Guinea Trip

Hi all. I'm in, but I can't promise how often I will be able to check the blog.

I want to share a bit about my last trip to Guinea, West Africa. I arrived in Conakry after 34 hours on four different flights. I slept in a Christian and Missionary Alliance guesthouse and then left for a 7 hour drive up country to the city of Dalaba, where we held the meetings with all the Guinea CRWM missionaries. When we unloaded the 4-wheel vehicle, John Span was handing stuff to me and I was stacking it on the ground. He grabbed a rice sack off of the roof rack and threw it to me. I asked what was in the bag and he replied, "Cash." "Yeah, right," I replied. He responded, "Take a look for yourself." I opened the bag and found... stacks and stacks of cash. The Guniea franc is about 5,000 to one US Dollar, so it doesn't take all that much to be a millionaire in Guinea.

Then we had three days of meetings. Exciting for me but BORING for you! I will not bother to tell you about the meetings. I will just fill in a few more little stories. Next to the Catholic Retreat Center where we were meeting a huge (I mean really, really huge) home was being built. I was told that some Filipinos were working on it. I couldn't believe it so I walked over there during lunch break. Sure enough, a Tagalog from Quezon City, Manila, was the superintendant of the construction site. I blew him away when I walked up and started to speak Tagalog to him. He never in his wildest imagination guessed that an American in Guinea would know any Filipino dialects. We had a nice conversation. He told me that the architect and the engineer were also both Filipino, but they were not there that day.

I also found the nest of a very smart swallow. The nights get pretty cool up in Dalaba (60s while I was there, but it can get in the upper 40s at night for part of the year). A swallow had built a chambered mud nest on the ceiling of a garage with the main chamber built around a light bulb. To get the right perspective on the photo you have to rotate it so that the left side of the photo becomes the top. Besides swallows, I saw beautiful yellow birds, blue chested birds, sparrows and lots of vultures.

At an open air market in the city of Mamou, a group of vultures were hanging out on the roof and on a tree growing over the roof of the meat shop. They were lazy vultures waiting for the owner to close for the day so they could scavange bits of meat scraps left over. I like most birds, but there is a reason that the word "vulture" has derogatory connotations in the English vernacular. Tax collectors, panhandlers and high pressure salesmen are often called "vultures."

Finally, I want to reveal what kind of people we have in Guinea. Our Field Leader is Calvin Hofland. He seems like a real nice guy. He appears friendly, warm, caring, humble and kind. But never judge a book by its cover! I caught him with an official, goverment approved liscence to exploit people. It is hard to read the French title on his official certificate, but it says Licence D'Exploitation. I couldn't believe it. I kept an eye on him at all times, lest he exploit me. Actually, if you look at his eyes, notice how they are are squinty? And notice how his shoulders are slightly stooped? I should have noticed the non-verbal cues like that.

After six days in Guinea I started out on my 38 hour journey home. I arrived with all by baggage intact, but my brain and body shot. I can't wait for the next trip!