Our Address

I've listed our new address on the side of the blog too. You'll always be able to find it there.

Annie Mascorro
S. Matt Read
B.P. 363
Conakry, Guinea-Conakry
West Africa (Afrique de l'Ouest)

We'd love to hear from you! Keep in mind that it'll probably take a few weeks (two?) for the letters to get to Conakry. The tough part, though, is that we won't actually be in Conakry. We'll get any letters in our box when we come to Conakry next. Since Matt's brother will be visiting us in January or February we'll definitely be back around then, if not sooner. If you know Matt's brother you might consider contacting him to see if he might have room to take some letters over...

Here's the latest update:

We finally have an address!! And a bank account too! Plus, we're registered with the U.S. embassy! We've been in Conakry for 6 days and we just completed these three chores yesterday. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I must say, it wasn't easy. Bureaucracy is hard no matter where you are, but in this case a number of factors was working against us. First, we don't really know how this kind of stuff works here. Second, everyone is speaking French or Sous Sous or Malinke or Pular or some combination of these languages. But THE biggest obstacle between us and our P.O. box and bank account and registration was the heat. The new Peace Corps headquarters is very far from town. It took over 45 minutes to get to town and involved several different taxis. All of this in scorching heat and humidity. We got back to the house on Monday and Tuesday in the early evening drenched with new sweat, sticky with old sweat, and salty with really old sweat.

The P.O. Box was relatively easy thanks to one of El Hadj's contacts (though I've got to add that the main branch of the Post Office in Conakry is one of THE hottest places I've ever been to). El Hadj's friend was a wonderful woman who made a long process as painless as possible. The bank, however, was a bit more complicated. People in the bank (and everywhere, really) were so nice and helpful. Unbelievably helpful. But rules are rules and the bank absolutely needed something called a certificate of residence for Conakry, even though we don't plan to live in Conakry. We knew it and they knew it and yet, the safety of our money depended on this magic, $1 piece of paper (actually, we both needed one so I should say $2). I won't go into the details but our quest for the golden certificate took us to a shanty town concession where an old woman cooking over an open fire opened up a tattered black purse to show us the official Guinean paperwork for the certificate. Unfortunately her husband wasn't there to sign the paperwork and she wasn't authorized to do so. High noon in Conakry, West Africa is about the worst place to experience frustration. In smaller towns or villages one is more likely to have friends or be offered a piece of fruit as a consolation prize. In the capital though, it's just you, frustration and the omnipresent sun. So, that was that. The woman couldn't help and was therefore done with us. Anyway, the bottom line, after much worry and frustration, is that the bank bought some black market certificates for us and allowed us to finish up the process. They happily tucked our money (in dollars) safely in their vaults. I'd like to add that through the entire process the bank officials were lovely to us and we were, as always, two fumbling, ridiculous, Americans. And smelly too.

The other major frustration was with the U.S. embassy. I might be off the wall here but I really thought that one's embassy (no matter what nation you're from) was there to help with all kinds of details related to citizenship. I'm sure embassies are great in an emergency. There's no doubt in my mind that the U.S. embassy would do anything and everything to get us out of here if we had problems. But all we wanted to do was register to vote. I would think that good 'Ol Uncle Sam would eat that up. Doesn't the U.S. government want us young hippies to vote?! Okay, don't answer that...Anyway, we showed up on a Monday but were told that American citizenship services only happen on Tuesdays. Oops. Funny, it didn't *look* busy there. In fact, I didn't really see anyone else there. Certainly no Americans. Hmmm....So we took the hot taxi ride back the next day. The woman who saw us looked nervous. "Well," she said, "I don't really know how you can register..." "We're still trying to figure that out." The embassy?!!! The U.S. government?!! She pulled out a big book, "let's learn this together." We were, of course, in a hurry and worried that if we didn't get to the bank soon they'd forget to get the illegal certificates in time to open the account that day. But what are a couple of conscientious Americans supposed to do? She finally found something for us to fill out and then when I asked if she'd mail it, she said, "No, we don't do that. But be careful, I've heard the Guinean mail system is awful." Great. So if none of this works out please don't blame us for any unfavorable election results!

But all that is behind us. The good news is that we're finally leaving Conakry tomorrow morning at 7:00am. We'll go to the big Taxi station and buy two places for a ride up-country to KanKan. If we're lucky we'll get there before nightfall. That's the goal. KanKan is the regional capital closest to the village of Kerouane where I lived. We'll stay in KanKan for a day or two and then take the 6 hour taxi ride on a rocky, red dirt road to Kerouane. As many of you know, this is the moment I've been waiting five years for!! I can't tell you how anxious I am to see my Guinean family. Matt and I can't wait. So many people in the states and here have shared with us wonderful reunion stories. They have all made me feel very hopeful that ours, too, will be filled with as much joy as I am imagining. I will certainly let all of you know. It might be awhile before we have internet access again(though that shouldn't stop you from emailing, we'll get your emails eventually). The plan is to stay in Kerouane through the Tabaski holiday, that's December 22nd. We might stay longer but we'll just have to see. In any case, after the reunion I will do my best to let you all know how it went. Thanks for all of your well-wishes. So many of you have shared in my excitement over this for the past year.

Please know that Matt and I are both doing well and are in good health and spirits. I joke about the heat and frustration (though in the moment they don't feel very funny) but rest assured that we are so happy to be back here. Overjoyed, really. We remember people here and the crazy part is that they remember us too! Even the dude who sells Schwarmas downtown. He looked at us straight in they eyes and said in French "Where the heck have you guys been for the last five years?!" Unbelievable. It's good to be back. But we miss all of you like crazy. We love hearing from you so please keep in touch.

Just in case we can't get to the internet for awhile, Happy Holidays! We're thinking of you.