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For security reasons, we no longer
post current PCV sites on the web. If you are a RPCV
and wish to find out if there is a PCV in your old
site, write to info @ friendsofguinea.org
and state who you are and what town(s) you
are enquiring about, and why.
Sept/Oct
2004
Deteriorating economic situation in
Guinea - CD Lisa Ellis leaving - New US Ambassador
in Guinea - Small Enterprise Development update -
Labe and Kankan to get new computers - Risky road
travel...
August 2004
Illegal drugs discouraged - IST -
Information technology for PCVs - Theatre group project
- Non-native species
June/July
2004
Trunks no longer shipped by CBG -
Peer Support System is back ("JET") - Tumba
fly - Aicha magazine - Sean Cantella is a dad
May 2004
HIV/AIDS workshop - Local physicians
for service to PCVs - NRM volunteers
April 2004
Minister of Women's Development requests
PCVs - 2004 Girls Conferences - Fouta and Haute PCVs
can fly - Fewer new PCVs due to budget constraints.
March 2004
PC Guinea adopts hotel voucher system
- Malarone now used instead of Fansidar for self-treatment
of malaria
February
2004
Kankan house closure. More information
about the house
closures from March 2003
September
2003
First Boys Conference - Cooking tips
- New Trainees - New Staff - Safety issues
June 2003
Small enterprise development program
- Travel restrictions - Memorial Road Safety Walk
2003
June 2002
New Country Director Lisa Ellis
December
2002
New APCD health - New office location
- New staff members - Vacation policy for PCVs - When
training groups leave
Lisa addresses the deteriorating
economic situation in Guinea, reassuring
PCVs that there is no sign of
imminent civil strife, and reminding them that their
communities need their help now more than ever.
Volunteers are warned away from certain
restaurants in Conakry due to reports of criminal
activity.
Peace Corps Guinea’s Public
Health Guide has been updated with the help
of several volunteers.
Medical unit reports a cluster of
cases of amoebas and girardia in PCVs from
Kankan. Water purification in the Kankan
office seems to be good, so volunteers are advised
to stick to bottled water when out on the town.
Volunteer Adam Watts shares the experience
he had of being detained by the Guinean military
not for taking
pictures of a military base, but just for having a
camera in his hands as he rode past the base in a
car.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose.
PCV’s are encouraged to be as discreet as possible
with cameras
around government installations, lest they be mistaken
for spies preparing for an American invasion of Guinea.
Crisis Corps Director May
Angelini recently visited Guinea. Crisis
Corps continues to deploy volunteers in
Guinea, described as one of its “longest running
and most vibrant programs.”
Peace Corps Guinea’s Small
Enterprise Development program is working
with the Guinean Office de
Promotion d’Investissement Privé to explore
the possibilities of producing shea butter for export
to
U.S. cosmetic manufacturers. Volunteers in Burkina
Faso, Ghana, Togo and Kenya are already active in
promoting this export product. Potential also exists
for exporting coffee to the Maghreb.
GAAD Coordinator Victoria
Chang bids adieu to Peace Corps Guinea and
reminds everyone of the upcoming
HIV/AIDS and Life Skills Training in October in Mamou,
and of the Girls’ and Boys’ Conferences
in February
and March, respectively, of next year.
JET, or “Je t’entends,”
the volunteer peer support network, introduces a new
monthly column in the
newsletter by reminding PCVs that they are all weird;
or at least that is how their Guinean neighbors are
bound to see them so there is no point feeling self-conscious
just because people stare at them all
the time. JET members are available to their fellow
volunteers to help them cope with the inevitable
episodes of loneliness, frustration, homesickness
and culture shock that all PCVs know too well.
Country Director Lisa Ellis
has been named to be the new Country Director for
Peace Corps in South
Africa. She will be moving to Pretoria around
the middle of November. Congratulations, Lisa!
Peace Corps extends a welcome to the
new United States ambassador in Guinea, Jackson McDonald.
He was
formerly Ambassador in The Gambia and Deputy Chief
of Mission in Ivory Coast. Last month’s Volunteer
swearing-in took place at his residence in Conakry.
In an effort to reduce the risk
to volunteers from road travel, PC Guinea
has begun to discourage
cross-sector projects between volunteers living in
different regions of the country. PCVs are also warned
against vacation travel to African countries that
currently pose security concerns, including Liberia,
Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, southern Senegal,
Sierra Leone outside of Freetown, and the Forest Region
of Guinea.
