Peace Corps News

Peace Corps reopens program in Guinea

Peace Corps reopens program in Guinea
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter announced this week that the Peace Corps program in Guinea will be reopened and 19 former Peace Corps/Guinea Volunteers will begin returning this month.

Additionally, Peace Corps/Guinea intends to welcome 36 new Volunteer-trainees in December 2007. These Volunteer-trainees will be working in the areas of business development, environmental education and health and HIV/AIDS. Over 1,200 Volunteers have served in Guinea since the program opened in 1962.

The U.S. Embassy in Conakry issued an ordered departure for U.S. Mission eligible family members on February 12, 2007, due to a strike and civil unrest, and the Peace Corps/Guinea program was suspended temporarily. On April 10, 2007, the U.S. Embassy lifted the ordered departure and Peace Corps reevaluated the suspension.

Read more about Peace Corps Guinea.

Caption: Mural at the Peace Corps headquarters in Guinea  Photo: Frank in Guinea Flickr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

Beth Ashley writes: Earlier this month I spent four days at the Festival on the Niger in Mali where I met some of the Peace Corps Volunteers who had recently been evacuated because of political unrest in Guinea

Beth Ashley writes: Earlier this month I spent four days at the Festival on the Niger in Mali where I met some of the Peace Corps Volunteers who had recently been evacuated because of political unrest in Guinea
Does the Peace Corps really help in West Africa? I asked cultural instructor, Sylvain Dabou. "A lot," he said. "They are educating the people about good health practices, and little by little they are making progress." (They have campaigned with some success, for instance, against clitoral excision, still widely practiced in West Africa.) The volunteers represent the best aspects of the American people, Dabou said. "They are not fighting Islam. They are helping us."

The Americans were half delighted to be in Segou, where Mali's most famous musicians played on the riverfront stage, and half sad at having left the villages where most had spent most of two years. When we talked to them, they didn't know whether they would be allowed back to Guinea or not: "I just want to finish my project and say goodbye to my friends," said Devon Brooks, a volunteer from New Jersey. Having seen Mali's villages, I tried to imagine what it would be like to have the Peace Corps drop you off in one of them and leave you there, alone, to work for two years. Orr lived in a village of "three mosques and one water pump" and a school with second, third and fifth grades. Like others I spoke to, he was a health educator, teaching villagers to wash their hands (with soap), eat nutritious foods and brush their teeth. He had felt lonely at times, but the villagers were "very nice people."

Volunteers spoke lovingly of their work in Guinea. One had been assigned to an area that supported the beleaguered president, so she had not been in any danger; another in their group had had "frightening experiences," she said. Both of them hoped to go back.

Talking to the girls over lunch, I couldn't help feeling emotional. I told them how difficult it had been as an American to see our country's reputation tarnished the world over - diminished by our government's go-it-alone attitude and ill-advised war in Iraq. I told them how heartening it was to see Americans doing what they were doing - showing that most of our countrymen have kind hearts, high ideals and good intentions and are trying to do good in the world.

"Thank you," I said. "You've done a lot to restore my faith." Then I left them, afraid I might burst into tears.

Read more about Peace Corps Guinea.

Read more about Peace Corps Mali.

Caption: Festival sur le Niger 2007, Segou, Mali
Photographer: Damian Rafferty Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0

Renewed Violence in Guinea, Volunteers consolidated in Mali

At least eight people have been shot dead by the security forces in the West African state of Guinea during protests against the newly-named prime minister
Caption: Guinea residents walk past closed shops in Conakry February 10, 2007. Protests erupted in towns across Guinea on Saturday, killing at least five people. as union leaders vowed to resume a crippling general strike after President Lansana Conte named an old ally as prime minister. REUTERS/Saliou Samb (Guinea)

At least eight people have been shot dead by the security forces in the West African state of Guinea during protests against the newly-named prime minister. Dozens more were seriously injured in the violence in the capital Conakry and several towns across the country. President Lansana Conte named Eugene Camara as prime minister on Friday, meeting a deadline to avoid strikes. However, the demonstrators say Mr Camara is too close to the president and are demanding a leadership change.

Mr Conte had agreed to hand over the running of the government by Sunday in order to avoid the resumption of an 18-day strike which unions ended last month. But people are angry that Mr Conte has chosen a close ally for the post of prime minister. "We cannot go against the will of the people. The president has made a choice which suits him but does not suit the people," said union negotiator Boubacar Biro Barry, the Reuters news agency reported.

Guinea Peace Corps Volunteer Cami writes: Looks like we're not going back to Guinea, where things seem to be getting worse before they get better
Things finally seem to have come to a point of no return. I'm hoping that the conflict resolves itsef sooner rather than later in Guinea, mostly as I'm worried about the security of all the people I met throughout my seven months in Guinea. That being said, the people of Guinea could only live under a regime which oversaw 250% inflation, making it nearly impossible for some to buy rice, medication, and other necessary goods. Teachers weren't being paid, schools were closed, and corruption was rampant. A country can only function for so long under those conditions.

Guinea Peace Corps Volunteer Jen writes: Time in Mali is coming to an end. Political unrest in Guinea is not.
We spent 14 days on standfast in Guinea.
We have spent 14 days consolidated for training in Mali.

Peace Corps Volunteers in Guinea are Safe in Mali

Peace Corps Volunteers in Guinea are Safe in Mali
All volunteers serving in Guinea are safe and are consolidated in Mali. Volunteers were moved to Mali as a precautionary measure due to the on-going strikes and demonstrations in Guinea. The duration of the Guinea Volunteers’ stay in Mali will be contingent upon the situation/events in Guinea. Families may contact the Peace Corps' Office of Special Services with any questions or concerns they may have. Special Services maintains a 24-hour a day, 7 days a week duty system. The telephone number during standard office hours is 1-800-424-8580, Extension 1470; the after hours number is 202-638-2574. The Office of Special Services can also be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].  Read more.

