And, she was a PCV in none other than Senegal, a place of true importance to me since I spent much of 1999 in Dakar as an exchange student living with the Diop family in SICAP Amitié III. In fact, many friends I met at that time still call me Fatou Diop, my Wolof name. Now, I’m super thrilled to be joined by Clare… a.k.a. Jyenaba Bah.

Even though we did not reach our lofty goal of $35,000, we are extremely happy and grateful to you all for supporting the project. $18K is no small sum! Your genersoity will ensure we can keep filming in 2013. We will keep you up to date on the film as we go.

Thank you.

We have just under 3 days left on the campaign, so check it out by clicking on the IndieGoGo image to the right and help us continue our second year of making what will be an unprecedented and highly personal look at the American Peace Corps.

http://publicaffairs.ucla.edu/news/school-public-affairs/luskin-grad-ashley-tindall-producing-peace-corp-documentary

Many hours and bush taxis later, we arrived at the sleepy site of Robertsport Community Campground, where one can sleep under a giant raintree for US$5 a night and have the campsite guardian Prince prepare grilled fish and bonfires. While affluent Liberians and the handful of expats currently stationed in Monrovia with the UN or USAID or the mining industry all bunked down next door in the cabins at Nana’s Lodge, the humble Peace Corps volunteers were blissful in their bug huts on the beach. Yet another reason I love Peace Coprs volunteers: low expectations beget high satisfaction.

Long, long before the civil war that raged here throughout the 1990s, Roberstport had its 15 Minutes of Fame in Bruce Browne’s “Endless Summer”, the 1966 iconic surf film that informed many surprised Americans that West Africa — with its thousands of miles of uninterrupted Atlantic coastline — had a decent surf break. Featuring many gauzy sunsets and the call to adventure, I loved this film when I saw it as a teenager screened it all its 72mm beauty somewhere in Southern California, but I didn’t know what to make of the mysterious African place.

Oddly, the country of Liberia is not named in Browne’s film — it’s just called “a country in West Africa”. I recall the scene where the two surfing heroes Mike and Robert show some unnamed youth how to pop up on surfboards, which a few successfully do much to the delight of the heroes. However, there is a faintly condescending tone in the whole West Africa sequence, as though it’s wonderfully bemusing that black village children could not only get up on a surfboard like the sunburned Orange County beach boys, but that they were having fun. I haven’t seen the film in more than a decade, but that scene stuck with me, perhaps as an example of Americans’ narrow view of the rest of the world’s talent and humor.

Well, this quiet place at the westernmost edge of the African continent slipped back into obscurity as quickly as those boys wiped out in the shallow foam. Yet, surfing left it’s mark on a few in Robertsport. Another generation of surfers here were filmed in 2007′s Sliding Liberia. And, today, there are a handful of kids — all male to my knowledge — that continue to surf for the few hours of the day when they are not hauling in their boss’s fishing nets. Check out this short clip of Robertsport surfing featuring PCVs Andy Brake and Brandon Sterling and current local surfers Morris and Claudius.

Other than surfing, Robertsport attracts those living in Monrovia with fishing and suntanning. Unlike most beaches in West Africa, this near-empty sprawl is perfect for reading and sleeping since no one is bothered to sell you anything or ask you to “carry” him back to America with you. Whether it’s because the locals have a pretty decent life by Liberian standards (currently 182 of 187 countries on the Human Development Index) or because the visitors to Robertsport are not your typical tourists (most of them are spending their life in under-paid public service and cannot afford to buy that round of beers), people here are more likely to leave a stranger be than chat her up hoping for a green card.

Of course, just as Robertsport is trying to attract visitors, the future of the coastline is uncertain. What is certain is that climate change will greatly affect much of West Africa due to rising seas and erosion. Overfishing and pollution will also change how the local fisherman and the community survives. Even drug-running along the “cocaine coast”, so-called by the international press which suspects that Liberia’s neighbors are creating a “new Mexico”, will alter the benign atmosphere of this out-of-the-way idyll.

For now, the community remains largely out of sight. Like Sam Brown in the picture above, Robsertsport locals continue their fishing traditions and maintain their friendly attitude towards the odd collection of visitors. No Lonely Planet spotted here.

