15 November 2009 No.28
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FOG statement on the events of
Sept. 28
This statement was put together by Brian
Farenell, RPCV and current Communications Director for FOG, and approved by
current officers and members-at-large.
As an organization
primarily consisting of people who've lived in or have some other strong
connection to the country, Friends of Guinea is
following the unfolding events in the Republic of Guinea
with grave concern. We condemn the massacre of
187 peaceful, unarmed protesters (over 1000 were injured) by the Guinean
security forces and are particularly horrified by reports of soldiers publicly
raping women.
The country's military
leader, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, claims he has no control over the elements
within the army and even blamed civilian opposition politicians for leading
their followers into a confrontation with that army. In reality, the tension
has been caused by Guineans' rightful disgust with corrupt leaders who've
misruled and oppressed them with complete impunity for decades, [this]
slaughter being only the bloodiest example.
Guineans were initially
optimistic about the new regime, as Capt. Dadis promised to crack down on
corruption and drug trafficking. He also promised
not to stand in next January's presidential elections.
It was his reneging on that promise that led to the escalation of tension in
the country. The brutal suppression, by men in uniform
acting in his name, of peaceful protests is only making things worse.
If we are to take him at
his word, that he's not in control of the military, then the military ruler
must make re-establishing that control his number one task, not running a political campaign. We are heartened that Capt. Dadis
says he agrees that an international inquiry into the massacre is merited, but
that is not enough. We call on him to keep his initial promise to not run in
the upcoming presidential elections and to hand over power to a
democratically-elected civilian government. Imposing control over the security
forces, implementing the rule of law and establishing democracy would be three
of the most important things he could do for Guineans.
The September 28th
killings occurred on the 51st anniversary of Guinea's historic
rejection of French colonialism. In the lead up
to that vote, Guinean leader Skou Tour said that his countrymen would choose
"poverty in liberty over prosperity in slavery." Guineans have seen
plenty of poverty but precious little liberty. They are clearly showing how fed
up they are with corrupt, autocratic regimes. After half a century, it's long
past time they are allowed a leader who reflects their will. We call on Capt.
Dadis to allow that to happen.
-Friends of Guinea Board of Directors
Message from Friends of Sierra Leone
I wanted to send FOG a
message from Friends of Sierra Leone. We understand what you are going
through at this difficult time and will be hoping and praying for a quick and
peaceful end to the problems in Guinea at this time. FoSL members know
too well the heartbreak and anxieties when a country and her citizens that are
loved are in a state of violence and unrest. During my Peace Corps days
someone told me how personal a distant war becomes when you have walked
the streets of the places named on the nightly news and when you have friends
who still live there. How true that is. Hang in there.
-Peggy Murrah,
President, Friends of Sierra Leone
Follow FOG on Twitter
Brian Faranell, FOG
Communications Director
You can now follow Friends of Guinea via
Twitter. Just follow go to twitter.com/friendsofguinea and follow us. In
addition to linking to our blog entries on FOG, Peace Corps and Guinean news, I
will also repost ("retweet" or RT) links to related stories from
other news outlets. It's a good way to keep up to date, especially now as
events seem to be unfolding quickly.
FOG Needs a Secretary!
FOG is currently working without
an active secretary. The time commitment is estimated at 5 to 7 hours per
month, and a complete list of duties can be found at:
http://www.friendsofguinea.org/aboutfog/officerduties.shtml
If you are interested in
volunteering your time to help FOG run, please contact us at info@friendsofguinea.org .
Editorial:
What next for FOG?
Mackenzie Dabo, FOG
newsletter editor
Since the events of
September 28, Guinea has been in the news like never before. While things in
country have retuned to a type of normality since the atrocities of that day
(e.g. school has opened and life continues), the international community has
been shocked beyond belief and most international community members have left
Guinea in protest over the current government and in fear of what may happen.
