Corruption

This will be a short one, but I think interesting. I mentioned last email that corruption is the biggest obstacle to development over here. Well it turns out guinea is a world leader. Check it out.

Last night, walking back from a bar at night, two volunteers were accosted by about seven military officers who pulled up in a van and tried to take them away. After plenty of resistance they were finally let go, though they discovered that there was over 100.000 Guinean francs missing from their bags.

Meanwhile I have to go back to site soon and oversee a nutrition training at my health center. My funds for this project are being slimmed down by the local chef who won't allow it unless a little money finds its way into his pocket. Of course, you can't put that in the budget.

Many Guineans here eat imported rice even though this country produces far more of its own rice than it could ever consume. Why? Because the president owns a sizable portion of the rice plantations here and exports all of his rice. Where does that money go? His pocket naturally.

Tieken Jah Fakoly, a huge reggae music star in Africa was slated to come play in Conakry about 1 month ago. His music is very political and he speaks out strongly against corruption in Africa. At the last minute, the Guinean government told him that he couldn't play his concert essentially because they didn't want his message spread over here. They didn't want to look bad. I'm sorry, but Tieken isn't telling them anything they don't already know. And what looks worse? Ask any Guinean why the gov't refused and they'll say its because Tieken 'speaks the truth'. They are against people speaking the truth. It just sounds bad.

If I don't have you convinced yet, check out this article.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/11/06/corruption.survey.reut/index.html
We're the most corrupt in Africa. We're tied with Iraq. Thats gotta tell you something.

Anyways, I'm still having a blast. The kids are cute and innocent. Bennett is here visiting and its great to hang out with him. I hope you all are well.

Anders