6 months in Guinea-Bissau: 1st review

August 13, 2021: It has been 6 months since I returned to Guinea-Bissau. Between future prospects and disillusions, here is my uncompromising testimony. Read to the end to get the positive, otherwise you will get depressed and that's not the point!

• The housing stock is not made for (poor) singles

I am a single mother and our "Casa garandi" is already full of people. Learning to become a mother, having neither the same way of living, nor of eating (or even of enjoying my free time) I could not see myself living in the family home. I had to have my own house. From France, we (my mother and I) activated our network in GB to find us a rental. My son and I would definitely stay, Mom would do 6 months here, 6 months in France.

It was therefore absurd to pay 2 separate rents, she would have her room with me.

So we find a house with a large rear terrace, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom 2 steps from the airport (where mum has her PRETINHA SANTY shop) for 85,000xof (130€). Bingo!

Arriving there, I realize that there is no water pipeline! There is a well but the first drinking water point is 500m away...

The idea was to quickly find a plan B. but at 100,000XOF (150€) there is... NOTHING!

The word nothing is of course exaggerated, there are many apartment and houses without comfort in the depths of an outlying neighborhood near the swamps and very poorly served by transportation system!

In addition to this, there are very few properties with less than 3 bedrooms (African family obliges). It's a point that as Westerners, it's hard to imagine, accustomed to Parisian studios of 9m² everywhere. So I wanted to find a 2-bedroom house or just one when my mother returned to France. Except that, to have the bare minimum (i.e. a house with water, electricity, ceiling (!!), and tiled floor) it takes between 175,000 (€270) and 250,000xof (€380).

For information, the local minimum wage is 60,000xof (90€). That's why everyone is crowding into family homes! The only people able to pay such rents are the executives of large companies and international institutions or expatriates.

So, if like me you come to the country with a flower in your gun without the intention (nor the adequate diplomas) to enter UNICEF, the UNDP or Orange Telecom company, have a minimum of savings to "survive" and build your house quickly!

The time to find a decent place (5 months), my son had obviously got used to the neighborhood, to the neighbors, we, adults even had found a kind of rhythm and moreover, we did not want to spend again 2 or 3 months of deposit (which here are rent advances). So today, we are still in the same place but with the objective of building a small house by the end of the year on the land that my mother bought more than 20 years ago. at the time it was only rice fields, today it is an inhabited and urbanized district!

So let me give you an advice, buy land as soon as you can and wherever you want, it will benefit your children one way or another!

• Shopping: Take the day off and learn to cook again!

I have to start by saying that I don't eat okra, peppers or seafood except shrimp. I banned "Maggi" cubes, Foster's juice powders and other industrial junk. First disability.

Accustomed to polystyrene trays of meat or fish with the name of the piece and cooking advice on the label, I assume my Bounty side of the "Nuggets and cordon bleu" generation. Difficult for me to eat rice more than 2 days in a row, the same for fish. However, here it is the basis of the diet. My parents never forced me to know how to cook local dishes. What I believed to be freedom when I was younger happens to be my second handicap today.

In addition, Guinean (African!) gastronomy is made of tasty broths for large families and cooks who have several hours to make them. Everything I don't have! So cooking locally for 2 1/4 is a real challenge that I haven't taken up yet.

3rd difficulty, the races themselves!

The presence of secondary markets and grocery stores in the neighborhoods (not in mine, of course) helps out a lot, but these retailers all get their supplies from the large central market in Bamdim and therefore resell at a higher price. It is therefore best to go to Bandim yourself. At the other end of town!

There, over more than 2 km, the market spreads out on both sides of the main avenue and in some adjacent streets. Of course, the fruits are in a place A, the vegetables in P, the meat in Y and the fish in F. The meat is chosen either directly from the carcass or from a piece of more than 20kg. Farewell to the notions of "Grilling", "in broth" or "in Steak". Beef meat and that's it, placed on a wooden table protected by an umbrella. Want ground beef? Another intermediary to visit!

For fish, it's the same, either you have to go very early in the morning to the port for the local "auction" (and therefore before going to drop off the children at school), to hope to buy fresh fish, or you finds himself with frozen fish (since when?) that has had all day to thaw under the umbrella. For a country that supplies neighboring countries with fish, it's sad not to be able to keep it fresh longer.

I'm not talking about the pork meat which is totally in another neighbourhood. And if you want to vary the desires (goat, sheep) you need to know the spots of the resellers because there is indeed a slaughterhouse but it is addressed to wholesalers.

