midnight and my flight to Philly is in about 6 hours, but since I usually sleep at 2-3am these days I'm just going to stay awake. I'm pretty much all packed and set to go. Even though I was thorough, its a certainty that I left something out or there something I haven't even thought of taking. But no worries, my packing list is below, I posted it so to give future PCV's an idea of what to take. Since I relied on other PCV's packing lists that have gone before me as a resource. I figure I should do the same. Also as a way for me to having a inventory list of what I took with me in case both or one of my bags get lost en route to Guinea.

Luggage
1 External Frame Backpack
1 Large DuffelBag
1 CamelBak

Books
Larousse French/English Dictionary
Essential French Grammar
2000+ Essential French Verbs

Electronics
1 Cd/mp3 player
1 Cd case + 25 Cds
2 Headphones
1 Digital Camera
2 4gb SD cards
2 8gb flashdrives
1 Sanyo Battery Charger
8 NiMH Eneloop's AA Batteries
48 AA Batteries
72 AAA Batteries
1 Petzl Tikka Xp Headlamp
1 Maglite LED flashlight
1 Wristwatch/Alarm
1 Fr200 Shortwave

Misc
25 Feet of Rope
1 Swiss Army Knife
1 Knife Sharperner
1 Duct tape
1 electric tape
2 Nalgene bottles
1 Bike helmet
1 Mess Kit
2 pairs of glasses
1 pair of sunglasses
30 pairs of earplugs
40 ziplocs of varying sizes
1 Lint Roller
2 Travel Locks
1 Money Belt
1 Saptula
1 Large bottle of hotsauce
2 Bags of Jerky

Clothes
1 Belt
1 Sweater
2 Shorts
3 Undershirts
5 T-Shirts
1 Longsleeve shirt
1 Swimsuit
6 Pairs of Socks
2 Pairs of Dress Socks
14 Boxers
1 Pairs of Jeans
2 Pairs of Khakis
1 Tie
2 Button Shirts
3 medium towels
2 hand towels

Shoes
1 Sandals
1 Sneakers
1 Running Shoes
1 Dress Shoes
1 Chaco Sandals

Stationary
12 Pens
12 Pencils
2 Pencil Sharperner
4 Notebooks
5 Notepads
1 Day Planner

Toiletries
3 Toilet Paper
1 Nail clippers
1 Deodorant
3 toothbrushes
2 toothpaste tubes
25 razor heads
4 soap bars
2 Shampoo+Conditioner
3 kleenex packs
8 Hand sanitizer

I'll try to post before I fly to Guinea during/after Staging but no promises.

How to Mail stuff

2008-11-18T04:44:00.000Z

So I was too lazy to write down instructions about how to mail packages so go to How to mail packages. My mailing address is below the links section. Some tips for sending packages if you care to, since it's a flat rate, cram as much stuff into the box as you can. Also when packing items, remove excess packaging where you can to save space. Note: this does NOT mean I want you to mail me soda minus the aluminum can. Another important thing, don't send anything expensive because packages do get stolen while en route. As for what to send, I'll post a wish list when I'm in Guinea.

Just in case the site I linked to doesn't work...

- Use red ink to address the envelope (for whatever reason, this helps).
- Write “DIEU REGARDEZ VOUS” on the envelope, roughly translated: God’s got his eye on you so don’t steal this precious correspondence meant for a sweet Peace Corps volunteer, not for YOU! [This one is particularly useful when the culprit is literate in French.]

- Number letters sent so I can tell if one has lost its way.

Address
Benjamin Won, PCT
Corps de la Paix Americain
BP 1927
Conakry, Guinea
West Africa

Credit Katy Murtaugh, I don't know you but I'll steal your post thanks!

EDIT: You will find a more thorough mailing instructions at 5 Page mailing instructions
Thanks Dorian!

FAQs

2008-11-06T21:21:00.000Z

Here's some answers to a lot of questions I've been getting, and this way I don't have to repeat myself.

Where are you going?
Guinea in West Africa not New Guinea in Oceania

How long are you going to be there?
It's 27 months total, so leaving Dec 2008 and returning in Feb 2011

What are you going to be doing in Guinea?
I won't know exactly what I'll be doing until I get in country, but the program I will be involved with is called SED or Small Enterprise Development.

Here's a excerpt from my assignment information packet: Your primary responsibility as a SED Adviser will be to work with your partner organization to conduct one-on-one and group technical consultations with local entrepreneurs. These consultations and training activities cover broad array of topics, including basic accounting, feasibility studies, business planning, marketing, ICT skills, proposal writing, budgeting, credit managment, and financial planning.

There's more but I think that answers the question sufficiently.

Why are you going?
This requires a longer answer then the pervious question and don't really feel like writing paragraphs, so all I'm going to say is there's a lot reasons why.

What are the living conditions going to be like?
From other blogs I've read and from what other people know about Guinea, its likely I will have a bush experience. Which means no indoor plumbing, no electricity, probably a mud hut, basically all the things people typically think of when imagining Peace Corps service in remote villages. That being said, not all Peace Corps assignments are like that, some people do get placed in cities and if lucky enough access to flushing toliets and other luxuries of modern life.

Theres more questions, but this will have to do for now.

P.S Shout out to Chaco for their 50% discount program for all active Peace Corps volunteers.

Prep Time

2008-11-04T19:45:00.000Z

I received my staging kit yesterday and booked my flight to Philadelphia for staging. I'll be flying out on Monday Dec 1st at 630am PST from Ontario airport to Dallas, 2hr55min flight time. From Dallas to Philadelphia in 3hrs10min. If everything goes as scheduled, I'll be touching down at 5pm EST. Registration and orientation starts at 2pm the next day after which I will be departing for Guinea at 5:20pm EST via JFK on Dec 3rd.

I was hoping for a "what to pack" list with my staging kit, but looks like I'll just rely on the internets. So far I've only bought a few things for my trip and haven't really started packing yet. I'll probably get that started and squared away by the time I get my plane tickets in 2 weeks time. I'm going to try and post my packing list before I leave.

For my records

2008-10-28T07:50:00.000Z

Time line:

5/7/08 - App submitted

5/22/08 - Interview

5/22/08 - Nominated

6/08 - 7/08 - Medical + Dental Paperwork

8/1 /08 - 8/18/08 - Cleared

10/15/08 - Call from Africa Desk

10/17/08 - Invitation Packet received

10/20/08 - Acceptance of invitation

Just waiting for Staging Packet now

Test

2008-10-27T03:19:00.000Z

test post

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