We got back to KanKan last night after a ton of horribly sad goodbyes to most of our friends and family in Kerouane. We were able to postpone two of what we expect to be the hardest as Na and Max came with us to spend our last few days in Guinea with us, sign Max and Yi up at the private school (Yes! The parents agreed!! More on that in a future post) and to see us off at the taxi park. We're frantically trying to run around town to get everything done, say goodbye to everyone here while at the same time hosting a six year old and his mom, both of whom wish to spend every second of our remaining time here with us. We're touched and happy and super stressed. But all the packing and last minute business and goodbyes seem like child's play compared to our worries about the situation in Guinea right now. In Kerouane we started to hear of some stirrings in Conakry. Men gathered around radios at cafe's around town every afternoon and evening. Each day there was something new- another minister sacked, a new protest in the military camp, etc. The local warden from the U.S embassy called and told us to start thinking about changing our flight in order to fly out of Bamako, Mali instead of Conakry. We're going to call Royal Air Maroc (Morocco in English) right now. We'll keep you updated. In the meantime enjoy the following article from BBC Africa entitled "Guinea Troops cause Airport Chaos." Lovely. We thought we were getting out of here just in time. Not so. Hard to get too worked up though when you're hanging out with a six year old who has left his village for the first time. He's looking at everything with such awe. I've never seen such wide eyes. We took him to his future school today and I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. A whole world outside of Kerouane awaits him. I think he's ready.
Wish us luck as we try to leave Guinea. We're all hoping for the best for not only our departure but also for Guinea. People here want change. We just hope the price isn't too high.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7425219.stm
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4 comments:
You guys will be in our prayers as you make your way home over the coming weeks. I'm glad you've enjoyed your adventure. Looks like we will be back in Roseville for July through at least early October so maybe we can get together.
Be safe you two! Don't make me fly my private jet there just to get you out. I am not really sure what is more dangerous, you flying out of Conakry or me flying you out on my imaginary jet...
Have the demonstrations spread beyond the capital? I'm just thinking that if the turmoil spreads, you probably do not want to be on the road at all. What is the PC's reaction? Do you have a nearby destination where you could conjoin with evacuees, if it gets to that? Best of luck, Charlie
Hey guys,
The military in the capital are causing all the ruckus. I can't really blame them for being upset; some of them haven't been paid for over 12 years (or so has been reported). I don't however endorse this kind of reckless revolt.
In combination, they want a change of government. Fair enough. Everyone wants that, but I just don't see how shooting their guns up in the air in the middle of the night accomplishes anything but scaring the population.
But that's the capital. We are in the quiet town of Kankan where people are anxiously listening to their radios. The military violence has spread to a few other towns but nowhere near here. There is also the looming threat of a natinal strike which somehow got lost in the shuffle (for a bit) but is still a real possibility.
We're fine. We're trying to find out if we can go to Bamako, Mali to fly out but are getting stuck on the visa question (they require one). We'd still like to skip out of Conakry if things calm down, but that doesn't look possible. We're probably going to have to take a taxi to Dakar, Senegal, which will mean three or four days of car travel. If this changes for any reason, we'll keep you updated.
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