����� In early November the International Crisis
Group issued a new report on the situation in
����� The report is available (for free from the group�s website, www.crisisgroup.org) only in French, but here is a condensed version of an executive overview published in English:
�Ten months after an unprecedented
popular revolt shook the 23-year regime of President Lansana
Cont� and more than a half year after a new government
was formed,
�The protestors in the streets in January and February 2007 (between 137 and 183 died; over 1,500 were wounded) demanded radical change and felt they had won a significant victory when Cont� agreed to name an independent prime minister, who would pick his own government. But the mood today is grim. Although inflation has slowed, initial enthusiasm has been replaced with doubt over the capabilities and will of the new government to break with the Cont� system and alleviate daily economic difficulties.
�It is premature to judge Kouyat� a failure but he has yet to send strong signals that his way of governing is a real break with the past. The Cont� clan and its supporters have not accepted their defeat and are maneuvering to regain full power, not least by playing on popular disappointments to provoke divisions between the actors in the �February revolution�: trade unions, civil society organizations and opposition parties. It is Cont�, however, who remains the prime obstacle to improvement in the lives of Guineans. The agreement that ended the February crisis left him as the constitutional leader; he must sign all decrees and can and does easily stall government action. Kouyat�s office does not exist in the constitution, and he has only the powers the president delegates.
�Free, fair and transparent legislative elections are needed within the next six months to begin the true process of dismantling the Cont� system by democratic means. In the meantime, however, Kouyat�, democratic forces and the international community need to take a number of steps in order to revive the dynamic of change�.Without such measures, Guinea�s crisis is likely to return, quite possibly in the form of less orderly demonstrations than early in the year, which could easily tip the country back into violence and set the stage for restoration of the discredited Cont� regime or a coup.�
Malaria Vaccine Found Safe and Effective in Infants
����� Dr. Pedro Alonso of the University of Barcelona and a team of researchers reported in the November 3 issue of the British medical journal Lancet that a clinical trial of a new malaria vaccine in Mozambican infants showed it to be safe and to significantly reduce incidence of malaria infection. It provided a 65 percent reduction in new cases over a three-month period, surprising some scientists.
����� Malaria kills more than a million people every year,
or approximately one every 30 seconds. Most of its victims are infants and
young children in sub-Saharan
����� �This is a very major breakthrough,� said Dr. Alonso in a conference call with reporters to publicize the results of the study, according to a copyright article by Reuters news agency. �These tantalizing and unprecedented results further strengthen the vision that a vaccine may contribute to the reduction of the intolerable burden of disease and death caused by malaria.� Plans are underway for a large-scale �phase III� trial in 2008, involving 16,000 infants and children in seven different African nations. If the phase III trial goes well, the vaccine could be submitted for regulatory approval in 2011 and be commercially available in 2012, according to Reuters.
����� The vaccine, developed by GlaxoSmithKline, is known as RTS,S/AS02 or Mosquirix and is administered in three doses. Glaxo has invested $300 million in developing the vaccine and could spend as much as $100 million more before it becomes commercially available. Some costs have also been borne by a grant of more than $100 million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the nonprofit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. Glaxo says it will sell the vaccine at affordable prices to multilateral institutions so they can make it available in developing countries.
This quarter has been productive
for FOG. It's exciting to announce that we've donated money to two important
projects that will directly improve conditions and education in
The first of these is a
water pump project in
This is a relatively large
project, money-wise. Drilling wells in
The second donation we
made this quarter was to Partage Qu�bec-Guin�e
(PQG), the Canadian NGO that sends shipments of books to
After receiving our donation,
Robert Dykes wrote us in thanks: �This shipment will come very close to that
symbolic container which allows us to say we have, during the first decade
of our efforts, provided books to every village with a school in every sous-pr�fecture
of
Now, you may be thinking at this point that FOG certainly has a lot of money to play with. Where did it come from? Well, it comes from membership dues, calendar sales, and small amounts come from sources like using the Amazon.com link on our webpage.
Most of the money we've raised over the
past three years from our membership has been primarily for Gender Conferences
that give young men and women in
We do have a bit of money
still earmarked for the next conference, whose date is uncertain since PCVs
have only recently re-arrived in
Anyone who is a �Friend
of Guinea� may have an idea or a contact person for a project that will improve
lives in
����� Peace Corps week is coming! The week at the end of February/beginning
of March is celebrated each year as a time to work towards Peace Corp�s third
goal: �to strengthen Americans� understanding of the world and its people.�
So, what can you do? Start planning a presentation now. Find a school, community,
religious, or service group that would be interested in a small presentation
on your time in
����� As a teacher, I have 120 students every day who are my captive
audience. Once a year, I am lucky enough to forget about middle school math
and spend a day remembering life au village. Students appreciate music
and objects from
����� On a larger scale, last year I took all of my students and
team teachers to see Les Ballets Africains
at a local theatre, and this year I am running a full-school assembly with
Guinean drummers and dancers who will then stay for two days of gym classes
to work with all students in the school. With another teacher, we are coordinating
to bring small messages every day for a week to students about
����� One other thing: As a new member to the Friends of Guinea board,
I am currently trying to determine what exactly our Advocacy Director should
be advocating for. What are issues that RPCVs from
If you are a teacher or
know of an enthusiastic person in an educational organization, the Coverdell
World Wise Schools program at the Peace Corps offers a unique opportunity
to connect with a currently serving PCV. The Correspondence Match program
is a vibrant two-year exchange of ideas, stories, pictures, and artifacts
that helps U.S. students in the classroom learn about the people, geography,
environment, and culture of the world from the direct experience of Volunteers
living in other countries. Whatever the grade level, area of expertise,
or geographic preference of the
Marc Dysart (�94��96) was married
on November 10 to Stephanie Iwanski in
Jon and Denise
have moved back to
Claire Lea reports that last August,
Josie Brenton was married in
Emily Ramshur tells us that in May,
Julia Watkins (G-0, Wassaya) married Scott
Stone, a
In September, Matthew
Edwardsen (G0, Dialokoro)
and Justina French (G0, Telimele)
were married in a sunny outdoor wedding in the vineyards of
Jenni Pearson, Jesse Fleicher, and Leslie (Spoelstra) Friday gather for the wedding of Josie Brenton in August.