This is Guinea – A Hiding Place

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
Genesis 1:31

Exciting news everyone, I have a new website (address)! We’ve officially migrated to a-hiding-place.com!! My good gamer friend Axxrael helped me transfer my website to a new domain and server so when you visit my website it doesn’t present you with very strange advertisements and also so I can get some better control over the blog! I didn’t originally notice them because I have an ad blocker, but now no one has to see them!! Thanks Axx! :)

I had this entire week off from work because the lab is still closed and I wasn’t on call at all. While it wasn’t my plan, I ended up going out into the city or somewhere off ship every day. It was exhausting to be around so many people and so many activities ALL. THE. TIME. But I made it, it was an incredible week, and I’m so glad that I did it! Since there are so many days of exciting things, this post is, per usual, very long. The writing gets a bit lazy towards the end because I’m a bit squeezed of words, but there are lots of pictures to tell the story for me. :)

I’m looking forward to next week. Since I’m on call all week, I’ll have a more tame and quiet time on ship.

Saturday: “All your fears about child safety are about to be realized.” —April Chiu

Last Saturday, I went to watch a Tinafan Circus (Cirque Tinafan) exhibition at the Keita FodebaCenter for Acrobatic Arts (Centre d’Art Acrobatique Keita Fodeba). The acrobatics school is located in the September 28 Stadium (Stade du 28 Septembre) complex, which is named after Guinea’s Independence Day. The school is known for recruiting street children and youth to train in acrobatics and contortion, giving them a vocation as well as offering literacy and pre-professional training to give them better prospects for the future. Their training results in such high quality athleticism, acrobatics, and contortion that many of the students have toured internationally and are often scouted by well-known performing groups like Cirque du Soleil.

They train often and their trainings are open every Wednesdays for guests to watch (or even participate!). This past weekend however, they had a public exhibition. It was the most African thing I have ever experienced… in so many ways.

We were told that the show started at 3pm. We had I think 12 people? In good African fashion, we got two tiny taxis and crammed 6 people in each—2 in the passenger seat, and 4 in the back. No seatbelts, of course, because none of the cars have them. This is typical. No one blinks an eye when you try to cram everyone in like this.

Maria is sitting basically on top of the gear shift.

Like the Westerners we are, we arrived a little bit before 3pm. Around 4pm, one of the guys says, “Sorry, I know it says we start at 3pm, but that’s when one of the singers left their house. They live about 2 hours away in the countryside.” I’ll spare you the agony, but the show didn’t actually start until 4:40pm. I should’ve known this would happen.

The exhibition was split into three parts. The first part was the “training” part, or people who were still learning and training in some areas to show what they had learned so far. It was already super impressive. Strangely enough, there was a presentation by some German guy about this solar tube that he was promoting. It was a double-walled tube with a dark metal inside and a glass outside that laid at an angle on top of a curved mirror. The mirror focused sunlight onto the tube to heat the inside so it could be used to heat water for cooking. The heated portion of the invention was protected by the double-walled nature of the tube, thus reducing the burn risk of open-flame cooking that is really high in Africa. It is probably this super miraculous invention, since it could heat water, air, you name it. But admittedly he was not the best presenter and most of our attention was diverted to the rambunctious children who were running around pretending to do acrobatics instead. What a strange act in the middle of an acrobatics exhibition.

THE ACROBATICS THOUGH. They were amazing. The exhibition was a combination of music, acrobatics, drama, singing, dancing, and some little party tricks. Unfortunately it’s just really hard to capture the essence of the exhibit without you just being there. The video below has a pretty good spread of each of the parts, but it cut short because my camera heated up too much and stopped partway.

Singing! This is the lady who lives 2 hours away.

Drama! The story was hard to follow. Some lady appeared to have an argument with some man, possibly her husband? so she goes and is sitting and had some buckets around her. Some man ran up to her and needed a place to poop? And then so she let him use one of the buckets. He ran around holding his butt with a strained face, then sat on her bucket and made a very visible straining effort. And then she was making food or something, and gave some other lady some food that was from the bucket… or something. And then the woman ate it and then had a stomachache and died . . . ? Then the village gathers around to see what’s happening and the guy in the blue was a doctor. The headphones in his ears is his “stethoscope.” It was very confusing. There wasn’t really a conclusion to the story I wasn’t really sure what happened after they just started dancing and flipping again after this scene without much resolution.

