Hey You, Tubabu!

10/07/11

As the car begins the subtle incline into the rocky Falaise, you can look out the window from my cramped little corner seat in the back and see flat plains stretching off into the horizon. The sun is starting to set, and the high cliffs cast a dark shadow across the land below fading further in the distance. The sky’s hazy, just enough to keep out the stars, but the moon is already out, creating a tranquil twilight of the fading sun and luminescent moon. Twenty minutes or so have passed since leaving the gare in Bankass, heading for Bandiagara; a short, routine trip that never seems to yield to prediction. You can’t predict in Africa.

It took two hours of waiting for a bus to roll in from Koro. Usually there are buses in by 4, but I showed up early and left late. It pulled up next to the only ‘restaurant’ in town, conveniently located at the bus stop, and everyone piled out to eat. Kind of an early dinner, or late lunch, but they still had a ways to go before getting to Djenne, and I would be sharing their company for a short leg of the trek. The arrival of the next two vehicles shortly after attracted the girls selling cakes and boissons, as well as the garibu, begging for anything. Tubab, ca va? I stand and wait, having a brief conversation with one of the passengers headed for Djenne, a teacher traveling back for the start of school. Soon everyone piles in and we head out.

                I’m not sure how many people are crammed into this delivery truck turned pedestrian, but the makeshift wooden benches are packed with people, along with any available floor space. Factor in those topside and there are easily 30 people with their luggage loading down a vehicle slightly larger than a mini- van. There are three hanging onto the ladder on the back door, a man, a boy, and a woman. They are laughing with each other as we move along and climb their way up top. The man winks at me and points to the women and laughs, following her up the ladder. The rest of the riders are a typical mix of Malian public transportation users, mainly Malians. Old men, little babies and everything in between. Conversations in several languages are occurring at once. It’s not easy to understand Malians when they’re talking to each other. I can only pick out key words and then guess the topic. As we leave Bankass, I put in my headphones and gaze out over Africa.

As our vehicle slowly climbs its way towards the top of the cliff, you look and see the vastness of the world reaching up to the darkening sky. It isn’t a breathtaking landscape portrait, but looks more instead like the vast stretches of land down a Texas highway. Suddenly I’m not so sure it isn’t. The road curves and from the corner of the window a man appears, walking along in the same direction uphill. His clothes are dirty and he’s wearing a locally made beanie with some obscure year sewed large print into the cloth and a crudely made hoe is draped over his shoulder. Not too far ahead his dog is leading the way. It’s at first glance surprising to see someone walking along the road so far from anything, but soon a herd of goats guided by their Fulani herdsman is passed, and then a donkey cart driven by two Dogon boys wearing their funny looking hats. They’re all heading the same direction towards to setting sun at the top of the plateau. That puts an end to the daydream and I wake up again in Africa.

                There’s not too much traffic, except for a few motos passing by in the opposite direction. Down below, a pair of headlights appears to be taking a winding path along the darkness of the plains and into the foothills. A short while goes by without much occurrence as the glow from the lights behind grows larger. The other truck pulls up and you can see that it’s completely full. There’s a kid riding on top of the luggage, and as they approach to pass he sits up on his knees and spreads his arms out wide. They are caught up with soon enough, and the car comes to a stop behind the other along the side of the road. An be jigin ka seli. It’s 18:15, and time for prayer. Everyone bails out with their mats and I take a seat. Others use the opportunity to visit the bushes. An ka taa. Ten minutes later we’re off again. The sun disappears and it becomes another night in Africa.

 After about 15 minutes I look up and see an orange glow in the direction we’re heading. It’s obviously a fire, most likely burning trash. But the light grows, and you can see the fire is a lot farther off than it appears and a lot bigger. We stop short of Bandiagara, behind a line of cars and motos which have pulled up to the end of the bridge crossing into town. The fire’s on the road, and there’s a large group of people gathered who’ve abandoned their cars to watch. A kera chogodi? I cross over the bridge on foot, and ask what’s going on, but it’s plainly seen that a gas truck ignited. I can’t take the road into town, but I cross the bridge and make my way down the steep embankment on the other side. I slip and bite it hard. There’s a back way to the house, and I stumble my way there. The power is out, but it makes it easier to watch the fire over the treetops from the roof. I can hear the dull roar of a crowd coming from the direction of the fire. Mixed in are the usual sounds of braying donkeys and crying goats. It sounds like Africa.

                Since then, the power’s come back, and I’ve been able to write this short story of the trip I took today. Four of my fellow volunteers are here for the weekend and they’ve filled me in on what happened. Apparently, hot coals lit by some tea drinkers ignited the fuel tanker as it was unloading at the service station. The driver saw it catch, jumped in the truck and took off away from the station, almost making it to the bridge before the whole thing went up. I’m told no one’s hurt. They had to call in a spill crew from Mopti over an hour away to come clean it up.

                I’ve become used to the unpredictability of African life. The most mundane tasks, like shopping or a short trip into town can turn into an adventure. The only thing you have control of here is how you respond to the situation. Sometimes it can really test your strength of will. I’ll admit I do daydream of home at times, but despite my occasional feelings of homesickness I feel like there’s a lot more I can learn out here. Time’s going by fast and everything’s slowly changing. You can’t help but to see the world from the African perspective. Coming out here has given me a chance to step back and look at life from a different angle. Instead of everything coming right at me, I feel like I’m watching from the side as my life passes in front of me. Back home, I was only concerned with what needs to be done next, but it’s not the same here. Life’s much more indirect and disorderly. It just happens. Sometimes I wonder what I would be doing if I had stayed home. My life up to now had been designed for a specific outcome. After coming here I’ve realized all the limitless possibilities that exist. There’s so much more to life than what happens next.

