Article on Tabaski, Thanksgiving

Tabaski, Thanksgiving: Back to Back
Wednesday 25 November 2009
by Joseph Hellweg, for the other afrik
On-line source: http://en.afrik.com/article16535.html

The moon and sun align this year to bring two holidays together: the Muslim feast of Tabaski (also called Eid al-Adha and Aïd el-Kebir) and the United States holiday of Thanksgiving. They occur on November 26 and 28, respectively. Although Tabaski is explicitly religious, and Thanksgiving ostensibly secular, both re-enforce ties to one’s family and larger communities. Both focus on animals.

Those buying sheep right now may have to pay a hundred U.S. dollars [50.000 francs CFA] or more for one in the final days before the feast on Saturday. If one lacks the means, a goat will do. Wealthy benefactors even sacrifice cattle.

In the U.S., a frozen turkey from the grocery store is the main Thanksgiving course and less expensive than a ram. But Americans still make a fuss about buying it. They follow sales and compare prices and the quality of different brands. They may order it weeks or months in advance for fear of waiting too long and going without. Type just two words into any online search engine—Thanksgiving turkey—and you can gauge the extent of the obsession. You will find endless advice about how to choose, thaw, clean, bake, spice, serve, and eat a turkey. You can even order it online with overnight shipping. Frozen turkeys can’t walk, but they appear to be able to fly.

And they are easier to take home than sheep. You may have to make extra space in your freezer, but a turkey will fit. You don’t have to feed it. It doesn’t make a mess. It’s already cleaned. And unless you plan to deep-fry it outside—a specialty of the U.S. south—the trick is to keep the meat moist while it cooks in the oven. Despite all this attention lavished on an edible carcass, a family has little personal relationship with its turkey. It is meat from start to finish.

In Africa, things are different. A family lives with its meal before eating it. Last year in Kankan, Guinea, I saw rams tethered outside of every compound I visited in the days before Tabaski. Children and adults may name the sheep and play with it. They feed it and may grow fond of it, especially when purchased well in advance. Then the pet for a day becomes the plat du jour.

Processing the sheep is as much a family affair as taking care of it. When I was with Malian friends in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, in the 1990s, men killed the sheep, children cleaned the entrails, and women cooked the meat. In a way, the sheep is like family and, as such, the whole family prepares it.

But the goal of each feast is still the same: to share meat with relatives and friends, some of whom travel far to eat it. Last year in Kankan, I met Guineans who had returned home from Conakry, Europe, and the U.S. for the meal. Imagine my surprise when a man in sunglasses walked up to me and told me in fluent English that he had just arrived from Washington, D.C.
Thanksgiving in the U.S. is no different. It is the busiest travel day of the year. Airports are jammed, and flights run late, making national news every year.

The feasts are variations of each other. On Tabaski, families distribute meat to their neighbors. This happens at Thanksgiving, too. Families invite neighbors to dinner or send turkey, sweet potatoes, and gravy to those they know who will be spending Thanksgiving alone or in nursing homes. And soup kitchens offer free turkey and mashed potatoes to the poor and homeless.
In other ways, Tabaski is incomparable. It has no equivalent in Judaism or Christianity. Like Christmas and Hanukkah, Tabaski evokes a spirit of giving. It commemorates Abraham’s sacrifice of a ram instead of his son, Ishmael. But like Easter and Yom Kippur, it is the holiest of holy days.

It is also like New Year’s Day and Rosh Hashanah, even though it is not the Muslim New Year. In Bambara, the blessings one uses as greetings on Tabaski make the case: “Ala ka san kura d’i ma,” ‘May God grant you a new year’, or “Ala k’i san hèrè chaya,” ‘May God give you peace in the year to come’. West Africans offer similar blessings in French, sometimes cutting to the chase with the expression, “Tous les tés,” which sounds to an English-speaker like, “two lay TAY,” an abbreviation for a range of blessings, all of which end in the French sound “tay”: bonté (plenty), prospérité (prosperity), santé (health).

Tabaski resets the ritual clock, whether in Bambara or French.

Both Tabaski and Thanksgiving recreate the world. Each marks a turn in the year—the start of the dry season and the beginning of Christmas shopping, respectively—and the hope that those who celebrate will endure these trials.