Peace Corps officially
suspended the Guinea program on October 20, leaving 100+ volunteers and staff
from PC Guinea trying to find the next step in their journey. The same can be
said of FOG as an organization. On Sunday, November 8, many FOG officers and
members at large attended a conference call about its next steps. All parties
involved agreed FOG is still a relevant organization, and committed to the
three applicable (of four) FOG objectives as stated in the organizations
mission. The mission is to:
1. Connect current and
former United States Peace Corps volunteers serving in Guinea and their
families and friends with other people dedicated to helping Guineans,
2. Support both current
Peace Corps volunteers in Guinea and their families as they experience the
difficulty of extended separation,
3. Work towards the
long-term development of Guinea by supporting and initiating worthy projects,
and
4. Disseminate cultural
information about Guinea, its people, and their customs in order to facilitate
intercultural understanding.
If you are in agreement
that our mission is relevant,
please consider encouraging your family and friends to become a member of
Friends of Guinea.
FOG is also hoping to
partner with Alliance Guinea, an organization that has sprung up organically
since the events of September 28. Under the direction of many RPCVs and Guinean
Nationals, this group has started some exciting work. FOG hopes to use our
extensive reach to connect others interested in these causes. Please see the
article on the following page.
FOG looks forward to
soon being able to advocate for a return of Peace Corps in Guinea. In the past
year, Peace Corps has returned to Liberia and has also just announced (11/2/09)
it will return to Sierra Leone.
Through all of this,
lets not forget what is most important: the safety and best interest of the
people of Guinea, including all of the families who have taken in volunteers as
one of their own. We are all thinking of them and sending our thoughts,
prayers, and best wishes.
Alliance
Guinea: Coming Together for Justice and Democracy
Jennifer
Swift-Morgan, PCV 99-01
L to R: At DC march, Alimou Bah (former PC driver); Kimberly Fowler, (Labe, 02-03);
Jessamyn Miller (Labe,02-04); Elise Reuschenberg (Dalein, 02-04); and Dana Wiggins
( Sannou, 02-04). Photo courtesy J. Miller.
The day after September
28, when the Guinean military brutally killed, raped and severely wounded
pro-democracy protestors in the stadium and streets of Conakry, we (I along
with some friends) knew we had to do something. We had seen other episodes of
violence in Guinea in recent years but this time felt immediately different.
There was the fact that Guineans finally seemed more or less united – for
the first time in history – that the military leader in power had to go.
That military rule in general had to go; 51 years was enough. Then there was
the sheer number of kids – and most were kids, or jeunes, in any case –
killed and wounded, and the way that they were trapped like animals in the
stadium (that stadium – how many times had we all driven or walked by
that stadium?) and gunned down and stabbed from behind. Then there were the rapes. When we
first heard the reports many of us could not even get our heads around it.
Rapes in Conakry? In the streets? Dozens of women – and with rifles and
worse?
How many times
throughout the years had we asked ourselves, When are the Guinean people
finally going to reach a breaking point, the moment when they will say enough
is enough? It seems that September 28 (again) was that moment. A tragedy had
occurred, but also an act of immense courage by people who were willing to die
for freedom and the chance of a better life after half a century of
oppression. And when I sent a
simple email out to the FOG listserv and some other friends and family saying
I feel like we should do something, does anyone want to help?, I was flooded
with responses. We werent even sure what that something was. But we created a
Facebook group and within days had hundreds of members from around the world,
many of whom were writing letters to their hometown newspapers and
representatives in government to get the story out and make sure that Guinea
would finally get the attention it needs.
The mission of the
group, now named Alliance Guinea, is to connect friends of Guinea of all
kinds (RPCVs and their families, musicians and dancers, researchers, NGO &
aid agency staffers with ties to Guinea and others who simply want to show
solidarity with the mission of justice and democracy) together, and, along with
Guineans from the Diaspora in the U.S. and Europe, to keep each other informed
and to take concrete, concerted action to promote human rights and a peaceful,
democratic transition to civilian rule in Guinea. Modeled somewhat after
MoveOn.org and similar groups, the idea is not to create a formal NGO but
rather a worldwide, nonpartisan forum for friends of Guinea of all
nationalities and ethnicities to share information and resources and create
powerful synergies for advocacy and action. Making the most of social
networking and web technologies, we are aiming to help coordinate and
facilitate the entrepreneurial actions of Alliance members – and anyone
who shares our mission can be a member.
