After 5 days tenting out in Robertsport, Jon and I have continued our vacation in Monrovia to enjoy some creature comforts including Internet, A/C, grocery stores, hot showers and CNN. So we will use our ample Internet to hopefully post some photos, do some emailing, and catch up a little on news.

Here’s a small update on what’s been going on here in Liberia:

Unfortunately, most of the photo's wont load. We'll try our best over the next couple of days to get them up.

Bunnies

There's a lady that raises rabbits in town. They're pretty great.

Yekepa

Jon and I took a trip up to Yekepa at the tip of Nimba County right on the border to Guinea and Ivory Coast. We had always wanted to hike up mount Nimba when we were in Guinea and so took the chance to go up on the Liberian side. Yekepa is an old mining town in the mountains. It has a strange Suburbia feeling about it. Nearly everything in the town was built or provided by the mining company. All the housing was built as row houses for mine workers. Instead of artfully named quarters of town, people tell you where they live by giving you a number and a letter. “I’m in C block 4”. The Mountain itself shares tri-border point with Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Liberia and has one of the highest iron ore concentrations in the world. There is so much iron in the mountain that trees can’t even grow on it. The place has a haunting, apocalyptic feeling due to years of mining operations followed by years of looting, vandalism, and civil war. The mountain looks like some strange stepped ancient ruins that runs down to a huge water-filled quarry. All around stand old rusting mining equipment and trucks as if work had suddenly and dramatically been halted mysteriously. Here and there are the burnt-out skeletons of the former mining infrastructure and establishment.

Needless to say we had a great time visiting the area and taking a break from the normal rhythm of life.

Rural Women’s Association Fund Raiser

On May 1st I attended a fund-raiser for the Tappita District Rural Women’s Associations. Groups from all over the district came together to raise funds for projects they were spearheading in their various towns and villages. Some were building women’s health clinics; others schools, warehouses, and marketplaces. I went with a friend of mine to a town about 45 minutes away called Grey. We arrived very early….meaning ‘on time’ in the US and had plenty of time to chat, eat, and chase her 3 year old around. When the program finally began there were many music and dance performances before the fundraising rally officially opened. Many important officials were invited including the CEO (roughly equivalent to a County-level Super Intendant), and the chief elder. I was asked to open the raffle and expressed how impressed I was with the women’s initiatives and explained how their work has been influencing the younger generation in the Tappita Girls Social Club. After that, each invitee was invited up to say some words and to officially give their donation. After many such speeches and plenty more dancing, we finally headed home around 5pm. I haven’t heard what the final tally was of the funds that they were able to raise but I am sure that they are all well on their way to achieving their various objectives.

The CEO’s visit

On May 6th the County Education Officer came for a visit to the school. The visit had been planned for the beginning of the school year but had been pushed back many times. Unfortunately because of the changes, there was less of a turnout then the school had hoped for. Even with the small attendance, the event was very entertaining. All 4 high schools in Tappita gave musical performances and the cultural troupe gave dance presentations to welcome the CEO Mr. Wolf. I will try to post some videos of these performances if the internet gods allow. During the CEO’s address he answered many of the teacher’s pressing questions and gave the school district some gifts and supplies from UNICEF.

Mock WAEC

The reason that Jon and I were able to take our small vacation this week is that presently, our 12th grade students are taking National Exams (the WAEC). These national exams are very important for these students to graduate or to move on in their studies. Generally the week before the exams, there is a trail run test given by each individual school with varying levels of success and resemblance to the actual WAEC test. Last week was rather trying because, for some reason, the school administration was looking to Jon and I for direction in the administration of the test. We were asked to take a leadership role in administering tests to 200 students at once for three days from 8am to 5pm and all of the small and large crises that arose in between. And then, on top of correcting our own exams and calculating the year-end averages for the 12th graders, we were expected to administer all the make up exams. After all that we felt that we deserved a little break so we took off to go to (see below….)

Robertsport.

Robertsport is one of the most beautiful spots in all of Liberia. It is also a hot spot for beach lovers and Surfers from all over the world. We went down to visit our friend Raj at his site and to soak in a little sun. We found a great place to camp right on the beach for $5 a night, took our first surfing lesson, swam, ate incredible seafood, and slept all afternoon in perfectly placed hammocks. A few other Peace Corps friends were enjoying the beach as well. During the weekend, the whole place was packed with NGO and UNMIL Land Rovers but during the week, there was no one around and we had the beach almost completely to ourselves! It was a beautiful place and we are hoping to make our way back there again very soon.

Well that’s really about it. Time has been flying by. We are coming up on the end of the school year and we are beginning to turn our attention to our other projects in the community as well as the Peace Corps trainings in Sierra Leone and Liberia. We are yet to hear what our schedule will be like for the rest of our service but one thing that we do know is that we will be really busy!

Take Care and I hope that you enjoy the long overdue pictures!

