Moussa Fofana and Jacob Wilkins When Jacob Wilkins went to Guinea in May, 2009 to help Moussa Fofana get a visa to come study English at the University of South Carolina, he wasn’t expecting the month–long journey that lay ahead. “When I got on the plane, I was completely clueless and unprepared,” said Wilkins. He is an intern at The Columbia Star and a USC senior pursuing a double major in Global Supply Chain and Entrepreneurship.

When Wilkins stepped off the plane, the only lighting to break the darkness was the light from the nearby Guinean military vehicles. Wilkins was even more surprised by the difficulties Guinea natives have with obtaining a visa. Fofana tried to get a visa for three years before Wilkins went to help. And obtaining a visa in Guinea is expensive. “To get the visa isn’t easy there,” said Fofana. He had to pay 130–dollar fees each time he was interviewed for a visa. Former publisher for The Columbia Star , Warner Montgomery helped finance these fees.

But Wilkins said the Guinean counsel wouldn’t help Fofana even after Wilkins brought letters from U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson and the English program at USC. Wilkins learned that getting a student visa is difficult in Guinea because most people who left the country never returned.

Wilkins and Fofana then set out to prove, not why Fofana was going to the U.S., but why he would return to his Guinean village, Farenya – to study English in preparation for an excavation that participants hope will take place in 2010 or 2011. This dig, known as the Farenya Project will analyze the village’s connection to the slave trade of the 18th and 19th centuries.

As for Wilkins, his summer adventure in Guinea probably won’t be his last. He jokes the biggest surprise in Guinea was learning to bathe with a bucket of water and a cup. But he was also surprised that even under simple living conditions, the people of Guinea seemed happy.

Wilkins said he expected Guinea to be a depressing place because of the poverty many of its citizens face. But the residents exhibit a friendliness that he can’t wait to encounter the next chance he gets to visit. Reminiscing over his trip, Wilkins said, “There are still a lot of things about Guinea I could learn.”