May 2004
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A�cha Marches Guinea
As current and former Peace Corps volunteers know from
their service in
Peace
Corps volunteers publish 2,500 copies of Aicha Magazine two or three times a year depending on funding levels. For
each issue that is printed, 2,000 copies are sent to the interior
of the country to be distributed for free by the volunteers in almost
every prefecture and many sub-prefectures in three regions of the
country. The remaining 500 are distributed free of charge in Conakry
to advertisers and Peace Corps partners such as USAID, UNICEF, PSI/OSFAM,
PRISM, Africare, International Rescue Committee,
Institute National pour la Recherche et
l�Action P�dagogique, Programme National
pour la Lutte contre
le SIDA, etc.
Eventually
Peace Corps Guinea would like to hand over all publishing and editing
roles to Guineans themselves, in order to make this a truly Guinean
publication. Before which, however, A�cha
must be made self sufficient and sustainable.
In
an effort to curb reliance on altruistic funding and donations, advertising
space has been sold in the magazine since 1998. The ad sales ensure
future fiscal viability and allow for expansion of production. It
has also become necessary to sell advertisements because donations
have not been constant nor have they been sufficient to cover the
costs of production, which is at 3 million Guinean Francs per issue
(for 2,500 copies). If A�cha Magazine were able to secure continual
financial support from donors, its production would finally be guaranteed
and the difficulties related to ad sales would greatly diminish.
Peace
Corps Guinea is extremely proud to announce that we will soon be printing
our 12th edition of A�cha to be released in June 2004. Since its inception, A�cha has been well
received by Guineans and remain very popular, especially in the remote
villages where volunteers consistently report that the magazines are
highly sought after by boys and girls of all ages. School teachers
and administrators have expressed their support as well, some of whom
used the magazine as a tool in their classrooms. Many volunteers reported
that copies were also left in many health centers, which further extended
A�cha�s contact with Guinean women.
For many young Guinean women, A�cha provides a much-needed space for self-expression and
discussion of the issues and problems that impact their lives.
A
Great Success for PC Guinea: The First Ever Young Men’s Conference
Sonya Starr, PCV Wawaya
On January 17th and 18th 2004, Peace Corps volunteers in Guinea hosted
the first Young Men’s Conference. The conference organizers hope
that this experience will mirror the positive effect that the annual
Girls' Conference has had on the young women of Guinea who have had
the opportunity to attend.
Twenty Guinean middle and high school students from across the country
met in Mamou with twenty-one Peace Corps volunteers and six Guinean
speakers. The volunteers and speakers worked together to present informative
and interactive sessions on professionalism and scholarization, relationships
with women, environmental issues, AIDS, STDs and reproductive health,
and public speaking and presentations.
At the end of the two-day conference, each youth created an action plan
with the help a volunteer. The action plan outlined how each young man
planned to take the information presented at the conference back to
their respective village or town in an effort to educate their friends,
family and neighbors.
The conference was highly successful and all participants hope to see
this become a yearly tradition in Guinea. Provided that funding can
be obtained, next year’s conference will be open to a larger number
of young men and perhaps be extended to three conference days.
Rights Groups Blasts Guinea
The report, published April 12, was prepared after visits to Guinea by the group in November 2003 and February 2004. Its conclusions were supported by the Guinean NGO, Organization for the Defense of Human Rights (OGDH), in a press conference in Conakry on April 14.
The report noted that opposition parties and independent newspapers are tolerated in Guinea, and that elections take place, but severely criticized the government for repeatedly violating its own laws in order to rig elections and harass opponents.
It also criticized last December’s presidential election, in which six out of seven opposition candidates were banned from the ballot and international observers were prevented from monitoring voting. Although official results showed Lansana Conté with more than 95% percent of the vote on a turnout of over 82%, the report estimated the actual turnout at less than fifteen percent and cited several examples of vote rigging.
Opposition leaders have denounced last December’s vote as a sham.
The report also criticized widespread use of arbitrary detention without trial, including many arrests in the armed forces amid coup rumors in late 2003, as well as the arrests of trade union and student leaders.
The report blamed Guinea’s poverty on government misrule and warned that if Conté, already suffering from heart disease and diabetes, were to die in office, the country would be at “high risk” of political instability and violence.
