The Strike is Suspended

Praise God!!! All my praying, and the praying of so many people around the world has been answered. The union leaders in Guinea have suspended the strike. President Conte agreed to appoint a Prime Minister. The Union had discussed with Conte what the role of the Prime Minister would be, and after coming to an agreement they suspended a strike, they could begin again if a prim minister is not appointed. A Prime Minister has not yet been appointed, but I believe they may have a list of people. I wish I was there to celebrate with the people, but I know I can celebrate from here. For now life has returned to normal and the street is again packed with cars headed downtown.

Update on Guinea

So it seems that the people of Guinea organized a march to the Palace. They started in the morning down one of the main raods and by 3pm they were all on their way back again. The streets were constantly packed with people walking towards the palace. From what I know, this was meant to be a plea to the president to step down, no violence was or is intended on the part of the Guineans. However, in trying to keep people from the palace the military did some shooting... most of which I imagine was in the air. For the most part they only want to scare the people away. However, it seems that a few people have died because of this. Still, they have not reached a sastifactory solution to their problems.

Here is another excerpt that came from someone who actually knows what they're talking about:
The march yesterday was a magnificent show of courage and support for change by the Guinean people. Here in Conakry I'm sure a million people took to the streets and voiced - for the most part peacefully - their desire for change. There were similar marches in all the major centres of Guinea. How will change occur? Only God knows - and He is always full of surprises. Like: Last night a former military leader that was thought to be dead was heard in an interview on Radio. Well that caused a stir. He encouraged the military to not be violent with the population because it is their job to protect not attack the people. So the union leaders that were jailed yesterday were released and told to prepare for their meeting tomorrow with the President. So we wait to hear the outcome of that meeting.
This man whom I will not name is very respected and feared by the people for he is courageous.
The police are out in force today and gunfire can be heard regularly. They are shooting in the air to intimidate the population. But I think the opposite is the result - people don't even walk quickly let alone run at it's sound.

The goings on of Guinea...

I can't remember if I mentioned this yet, but on the 10th of January there began another general strike in Guinea. For those of you unaware, this means the people of the country basically all stopped working with the exception of the bauxite mining companies, the military and maybe a few other select groups. However, all offices are closed as far as I know and I am sure it is somewhat like a ghost town with hardly anyone in the market and basically no taxis moving. In the past they have wanted the price to go down on certain items so that they could afford the necessities of life. This time they say they will continue to strike until they get a new president. President Lansana Conte has been in power, i believe, since a coup in the mid 80s. The people of Guinea would like this 70 (or so) years old man to step down and let someone else take up presidency. The president would like to put his son in power, but the people do not want that either. So they continue to strike. Here is the last news I got about the strike as written by a missionary who is currently serving there:

We have email for this morning because we let the internet provider upstairs have some of our electricity.
The radio station located directly in front of a very large market. It is on one of the main streets between two major intercections that are regularly the "hot" spots for demonstrations and riots. We have a good view of most of this stretch. The past 2 days have had moments of calm, just as if life is normal and moments of civil unrest. The police drive by, shoot into the air and everyone runs. The government is trying to scare the general population so that they will not manifest - join together and march to the President's plaice and demand that he retire.
The radio station is walking a fine line. We are announcing the events as we know them. We are asking government officials to give interviews and some of them are - some refuse. We play the interview as they give it without commentary afterwards. Some people in the government do not like this. Caleb is being wise in the questions that he is asking and the news that is being transmitted by FFM. From every quarter people are telling us how much they appreciate the fact that we are saying something about the strike. We really covet your prayers today. It is Friday - the day when normally the greater majority of men go to the mosque and pray around 1pm to 2pm. Today they will try to again march to the palace. When this happened three days ago - the people were peaceful, the military people were observing and some were applauding the crowd. Caleb was himself at the front with the woman who is the head of the main union that called the strike. The President's soldiers came abruptly and began shooting ands teargas the crowd. That day a child was shot down the street from us. many tried to demonstrate by placing rocks and burning tires on the roads. Yesterday had more of the same, some areas of town worse than others but I saw the marks of the days efforts by the population on the road as I drove home. Today will prove to be more of the same. How will all this end - only God knows. The people have twice last year had a one week peaceful general strike. This strike had 5 days of peace, no violence BUT no change was made. Three times a peaceful solution was sought and three times no results. SO I try to put myself in their shoes. The people cannot afford to eat every day because of the spiralling inflation. The two men causing the inflation were arrested and then released by the President. One of the causes of inflation is that they were stealing the money that was supposed to be destroyed because it was all ugly and torn and putting it back into circulation. It was for this that they were arrested.
PRAY that the radio station will not be targeted by clandestine government forces who have already tried to intimidate us into not broadcasting anything about the strike. They have phoned Caleb and said they would take him to jail and bust up the station. Fear tactics. We are not afraid - God is in control and this is HIS station. We are not being foolish in what we say concerning the strike and are not trying to aggravate the population or the government. PRAY that we will have wisdom. PRAY for God's people that are on the streets and must make their own choices about what to do during this difficult time. Peace I give you, not as the world gives. PRAY that they would know God's peace and be able to share that with their neighbours who are living in what they think are hopeless days.

I hope you feel a little enlightened about just one more world event, imagine yourself in their shoes and I am sure you will feel compelled to pray.

