All I Want for Christmas...

Many people have emailed with the questions "What can I do?", "What can I send?" or "How can I help?" I greatly appreciate the generous offers and excitement about making a difference locally and globally. I am still in the middle of determining my goals for my two years here; they are forming and changing as I get to know my village and understand Guinea. One fact I know for sure: education is the key for change. Educating Guinean students is my primary objective but I hope you too are learning a little more about life in a developing nation by reading this blog.

Some possible answers to the questions are these: give you time somewhere in your community, especially this holiday season or, if it is your style, I have a place you can send a check. If you read some of the comments (actually, most of the comments) on this blog, they are from former students of mine. I was lucky enough to take them abroad on a service immersion trip to the Dominican Republic while I was a teacher for five years at Trinity Catholic High School in Boston, MA. By engaging in this learning experience, we were all forever changed. While there they do a variety of projects including construction of homes and distribution of food to villages of Haitian immigrants who receive no support otherwise. This educational experience is priceless. The students that go are making decisions of how to lead their lives beyond high school. It is such an incredible opportunity to educate and serve. A trip like this has the purpose of serving, of learning more about our fellow brothers and sisters in the world, and about what social justice really means. Trinity is a special place that promotes "faith, hope, and love" in all they do.

So this Christmas, save your postage to Guinea for someone else, for something else. I am all set (honestly!) and packages are expensive to send. Right now, at this point in my service, I don't know what I would do with money in terms of projects; I'm still trying to figure that out and after I do figure it out I'll be following Peace Corps procedure for attaining it. If you are looking for a good cause to give your charitable donation this Christmas, consider giving to the fundraising efforts for this year's Dominican Republic service learning trip at Trinity Catholic High School. This trip is one that is making a difference in the lives of the kids that go and the teachers that lead it; their energy and enthusiasm for service and love then get passed on to their communities. There is no donation too small. Send a check made out to "Trinity Catholic HS" and in the memo: DR Trip. Send to: "Trinity Catholic HS Attn: Dominican Republic Trip 575 Washington St. Newton MA 02458"

Send them your prayers and warm wishes. They need those too! If you want to read more, check it out at: http://www.trinitycatholic.com/html/studentlife.html. There is a slideshow of photos from my three trips on this blog under the photos of Guinea.

And you can continue to send me your prayers too :)

Enjoy the holiday season; the lights, the decor, the smell of trees, the music, the holiday cheer. And spread joy and love. We can all do that, and that always makes a difference.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello from Guinea! Happy Thanksgiving! Today 20 other volunteers and I will be cooking a turkey dinner and enjoying each other's company here in the city. I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and feel very blessed.

For Thanksgiving, I have a short lesson for you. It is posted on YouTube and I believe it is now here as well - look to the left under "Thanksgiving Wish." We had enough battery for one take (sometimes you only get one opportunity to capture the moment...) and afterwords I realized I didn't even say "Happy Thanksgiving" in the video! So Happy Thanksgiving!

(PS - If the video on the left isn't working, go to www.YouTube.com and search "emilysamek" and it should come up!)

November 25, 2008

November 25, 2008 – The First Report on School

School has now been in session for well over a month. I am really enjoying it so far. I am teaching seventh and ninth grade math and it looks like I’m going to be teaching English after Christmas. The school schedule is such that the students are in school from 8 until noon each day; one class is from 8 to 10 and the second is from 10 to noon. I teach Monday through Wednesday from 8 to noon. I have 30 ninth graders and most are between the ages of 15 and 18; my seventh graders are anywhere between 12 and 18 and right now I have 75 of them! 75 students in one room. We’re currently studying similar things as we do in the States – my ninth graders are solving equations after some revision of positive and negative numbers (“Keep Change Change” is now an international phenomenon – although I call it “Same Change Change” in French.) My seventh graders just finished comparing decimal numbers. I like how I get to do similar lessons and activities as I do at home, although I’m finding that it takes a long time to get them going in an activity since it is unheard of in other classes. They seem to really get a lot out of it and are having a good time…because after all, math is fun, right?

