Greetings from Malawi!

Hello All!

Sooo…..This is going to be the longest update of life, so I will try and make this as interesting as possible. The past eight months have been quite eventful, full of drastic changes and a whirlwind of emotions. As some of you might have noticed, the name of my blog has changed from A Glimpse from Guinea. I have changed it because I am no longer in Guinea and I just felt it appropriate since I have moved locations. I have changed it to La Vie Est Belle, because life is beautiful right?!!

Unfortunately about 5 months ago we were evacuated from Guinea due to extreme political instability. Does everyone remember the military coup from last December 2008? Well, we had a horrible event occur this past September involving the military and thousands of Guineans. On September 28th 2009, an opposing political party was holding a peaceful campaign/protest event in the downtown Conakry football stadium. Elections were due to occur in the upcoming months. The stadium was filled with thousands of Guinean people, peacefully expressing there desire for a fair democratic election. However, there efforts abruptly ended and would turn into a complete massacre. Within a few minutes, much to everyone’s surprise the military bombarded the stadium, locked the doors, and began to open fire on the crowd. The shooting ceased once military gun clips were empty. In addition, the most horrendous moment of all was that the woman were publicly raped, and in some cases with soldiers guns. It was a terrible day in which approximately one hundred and fifty seven lives were taken.

I can’t even begin to tell you how difficult this was for everyone involved. The volunteers were taken out of the country the following week to Mali to remain there for 3 weeks until the US State Department made its final decision about our existence in Guinea. Saying goodbye to my family was the hardest goodbye I have ever made in my entire life. I am not going to go into to much detail about it because it’s difficult to think about. But I know that everything happens for a reason, and I will forever remain thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to spend an incredible year and a half in Guinea. I know I will never experience anything like that ever again and the memories I have of my petites, my students, my family and fellow volunteers will remain with me forever.

On a happier note, like I said things happen for a reason. Apart from being home, with regular internet access to apply for graduate school, I was blessed to have another job opportunity fall in my lap just before leaving Mali. I am now working in Malawi for an organization called Water For People as a Project Assistant. I can’t think of a more perfect opportunity for getting some more development work experience just before starting graduate school. And most importantly, I can stay in Africa!! I swear, I love this continent! I have just applied to graduate school for a Masters of Public Policy with a focus on international development.

So now, I will be reporting to you from Blantyre Malawi, hopefully giving more frequent updates about new events and anything else I feel like rambling about. In a nutshell, Water For People is an NGO that promotes access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities in developing nations. We are based in Denver, CO with offices all over the world, India, Malawi, Uganda, Equador, Bolivia, Rwanda, Peru, Domnican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. We work as facilitators in developing countries, working closely with the local government and people, and partnering with other local NGO’s to ensure sustainability of our projects. SUSTAINIBILITY IS KEY!!! We don’t give anyone anything; all of our work requires contributions from everyone that is involved and everyone that will benefit from it. It’s a team effort. To give you a little more detailed information about Water For People here is their website, waterforpeople.org. Take a look!