                Work at site is like that. I don’t exactly have a job, but I do little things around town when the opportunity arises. With the CSCOM I’ve been doing porridge demonstrations. There’s another NGO called Marie Stopes that is working there as well. The rep comes in on vaccination days and talks to the women about family planning and birth control. It’s a difficult topic in a Muslim country since the Koran prohibits contraceptives, but it is completely necessary when you can’t afford to feed your other 12 children. The only way to decrease the child mortality rate here is to decrease the birth rate. My morenga garden was attacked by sheep. They ate everything, but hopefully it will all grow back. The women at the CSCOM water them for me every morning. We spent a couple days pulling up all the weeds and grass that has grown up to keep the sheep out, but to no avail.

                The funding for my well covering project finally came in after three months of waiting around. I’ve ordered the covers but they won’t be ready for a few weeks. The next step is to pull up all the wood from the two wells that we want to renovate. Then hire a mason to come construct them. No one’s in a rush to get things done quickly, which is nice because I can take my time with it. There’s no deadline.

                Last weekend we had another polio vaccination campaign. I went out into the bush on Thursday morning after getting the wells measured for their covers. That day it rained. I remember because it’s the second time since I’ve been here that I’ve woken up to rain outside. It made the trek out to the villages easier. It’s scary riding on a moto through deep sand and is easy to wipe out. You have to go really fast to make it through. Wet sand is easier, but there is the occasional puddle to avoid. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon walking through two small villages vaccinating kids. It’s tiring work. We ate lunch in the first village and headed over to the second. All in all we probably saw around 350 kids in these two villages, but I wouldn’t doubt if there were less than 60 adults. These villages are completely different from Bankass. They’re only 10km away but life is so much harder. Village life is filthy. Kids are covered in dirt and other stuff that looks like dirt. When I got back home that evening I was sick and threw up, just from spending the day in village. It’s hard to believe that these people live the same exact way they did centuries ago. The only improvements to village life has been the introduction of cell phones, which don’t get signal, and motos, although most people still walk or take a donkey cart to market.

                Bankass played a basketball game against Bandiagara last week as well. I’ve been playing the last couple months and am officially part of the unofficial team. We didn’t win but it was a really good game. The final score was 50- 46. Since then we’ve been trying to make our team the official Bankass club, but we keep getting turned down. It’s all a matter of money; the city doesn’t want to sponsor us, so they keep coming up with excuses for why we can’t be an official team. They claim we need a board of individuals to run the team, which we found, and then we needed a copy of statutes and regulations, which we’ve made. I don’t see how we can get turned down again. We have a lot of support from the people so I have a good feeling. Basketball is my daily exercise and helps me unwind at the end of the day. If we become official we’ll be able to travel all over the country playing.

                That’s about the gist of it.  I’ve got more things planned for the future that should be fun. Check back for more later.

                Missing everyone!

                Andrew

Down to Business

           It’s been almost a month since my last post, so I’ll give a quick update on things. After IST in Bamako we were left to go on our own. It was the first time I truly felt on my own since coming here. From the beginning we had always followed some sort of schedule. Now we live by our own schedules. So, following IST a few other volunteers and I caught a ride back to our homestay sites to visit our families. It had been several months since I last saw everyone and they were really glad I came. We stayed one night and headed back into Bamako. It would have been a nice trip had I not lost my phone on the way there. Not having a phone here is both stressful and liberating. You really feel cut off from everyone. I went phoneless for a few days after that, partially because I was too lazy to go buy a new one, but in a way I’ll admit I liked the feeling of being cut off and left to my own means. I stayed a night at the stage house in Bamako one night and caught a cab to the bus station early the next morning where I made the 7am up to Severe. There are a lot of bus services here, but Africa Tours is my favorite. They have a/c and  a free meal which in my opinion is worth the 20$ for a 10 hour bus ride. After getting to Severe, instead of staying the night I caught another transport to Bandiagara and stayed the night there. I headed back to site the next afternoon.

                We didn’t wait long to start working. A few days after getting back I met with the mayor and we worked up a budget for fixing a few of the wells. None of them have covers and two of the most commonly used are simple holes in the ground. I’m currently working on typing up the request for funds from USAID. It’s a very tedious job. I’ve been doing other small things around town as well. The other day I made porridge for the women who brought their babies to be vaccinated at the CSCOM, and gave a small animation on infant nutrition. Animations are a main part of what I do. Sensitizing people to health problems in the community is the best way for me to help out. I also have a small tree nursery going full of Morenga. I find ways to keep busy.

                Sometimes, though you just have to find an excuse to relax and do something fun. Recently I’ve started playing basketball at the school. Every afternoon there are about 20 people that come out to play so we shoot around and then play a game. There is a surprising amount of good ballers out here. I also try to read as much as I can. We have quite the library here in Bandiagara so there’s a lot to choose from. I’m currently reading a collection of C.S. Lewis books. I just finished The Great Divorce and moved on to Miracles. I’m also reading A History of God by Karen Armstrong. Most volunteers have a lot of time to read and go through several books per week. I’m not a fast reader and like to take my time with books. I really only have time to read at night and in the mornings. I usually fall asleep to reading.