I spend the other days in classes of other teachers to understand Guinean school system and to help my French. Disciplining in French is tough so I’m trying to learn some new vocabulary for such occasions. The other teachers work hard and I look forward to exchanging ideas about teaching. The students take French, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, and Civics. All courses are during 1, two-hour period each week, except French and Math are for 3, two-hour periods each week. I sat in on a Physics class where the teacher spent 20 minutes drawing a diagram which took the kids then another 20 minutes to copy. That’s almost half of their Physics time for the week for one diagram. I see a lot of this.

What is really encouraging to me is that the students are eager to learn. Many of them come by my house for tutoring or stay after class for help. I gave them a bonus problem on their last exam and they wouldn’t leave school until they got it. (Draw a three-by-three grid, place the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 such that each row, column, and diagonal adds up to 18. I know at least one of you were wondering.) That is the sort of stuff that makes my day and what I love about teaching. I am constantly reassessing my goals here since the more I learn, the more I realize what I can and cannot do. I have to have faith in the “make a difference to one student” because some of the other changes needed here are two big for two years. Small changes; get students thinking creatively and thinking deeply about math. Getting them to learn, really learn, not just memorize. This is what I’m working on now. I have a couple of projects for the summer that are starting to get in the works – mostly working with teachers – and I am excited about their prospects.

I will continue to share more about school in the days to come!

November 5, 2008 - Post-Election Day in West Africa

November 5, 2008 – Post-Election Day in West Africa

My election coverage has been from the BBC, and they had painted a story that the world was watching – people from around the world were calling in with their opinions on the election, and why it mattered to them. With the media’s tendency to blow many things out of perspective, you may be wondering if the world was really watching. I believe they were.

Yesterday, Election Day, I biked to the market and had tea in the tea house with many Guinean men. All they talked about was McCain and Obama. If this small village in a country most people can place on a map were talking about this election, I’m confident the whole world was too. On Sunday, I was stuck in a city for the day trying to get home from Halloween and men a man from Sierra Leone who was anxious to talk politics with me as many have been with our presidential election approaching. The problem I have is that I can’t carry on a proper conversation with the language issue. I always ask “why” when they tell me they support Obama but I get lost in the response. English is the language in Sierra Leone so it was nice to be able to really hear what he was saying. He told me he supports the American election in general because it is proof that a democracy is working. The fact that Obama is running for president shows progress that Guinea can learn from. (In 50 years of independence, Guinea has had only 2 presidents. Some might call them dictators. The next election keeps getting pushed back – the date currently is unknown.)

Hearing the world news each night makes me hope that this is true; we have set an example of a true democratic election where the winner was chosen by the people, and just as important, the loser conceded gracefully. The election happened as it always does, on the first Tuesday of November, no civil wars broke out, and I thought McCain’s speech was excellent. All of this I take for granted and today I realize even more so what freedom really is.

After listening for the past 24 hours (okay – I might have dozed off here and there) and walking into my ninth grade class this morning and being greeted with excited cheers of “Obama!” I am proud to be an American. Listening to Obama’s speech talking of HOPE and CHANGE as the elements that weave his ideas together, I’m willing to believe in what the future of America and the world will hold. I just listened to a really beautiful interview with Maya Angelou. She talked about that somewhere in all of us is a desire to belong to a great country and today I really feel I do.

sorry...

it looks like the video is going to have to wait :(

we just got cut off for a while and it has taken well over an hour to download just a small part. next time i'm online i'll get it on here!

Back in the City!

