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
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| My room's the one on the right |