Dancing after the dead woman scene from above!
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT’S HAPPENING BUT I LOVE IT.

A juggling and contact juggling act with some straw hats. He would move them around and hang them on his arms, elbows, feet, knees, whatever you can hang or place hats on.

The enthusiasm and energy of the group is part of all the charm. They were so pumped and excited. There’s loud drums and chimes and singing and clapping for hours. The audience behind us is super pumped. People are flipping everywhere, jumping, tumbling, stacking. And it was so great, after every successful “stack,” they would all jump down and spread out, pose and flex, and collectively go “AYYYYY!!” in victory. Then they would just go back to excited jumping and clapping. They’re all super ripped and have endless amounts of energy.

Part way through one of the singing acts, Rosie and I got pulled on stage to do some dancing with them(click for short video on Imgur—I didn’t bother uploading to YouTube because it’s such a short clip). I guess that’s the perks of arriving an hour and a half early to the show! You get front row seats and a lot of interaction.

African Dance class paid off, I suppose. Also, Jasmin in a dress (!!)

Without further ado, here’s the best video I got of the music, the high energy flips, the stacking, the background dancing, and the victorious flexing. It even has a bonus shot at the end of the super hyped audience (which definitely helped set the mood). The beginning is more of an African drum (semi-)circle, with a lot of call-and-response drumming with some singing interspersed, which I really enjoyed. The acrobatics start about 7:40 into the video.

The end of the show was where April said, “all your fears about child safety are about to be realized.” I really loved the acrobatics show because you could tell they had perfected a reasonably safe training regimen, and then learned tricks. But then the tricks were all things that came to be if you got a bunch of teenage boys together that thought of dangerous things they could try to pull off.

Now the last group of tricks that they ended with were all set up the same way. Let’s imagine a metal platform on the end of a ladder, something like a cross between a diving platform and a stepladder. Then put a wooden see-saw on the end of it. (Do you see where this might be going?) Then we’ll have one person stand on the other end of the see-saw, and have two people stand on the metal platform. Then the two people will jump off the platform and launch the other person into the air at or through some sort of target, whether that’s through a hoop, onto a stack of people, or onto an armchair that is precariously perched on top of a 15-foot metal pole that someone will hold onto. Oh my word.

Some people left the show feeling understandably stressed after watching these young people engage in such risky behavior. Regardless, it was awesome. 11/10, would go back again. And we did, on New Year’s Eve.

When we left the exhibition (we missed dinner time), we were greeted by a beautiful sunset behind the palms, which is this post’s featured photo.

Sunday: “Selfie stick, Kim. Selfie stick!!” —Ramon Sanchez

Okay, I guess I didn’t go out on Sunday at least from what I can remember. But Niña invited us to lunch in her cabin. It was so good, I almost cried! Homemade food. It’s something I really do miss so much here. It was a good time. These Filipinos, man.

Those spring rolls were so good. I ate like 7 of them at least by myself, but then there wasn’t enough when people joined later and I felt REALLY bad about it. Then there was some chicken sauce stir fry veggies, and some chicken and pork adobooooooo!!!!

DESSERTTTTTT!!! CHOCOLATE FUDGE ON TOP OF CHEESECAKE ON TOP OF CHOCOLATE CAKE. I also had multiple of these, and took many home.

Kim has a selfie stick that MAGNETICALLY HANGS FROM THE CEILING. Which is what we used to capture this moment. It’s a bit extra perhaps, but it has its uses.

Monday: “I’ll try something once, but I’m fine with never coming here ever again.” —Melissa Schultz

Monday, some of us went to Madina Market (Marché Madina) to experience one of the largest markets in all of West Africa. It’s so large and overwhelming many people on the ship aren’t even willing to go because it’s just too much to handle. But of course, it’s part of the experience, so I had to make a point to go.

I have to say, it’s pretty crowded.

Before we made it to Madina, we visited the local university (Université Gamal Abdel Nasser). The university is the largest (and I think the most prestigious) university in the country, and unlike many universities in the United States, they are not residential. All students must commute for classes. They have several departments and cover many topics of study, including medicine, engineering, sciences, mathematics, and technology. Our dental clinic and eye clinic are located in the university buildings. It’s surprisingly far from the ship, but that explains why we never see the eye or dental teams. They’re kind of like unicorns.

