Tag Archives: Guinea Bissau

Apolitical dances

AFRICAN CONTINENT
Travel countries: Guinea Bissau
Experience: (A)political dances
The end of December, 2013

By the time we were in Guinea Bissau, the country was being prepared for the President’s election: agitation campaigns were visible with posters of smiling candidates and promising quotes for better future. But election is not what I want to write about – it is just a general atmosphere of the country, to which I will shortly come back later. I want to share my experience about dancing. It sounds far away from politics, isn’t it? Continue reading Apolitical dances

Community Health workers

AFRICAN CONTINENT
Travel countries: Guinea Bissau
Experience: Community Health Workers

Healthy body – healthy soul
Guinea Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the World, facing problems in poverty, education, political stability, climate changes and health care. I suppose no country can expect stable development when people are dying faster than doctors are being educated. These thoughts occur often in developing countries, when mind is worried about finding issues and reasons. It has driven my persistence to answer the question
what is stopping the country from the sustainable health care development?
I started my investigation from an interview with a midwife Arminda, who works in remote islands of Guinea Bissau. For the whole group of islands with 25000 inhabitants there are 5 doctors and one hospital, Continue reading Community Health workers

Death drums

AFRICAN CONTINENT
Travel countries: Guinea Bissau
Experience: Funeral traditions

Drumming of death

I heard drumming that night… It would not sound like something odd in Africa if it had not been the 3rd night in a row of loud constant rhythm. We wanted to follow the sound, imagining wild African dances just around the corner. Fortunately, on our way one man stopped us and explained that it is funerals celebration.
Wow… I said, sit and thought for a while still truly amazed. Continue reading Death drums