Specifically, early
conversations between some of us mobilizing around the issue led to the laying
out of four main areas where we thought the group could be helpful, and what we
have started to do:
1. Advocate to governments,
international organizations and agenda setters in support of human rights
and a peaceful, democratic transition in Guinea (e.g. through letters,
meetings, and marches);
2. Serve as a resource to
human rights organizations, law clinics, and international agencies
investigating human rights abuses in Guinea (e.g. by sharing useful contacts
and providing Guinea-specific knowledge);
3. Serve as a resource and
nonpartisan, multiethnic forum for activists, journalists and victims of
human rights abuses in Guinea (e.g. through our website and events);
4. Conduct outreach and
provide resources for educators and student groups to raise awareness and
promote activism in support of human rights and democracy in Guinea (e.g. again
through our website and events, as well as listservs and other channels).
In the past several weeks we have had a number of exciting activities
and some early successes. A meeting of a group of Alliance members (American
and Guinean) with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of New York led to the
Representative making a statement on the floor of the House calling for
continued US engagement to support a transition to democratic civilian rule in
Guinea and for increased humanitarian aid. Working with the Movement of Guinean
Women in the United States and the Guinean Forces Vives coalition of civil
society activists and opposition supporters in the US, we helped get people to
the march in Washington on October 26 and co-wrote a memo delivered that day in
meetings with the State Department and with Congressional Foreign Affairs and
Relations Committee staffers.
Shortly after, the US announced it was instating travel sanctions
against the CNDD junta and its associates – and while maybe we cannot
claim credit, the State Department is well aware of the Force Vives and Alliance Guinea
constituencies and has welcomed ongoing dialogue with us. Thanks to contacts of eye-witnesses and
others passed along to Human Rights Watch, we contributed to the NGOs
hard-hitting report on the September 28 atrocities, and continue to make our
members available as informants.
Finally, events held at campuses such as Pomona College, UCLA and
Columbia University and marches in Lille and Paris organized by Alliance
members and partners have helped raise awareness and get more people involved.
At this stage, we are in
the process of creating a proper coordinating committee for Alliance Guinea and
are still looking for people both for this and for subcommittees (such as
campus mobilization, communications, educators, and US-based advocacy). Please let us know of your interest or other
ideas by emailing allianceguinea@gmail.com.
We also encourage everyone to join our Facebook group and read and contribute
comments to our webpage, www.allianceguinea.org,
which we maintain in English and in French especially to facilitate exchange
between people in Guinea and non-French speakers.
As our friend Mike McGovern (RPCV, Guinea expert) has
pointed out: the CNDD did more on
September 28, 2009, to unite the Guinean people against its rulers than
anything ever had before.
Atrocious crimes were committed and justice must be served – but
we also find ourselves with a historic window of opportunity to join forces
with our Guinean friends and family and maybe, just maybe, help to avoid
greater violence and usher Guinea into a new era of democracy and prosperity.
March in DC 10/26/09. Photo courtesy Jessamyn Miller.
Thousands in Washington
call for justice
Excerpts
from: Alliance Guinea (reposted with permission)
With a huge showing of women in the lead, an estimated
5,000 people from at least 11 states – Guineans and friends of Guinea
– marched in front of the White House and to the US State Department today
(Monday, October 26) to increase awareness of the atrocities of September 28
and to demand justice for the victims and help for a transition to democratic
elections in Guinea.In addition to people residing in Washington DC, marchers
came in from Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Ohio, Indiana, Delaware, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and Maryland, with 17 buses from New York alone to show unity and
solidarity for the people of Guinea and demand that action be taken now in the
name of human rights and democracy.
