8/98: Mom's visit to Guinea

Details

Category: Stephanie Chasteen's Letters while a PCV - Newsletters

Marge's Visit to Guinea - by Marge Chasteen

August, 1998

Stephanie and I arrived in Conakry, Guinea, on Sunday, August 9, after spending the night in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, enroute from our trip to Kenya (see previous report). Ethiopian Air kindly put us up at a hotel there because the flight necessitated an overnight stay. They also paid for our meals. On the way to Abidjan, we touched down in Kinshasa, where a number of Americans joined our flight, fleeing the Republic of Congo. In Conakry, we were met at the airport by a Peace Corps official, who swept us through customs, etc. Since Steph's ID was a little sketchy after the theft of all her documents, we really appreciated this help! We were taken by a Peace Corps van to the PC House on the other side of town. We were very lucky to have this "royal treatment", but we needed a little TLC after our harrowing experience. Our drive through the streets of Conakry was a revelation to me: so many people, so much noise, an incredible amount to see. I could hardly take it all in. Stephanie and our PC rep were in constant rapid French communication. I didn't realize until later that he spoke English perfectly well, having attended college in Boston. I kept massacreing French, attempting to communicate with him.

Read more: 8/98: Mom's visit to Guinea

8/98: Trip to Kenya

Details

Category: Stephanie Chasteen's Letters while a PCV - Newsletters

Marge and Stephanie's Trip to Kenya - by Marge Chasteen

Summer, 1998

Our adventure began with my departure from Logan airport in Boston the evening of July 28. My flights went smoothly, and I arrived in Nairobi's Kenyatta airport at around 10:30 p.m. on the 29th. A representative of Utc, the tour company, met me, whisked me through customs, and took me to a car waiting to take me to my hotel. Stephanie was due to arrive the following morning. When the tour company's agent met her plane, she wasn't on it (glitch #1). Stephanie had forgotten to confirm her flight from Conakry (lesson #1: always confirm flights 72 hours in advance in Africa). She was rerouted on an exhausting itinerary which took her to about 3 countries, with an overnight stay in the Cote d'Ivoire. All this time, she wasn't sure whether or not I or the tour company had gotten messages from her, telling us that she would arrive one day late (we did). (Stephanie's #1 panicked phone call to dad).

Read more: 8/98: Trip to Kenya

4/98: Return from vacation, thoughts about development

Details

Category: Stephanie Chasteen's Letters while a PCV - Newsletters

Newsletter #3 from Wawaya - March/April 1998

As most of you know, my wonderful mother just took me on vacation to the Canary Islands, a group of Spanish-owned islands off the coast of Morocco. I've been back in my village about a week now.

I'm very glad I was feeling happy with life here in Guinea before I left, because it was quite a shock to be back in the Western world again. I wasn't expecting it to be so developed in the Canaries, but Las Palmas is a regular city. There were supermarkets. Shopping districts. Historic buildings. Sushi bars. Ice cream. I even found a Baskin Robbins, and a Bennetton.

It is hard to describe the effect that all of this had upon me. It was a coming back into myself, a reminder of a life. Not quite like waking from a dream, but something similar. I had been losing perspective, cloistered away in the little world of my village. I've adapted here, learned to deal with constant miscommunication, both in terms of inadequacy of shared language and the lack of a shared cultural understanding and cultural cues. That is: we can't talk, the Guineans and I, and we rarely know what we're really saying to one another. I am on an island of one (except when I see other volunteers - then we form out own little cloistered universe of Volunteer Land). I had gotten used to the isolation and, like a constant static, had grown less aware of it.

Read more: 4/98: Return from vacation, thoughts about development

2/98: Adjustment, Work, Christmas

Details

Category: Stephanie Chasteen's Letters while a PCV - Newsletters

Newsletter #2 - February 18, 1998

I have been in my village for 4 1/2 months now. At the time of my last letter, I had been here for only a month. A lot has changed. At about the second month, culture shock hit me very hard. The villagers have little concept of how different my home is from theirs. Their world is very limited in scope. They know little beyond what they hear on the radio and read in the (limited) textbooks. Few people travel.

It is rare to talk about feelings. People talk about events, who's going where, who died, who was born... but not how they felt about those events. The two words we use most for describing feelings are "happy" and "tired". Anything beyond that, such as "sad" or "angry" or "fulfilled" just isn't in their daily vocabulary. Especially "sad". I think it made people very uncomfortable when I expressed sadness.

Read more: 2/98: Adjustment, Work, Christmas

8/97: Training

Details

Category: Stephanie Chasteen's Letters while a PCV - Newsletters

Newsletter #1 from Wawaya

Hello!

This is my first official newsletter since I've left home.

I'm in Africa!  I made it through 2 months of training in Senegal and one month in Mamou (Guinea).  Training was hard, a lot of work, a lot of information, and a lot of people!  We all went a little crazy.  Throw 50 young people together for several months, add a liberal amount of stress, sprinkle with culture shock and homesickness, stir well and let simmer.  We all kind of reverted to high school, and I ran and hid and spent most of my time with one or two people.

Training itself was like being in school, with class hours, mostly devoted to language.  My French was good enough that they put me directly into the national language (I learned Pulaar, the language of the Fulani).  Other classes were Tech (eg., the actual job - health), Culture, and Medical.  Tech was pretty nebulous, because our job is pretty nebulous.  We learned about needs assessment, working with the community, letting people come up with solutions themselves.  We also spent some time on the actual nuts and bolts, such as vaccinations, nutrition, food preservation.  Cultural training was pretty good (though difficult, since we were mostly in Senegal, not Guinea, and the cultures are different). We were pretty disappointed in the medical training.