Opposition
Leader and Army Chief Arrested and Charged with Coup Plot
On April 22, Guinean security minister Moussa Sampil went on national
television to announce the arrest of three opposition members in an
alleged coup plot. More arrests were to follow. After detaining opposition leader and former prime minister Sidya Touré for three days for interrogation about a meeting in Paris where the possibility of overthrowing the Conté government was allegedly discussed, Sampil announced that three members of Touré’s Union of Republican Forces (UFR) party had been charged in the plot. Touré was rearrested on April 26, charged in the same case and released April 27 pending trial. Also charged April 27 was deputy chief of staff of land forces Colonel Mamadou Camara.
Minister Sampil said that UFR members had admitted the plot. “These citizens organized a meeting in Paris and discussed the assassination of the head of state and the dissolution of republican institutions,” Sampil said according to Reuters. He said they had confessed to the police.
Touré has said he was not at the meeting, and knew nothing of any assassination plot.
An opposition alliance which includes the UFR had already dismissed the coup allegations as false. Ba Mamadou, spokesman of the alliance, said on April 23, “Everything the minister has declared is based on lies.” He accused Sampil of living in the past and using the tactics of Sékou Touré against the opposition.
Ba Mamadou and Sidya Touré were both prevented by the government from leaving the country on April 10 when they tried to board a plane to fly to a conference in Sénégal.
Guinean Prime Minister Resigns, Goes Into Exile
On Friday, April 30, Guinean Prime Minister François Fall controversially resigned his post, only weeks after replacing Lamine Sidibé as head of government last February 23. Fall was appointed in order to implement reforms to help stimulate the Guinean economy and to renew dialogue with international partners, but he complained to Radio France Internationale of “numerous blockages” and “police abuses” that hindered such reforms and rendered his task “impossible.” Fall claimed that Guinean president Lansana Conté refused to accept a significant sum of European Union aid because it was contigent upon dialogue with the opposition. He condemned the arrest of former prime minister and current opposition figure Sidya Touré, saying he had opposed the justice minister’s handling of the case since the beginning. Fall’s resignation letter also deplored “anachronistic practices” that led to serious differences between himself and other members of the regime on major questions such as reform of the justice system and foreign debt. He said he preferred resignation rather than “remaining in office and implicitly going along with policies that can only aggravate the mess the country finds itself in.”Fall’s step was welcomed on May 1 by the Association des Guinéens résidant á l’exterieur (AGRE), whose president, Lanciné Camara, told the French news agency PANA that the prime minister “has taken a very courageous political decision which honors his reputation as a distinguished diplomat. Guineans abroad are grateful to him for having behaved in such a manner”. He went on to note that he had previously met with Fall, who had expressed such concerns about the human rights situation in Guinea that Camara had not been surprised to hear of his resignation.
Fall announced his resignation while in Paris and said that he expects to remain in exile for an undetermined period of time. His letter of resignation was dated April 24 but was not published until the conclusion of a conference he had flown to Paris to attend, “for reasons of security” according to his RFI interview. He had previously taken the precaution of taking his family out of Guinea, and on May 8 he was interviewed by telephone in New York, where he told Guineenews that he planned to stay out of politics and concentrate on “reading, thinking, and educating my children.”
In a related development, the May 2 issue of Jeune Afrique l’Intelligent was blocked from distribution in Guinea when the Guinean Interior Ministry refused permission to distribute the French newsweekly, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Editor Marwane Ben Yahmed said that the magazine’s distribution had apparently been blocked because it contained a feature interview with Fall explaining his disillusionment with the Conté government and his reasons for leaving. In the article, Fall quoted president Conté as having said to him, “Me, I am a general. You ministers, you are my corporals. I give the orders, you carry them out. I don’t discuss with you”.
At the time, Fall’s resignation had not been officially announced in Conakry. Although the government successfully prevented Jeune Afrique l’Intelligent from appearing on newsstands, some direct subscribers received the issue anyway and a flourishing trade in illegal photocopies of the banned article subsequently developed, according to a report from the Media Foundation for West Africa.
Tragedy Strikes Guineans in New York and Boston
Four members of a Guinean immigrant family from Pita died
when a fire engulfed their Brooklyn apartment in the early hours of
April 17, according to a report in The New York Times. Killed in the
fire were Hatiatou Bah, her 18-month-old daughter Hadja Oumou Diallo,
and two of her husband’s cousins: Issiaga Diallo and Mamadou E.