JADE Project in Kankan
Nick Davis, Mali-Yembering and Kankan,
03-06
FOG recently helped
RPCV Nick Davis transfer $1,500 that he was awarded from his college to Jeunesse Action Dveloppement (JADE), an NGO based
in Kankan. Nick explains a bit about the program and his involvement below.
I was a PCV in Guinea from 2003-2006. I was initially an
education volunteer in the Fouta (Mali-Yembering) but extended my contract
to work with JADE for a year in Kankan. As a Peace
Corps Volunteer, I was ironically the only paid member of the
organization, composed of graduates and students at the University of Kankan
passionate about youth-oriented community programs. I was brought on primarily
to help them realize their most ambitious project to date: the creation of a
socio-educational center for Kankan's growing population of street kids. This
was a population of children as young as ten or eleven who for one reason or
another had left their families in the village and come to the city to try
to earn a living. Almost invariably, they wound up homeless, sleeping
in the markets and taxi-parks by night and performing back-breaking labor by
day. Our plan was to create a center where they could find food, shelter,
security, guidance, and education (traditional & vocational), with the
ultimate goal of eventually reuniting them with their families. The
project didn't receive any official funding until after my departure, but we
all pulled our weight to do what we could for the 20 or so children the
organization had already identified and brought under its wing.
In
addition, JADE has implicated itself in other youth-oriented projects, from
child traffick-ing initiatives to the organization of
computer-training seminars for local high-school students.
As
for the $1500, it was the proceeds of an annual award given out by my alma
mater (Saint John's University in MN) for
demonstrating a "commitment to social change and social justice." (See more at:
http://www.csbsju.edu/csbcampusministry/caritas/
)
Thanks
to everyone at FOG who helped out with the transfer!
Ed.note: A report submitted by JADE (in French) lays out
what they used the award monies for. They purchased a motorbike to be used in
general transport and to rapidly get help to any minor in danger with the law
(in 2008-09, they aided ten minors involved with legal issues and a total of 35
children). The annual rent on their center was paid. Also, a sketch of a former
street child, Bakary Keita, was commissioned. Mr. Keita is now a well-known
artist in Kankan and is a symbol of the transition from street life to
community life. The balance of the funds was saved in the organizations bank
account for future use.
Girls
Rock! Fouta Girls Conference
Katy
Murtaugh, Dalaba, 07-09
On August 30th, the 11th annual Girls
Conference for the Fouta Djallon came to a close with Guinean girls and
American volunteers alike letting their hair down and dancing their hearts out.
Wed spent four days together, talking about issues that affect girls today
(like HIV/Aids, relationships, and skin-lightening), playing games (like a
running-around shoe-switcheroo game, the Game of Life, and flip-flop dodge
ball) and just generally getting to know each other. Our official closing
festivities (a Guinean take on a talent show, riz gras, certificates and
gifts) were quickly outshone by the impromptu dancing circle that took us well
into the night. It was a wonderful way to say goodbye to a fantastic group of
girls.
Twenty-five PCVs from Moyenne Guine (plus one from Haute Guine and
one from Conakry) hosted 38 girls for sessions including public speaking,
womens rights, nutrition, family planning and anatomy, and how to give a
sensitization. A definite highlight for both girls and volunteers was the panel
of professional Guinean women. They shared with us their experiences as working
women, the difficulties they had to overcome and the challenges in managing
their various responsibilities. Their advice was practical and inspiring
la fois!
It ranged from how to handle a husband who disapproves of a woman working to
how to stay strong in the face of peer pressure to how to make the most of a
seemingly bad situation. There were also a number of opportunities for girls to
write and present their own skits on themes like excision and forced marriage.
The percentage of natural hams in this group was pretty impressive!
