Tomatoes and Used Syringes
or How hard can it be to find dirt?
At the beginning of our second year, we decided that we wanted to plant a vegetable garden. Trying to grow plants in plastic plots hadn't really worked, so someone, Kristin probably, came up with the brilliant idea to create large wooden boxes and fill them with dirt. This shouldn't have been that hard, but being Guinea, it took us several months.
Getting the frames made wasn't that difficult. Our carpenter, who made our wonderful kitchen, took care of that. We decided to line the bottoms of the frames with rice bags to prevent all the dirt from seeping out. Getting dirt, however, was another problem. Colmar agreed to help us out, but not without ridiculing us first. He even brought over the French guy from ADRA to laugh at us. Look at the stupid toubabous: the frames were wood and would rot (we didn't care because we were leaving in a year), the location too sunny, the rice bags not well placed... But, he had a friend with a donkey cart, who would bring us some dirt.
Unfortunately, the donkey ran away on the scheduled date of delivery, so it took an additional few weeks for the dirt to arrive. I came home from school to find Kristin sifting through the dirt, pulling out old batteries, bits of glass, and plastic bags. And then she showed me some of the used syringes she had found as well. We were back to square one.
Luckily, Jack came to the rescue. We showed him the syringes and he agreed that the dirt was bad. But he had a friend who was a cart pusher and would get us dirt. And so he did. We felt bad about it, because it was the middle of the Ramadan and he wouldn't drink despite his physical exertion. I think we paid him quite nicely. And we planted our garden and it flourished until hot season rolled around.
And what about the tomatoes? We never actually planted tomatoes - they just came up as weeds. After we realised that tomatoes could be weeds, we decided, wisely, not to weed some other plants that were growing in our bed of beans, which never came up. For months, these plants hardly grew until hot season started and all of a sudden, little eggplants started growing. Moral of the story: sometimes it's better not to weed. Additonal morals of the story: adults don't always have the best solutions, most plants won't grow during hot season, and water is expensive (our bill increased significantly once we started watering the garden - on the other hand, the water company may have just been corrupt).
Kristin in the garden at the peak of its productivity
Journal Entries
Oct. 6, 2001
Dragged myself through a 6km run and then to school, which was pagaille. We never got our schedules despite waiting 1.5 hours. The rooms were hot and I feel there is a good chance I will teach more this year, since there are 2 11SS classes, if I even teach the same classes. Then to the marche and Nana's, where we gave presents. Fanta loved her doll and we showed he the colouring book. Of course, an obnoxious little boy tried to take over and steal the crayons while the girls were nice and shared. We made it clear that it was Fanta's present. A feel-good day.
Then another afternoon of reading, Pilates, and yoga. I never got around to the garden because it was so hot. Made leaf and kidney bean curry for dinner in the lovely new kitchen. I hope it stays clean. It's such a happy place.
Oct. 21, 2001
I'm so tired and sore that I can barely move. The day is drawing itself out with nothing to look forward to. We went to the marche in the afternoon yesterday, which proved to be pleasant. We talk about food with Kante, who thought it was very funny that we didn't know yet what we were having for dinner. Then up to Nana's, who was rather sick with eye problems. It worries me. Fanta was cute as usual and Fatou wasn't there. We stopped for corn bouillie on the way back and the day just seemed new and exciting. Fode stopped by in the evening to talk about the referendum and assure us that no uprising is planned for the moment. However, they don't want to have a referendum, at all, so that should interesting. Now I question whether I want to send my passport to Conakry. On to lesson-planning.
Nov. 8, 2001
A long day - 6 hours at school. I proposed the sweeping measure and got laughed at. Dr. Moussa Keita came by yesterday and we're starting today with APROFIG. The next 3 afternoons we'll work with 10eme and 12eme, from then on, Saturdays with the non-exam classes. There were riots in Conakry yesterday - supposedly, school is closed. Everyone but the school knows that, however. So I taught - just as well - I needed to. Siguiri is still calm and perhaps it will remain that way. Tomorrow, I will run in the morning - I must get back into it. Dr. Keita wants me to start a running club and I'd like to.
Dec. 9, 2001
Today seems to be going better. I ran 8km this morning and as I ran up the airport hill, two young girls joined me. We stood there for a while in the morning sun and the world suddenly seemed beautiful. I've forgotten how much I love being on the top of hills. Jack came this morning and started cleaning and the boys are delivering dirt - good dirt with no debris. This afternoon, we can start our garden. I have to write my grades out, which is a pain and write some tests. I like Sundays.
