15 August 2009 • No.27
15 August 2009 • No.27
PDF)Peace Corps Guinea Update
Daniel Evans, PC Guinea Director
Hello to all Friends of Guinea,
We’ve had lots of
changes here in Guinea and with Peace Corps/Guinea over the past year. Let’s start
with the most important – the Volunteers. As I write this we have 82
Volunteers serving in Guinea and another 17 due to arrive on July 8th. For
those of you who follow the different groups, we currently have two Extension
groups, G15 and 17, and one education group G16, with G18 arriving in July.
The next Extension group, G19, will arrive in December with an anticipated 39
trainees, which will raise our numbers to over 130 volunteers. We’ll drop back
to about 100 in February 2010 when G15 COSs. They will be our first group to
complete their full two years since we reopened our program in July 2007.
I am also happy to say
that Peace Corps/Guinea is one of the countries targeted for considerable
growth over the next two years. We’ll expand back into the forest region in
September with a few Education Volunteers. To support our expansion in the
forest region, we will open a new regional office in Nzerekore. The office
should open by November; well before the extension volunteers start there in
February 2010. Over the next two years Washington has approved a full
expansion into the forest region and an overall growth to 120 to 140 Volunteers
by the end of 2010.
Washington has also been
very supportive of rebuilding our staff. We have recently hired a new APCD for
our Agro Forestry Program. His name is Abdoul Diallo, and he has worked as an
AgFo trainer for several years, so he knows our overall program, as well as
many of the volunteers. Dioulde Barry, who was previously the Program
Assistant for Education or PA sans Frontiers as he called himself to
reflect the fact he really supported all the programs, is now our APCD for
Education. Mohamed Fofana decided to move on from Peace Corps, and with all
his experience, Dioulde has stepped right in to take over the Education
Program. Yvonne McCarthy is the APCD for Public Health. She took over for
Annaliese Limb. And Kristine Schantz is our new APCD for Small Enterprise
Development, taking over after Josh Romalis left last fall.
Other staff changes include
Ousmane Diallo moving from our Safety and Security Coordinator to Training
Manager. And Yama Diabate, previously our Regional Coordinator for Boke,
replaced Ousmane as our new SSC. She is only the second female SSC in the
region. Oh, and I’ve just completed my first year with Peace Corps as well!
I arrived here in Guinea on June 30th of last year.
With our approved growth
trajectory, Washington has approved hiring a new Program Assistant. In addition
we have also submitted requests for a second Program Assistant and a second
PCMO. Both of those positions are still under review in Washington, but we are
hopeful they will be filled. We will continue to fill additional staff
positions over the next year as the number of Volunteers continues to grow.
For the longer term, we
are analyzing how we might expand certain programs further, or add entirely new
cross-cutting activities, such as girls’ empowerment and education. With our
current new staff and the expansion of all our programs, we have plenty to keep
us busy, but we also know there are still many needs and opportunities for
Peace Corps here in Guinea.
On the political front a
lot has also changed. Since the death of President Conte and the coup d’état
last December, we continue to work closely with government agencies at all
levels. The official U.S. Government position will not recognize the new
government until a democratic election occurs, but Peace Corps, as an
apolitical organization, has continued all its operations. We continue to watch
Guinea’s political and economic situation very closely, with the hope that
elections will be held soon.
On behalf of our
Volunteers I would like to thank all Friends of Guinea for your generous
support of Volunteer projects. Your support helps Volunteers do many things
with their communities, from girls’ conferences to rebuilding schools and other
community projects. We greatly appreciate your continued interest in Guinea
and your assistance.
Sincerely,
Daniel Evans
Country Director/Guinea
“Are You Disappointed?”
Susanna Fioratta, RPCV G5, Diountou, Lelouma ’02-‘04
PhD
Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Yale University
I arrived in
Conakry in mid-July for my third visit to Guinea since I COSed in 2004. After
summer research stints here in 2007 and 2008, I’m now in Guinea for a year of
ethnographic fieldwork. Conakry, viewed from above as the plane descended,
looked the same as always, despite the dramatic change in government since my
visit last summer. With some nervousness and a lot of curiosity, I wondered how
I would find things, and what would be in store both for me and for Guinea over
the next year.