Diallo. Two more cousins escaped the fire, but it claimed a fifth victim
on another floor, James Gardner.
Ms. Bah’s husband, Mamadou Diallo, was at Kings County Hospital
with the couple’s other child, Abubacal, who has sickle-cell anemia,
when he learned of the fire. According to the times report, he worked
as a street vendor and was related to Amadou Diallo, the unarmed Guinean
immigrant shot to death in the Bronx by four police officers in 1999.
Over one hundred firefighters worked for two hours to control the fire,
which also injured twelve people including six children, three adults
and three firefighters, one of whom was hospitalized with first-degree
burns. Police later arrested a neighborhood man who they said admitted
starting the fire in a dispute with a building resident.
“The entire Guinean community is so sad,” according to Mohamed
Jalloh, the president of the Guinean Community of America. Local associations
of Guinean immigrants up and down the East coast collected donations
to help the family send the bodies back to Guinea for burial.
On February 12, Habib Diallo died in Boston of injuries sustained when
he was stabbed during a robbery by three street-gang members of the
convenience store where he worked as a cashier, according to Toronto-based
Guineenews. After completing his university studies in Senegal, Diallo
had returned to Guinea to teach at two private schools in Conakry, while
also opening and managing a private computer training center. He came
to the United States in 2001 to study English and business management
and last December was married to an American. His friends said that
his intention was to return to Guinea after completing his studies,
to participate in the development of his country.
Diallo’s remains were returned to Djourbel, Sénégal,
home to a number of his relatives. His assailants have not been apprehended.
Inside
PC Guinea
Thank you to Country Director Lisa Ellis and FOG’s
PC Guinea Liaison, Nancy Fleisher, for making available to us Peace
Corps Guinea’s in-house newsletter. Here are highlights from recent
issues.
March
PC Guinea is adopting the hotel voucher system used in other PC Africa
countries, which will allow a slightly increased limit on volunteers’
use of public lodging facilities each quarter. The official hotel in
Kankan is the Baté, and in Labé it is the Tata. Tata owners
Raby Barry and her husband Flavio are said to have sold their hotel
in Senegal and to be moving back to Labé.
SPA has funded an ecotourism training project and a public health oriented
music and theatre group.
The drug now provided to volunteers for self-treatment of malaria (as
distinguished from prophylaxis) is the newer medication Malarone, instead
of Fansidar which was used previously.
Peace Corps Guinea has several new videos on HIV/AIDS topics. Most are
in French but two are in Malinké.
April
In March Country Director Lisa Ellis and others made a presentation
to government and NGO officials on the results of PCV efforts in 2003.
The Minister of Women’s Development requested six volunteers on
the spot and intends to introduce the GLOBE program in schools in Conakry.
Girls’ Conferences took place in March. Lisa Ellis characterized
them as “extremely well thought-out and organized,” and
tells of a young woman who was inspired by one of the first Girls’
Conferences to excel academically, and is now studying in the U.S. on
a scholarship. Conference organizers are attempting to improve the system
for monitoring the impact of the conferences on girls’ lives and
behavior.
Fouta and Haute Guinée PCVs are offered reimbursement to fly
to Conakry instead of traveling by road for their July-September
quarterly visit, for reasons of reduced road safety during the rainy
season. Recent congressional hearings on the safety of PCVs are well-covered,
with full reprints of three news articles. PCVs planning vacations are
reminded that Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, southern Senegal
and most parts of Sierra Leone are on the State Department’s “restricted
travel list”. All are countries bordering Guinea.
A decrease in Peace Corps' operating budget for 2004 has resulted in
an overall reduction in recruitment of volunteers, and fewer volunteers
will be arriving in Guinea in the next group. Conakry is asking COSing
Volunteers to prepare their communities in case they are not replaced.
In another sign of the times, PC Guinea now has officially designated
responders in case of chemical or biological attack.
An article on the nutritional value of mangos notes that they are an
excellent source of dietary fiber, potassium and anti-oxidant vitamins.
Apparently they are richer in vitamin C while they are still green,
but richer in vitamin A after they are ripe.