Strikes, dead kittens and other such things
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 07:55:57
Hello all,
I am on a mini-vacation in Conakry, attempting to get
away from Guinea for a bit. I know, I just was on
vacation, but January hasn't been a very good month,
and supposedly, we're having semester exams next week,
so I'm only missing a week of school. And since the
school is complete chaos, I figure it doesn't matter.
I left plenty of work, since I'm an evil teacher that
way. Yes, I admit it, I even gave work over the
Christmas vacation. But how else are they going to
learn.
Actually, I've only really taught a week this month, because there was a teachers strike, which I fully supported. I, of course, was on strike only by default, since we are not supposed to take part in Guinean politics. IN typical Guinean fashion, the strike started a day late when the letter from the union didn't arrive in time. The strike lasted a week and a half, until the government agreed to a few of the points (more chalk, more money, etc.) and school was resumed. Since this happened on a Wednesday and on Monday the principal announced that school was closed for the week, classes were only half full. Of course, due to the "severe cold" in the morning, no one comes to school until 8.30, anyway. This rather frustrates me. Due to the strike, exams were pushed back and when I left, all anyone was able to tell me after a lot of asking and hypothetical questions, I was told that (God-willing) they would start anywhere between Feb. 1-5 and last ten to fifteen days. So much for narrowing it down. They assured me that school would start again after Tabaski (a big religous holiday at the end of February). Effectively, I won't be teaching until March. And then April is Spring Break and May is final exams, so I have a month to cover far too much material. what fun.
While I wasn't at school, I amused myself by starting a girls running club-at our peak, we had 20 girls running, it was a lot of fun. And then there was the vegetable garden. I am happy to report that we have lots of zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes, but no beans or peas. The tomatoes came up as weeds, so I am not complaining. Of course, it is while we were weeding our vegetable garden that my incredibly jealous dog killed our 12-week old kitten. It was a very bad day. They were getting along quite nicely until then. now our house is infested with rodents again. Needless to say, we will not be getting a new cat.
Although school was closed, I still got to teach
math to my girls group. However, I decided that I
didn't like teaching math, I didn't feel like the
girls were benefitting at all by being retaught
material they had already seen in class or would see
this year (this is what I was instructed to do). So I
took matters into my own hands and we're doing logic
problems instead, to teach them how to think. And
seeing how bad they are at them, I think this will be
far more useful. I think I'm going to try and work on
speed as well now (my students are so slow) and give
them timed tests. We'll see. I figure that since I
have a week of computer access in Conakry, I can plan
all kinds of interesting things. So if you have any
good ideas.... I think I'm going to start putting a
logic problem on the board every class for my 12th
graders as well. They're motivated enough that some
of them will at least try to do it (when they've
finished copying and have nothing else to do). I
think my 12th graders keep me sane, all 120 of them.
I'm not going to talk about my 11th graders. Anyway,
it appears that I have run out of time. (To add
insult to injury, we no longer have free email access
in our house in Conakry-the only form of communication
that actually works here). By the way, mail has
resumed, so I actually have gotten a lot of letters
(alhamdoulilaye!). I hope all is well.
Urska
Mail remains exciting
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 07:22:40
Hi,
Guess what, I got your package! Thanks so much. It's
great. My parents also got the letter you sent to me,
so they're sending it on to me now. Mail seems to be
working at the normal rate again now - ie. about 3
weeks to get here from the US and another month to
actually get to Siguiri, but at least it is getting to
Siguiri. I'm actually taking a mini-vacation right
now, during finals, because I hate proctoring. So I'm
off to hike in the Fouta tomorrow. Should be fun, I
hope. I'm really sick of Guinea. And now I'm
stressed, because Wash U just sent me an email saying
they hand't received my GRE scores. Which is
impossible becuse I sent them out in September. Not
to mention that one of the professors emailed me just
a few days earlier to tell me that I was unofficially
admitted (well, they had recommended me for admittance
and now it just had to go through the official
process, so you'd think they would have the scores.
And no other school is missing them (MIT told me the
application is complete, so why would just one set go
missing, they were all ordered at the same time). the
irony is that the woman asked me to fax a copy so they
would have them immediately. so I of course wrote
back that I'm in Guinea and that is impossible, but
that I would contact Tanja, and I gave her Tanja's
email address as well. Do you know just how many
problems I've already had. It seems like every time I
check my email, some grad school is writing to say
they haven't received something, and frankly, I sent
everything out in September, and none of it has been
my fault. OK, I'll stop venting now.
... My time is almost up now.
Urska