Guinea

Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea, it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. It has a population of 10,057,975 and an area of 246,000 square kilometres (94,981 sq mi).

The country is a republic. The president who is directly elected by the people, is the Head of State and Head of Government. The Unicameral National Assembly is the legislative body of the country, and its members are directly elected by the people. The judicial branch is lead by the Guinea Supreme Court, the highest and final Court of appeal in the country.

Guinea is a predominantly Islamic country, with Muslims representing 85 percent of the population. Christians, mostly Roman Catholic, make up about 10 percent of the population, and are mainly found in the southern Guinée forestière region. The Muslim majority and Christian minority of Guinea generally interact with each other peacefully.

French is the official language of Guinea, and is the main language of communication in schools, government administration, the media, and among the country's security forces. More than twenty-four indigenous languages are also spoken, of which the most common are Fula, Susu and Maninka. Fula is widely used in the Fouta Djallon region in central Guinea, Mandinka in Eastern Guinea, and Susu in the coastal region of northwestern Guinea.In the Guinée forestière region, many of the country's minority languages are widely spoken.

Guinea's economy is largely dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It is the world's second largest producer of bauxite, and has rich deposits of diamonds and gold.

The issue of human rights in the country remains controversial. In its 2012 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House named the country "partly free" for the second year in a row, an improvement over its former status as one of the least free countries in Africa. The United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which produces annual human rights reports on the country, claims the most pressing human rights issues are the use of torture by security forces, and abuse of women and children through such acts as female genital mutilation.

GHE's mission in Haiti, began in __ with Dr. Jean Cadet's donation to their building project. Below you can see some of what is going on with the people needing our help in Guinea.

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