Sidikoroma, a beaten path off the main road.
Sidikoroma, a village that comes to life out of the forest that thrives around it.
Sidikoroma, full of Conde's.
I didn't even know the proper name until about 24 hours ago, and this village had just recently come up in conversation. As many of you know I've pretty much been adopted by the family of our driver here in Haute Guinea. I eat dinner with his family just about every night, spend most of my free time there, and love all their children to death. I had orginally thought Conde was from a village called Tokounou. We attended his marriage there, and I've met various 'family' members when passing through. I've even enjoyed a suprisingly good meal or two of bush rat. But I had come to learn not too long ago that he was actually born in a smaller village not far from Tokounou. He had been saying also for a while that we would go to visit to so that I could see his birthplace. Well yesteday that day finally came.
Conde had notified another Peace Corps car that was passing through Tokounou to let some people know that we would be coming down and going to the other village. That way we wouldn't just surprise them. So yesterday bright and early I set off for the office. We arrived to find a slew of volunteers and they weren't even from Guinea! Mali and Burkina Faso we represented and my friend Katy and her friend Traci returned from their Kenyan adventure. So it was nice to see some new faces and to have Katy and Traci back in Kankan. We did the rounds and dropped people off to find taxis and go to the bank and then tried to find gas. Little did we know that there is NO gas in Kankan. After trying just about every station, we finally found one last gas station that had some diesel and we took what we could and headed out. We were making moves and then all of a sudden we were turning around back to Kankan, I was anxious to get on the road because here in Guinea I get terribly car sick...especially when I have to sit sideways in the back of the car. We returned quickly to the Peace Corps office grabbed what we needed and were back on the road.
By noon we made it to Tokounou and luckily, Levi, the volunteer there had just finished school and could go with us. So we picked him up from the side of the road and continued on. We turned off on an almost invisible road. If we weren't looking for it I would've never known it was there! The road was barely even a road, it was filled with rocks and craters, and kind of just materialized out of the brush surrounding it. It was supposedly only 15 Km to the village but it seemed like forever. We finally came to a stop and there were a few de-constructed huts and people sitting around, I said hello to them and then turned around only to find that we were at a river and we're going to have to cross it. For a second I thought we would be taking pirogues, or hollowed out trees that serve as canoes across the river, and then I saw the barge. Conde steered the car down the steep hill and onto the barge, however, the water was so shallow we could've just walked. Mory, our regional coordinator, told me I shouldn't since I'm prone to skin infections. He's on the ball, this guy. Slowly but surely we made it to the other side, to the guy in charge of the barge that we'd be back and continued down the windy 'road'. We passed through 2 villages and then finally in the middle of about a million mango trees was Sidikoroma.
The Peace Corps car pulls in and in true fashion the entire village comes running. I turned to Levi and told him that it had been a while since I was swarmed by village children. Thus, I took a deep breath in preparation. As soon as I stepped down from the car a million hands came at me. I shook each one and said hello, and then was promptly seated in the front of the entire village along with Levi, Mory and Conde, the real guest of honor. The villagers surrounded us, and I heard many whispers about the 'tobabou's' (white people, in malinke) who had come to visit. We we welcomed by the village elders and then I heard the music. We were in for a treat, Sidikoroma had pulled out all the stops and arranged for drumming and dancing. The drummers and womean came dancing in and the old village men even jumped up to partake. After the dancing we got down to business and Conde and Mory explained why we were there, since Levi and I aren't fluent Malinke speakers (yet!). After we were led around the village for a while, then sat down and enjoyed some fresh cow milk and sugar. It was actually kind of good, but after the bumpy road my stomach wasn't up for a big challenged so I took a few sips and said I was full. We then returned to our seats at the head of the circle, and were thanked and there was more dancing...And Conde was given a sheep to take home as a gift for the village. After I was coaxed into dancing one more time we loaded the sheep in the car and then headed back toward the main road.
I have to say that it was my first trip ever with animal inside the car. Usually they are strapped to the top, but for some reason this guy got to ride in style. It was certainly an experience, I can still here him 'baaaa-ing'. The sheep also took it upon himself to poop and pee all over the car, no surprise there really. However the real suprise was when the sheep started eating my hair and close. He must have been hungry, and I must have been to his liking. In any case, it was gross. Sheep slobber in my hair, yuck!
We arrived back in Kankan and I was beat! I ran in the house and showered immediately. Then crashed into bed. I rested for a bit and then met up with Katy and Traci for dinner. We had way too much food, and my stomach finally had calmed from the voyage so I ate everything. Then I sent Katy and Traci on there way and said good-bye for they were leaving Kankan the next day. I went home and promptly went to sleep, only to be woken up by the heat! It was the hottest night ever. But drifted back off to dream land with sounds of sheep baa-ing in my head.
This picture was taken by one of the villagers...
The drummers and singers.
Some of the villagers of Sidikoroma
Conde and Mory, the dynamic duo of Haute Guinea
Conde taking care of business, and the barge.