Hello from Labe! It has been quite the adventure to get here for a weekend of relaxation with other Peace Corps Volunteers, a hot shower, and technology. I woke up around 5:30 on Thursday morning so I could head out on my bike to a nearby village to catch a cab. My village sometimes has a cab in the morning, but none this day. Halimatou make this nearby village sound like New York City – “Oh Gongore! There’s a cab in the morning, then another one comes….10 cabs in one day! Get a cab there!” So I set out and was in Gongore by 8:15 or so and was informed that there was a cab, it had just left, and there wouldn’t be another until tomorrow. Oh Guinea! So now I’m in Gongore where I don’t know anyone for an entire day. But in the typical Guinean fashion, people were welcoming and they fed me and gave me a place to sleep. I read an entire book and graded papers. Luckily, Gongore is a town that has had PCVs before, so they were familiar with the program.

So FRIDAY morning, I again work up early with high hopes to get to Labe, and I got the cab from Gongore – this cab goes to Mamou where I got a cab that went to Labe. I got in around 3 or so. As I were were rolling into Labe, I knew my real phone (with my old phone number) would get service, so I was excitedly anticipating the text messages I can’t receive in my village; my family and friends have told me they tried texting so I was imagining turning on my phone and the texts to just start pouring in…and there was one. One stinkin’ text. And you want to know what that text was talking about? How the Boston Celtics were raising a banner that night. I don’t know where the other ones went. Lost in space. My new form of communication for my texting friends is via my old voicemail. Leave me a message there and I can call you back on my Africa phone. Or just leave me a message about whatever. But not about Boston sports. Unless it is Trinity sports. Speaking of which – GOOD LUCK LADIES!!!! I’m sending good African vibes your way tonight!

Cleveland/Boston was the first thing I checked when I got online; obviously I was disappointed but I am still hopeful for a good season! I have a new blog entry in mind for the future called “Why Being a Cleveland Sports Fan Makes Me a Perfect Fit for Peace Corps Guinea.” It will be combined with “Why Being a Rower (especially from John Carroll) Helps Me Survive Peace Corps Guinea.” I was dreaming both of these up in my travels over the past two days. Maybe at Christmas I’ll have them for you.

For today, I have a short video tour of my house. I don’t know if the sound is working because I don’t have my headphones here at the café…so hopefully it is working! Excuse the French/Pular/English combo.

Next time I’ll be online will be Thanksgiving – maybe one time before that. We'll have a new president next time I'm online! The election is a very hot topic here. Everyone knows about both candidates and are excited for results! Keep me posted on what’s happening in your world!

october 28, 2008

Sunday, October 25, 2008

Today marks the last day of my first month at site. Since school just started this week, I’ve had lots of time to study, clean, bike, and ponder all of life’s big questions, like “what does nutella always taste better in a foreign country?” Since school has only been in session for a few days, I’ll share more about village life. (By Thanksgiving, I should have lots of school stories!)

Village life is comparable to USWeekly’s section of photos of celebrities doing ordinary day-to-day things called “Just Like Us!” Everything I do, everywhere I go, I’m being watched by everyone around me: “She buys tomatoes at the market, just like us!” “She gets water from the well, just like us!” “She chases the cow that stole her pants from the laundry line, just like us!” “She speaks pular, just like us!” (Okay, that is a huge stretch. Pular is the local language that I’m trying to learn. I can greet people and say a few other essential phrases. When I greet people for the first time, it often results in an uproar of shock and laughter – “The porto speaks Pular!!!?!” Porto is the Pular word for white person.) I’ve been told that the celebrity status never really fades.

For the first 2.5 weeks, I paid Halimatou for a dish of whatever she was cooking because there was a gas crisis in the capital and we couldn’t purchase propane tanks for our camping stoves. With limited resources, the rice and sauce dishes leave much to be desired here in my village. And I’m not in a village with a rice bar (that’s Guinea’s version of a restaurant) or gateau ladies (the ladies on the side of the road with friend treats – most of the time it is fried dough/cake, but sometimes they have my favorite – fried sweet potatoes) so I learned to embrace village rice and sauce. When Peace Corps brought the gas tank on the monthly mail run, it was warmly welcomed. I didn’t see a gas tank in his hands, to me it was a giant coffee pot. Each day has an “Iron Chef” twist to it when I cook lunch and dinner. “Today I have 2 eggplants, 2 potatoes, and a pimant. With lentils? With pasta? Which spices?” I have come up with a few good dishes so far. My favorite dish was one I made this weekend – I was feeling a little homesick for Boston in the fall (it is Head of the Charles weekend – at least I think it is) and I had a nice piece of squash from a neighbor, so I did a curry squash soup that was just lovely. I’m also grateful to my mom for bringing us up to a appreciate a simple pasta dish with tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. I feel as long as I have there three ingredients, I’ll never go hungry, and it always tastes like home.

