PHOTOS!!!

I'm in Conakry right now to pick up Matt's brother Charlie who will be visiting us for the next three weeks. I'll pick him up at the airport tomorrow and then we'll head to Lelouma where Matt and his host mom are waiting for us. It's such a treat to be seeing Charlie so soon and to *finally* have enough reliable access to the internet to be able to post some photos.

All these photos are from our time in Kerouane. We were there all of December and celebrated the Muslim holiday of Tabaski with the Kaba family. We're hoping to get back to Kerouane soon and settle there for awhile. Lelouma (where we're staying now) is beautiful- full of amazing hiking trails and waterfalls and ravines, not to mention Nene, Matt's host mom who is a wonderful woman, but we're missing the Kerouane kids. Many of you have heard stories about the family, seen photos or met them. But just in case you don't know everyone, they are: Na (Domanine Kaba- the mother of the family), Fa (Mr. Kaba-the father of the family), Bijou (now 14), Papice (now 10), Yi Assiatou (now 8), and Max (now almost 6). You'll also see Amadou (Na's brother, now 17). Enjoy!

Matt with (from clockwise) Papice, Yi Assiatou, a neighborhood kid's knee and right up front Max, and two neighbor kids.

Matt and I gave the kids a puzzle (that we bought at world Games of Montana). It hadn't occured to us that the kids might not know what a puzzle is. Try explaining to kids what a puzzle is! There was mass confusion for the first hour of this endeavor. This might just be one of the hardest things I've ever attempted in Guinea. I think Matt would agree. The kids were thrilled and curious and excited to get such an odd gift. At first they thought the idea was to find two pieces that fit together. They were fine with that. They even enjoyed it. A lot. We weren't able to communicate the idea that each piece is part of something larger, a big image. We didn't have to though. After several hours of fun and laughter for them and stress for us, they saw the big picture come together and were in awe. It wa a beautiful moment for everyone. They were still talking about it weeks later.



Max playing with a toy cell phone. When we arrived in Kerouane we were told that cell phone towers had just gone up two weeks before. Two weeks before! We saw many people, young and old, experience a phone call for the first time. I took Max with me to the telecenter when I called my mom so that he could greet her. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but Max was named after my mom's family, my grandfather in particular. Her maiden name is Max and so when Max was born they wanted to give him a name from my family. I chose my grandfather as his "toma" (the person one is named after). Max is probably the youngest kid in Kerouane to have used a phone. He was quite a celebrity afterwards. People were cheering and asking him to repeat the conversation over and over again. Max is a story teller so his "translation" of the coversation was pretty entertaining. Since he doesn't speak English and my mom doesn't speak Malinke, he just made up what was said. (According to him, my dead grandfather is coming to Guinea to greet him and to give him a bike- everybody thought this was pretty funny).

Mariame Bah with Max and Tierno Bah. Mariame and Tierno are my friend Mr. Bah's children. When I left Kerouane in 2002, Madame Bah was very pregnant with Tierno. I left a month before he was born. It was such a joy to come back and see him as a kid *and* as a surprise bonus, to meet his little sister. The Bah's are of a different ethnic group than the Kaba family. In Kerouane Mr. Bah's enthic group, the Pular people, are a minority (in Lelouma where we're staying now, they're the majority). In kerouane Pular kids and Malinke kids don't often play together. Matt and I went to Mr.Bah's house everyday to greet him and spend some time with his family. Since Max likes to follow Matt and me everywhere we go, Max came to the Bah house with us. He and Tierno become really good friends (as only 5 year olds can in such a short period of time) and now play together often- even when Matt and I aren't around. They are really sweet to each other, giving each other bits of their candies and sharing toys. It's been an amazing thing to watch.

Matt with Mr. Kaba, Amadou, Sidiki, Papice (front row, second from left) with neighbor kids at the mosque on Tabaski morning. Just like on Christmas morning, kids here get up super early. Max and Yi were up singing and dancing by 5:30am, waiting for all the excitement to begin and for the rest of the household to wake up. After a huge breakfast everyone puts on nice clothes and goes to the mosque. The prayer lasts about 30 or 40 min. or so. It felt a bit longer for me because while men sit up front (in this case under the shade of a big, beautiful tree), women sit behind (in this case in the direct sun). Afterwards we joined the men and matt said, "wow, that was nice and relaxing to just sit in the shade for awhile." I glared at him. That's when he looked back at where the women had been and realized how good he had it.

Me with Na (Domanine Kaba) after the prayer at the mosque. Notice my hair in this photo and the following photos. Na took me to the salon to get my hair braided for the holiday. My hair is very different from people's hair here so it was quite difficult for the hair dresser to do it. They had to get the owner of the salon (the best darn braider in Kerouane) to do it since I was such a special case. It hurt a lot but I was very impressed when they were done. I hadn't thought it was possible! It was a treat to wear the braids for a week or so and not have to brush my hair.





People leaving the mosque with their prayer mats



Me with Na after leaving the mosque.

Me, Matt and Max after returning from the mosque




Matt and me. Matt's wearing his new holiday shirt here. He had borrowed the boo-boo for the mosque but afterwards people put on their new clothes.





I'm including this photo specifically for the Missoula folks. Check Matt's shirt out. Yes, the Missoula peace sign lives on! Even as one slaughters a goat. On the day of tabaski families are expected to slaughter a goat if they can afford to.






Matt playing African checkers with Omar, a neighbor kid. And yes, that's a goat head in the background.




Papice, Max and Yi Assiatou. After the holiday meal all the kids in town dress up in their new clothes and go door-to-door asking neighbors and friends for candy and money.




Yi and Max in front of the Kaba house. Na and some neighbor kids are in the background



Papice putting on a hat that Matt and I had given him for the holiday




Bijou in her new clothes for the holiday. For those of you who knew Bijou when I was in Guinea before, or who've seen her photos, this might come as a surprise. Yes, Bijou is now a teenager. Hard to believe.


Na and Fa- Domanine Kaba and Mr. Kaba on the night of the holiday
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That's it for now. Thanks for all your wonderful comments. It's so nice to hear from all of you. I'll have internet access until Tues. so feel free to email. I love hearing from everyone. Oh, and one word about our post office box. We recieved a few letters but we've heard from at least one person that a letter was returned. I forgot to mention some tricks that people around here say might help assure that your letters arrive in our box. Try some of the following: Write our address in red ink, write "educational materials" on the envelope or package, write "Feminine hygiene products" on the envelope, or write "God" or "Allah" is watching you. Who knows? It could be nonsense but it's worth a try.

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One last bit of news. I had an interview for a job in Kerouane and it's looking promising. Most people don't want to live in Kerouane because it's so far away from big towns, there's no internet access and there aren't many jobs. So the fact that I want to live there makes me a shoo-in. At least I hope that's the case. As soon as I have more info. I'll let you know.

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Matt's in Lelouma right now but I talked to him on the phone last night (Lelouma got cell phone service a few weeks ago!) and he greets everyone. We're both in good health and spirits.
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Thanks again for all of you comments and support. We miss you.