The day after Thanksgiving—always a Friday—is one of the year’s busiest shopping days in the U.S. How well sales do on that day is seen as an augur for the country’s economic welfare, a sign of how well Christmas sales and, as a result, the national economy will do in the coming year. Thanksgiving is the ritual sacrifice that precedes the divination of the kingdom’s future. I mean, post-Thanksgiving sales are key indicators in the nation’s economic forecast. When sales looks bleak, priests blame the failing ritual power of the sacred king. In other words, leading economic experts criticize the president’s fiscal policy . . .

Ironically, it is this commercial side of secular Thanksgiving that most closely resembles the religious side of Tabaski. Thanksgiving marks the opening of a month-long ritual of buying and spending that culminates in Christmas, the most elaborate American sacrifice in which gifts are given shortly before the New Year to assure that it will be safe and prosperous, Christian beliefs aside.

Similarly, Tabaski brings to a close a period of two lunar months in Islam that include Ramadan and the most intense season of pilgrimages to Mecca.

Just as Tabaski takes Muslims back to the first ritual expression of obedience to Allah, Thanksgiving takes Americans back to the first prayerful consecration of a sustained Anglo-Saxon presence in North America. Taking part in the harvest meal that contributed in some way to the eventual establishment of the United States is like taking part in the meal that spared Ishmael’s life. Both feasts renew their respective worlds through ritual participation: the Muslim community through Tabaski, and the United States via Thanksgiving.

Here we see the richness of these holidays as well as their limits. In the United States, the Christian, Anglo-Saxon origin story of Thanksgiving now bolsters a suspicion among some Americans of both Muslims and immigrants of color, just as claims of religious absolutism grounded in God’s revelation to Abraham justify hostility among some Muslims against secularism.

Religious or not, holidays are rituals. They operate beyond strict divisions between sacred and profane; they bridge the two. This year, occurring in such close proximity, they might raise a common prayer for a better welcome to Islam and immigrants in the U.S. and for increased dialogue between secularists and Islamists across the world.

But in the end, holidays are mostly about the small ways in which people connect through sharing. This Thursday, a Muslim friend of mine from Mali, Diadié Bathily, plans to attend my family’s Thanksgiving dinner in St. Louis, Missouri. My Catholic mother will help him celebrate Tabaski far from home (two days early) by making him mutton in addition to turkey. Knowing Diadié, he will eat both. Shouldn’t we all?

Joseph Hellweg is Asst. Prof. of Religion at Florida State Univeristy. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Virginia and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale. He has done research with initiated hunters (dozos) and on HIV and AIDS in Côte d’Ivoire from 1993-1997 and in 2002. In 2008-2009, he was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Kankan, Guinea, where he taught social science research methods. He will complete his fellowship at the University of Bamako. He speaks French and Mandenkan and eats fonio with okra sauce whenever possible.

The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Afrik.com.

A chilly start to cold season

Hi all!

Time has flown by these last few weeks! First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, Tabaski, and now we are into December. Today is World Aids Day!

Unfortunately, I am back in the states on med hold and have missed my first Tabaski in Mali. (For more info on Tabaski, see related post.) And will be missing all the awesome activities that San Kaw (people of San, my banking town) will be putting on today. On the agenda: a soccer game between two rival teams at our local stadium with testing booths and an awareness animation during half time. I do believe there is also a dance scheduled to follow the game. I am sad to be missing it, but it leaves more to look forward to next year.

I am on med hold in Washington, DC but hope to be going back to Mali soon. I flew in on Sunday the 22nd after 18 hours of traveling. My grandma picked me up at the airport and later in the afternoon we picked up my mom who came in to see me while I am in the country. We have been having a great week, spending loads of time catching up, telling stories, and eating all the great foods I can't get in Mali. I even got to spend Thanksgiving at my grandma's house, a first for me. She had an amazing dinner, turkey with all the special Thanksgiving treats. I got to see my aunt and uncle and their kids, as well as my other uncle, all of whom I would not have gotten to see for another two years had I not been in town. So while I am bummed to be away from Mali and to be stuck on med hold, there is a silver lining to it all. I'm even enjoying the cold weather and the rain!

My med hold is nothing serious. I have lost some feeling in my leg and to rule out anything too big, the neurologist I saw in Mali suggested an MRI, which they do not have in country. I am here in DC running a few tests and meeting with another neurologist, but already my MRI's have come back negative. The radiologist even said I was normal!

