Counterpart Workshop & Site Visit to Boke:
The past two weeks we have spent away from our scheduled days and host families in Dubreka, first traveling to Mamou for our counterpart workshops/retreat, and then heading out for site visits.
All the Peace Corps Trainees arrived together at Mamou, and awaited for our counterparts to slowly arrive as they were coming from all over Guinea and transportation in Guinea is not reliable or fast to say the least (more to come on that later). When I was pulled away to meet my counterpart, I walked out of the building to confront a very young looking guy with a huge grin on his face. We talked for a long time about how excited he was and everything that we could do together for the organization, and him, and the community – it was nice, but a little worrying. He was so young, so enthusiastic, and had very high expectations! But over the past week we’ve become good friends. I think some issues have risen because he is so young, and since he’s never lived on his own and doesn’t have a good knowledge of American culture or even just Peace Corps Volunteers (I’m the first Volunteer to work with the Organization), there’s been some issues with my lodging/lack there of. When it comes to the community though, and getting work done, I think he’ll be a great partner.
Amara Syla, my counterpart/homologue, is 22 (four months younger than me), definitely the youngest counterpart by far, and is in his last year of high-school – because of the school system here and the fact that often kids have to repeat or miss years of school for one reason or another (typically family reasons) youth here are defined as 15-30 years old. As we walk around Boke he introduces me to literally every other person, and he seems well respected by the community, as he volunteers with the Red Cross, is a peer-educator/secretary/account for the CECOJE (the organization I am working with – explanation to follow) and he’s grown up there.
From Mamou to Boke we had to take a “bush taxi,” which if you want to picture it think of a really hurting car, crammed with 4 people in the back and 2 people in the passengers seat, and driving on roads riddled with potholes for the entire journey. Our taxi broke down on the way, so we all piled out of the car and there was a family who’s compound was by the side of the road – they nonchalantly greeted us as if this was a typical occurrence and allowed us to sit under their tree for the next three hours. They were very gracious though, allowing us to use their cornered off area covered by grass (bathroom), and in turn we entertained them by playing cards. The taxi driver had to find a ride back to the main city, and then find other taxis with enough free space coming our way to pick us up. We continued on.
When we arrived in Boke we were dropped of at the CECOJE since it’s right next to the market, which is where taxis come in and out of. To start this part of the story off, I have to preface that my counterpart never explained to me that my housing that they had set up for me had fallen through and so that place he would be taking me that night wouldn’t be my home. At eleven at night, he brought me to a room in the middle of the CECOJE which is a large youth center, that is a public area with tons of youth from the city playing sports and blasting music, me still thinking this would be my house, walk into the room to see that there is just a bed and small bathroom area, with no where to prepare food and no access to a well, and in a very very public place – I was in shock. I think my this point my counterpart could tell I was a little bewildered, he asked me if everything was okay? I replied, that, “ I thought I would have a place to prepare food,” which was the nicest way I could think of to explain that I thought I would have a hut/house. Only then did he explain that that was not my home. His family came to greet me, and helped me get water and food for the night. His mom helped me make a salad, and when I said I didn’t want mayonnaise on it she really thought I was nuts. As they watched me eat it, I said it was really good, and she told me that, “no, it wasn’t,” because I didn’t put mayonnaise, salt, or magi cube on it – me and Guinea have very different taste in food. At midnight, my homologue and his family left me to say goodbye, as they went to close the door Amara told me not the answer the door for anyone but him, that was concerning.
I woke up the next morning and called the PC Safety and Security Officer, the Boke regional house is literally 2 minutes from where I was staying, and they told me to stay at that house for my visit, I was relieved. I explained to Amara that it was because of the noise, and he understood. He said that we could go see my real housing later on, which turned out to be only half true. I spent several hours during site visit going around to different compounds viewing various rooms that if I agreed could be my housing, the problem is that we don’t currently have a regional director in Boke and the regional driver and my counterpart are the ones showing me these places, without any knowledge of the Peace Corps regulations, or the authority to sign off on a place. We’ve been playing this game of me viewing these places, having very rough conversations in French with the owners and my counterparts, and then explaining to them that the Peace Corps has to view them and I can’t say anything definitive. I feel bad for Amara because I know that this is probably hard for him to figure out, but I also need to have a place that is conducive to living for the next 2 years. The Peace Corps knows this is Guinea and they have very realistic standards and so do I, but safety and security issues also have to be addressed.
Everyone in the Peace Corps has been very on top of things for me and checking-in, but things don’t happen overnight here. The Country Director decided to send someone up to Boke who had been a regional director and would be there to greet us 6 who would be coming to the house for a few days and to help figure out my lodging. When I found this out I was grateful and hopeful.
At the counterpart workshop we made a plan of what we’d do the 3 days that we would spend together before I went to my regional house, we followed about half of the plan. Amara is in school, so we can’t do things Monday through Saturday until after he is done, and then we also had to figure out housing unexpectedly, and of course go to 3 different soccer games. Honestly, I enjoyed our revised schedule. The first day we went to the local museum, which I don’t believe is actually open to the public as a museum because of funding and is not setup exhibit wise as such for the same reason, but we got a private tour (in French) that from what I could comprehend was very interesting. Boke used to be a large port for the slave trade in Africa, and thus has a very interesting and sad history that has impacted the city and it's inhabitants. We also went to several soccer games, which apparently the rest of Boke also attended (I asked if there is a soccer game every day, that was clearly regarded as a silly question; there are multiple a day) I was sitting next to one of the Principle's of one of the schools that was playing, and before the game started all the players lined up and officials went out and shook their hands - I guess I was the "official fote" for the game because he had me and Amara come out and shake all their hands too (me and all the kids had on mutual looks of "what is going on" as this occurred).
Boke is a very big city and I am a little worried that I will also be the Fote, where as in Dubreka I've mostly become Aisha (finally have the spelling of my name correct). We have about 3 more weeks of training left, and then our service begins, so I guess I'll have a lot to figure out soon enough.
(P.S. I've updated the post below as well in case you were thinking of sending me a package :) )
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