Peace Corps headquarters in DC is
anxious for all staff and volunteers to be aware that
all sexual
interaction with minors abroad is strictly prohibited
under U.S. law regardless of host country laws or
customs.
The economic situation in
Guinea is beginning to affect Volunteer allowances.
Tutoring, technical
supplies and settling-in allowances have been increased.
Living and travel allowances will be
reviewed later.
Labé and Kankan Volunteer
computer workstations are to be upgraded,
with new laptops, power supply units and printers.
Boké will be looked at in the future.
The Small-Enterprise Development
program is still working on finding ways to link local
communities with
international markets for organic coffee
and shea butter.
GAAD (Gender and [HIV/]AIDS in Development)
members raised 1.8 million FG at a silent auction
timed to
coincide with G8 swear-in on September 23. The money
will go toward a “GAAD Microfund,” and
project
proposals from Volunteers are invited. Auctions are
planned to be held bi-annually in the future.
Congratulations! PCVs Magdalena Valderrama,
Michelle Salmen and Laura Blinkhorn have received
approval for
SPA (Small Project Assistance) fund grants involving
educational camps and a theater group.
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The August Peace Corps Guinea Newsletter
begins and ends with reminders to PCVs to behave themselves
while guests in another country. To begin with, it
contains a strong reminder of Peace Corps’ zero-tolerance
policy on illegal drugs. Lisa notes
that a volunteer may be separated from Peace Corps
on the basis of rumors or allegations alone, if they
are found to have compromised the credibility of the
volunteer or the program; and that in the past, Peace
Corps shut down their entire program in one country
after two volunteers were arrested for smoking marijuana.
At Washington’s request, Peace Corps Guinea
is presently working on the drafting of a policy on
alcohol use by volunteers and staff, although problems
related to alcohol abuse have not been an issue so
far. All PCVs are cautioned strongly against engaging
in sexual misconduct with host-country
nationals, by the printing of a transcript of a television
news report about Timothy Obert, a California man
arrested under a federal anti-sex-tourism statute
for relations he had with an underage host-country
national while serving as a PCV in Costa Rica.
IST took place in July at
the “Taadi Club Motel.” (A motel in Guinea?)
Eighteen new trainees also arrived in July. They are
all living with homestay families in Dubreka. Site
visits for their group take place in August, and COS
conference for the departing group takes place in
September. Lisa promises something “special.”
Small Enterprise Development Volunteers will attend
a workshop in counterpart relations in late August,
and a “Life Skills Training” seminar with
counterparts (not necessarily the same ones) in October.
Information Technology
continues to increase its presence in Peace Corps.
New resources are available to volunteers including
a very basic computer training manual from an African
businesswomen’s group, and volunteers may also
access a no-cost office software suite by Sun Microsystems
for distribution to community groups and NGOs.
PCV Deb Harris writes about
a summer camp she and PCV Steph Weber organized,
which gave rise to a theater group that performed
several skits on health themes, from which a short
film was later created with the help of PCV Kent Brown.
Environmental volunteers are cautioned to
be careful when promoting non-native species
that may spread aggressively in a new environment.
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Too bad! Many RPCVs gratefully remember
shipping a multitude of stuff home in trunks
through the bauxite company, CBG. Unfortunately, the
process has become too difficult and complicated because
of changes in import regulations since Sept. 11. PCVs
are looking into other ways to send the trunks home.
The Peer Support system
is being re-introduced to Guinea. The Peer Support
system began in 1997, where certain interested PCVs
were trained as active peer listeners to support fellow
PCVs in times of need. A total of 8 PCVs were trained
in July, with the help of a PC psychologist. The members
of the group have named themselves JET (short for
je t’entends).
PCVs are reminded that with the rainy
season comes the friendly Tumba fly.
While most PCVs have never seen one, the little buggers
were the subject of our horrified fascination during
training for many of us, an instance of a tropical
disease we definitely did not want to get. The fly
lays its eggs on drying clothes, which hatch and burrow
when put in contact with warm skin. Eww....
Aicha Magazine, produced
by the GAAD coordinator in Conakry, is still going
strong. FOG has several sample copies available from
past years. If anybody would like to help us scan
these and convert them to PDF for archival on the
website, please contact Stephanie at membership @ friendsofguinea.org.
