zot in Niger bush camels

My second meeting with the accountant for my organization was a no show as well, and I’ve heard that if you make an appointment twice and they don’t show up, then they don’t actually want to meet with you but they don’t know how to say no.  I won’t really push it, but its too bad because I thought maybe the accounting would have been a good concrete way I could actually help my organization and at the same time maybe learn some stuff about how they work.  For me numbers have more weight than abstract concepts, and since much of what is considered discussion of work is actually just repitition of what is written in mission statements and plans of action, they might be one of the only ways of actually getting an idea of what will happen.

But that’s a little overly pessimistic, and indeed I’m already learning some things that my organization does just by virtue of spending time there.  I made plans to meet with my counterpart next week.  We are going to talk about what they would like me to do and what I want to achieve while here.  Hopefully it will be more productive than our previous conversations.  Not that those have been bad, but I could have gained the same information from reading the plan of action (which I had already read).

Though I haven’t seen this directly because I haven’t actually watched a class, the education system is supposed to be quite different here, not just in terms of annual exams that have to be passed, but in terms of the style of teaching.  It is based on rote repitition and memorization, and I don’t mean just memorization of capitals, but memorization of entire phrases of history, government, and sciences.  Thus your success seems largely determined by how well you can recite passages from your text book, but there is little practice with problem solving or the extraction of information from those passages.

For example, I was asking a kid what he had learned at the AIDS seminar he went to, and he launched into a memorized passage of how AIDS compromises the human immune system.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that he was just reciting and didn’t actually understand what he was saying, but it serves to illustrate how education here works.

Which is important because what I really wanted to mention is how frustrating it is to sit through conversations in which people are reading off of sheets of paper that everyone has.  For me this seems like a giant waste of time, because we should be talking about the important information that is used to construct whatever it is we are reading, but it certainly doesn’t seem necessary to actually read the passages, which are filled with just as much fluff as a plan of action would be in the United States.  But here being able to recite the actual passages in your plan of action is considered important, not just because that’s how my organization actually describes what they do, but because if someone asks you what the mission of your ONG is and you give an abbreviated version of it, they are likely to read it and then come back and hassle you for leaving out a word.
The emphasis on memorization transfers over into everyday social life as well.  Sometimes kids will ask me a question that they already know the answer to, and regardless of whether I know the answer, they will launch into the appropriate passage.  Or for Faisson Ensemble formations, the seminars seem to consist solely of reading passages out of the governance manual published by the Guinean government (and you can imagine how dry that document is).

All of this conflicts somewhat heavily with how I like to do presentations, and how I like to learn, which is a faster and looser discussion of ideas and important concepts, and if people what to revisite at what population the locally elected mayor iss allowed to have a second vice mayor, they can do that by referring to the document on their own time.  I can tell already that when I get to the point that I’m giving trainings, on whatever topic, that I’m going to be expected to provide a lot more structure than I usually do.

Not that any of it matters right now.  I spent the last several days studying French and going to the office for a couple of hours, but mostly reading John Grisham novels, Of which I’ve finished four since Monday.  I am missing the opportunity for deep involved thought, which is limited both by my lack of command of French and my not having a lot of in depth stuff to do right now.  But I just started Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, which is supposed to be pretty weighty.

Its always nice to get visitors. Two days ago I a volunteer came by for the day, and then yesterday three volunteers came to town. Its nice to speak english, and to not be the only American in town, but they invariably do a little damage to the image I’ve been working so hard to create. Perhaps its impossible to come across as not being incredibly more well off than everyone else, simply because I am American, but I purposely try to stay away from the more expensive things because I don’t want to fit that patron image. But when other volunteers come we tend to end up being a little luxurious, which might mean drinking cokes and eating ice cream, which doesn’t seem like a lot but which is a whole days worth of food for many people. And we didn’t just buy ice cream, we each got the largest ice cream possible, and then promptly ate it and went back to order a second one.

As you can see, I’m still struggling to define the boundary line between how much I want to (and how much its possible) to come across as just another person here, and how much I want to sacrifice to accomplish that. Even without visitors this question pops up. Every time I buy anything I have to consider how much I want to argue with merchants, and at what point I am willing to pay a little more than a Guinean would, and at what point I will walk away. Or take what I eat, which generally consists of eggs, tomatoes, onions, oranges, bananas, bread, bouille, and maybe a rice bowl (not all in one day). Thats a lot more variety than most Guineans eat. But the line there is fairly clear, as I’m not willing to give up the variety and health of what I eat so that I can appear more Guinean. It gets more difficult with clothes, where I have to wear something at least a little business casual, but I don’t want to wear rich patron clothes. The line seems pretty thin there, and I haven’t been able to really find a balance yet. And when other volunteers arrive, all hope of seeming like a normal Guinean goes out the window.

Not that its really expected that I live like a vrai Guinean. Indeed, Guineans themselves, thinking me to be rich, expect me to be living like a patron, and might think I’m a little stingy when I don’t. Its just interesting to think about, and, especially in these beginning months, I want to keep as low a profile as possible. Perhaps after the city knows me a little better I will be more comfortable spending a little more money.
Mail should come tonight!

I had a surprise visitor yesterday that was a real pleasure. He didn’t have anything to do, so he came up for the day and we kind of just hung out and walked around, making sure to enjoy all the luxuries like cold coke and ice cream. We also did a little shopping. Mostly we just talked a lot, and it was great to get his perspective and his stories and how they contrast with my own. He seems to be much better than I am about being assertive, and it was good for me to hear how he handled different situations. Its a little different because its his job to teach health practices, and his information is a concrete thing. SED is a little more abstract, but I can still draw lessons from his lack of fear of people not liking him because he contradicts them.
Also, I’d known I had been in a kind of funk for a few days, but I didn’t realize how much until after he had left and I was in a great mood. Just that little bit of time being able to speak easily and talk about more complicated things made a big difference.

I’ve been told that people want to see what it looks like outside my door, so I finally broke out the camera and we took some pictures. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait till June because I don’t have a way to shrink them down sufficiently here, and I won’t be heading to Conakry till then. It just so happened that when we came out with the camera there was a monkey in my yard, so I got a picture of it. They don’t treat monkeys with the same anthropomorphism that we do, so I don’t have much hope for it. It was injured and the kids were chasing it with rocks. Every monkey I’ve seen here has been on a leash.

My old Hampshire College hat was so worn out that no one would let me wear it, so finally I cut off the logo, and after buying my new hat I sewed the Hampshire logo on it. There’s a picture of that to that I will upload when I can. Its not the greatest hat in the world, its just a tribute (Queue Tenacious D).

So that’s about it. I’ve hit the home stretch before my regional capital visit. Also I found out the party that was planned isn’t until a few days later, so I’ll probably miss it. I’m kind of glad that there won’t be thirty people there while I’m there. But also I hope I’m not the only one the whole time. Mail run arrives on Sunday, and I’m expecting a couple of packages and some letters. Exciting!

Today I am not going to do too much. Work gets out at 13:00 on Fridays anyway. But I am going to walk down to the marche and sit down with some carpenters. There are a few groups of people that I walk by every day and we say hi to each other, but that I never talk to much because I am on my way somewhere, so I want to stop in for a while with each group. There are the carpenters and the barbers, and that might be it for right now.