Village life is all about the bike. My first adventure a couple of weeks ago redefined “mountain biking” for me. To my friends back home that enjoy this as a hobby, you are way more badass than I ever knew. The bike ride to Andrew’s, another PCV, site that I thought was going to take 4 hours ended up taking 7 hours. Yes, that is one way. The purpose was to go hiking; I was so sore the next day that the hike was redeemed by the amazing waterfall and the company of 5 other volunteers. Other bike trips I’ve taken include trips to other villages for their market days – not nearly as long as the bike to Buliwell (Andrew’s site.) I hope there aren’t any trips that long anytime soon.

One of my favorite later-afternoon activities here is putting up my hammock on my front porch and reading until the sun goes down. Sounds more peaceful that it really is some days – all the neighbor kids seem to stop by at least three times although they are beginning to get the hint that when the porto is in the hammock, she doesn’t want to color. My recommendation from the mountain is “What is the What” by David Eggers. This story from East Africa (remember, I’m in West Africa!) recounts the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of Sudan’s Lost Boys. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry. And, if you are like me and ashamed to admit you don’t really know the history of why we’re saving Darfur, it will get you up to speed.

It is Sunday morning and it looks like it is going to be another beautiful day. The rainy season is over and the days are hot but not humid, the evenings are cool enough to want a blanket to sleep. My house is breezy and comfortable. I’m eating a fresh guava with breakfast. Being a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Fouta definitely has its perks. Today I’m working on lesson plans before I climb my phone-service hill to make Sunday calls to the States. Right now it is 8am and I’ve already had 4 visitors and I know the day will bring more so trying to plan a lesson takes a while. There isn’t a “oh, she’s working, better not stop by” mentality or “she didn’t answer the door, maybe she’s showering,” no, there is just a lot of knocking and lots of greeting. It is the Guinean way!

October 10, 2008

Friday, October 10, 2008

It’s Friday night here in the Fouta – my second Friday in my new home. Village life is quite different from my first 3 months here – for instance, I’m handwriting this entry by headlamp light because there isn’t electricity in the village. To make a phone call, I walk 20 minutes up a hill to (fingers crossed) get reception. The first day I had my new phone number that matches the available service on the hill, I was so anxious to get up there and dial a number. I marched up that hill, got to the spot where others had service, waited – and nothing. No service that day. I was so frustrated and annoyed that at no point did I look out at the view of my village from the top of the hill – it is really quite gorgeous. My compound is tucked away in a hill, I can pick out the school because of the big Peace Corps map, there are green pastured with cows grazing, all sorts of trees, conical roofs of the cooking huts, corn fields, and ladies in brightly colored fabrics working the peanut fields (it is the end of peanut season – I have more peanuts than I know what to do with!) In the distance, I can see other villages. All of this tucked into the mountains of the Fouta. Gorgeous.