China has invested a lot in Guinea, so you’ll see a surprising number of Chinese people, and Africans who will know a few phrases in Chinese. Huawei, a Chinese telecoms company, sponsored the technology department here.

We also re-visited the September 28 Stadium and actually got to go inside the stadium this time (it was closed when we went last time)—it’s mostly used for the national soccer team and other local leagues when they have larger events like league tournament championships. It can seat 7,000(?) if I correctly remembered what the lady said.

We went to show Diane where the acrobatics school was so she could make a point to check out the next exhibition. We showed up to the school there was only a few people walking around, and then suddenly they called out and a bunch of guys came out and they pulled out a bench for us to sit on and basically did a WHOLE OTHER EXHIBITION. It wasn’t as long (and no weird solar tube presentation…), but it was cool to watch them do warm ups and then just go straight into all the tricks and flips. It was just as awesome as the last time! The drummers were all there as well. We gathered for a sweaty group pic at the end.

Then we went to the market! We had two of our day crew with us, Alimou and Thierno. They served as our guides and our translators and our hagglers, and we would definitely not have had as easy a time there if it weren’t for them. Thierno was very business like. It was, “What do you want to look for and buy? I’ll take you directly there.” And he knew the market inside and out! It was really incredible because I couldn’t keep track of where we went, and I usually have a pretty good sense of direction. Inside, outside, underground, in between stalls, through alleyways… I don’t even know how big it is because we didn’t even make it to the other end as far as I know. They sell just about… everything. Some ladies were shopping for local fabrics, and I wanted to see some handmade stuff. There was also a lot of produce and meat and all.

Local fabrics made in Guinea. The colors “schemes” originate from the different regions in Guinea. I don’t remember exactly which color come from which state, but I do remember that the white fabric was really uncommon, because that fabric is generally reserved for clothing given to high-ranking/respected elders of a village or mosque. The local fabrics tend to be much more muted in pattern and color compared to the other African fabrics we see a lot of.

An open shot of the market, where people are selling all sorts of processed and packaged foods. If you look at a lot of the women’s dresses, the fabrics used are much brighter in terms of pattern and color. Those fabrics aren’t local, but they’re still extremely popular here in Guinea for clothing. A lot of people from the ship will buy fabrics in the markets to get made into clothes or bags or things.

Stands selling meats and seafoods. This stand has blackened fish, and lots and lots and lots of shrimps.

I ended up buying a leather cowhide bracelet that was made by one of the men who had a leather stand by the market. It’s simple and stiff, but I really like it. It still had a few cow hairs poking out on it, but most of them fell off now, ahahahahaha.

The market was a good experience. I really enjoyed it more than most would, probably because it reminded me a little bit of the night markets in Taiwan. Crowded, all sorts of people and food smells, and a lot of shouting and bargaining. It is a bit dirtier in Conakry, but it’s kind of like that in many of the streets because they don’t really have a public program for garbage disposal so a lot of it gets thrown into the street and then piled up and burned on the side of the road. You don’t really have public garbage cans anywhere, so the most convenient place for garbage is just on the ground. It’s definitely something that becomes more and more in your face as you go about the city and pass a landscape of people just burning trash on the side of the road.

After the market, we took a taxi back to the ship neighborhood and stopped for lunch at one of the Mercy Ships-approved bourgeois restaurants called Le Special (same place we had ice cream a couple weeks ago). There we learned more about the situation in Guinea from the eyes of our day crew. Thierno is a schoolteacher, and he participated in a lot of the recent strikes that the teachers have promoted demanding for better pay. Teachers have not been paid for months. He says that the government had agreed to raise the salary of many sectors, including the teachers and the military (which comes in later). But no one has received any salary increase, so the teacher’s union went on strike and shut schools down. Thierno thinks that the government is unwilling to negotiate because it would need to carry out its promise to increase the salaries of all the sectors it campaigned for, but if they don’t, then other branches may protest (including the military, which may lead to a military coup—obviously something the government doesn’t want). Instead, the government has issued an ultimatum; if the teachers don’t go back to work and open schools again by Monday (7 January 2019), then they will dismiss all of them. We’re a bit incredulous about the situation. You can’t just fire all the teachers, can you? What will they do? Thierno just said that they’ll find new ones, but they’re just killing the futures of these students.