First of All, WELCOME G-18! Our new Education Stage has arrived and are all doing well and (hopefully!) learning a lot at our training site in Forecariah. The group is incredibly motivated and always positive and open to new (and sometimes strange) cultural experiences. That they are an amazing group is already apparent and we look forward to getting to know them all better over the coming months. This past weekend, they all learned the name and location of their sites. We drew a huge map of Guinea on the floor and had all the trainees step forward to their proper place on the map. This group is also the first group that will be sent back into the Forest region as we begin the reopen the program there. Above is a picture of Emily, Phil, and Andrew, true cavaliers of knowledge. After the site announcement, we held "Poulet Fete '09" where we "prepared", cooked, and ate a bunch of chickens. It was a lot of work but also a TON of fun.

I (Kim) just got back from a 4 day Girls Conference in Boke. The conference was put together by a volunteer named Raven and she did a really incredible job. The girls were well provided for with local home stays and we had more delicious food then we could ever have eaten. The 19 girls participated in sessions ranging from public speaking, small business development, role and rights of women, study skills, the importance of education, nutrition and the practice of excision or female genital cutting. After all these sessions, the girls planned and carried out presentations in the local community and also participated in an afternoon of job shadowing of prominent working women in the area. For these girls this really is an amazing opportunity. Here in Guinea, as in much of West Africa, the role of women is strictly limited. The women are the property of their husbands and are given the role of bearer and care taking of house and home. Many girls are married off at a very early age and are not allowed to continue their education, no matter their ability. These girls were able to see that their are other options and that they can break away from constricting cultural norms. Now these girls are tasked to spread the knowledge that they have gained to others in their village and local community. It was amazing the sincere excitement that was ignited in these young women of tomorrow to be the change that Guinea needs.

Learning about the importance of education.

This is the T-shirt design I drew! Yay!

The girls in session about excision.

This cute little creature is our friends Marg and John's new puppy. Her name is Nimba and she is only 5 0r 6 weeks old. Jon and I will be taking care of her for the next three weeks while our friends are at home visiting their families. She's definitely a handful and will remind me to think twice before taking responsibility of a dog, but in this photo she's pretty darn cute.

This weekend, along with the new trainees, we went to visit the National Museum of Guinea. Above are some of the pretty statues that are outside. The top picture is of a statue that used to be a fountain and was so pretty at the base of a grand kapok tree. The bottom is a statue of the wife of a prominent Fular official who was a major resistor to French colonization. Inside were many artifacts, masks, tools, and instruments from all the different regions of Guinea. It was interesting to see how very little many of the tools had changed, many of them are still widely in use in villages throughout the country.

Last night, to celebrate Jon's belated birthday as well as the "star day" of our friend Sue, we had a sushi party. With much assistance from our friends (and my mum!) we prepared, constructed, and consumed ridiculous quantities of it! Big thanks must go out to Rob who generously donated from his wonderful supply of sushi magic-making supplies. The night then lapsed into hilarity and an all night dance party. Great night, good people, and I believed one of the funnest nights I've spent since I arrived. And to continue with this theme of food (which, of course is my favorite theme), this morning through the wonder of care packages and thoughtful friends again we were able to make the most amazing breakfast this morning. My college roommate, Kate used to make the "Breffest burritos" containing veggies, sausage, herbs, and most importantly, goat cheese!!! I think she would have been proud at our creation. I was certainly proud to be eating it!!!And to continue even more in this theme, for lunch, our friend Sue brought over some Indian food which warmed our tummies and our hearts.

I like Sushi. ALOT!

All is well. Time is flying. We're ready for a little down time back in Moussayah after being on the road for almost a month here and there. We are counting down the days until our vacation in Mali. Hope all is well in your world.Kim and Jon

Through the magic of Twitter we have been able to give all of you faithful readers (thanks mom!) up to the minute reports on our activities. But now that I'm in the capital and I have some time on my hands I can expand a bit on how things have been going. Kim and I are well. We just finished giving our final exams and the school year has pretty much ended. We still have a little bit of grading to do and we're waiting on some colleagues to get there grades in to use. Beyond that we have a few conferences to go to and a new group of volunteers to help train but I think its fair to say that Kim and I are more or less on vacation which is a great feeling. Something interesting: Kim went out a few nights ago with some other volunteers to see a French performance of the Virgina Monologues. It sounded like a really cool time. Today we went out to visit the workshop of an artist that lives in Conakry and makes tapestries. He showed us just how much time goes into the work he does. Besides that we made eggplant parmesan and have been watching a "True Blood" marathon. As Kim and I mentioned, our house got hit by lightning a few weeks ago. It blew a couple holes in our walls and scared the crap out of us but we're fine. Unfortunately it wasn't a simple fluke. All our neighbors got hit as well. The cell phone tower next to our house wasn't grounded properly so when lightning would strike the currant couldn't reach the ground and jumped off the tower hitting nearby houses. Here is a before and after of where our house got hit and later repaired.

