Desperately Waiting for the Rain

After the beach trip, all the Education PCV's gathered in Mamou for a counterpart workshop, during which we worked on incorporating lessons about HIV/AIDS into our lesson plans. My Censeur (principal) took this lesson to heart and gave a model lesson for the other Math teachers when we got back to Siguiri. He then repeated this the following year. This made me feel like I had actually accompished something. At this same workshop, I was groped in front of all of our counterparts during a highly inappropriate joke about how male teachers hit on their female students. The joke was about a teacher who used his student's breast to demonstrate what a soft body is. It was highly embarrassing. The AIDS session was quite eye-opening, however. A lot of Guineans are still in denial about AIDS, thinking it is simply a problem elsewhere. Our counterparts joked about how SIDA (AIDS) stood for 'Syndrome Imaginaire pour Decourager les Amoureux' (Imaginary Syndrome to Discourage Lovers) and generally dismayed us. Siguiri, being a border town and near a gold mine, has one of the highest infection rates in the country.

Our Censeur, N'Faly Alpha Sidibe, who was usually just called M. Alpha. On the right is the French teacher. I can't remember what the teacher to the left taught. I admired our Censeur because he was a genuinely nice and good-natured man. He was highly motivated and tried to run the chaos of our lycee to the best of his abilities. Most importantly, he did not appear to be sleeping with any of the female students. In fact, he seemed to encourage them to do well in his classes. He was also very supportive of the projects that we tried to initiate at school, although I don't think we ever succeeded with the issue of only girls sweeping.

Rain, rain, don't go away..

Desperately waiting for the rain.

Althought the rains had started in most of the rest of the country, Siguiri remained hot and dry. Dark clouds frequently ended up being dust storms instead. I woke up in the morning feeling sick because I hadn't drunk any water while sleeping and my sheets were drenched in sweat. I became obsessed with the rain. Our first real downpour lasted four hours and made our latrine overflow. Despite trying to get this fixed all summer long, the issue was never resolved. Waiting for the rain became a theme all summer because they ended up coming very late. In the middle of July, there was still dust on the ground and the farmers were unable to plant their crops. On an evening walk, I found an egg lying in the middle of the road. My friend, Cherif, told me that it was an offering to make the rains come.

Our livingroom floor after a dust storm.

Part of my 55 person Terminale class at the end of the year.

Planning trips with my friend Frances

Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2001 16:15:08 -0400
Hi Frances,
I'm so happy I finally got in touch with you. I have absolutely no problem with the dates and I'll be definately there to pick you up at the airport. The dates I wrote to you about in the letter were ones I saw in an email printout my mother sent me. Ok, let's see. I'm up at SAG (the goldmines) right now, which is why I have email access. I'm going to Conakry in about two weeks, and I'll have email all the time there, so we'll be able to communicate without a problem. As regards what I have planned for Mali. Pretty much, we'll be wandering around, so don't bring too much stuff-and you really don't need too much. Initially, I had planned 10 days for Mali, so maybe we'll just stay for the two weeks you're here, or maybe we can pop down to Siguiri for a day or two-I haven't really given it much thought yet. Basically in Mali, we'll start in Bamako, go and see Djenne (they have a nice mosque there) and then hike for a few da!ys in the Dogon country. I think we'll skip Timbuktu because there's nothing there really to see and Kristin had an awful experience getting there (her boat hit a sand bar and sprung a leak, and generally it wasn't pleasant). Although, since you're coming for longer, and if you want to go, we certainly can. What to bring: I sort of covered that in my letter. You probably don't need to get a water filter, because I found out that iodine does kill giardia and one can buy bottled water in most places, so we'll be set. When I'm at site, I don't treat my water, but Mali apparently has nastier parasites. I'm sure you really wanted to hear that. : ). Hmmm, I'm somewhat braindead right now, so I can't think of what I wanted to say. But, throughout the second half of June, I'll be in email contact , so you can pick my brains. Hope work is going well.
Urska

Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 17:19:07 -0400
A big backpacking backpack should be fine. that's what I'm bringing. I don't think you need a sleeping bag. I don't have one. A sheet maybe? I'm going to bring $300, which should be enough. Kristin brought that much and said it was more than enough. Some of it depends on how much you want to buy-but you're travelling with Peace Corps Volunteers, so we won't let you get ripped off. We're seasoned bargainers. Or we pretend to be : ). Bring a raincoat or a poncho. I think when it does rain, it will be a short downpour, but it's good to have in case. Don't forget your camera. So the current plans are that we'll go to Djenne and Dogon Country (which will be hiking)). We decided that Timbuktu is not worth it (a pain to get there and nothing to see). And we're going to eat at an Indian restaurant in Bamako. We have food obsessions. Thanks for offering to bring something for me, but I think I'm set. Besides then we'd have to carry it all over Mali. Oh, I'm so excited. This will be so much fun. ...

I'm flying out tomorrow, I hope. Yesterday, when I went to buy my ticket, I walked into the airline office and was immediately offered whisky by some Russians, who run the company. I ended up speaking a bit in Russian to them and got a discount on my ticket. Quite convenient. I think I may have to bribe some officials though tomorrow because I have way too much baggage and it's heavy. In fact, I'm leaving some of it here and someone is going to bring it up for me. I stocked up in the supermarket. Oh, I'm assuming that when you got your shots, they wrote it all up on a yellow card (we call it the WHO card). You absolutely need that to get into Mali. Anyway, I think I'm going to go to bed. Did I mention good insect repellent? Did they give you mefloquine (Lariam?) for you malaria prophylaxis. Because if so, I take mine on Tuesdays, so if you start on a Tuesday as well, I can remind you to take it. Oh, it turns out I won't be going to California when I come to the US in September. I decided it would be too difficult to fit it all in. But fortunately, I'll be seeing you in a month. Less than a month now. Ok, see you in 30 days!
Urska

N.b. The plane ended up being over-booked and since we refused to sit three to two seats, we took a bush-taxi instead. Shortly after this, PC admin told us the airline was off-limits due to safety concerns.

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