The Volunteer Life

At the end of September I officially swore-in as a Peace Corps volunteer. Our swearing-in ceremony marked the end of a long, but formative three months of training that was definitely worth celebrating! Our entire stage spent about a week in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, where we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves before heading off to site. Since then, I've changed my name to Binta Camara (Beeen-tah, Cah-ma-rah), have been at site for a little over two months and have started teaching. I have about 180 students over two classes of 11th grade English, so one could say that my hands are quite full! I teach three times a week and thus far things have been going fairly well, though there are many ups and downs. I'm learning that every win, no matter how big or small is worth celebrating, and every loss is a learning experience. My school administration and fellow colleagues have all been extremely supportive thus far, and I really appreciate being able to work with them and learn how to navigate life as a teacher here.

In terms of my living situation, I have a room in a compound with several neighbors around. I really enjoy chatting with my neighbors and some times eating with them. They're always there if I ever need help with anything, and often show me the ropes for how things are done here, plus they teach me Pular, which is the language they speak amongst themselves. For example, since laundry is done by hand here, before washing certain clothes I usually ask one of my neighbors to make sure no colors bleed. And on some days, if i get lucky, I get an invitation to eat with them. Here, it's really common to invite people to eat with you, so if there's food on your plate, it's common practice to say "invitation!" and see who joins you. So, when my neighbors say (or anyone says), "Binta, invitation!" and if I want to eat, it's usually my cue to grab a spoon and sit down to eat. It's fun to eat with people, as it's a great way to bond and have an assistant to conquer what's usually a mountain of rice! Meals here usually consist of rice paired with a sauce. My favorite sauce is probably cassava leaf sauce, I also like peanut sauce and potato leaf sauce. And the best part, if you're at the right place at the right time, there's always enough food for everyone!

The sense of community here is really incredible. For example, I wasn't feeling well one day, but I had a lot of housework to do, so I did it. But, I didn't have enough energy to cook lunch. One of my neighbors, Madame Baldé noticed that I hadn't cooked and saw that I was a little slow that day, so she came to my door and brought me food. People really look out for one another here, and I find that really powerful.

Speaking of community, I've been really lucky to have found an incredible host family. My host Dad is the surveillant général at my school, which means he's in charge of discipline and enforcing school rules. He's also the chef secteur within the community, so he's the one who found my house and is very well connected. My host Dad is generally a wonderful resource and is always ready to help, which I really appreciate. My host mom, is an incredible woman! She works for the local radio station, and because of her comedy sketches is very well known in the city, so whenever I go to the market with her, (which she insists I do so that she can make sure I'm safe and that I don't get ripped off) everyone knows her! She's also very well dressed and extremely elegant, I secretly want all of her outfits, but don't think I'd ever be able to pull them off as well as she does. Not only are my host parents essentially my parents away from home, but my host siblings are also my siblings away from home too. I go to my host family's house every evening to eat and hang out with everyone, their house is like my second home here. I can talk to my host siblings about anything and joke around with them. They're also a great resource for me to learn Maninka, the local language here, since the younger ones in particular don't speak French. Spending time with my host family in the evenings is a great way for me to take off my teacher hat at the end of the day and relax.

My service has been off to a good start, and I'm already growing and learning lot. I'm excited to see how the next two years progress!