PC Guinea staff member Odette, a native of Gueckedou, contributes an
article on her experience of being a Catholic Christian in Guinea. She
emphasizes the general mutual tolerance and conviviality between Christians
and Muslims in Guinea but observes that there are, even in Guinea, extremists
of the Wahabbi sect who refuse to accept Christians.
May
On April 14-18, PC Guinea hosted a sub-regional T.O.T. (training of
trainers) workshop on HIV/AIDS and nutrition, based on the “Hearth
Model” that was originally developed in Haiti and has since been
introduced in Asia and Africa. Participants came from Chad, Cameroon,
Gabon, Ghana, Benin and Togo to take part, as well as from Guinea itself.
This was a first for PC Guinea.
PC Guinea has identified local physicians in Conakry, Kankan and Labé
that are approved to provide reimbursable services to volunteers. (The
beginning of the first Guinean HMO? Maybe not.) Conakry is looking for
others, and solicits recommendations from PCVs.
The American Cultural Center in Conakry is soliciting applications from
PCVs for microproject grants. They have already provided funding for
the recent Boys’ Conference and for AIDS Awareness Day Activities.
Among other things, the American Cultural Center operates the only free,
public library in Conakry.
NRM Volunteers are helping to introduce improved beekeeping and honey-harvesting
technology in several communities (four so far). In a SPA-funded project,
one PCV has produced an audio cassette in French, Pulaar, Soussou and
Malinké, featuring interviews with Guineans living with HIV/AIDS.
This audiocassette is being distributed to all volunteers as way of
stimulating discussion in communities. PCVs have already used the tape
in community meetings and even at soccer games.
Planning for next year’s Boys’ and Girls’ conferences
will begin with a meeting on June 21. Postcard ballots are being distributed
to PCVs in advance of November’s general election.
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Projects Report
��������������Donald N.
Parker (’01—’02), Projects Director
projects(at)friendsofguinea(dot)org
I hope everyone’s year is going well. I am happy to be working
with the Friends of Guinea Network.
Congratulations and thank you to everyone for helping to donate $500
towards Meghan Greeley’s Library Project in Koundian, Mandiana.
We are halfway to our goal of donating a total of $1000 for the year.
FOG is currently trying to further its efforts in providing assistance
to PCVs in the way of project funding. FOG is a member of the Peace
Corps Partnership Program (PCPP). This is a program that provides financial
assistance to PCV projects. I recently spoke with Caroline Taylor at
the Office of Private Sector Initiatives (OPSI) with Peace Corps. Mrs.
Taylor is the Program Specialist for Africa. She is our contact in Peace
Corps Washington concerning FOG’s desire to fund PCV projects
in Guinea. She gave me a plan for FOG to use in streamlining the process
of project funding.
The first step is that a PCV applies for funding through the PCPP. After
approval by Peace Corps the project is listed on the Peace Corps website:
www.peacecorps.gov. FOG then needs to stay current with the website.
This duty would belong to the Projects Director and members of projects
committee. If FOG decides there is a project or projects that we want
to fund, we then contact OPSI and tell them we wish to do so. OPSI can
then send us a copy of the application for our records. FOG then can
send funding to OPSI, which will relay the funding to the PCV.
Mrs. Taylor asked that any requests that come to FOG first, be relayed
to OPSI so they have a “heads up” on potential projects.
She asked that we also refer the PCV to OPSI and to the PCPP. This duty
would also belong to the Projects Director. Mrs. Taylor suggested that
FOG and the PCVs not use a coversheet to request FOG assistance. This
would cut down on paperwork for the Volunteer and confusion in OPSI
and in FOG.
To view approved PCPP requests: Go to www.peacecorps.gov. Click on “Donate
Now.” Click on “Projects.” Projects are listed by
country. Go to Guinea and you will find a list of PCPP sponsored projects.
I believe this new format will make things easier for FOG to support
PCVs and their communities. If anyone has suggestions or questions please
feel free to contact me. Also if any one has information on projects
in Guinea please pass that information on to me. I would like to thank
Membership Director Stephanie Chasteen, former Projects Director and
current Webmaster Cherif Diallo, Caroline Taylor and Andrew Barnes at
OPSI, and everyone else in FOG who has helped my transition in to this
position.