“Are you
disappointed?” asked the man next to me (in French), after our plane had landed
and we were taxiing to the terminal. He had observed me looking out the window
at views of Conakry--shacks, metal roofs, rain, etc.
I looked at him,
unsure what I was expected to respond.
“First time in
Conakry?” he asked.
“Oh, no,” I
answered. “Not my first time. I lived in Guinea, in the Fouta Djallon, for over
two years.”
“Ahhh,” he said.
“Not your first time. I only say this because often you, the Europeans, are
disappointed when you come to Conakry.”
“Are you
Guinean?” I asked.
“Yes, but I’m in
France now. I’ve only come to Conakry for three weeks to visit my brothers and
sisters.” Then he returned to his theme. “Even when those Guineans who have
left here and gone away, when they return again, even they are often
disappointed here.”
“Disappointed how?”
I asked.
“In their
affairs. They come back to Guinea thinking that they will do some business, but
it doesn’t work. I had a friend who was doubly disappointed. He left his wife
in France to return to Guinea for business, and in the end he was disappointed
in his business, and also his wife left him while he was absent, so he was
disappointed in his wife as well. Doubly disappointed.” He shook his head
ominously. “This is why I caution you to be very careful, and not to be
disappointed.”
We both amassed all our belongings and lined up with the other passengers to exit the plane. Once we were crowded onto the bus to be taken to the terminal, I found that he was still next to me. He addressed me again. “It is important that you not come here expecting to succeed. That is the mistake that people make. They arrive here thinking that they will do something, and then they fail and they are disappointed. You must not invest everything you have, thinking that you will succeed. You must be prepared to fail. I only tell you this so that you will not be disappointed.”
I nodded and thanked him for the ominous, yet perhaps pragmatic, advice.
What will happen—both in my research, and in Guinea—of course remains to be seen. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to get a sense of things here. In many ways, the vibe seems the same as last year and the year before. People are still waiting for water and electricity, still talking about maybe having elections sometime soon, still making long speeches about how too many people are making speeches and not enough people are getting things done. Most Guineans I’ve talked to so far seem neither especially optimistic nor pessimistic about the outcome of this phase of “transition.” Meanwhile, a few changes stick out: only one passenger is now permitted to sit up front in Conakry taxis, there is virtually no small change to be had in Conakry (though there seems to be rather more available up country), numerous military roadblocks have sprung up again along the main road, and large red X’s mark the walls of houses and buildings supposedly slated for demolition for having been built on illegally sold government land. Over the course of the next year, I’m hoping to find out more about how people here perceive and are dealing with the many political and economic uncertainties they face in their daily lives. Regardless of what happens, or doesn’t happen (I will refrain from holding specific expectations, so as not to be disappointed!), it should be an interesting time to be back in Guinea.
Guinea Briefs
For
up-to-date news and information, visit www.guineenews.org
(in French) or http://friendsofguinea.blogspot.com/
Girls Conference Update
Basse Cote and Fouta Girls Conferences were held in the past two months. Many current PCVs have blogged about the successful conferences. Find a list of the most recently updated PC Guinea blogs, as well as a link to all PC Guinea blogs, at : http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Guinea . Also, check out Guinea PC Director Daniel Evan’s photos from Guinea (including past Girls Conferences’) at: www.flickr.com/photos/27636181@N05 .
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The Girls Can Kick It Too!
