Project 1:
Nieguere, Guinea
I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea from 2017-2020. I lived in Nieguere, a small village in the north of Guinea (West Africa). Nestled at the bottom of high cliffs, with no running water, no electricity, no road, and only a barely functioning school, and full of every sort of person you’d find anywhere. Loving, funny, selfish, annoying, surprising, and mundane.
I was shown more love during my time there than I could ever explain. When I left, I promised myself I would one day find a way to try and bring us all closer together, to reduce suffering, and to have fun while we do it.
This is the story of my attempt to do that - and my dream to do it over and over again, in villages and cities all over the world.
Phase 2:
What?
I thought that the process of getting this group to come to consensus would take a lot of effort. Wrong again! (This project was mostly me bring wrong about things…)
After the lengthy process of deciding who was going to participate in overseeing this project, they came to consensus very quickly. It was less than 30 minutes of discussion. An addition onto the health post - a birthing room for the women.
The current health post was in disrepair, although they had recently fundraised together to replace the roof. And, importantly, the dedicated “birthing area” was a… large closet, which could only barely fit the very old bed that was inside.
Phase 1:
Who?
Phase 1 was defined by… uncertainty.
It was a completely new project concept: let the locals lead. We discussed this as much as we could before I arrived, but with limited connectivity, irregular internet access, broken smartphones, and an ever present language barrier… it was difficult to establish much before arrival.
I was able to communicate that I wanted to help, and that I was not going to dictate the terms of the assistance. I told them we needed some representatives from across the village to come together to decide what was the overall top priority - with limited resources from abroad, and only five weeks to work with, what could we realistically accomplish in such a short time?
West Africa, like many places, operates on a different style of time. Things move more slowly. I stressed the importance of moving quickly and I was blown away by the immediate response. Within two days we had our first meeting. It lasted over six hours. The purpose was to answer initial questions from heads of families and elders: Why had I returned? What was I hoping to accomplish? Was I back to find a wife? Could I build a road to the village? … on and on - and I loved it. It was amazing reconnecting with old friends, and learning the current situation of the village dynamics is always fascinating.
After another few meetings, lots of tea and reconnecting, and visiting almost the entirety of Nieguere - we finally had our team of representatives who would decide what was the village level priority.
Within a few weeks after my departure, they had
nearly completed the basic structure.
Equally important to what we do is how we do it.
I was overjoyed to participate in this project - and I hope you’ll join us for the next one!