If anyone has any funding requests, questions or concerns about FOG
projects please contact me at projects(at)friendsofguinea(dot)org. I’d
be happy to help. For updates and info on past and present projects
check out the FOG and the Peace Corps websites.
Emily
Ramshur (’00—’02)
Are you willing to take a chance on a child who needs you? All around
the world children sit in orphanages waiting for families. The situation
for some of these children is even more desperate as they are infected
with HIV and, as a result, are unlikely to ever find homes.
A Chicago area not-for-profit foundation, Chances by Choice, works to
find permanent adoptive families for these children. In 2002, only 200
HIV positive children were born in the United States, down from 2000
in the year 2001.
Therefore, Chances by Choice is focusing on children living in countries
where social stigma and lack of education and resources have created
a massive health crisis. HIV infected children in some of these countries
will not only live in miserable conditions in an orphanage, but they
also will not receive the medication and treatment they need to live
long and healthy lives.
If you or someone you know would like further information about adopting
a child who needs a loving family, please visit Chances by Choice online
at www.chancesbychoice.org, email us at info(at)chancesbychoice.net,
or call Kim, Margaret, or Emily at (708) 524-4673.
Library
Needs Funding
While Friends of Guinea strives to support volunteer
projects, our means are limited. Here is a profile of the “Sougueta
Library Project”, which is seeking $2,000 to buy books:
There are a very limited number of books in Sougueta and books are expensive
and hard for community members to obtain. Most of the students in the
elementary and junior high schools do not even have the textbooks for
all of their classes. A library in Sougueta would give the people of
this community the opportunity to improve their literacy skills, a resource
center for the village, and a place in their community where continual
learning is encouraged. The library will be initially focused on aiding
the junior high students because of their initial strong support of
the project. The junior high consists of children from all backgrounds
within the community and equal access will be given to all children.
Eventually, the library will be open to everyone in the entire community.
Partnership funds are needed to purchase furniture and books.
Anyone interested in supporting this project may do so by going to www.peacecorps.gov,
clicking on “Donate Now”, “Volunteer Projects”,
and “Guinea”.
Guineenews
Receives Grant From FOG
Friends of Guinea has donated
$200.00 to Toronto-based news service Guineenews, in recognition of
the important work that it carries out in providing accurate and objective
information about events in Guinea and among the Guinean diaspora. Guineenews
editor Boubacar Bah thanked Friends of Guinea, saying “This gift
will go towards offsetting the expenses of our Conakry bureau. Youlake
is compensated monthly thanks to generous donors like you.”
If you are interested in following events in Guinea, log onto the internet
and go to www.boubah.com. We think you’ll like what you see.
hese or other Crisis Corps positions, visit the
Peace Corps website at www.peacecorps.gov,
or call 800-424-8580, option 2, extension 2250.
Free
personal Classifieds in CaVa?!
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Jason Smith (Kankan ‘97
- ‘99) recently married Tori Oliver and is currently working
at the Corporation for National and Community Service (Americorps).
Jon and Denise Goldin-Dubois (’94 - ’96) are organizing
a tenth-anniversary reunion in the mountains of Colorado this summer
for their stage group. If you haven’t already been contacted by
Jon, please get in touch with him at [email protected], or by
telephone at (303) 292-2134.
Jon and Denise were part of a luncheon get-together in Denver on April
11 that also included Nikki Shull (Boké ’02 - ’04),
Stephanie Chasteen (Wawaya ’97 - ’99) and Woody Colahan
(Maci ’93 - ’96). They had a great time at the Abyssinia
Market Café Ethiopian Restaurant, and plan to meet again on a
regular basis. Any Guinea RPCVs in the Denver area not already contacted
by Woody are requested to get in touch with him at ecolahan(at)du.edu.
Update Your Information!
Did you sign up on the FOG Registry (http://friendsofguinea.org/registry.shtml)? Has your email address or location changed since then? Please email our cheerful registry update guy, Scott Sackett, at [email protected], and he’ll update your information. Make sure your RPCV friends can find you! As always, the registry is protected from spam-harvesting programs (but not from the public eye).
Love to Lauralou from her admirers at 3220 Cathedral - Patrick, Matt,
Radek, Dylan, Bonnie, Willie and Chirpie, and of course
Mama.
