About Guinea

You can find very inexpensive used clothing in the markets in Guinea and also get some neat stuff made. You’re really just packing for three months of training right now. After you’re more familiar with Guinea, you’ll be able to find and buy almost everything you need in country.

• Cotton Underwear (14-20)
• Bras (W: 2-5, 1-2 nice ones for your own sanity, 1-2 sport bras)
• Two nice outfits suitable for conferences and/or meetings in the states (W – skirts or dresses or nice slacks and blouse)
• Jeans (W-1, M-2)
• T-shirts (2- 4)
• Tank tops (1-2)
• Casual pants (2)
• Casual long dress, women (3- 4). Sleeveless is OK. Especially sun dresses. Cotton is best.
• Casual skirt (W 2-3)
• Dancing dress (can be slightly above the knee)
• Sweatshirt/sweater/flannel shirt
• Short-sleeved nice but sporty shirts (W 2, M 3)
• Oxford type shirts (M 1)
• Light raincoat (shell) or poncho
• Swim suit
• Decently nice shoes — like sandals, no dress flats
• Light waterproof hiking boots and/or sneakers.
• Running shoes, if you’re a runner
• Hat for the sun
• Cotton socks (3- 4)
• Shorts (1-2), especially long shorts
• Tevas or Chaco sandals. Birkenstocks are great, too, except they fall apart during rainy season.

Submitted by Jenni Pearson, Siguiri, June 02

Clothing/Shoes

• 3 pair khakis/slacks
• 2 long skirts
• 1 pair jeans
• 5-8 tank tops
• 4 button-down shirts
• Modest swimsuit
• Everyday sandals, like Tevas
• Hiking/athletic shoes
• Raincoat
• 25 pairs of underwear
• 6-8 bras
• 5-8 pairs cotton socks
• Cotton pajamas
• Cotton slips
• Several cotton bandanas
• 1 sweatshirt
• A hat for sun
• A good watch with a plastic or web band, not leather
• 1-2 good outfits for holidays/going out with other PCVs

For School:

• Ink pens, especially red
• School bag
• Accordion file
• Grade books
• Colored construction paper (one multicolored package from Target is good)
• Good scissors
• Scotch tape
• Low reading level English books for adults (magazines with lots of pictures are good)

Miscellaneous:

• Lots of hairclips and bobby pins
• Halgen water bottle (available at sporting goods stores)
• Leatherman utility knife (has multiple blades and devices)
• Headlamp (halogen or LED)
• Regular flashlight
• Pillow
• CD/cassette player and plenty of music CDs/tapes
• Can opener
• Rare spices (or ones you like a lot)
• Crystal Light drink mix
• Sauce packets (like Knor) to add variety to the rice
• US stamps (letter and $3.50 stamps for small packages)
• Envelops which seal with a sticker
• Girlie stuff (a little makeup, good smelling cream, etc)
• Lots of film (Guinean film sucks)
• Stuff that makes you feel good and comfortable
• $500 in $100 bills for traveling (traveler’s checks are hard to cash and have poor exchange rates)

You’ll be in a lot of airports in the beginning. The dream-combo of luggage is:

• Huge bag on wheels for heavy stuff
• Large internal frame pack, inside a huge duffel bag. This serves to protect all the straps on the frame pack, plus to give you another bag to use, and some extra space.
• Carry on: a nice medium sized hiking backpack — that funny size that’s larger than a day pack and smaller than your standard overnight pack. Kelty Redwing overnight has been recommended. Plus, a pillow, outside of your day pack.