I have a few more appointments at the end of this week and the beginning of next, but I am hoping to be back on my way to Mali after that. Thank you to everyone for their support, love and thoughts. I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to talk to so many family members and friends while I am here (much closer in time zones and much cheaper!) and look forward to connecting with more of you in the days to come.

hugs, kisses, and loves

I’m getting more and more into village life every day. Each day that I am there, my language improves and the villagers become more a part of my life. When I first got to village, I was determined to cook for myself each day. After getting sick a couple of times, I’d decided it was the best way to ensure that I stayed healthy and also the best way to ensure that I knew what I was eating.

Of course, after getting into village, I discovered that cooking for myself was not as easy as it is at home and definitely not as fun, since I cooked and then ate by myself. In the last week, after spending more time at the CSCOM, I've gotten to know more of the CSCOM employees better. Everyone is so very friendly and patient with me and my language. We have three male employees, the pharmacist, the records keeper, and the assistant to the Chef de Poste. Our Chef de Poste, our Matrone, and our relais, my homologue, are all female. I have been taken in by them all, especially by the two Alima’s, my homologue and my matrone.

The matrone lives in a house behind the CSCOM. She has a husband who works in San and 7 children, all of whom are polite and sweet and very funny. Lately I have taken to having lunch with Matrone Alima, who is a fantastic cook. Lunch for a lot of Malians is to, which is ground millet made into a play dough type substance that is dipped in sauce. Some volunteers like it, but I am not a fan. And luckily, neither is Alima. Lunch with her is always rice and sauce, which I admit may not sound as good as it really is. But it is very tasty.

After lunch, we have tea and then on most days I walk her younger children back to school, which is right near my house. On our walk, I stop at the teacher’s house, which is right near the school, while we watch the children run off to school. I get to visit with the teacher’s wife, and sometimes with the teacher, who are both very friendly and also patient with my language. She reads the paper and we giggle over the funny photos and talk about the few things that we can both understand.

In the evenings, I go to my host family’s house and visit them, say hi, talk about the day and talk about the coming day. As the sun begins to set, I go to homologue Alima’s house and we have dinner together. A few nights ago we made dinner together. We made siiri, which is a sweet rice porridge. The one night I was not sure about going there, she ended up coming to my host family’s house to feed me. Its become a great routine.

In addition to being at the CSCOM each day, I am still running in the mornings, and am starting to run through town instead of out of town. People love to watch me run by, the crazy tubab. The kids sometimes even run with me for spurts of time. All of these things combined, I am starting to feel more at home and more connected, which is exactly what I am aiming for.

Cotton Picking

This last Monday, Jen and I went out to another volunteer’s village to go to a cotton picking party. The village was about a 40 minute bike ride outside of Bla, a town between San and Segou. To get to the village, Jen and I took a boshe out to Bla. Boshes are like big vans, always green, and usually decorated with some kind of religious or musically inspired graffiti style art. They pick up just about anyone off the side of the road and will drop them off anywhere. Of course this makes for a long ride of stopping and going, but we made it in decent time.

Unfortunately, as we got to Bla the sun was getting low. We met up with about 7 other volunteers to make the ride out to the village, and after about 20 minutes of biking out in the brusse, realized we were going the wrong direction. Luckily we found a donkey cart to lead us out of the wrong direction back towards the main “road,” and then a man on a bike to get us going on the right road, and finally a guy on a moto, sent out from the village to meet us and take us back in. In the meantime we “biked” through ankle deep sand, eventually having to push our bikes through. The ride which would later take us about 30 minutes on the way out turned into about 90 minutes of trekking through the brusse in the darkest dark. Luckily as tubabs, we practically glow in the dark and stand out a lot, especially as there were 9 of us parading through.

Needless to say when we finally got to the village, we were very ready for dinner, which was amazing beans and then fantastic pasta, and showers. There were about 17 of us all out to the village to help pick cotton, so I enjoyed hanging out with everyone, getting to meet some new people.

The next day we went to greet the pastor of the village (this was one of the few Christian villages in Mali, which are pretty abundant in the Segou region) as well as the dugutigis, since the village had two. Its not common, but I guess there was some discrepancy in the village political system a few years back and now they have two. The rest of the morning and the early afternoon we spent hanging out, playing cards, relaxing. At 4 we went out to the field to pick cotton. The walk out to the field took us a long time and when we actually got to the field, it was probably 4:30. It was so fun to pick the cotton with the Malians, who were laughing at us the whole time. Even with so many of us out there to pick, we were all pretty sure that we were less helpful than if the Malians had done it themselves. But we provided entertainment and got the experience of it.