Guinea awaits new Prime Minister after unions end strike
The unions called off their 18-day strike only after securing a deal with embattled President Lasana Conte that will see him replaced as head of government by the new prime minister. The prime minister should be nominated within days and be a "competent, honest high-ranking civil servant who has not been implicated at all in embezzlement," read the agreement. The strike, backed by 14 opposition parties, was initially launched on January 10 to protest economic hardship, endemic corruption and Conte's decision to personally free two senior aides charged with embezzlement. Guinea has not had a prime minister since April 2006, when Conte sacked the third holder of the office in the space of a decade. In all, 59 people have been killed by the security forces since the strike began, sparking international condemnation. On Monday alone, the darkest day of the protest, violent clashes between police and strikers left 49 people dead. Read more.

Peace Corps Volunteer Cami writes:  An unxpected Vacation in Mali
"I went to Sierra Leone for New years, only to come back and discover that the Guinean unions had planned a strike for January 10th. Thus, seven other PCVs and I headed to Boke to pass what we thought would be a quick seven days hanging out in the Boke house while the strikes ended. Well, the strikes did not end, and now i'm sitting outside of Bamako, Mali with 116 other volunteers after the most uncomfortable 960 kilometers of driving of my life, in order to consolidate us all outside of Guinea while the situation in Guinea stabilizes."

Read more about Peace Corps Guinea.

Caption: Striking workers from several unions meet at the National Confederation of Guinean Workers in Conakry. State and union officials in Guinea were drafting an agreement late aimed at ending a crippling 18-day general strike in which 59 people have died.(AFP/Georges Gobet)

Spotlight on Peace Corps Guinea

RPCV Micah Schaffer has produced a feature length documentary called Death of Two Sons about Amadou Diallo's slaying and the car-crash death of Peace Corps volunteer Jesse Thyne, an American who lived with Diallo's family in Guinea
Micah Schaffer's moving, stunningly shot documentary juxtaposes the deaths of a Guinean in America and an American in Guinea. The Guinean in "Death of Two Sons" was Amadou Diallo, senselessly gunned down by four New York City policemen with 41 bullets. The American was Peace Corps volunteer Jesse Thyne, who lived with Amadou's family in Guinea and died in a car crash there. The two men never met, but their destinies are intertwined in this unique film. Jesse's California family is mainly represented by his father, Rick, whose generosity spiritually allies him to the indomitable Kadiatou Diallo, Amadou's mother. Though the film contains TV coverage of the spontaneous protests that arose after Amadou's death, and many of his kinsmen weigh in on the injustice of the absence of punishment meted out to his killers (in contrast, the Guinean taxi driver whose speeding contributed to the accident killing Jesse was sentenced to three years in jail), it is Jesse's father who delivers the most telling political indictment: He states his son's death was a tragedy, but Amadou's was also a travesty caused by the "worst of our armed, racist, hostile culture." Read more.

Guinea Peace Corps Volunteer Jennifer writes: What do you do when you are bed ridden for 4 days due to a painful sinus infection leading to a horrible earache?
Go see a doctor. My doctor is a 10 hour taxi ride from Labe if I can get out of my non-car containing village. Call him. We have no telephones. Radio him. The radio is 5 km away. I didn't even attempt to. It was the weekend, a very difficult time to find access to the radio, very difficult to get an answer on the other end. It is under such conditions that self-made decisions, self-reliance, self-understanding, self peace and calm become extremely important. Panic is not the answer. Being able to meditate through pain and suffering to come to a good decision is. Read more.

Peace Corps Volunteer Melinda writes: The Guinean Life
"Trip to the Market: Walk past street venders seeing numerous items in search for what you need. All the while you are fighting mobs of people wanting you to buy their items. 1. Find what you need; 2. Bargain price which takes loads of patience; 3. Price still too high; 4. Move on to another vender; 5. Repeat steps 1-4 several times until you realize the first guy gave you the best price; 6. Humbly return."  Read more.

Guinea Peace Corps Volunteer Andrea writes:   Riding on Taxis
"The taxi pulls over, a few words are exchanged, I hoist my bike on top with the 2 other guys and I climb up the back of the car. The car takes off as I am finding a place to settle. I strike the pose of a cowboy trying to ride a bull. I grab the metal bar mounted on the top which happened to be in between my legs. As I am getting settled, I realize it is not a bull that I am sitting on but rather a live goat. The goat seems to agree with the situation so I settle in and enjoy the beautiful valley views for miles until I am forced out of my admiration to deal with the present." Read more.

Guinea Peace Corps Volunteer Devon writes:  Middle America vs the African Bush
Village life is laid back, relaxing and more slow paced than I have ever seen. Every day I see Guineans laughing and enjoying the simple pleasures of life; sitting in the shade of a front porch on a particularly hot day, chatting in the local tea bar or singing as they work in the rice fields. Yet the Guineans in my village live without electricity, refrigeration or plumbing. They have limited knowledge of French, no concept of sanitation or preventative health-care and yet they still function and live happy lives. I don’t mean to paint guinea as some kind of 3rd world utopia, or spout some back to nature Emersonian propaganda. There is certainly more than an ample amount of discontent and unhappiness here, as is dictated by human nature and socio-economic conditions. However, my goal is merely to illustrate the contrast between unhappiness that is justified and one borne out of a culture consumed by materialism. Read more.