                There were a few celebrations the last month. For the 4^th we celebrated a lot of people’s birthdays as well, including my own, in Bandiagara. It involved drinking beers poolside, and making cocktails out of gin and bis-hop (hibiscus juice). Then we went to a hotel to eat and dance. Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday cards and packages. You are awesome!

                That’s about all for now. Thanks everyone for your continued support and prayers.

Love,

Andrew

Rain

My new house

Rainy season has finally come. It usually rains at night after I’ve gone to sleep. It’s still unbearably hot inside and I sleep outside in my bug hut, but I’ve trained myself to wake up right before the rain hits. The wind usually picks up strong, meaning I have about 2-3 minutes before it starts pouring down, plenty of time to throw everything inside. Although it’s steamy, there’s a nice draft that comes in right underneath my door when it rains, making it easier to fall asleep. Inside I usually wouldn’t bother sleeping in the bug hut. My house is fully equipped with screens on each window and screen doors. It does a great job of keeping out the mosquitoes, but I’ve been having a problem with scorpions. I’ve killed two really big ones in the last month inside my house. That’s enough to keep me in my bug hut even when I sleep inside. The pounding of the rain on the tin roof of my house makes for a hard time falling asleep, even with earplugs.

                The start of rainy season means the start of planting for Malians. The crop of choice up in Bankass is millet. It’s one of the few things that will grow here. Every day I get up and run through the endless millet fields along a path that leads to the smaller villages surrounding Bankass. It’s going to be a sight when the crops come up. Except for the Falaise to the north, Bankass is pretty much sand as far as you can see. The rain packs the sand down, making it easier to ride my bike through town. It also really helps cool the place down and settles the dust in the air. Climate wise, it’s very pleasant, but there are a few downsides to all the rain. This is mostly because the water doesn’t drain anywhere. It just sits and forms huge puddles- breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Kids play in these huge trash-filled puddles, a majority of which contain runoff from the latrines and wash areas. Rainy season is not a very healthy time.

                The last two or so months I’ve been at site getting adjusted. I’ve developed pretty good relationships with the people at the CSCOM (health center) whom I’ll be working with and I have a few groups of friends that I spend time with every day. Bankass is really organized and efficient with their health care system. They have a lot of well trained, motivated people who get things done. It’s a relief knowing that I’ve got such good support and access to a bunch of resources. In some ways though, it can also be intimidating. Sometimes it feels like there’s a lot of pressure on me to make a huge impact on the community, but it’s important to keep in mind that this is a really slow process and it involves helping people make a bunch of small behavioral changes that will eventually lead to improved health and an improved way of life. Bankass is a fairly large city, and the actuality that I will be able to help everyone is low. In fact, I plan on doing a majority of my work in the smaller surrounding villages.

                There are a few really cool things I’ve discovered about Bankass. The market every Tuesday takes place at a massive stone building. In no way does it fit in with the rest of the city, which is entirely made from mud. I heard it was built by an Italian NGO a while back. I have no idea what it was originally intended for, but during the week women sell things there and on Tuesdays there’s the big market. During the dry season, Bankass also hosts horse races in the fields outlying the city. I managed to go to one once. There were literally hundreds of horses all decorated in Dogon styles. The ones being raced were ridden bareback around a long dirt track. It was pretty wild. The day I went was especially dusty and a lot of people were covered in turbans. I also had to wear ones to keep from breathing all the dirt and keep it out of my eyes.

                I’m back in Bamako right now for a couple more weeks of training. We’re basically leaning ways we can get our ideas set into motion and how we can apply for grants for our projects. I’ve been approved for moto training, which will make it much easier to get around to all the villages. PC vols were at one time all given motos, but due to certain liability issues, they banned us from using them. Two other volunteers and I were granted special permission given our situations at our sites. The morning after I got back in town there was a half marathon that went from the PC office in downtown Bamako, through the city and back out to the training center on the outskirts.  It was my first half marathon and I ran a cool 2hr 20min. Not a horrible time despite getting lost and going about a mile in the wrong direction. Last night we took a bus downtown and had a fun night out. There’s a new ice cream parlor in Bamako, the only one in all of Mali, that we all stopped at before splitting up to do our own things. I visited a few bars with a large group of people and ended the night at a dance club. It was nice having a night like that after the last few months. Today we had a soccer match against some Canadian volunteers. It rained right before so the field was a nightmare. We let our Malian trainers play with us, which might have been a mistake. The final score was US 3 Canada 4, with all seven goals scored by Malians. It was a close game; the last goal was scored in the final minute from mid field. Despite our loss everyone had a great time playing in the mud.

                It rains a lot more here in Bamako than up in Bankass. Up north it rains maybe 1 or 2 times per week, but its rained every other day since I've been here. Everything is so much greener. There are also a lot more bugs. I’ve caught a tarantula a couple times sneaking into my hut. Not cool for someone with an intense fear of spiders. I’ve heard the Falaise is beautiful during rainy season when a lot of waterfalls are formed over the cliffs. I’m looking forward to seeing that. I watched a BBC show called Human Planet recently. There’s an episode about ethnic groups who live off the desert. They picked a Dogon village called Bamba not very far from me and showed a ritual festival they hold each year that just recently passed. I had heard about it the day before but I wasn’t able to go. It involves thousands of men standing on the banks of a dried up lake getting ready to run wildly into the water to grab whatever fish they can. It’s something that’s done in villages all throughout Dogon, but this particular village is the biggest and most known. There's only a glimpse of the village but it's enough to give you an idea of what it's like here. If anyone liked Planet Earth, Human Planet is even more fascinating.