That night, there was a pig roast (another plus to being in a Christian village) and some absolutely fabulous mashed potatoes, gravy and garlic green beans. Late in the night,, around 11:45, the villagers came to celebrate with us, bringing music, drums and dancing. A good time was had by all that weren’t trying to sleep through it! The next morning, we trucked out of town back to Bla, a ride that really was much better, and easier in the light of day. As soon as I can get some photos up, I’ll let you all know. They are pretty good!

Projects begin!

Hi all!

After a whole month (and what seems like much longer) spent doing “nothing” in village, I had a very productive week. After talking to other health volunteers, I had decided to plant maranga trees at my CSCOM. Maranga trees are AWESOME! You could probably find info on them on the internet, but here’s the basics: these trees grow quickly, are very resilient and have a million uses. For example, the leaves of the tree can be used in salads, or ground up into powders for sauces and provides a multitude of vitamins and protein! The leaves can also be used as a salve for skin irritations, while the seeds can be used in water purification. I have already planted a couple of these trees in my concession and they are coming along quite nicely. I had talked to my homologue about wanting to plant some at the CSCOM to later use in animations to teach about nutrition. We talked to the president of the ASACO (the board that directs the CSCOM) and he was in for the idea. I also talked to Mammi Dembele, a man who owns a very large tree farm in village. Mammi has been a homologue before and is very excited about Peace Corps and development work, especially as it pertains to environment. So, on Wednesday I set off with Alima, my homologue to dig some holes and plant some trees. When we got to the CSCOM early, when the sun was not quite hot yet, we greeted everyone and spent time chatting. Officials from the CSREF in San had come in to do paperwork with our Chef de Poste and our records keeper. The CSREF is to the CSCOM what a city hospital is to a small health center. Because they were in to check up on our facility, we did not get to dig our holes or plant our trees. Instead I spent the morning talking to a man about marriage in America. We discussed the fact that men in America only have one wife, not three or four. We also talked about how families tend to have fewer children. Because my Bambara is still a work in progress, it was easiest to tell him that the reasons were money related. Children are expensive. They must be fed and clothed and put through school. When you have too many of them, it gets too expensive. I found it easiest to explain that women didn’t want to share their husbands with other women, that, in fact it is illegal to have more than one wife, and that if one man had multiple wives, there wouldn’t be enough for his neighbors to have one. (We had been told in a discussion in training that some people believe that there are more women than men in Mali, and even in the world, and men are actually helping the problem by taking in more wives.)


Alima and I had decided to come back in the afternoon to dig our holes and plant our trees. We had lunch with Alima, the matrone, who is like a midwife, and then went home to have a nap. When we came back in the afternoon, around 4:30, the sun was dipping down in the Western sky and was blocked by the trees near the road. The weather was pretty perfect. Alima took over and began digging the holes and since we only had one daba (the blunt edged pick you use in the garden and the fields) I went to the pump to pull water. We planted the seeds and as I was putting the last few into one of the holes, Alima got very excited. She informed me she had more and would run to her house to get them. She’d be right back. When she returned, she had two mango starts and another tree start call sen sen. It is a tree that grows an edible fruit, although I am not sure what it would translate into in English. We planted the starts and as I watered them, Alima put up branches around them to keep animals from eating them. It was awesome because even though I had started the project, Alima had taken the idea and ran with it, bringing her own starters from her garden.

The next day, Thursday the 15th of October, was Global Hand Washing Day. People that I have spent time with in Mali understand washing their hands, but they only use water, no soap. As volunteers, we do a lot of talking about washing hands with SOAP and water. On Thursday morning, as we were getting ready for baby weighing and vaccination day, I got to give an animation on hand washing. In Bambara that my host dad helped me with, I explained why you should washing your hands with soap, when you should wash with soap, and then how you should do it. I even demonstrated! After I gave my animation, another woman from San did an animation on when and why people should come to the CSCOM. We finished out the morning with the usual baby weighing and vaccinations.


