Site

I was the first one in my region to be installed at their site on Monday. We started off the day meeting all of the Guinean officials to notify them of our arrival, had a big lunch, and then it was off to site. Jesse and Carolina accompanied me to my site because they weren’t until Tuesday. I had really mixed emotions about coming to site. Part of me was so excited to jump in and start teaching, meeting new people, and starting my secondary project ( I still am excited), but the other half of me was a little hesitant. It had finally hit me that I was no longer going to live in a protected environment where I knew exactly who to talk to if I needed something or was in trouble. I was about to move to a Guinean village by myself where I didn’t know a soul or the local language. Now that I’m here things are going well and understand that the Guinean Peace Corps experience is not suppose to be a walk in the park.

When I first arrived I received a warm greeting from my new petites. They are adorable. There are 5 of them, but 2 are infants. 4 boys and 1 girl. We searched for the superefet or someone of authority to notify them that I had arrived, but we had no luck, so we just moved my stuff into my new place.

Much to my surprise my hut was not in as good a shape as it was the last time I saw it during site visit. It was like walking into an unkept attic after maybe 3-5 years. When I walked in there was piles of dirt in the curves where pieces of the wall had collapsed during a thunder storm. The walls were also covered with “termite houses,” these ugly brown things composed of termite poop. It’s not so bad only because when you touch them they crumble like dirt so they are easy to clean. Apparently the termite problem is common in huts. I also have a few holes/openings in my thatch roof. So when it rains there are a few puddles that form next to my back door. Unfortunately I’ll have to live with this until the rainy season has finished. The pagaye/straw is not available until the dry season has come. Luckily I think there are only a few more weeks left for the rainy season.

Other than that, everything else was fine. I just had a lot of work cut out for me. We continued to move the rest of my things in, set up my mosquito net, cleaned my mattress, and Jesse assembled my water filter. After the necessities were finished it was time to say goodbye. I hugged Jesse and Carolina just before they got into the Peace Corps car. This would be the last time I would see them for a couple months. As they pulled off and waved goodbye it was finally a reality that I was on my own.