                That’s all I have for now. You’ll hear from me again hopefully in a few weeks. Happy birthday Mom and Grandma! And Happy Anniversary to my parents! Also, Happy Father’s Day dad! I’ll talk to you soon.

Andrew

At the president's house for the swear- in ceremony

Dogon horses

Camels

Quick Update

Hey guys,

It's been a while since my last post, and a lot has happened in the last couple of months. PST ended and I've finally moved out to my site for good. As of right now I only have limited internet time, so this will be a bit short. We're having it installed at our transit house in Bandiagara, where as before I've had to go to a NGO office and share with a bunch of different people which doesn't do much to boost the connection speed. Anyway, site's going really well. It took me a few weeks to develop a routine that I really like, and I've been meeting a ton of people. Being a volunteer in a big city like Bankass is a much different experience than living in a small village. Another volunteer that moved to a small village just outside Bankass, about a km away has a completely different lifestyle than I do, and I could walk to his house in 10 minutes.
      My routine is fairly stable now. I wake up about 6am and go running. I have two different routes I take depending on how long I want to go for. One goes way out into the bush on a sandy path for about 3k, the other follows one of the two roads out of Bankass and heads towards the Falaise. I usually go about 5k to the next village off the main road and then head back. After that I bathe and make breakfast for myself- eggs and bread I bought the night before and some tea with powdered milk and sugar. Then I clean up and get ready to go to the CSCOM at about 9am. I ride my bike through the sandy streets for about a mile to get there. It's not far, but the thick sand makes it a good workout. I could take the main road, which is out of the way a bit, but that would involve stopping to greet a hundred people on my way and Malians get really offended if you don't greet them, so if I'm in a hurry, I take the least populated paths. I'm at the CSCOM until 1230, where I just sit and talk to people. I'm not allowed to do any medical procedures, and even if I could they wouldn't need me to. There are a bunch of employees and they keep things locked down. So I just greet people and talk to them, drink tea and eat peanuts. I'm just starting to trust my language enough to begin doing presentations. I've been going around the city with my homologue doing a baseline survey of different families in each of the 8 neighborhoods. It just consists of a list of basic health questions I came up with to get an idea of what the community would benefit from. I've noticed that people don't understand anything about nutrition here, which is probably why there are so many cases of malnutrition. Family planning, water sanitation, and malaria are widely understood. Unfortunately people don't always practice these things or take measures to prevent malaria, mostly for monetary reasons, but at least they know that they should. Another huge issue is hand washing with soap. That is going to be a major issue that people don't take seriously, although if you asked they would say that they do. As you've probably guessed, people don't use tp here, so there's really only one other option. If there's no soap involved, it can cause huge problems. The popular Malian belief is that you can't see it, it's not there, so water is good enough. I plan on teaching the women's group here how to make shea soap so that they can sell it at the market. But since there's really no problem with availability of soap, it's all a matter of getting people to understand why it's so important.
         The remainder of my day is spent trying not to die of the ungodly heat. I go chill with my homologue and his family for lunch and take a nap in a hammock under their shade tree. It's impossible to keep from sweating constantly. My one solace is the overpriced ice that's shipped in every day from Bandiagara. I've never been more in love with ice than when I came to Bankass. I go hang out with other random groups of people after it cools off a bit, and drink more tea. My tutor moved his family into my compound this week, and they speak passable english so I end the day with them. We just had electricity installed and so every 2 days for 2 days, from 7pm- 12am, I get to watch french dubbed brazilian soap operas, soccer, and whatever pirated movies we have available. My tutor, Damango, has over 100 pirated dvds that are sold everywhere here. each dvd has at least 10 movies on it. The other night we watched the Dark Knight in french.
         Internet times up so I have to go. There's so much more crazy stuff I'll post later, along with some pics. Thanks for reading. Love you guys,

Andrew

It's Going..

PST is finally coming to an end. It’s been a long two months. Actually it feels like these last two months have flown by, but each day seems to drag on forever. I’ve starting living on a week by week basis instead of day by day. I feel like larger increments of time go by faster. The last couple of weeks at homestay I lost track of time all together and every day just melted into the next. During PST we’ve at least been able to keep a loose grasp on time since our schedules are pretty rigid, but in Africa, it’s hard to stick to a schedule. That’s probably why most Malians base their concept of time on the seasons. We are currently approaching the end of the dry season, which is split into cold and hot. The heat here every day is like during the hottest days of summer in Texas. That’s another reason why days seem so long. It’s really hard to motivate yourself to get things done.

                We all left our homestay villages on Sunday morning. It was really sad event, having to say good-bye to our host families who we all got really close to during the short time we were with them. Knowing that we probably won’t ever see them again made it that much harder to say good-bye. Two days before we left they had a small celebration to send us off. It basically consisted of all of the Malians gathered in a circle and making us dance in the middle. After all I’ve been through, it’s safe to say I have little to no inhibition at this point, so dancing in front of a hundred laughing Malians and making a complete ass of myself is now a part of everyday life. I’m really going to miss Mountugala. I felt like I really fit in there. Part of me wishes I could stay there and work, but Bankass is an amazing city and right on the border of Dogon country, which is one of the most beautiful regions in all of West Africa. Its beauty is not just in terms of natural landscape, but the rich history and culture of the Dogon people. Life is more modernized now throughout Mali, but cultural heritage is still strong and probably nowhere more so than in Dogon.