The next day I began the project of tracking babies’ weight and health progress in each village. I am taking the charts we use to track the health of babies, their weight and age determining whether they are health, malnourished or severely malnourished. I will make visual graphs to show how each village is doing. They will also to show the comparison between the health of baby girls and boys, as well as track the consistency in the recording of the baby weighing, something that we are going to be working on. In addition, my Chef de Poste has asked that my homologue and I start making mooni (porridge) on Thursdays, the mornings of vaccination and baby weighing. We will serve the mooni to children who are in the yellow (malnourished) or the red (severely malnourished) zones, which is determined by comparing their weight to their age. I am amazed, totally surprised, in the best way possible, at the initiative that my CSCOM has taken thus far. They already do so much and are so organized! A part of me is a little confused about what I will do to help, but very excited at the prospect of being able to be a part of such a cool group of people. And I am assured that there is always room for improvement. All in all it was a very productive week.

Just another day in paradise

Hi all!

I’m back in San this weekend in preparation to head out on Monday morning to another site where there is a cotton picking party being held. One of the other volunteers the year ahead of me has invited a bunch of us out to her site to help her village harvest their cotton crop in exchange for dinner and good company. I am not quite sure what to expect, but I’ll let you all know how it goes when I’m back in town.

Its been very warm here lately, and it has not rained in over two weeks. I think we are transitioning now to a mini-hot season which is said to last anywhere from a couple weeks to a month or more, and then will change into “cold” season. I can’t wait!

I’ve taken to sleeping outside since it is always so hot in my house. I set out some mats, hang a mosquito net and fall asleep under my trees, looking up at the millions of stars. Its amazing, when there is so little light pollution, you can see all of them, and they really do twinkle! And of course, to wake up with the sun, to the sounds of Mali in the morning is really very nice. You can hear the roosters and the other live stalk making their noises, but you can also hear the sound of women pounding millet or corn or any other number of things in their giant pestles. It is called so so -ing and every time I pass women in the village doing it, they want me to try. I get about three strokes into it, powder and debris flying, and they decide that I am done. No amount of trying to convince them that I am not good at it keeps me from repeating this process with new women, almost daily.

Anyway, I’m enjoying sleeping outside, waking up outside. The only drawback is that the mats I am using are prayer mats, with a heavy blanket atop them. It doesn’t leave much padding. And the ground is really hard. I do a lot of tossing and turning and waking up with dead arm. The other night I decided that I should just sleep inside for one night, get some sleep on my big comfy, very thick mattress. Yes, my house would be hot, 91` compared to the 82` that is was outside, but I was willing to deal with it in favor of a real night’s sleep. Of course, it was also more tempting to sleep inside since I had just finished my first set of curtains that afternoon. I was looking forward to waking up to a settled and homey room.

I was getting settled in the house when I noticed that some dirt had fallen onto my bed when I was hammering the nail for my curtain into the wall. I went to brush it off and noticed there was actually quite a lot of it. I lifted my pillow to shake out my sheet and did a big double take. There, under my pillow, right next to my can of mace, was a scorpion! I knew I needed to kill it, but I wasn’t wearing shoes and in my mad dash for a sneaker, the bugger moved. I came back, shoe in had, to see him slipping down the crack between my bed and the wall. Change of plans; I was sleeping outside.

After three shooting stars and what seemed like forever spent tossing and turning, I finally fell asleep. For 45 minutes. I decided that I would brave sleeping inside. The scorpion was no in my bed anymore and was probably scared enough not to come back. I’d check everywhere to make sure he wasn’t there and then make sure to keep a shoe near by. I did a bit of reading to settle myself down and distract me from the possibility that I was sharing my bed with a poisonous creepy-crawly, and fell back asleep.

For an hour, at which time I was awoken by the sound of something large on my roof. I was frozen in fear, a million worst case scenarios going through my head. I could hear “it” move across my roof and go down the set of stairs I have attached to the end of my house. Then I could hear “it” in the yard. I thought about the things I had left outside in my sleepy trek inside. My mosquito net, my mats, my water bottle…. My running shoes! My most prized possession in Mali were outside, and there was an “it” out there! Slowly I grabbed my whistle that I keep next to my bed. With out even the smallest thought about what I was doing, I slid my hand under my pillow to get my can of mace. Finally, I grabbed my flashlight. I rolled slowly out of my bed, simultaneously cursing myself for having decided to sleep in a noisy, creaking bed and also so extremely relieved that I was not still out there with “it.”