New Post

Thought maybe it would be a good idea to post something for people who ACTUALLY read it... Although I'm not sure why... My life is not all that interesting. Although I went to my class today that is the smallest class I have had... Me. Well, me and the professor. We had a 45 minute "lecture" in the coffee shop and then talked for anothe hour and 45 minutes. It was good times.

Later i went to another coffee shop, quite a nice coffee shop. But I ordered a large cider and when I got it I thought... is this really considered a mug, cuz it looks more like a bowl with a handle... Then it started to annoy me near the end because when I would tip it up to drink it covered my whole face and I could no longer see the person across the table talking to me. Who designs these things.

The end.

Always something to thank God for.

I couldn't decide if I should title this blog, "I miss my car", "Always something to praise God for", or "Goodbye Social life". So I decided to go with the one that made me sound like a more positive person.

Today I thank God that reality is not always what you hear on the radio. I woke up this morning to the radio dj saying that the high today was -18 and that it was extremely windy. Well, I know how much colder it can be when it is really windy, so I thought, "do I REALLY have to go out today?" The answer was "yes!" I had 3 classes today and they were the first classes. I also had to hand in my accreditation stuff which was technically already late. So, yes, I did have to get out of bed and go outside. However, I soon discovered it was not as windy as the radio dj had said it was. It was still REALLY cold, and according to the weather network it felt like -29, but had it been windier it may have felt like -40 again. SO, Thank God that the radio does not always reflet reality. This comes into play later in the day when I had to take the transit home. I got on the train downtown. The train leaves from city centre and then the next stop is 8th street where I get on. So, normally, the train is not quite full until we go a few stops. This time the train was already really full. We got to the first stop outside of downtown and the driver comes on the loud speaker and says he has some really unfortunate news. Everyone had to get off the train because there was a problem with the train. There was now a full trains worth of people standing at a CTrain stop. Then I made the observation that the next train to come by would already be full and there was no way everyone was going to get on (it was rush hour afterall). So I stayed outside on the platform hoping to get to the train quickly and get a place on it. As I was standing there I observed a man trying to change a tire on the side of the road. He was having a lot of difficulty and after a few minutes of watching this man and realizing no one was offering to help him I decided to go cross the road and see if I (not knowing exactly how to change a tire or have much muscle) could do anything to help him. He declined and said he would probably have to call CAA because the tire just was not coming off and let me go. In that time the train I had been waiting for came by (as I expected it would). Which I thought was ok because now there would be less people to fit on the train when the next one came by. I got back to the platform and saw that there were still about 40-50 people waiting for a train. The next train came by and about 10 people were able to get on the whole thing. Then one of the doors wouldn't close it was being blocked by some ice. The driver came out and tried closing it but it wasn't working, it didn't matter what he did. I thought maybe everone would have to get out of that car to fix the door (all the repair people were already at that stop after all), but after a couple minutes they got the door to stay closed and the train took off. Thankfully, I was able to get on the very next train. So in that 25 minutes or so that I was standing outside, I am really thankful it wasn't overly windy.


To top it all of I was carry almost all my books for the semester. Some in my backpack and some in another bag because there were too many to carry them in my backpack. This is a picture of all the books I carried home and of all the books except 3 that I need to read this semester. So far everyone of my classes has required reading for every single class time. That is why I will no longer have a social life. Especially since I will be writing papers on top of doing these reading, THUS, these do not include the books necessary for research, nor do they include the extra readings that the profs are going to give to me. However, sticking to the positive note: Praise God for the provision he has given me. These books cost more than twice as much as any other semester in my 5.5 years of post secondary education and the Metis Association is paying for them! THANK YOU!

Ladies and Gentlemen. That was my day!

It's a new year

Bonjour! Comment Ca va? Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a memorable new year celebration, but mostly I hope that everyone has a new year filled with hope, love, and excitement. I hope this is a year of new beginnings and many memories.

This Christmas I went back to Spruce Grove then spent time in Lethbridge with my mom, step dad, sisters and their families, my auntie Laura and my grandma. I then spent the new year in Fort Mac with Trevor and his family. It was a great holiday. I learned that I cannot skate on ice that is slanted and bumpy... especially with hockey skates on which I had never worn previously. I also got to watch Fred Penner live - "The cat came back the very next day..."

With the help of my mom I was also to purchase a laptop for myself so now I can do my work at normal speed and have this tool for future work instead of working at the speed of a handicapped snail, which is what I was doing with my other computer.

I am now back in Calgary getting ready to start classes again... but first I have to finish my accreditation stuff. I could really use prayer in this, I need to get all of my references back and fill out a few more pages still.

I have been getting regular updates from Guinea and would love for those of you who pray to continue to live Guinea up in your prayers. They are going on strike on Wednesday and are asking for a new president before they will go back to work. Pray for safety, for a solution to their problems, and that doors will not be closed to the missionaries there. On a positive note, Colette got the radio station up and running. She has programs in I think 3 national languages and in French. If you feel like listening in on the radio whether you understand or not this is the link: http://familiafm.streamonfiber.com/player/java/index.php?username=familiafm&stream=24k She said that the french is on first thing in the morning there (so in the middle of the night here) and then it is between the programs in every other language. Thanks for praying with me!