                We went to a museum in Bamako a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t very big, but we saw some interesting stuff. There were a lot of masks from different regions, including Dogon masks, which looked really cool. There was also a textile exhibit, which may sound boring, but Malian clothing is starting to become an interest of mine. I like going to different markets and trying to find really unique fabric designs and get outfits made. So far I’ve had two complete sets done. Fabric is really cheap, about 6 dollars for 5 meters. The museum was part of a big park in the middle of the city. It was the first time I saw lush green grass in 2 months. After the museum we visited the American club for a few hours to swim in the pool and drink a few beers. The beer of preference here is Castel. It’s not good, but given the situation, I can’t complain.

                Finding things to do is never much of a chore. During homestay I would go to class from 8am to noon, then come home, eat lunch and read/ take a nap until 3. This is during the hottest part of the day, and trying to take a nap inside is like slowly roasting in brick oven, so I would find a nice shady spot in the courtyard, spread out a mat and pass out. Then class would start back up from 4-6. Class really regressed the last week since it was too hot to focus and we had pretty much covered all major points by then. Afterwards I would go to the soccer field and play until sundown, then head home take a bath and eat dinner. I’d usually sit around the house for a couple hours after dinner and people would come over and we’d talk and make tea. Sometimes I would go walk around visiting people. Mountugla was usually really quiet at night, but people stayed up late. Usually Malians don’t sleep the whole night. Instead they either go to sleep really late or just take long naps. I always went to sleep pretty early.

                Right now as I’m writing this it’s thundering outside.  I hope it rains soon. Afternoon rains here are really nice, although very rare during the dry season. Everything cools off and it gets nice and windy. It’s a good break from the steady heat. Sometimes we get a dust storm mixed in, which isn’t very pleasant. The other day I was taking a bath outside at my homestay site and I saw huge dark clouds coming in that I thought was a thunderstorm. I was quickly trying to towel off when the winds kicked up and I was consumed by a cloud of dirt. It’s funny how the storm didn’t even faze the rest of my family. They stayed outside cooking right through the worst of it while I finished drying off in my room. I ate inside that night.

                Reading and writing have proven to be great ways to kill time. I always feel guilty when I substitute language study for other outside interests, but I’m sure I would go crazy if I didn’t take up any hobbies. Language is really frustrating. Some days my language is on and I can talk to everyone but then I do a complete 180 and feel like I’ve forgotten it all. I’m actually trying to learn two languages at the same time, French and Bambara. One thing I’ve noticed in learning these languages, is that English is by far one the most diverse and colorful language in the world. French is fun to speak but difficult and Bambara is extremely limited as far as vocabulary when compared to either English or French. I like it, but trying to convert from English to Bambara is literally impossible since it’s such a simple language. While most of the men here speak French, the kids are raised speaking Bambara, and the women usually don’t go to school long enough to become fluent in French. In all likelihood I’ll be learning at least some sort of Dogon dialect as well. This is life. [C’est la vie] {dinyetige be}.

                That’s about all for now. Next week is the big swear in day. I leave for Bankass the day after. Moving all my stuff out there is going to be exciting. There’s really nothing like being out on your own in a foreign country trying to negotiate transport in a language you can hardly speak on an overcrowded, hot, smelly, bush taxi with several armloads of luggage, then ride 100 km to site sitting next to a couple goats as you pray that it doesn’t break down in the middle of nowhere or that all your stuff doesn’t fall off from the mass of junk piled on top of the roof. It’s thrilling.

                I’ll try to write in the next couple of months while I’m at site. I won’t have internet access so I don’t think I can make any posts, but I will have cell service.

Peace,

Andrew

Update: It did rain, and it was awesome!

               

                

Sorry for the Wait

So I know you have all been anxiously awaiting my latest post, but I haven't had internet access the last month. Rest assured, I wrote a blog entry a few weeks ago but I never got a chance to post it so here it is. I'll post an update in a few days.

22/2/11

I’m three weeks into PST and everything’s going well.  It’s really freaking hot here and getting hotter. After arriving here in Mali on the second we had a weeks’ worth of informational classes at the training center outside the capital Bamako. Topics varied from personal health and safety to cross cultural integration and culture shock adaptation. The training center, dubbed Tubaniso, is really nice. All the huts have electricity and fans, though we rarely spend time in them. There’s about sixty of us trainees. Almost everyone is in their mid- twenties, but there are a few older ones mixed in. Our stage is made up of three groups: health, environment, and small economic development. Everyone is getting along pretty well. The second night we had a small bonfire and a few people broke out their guitars. The first week definitely countered my expectations in terms of simple luxuries. Decent food, showers, and basketball and volleyball courts made for a smooth transition.

                The second week in I moved to my homestay site to start language training. I’ve been living with a host family the last 2 weeks. As you can probably imagine, it can at times be very frustrating. The language barrier is difficult to deal with, but we’ve found other ways to communicate. My family is incredible, and they’re extremely welcoming and accommodating. My host dad is the village Iman, and I have 3 brothers and a sister. They range in age from 15 to 21. My oldest brother is who I spend most of the time with outside of our formal language classes. There are constantly people at our compound conversing with the Imam which gives me a good opportunity to practice the language. I’m learning Bambara, the most widely spoken language outside of French. It’s been a rough two weeks as far as language acquisition goes. You have good days and bad. I can tell people in the village are getting anxious to have conversations with me but it still takes me a while to form a complete sentence. By this point I think they are expecting me to be able to talk to them so it’s frustrating on both ends.

