Happy World Malaria Day!

I'm actually a day late with this post. World Malaria day was yesterday but as I mentioned, here in Guinea we made April Malaria Month.

So what is the big deal with Malaria anyway? It's hardly every mentioned in the US. When's the last time you heard of someone getting Malaria? This is unfortunately not the case in West Africa where Malaria is the biggest health problem facing many countries. The tropical climate as well as a lack of resources and education are the main reasons for this. Guinea is one of the rainiest countries in West Africa, recieving more than a meter of rain per month during the peak of the rainy season. All this rain provides a greed breeding environment for mosquitoes and the prevalence of Malaria rises during the rainy season. The lack of resources to fight malaria is also a problem but this is changing as mosquito net distribution campaigns are currently underway and new malaria drugs are coming down the pipeline. This leaves the problem of general knowledge about the dangers of Malaria.Spreading lifesaving knowledge like how to use a mosquito net, medicines available for pregnant women, and the demographics most affected by malaria is the best way to fight "le paludisme." Education is also where we as volunteers, can have the biggest impact. YOU can help too! Because most people in the US have never even heard of Malaria, telling people about it can raise awareness about the problem that the developing world is facing. Feel free to share any of my stories. The scale of the problem is really crazy. So big in fact, that on average, one child dies every minute from malaria and there were 216 million cases reported around the world in 2010. This is why Peace Corps has developed the Stomp Out Malaria initiative. It's a big deal. Here are some resources if you'd like to learn more:

President's Malaria Initiative: http://www.pmi.gov/
Stomp Out Malaria's facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StompOutMalaria?group_id=0

Seeeeee ya!

Here's another attempt at an automated blog post. For this one I'll give you a quick lesson in Pular, the language spoken in the Fuuta region of Guinea. Pular is a very rich language with tons of interesting verbs and a system of articles. Here are some of the things I say pretty much everyday:

On jaraama = I greet you
Tanna alaa ton? = Is there no evil there?
Jam tun = Peace only
Hii-hi = Yes
O'o or O'owooye = No
Awa = Ok
No marsude? = How's it going?
No marsude seeda. = It's going alright
No marsude fota! = It's going well!
Oo-o! = Goodbye!
En bimbi. = See you in the morning.
En kiikiide. = See you this afternoon.
Si Alla jabi = God willing.
Ko jelu? = How much?
No Moyyi! = That's good!

This is how I would introduce myself in Pular: On jaraama! Ko Mr. Ben mi ineete. Ko min janoowo mathematik. Mi iwi amerik e mi hoday ka la guinee duubi didi. Ko Gougoudje mi woni.

Translation: Hello. My name is Mr. Ben. I am a math teacher. I came from the US and I'm going to live here for two years. I live in Gougoudje.

Hope you enjoyed the Pular lesson! There are apparantly a decent number of Pular speakers living in the US so if you ever meet someone with the last name Diallo, there's a decent chance that they're from Guinea and might speak Pular!

Also, check out this link where you can download the Pular book they give to PCVs:
http://www.ibamba.net/pular/

And here's a picture of me making some fresh peanut butter! That's the Sous-Prefet's wife next to me haha.

Hello! I am currently in Kindia wrapping up my spring break. It’s been a good week. Last Wednesday, after giving a review session to my 10e students, I rode my bike out to Geoff’s site where we did a sensibilisation about malaria and talked about the importance of using mosquito nets. This was the start of our malaria sensibilisation bike tour. The next morning we continued to my site where we did another sensibilisation and Geoff and I explored a cave near Gougoudje (hopefully I’ll be able to put up some pictures). On Friday we rode to Sinta, a town about 20 km south of Gougoudje. We led a Malaria discussion with a group of 10e students there and then we talked to the school principal about the school and the village because a new volunteer will be coming to teach there in July. I am pretty excited about this because I will have a new neighbor that I don’t have to ride up a mountain to visit! After being treated to some rice and sauce by the principal of Sinta, we continued on to Konkoure which is about midway between Telimele and Kindia. We gave a sensibilisation in Konkoure and then went for a very refreshing swim in a beautiful river. At one point we thought we saw some poop floating by and thought maybe swimming in the river wasn’t such a good idea after all but then one of our Guinean friends grabbed it out of the water and explained that it was just a type of nut from a tree haha. The next day was a long a difficult ride to Kindia. It was very hot and dusty and the road was very bumpy but after about 5 hours of pedaling and some hydration breaks, we rolled into Kindia around 1 and went immediately to a restaurant to get some food. Then we got in a little bit of internet time and got some absolutely delicious soft serve ice cream. On Saturday night we stayed with an agro-forestry volunteer who works on an organic farm South of Kindia. The farm was very impressive with sections devoted to pineapples, palm trees, cashews, and watermelons, as well as spaces for raising chickens, ducks, and rabbits. They were also working on building an “outdoor restaurant” where guests would be able to pick out the food they eat directly from the garden. On Sunday we had a long but much easier ride on paved roads into Coyah where we met up with Dante and then rode to his site in Wonkifong. The next day we did a sensibilisation in a nearby village and helped hang up some mosquito nets. It was rewarding to do something that would almost certainly directly impact the health of the community. It was also surprising how many people had nets but hadn’t hung them up yet. This was the main focus of our sensibilisations. On Monday night we were joined by Caleb. We spent the next few days hanging out in Wonkifong, visiting Forecariah (South of Conakry), doing another sensibilisation, swimmimg in rivers, and having an epic late night squirt gun battle. In summary, it was a fantastic week. It was really nice to spend some time with other volunteers and just relax for a little bit. The malaria sensibilisations were also a lot of fun and it seemed like we were able to get the message across. All of these malaria related activities correspond with a competition we are having between the 3 different regions of Guinea. Volunteers can earn points for their regions by doing certain activities. At the end of the month, the region with the most points wins. The competition corresponds with World Malaria Day which is at the end of April. However, because Malaria is such a huge problem in West Africa, we decided to make April Malaria month. Check back in a few weeks for a post concerning Malaria in West Africa and the impact Peace Corps volunteers in Guinea are making. So long for now! Hope everyone is enjoying Springtime in the US!

Ben

Gougoudje kids watching a soccer game

Ragoo - a combo of cassava, squash, and sweet potatoes. It's very tasty

The cave in Gougoudje

A really cool tree

Fixing a flat en route a Coyah

Geoff and Dante putting up a net

Successfully hung net!

Sunset during a soccer game in Gougoudje

Swimming in a river near Coyah

Malaria sensibilisation!