December 24, 2013
It is a moment most PCTs in Guinea look forward to. The moment they find out where they will be spending the next two years in Guinea. Guinea is divided into 4 main regions: the coastal Basse-Côte, the mountainous Fouta, the hot and dry Haute, and the Forest. Peace Corps has a presence on three of the regions, with the exception being the Forest, where there has been too much intermittent conflict to risk sending PCVs in to do their work.
During the weeks leading up to our site announcement, we were asked about our desires and expectations. Surprisingly, we do have some input as to where we will be living. However, since none of us has been to Guinea before, the only information we have is what other volunteers have shared with us. For me, the only real request was that I not be located near the ocean. It is not that I don’t like the view, but that people who live in the coastal region eat a lot of fish as their main protein source, and I am not a big fan of fish (even before seeing and smelling the fish market in Conakry.) Though my host family has avoided feeding me crab (called Gimba in the local Susu language) per my request, I think it would be difficult for me if I had to survive on fish as a main protein source.
So with a little fanfare, the Peace Corps staff announced our sites. My site is in the Koundara prefecture, in the northwest region of Guinea. Though technically in the Basse Côte region, it is far enough away from the ocean that that I won’t see fish on my plate every day. Potential projects include: gardening (school and community), reforestation, beekeeping, water management, cereal banks, and animal husbandry. Goat cheese anyone?
With our site announcements, we also now know the local language we must learn. The language spoken in my region is Pular. Every volunteer is paired with a local counterpart, not only for language translation and learning, but also for co-leading our community projects. The success of our projects largely depends on the cooperation and guidance we get from our local counterparts, as well as our ability to integrate into our local communities. So from now and through the first three months at our site, our focus is this: to integrate into our communities, learn the local language and observe. That’s all.