                The village itself is decent sized for its location, as it’s about thirty minutes outside the capital. It’s set pretty far apart from the other homestay villages. There are 7 other health trainees there with me. Compound sizes vary. Mine is relatively big compared to others, and there aren’t as many people living in it. It’s completely walled off, and there are three separate mud structures. The Imam lives in the main room, where he also holds his discussions, his wife daughter and son stay in a separate structure. My oldest brother and I each have our own rooms in the same structure apart from the others. There is also are a few other kids that occasionally stay with us as well as a drifter who has been sleeping in the storage room for about a week. I’m not really sure what goes on after 9pm because I’m usually too tired to stay up so I don’t know for sure who all stays there. In the center of the compound is a single tree surrounded by sand where I do a lot of studying. We also have a donkey in courtyard. The nyegen( toilet)  is located in the corner up some stairs. The village mosque is right next door to our compound. I’ve developed a habit of waking up right before the first call to prayer at 5:00 and then again at six. My earplugs manage to block out all sound except for the mosque loudspeaker, which is deafening even through the earplugs. I don’t have class until 8am every day so I sleep in until 7. My brother usually makes me an egg sandwich and coffee after I wash. One of the religious customs is to not speak in the morning until you wash your face. I usually eat all my meals with one of my brothers, and my host dad has been eating with the other guest. We eat out of the same bowl with our right hand. It took a while to get used to but my appetite hasn’t decreased at all. Bathing is also a little different here. I take a bucket bath in the same area where the nyegen is in the late afternoon, which may sound awful but it really grows on you. It’s impossible to stay clean. There is constantly dust being blown around and its really hot so when you sweat the dirt sticks to you. Malians bathe several times throughout the day. I always look forward to my bath after class. The village, and Mali in general is covered with trash and open sewage is everywhere. There are also random donkeys, chickens, sheep, goats, etc. constantly roaming around. My market is really small but fully stocked with a variety of fruits and veggies. There are also a few buteegees around where I can get everything else. A nice thing about staying with a host family is I don’t have to do anything for myself. All my meals are made and I never have to do laundry. The only thing I have to focus on is getting the language down. Since we are right next to the mosque we are constantly visited by other villagers on their way to or back from prayer. They tend to stop by and wash their feet and faces before they go to the mosque.

                One thing interesting about Malian men is they really enjoy drinking tea. They’re constantly making it over a coal fire throughout the day. From about 11am to 4pm its really hot and no one does anything. They all sit in the shade taking little shots of tea. They always invite me to join them if I happen to walk past. It’s loaded with sugar so it’s not bad. After morning class ends at noon I head back to my compound for lunch and usually stop and sit with a group of guys hanging out under a hangar. They like to test out my Bambara skills. Another really amazing aspect of the Malian culture is called Joking Cousins. There are only a handful of Malian last names and they like to make fun of each other. Back when Mali had a caste system, each family had a specific job that they were known for. Now people with these last names are freely made fun of by joking about the name and what they used to do. There are also some very generic jokes that are completely dull by American standards but Malians find them hilarious. For example, one person with a certain last name can joke with his cousin by calling him a donkey or some other animal. The other person will repeat this in turn and it doesn’t ever get old. This apparently keeps people from getting into fights or arguments. The Malian people in generally are extremely chill. They sit around drinking tea and call each other donkeys or bean eaters. They especially find it funny when I joke with them. What’s great is you can joke with just about anyone as long as you know their last name. Greeting here is also a huge thing. It’s actually a requirement, or else people get offended. At a minimum, you have to tell them hello or good day, and how they are doing, even if you are just passing by. If its someone you know, you have to also ask them how their family is doing and then individual members of their family. They then ask you the same questions. Greetings can get really long. They like to throw in a few blessings as well. Sometimes people greet each other for over a minute before they even start a conversation. I usually don’t have to formally greet younger people and can get by with just a ko ki nyi, which is basically the Bambara version of what’s up?. They respond with doni, which has a lot of meanings but for this situation would be not much.

                I have another class session in the afternoon for 2 hours then head home. I usually bathe and then hang out around town with my brothers. One of them works as a tailor and is trying to teach me to make my own clothes. We play a lot of soccer as well. I’ve walked all over the town and know where everything is. The kids at first used to call us Tubabu, which is the Bambaran word for French person, but now they all know my name and have switched over to calling it incessantly. My host dad gave me the Malian name N’tji (in- chee) Konate the first day. We’ll usually eat around 7:30 and then sit around listening to the radio. Occasionally I bust out the ipod speakers and play some American rap music for them which my brothers and their friends really like. Probably the only good thing about the hot season is that the mangos are about ready for harvesting. We have mango trees all over the place so I’m looking forward to that. I’ve got another 2 months at homestay and then it’s off to my site where I’ll be working for 2 years. I don’t know exactly where that is yet but I have an idea. The next two months will be more devoted to my sector training along with more language. I’ve been at the training center since Sunday for more informational meetings. Tomorrow we go back to our villages so everyone is trying to write emails, update blogs and skype, so the internet is really slow. It’s been a nice change of pace. We should get another break in a couple of weeks when I can do another post.

Andrew

My room's the one on the right

Let the Journey Commence

I'm sitting in my hotel room here in DC, thinking about everything that's been going on the last few months and how quickly this moment arrived. I've been so immersed in preparing to leave that I never really noticed the date sneaking up on me. It's an incredible feeling knowing that I'm so close to something I've been waiting so long for, and for a while never thought would come at all.

