Host Family

Day 1

If I had to use one word to accurately describe this day I would be forced to choose the word awkward. At the adopting ceremony I was greeted with one of the warmest smiles from my new sister Djnabe (who to this day remains one of the most warm hearted people I have ever encountered.) Afterwards all of the volunteers met with their families and had their first meal together in the auditorium of the “Maison de Jeunes.” It is here that we would eat the primary meal of Guinea, rice and sauce. From what I remember, I think we had peanut sauce with goat meat. It was pretty good.

After the ceremony is when the awkwardness was initiated. My new sisters (Djnabe, Aminata, and Mimi) and I walked home in almost complete silence, while I tried desperately to think of something to say that was comprehensible and in the mean time try and understand what was being said to me. (For the first week if at any point I wanted to initiate a conversation I needed at least 5 minutes prep time to think of the correct way to express myself. Lol.) On the way, I was introduced to the neighborhood with my new Guinean name “Mimi Camara.” It’s kind of like a celebrity feeling, with everyone staring and smiling at you, so intrigued by your presence. Lol. Anyway, once we got to the house I was shown to my room and introduced to the rest of my family, my brother Ibou (13 yrs) and my grandmother. I was exhausted and slightly overwhelmed when I reached the house, so I decided to take a nap for about an hour or so. To my pleasant surprise, as I awoke, I was surrounded with 8 smiling faces in my room, staring at me (no exaggeration, I counted. Lol.) It was a little awkward, but all we could do was laugh. My sister had invited over some of her friends and neighbors to come and meet me. We couldn’t do much because of the communication barrier so we just played the name game while I butchered the pronunciation of everyone’s name.

Afterward, I went outside to spend some more time with them and helped cook (the cooking area is located outside in the yard.) My only contribution to the meal was crushing piman (peppers) in this big bowl with a huge stick. It was fun. There is a name for this utensil but I can’t think of it right now. Next, I showed them pictures of family and friends back in the states. They love you guys! Especially my teammates. H UUUU!!!! lol. Anyway, after the show and tell was finished, it hit me….. Lol. The stomach ache of death. My stomach started rumbling, and before I knew it I was sprinting the bathroom. (I don’t think any further details are necessary. Everyone should be able to put two and two together.) The next awkward moment would come with me trying to explain, in my limited amount of French to my family, the reason why I didn’t want to eat dinner. Lol. It wasn’t really that bad, all I did was point to my stomach and say “Je suis malade.” I just felt kind of bad for not being able to eat on my first night there. Anyway, ce n’est pas grave. They were very understanding.

Since that first day things have steadily gotten better, the awkward moments are not as frequent or intense (or maybe I’ve just gotten used to them), and my family has been unbelievably patient with me. However, I’m still trying to figure out the dynamics of my family, or more like who’s who. Guinean families are extremely large, mainly because they practice polygamy here. Having more then one wife is a sign of wealth, and majority of the family stays together forever. The family unity here is like none other. Unlike in the U.S. everything here is community centered, and the things you do and say are a direct reflection of your family. Therefore it's important to remain repsectful and be on your best at all times. But anyway, I don’t live with the average Peace Corps host family because I don’t have parents that take care of me. My sister Djnabe is my primary care giver and she just graduated from high school. None the less, she’s doing a great job. I’m going to miss her when I move.

Just to give everyone a better idea of my living arrangements I’ll give a brief description of how things work around here. Since there is no running water, and electricity is sporadic, things can’t be done with just a push of a button or turn of a switch. The day starts here at around 5:30 am after the call to prayer. We live across the street from the mosque so this is usually my alarm clock. For those of you that may not be familiar, in Muslim countries the call to prayer is done over a loud speaker from the mosque 5 times a day. I can’t understand what’s being said but it sound like someone is singing over the loud speaker.

Anyway, if I am able to go back to sleep after the call to prayer I have another alarm clock that goes off at around 6:20 am. This one is the little bird outside my window that starts chirping at the same time every day. Everyone in Guinea is usually awake by 6:30am because this is when the daily chores begin. There is so much to be done. Usually before I get out of my bed I can hear the neighborhood people salueing each other as they pass. There is also the pet chicken that we have that I usually hear running around the house in the morning, and then the stupid rooster outside the house that I despise. He just won’t shut up! (The other stuff doesn’t bother me but that rooster has got to go. Argh! Lol.) Then I can also hear the mouton (goat) that makes this horrendous bleating sound, which is actually hilarious to listen too. I laugh every single time.
Anyway, after the finale of the morning symphony is complete I go take my bucket bath. Believe it or not this happens to be one of my favorite parts of my day. I haven’t really figured out why because usually the water is ice cold and I’m bathing in the dark. But none the less it is so refreshing. I love it! We get our bathing water from the well that is just in front of the house under the mango tree. It’s really convenient. I usually get my drinking water from the pump which then has to be filtered and bleached before it can be consumed. Well water is a "no no" for drinking.

After my wonderful bucket bath, I get dressed, eat breakfast and head out for the day for classes. A walk to school is not like a walk anywhere in the states because it is absolutely vital that you speak to everyone that you see. This is very important to Guinean culture as a sign of respect, especially since everything is based around the community. Saluing everyone definitely takes more effort and those days when you don’t want to talk to anyone it can be particularly difficult. But at the end of the day I think it is very valuable because you are able to build relationships with people.

After the day at the school is complete, if I don’t chill with any of the other volunteers I head home and eat dinner with my family. My first few weeks there my sister would be bring me my food and she, Ibou and whoever else was there would all sit around me and watch me eat. Every time I walked up someone would automatically give me there chair and take my book bag from me. It was so nice. It took some getting used to because it made me a little uncomfortable having someone wait on my hand and foot. But Guineans are some of the kindest, most hospitable people I’ve ever met. They say that other countries are not quite as hospitable as Guineans so I’m grateful to have been placed here.