Stuff PCVs Like

For those of you who have internet at work and get bored of wasting time on Facebook all day, you are probably familiar with the blog, turned book, turned multimedia power Stuff White People Like. For those of you who probably aren’t aware of this internet phenomenon (Hi grandma!), SWPL discusses the fads of surburban America (i.e. frozen yogurt, North Face jackets, the Wii) in a humorous, but pretty spot-on, way.  I hope that’s what my version will be like, although probably much more focused on food because, as anyone who knows me is aware, I like to eat.

1. Ice

            Guinea PCVs (not sure about those in colder regions) love ice!  Those of us in Kankan are lucky enough to have an ice vendor right in town, although only for those us who know where she is.  Kenny, the other PCV in Kankan, and I spent about two weeks looking for the ice lady before actually making a purchase.  We were told she was in a house next to the bank, but from there we would be directed back towards the bank (‘over there’ is a legitimate direction in Guinea). 

Eventually, a kind stranger directed me to what looked like a private residence.  Approaching with a bit of caution, I looked around the compound and could find no one selling ice, until someone walking out the front gate told me to try the front door.  I knocked, said “kon-kon”, but no one answered.  The door was unlocked, and I figured that person leaving sort of gave me permission to go in, so I opened it.  To find a little girl eating lunch at a kitchen table.

Being the awkward toubabu (white person) I am, I asked this small child if she had any ice.  She merely stared at me as I stood in the entrance to her home, until her mother walked in.  Half expecting to need to make a very quick exit, I mumbled something about wanting ice.  Thankfully, the woman asked how much I wanted and didn’t come after me with a broom.  Although she was pretty peeved when I hadn’t brought my own plastic bag to put it in.

2. Harmattan Haze

            West Africa is home to climatic phenomenon known as the harmattan.  It is basically a dry air mass that moves North-South throughout the year and is partly responsible for the seasons here, of which there is ‘hot and rainy’ and ‘hotter and dry’.  In movies, the harmattan is portrayed as this giant dust storm raging across the African desert, engulfing century old mosques and cursed Egyptian mummies.  In real life, it is much less dramatic (at least in Guinea) and is only accompanied by a kind of haze that rests in the sky.

            Most Guineans I talk to really don’t like the harmattan haze, the usual argument being that it makes the weather too cold and makes people sick.  It also dims the sun, lending the horizon an “end of the world” kind of feel to it.  This happened my first three days in Kankan, and I was a little worried that the sun was going to disappear behind a mammoth dust cloud that would bury Kankan in sand. I guess I’ve watched The Mummy a few too many times.  What did happen was that the usually stifling 115 F weather became a balmy 95 F, allowing me to drink coffee on my porch in the morning without sweating through my clothes before it even hit 8 AM.  And that is why PCV’s love the harmattan haze.

3. When a New Vegetable/Fruit Comes Into Season

            Living in a country without mass refrigeration and produce imported from far off lands means I am at the whim of the local market when it comes to fresh fruit and veggies.  This certainly has its pros and cons.  For one, the produce I get is fresher than you will find in any American grocery store.  Sometimes I’ve literally just picked it myself at my groupement’s garden.  It also means my food hasn’t amassed an oversized carbon footprint from its red-eye flight in from Brazil.  This makes the blue-blooded environmentalist in me a little proud.

            The disadvantage of the local market however is that it doesn’t offer much in the way of variety.  Usually I go to market and see the same line-up of tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cabbage, okra, eggplant, and chives.  But as the seasons change, I may stumble upon a cucumber or even an avocado.  This is when I tend to make the rookie mistake of getting overly excited about a new food and buy 15 mangoes (which it turns out is possible to eat in one day).  But my own gluttony issues aside, the changing seasons bring some much needed variety into a PCV’s diet, when they’re not helping to eat the ten pounds of Velveeta cheese a neighboring volunteer received in the last run of packages (Thanks Max’s family!).

Aside from enjoying the SPCVL (stuff peace corps volunteers like), I have been continuing my work with Fasso Demen, the gardening groupement, and Green Hand Action, the reforestation NGO, in Kankan.  There is still a little over a month until our in-service training (IST), where I will present all the information I have learned about my community these past few months.  The next month, then, will be spent continuing my community assessment and writing the report that accompanies the presentation.

There was also, as you may or may not know, a coup d’etat in Mali, which lies directly to Guinea’s east.  From what I can gather from French radio and limited news sources, the military took over the government because they weren’t receiving the funds and resources for their campaigns in the north of the country against Toureg and Libyan rebels.  This came as a surprise to all of us here because, until last week, Mali was considered to have the most stable democracy in all of West Africa.  Fortunately, the political situation next door hasn’t affected us in Kankan much at all.  There was a midnight curfew imposed in the city last weekend and the borders between Guinea and Mali are currently closed to those who don’t have a military order to cross and/or a bribe.  We are all hoping, of course, that a compromise can be made and the country can be returned to order quickly and without any conflict, setting a much needed example for any future power disputes in West Africa.

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring break vacations and for those of you who worked so hard on their tan at the beach, I recommend the savannah of Guinea as a great place to work on that golden brown hue.