For those of you who are just learning about the “27 Months” documentary project, you can view the trailer above and click on the Indiegogo image on the right side of this page to go directly to the campaign page and donate. Or, just click here:

http://www.indiegogo.com/27Months?c=home

On the campaign page, there is a pitch video, some additional images and the trailer. All the info about perks, donation levels and links to share via Facebook and Twitter are there! Don’t forget that, if you donate at a higher level — like for the water bottle — you get all the perks from the levels under that!

I’ll be adding more images while I’m in Liberia filming with Andy, so look for those shortly.

Look below for additional information, like the images of the great stainless steel water bottles that let you show some pride for Peace Corps, Azerbaijan, Liberia and the Philippines.

Thanks everyone!

We are launching an IndieGoGo crowd-funding campaign to raise $35,000 to allow us to film for the volunteers’ second year of service. We’ve already got hundreds of hours of footage from the first year and wonderful moments to share in the film, but we need help to make sure we film throughout the second year and see what happens to the volunteers and what mark they leave on the people of their host communities.

Hopefully you’ve watched the trailer for 27 Months and are excited to see the final film. Please support us by clicking on the IndieGoGo badge to the right, watching the pitch video and sharing our campaign with friends, colleagues, returned volunteers or anyone through the social media buttons on the right.

Among the various perks you can get for supporting the project: a DVD of the film, invitations to screenings, your own video to tell a story on the film’s website or to keep for yourself and a stainless steel water bottle, courtesy of Flipside Gear, that is the perfect indestructible companion for all your adventures. AND it lets you tell the story behind the question.

Hint: Each country has its own unique food that you can’t miss if you’re there. FYI Catherine eats balut in the IndieGoGo video, so check that out

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The big change is that he’s got a new roommate in Vaye Town, Brandon. They’ve been wanting to do the World Map Mural Project like many PCVs are doing. It was started by PCV Barbara Jo White in the Dominican Republic in 1987 and now spans 5 continents.  Check out the process of making one in Ukraine by posted by PCV Jing Li on her awesome blog. And here’s an example that PCV Laura Harrington did with her community in Ethiopia.

Brandon and Andy are waiting for me to arrive next Saturday — and bring some extra paints from Monrovia — so I can film their progress. After such a long civil war, during which almost all Liberian schools were closed, many of their high school students (from 14-30 years of age) can’t point out Liberia or the US on a world map. So, I hope this will be an excellent learning tool for the community. I look forward to being back in Vaye Town and catching up with the PCVs and the friends I made last time, especially Hassanatu and Nedyu, pictured below at Hassanatu’s hair salon, the center of social life in Vaye Town.

Public Service Announcement to friends and family of PCVs: If you get the flat rate box at the post office, you can fill it up with all of this for only $60 and send anywhere in the world! Your PCV and his/her community will NOT be disappointed to unpack a box full of recent People magazines, muffin mixes, American chewing gum and batteries and the all-important Ziploc bags.

So, my trip was a blur of near-100 degree days, two weddings, a visit to a mother-child summer camp in Ismayilli, trips to Baku and a Caspian Dreamers concert. We even made it north to Sheki for the 1st ever Run the Silk Road 5K started by the Regional Women’s Initiative Social Union and sponsored by the Peace Corps. Despite the torrential ran and bitter cold, I was at the finish line to see a handful of spirited teenage girls (some in headscarves and heavy clothing) and a swarm of expatriate Europeans and Americans clad in spandex speed up the final hill. It feels like we filmed everywhere and met almost everyone in Azerbaijan! Here is Marcy with her host brother and bride at their wedding.

There is no doubt Azerbaijan is an exciting place to be right now. So much is changing, and it’s not just because this has become an important oil country. Listen to the NPR story about the country’s boom. The country recently hosted the Amazing Race , the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup and EuroVision Song Contest where Sabina Babayeva, a staple of local radio, represented the country.

There is investment (and building cranes) everywhere. The capital of Baku sports many new gleaming (and often unoccupied) office towers and a broad waterfront promenade with high end restaurants not unlike San Francisco’s Embarcadero. However, it’s less than an hour past the nodding donkeys (oil pumps) to Marcy’s city of Sumgayit which shows the scars of Soviet industry. But, Sumgayit is changing too. I’m excited to get back there in February and see it under the magic of six feet of snow I’ve heard about!