There’s a lot of hopelessness in the way Thierno talks about the situation in Guinea. Many protests are put down violently, and the government is corrupt to the core. When you call the police, they won’t come, unless you pay to put petrol in their car. If you get in an accident, it’s better to just flag a taxi to take you to the hospital than to try and get an ambulance. He said Guinea isn’t poor—Guinea actually has a lot of money, but it goes into the pockets of few. Positions of power and responsibility are abused to benefit the one in the seat of power. There is no sense of duty and responsibility to the rest of the country, only to self. Sin runs deep.

The people here are so contemplative. None of my writing could really capture how eloquently and passionately Thierno talked about the issues that he sees with his country. When the media portrays Africa, they show the worst of the worst, but in reality these people are not so different from us. I was really appreciative for the opportunity to have more meaningful conversations with a couple of Guineans and see more of the local culture here.

Ringing in the New Year

Well, Madina Market day was New Year’s Eve, and there was a huge party and everything planned for ringing in the New Year on the ship, but I was so exhausted from our outing that I fell asleep at 7pm and didn’t wake up until 7am into next year. I’m sorry to say I missed literally all of the celebrations, but I heard there was a dance party, open mic night (with some rapping, some singing, some other stuff), and then people went up to deck 8 to watch the fireworks over the city.

I have nothing further to report from my experience on this part. Sorry about that, you’ll just have to come experience New Year’s in Guinea! Alimou says they love to party here. I’m a bit bummed I missed it, but that sleep was apparently much, much needed.

Tuesday: “I appreciate that this row of meatballs are all the same size.” —Niña Sanchez

New Year’s Day was pretty relaxing, I got to help Niña prepare some food for open cabins! Open cabin is kind of like an open house. We have many different types of cabins for various accommodations on board, like couple’s cabins, family cabins, and multi-berth cabins (for the single ladies). Open cabin is an opportunity to see how everybody else lives, but you have to I guess prepare some sort of treat for your guests! So we made two types of spring rolls—a savory one with beef, and a sweet one with plantains (turon). There was also shrimp cocktail type thing, and meatballs! It was fun to get to sit down and make foods with friends.

From left: Kim, Trancy, April, Ramon, Ramon #2 (Monce), me, and Niña.
Monce is chopping very, very sloooowly and precisely.

Obama Bar

After we made the food (but before open cabin, which was at 7pm), we went out to a restaurant on the ocean front called Obama bar (not sure if there is a connection to President Obama, but I hear he’s quite popular here). It was really a beautiful setting. There was a ton of inexplicable boat activity next door. The sun set over the ocean, and it was really incredible to see it go down.

A lot of boat activity, we’re not really sure what was happening.

April’s catchphrase is “That’s a-aAaaAaAy-zing!” I can hear her saying it every time I see this photo.

This week is another mass-exodus of people, since the Christmas break is over and a lot of our crew turns over. Obama Bar was another farewell party for some of the nurses. More farewells to come Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday. The fish was good, but the company and reminiscing was better.

When we returned after dinner, we went to open cabin, which just consisted of us going to Niña’s cabin to eat what we made earlier in the day, and then singing a lot of karaoke. There’s a video of us singing, but it’s a Facebook video, so too bad I guess you won’t see it here…

Wednesday: “我愛你。(I love you.)” —Some random African vendor. “Yeah okay, no thank you.” —me

We went to the craft market the other day as well. It was many stalls of the same thing. Wooden carved animals, drums, some Guinean maps.

Welp, you’ve seen just about everything the craft market sells with this one photo.

Something that we see a lot here in the craft markets is the nimbah, or the “symbol of Guinea” as the locals call it. It’s supposedly based off a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Guinea called Mount Nimba, that looks like a woman from the side? And is the deity of fertility or something. I can’t quite see the woman in the mountain, but if you say so…

I didn’t get anything at the craft market, and we went to Niger Market (Marché du Niger) after that. I wrote earlier that China invests a lot in Africa, so a surprising number of people here can speak random phrases in Chinese. When they see me, they want to practice, but then literally every conversation goes like this:

African vendor: You, Chinese?
me: Yes.
Vendor: 你好。 (Hello.)
me: 你好。
Vendor: 我愛你。 (I love you.)
me: Ah, okay. Sure.
Vendor: 聽不懂？ (You don’t understand?)
me: 聽得懂。 (I understand.)
Vendor: 我愛你。 (I love you.)
me: Yeah, okay. No thank you.