Read more: 8/97: Training

6/97: Just left

Details

Category: Stephanie Chasteen's Letters while a PCV - Newsletters

July 1 - First letter from the field

I've just departed (July 1), so I'm probably freaking out!!!  We went to Washington, DC to get all our shots on July 2.  Note the typical governmental foresight in giving us our shots and malaria medication the day before we leave (most vaccinations should be given a month or so before exposure...).  We then fly from DC to NYC to Paris to Dakar, where we take ground transport to Thies, Senegal.  This is where we spend 2 months of our training.  The third month will be in Mamou, Guinea (right close to the border of Sierra Leone, where there's that coup now).  Those who don't panic and flee (One drop-out estimate was 30%) will be sworn in as volunteers and placed on site.

The toughest time for volunteers is the first 6 months.  This has been described to me as "the loneliest time of my life."  Culture shock, isolation, and lack of easy international communication will be tough...  So, my dear friends, please, WRITE TO ME!!!  My addresses are listed below.

Read more: 6/97: Just left

Woody Colahan's letters - 29 June 1996

Details

Category: Woody Colahan's Letters

Greetings from the Fouta. Rainy season is moving into full swing and everybody is out in the fields growing the rice and cassava they will eat for the rest of the year. It really is beautiful this time of year. I have always known that I would be leaving Guinea at the height of the rainy season, and I am glad I will remember it this way.

Rainy season is also malaria season and flu season of course. The health center is very busy. I saw a little girl with whooping cough the other day. Something you don't see often at home. Unfortunately all the health centers are desperately low on medications. In a related development the Guinean health minister has, after initial denials, admitted the truth of a report on French radio that more than a million dollars in health funds has disappeared without a trace. This scandal, though unremarkable by itself in Guinean terms, comes on the heels of the announcement of a government anti-corruption campaign.

Read more: Woody Colahan's letters - 29 June 1996

Woody Colahan's letters - 7 May 96

Details

Category: Woody Colahan's Letters

So -- it is two days later and I will try to finish the story. They wanted me to go to this big meeting, and I didn't really want to. I had something I wanted to do in Pita on Friday. They asked me at least to address the meeting before I left for Pita. So I told them, if I were to address the meeting it would be to ask the following question:  Why had all these thousands of dollars (millions  of francs -- I heard estimates from two to ten million) been spent of sacrifices and ceremonies to seek God's benediction for the development of Maci, when they could have actually been used to do something for Maci such as digging wells, building a school, or even installing a solar electric system in the health center? They agreed I should go to Pita instead.

Read more: Woody Colahan's letters - 7 May 96

Woody Colahan's letters - 5 May 1996

Details

Category: Woody Colahan's Letters

Dear Mom & Dad;

Greetings from Guinea, the pearl of West Africa. Pardon me for using the blue pen as I know black is easier to read on this grid paper, but it is the only one I have with me and I want to get this letter off with someone who is leaving for Conakry today. In fact if I have to break off abruptly, it is because they have come for my letter.  Last week was the Feast of Tabaski, and a great number of  people who claim Maci as their ancestral home but who live elsewhere came back to visit their families and pass the holiday together. This to be followed  by a big meeting on Friday to discuss the development priorities of the sub-prefecture and try to make some positive decisions. In order that Allah should smile upon the development of Maci, they spent the entire day and night leading up to the meeting in holding  special prayers and

Read more: Woody Colahan's letters - 5 May 1996

Woody Colahan's letters - 23 January 1996

Details

Category: Woody Colahan's Letters

Dear Mom & Dad;

Greetings from Maci. Today is the first day of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and atonement for all muslims. For the faithful who keep the fast, including everyone in Maci except small children and me, no food or drink is to be taken between sunrise and sunset. People here have a special wrinkle they throw in: they refrain as well from swallowing their spit. All day long people are spitting out long streams of saliva everywhere.

Besides small children, the Koran specifically excuses sick people from fasting, as well as pregnant women and nursing mothers. In principle, in fact, anyone who doesn't feel up to it is excused. But here in the Fouta, everybody fasts, period. Needless to say, it is not the healthiest thing for a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy. I have been trying to introduce the idea that pregnant women shoul not fast, but no luck so far.We will start seeing the first miscarriages and premature births here at the health center in a few days.

Read more: Woody Colahan's letters - 23 January 1996

Letters from Travelers

Details

Category: Letters from Travelers

Long letters from travelers to Guinea

Letter 1

Erik, our younger daughter Jenny, and I just returned from our trip to Guinea and Senegal. Our PCV, Elinor (Eli), appreciated it so much and we were able to share the amazing experiences as well as the difficulties of daily life. Just spending time with Eli was the best part. Also loved learning about the various cultures, development issues in this part of Africa, and day-to-day adventures.

We flew on Royal Air Maroc from DC (Delta codeshare) to NYC to Casablanca then took Paramount Air Guinea Dakar to Labe. Price for Royal Air Maroc was about $1166. Roundtrip Dakar-Labe was between $180 and $200. Since Royal Air Maroc had a long layover on way to Dakar, we took an extra day and went from Casablanca to Marrakech to get a chance to experience Morocco. Although Marrakech involved some extra travel, friends assured us that Casablanca was just another modern city, whereas Marrakech was beautiful and had more historic and cultural sights. We stayed at a lovely, small guesthouse, Riad Dar Pangal, in the Casbah and hired licensed a day guide to take us through the old city and market. Next day we hired a taxi to shuttle us around to the lovely gardens before catching plane to Dakar. The sights and smells of Marrakech were so inviting: Flowers everywhere. Buildings painted red - the color of the city. Snake charmers, fortune tellers, story tellers in the plaza. Wonderful food. Smell of aromatic spices filled the air.

Read more: Letters from Travelers