After a quiet weekend at home I left on the first flight out Monday morning to DC for my PC staging orientation. It went very well, despite having to haul around 2 years worth of luggage. I met up with the rest of the volunteers at our hotel for registration and orientation, which officially transitioned us from PC invitees to PC trainees.  I definitely feel a change after yesterday. Now everything feels so much more real and a lot of my anxiety is gone. Orientation was a pretty long detailed explanation of some simple procedures we would be going through between now and the time we arrive in Mali. They passed out a long list of immunizations we should already have or will be getting over the next few months. We also went over some basic safety procedures, but we'll get more of that during PST (pre- service training). My flight for Paris leaves Tuesday night and then sparing any problems we will go straight to Bamako, Mali from there.

This will be my last post from the states and I don't know when I'll have time to make another. PST I've heard is pretty intense so it could be a while. My fellow trainees are all pretty amazing and unique individuals and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them.
Au revoir mes amis! I miss everyone already!

P.S. Thanks to Adam and Katie for the city tour last night. It was absolutely the best way to spend my last night in the States. 

Mali Family Letter

Here is a copy of the Mali family letter the Peace Corps sent me.


Dear Families:

Greetings from the Mali Desk in Washington, D.C.! It is with great pleasure that we welcome your family member to the Mali training program. During the past year we have received many requests from Volunteers and family members alike regarding travel plans, sending money, relaying messages and mail, etc. As we are unable to involve ourselves in the personal arrangements of Volunteers, we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance by providing specific examples of situations and how we suggest they be handled. Peace Corps service certainly impacts more than just the trainee and we hope that this information will help ease some of the uncertainty which affects the families of Volunteers.

1. Irregular Communication. The mail service in Mali is not as efficient as the U.S. Postal Service. It can take three to four weeks for mail in either direction to arrive via the Malian postal system. From a Volunteer’s site, mail may take 1-2 months to reach the United States.

The following suggestions may be helpful:

• Determine in your first letters an estimate of approximately how long it takes for transit and establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other.

• Number your letters so that the Volunteer knows if he/she has missed one.

• Send postcards in envelopes, as they tend to get lost or stolen.

Volunteers often enjoy telling their “war” stories when they write home. Letters might describe recent illnesses, lack of good food, isolation, etc. While the subject matter is good reading material, it is often misinterpreted on the home front. Furthermore, with the delay in mail, it is likely that a current problem described in a letter, has been resolved or forgotten by the time the letter is received. The Peace Corps Staff in Mali is available and equipped to assist Volunteers with any need expressed or in an emergency.

If for some reason your communication pattern is broken, and you do not hear from your family member, contact the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps Washington 1-800-692-1470. OSS will contact the Peace Corps Country Director in Bamako and determine the information or assistance needed. In the case of an emergency at home (death in the family, sudden illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call OSS immediately, so that the Volunteer can be informed.

2. Telephone Calls. Your loved one(s) will not have telephone or email communications for several weeks following arrival. The telephone systems in Mali are not as good as in the United States but improving. Service in and out of Bamako and major towns to the United States is usually reliable. In the interior of the country, where most of the Volunteers are located, the phone service is more limited. Many Volunteers purchase cell phones but networks availability differs greatly. Like letters, you may find it helpful to establish a routine so Volunteers can plan to be within networks areas to receive calls from home. Please be aware that the Peace Corps staff in Bamako cannot assist in arranging these calls and have limited phone lines for official business only. The Peace Corps Mali office cannot accept pre-arranged calls for Volunteers, except in emergency situations.

The Mali Desk maintains regular contact with the Peace Corps office in Bamako through phone calls and e-mail.

However, these communications are reserved for business only and cannot be used to relay personal messages. All non-emergency communication between family members and the Volunteer should be done via international mail, personal phone calls, or e-mail. Volunteers may have access to e-mail at Internet cafes on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on their location.

Please note that for the first 8 weeks in Mali, Trainees will be near Bamako where telephone, e-mail and postal services are more reliable and timely. In most cases, there will be a significant delay in communication when the Trainees finish Pre-Service Training and move to their sites. Do not be alarmed if the frequency of letters, phone- calls and e-mail drops suddenly around this time.

3. Sending packages. Families and Volunteers like to send and receive "care packages" through the mail. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all concerned due to the high incidence of theft and heavy customs taxes, as well as the long waiting periods involved for packages to arrive. We do not recommend that valuable items be sent through the mail. During training you may use the following address to send letters and/or packages:

Name of Volunteers, PCV
Peace Corps
B.P. 85 Bamako
Mali

Following training Volunteers often choose to get local post office boxes. Your loved one(s) will need to share this information with you.

The use of padded envelopes is recommended, if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more heavily. Custom fees for the Volunteer can sometimes range up to $100. For lightweight but important items (e.g. airline tickets, important documents, etc.), DHL (an express mail service) does operate in Bamako. If you choose to send items through DHL, you must address the package to:

Peace Corps, C/o Country Director, B.P. 85 Bamako, Mali, West Africa.

The Peace Corps and its Staff assume no liability for any lost or stolen mail, including items sent through DHL. Please call a DHL office nearest you for more information. Their toll free number is 1-800- CALL-DHL or access the DHL website at www.dhl.com.

Sending airplane tickets, cash or checks via international mail is not recommended. Certain airlines will allow you to buy a pre-paid ticket in the US, though, unfortunately, this system is not always reliable. Please call the airline of your choice for more information.

Sending cash or checks is discouraged. If your Volunteer family member requests money from you, it is his/her responsibility to arrange receipt of it and to determine a means of cashing any checks or receiving wire-transfers.