Then I awkwardly try to shuffle away as they continue to profess their love for me in Chinese. It’s happened every time I’ve been to Niger Market. And a lot of African men like to profess their love to all the Mercy Ships people, it’s kind of strange. You just have to just gently reject them. Then maybe never speak to them ever again.

Monce wanted to be in the blog again

So Wednesday, he gave us a bridge tour after seeing my section on the engine room tour! Monce is the chief officer, I think he’s like right under the captain or something but someone who knows more maritime rankings can correct me if I’m wrong. The bridge is where the captain commands the ship from. Monce says it’s the “bridge” between the captain and the engine room. Speaking of captain, here is our current captain, Captain Djurre Jan (that’s his first name—it sounds a little like if you say “durian” with a Dutch accent) from The Netherlands(?) and he has sailed with all four of the Mercy ships! He’s only with us for four weeks while we wait for the next guy to come.

When he left the bridge, I sat in his chair. I also yelled, “MUTINY!!!!” and he thought it was hilarious.

ANYWAY here is the bridge!

Very cool. Very old fashioned, much like the engine room control room.

Beep boop boop beep. You can see the steering wheel and all the buttons that Captain Djurre Jan is telling us to stay away from. The little thing above the wheel is a magnetic compass and *not*one of those cool submarine periscope lookout things.

INTERNATIONAL LETTER FLAGS WOW they’re also super huge I did not expect that at all but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised…?

Monce demonstrating how to use a sextant for navigation. Old school cool.

The old fax machine looking thing above is our distress and emergency report. There was piracy activity just Wednesday morning at midnight, and the report came in. (Remember that we’re in not-the-US and in shorthand date format is DD.MM.YYYY.)

WARNING WARNING WARNING

A MERCHANT VESSEL WAS ATTACKED BY PIRATES … AT 0001UTC 02.01.2019. SIX CREW MEMBERS ARE MISSING. REMAINING CREW ARE SAILING THE VESSEL TO SAFE PORT. WAITING FURTHER REPORT.

VESSELS ARE ADVISED TO MAINTAIN VIGILANT ANTI PIRACY WATCH AND MEASURES.

So scary! We’ve had a few issues with “swimmers in the water” who try to swim towards the ship and steal anodes off them (things that help prevent rust). We had some swimmers on New Year’s Eve night. We’ve since had to put razor wire around the ship to keep them away. Crazy.

Thursday: “Saranghae! º 3 ˆ ~ ♡” —Everyone

Let me tell you about Betsy Bae (aka Betsy Bae-by~<3). She’s a dear friend from South Korea. She’s so funny and super cute and takes selfies of you doing stuff when they’re not looking. And then sends them to you.

I crashed Trancy’s Skype date with some friends back home and then Betsy recorded it.

She records some great memories though.

We were trying to watch the sunset on New Year’s Eve, but it was so cloudy you couldn’t see anything. but it was a great time.

I’m sharing about Betsy because I think her story is super amazing and people need to know how God has worked in her life and how He has given her such a heart for her home in Korea and I know He is doing great things with her life (as much as she wishes it could be someone else, ahahaha).

Betsy is an OR nurse, and she’s supposed to leave on Saturday to go back to South Korea. I wish I had recorded more moments with her because there really isn’t any words that could really describe her. She’s such a free soul here and is always walking up to people and asking deep, meaningful questions out of the blue (it’s one of her trademarks) that start hours-long conversations. I’ll be sitting in midships writing or painting and she’ll see me as she walks by and sit down and ask something like, “How do you find Jesus in your day to day life? I want to know some things I can do.”

She first learned about Mercy Ships 13 years ago when she was still studying in school, but she didn’t think her English was good enough so she studied hard and worked to make it happen, and she’s finally here! Her English is good enough, though sometimes Trancy, April, or I have to be her “translator” which just consists of us repeating what someone else said, but slower and with hand gestures.

It’s on Betsy’s heart that the Korean Church be transformed and connect better with Jesus and each other. She wants very much for there to be more fellowship and community like what she’s encountered here on the ship. It’s something she hasn’t experienced much of during her time in Korea or her years working in Japan prior to Mercy Ships. She got interviewed by Mercy Ships for Mercy Ships Korea, something she really dreaded doing, but I think God will take her story and move those who see it. She wants things to change, but isn’t quite keen on the idea of being the one to help drive that change. I told her that God seems to have put it on her heart and it seems like He miiiiight have chosen her to inspire that change. She just covered her face and was like, “No no no! Not me. Someone else.” To which April responded, “Betsy, have you heard of the story of Moses?”

