Kids in Conakry, Guinea gather at the airport to study under the parking-lot lights. Guinea's economy has tanked, a process accelerated by the martial law declared by the ailing, mad ruler Lansana Conte. Most of the country has limited electricity or none at all, so kids huddle in the light of the parking lot, revising for their exams.
The lot is teeming with girls and boys by the time Air France Flight 767 rounds the Gulf of Guinea at an hour-and-a-half before midnight. They hardly look up from their notes as the Boeing jet begins its spiraling descent over the dark city, or as the newly arrived passengers come out, shoving luggage carts over the cracked pavement.
"I used to study by candlelight at home but that hurt my eyes. So I prefer to come here. We're used to it," says 18-year-old Mohamed Sharif, who sat under the fluorescent beam memorizing notes on the terrain of Mongolia for the geography portion of his college entrance test.
(Thanks, Alex!)