We understand how frustrating it is to communicate with your family member overseas and we appreciate you using this information as a guideline. Please feel free to contact us at the Mali Desk in Washington, D.C. if you have any further questions. Our phone number is 1-800-424-8580, ext. 2327 or 2328, or locally, 202-692 2327 or 2328; e-mails are mali@peacecorps.gov, nlewis2@peacecorps.gov, and dwarner@peacecorps.gov.

Sincerely,

Nicole Lewis
Mali Desk Officer

Daryn Warner
Mali Desk Assistant

Address update:

This will be my mailing address at the Peace Corps office in Bamako:

Andrew Williamson, PCT

Corps de la Paix

B.P. 85

Bamako, Mali

Here it goes...

I realize that many of my family and friends are curious about what it is I'm going to be doing over the next two years while serving in the Peace Corps overseas. So, I thought I'd try and keep up this blog as a way for everyone to keep up with all the goings- on. I don't know as of yet how often I'll be able to update it but I'll definitely try to get around to doing so whenever I'm near a computer. I've never been much for writing but I think this is a good/ simple way to both keep an account of my experience and a way to stay in touch with everyone.

Over the last couple of months I've been doing a lot of research on Mali and trying to get some sort of idea of what the Peace Corps does over there. There are numerous projects that volunteers work on, including education, water sanitation, agriculture, small business enterprise, and youth development, among others. As of now all I know is that my official title is Health Education Extension Agent and over the next three months I'll be going through rigorous training to help me adapt to the Malian way of life and prepare me for my work. I think a majority of what I'll be doing consists of prenatal care, nutritional information, prevention of malaria and other diseases, family planning, and HIV/ AIDS education. Mali has a very high infant mortality rate, mostly due to poor nutritional practices and lack of vaccinations. The overall goal is to design and implement a project based upon my villages specific needs and work with them to get it done. However it is very common for volunteers to collaborate with others in different fields on secondary projects.
Mali is a large land locked country in the northwestern part of Africa. It's bordered by Algeria and Mauritania to the north, Niger to the east, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, and Guinea to the south, and Senegal makes up the western border. French is the main language spoken throughout the country, but there are numerous other languages spoken in various sectors as well as Arabic in the northern cities. I've been teaching myself French for the last 6 months so hopefully I 'll be able to get by. I'll also probably have to learn one of the native languages during my training.
The geography is typical of most north African countries. The Sahara desert stretches deep into the heart of the country and is steadily growing, while the south is mostly savanna. The Niger is the main river that flows through the country and splits off forming numerous deltas throughout the south. The temperature is hot and dry from Feb- June rainy and humid from Jul- Nov, and cool and dry from Nov- Feb.

Believe it or not Mali is actually a very frequented tourist attraction. The desert is home to the fabled city Timbuktu, which also happens to host one of the most prominent music festivals in the world, the Festival au Désert. Music in Mali is heavily influenced by the west, and plays a big role in Malian culture. I bought a few cd's from famous artists and it actually sounds like a hybrid of American folk and blues combined with traditional African percussion. It's really good. If anyone wants to check it out I would highly recommend Ali Farka Touré's album In the Heart of the Moon or Amadou and Miriam Bagayoko's Welcome to Mali. Malians are also extremely friendly and fun- loving people and are very welcoming to foreigners.

My lifestyle as far as I can tell is going to be extremely bare. No running water or electricity is a given, and I'll probably be staying in some sort of adobe hut in a remote village. During my training, and possibly afterwards, I'll be staying with a host family, which usually means a lot of kids and zero privacy. From what I've read, typical villages consist of anywhere between 500- 1000 people. Other volunteers have recommended that I bring a few simple comforts from home to help keep my sanity, such as an mp3 player, laptop, etc., and I bought a solar charger that will hopefully live up to its reputation. However, I'm almost entirely positive that these items will end up broken/ stolen or conveniently misplaced. Food and other supplies I'll be able to pick up at the local market, which may be up to 10 mi away but easily accessible by mountain bike (which they provide me with). Other than that I've been buying supplies that other volunteers have recommended and trying to get everything together. From what I've heard, current volunteers do a lot of traveling throughout the country, so I hope I'll be able to do some long distance hiking and overnight camping excursions. I also accrue 2 'official' vacation days a month which I can use at my discretion. I think it adds up to almost 3 weeks total over 2 years. I haven't decided whether or not I'll come home or do a bit o traveling but I'm leaning towards a bit o traveling.

So that's about as good a summary as I have right now for what I'm expecting. I know its going to be hard work, but I've always felt that most things worth doing are seldom easy. The PC might be a pretty extreme example of this but the overall experience will definitely outweigh any hardships. "True security is not a measure of what one has, but what one can do without." I can't remember where that's from but it seems to apply.

As far as care packages go, they will be greatly appreciated. Mail travels slowly in Mali (anagram!) and I think it could take up to several weeks for anything to reach me, so nothing perishable. I would also love to get a book here or there (not picky), as I think I will have a lot of downtime. I also heard that its best to postmark any packages as gifts worth 0$ to help avoid theft. I'll post the mailing address and other various contact information (cell phone, skype, if available) after I get there on Feb 2nd. Feel free to leave me any comments, questions, grammar critiques, suggestions, etc. on my blog. I'm leaving Jan 31st for DC and then leave to Paris Feb 2nd. I've tried to visit everyone I can before I go and I'll be free the last week before I leave to make more visits. 

I love you all and will miss you a lot. I don't want anyone to worry about me but be excited and keep me in your prayers! Remember, life's either a daring adventure or nothing! (one of my favorite quotes ever, by Helen Keller).