Teale Walheim, G-15 PCV Mankountan, Boke ’07-‘09
Photo above left was taken in Maferanya, Teale’s training village
where girls played on soccer
If you ask me, Guinea could really use a graceful kick of some balls. Now, I know you weren’t asking, but hear me out. If your village is anything like mine the football field is a powerhouse for young men hopped up on sugary attaya. As a sports fanatic myself, I have seen my fair share of games in my village, Mankountan. However, being well into my second year of service I’ve grown weary of watching a bunch of adolescent boys with bloated egos play football (that is if you consider crying in the dirt mimicking their professional heroes on TV part of the game). Seeing all the girls on the sidelines ardently supporting their male classmates, I grew curious as to why the roles were never reversed. During one game I asked the official next to me (who was important enough to receive a distinguished plastic throne) why the girls never play ball? He shrugged and with an infuriating chuckle he enlightened me, saying: “The girls don’t want to play.” HUMPH! Rolling my valley girl eyes (that’s right, I’m from the valley) I thought to myself, “I’ll believe that when the men start preparing the daily rice!”
After that I took it upon myself to ask a few of my girlfriends around the village if they were interested in playing football. Not surprisingly they said yes. So off to the College I went with a vague mission in mind. I asked the Principal if there was a way we could allow the girls to play football comme les garcons. Being the motivated, jolly man that he is, Princy (as we call him) was d’accord avec ca! BUT (there’s always a “but”) there was one small problem; they didn’t have a ball for the girls. Luckily I remember GAAD coordinator Kim spouting about some donated soccer balls. I eagerly responded, and she replied “I can promise you a ball if you organize the teams!” And unlike most of the ideas I conjure up in my hut, this one hit a chord that turned out to have quite a bass.
So Kim sent me the beautiful Nike soccer ball (pump included) and Princy organized a tournament placing the different classes against each other. I was so excited I blurted out that I would play to help support the girls. If you know anything about me, you know that I am relentlessly competitive (with no apologies) but a footballer I am not. Knowing I lacked the necessary foot skills to succeed at this game I tried to strategically place myself on the strongest team. I thought this would be 10emes…Well we’ve lost our first two games 3-0 and 3-1. We resembled a 4th grade AYSO team in which every player follows the ball like a swarm of bees on honey. However seeing the confidence grow with every successful kick of the ball is a reward so sweet it’s worth my wounded pride.
Plus,
there are many girls whose eye-foot coordination is far more developed than
that of a five-year-old (pas comme moi) and are receiving the props they deserve. Not to mention the
undeniabl
e fact that every single girl seems to possess an ingrained sense of
courage and perseverance; traits that every coach can only hope for. I have
also discovered that their newfound pride is unexpectedly contagious. It has
spread to the trash-talking Professors who coach us, to the petite princesses
on the sidelines who have found some of their own balls to kick and to les
vieux who talk about which girls are plus
forte que les autres! So at the risk
of sounding terribly cliché, I do believe everyone comes out a winner on this
one (and I promise this is not a final attempt to erase the big “L” stamped on
my forehead).
My nonchalant attempt to spice up village life inadvertently provided an opportunity for the girls of Mankountan. Seldom do les femmes get the chance to put effort into something purely for themselves and even more rarely are they applauded for it (like NEVER). I took for granted the equality I feel when I personally step into a sports arena and it took the radiant spirit of these young women on the football field to show me that they had lacked that freedom.
I think this is a sustainable project that everyone can and should do. Giving the ladies of your village a chance to play football is, among other things, allowing them to express themselves in a world ruled by men. In this privileged realm they have equalized the turf. It’s a simple change but I can see it every day at 16:30, just as the sun is beginning to lift its merciless bubble of heat allowing a breeze from the rice plain to whistle through town. With this natural signal the girls of Mankountan are passing their cooking spoons to someone else, relieving their heads of 20 liter yellow bidons and relinquishing themselves from the baby tied to their backs; for the next two hours its game time. This may be a small step for the empowerment of Guinean girls but it’s a step with a kick. And it turns out these girls can kick it too, avec force, if you just give them a target.
“Peace Corps lit a fire under us”
School-to-School International Launched Girls Education Project in Guinea
Rebecca Harry, STS International
School-to-School
International (STS) is a US-based non-profit organization working in Guinea to
improve health and education in elementary schools. The founders, Dr. Mark Lynd
and Dr. Jeff Davis, began working in Africa as Peace Corps Volunteers in the
1980s. Mark attributes his passion for development to the Peace Corps, saying,
“Peace Corps lit a fire under us, teaching us about how we can help societies
improve by helping their kids learn better.”