We had a farewell party for Betsy at the local Korean restaurant (I’m as surprised as you there was one). The owner of the restaurant has an incredible story of her own. She only speaks Korean, but through Betsy we were able to gather that: Her husband moved to Guinea for business from South Korea. He passed away suddenly. She moved to Korea after he passed, because her wish was to help the people in need. She works with an African man named Moussa who worked with her husband who speaks only French (but seems to understand Korean, maybe?). The man supposedly knows the story of how the husband died, but she hasn’t been able to extract it because there haven’t been enough translation links between the French and Korean. She’s been running the restaurant and then every Friday she makes food to hand out to the disabled who gather by the mosque. There’s another Korean man who I think worked with her husband who has been renting her guest house that also has been helping drive her around since she can’t drive.

It’s really crazy how brave this woman was to move somewhere she didn’t speak the language after grieving the sudden death of her husband. She talked (through Betsy) about how lonely it’s been because the language barrier is too high, but she didn’t want to leave because her husband’s soul is here in Guinea. There’s a lot more to the story that Betsy told us just now but it’s so complicated I’m not sure I can write it coherently. Things about how there was problems with getting into the country and getting income from her late husband’s business because the ex-wife heard first from the business partner about his passing and a bunch of other things about how she lived in the back warehouse of the restaurant when it was owned by another Korean couple. Then how her business sense helped the restaurant and then eventually it ended up hers with the help of this other Korean man. How Moussa stayed with her to help her and protect her because her husband was such an amazing man like he had never met. And now this woman is in contact with some diplomat for some long-awaited meeting and Betsy is going to translate or something? Wow.

Anyway, we went to the Korean restaurant this lady owns to have a farewell party for Betsy.

We were having a grand old time then Betsy pulls me aside and says, “I have secret to tell you, Jasmin.” THEN SHE TELLS ME SHE EXTENDED TWO MORE WEEKS. So I guess we’ll have to go back in two weeks.

Here are some food pics from a previous visit.

The food is good. Good Korean food can be found in Guinea. Who knew?

Friday: “Did you go meow at it?” —Trancy Fong

Friday we had a fire drill and I got to be a muster person. I got to hold a sign and got a cool hat while Caitlin crossed people off a list. We got compliments from Captain Djurre Jan for a “muster well done” because we ballpark met our muster goal of 20 minutes.

Our ship crew is divided into medical and non-medical personnel because we have so many medical personnel. So medical makes up two muster spots while the rest of the crew is I think five more.

We fire drill every two weeks. It can take a while, since everyone on the ship needs to be accounted for. Sometimes people aren’t on the ship but forget to badge out, then you’re waiting for them outside foreeeever. But I think everyone was very prepared for this fire drill. It was announced on the captain’s board a few days before, then a few minutes before there was a security pre-briefing, and then there was the emergency team muster, and then the fire drill itself. It was very planned out.

Luckily, this drill was at 3pm. There apparently has been a captain who enjoys the good ol’ 6am fire drills. Can you imagine being sudsy with nothing but a towel on in the hot African sun only to be covered by a layer of golden African dust? Then you feel like you have to go shower again but you’ve already used up your 2 minutes of shower water time!! Tragedy. I’m glad that captain is not here right now.

Filipino Friday

We went to another Filipino house party at Michelle’s house to celebrate Niña’s birthday (which was last week, hahaha). Thore, our Norwegian ship security officer, drove a Mercy Ships van to bring us to the party. Then drove like a maniac and honked more than every African on the street while flashing our red light. We were thinking it was posssssibly an abuse of Mercy Ships light siren, to which we established it was “EMERGENCY EMERGENCY, WE NEED TO GET TO DINNER!!”

“Thore, I don’t think you should be using the red light to get us to dinner.”

The party was considerably less awkward than the first Filipino house party we got invited to. The spread of food was awesome as always, and we all got birthday hats!!

Niña was quite surprised! It was the first time she got a cake with her name *and* candles!

I also made a friend in one of the apartments above!! S/he looked so sweet. Kitty kept grooming and rubbing face on the pillar next to it.

Trancy caught me fawning over the cat I’ve come the closest to since coming here. I miss Tobi.