With my mace in one hand, my flashlight in the other, and the whistle in my mouth, I moved from my bedroom towards the door. Which I realized at that moment that I had left unlocked. A frantic check in each room revealed that I was still alone, “it” was still outside. I could still hear “It,” eating something behind my house. “It” was noisy, although that didn’t really designate what it was as Malian mothers do not seem to teach their children to eat with their mouths closed. After locking my door I decided I had to do something about this thing in my yard. I went to the back window and shined my light out it, trying to see what was there. I couldn’t see anything, but rationally (finally) I decided “it” must be an animal since the light didn’t scare them away. Certainly a person would have known they were caught and would have run off. It was at this time that I also remembered two things. A) goats in Mali climb EVERYTHING. I had seen them on walls of other concessions, of rocks a hundred feet up. Surely a roof was no big deal to them. And B) I had dumped my leftovers from earlier in the day out back in the area where my compost pile has started. Of course, it was an animal out back who had smelled food and gone in search of the source. I calmed down and after a bit was back asleep.

The next day I was talking to some people about the goat on my roof. They were looking at me like I was nuts. I know my Bambara is not great, but I checked again and I was saying what I meant to. “A goat? A goat? No, no. It couldn’t have been a goat.”

“Oh, silly Awa, goats are not out at night. It was a dog! A dog on your roof.”

Of course. A dog on my roof. How could I have NOT known it was a dog! Happens all the time where I’m from, of course it was a dog….

And in talking to my host dad about the scorpion, I discovered that I should have killed it. Really? Because I was thinking I’d keep him as a pet. The next morning when we were doing our language lesson, he began to list off all of the things I should kill if I see. On the top of the list was scorpions, followed by snakes, wasps, big spiders, etc. All in all, it was a rough couple of days, but funny to look back on.

Not to be a goober...

but Halloween is coming and with Halloween comes some of the best candy of the year! If you happen to find yourself with an extra bag of say, candy corn or miniature DOTS or anything else that you just can't seem to get rid of, I know a good home for it.

In other words, if you are looking to send me anything in the near future, Halloween candy would be AWESOME! (reminder chocolate tends to melt, but M&M's and those bite size snickers/milky way bars seem to make it here in pretty good shape.) I'm not picky; I just am missing really good candy season!

Photos!

Ok, I was finally able to load some photos. They are on facebook, so if you are on there, you can check them out through my profile. If you are not, you can follow this link

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2187402&id=25912270&l=a943851a57

Other PCV's have some really great pics too, so if you are there, check them out.

lots of love!

And in other news...

Hi all,


I hope you've all enjoyed the first few days of October. I know I have! Currently I am in Bamako, the capital. I came in yesterday so that I could go to a dentist appointment this morning. The trip actually started on Friday when I rode my bike into San from my site. This ride is really only about an hour long, around 20k, and I usually enjoy it (see previous post; sometimes the ride is better than others...) I made the mistake of riding in during the middle of the day, another reason why the Malians think I am crazy. I made good time, getting to the house around an hour and 7 minutes after departing. I was hot and very, very sweaty, and was drinking water like it would disappear. After a good shower and a little bit of lunch, I was able to relax, hang out with other San Kaw (people of San; Kaw sounds like how with a "K") As the evening approached, I started to feel a bit sick. I knew had been dehydrated, because I had also gone for a pretty long run that morning, so I kept plugging water. But when dinner time rolled around and I couldn't even think about food, I decided to call it a night.

Not twenty minutes later, I was sick. Really, really sick. Luckily I have good friends to take care of me. I spent most of the night either sick or about to be sick. This continued into the next morning, when, having not been sick for a while, I tried to eat something. Mistake! I was sure that I was dehydrated, and I suppose that, combined with the effects of the heat fom my mid-day bike ride just sent my tummy up on end. It was not happy!


Luckily for me, I was already headed for the medical office. The trip to Bamako from San was tough, mostly because I was SO nauseous, but we made it with only a few stops. Finally, we were at the med office. I was still feeling gross, but being sick in an air conditioned place, with a real bed and a REAL TOILET makes being sick that much less awful, I must say.


So I went to the dentist this morning, and I am cavity free! Yay! This is especially good because I was sure I wasn't. It is a relief though because I think getting a filling in a Malian dentist chair is one experience I don't really need as part of my Peace Corps service. The dentist himself is Lebanese, and very nice, but has a different idea of what it means to be gentle. After having such a great dentist at home, and then having this experience, I will never again grimace at the thought of going to the dentist.


And now the real news. The upset tummy and sick feeling that I was having earlier? Giardia! Look, ma! My first parasite! I start my Fasigyn tonight with dinner and hopefully feel ok during my long bus ride back to San tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

In more news....