• Nice big fluffy bath towel
• Washcloth and/or loofah
• Good small flashlight
• Headlamp
• Duct tape (attach roll to outside of luggage)
• Stationery stuff: permanent black marker, thumbtacks, nice paper, envelopes have a tendency to seal in the heat, postcards, glue stick, pens, scotch tape
• U.S. Postage stamps, both letter-rate and priority-rate ($3). One of the best ways to get letters home is to send them with travelers going to the U.S., and they can post your letters for you. Bring about 5 books of the self-stick kind.
• Art stuff: colored pencils, crayons, markers
• Nalgene water bottle and/or Platypus
• Music players. You can buy boom-boxes here for $30-100 if you want.
• Lots of music
• Replacement bulbs for flashlight, esp. for mini-maglite
• Good batteries w/ built-in tester. You cannot get C-batteries in-country
• Personal pictures
• Mini alarm clock
• Swiss Army Knife/ Leatherman
• Books — a few good ones. We’ve got tons of pulp novels.
• Book bag/backpack
• Sunglasses
• Day planner and/or calendar
• Calculator (especially for teachers)
• Spices: curry, Italian, basil, cumin, coriander. Buy in bulk at a health food store, real cheap.
• Zip-lock bags
• Hair bands, headbands, hair clips
• 2 bandannas (essential for dusty taxis in dry season)
• Some US Dollars (bring large bills —  $100 — you get a better exchange on them). Traveler’s checks are hard to use in-country, but are useful if you travel.
• A credit card.
• Short-wave radio (digital is easier to use, analog easier to fix). Can also be bought here but are of questionable quality.

• An extra small towel, or camp pack towel
• If you bring a real camera (SLR) bring a point-n-shoot, too
• Spray bug repellent or skin-so-soft
• 7-day pill holder
• Pillow
• A nice diary or two
• Spiral-bound notebooks don’t exist here
• Frisbee, soccer ball
• music player speakers
• A small gift for your host family during training, i.e. tea, key chains, baseball cap, T-shirt.
• Cards and games to play with small children and villagers.
• Sewing kit
• Ear plugs (PCVs and roosters are noisy)
• Lids that fit on tuna cans
• Tupperware
• Kitchen items: , garlic press, spatula, 1-2 good knives, good can opener, coffee press or gold filter,
• Food items: Knorr’s pasta sauce packs and other instant sauces, mac-n-cheese sauce packs, herbal teas, coffee, protein drinks, Koolaid). Your family can also send these in care packages.
• Toiletries: deodorant (expensive in-country), facial scrubs & masques, deep hair conditioner, nice moisturizer, good hairbrush, haircutting scissors (we also have little scissors in med kits), pumice stone, toothbrushes & toothpaste (quality is questionable in Guinea), echinacea or garlic tablets
• If you like camping: tent, sleeping bag, standalone portable mosquito net (PC will give you one for your lodgings)
• tampons
• Seeds for garden — herbs, veggies, flowers. Good soil here!
• disposable towlettes
• New movies to share
• Good sunglasses
• Children’s books
• Picture book of USA
• Those few silly things that will make you feel happy or luxurious — i.e., mud mask, things that smell good, massage oil, nail polish, stuffed animals, gameboy
• Bike stuff, if you’re hard-core: climbing bar, headlamp, toe clips, bike headlight
• Magazine subscriptions (although we all get Newsweek International for free every week)
• A youth-hostel type sleep sack comes in handy
• Book light
• Silica gel for packing batteries in

• Don’t Bring Because Peace Corps Gives You This

  • Vitamins (multi, B, C, Calcium)
  • Iodine tablets
  • Sunscreen (unless you have a particular preference, like PABA-free)
  • Mosquito repellent (although spray-pump is very nice to have)
  • Bike stuff: bike repair book, bike gloves, All-in-One Tool (you may need to bring a helmet if they tell you to)
  • Med kit stuff: Neosporin, Vaseline, Peptobismol, Chapstick, small scissors
  • Mosquito net (non-travel variety)
  • Basic medications (PC will supply these)