Saturday: “At least this time our boat engine didn’t fall off.” —Caitlin Perry

We went to Roume Island, which is the smallest of three islands off the coast of Guinea called Îles de Los. The other two are Kassa and Tamara. Many people enjoy time away on the islands. Tamara has a lighthouse that you can hike to, and Kassa has some hiking trails as well. Roume is known for its beaches.

Two incidents happened this past week regarding island travel, which made us (8 of 9 had not been to any of the islands before) a bit more wary about arranging the trip. For one, the public water taxi was overcrowded, and some people from Mercy Ships got left behind on the island after the last ferry left for the night and they had to be rescued by the Navy. In a more tragic accident, one of the wooden boats had an engine failure; the boatman left (presumably to get another), but the people aboard (all locals) panicked, capsizing the boat. Three people drowned. They weren’t wearing life jackets, and many Africans do not know how to swim.

We hired a boat to take us to and from the island so we wouldn’t have to deal with the water taxi schedule. It was more expensive, but it was a lot safer and more flexible for us. The boat ride was about an hour away from port, and we enjoyed calm waters to and from. Caitlin (from the lab) was the only one who had been to the islands before, and she said one time the waters were so rough and splashing over the sides that they had to bail water out of the boat on their way over and back. The other time, their engine failed (apparently this is common), and their boatman just dived off the side and left them for 40 minutes before reappearing with a new motor. So in comparison to her previous experiences, this ride was super smooth!

All the private boats docked waiting for their patrons to return.

Walking across to the other side of the island where the beach is.

One of my favorite things to do on the beach is to make sand balls. I think I figured out how to make them just while experimenting on the beach sometime during my time in university, and have since perfected the technique. I made 25 sand balls and laid them in a line by all of our things. It seemed kind of like a childish project to undertake, but then I was encouraged by the other girls. They started commenting my sand ball project (“that one is a bit bigger than the rest” or “good spacing between these here” or “I like this fortress that you’ve made with these sand balls—it makes me feel safe and secure” or “oh NOoOOooOo!” when one of them fell apart).

So round. So firm. So satisfying. Except that fourth one had a bite taken out of it. And the fifth isn’t on the same flat elevation as the rest. :(

The water absolutely wonderful! The weather was perfect, and the beach was fairly calm for most of the day. There was some people selling beach wraps, and a lot of the ladies bought one. But we didn’t get aggressively vendored to, which is always really nice. I went in the water a lot. It’s been a while since I went really into the water, and it was so fun! I brought my goggles and swam and dove a bit, and the rhythmic bobbing up and down of the waves was just delightful. Very different feel than a pool. I can’t believe I don’t go deeper into the water when I’m at the beach. I’ll probably do it more from now on. There’s just an extra layer of peace and joy when you’re in the open ocean.

Some of us also went exploring through the tide pools since it was low tide, and I FOUND A CRAB!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt kinda bad because he was hiding under a rock, and I hassled him until he came out so I could catch him and pick him up and take a photo with him. He even did the aggressive crab posturing (where they throw up their claws and wiggle back and forth like they’re saying, “YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME???”), and grabbed a little shell I was using to hassle him. He was pretty good when I was holding him, but after I took this photo, he finally pinched my finger. He’s got quite the grip! I still walked away with my heart so full.

An overall long and exciting and fun week, but I’m pretty glad that it’s over and I have on-call next week to have a reason to not go to things. I’m exhausted! I’m so glad I got to really see more of Guinea. I’ve noticed more and more that people continue to say things like, “I can’t believe I’m in Guinea!” or “I don’t feel like I’m in Africa anymore!” when we run into a particularly nice place or somewhere that doesn’t fit in their box of what Africa or Guinea should be like. I’m working on appreciating Guinea for what it is, both nice things and not-so-nice things. Guinea is in Africa, and what we see on TV is oftentimes Africa, but there are so many aspects of it that we don’t see in the developed world. Guinea has so many people who are just like us, who experience struggles like us, and who are more educated and developed than we give them often give them credit for. They are looking for ways to love their neighbor, they are searching for ways to pave a better future for their country, they are striving to do their best in life. They have beautiful beaches, beautiful nature, and beautiful sunsets. And it is a blessing to be here to experience it. My time here is a bit sheltered I’ll admit—I don’t have to worry about my personal security or whether my water is safe, but my experience is still what it’s like to be in Guinea, West Africa, and I hope that you can also see it for its beauty, as well.

Blessings,
Jasmin