Since 2002, STS has been working in Guinea to transform education and school health so that every child can succeed in elementary school. In its work in 30 “partner schools” in Coastal Guinea, STS has consistently witnessed girls struggling to complete elementary school; nationwide, less than half of school-aged girls complete their elementary school education and make it to middle school. As a result, STS recently launched its Girls’ Education Project to support girls, their families, and their communities to improve girls’ chances of success in elementary school. The project provides monthly scholarships to families when a daughter consistently attends school, provides community workshops to reinforce the importance of elementary school education for girls, and provides training to teachers to host after school remedial sessions for at-risk girls.
STS would like to thank Friends of Guinea for donating $500 to the Girls’ Education Project. To learn more about the project or to get involved with School-to-School International please visit our website, www.sts-international.org or contact us at info@sts-international.org or 650-728-7138.
New PC Director Aaron Williams
Information from White House Press Release
Most recently a Vice President for
International Business Development with RTI International, Aaron Williams has
over 25 years of experience in the design and implementation of worldwide
assistance programs. As a senior manager at the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), where he attained the rank of Career Minister in the US
Senior Foreign Service, and as Executive Vice President at the International
Youth Foundation, Mr. Williams established innovative public-private
partnerships around the world. As USAID Mission Director in South Africa,
Mr. Williams led a billion dollar foreign assistance program during President
Nelson Mandela’s administration.
In addition to his work in South Africa, he has extensive experience in the strategic design and management of assistance programs in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East; including long-term assignments in Honduras, Haiti, Costa Rica, and Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean islands region. In addition to his tenure with USAID, Mr. Williams served on the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at USAID. Mr. Williams was awarded the USAID Distinguished Career Service Award and the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service twice. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he serves on the Advisory Board of the Ron Brown Scholar Program, the Board of Directors of CARE, and the Board of Directors of the National Peace Corps Association. Mr. Williams served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic (1967-70). Upon completing his service, he became the Coordinator of Minority Recruitment and Project Evaluation Officer for the Peace Corps in Chicago (1970-71). Mr. Williams is fluent in Spanish. He is a graduate of Chicago State University, and has an MBA from the University of Wisconsin. His confirmation hearing was held on July 29; Director Williams was confirmed as the 18th director of the PC in early August. He is the first African American Peace Corps Director.
New U.S. Ambassador to Guinea
Ambassador Patricia N. Moller, a member of the Foreign Service since 1987, served as U.S. Ambassador to Burundi from 2006 to 2009. In the course of her career, Ambassador Moller has served in five other overseas locations including in Munich, Germany, Chennai, India, Belgrade, Serbia, Yerevan, Armenia, and Tbilisi, Georgia. From 1991 - 1996 in Washington DC, she served first as a Watch Officer, then as Staff Aid to the Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research, and later as Vietnam Desk Officer for bilateral negotiations to reestablish diplomatic ties between the two countries. From 1996 to 1999, she was assigned to Belgrade, Serbia, departing when NATO bombing of the country began. From 2000 to 2002, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Yerevan, Armenia and from 2002 to 2005 as Deputy Chief of Mission in Tbilisi, Georgia. Ambassador Moller has three times received the Department's Superior Honor Award and three times been granted a Senior Foreign Service Performance Award. Ambassador Moller has a BA from the University of Tampa.
Communications Director
Due to personal reasons, newly elected FOG Communication Director Rosemarie Rose has resigned. Former Communications Director Brian Farenell will retake the duties until a new election is held.
Le Griot Nous Dit…
On Sunday, July 5, Melissa Oetke (G4, Faranah and Fria, '02-'04) married Andy Webb at Independence Grove Park in Chicago, IL. RPCVs in attendance were Mackenzie (Pfeifer) Dabo (G0, Saramoussaya and Conakry, ’00-’04) and Alissa Hartig (G4, Dinguriraye, ’02-’04). The couple honeymooned in Greece.