All in all, I think the girls left feeling
empowered to take responsibility for living healthy and happy lives and
motivated to share what they learned with others in their communities. (And
volunteers left with the feeling of a concrete, positive, large-scale project
under their belts.)
Thanks so much to all
the donors: you made this years conference possible!
School Renovation in Kon
Sam Levin, G15 Kon 08-09
This
summer the elementary school in Kon saw its first renovations in over 50
years. Making this project a reality has been a small miracle. Peace Corps has been working on this school for six
years now. Finally, thanks in part to Friends of Guinea the wait is
over. With the funds received we were able to repair the terrace and
completely replace the roof.
Now when school starts this year, students will have a roof (without any
holes in it!) for the first time in a long time. Al barka bwi!
DRE Lab, DPE Tougu,
DSEE Kon
A mes amis (Amis de
Guine)
aux USA
Mes frres,
Juste pour vous dire merci et vous tmoigner toute
notre reconnaissance pour votre contribution dans le cadre de la rnovation de
l'cole primaire de Kon-centre. Grce vous, nous avons fini la rparation
de tout le toit. Je profite de loccasion pour dire bon jour Leslie
Noa, ancienne volontaire Fatako, Safi [Kristi Thane] et Souleymane [Ryan
Derni] tous deux anciens volontaires Kon sans oublier vos familles
respectives.
Mamadou Mouctar Bald
DSEE de Kon
Class of 1997-1999 wreaks havoc and eats too much food Stephanie Chasteen (Baguinet, 97-99)
This October, on the 10th anniversary of our departure from Guinea, we crammed about 37 people (20 RPCVs, 6 spouses or significant others, and about 11 children) into two mansion-like vacation rentals on the Outer Banks. For most of a week, old friends came and went and we soaked in the hot tub, frolicked in the warm surf, and somehow managed to pull together meals for almost 40 people grilled salmon, chicken tangine, take-out tacos, all washed down with plenty of wine and beer. We shared stories from times in Guinea and caught up on our lives over the past 10 years.
Nolan Love designated chef and cat-herder extraordinaire -- remembers our nighttime swim in the warm North Carolina waters: I loved seeing the bioluminescence in the water which I hadn't seen since swimming at the islands off the coast of Conakry. I was delighted to go kite flying and sand-castle/alligator building with all of the charming kids on the trip. Made me feel like a kid myself. Sitting all together and singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and playing "El Hadji Koba" for everyone was a real treat for me -- really brought me back.
Ann Grodnik gives her happy brain-dump of the weekend: Big, yummy family dinners; beach walks; sing-a-longs; rehashing Guinea stories; hanging with the kids; meeting new babies; drawing spouses and partners into the fold; hot tubbing; reconnecting; catching up; laughing; playing Screw the Pooch; retelling Peace Corps stories; sharing new stories; ocean swimming; big, yummy family breakfasts; beers; old photos; feeling fortunate and well-loved.
You can see all photos from the event at http://tinyurl.com/yg5xkaw. Thanks so much to Alison Kane for ber-organization skills and pulling this together. We plan to do another one next year at Lake Tahoe!
Beach photo by Jen Jurlando. Left to right:
Ann Grodnik, Lynne McIntyre, Kerry Philp, Anns husband Kyle
Below, photo by Jamie Folsom. Kerry Philp, Caroline Fichtenberg,
and Casey Golab look at photos from service
The whole gang left to right Gail Potter, Casey Golab, Lia Ernst, Herb Caudill, Lynne McIntyre, Stephanie Chasteen,
Shirley Woodward, Jamies wife Beth, Jamie Folsom, Kerry Philp, Shannons bf Nolan, Shannon Fagerlund, Annes husband Kyle,
Anne Grodnik, Jennifer Jurlando, Nolan Love, Megan Wilson, Josh Johnson, Alison Kane, Scotts family Rhonda, Mara and Owen,
Scott Matthews. Not pictured: Caroline Fichtenberg, Duane Duke and wife Liz, Jennifers husband Philip + boys, and several kids!
