Koundara dancing kids

These are the kids that live right around the mission house in Koundara. They love cameras!They are a mixture of Peuhl and Konyagui. They spoke very little if any French. I tried to organize a game of "Red Rover" but underestimated their competitive drive. On one run, a larger boy took out a smaller one, slammed him chest down onto the ground. I thought I was at an American football practice or something. Yeah, that kinda put a damper on things. I told the bigger kids to aim for the bigger kids. I then handed out some animal crackers (thanks Mom) and called it a day. Maybe my next attempt at playing a game will be less violent:)

Girls Husking Millet

We happen to go to Koundara right at the beginning of rainy season. Everything was green and growing. The Konyagui grow many different kinds of staple foods like: corn, rice, millet, fonio, okra, peppers and sorghum. Here in the video the 2 young girls are husking the millet. Young girls in Guinea have a hard life (compared to our standards).

Into Youkounkoun!

Now here we are in one of the many small villages in the Youkounkoun area, about 1 hour away from Koundara. This is one of the many trades the Konyagui have. Here the guy on the left is beating the metal, trying to make plow parts (we think). The kid on the right is taking his turn at working the "pumps" to blow air into the coals which heat the metal. The "pumps" are made from goat skin. This trade is very valuable since they use oxen and metal hand plows to disc up their land in preparation for planting season. It would be interesting to know how they teach this trade, from chosing the "apprentice" to the actual teaching. I have a hunch that the little "blower boy" is probably climbing his way from "padawan" to "blacksmith jedi" little by little. (written by Daniel, of course)

Ferry Crossing

On the way up to Koundara we used a hand cranked ferry to cross a small river. They can take three cars at a time. I (Daniel) thought that it was amazing how some of the smaller cars could get up and down this path. I don't know if I would try it driving any other car. Micah LOVED this experience. He even helped the guys crank a little. We told them they should give a discount since our son helped:)

Trip to Koundara!

Here is some footage of our long and bumpy trip to Koundara. This is part of the "international highway" that goes all the way to Senegal. Unfortunately we didn't see any rest stops or gas stations or McDonalds or even pavement. At least we didn't see any tolls! That's me (Dani), alwyas trying to look on the bright side! HA!
WARNING to those who get sick at shaky footage: trust me, this was as smooth as it got during the trip!