Destination Guinea - Part 9

Part 9: Refugees, Referee, and Romance

I was curious about the hotel’s “full house,” since traveling Guineans usually stay with friends or relatives. I learned that most guests were there to help the Liberian war refugees poring across the border. When Masamba said that thousands were sick, without food, water, or shelter, I offered my help, secretly hoping to see the famous Mount Nimba on Liberia’s border. No such luck. Masamba said the military had banned all unauthorized people from the area.

           

Instead, we went to the Central Market, an acre of canvas- or thatch-covered stalls and shops. In the farm market to the left, mostly women sold staples such as raw milk, hand-churned butter, cheese, yogurt, honey, eggs, and bread. Atop rickety platforms sat sun-ripened mangos, plantains, yams, okra, Dogon onions imported from Mali, pineapples, kola nuts, peanuts, and spices. Live chickens, unaware of their fate, meandered the market. To the right, men sold smoked fish. In the market’s center, women sold colorful hand-stitched skirts, dresses, blouses, silk scarves, and head wraps—all on hangers attached to bamboo poles strung across stall tops. Others offered clay pots, wood carvings, colorful umbrellas, and handwoven reed baskets.

           

I couldn’t help but ask what happened to unsold goods. Masamba explained that everything other than farm products and fish belonged to brokers who either locked it in the stalls until the following day or hauled it away in trucks. The women worked for a percentage of their sales.

           

Alongside an older seamstress working a treadle sewing machine was a shop selling sandals made from recycled truck tires. I just had to take home a pair with MICHE on one sole!

 

At a nearby leather goods booth, I bypassed sandals and handbags in favor of three belts. I proudly negotiated a “fantastic” price: 160 G-francs per belt ($12 each). After “Referee” Masamba’s intervention? A total bill for 120 G-francs—$3 apiece! So much for my bargaining skills....

           

I returned to the hotel and was greeted by the hotel’s manager Ms. Simbra, whose smile owed its shine to the ever-present bamboo shoot on which she chewed. She looked at me and murmured in French to Masamba, who said she wanted to marry me! When, through Masamba, I said my wife wouldn’t like me bringing home another, she laughed uproariously and told Masamba, “That won’t be a problem. As soon as I get to America, I’ll find a much younger man!"  Guess I failed the romance department, too!

           

by Everil Quist, International Agri-Business Consultant


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Everil Quist - President & CEO of QuistSpeaks, LLC

"Enjoy this story about the noble peoples of third world countries.  I've truly enjoyed working with them and have many heartwarming and entertaining stories to tell. 

I enjoy sharing my adventures with my audiences, where I feel I am truly 'Creating Positive Change'."


“Everil Quist delivers with knowledge, humor and compassion.  His trials and tribulations during his stints in Former Soviet Union countries impart the difficulties and perseverance these dynamic people have to overcome—difficulties we seldom experience here in America.”

-Virginia Dessart, N2 Area Governor, District 35, Toastmasters International