Côté fruits et légumes, l'avantage est que l'on ne mange QUE de saison, alors bon courage si vous avez envie d'une simple salade verte en AOÛT ou de pomme de terre en janvier. J'espère pouvoir fournir en 2022 un calendrier des fruits et légumes locaux. Les légumes de base que l'on peut voir quasiment toute l'année sont ceux pour faire une soupe classique de légumes (tomate, carotte, oignons, chou et bonus aubergine violette…). Mais voir les mêmes légumes chaque semaines, de surcroit brut, me déprime et me rendre fainéante! Oubliez les brocolis ou les haricots verts, vous aurez de la chance si vous tombez sur un chou-fleur, les courgettes sont hyper chères... Les sachets surgelés Eco+ me manquent à un point infini !!

As far as the diversity of "European" vegetables is concerned, the Praça market is better off, but at prices that only expatriates can afford in the long term.

Add to that the fact that public transport does not take trolleys and you find yourself carrying several kilos in simple bags in a crowded market and the desire to do "big shopping" to more than a week flies very quickly. The vegetables being organic they do not keep as long as in Europe. How much handicap do I have now?!

• On the usefulness of having a "maid"

By reading this, I hope you will understand better why families have ALL what is called "Mininus di kriaçon", children of relatives who are raised "like" their own in return for this household and logistical help. . I was fiercely outraged by this way of doing things, especially since they are young girls in 80% of the cases and they have to take care of all the chores of the house, early in the morning before going to school and from their return from it.

Back or hand problems, fatigue, lack of concentration which leads to dropping out of school, not to mention certain physical or moral abuses (of which my own father was a victim in his time).

In short, at home I will manage on my own!

THE GOOD JOKE!

My mother is still with us for a few days, but she is very active herself with her own projects.

We are like roommates. So managing alone a very active young child until late at night, the desire to move forward on several projects at the same time which require me several hours a day on the computer and an "internship" at the Ministry of Tourism where it is necessary to give the change during the day, my legendary lack of organization and the upheaval of my habits mean that I am still today a little overwhelmed in the domestic domain. I lost more than 15kg thanks to all this.

A young woman is already helping me with the cleaning and the stock of sanitary water. If she or someone else could spare me the drudgery of running around for the groceries, that would be perfect. Because I eat very little and "badly" and even if I lost a lot of weight, my too basic diet risks playing tricks on me in terms of deficiencies and the immune system. It would be a shame to be lacking in a country where all the vitamins are found in basic natural foods.

But I am not yet out of my torpor. So the idea of having someone to help me with shopping and cleaning has come a long way and the start of the school year will be the decisive moment since managing the nursery schedules will be an additional difficulty.

Obviously I will not derogate from my principles of child labor, I will take an adult who has finished his studies and paid.

• Working in the civil service (or how to be a lifelong intern)

I have been appointed "Head of Distribution of the Register of Tourist, Hotel and Similar Businesses" in the brand new Tourist Statistics Service. early March 2021.

As of August 20, 2021, I have neither contract nor salary while the major computerized database project is in full swing and my responsibilities are increasing. Suffice to say that I now have all the cards in hand to demand that the Minister legalize my (our) situation VERY quickly!

There is a small carrot called "incentivo" (Litt. motivator) of 50,000xof which is supposed to cover the transport costs of civil servants. Due to a lack of job opportunities outside, most of these non-tenured civil servants are forced to come (or prefer?) to clock in every day to justify their presence between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., sit down and... do not do nothing, just to be able to recover these 50,000xof.

My rebellious side (and heavy sleeper) forbids me to follow its absurd rules for an amount that I spend in less than a week. Without wanting to offend those who manage to live with this amount, as long as the ministry does not establish me, I will not oblige myself to any time constraint or presence, even if it means losing all or part of this "carrot".

This situation is unfortunately not the prerogative of the Ministry of Tourism alone, Hundreds of "life trainees" in different ministries point every day to twiddle their thumbs all day in the hope of recovering the famous dust because it there is no work anywhere else.

And if you, coming from abroad, want to "give your contribution" for a salary, the answer you will get is that you will have to wait because "you have just arrived".

If you have the patience, make yourself indispensable in your service for free for a few years and I'm sure they'll reward you.

Otherwise, I strongly advise you to get hired in private companies and/or to embark on entrepreneurship. It's certainly risky, but if you find a way to solve a population problem, from the most trivial to the most necessary, you will make a lot of money.

• Create your company (start rich to finish [perhaps] even richer)

Guinea-Bissau is a land of opportunities. Unfortunately the state has not yet understood the usefulness of breaking down the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs. As at the time of the industrial revolution in Europe, entrepreneurs in Guinea-Bissau take on all the risks and must therefore start their activities with a certain nest egg: Banks grant very few loans and at shamefully high rate, employee absenteeism, whether due to illness or the many traditional ceremonies must be compensated, not to mention work accidents. Add to that the high customs taxes to import the smallest machine and the various taxes for the legalization of the company and you will know that you are veeeeeeery far from the SARL at 1 € here. I hope to find a book relating the difficulties of entrepreneurship at the time of Ford and Co., in order to put you in psychological condition to undertake in the GB.