  Don’t Bring Because You Probably Won’t Use It

  • Solar shower
  • Solar battery charger (the $10 variety just doesn’t work)
  • Water filter (although a nice, small, portable one could be handy for trips)
  • Tons-n-tons of tampons. Just bring a few months worth.
  • Sheets. Take up space and you can get them cheap here. They’re provided during training.
  • Lots of jewelry. Just bring a few nice items.
  • Spandex – it will feel like rubber in the heat!
  • A French-English dictionary (provided by PC)
  • Lots of toiletries (you won’t need them or can purchase them in Guinea)
  • Lots of books (there are good libraries at the Regional houses which you will visit periodically)

Things to bring to villagers

Gifts are not expected, but you could consider bringing small gifts for close associates and/or friends of the person you are visiting. Since giving gifts can set difficult (and sometimes annoying) precedents that can sometimes hinder development, you might first want to check with a PCV or someone living in a community to gauge how appropriate gift-giving might be.

Be modest with your gifts. A $50 gift is often more than a month’s salary, and it could easily be inappropriate. If a more expensive gift is to be given, it should be something given to the entire village and for everyone’s benefit. Feel free to ask for suggestions if you want to make such a gift to a village.

Gift ideas:

• Baseball caps are very popular  (check the thrift shops);
• Jasmine tea has been a big hit among young men;
• Matchbox cars;
• Inexpensive jewelery;
• Calendars (buy them on clearance or pick up free ones from businesses and banks;
• Markers and crayons for kids;
• T-shirts (especially new ones, soccer shirts are a BIG plus);
• Nice baby clothes from the secondhand store;
• Nice-looking watches (inexpensive, Thrift store again!)
• Officials sometimes like things for their desks, like fancy-looking desk sets, clocks, or a nice pens;
• Small photo albums with photos of you and/or them;
• Books or magazines in French (or soccer magazines in any language);
• Brightly colored silk scarves;
• Small change purses and key chains;
• Nice handkerchiefs for men and American bandanas.

As with physical gifts, be mindful of what you’re giving, its implications, and its potential impact on the community and future PCVs. That being said, if you’d like to make a monetary gift to someone in Guinea once you’ve left the country, here is one way to do that. 

There are many different ways to send money to Guinea. Remitly and World Remit are a couple of options. Below are details on how to send via Remitly, though there are multiple other services you can use. 

Start the transfer using either the app on your phone or the Remitly website on a computer.

• Website: https://www.remitly.com/us/en
• Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.remitly.androidapp&hl=en_US&gl=US
• Apple App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/remitly-send-money-transfer/id674258465

The directions below describe how to make a money transfer using the Remitly app.

• Create an account.
• Select the country you want to send money to: Guinea
• Select “Send Money”
• Enter the amount in US Dollars. (It will show you the conversion to GNF.)
• Choose to pay with either a debit/credit card or with your bank account. (Paying with your bank account usually has less fees.)
• Under Delivery Method, choose “Cash Pickup”
• Under Cash Pickup, select “Cash Minute (Jalloh Enterprise)”. Cash Minute has accessible locations all over Guinea, and your recipient can pick up the money at any of these locations. Here is a link to a list of the Cash Minute pickup locations in Guinea.
• https://www.worldremit.com/en/account/payout/view-locations?correspondentIds=509
• In the link above, look in the “address” column to see the name of the Bank in the city to which you want to send money. This is where you can tell your recipient to pick up the money.
• For Example, if my recipient wanted to pick up the money in the city of Koundara, I use the link above to see what locations are available in Koundara, and I see they would pick the money up at Fibank in Koundara (Fibank Koundara Koundara ville Guinea-Conakry). 
• Enter your recipient’s information. NOTE: They will need an ID showing this first and last name, so make sure the person you send the money to has an ID they can show.
• First and Last Name
• City
• Region
• Phone number (they will be texted updates about the transfer if you enter a phone number)
• Enter your payment method details (Credit Card or Bank Account Info)
• Confirm and submit
• Your recipient will receive a text about the money transfer. It is usually ready for pickup within a few minutes.