The villages here are very very small. For me, I feel like I see more animals that people when I walk to the water pump or phone hill. It has to do with how remote it is here – I’m really out there! I’ve been here 2 weeks and I’ve seen one car. One. And I only saw it because my neighbor, Halimatou, woke me up at 7am last Saturday to show me the tree where the taxi comes on Saturdays to go to Conakry. And that is the taxi service of my village! Tomorrow I’m embarking on my first bike attempt at leaving my village – several PCVs in the area are going hiking. If I want to take part, I’ve got to pedal 4 hours to get there. My neighbors helped me form a list of all of the villages along the way – bike to one, ask someone how to get to the next – I wouldn’t quite describe my sentiment as “excited” for this initial trip, but I’m really looking forward to a weekend with friends. I also need to get somewhere with a real market to load up on things like garlic, potatoes, onions, and fruit of any kind since my “market day” offered tomoatoes, corn, peanuts, pimant, eggplant, and…that’s about it! On Thursdays under the biggest tree, a few women come in to sell their produce. I’ve seen several market days here in Guinea, and my village’s is more like a roadside stand. Actually, the roadside stands here in Guinea seem to offer more than my market. This trip is essential for supplies!

My house is an amazing space. I had no idea what I was going to walk into – but it is open, bright, and a blank canvas for my market searches. It is a very comfortable place, so comfortable that the front room is a favorite with the neighborhood kids. For a couple of hours each day they stop by and draw or practice writing their letters while I study or clean (no one has lived here in two years – lots of cleaning needed to be done!)

School starts Wednesday, “si Allah jabi.” (Si Allah jabi is “God willing” – when you say “see you tomorrow” or “talk to you later,” it is always followed by “si Allah jabi” – if Allah wills it, it will happen!) I’m very very ready for it to start. The two weeks here have been very productive in terms of settling in. My “kitchen” is clean and organized, boxes are unpacked, and I spent a whole day scrubbing the “bathroom” down – but I am ready for students and mathematics. There is a rumor that it might not start until the 20th. I am hoping it is just a rumor; however the fact that not a single other teacher is here in the village and the school looks abandoned makes me thing it might not be a rumor.

Other happenings of the two weeks of living in the village – Ramadan ended and my host family took me along to the end of Ramadan fete. There was lots of food and everyone was dressed in their finest things. I’ve learned where to fetch drinking water and where the well for other water is. My neighbor led me to a nearby village that bakes bread; it is a magical little house you can find with your nose – a man bakes the bread in a wood burning oven. The bread is still warm even after a 20 minute walk home. This week I had a neighbor kid help me draw a family tree of the family in the compound. That day I had sat most of the day with Halimatou and Hadiatou, two of the women of my compound. I thought Hadiatou was Halimatou’s mother-in-law, but as we sat there that day making the Kaba (a corn dish) it was revealed that there are 18 children in the family. The women tried explaining but I nodded politely not really knowing what was being explained. Turns out, my landlord has three wives. Hadiatou is the first wife, Halimatou is the second (she has taken me under her wing) and Ejiatou is the third. One of the wives passed a way. Among the four wives, there are 18 children. All three wives work very hard in the peanut fields and in their homes. The first wife is older and none of her six children live in the compound. There are 9 kids from the wives and then a handful of other kids that are in another house.

Without cars or trains, sirens or people out and about on a Friday night, Friday night here is quite, very quiet. For me, still too quite, so I’ve turned into a BBC addict. The past two weeks have been focused on the financial crisis of the world, and I wonder how will it will affect a place like Guinea. Food prices over the past year have increased dramatically because of the price of oil. It will be interesting to see what else happens in the months to come.

october 2, 2008

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Today is Guinea’s Independence Day – and it isn’t just any Independence Day – it is the 50th Anniversary of their independence from France. I’m a huge fan of the 4th of July’s activity back in the USA, so I was anxious to see what today brought. There were no Guinean flags to be found, no fireworks or patriotic songs, certainly no hotdogs or pink lemonade. It was a day no different than any other day. The only mention of it was a 30 second segment on the BBC. (I later heard that in some other villages, PCVs watched people raise the flag. The BBC mention during the “Focus on Africa” segment was sad yet honest. They reported that although today was the 50th anniversary, there was very little to celebrate, and the sentiment in Conakry was dismal. All of this lack of celebration refers to the fact that Guinea has yet to stand on its own two feet since independence. It was definitely a day to put in perspective how different my home is from here.