• I forgot HEALTH!

My son and I fell ill very often during this semester. Living and sleeping together seems inevitable. Cold here, fever there, each month had its share of surprises. When colleagues or family know we are sick, there are 2 types of responses:

- Blame it on the dust (dry season) or the rain (wet season), it's normal!

- You are from "over there" your body does not have the same defenses as us.

Even if I don't like to feel different and differentiated, the 2 arguments stand together objectively.

For my son, I consulted at the brand new "Renato Grande" Pediatric Clinic on the "Volta" road. The place was 1 year old and enjoy a very good reputation. The medical team as well as the equipment are good except that the place is a victim of its own success. After 9am there is no more room for the morning and you have to come back at 4pm to see if there are no desertions. When I found myself in this situation (1 time out of 2), I went to the Bôr Clinic.

Despite very long waiting times, these two establishments are trustworthy and well equipped. The consultation fee is 1000xof in Renato Grande and free for children in Bor. Obviously not everything was perfect but I highly recommend them.

I went for myself twice to the Simão Mendes Hospital, the "reference" in Bissau. The first because of typhoid fever, the second for Covid. I have nothing to complain about regarding my medical care, but the premises and the equipment are of another age and it's clearly understaffed. For my cases, I was not in danger of death, but I pity those who are in this hospital...

• With a brave heart, nothing is impossible

I feel your concern from here: "but why does she stay if everything is so hard for her?"

I say it in every article, coming to Guinea-Bissau takes you out of your comfort zone. The opportunities I talk about in other articles are only for pioneer souls. Everything has to be rebuilt here, so that means that you will take part in the generation that will weather the storms and experience the difficulties of building the foundations of a new country for your children and your grandchildren. Other communities have understood this and built empires, why not us?

It is only if you feel this strength to bear the many hazards that I advise you to take the plunge. If it's a "quiet and not too complicated" life, I advise you to stay in Europe. You will therefore need a strong goal, determination, courage, the support of your family, an unfailing self-control AND a punching bag or any other hobby that allows you to decompress. I think I have met a good part of these criteria.

I'm not saying that I would necessarily succeed and that I would never come back to live in France. I'm just saying that I put the odds on my side to get there.

All the coaches/motivators tell you that success only comes after a phase of difficulties. I am therefore confident.

• My projects

Finally, I am sending you here the report of my professional advancement.

I came to the GB with the Afro-Inspiré escape game project, Here the official site.

Despite the failure of the crowdfunding campaign, as soon as I arrived in Bissau I started looking for a place to set up my room. And the historic city center of Bissau has a multitude of abandoned commercial premises, hence my early confidence.

However, I hadn't anticipated that the majority of them are owned by people who left the country decades ago and are unreachable or high-ranking people who intentionally keep the premises empty while waiting. of... I don't know what! The rental prices for the remaining premises are worthy of a place on the Champs-Elysées for premises in poor condition that my budget of €30,000 cannot absorb.

We are working, my partner and I, to transform the classic escape game concept by mixing treasure hunting with new technologies. Case to follow!

The chances of my encounter with Siphiwe Baleka could well allow me to live decently by getting back on the path of my first love, tourism. Siphiwe Baleka is an African-American professional swimming athlete, African-American rights advocate who discovered his Balanta ethnicity through DNA testing. His ancestors were kidnapped during the slavery of the coasts of the current Guinea-Bissau.

Having organized his own “return” trips, he wishes to develop the concept of a “decade of return” on the model of the 2019 year of return organized by Ghana. This program aims to facilitate the return and contribution of the enslaved diaspora by organizing group tourist stays for Afro-descendants discovering their link with Guinea-Bissau. Sticking very well with the concept of the blog "RepatBissau", I agreed to accompany him in this initiative by creating my incoming travel agency.

After a first group of "returners" in May and then another in June, we are almost ready to welcome the next group in November of this year.

And the opportunities are many because it is important that the diaspora of "economic" origin and their children can also reconnect with the homeland of origin. At a time when the awakening of black consciences on the need to participate in the elevation of the Continent is stronger than ever, this opportunity can really bear fruit.

As part of the development of this project as well as the blog, I am thinking of launching a Youtube channel "RepatBissau", showing in video everything I write and which will help future repats to discover their cultures, especially through the language. I hope to have a coherent plan

and start before the end of the year!

I am going to end my report here, I hope I have resonated with you the desire to come to know or rediscover Guinea-Bissau.

Goodbye!