An up close photo of the hole made by the lightning when it hit our place. At a second hole you can actually see the course taken by the lightning because it burned the paint a different color as it passed by. Unfortunately I couldn't get that photo. Maybe another time.This is a photo of the repair work that our community did for us. There was a huge crack made in the wall when the lightning hit.On a more uplifting note, our garden is going great. We planted a bunch of pumpkins, basil, squash, sunflowers, lettuce, carrots, etc. We're really excited to see what comes up. Kim in particular is taking a lot of joy from her time gardening and I can't think of a much more constructive tool for offsetting every day stresses and the frustrations we sometimes run into. Kim harvested some of the lettuce the other day and we made a salad with it and some of the crasines sent by her mom. It was remarkably great. After a year here in Guinea, its easy to get tired of the food situation. But I think that our garden will be a real treat during the up coming months. Here are a few photos Kim took before we left for Conakry. Our first salad.The garden as seen from the gate. I made the stump into a really great lawn chair; for when I watch the grass grow.A cantaloupe flower.A Cornstalk after the rain.Besides the lightning and the garden Kim told me to post this video of our Neighbors' daughter - her name is Mama - doing the hula in an outfit Kate and Jim (our friends out in Hawaii) sent us. She's incredibly cute.

Mama on our front porch dancing the hula. Winning hearts and minds for the American way of life one overexcited child at a time.On that note, and I hope you all appreciate the amateur home video, I'll sign off for tonight. I'll be having to get up early for trip out to the mountains for a conference on hiv/aids demonstrations. I hope everyone had a great father's day.-jonathan

Spending my last evening in the city catching up on the television and movies that I've been missing. Finally got to see 3:10 to Yuma, Nick and Nora's Infinit Playlist and Slumdog Millionaire and I'm working through the second season of Weeds. We've got some very packed and busy weeks coming up so its been nice to just veg out for awhile and relax. Also had to get some t-shirts printed for the girls conference that is coming up really quickly in mid-june. I will post some pictures of the design when I have some.

Some new news:

Recently one of our students, Yero, came to our house with a strange, brown, bunny-looking animal in his arms. Before we could really react or say a word, he throws this strange animal into my arms and says "Ça c’est pour vous" and smiles proudly over the present he has given us. Of course our next question is "What the heck is it?" He gives us a name in Sussu tokeh which didn't help us very much. Well we did a little research and found out this little friend is called a cephalope or commonly called a bay duiker which is a type of antelope that lives in the bush. She is a funny little cutie with tiny little ballerina hooves and a big shiny black nose. Here is a picture with Yero and one of her by herself.

Jon and I went on a hike a while back but I wasn't able to post any photos. A man from the USGS came by to do a GPS mapping survey of the area and talk to some of the local conservation groups. It was great! We were able to see a satileite image of our village and the surrounding areas. We also got to meet a former Peace Corps volunteer who is still working in Guinea. No chimps this time but it was neat to see the interest and ecological importance of the dense forest near us. We are hoping to continue working with them to help preserve the area.

Jon and I finally got our fence built and dug our garden. And in spite of the fact that everyone says we've dug it all wrong, I am very proud of us. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures before we left but we have some sprouts already. We planted carrots in a special box and sifted all the soil and amazingly!! there are actually coming up! We also planted pumpkins, squash, and zuccinni, lettuce, basil and sunflowers and they are all doing really well. We have also planted a very nutritious plant called moringa but as of thursday they haven't come up. We planted some peas and beans but nothing has come up. If anyone could send us some more pea and bean seeds, we would really appreciate it. More photos to come as things start growing!

Our cement stone pathway to the garden....

Jon's Carrot Patch Zen Garden

This past weekend, we were out in Kindia, a city about 4 hours away to go a wedding of the daughter of the Sous-prefet and also my best Guinean friend, Mariam. We left with most of the family right after prayer call (aka VERY early) to take the one car that takes the direct route 3 times a week and even though there was already 8 people in the car plus the chauffeur, we still managed to find another 4 en route. Really, one must love the transportation system in Guinea.

Once there, we were introduced to the extended family and feed a breakfast of rice and palm oil. We paid a vist to some other volunteers in the area and went along with Mariam to see her university. We got to get dressed up in oue West African finery, eat almost constantly vast quantities of rice and sauce, and sat awkwardly for long stretches of time on plastic lawn chairs. BUT its was an amazing time. Mariam looked absolutely gorgeous and the dancing was fantastic! Unfortunately we also both got a little ill so we had to miss out on some of the festivities. but as Guinean weddings are full 2 day events, we still got to enjoy quite a bit. We had a blast, despite being under the weather. If I can manage, I will try to put up a video of some of the crazy dancing.

Who is that handsome fellow?

Other then all that, things have been fairly calm. Next week we will start reveiws and after that compositions will begin...then girls conference follows immediately, then an HIV/AIDS training in the Fouta region and finally we'll be helping out to train the incoming group who arrive in July. Life is moving really fast out here! I can't believe that we are coming up on a year in-country! We are having a blast, being challenged beyond anything else we have ever done, and finally finding the time for our hobbies and side projects in Moussayah. Hope all is well in you neck of the woods. As for me....I'm going to watch some more television!Love you all!Kim (and Jon!)