We hope to help support Aicha through fundraising
in the future, and it will be helpful to have sample
copies to show potential donors.
APCD Sean Cantella's a dad!
He writes: Suus and I are happy to announce that Xavier
Seamus Cantella arrived around 6:15 pm on July 15.
He weighed in at 3.545 kg, or 7 pounds 13 ounces.
He has a full head of dark wavy hair and is simply
the most beautiful boy in the world. Mom and baby
are resting at the Deventer hospital. It was a tough
delivery but in the end, after about 12 hours of labor,
the little one arrived screaming and
peeing, much like his father when he’s angry.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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Kankan house closes
The Kankan regional house will close
on or around
February 1, 2004. (The final rental date will be
February 17, 2004). We have secured two apartments
in
a building next to the Grand Marché in the
center of
Kankan.
The Hotel Baté will serve as
the official hotel for
Peace Corps Volunteers beginning on February 1, 2004.
The agreement with Baté is the same as the
agreement
with Hotel Tata in Labé. Hotel rooms cost 25.000FG
M-F, 30.000FG S-S, each additional PCV is charged
7.000FG, with a maximum of four PCVs per room. It
is
likely that there will be a 2.000FG reduction in the
price of dinners at Baté, which I will confirm
in the
next newsletter. Baté will also receive ten
of our old
mattresses from the PCV house so that they have enough
beds in the event that they have an overflow crowd.
Upper Guinea based PCVs will receive
an additional
50.000FG per month as part of their travel allowance
to cover costs of staying at the Baté while
in Kankan
on official business. This is the same rate that
Middle Guinea PCVs are now receiving in order to stay
at the Tata. We will order the additional amount some
time in January.
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BOYS CONFERENCE
9/03. In consideration of the success of Peace Corps
Guinea's annual Girls' Conference, and in recognition
that gender awareness may be further developed by
including the other half of the population, Kristi
Thane, Sonya Starr, Elise Reuschenberg and Brian
Capitomino are in the process of organizing a Boys'
Conference.
The tentative plan is to hold a two-day
seminar in
Mamou at ENATEF on January 17th and 18th. Themes will
include, but are not limited to: professionalism and
careers, relationships with women, HIV/AIDS, and
environmental issues. Sessions will be conducted by
PCVs in collaboration with 9 formateurs. The
conference will accommodate 23 young men selected
and
accompanied by PCVs.
~Brian Capitomino
COOKING TIPS A-LA DR. SEUSS
9/03. Instead of making an egg salad sandwich with
Bama
(mayonnaise), use avacados. It is a nice variation
to
the norm and much easier to get au village around
this
time of year. I sprinkle half of a maggi cue in their
as well for an extra kick. The green tinted eggs will
remind you of story time at the library.
(ed note -- had to include this for nostalgia's sake!
Bama, Maggi, and creative cooking...)
NEW TRAINEES ARRIVED
9/03. 24 Education trainees arrived to cheers and
well
wishes on July 10. They are busy at work in ubreka
and will be going on site visits around August 11.
Seven of them will be teaching in a new Physics
education program.
The first group of Small Enterprise Development
volunteers will arrive in January. Sites are being
evaluated now.
NEW STAFF
9/03. Yamilee Bastien, the new APCD for Small Enterprise
Development (SED) arrived in Guinea on July 6. Yamilee
is a RPCV from Benin and also served as the Acting
APCD for SED in Benin for a year.
Ann Frolich will be our second PCMO on staff. Ann
is
a Nurse Practitioner with 12 years of experience
including experience as an Emergency Room Staff Nurse.
Ousmane Diallo started on June 23 as our new Safety
and Security Coordinator. Many of the PCVs know
Ousmane from training; he was the Cross-Cultural and
Home Stay Coordinator.
SAFETY
ISSUES IN CONAKRY
9/03. A PCV was mugged at 8 o’clock in the morning
in a
narrow alleyway not far from the PC office. The next
night at 11 pm, a police vehicle attempted to force
2
PCVs in the back of their van for what I can only
presume was a shakedown. The PCVs were headed to the
Maison de Passage after picking up a pizza at the
Riviera Hotel. Both of these incidents took place
near
the office but out of the patrol area for our guards.
In response, we have been able to secure an additional
Intercon guard to escort PCVs to the 2 main junctions
that intersect the road that runs in front of the
office as well as escort you to the beach estaurant
behind the office. The guard is available 24-hours
a
day. Please take advantage of this service to help
ensure your safety. Moreover, the Embassy has provided
us with an additional police officer to patrol the
neighborhood. Finally, the Minister of Security has
promised (and delivered!) increased patrols in the
neighborhood of our office/Maison de Passage by the
anti-crime brigade (BAC). They are a police unit that
has been specially trained by the French. Last week,
they arrested a suspect in the mugging incident.
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NEW PC GUINEA
PROGRAM (5/03)
Peace Corps Guinea will be starting
a new program in
January 2004 – the Small Enterprise Development
(SED)
program. The program will begin with approximately
15
PCVs working in business advising, agribusiness,
and
information technology. I have hired an experienced
SED APCD for the program who should arrive in country
around August 2003.
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PCV
TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS (5/03)
Due to the current war in Iraq and
the threat to
American citizens abroad, the following restrictions
on vacation travel will apply until further notice.Travel to other Peace Corps countries
is currently
discouraged and travel to countries with US travel
restrictions is currently prohibited. . The following
countries are on the list: Turkey, Somalia, Liberia,
Cote D’Ivoire, and Nigeria. In addition, the
following areas have been listed as posing a terrorist
threat or other substantial risks to Americans:
Djibouti, Tanzania, and Kenya. Please check the
State
Department website for complete information.
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MEMORIAL
ROAD SAFETY WALK (5/03)
The 3rd Annual Memorial Road Safety
Walk will take
place in Kankan on Saturday 7 June. Registration
starts at 07h30 and the run/walk will begin at 08h00.
It is a 10K run/walk this year. The walk will end
at
the Prefet’s and refreshments will be served.
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New Country
Director
In June, 2002, George Greer stepped
down as Country Director. His replacement is Lisa
Ellis.
He writes:
"Well the time has really
run out on this Guinea traveling circus and
I'm taking down the tents and heading out. Yep,
that fateful day has
finally arrived and I'm on my way. We are leaving
on July 2 and finish up in Washington with PC
close out on July 11 and 12.
I would like to say what a great
pleasure is has been to work with so
many great Volunteers over the past five years
in Guinea. It has been a little over the edge
much of the time but on balance is has been a
wonderful and rewarding experience and I really
think we have had an impact. Of course none of
this would have been possible for me, either as
an APCD or CD, without the excellent staff of
PC Guinea.
We are headed to the DC area where
I'm hoping one of the numerous
Guinea RPCVs there can offer me a high paying,
low demand job!! Best wishes to all of you.
Du courage and stay in touch, (please
email Stephanie at info @ friendsofguinea.
org for George's address)
George Greer
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APCD for Health,
12/02
Agnieszka Sykes, left her post
in Guinea on December 6th to take a position with
USAID in Benin. In speaking about Agnieszka’s
two and a half years with Peace Corps, Country
Director Lisa Ellis described her as enthusiastic,
creative and hard driving and praised the advances
made in the Health program during her tenure.
The
Peace Corps office is moving to a new location 12/02
in Taouyah in mid-December. The
new facility will provide space for new staff,
new technology and additional programming, and
will allow the program to comply with current
safety and security requirements for overseas
government agency facilities. Lisa describes the
new building as spacious, spectacular and even
“palatial.” The Maison de Passage (volunteer
house) has already re-located into a house next
door to the new office.
New
staff members are: 12/02
- Sidi Conde, Information Technology
Specialist, formerly with Mobil Exxon in Conakry.
- Catherine Kling, new APCD for
Health beginning in January, who was a
- PCV/Health in Cameroon, served
as a Crisis Corps Volunteer in Foreciah, Guinea
and currently works with Catholic Relief Services
in Sierra Leone.
- Sean Cantella, new APCD for Administration
beginning in January, a RPCV from Senegal who
has worked in Guinea with PSI and USAID in HIV/AIDS.
Vacation
policy 12/02
for PCVs: Effective January 2003,
standard policy will be strictly enforced (2 days
of vacation earned for each month of service).
Volunteers can no longer take additional vacation
days and pay for them at COS (close of service).
Fundraising continues for this
year’s Girl’s Conferences. See
the FOG website at www.friendsofguinea.org for
more information or to donate.
Training
There are 2 groups -
Education: July to Sept
National Resource Management (NRM) & Health
from Oct to Dec.
Training is now in Dubreka.
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