Want more Africa info?

Check out the Everett School District website for a story featuring Becky and Luke and their experiences in Kenya.
www.everett.k12.wa.us/everett


Also good is the blog by Cassady Walters, another health volunteer and Whitman grad, who has been in Mali for a year so far. Her most recent post on the female role in Mali and the Famiy Code is great and is being published soon.
http://onairinmali.blogspot.com/

First day of work!

Hi all,

On Thursday, I went to the CSCOM (health center in my village) to help with weekly baby weighing and vaccination day. Of course, and thank goodness, I didn’t give any of the actual vaccinations, but I did get to weigh each of the babies, record their weight and track them on the growth chart. This is something that we practiced during my training so I had some experience in it already. And it helped my Bambara because I was required to read off the baby’s weight in kilos and grams, in Bambara, to the vaccinator sitting across from me. It also helped because I was in charge of finding out the child d mother’s name and locating their chart in the large stack that we had accumulated.

When we track the baby’s weight, we use a chart that puts the child in one of three categories according to their weight and age. The categories are green, which is good and on track, yellow, which is underweight and malnourished, and red, which is severely underweight and severely malnourished. A child in the red is directed to speak to the doctor at the CSCOM immediately, while a child in the yellow is counseled by the matrone (like doctor and midwife in one) or vaccinator on proper nutrition and steps to improve the child’s health.
Many of the babies we weighed were either in the yellow or red, which seems alarming to me. One of the other health volunteers I talked to pointed out that while it is wet season and many families are spending their days farming in the fields, we are in between planting and harvesting, a time that is also labeled as hungry season.

The very positive thin is that the CSCOM was already hosting these vaccination and baby weighing days, which is a HUGE step in the right direction, one which they took on their own. This makes my job easier and harder in that at least the CSCOM is well set up and knows how to take initiative and is functioning at a highly positive level. The hard part for me now is that I have to figure out where I fit in and how I can be best of service. Many CSCOMs don’t already have these practices in place and so I would be helping to set them up. Now my real job begins in identifying where improvements can be made and figuring out what my community needs and wants from me.

Ramadan and Independence Day

Hi all,

Happy fall! It’s the same season here, still wet and humid and hot. But I hear we have a change coming soon with a mini hot season and then a cooler season. You know I am looking forward to the cooler part. There’s no fooling anyone, I could never live in Arizona or New Mexico.
This last week marked the end of Ramadan as well as Malian Independence Day. Ramadan, which is a month of fasting and religious reflection in the Islamic religion, ended with a lot of feasting and celebration. During the month, there is to be no music or dancing, so the celebration of the end of fasting usually includes a big party. In my village, we had a lot of greeting through the day. People would go to see their neighbors and friends, bringing them blessings and sitting to chat for a while.

All of the women in my host family and their extended family cooked a large meal together during the day. There was lots of laughing and chatting and good smells. The women also painted their feet and hands with something similar to henna. The Bambaran word for it escapes me, but it is a very pretty art and is worn at almost any celebratory event. A lot of women also paint their eyebrows, the significance of which I don’t know. Some of them are very good at it, but the younger girls always seem to over do it. It is hard to take them seriously sometimes. Most families get new outfits for the end of Ramadan and they wore them proudly. They were very fancy, with special embroidery on brightly colored baazan, which is a special waxy fabric that holds the significance of a suit or evening gown in the states.

After eating dinner as one big huge family (think over 25 people around a bunch of different communal bowls) many of the older generations sat together to drink tea and socialize. The younger children, who had spent the day going from place to place reciting blessings and receiving small gifts in the form of small coins, were playing together in the different concessions and out in the streets, while the older kids and young adults really got down to business. They were singing and dancing, listening to loud music, both Malian, African, French and American late into the night. The next morning people were very quiet, as you can imagine.

Different villages seem to celebrate in much the same way, with some small variations. The circle of San has a much larger Christian population than most other parts of Mali at somewhere around 25%. Other volunteers who live in villages where there aren’t any Muslims or where the Muslim population is low traveled to friends’ villages to take part in celebrations.

Independence day in my village was sort of anti climactic in comparison. I did not notice any difference in the usual goings on. The only indication that anything was different was when my homologue, Alima and I went to visit the mayor’s office and he wasn’t there a fact that very much surprised her. It made me wonder, since I am in a small village, if the residents even knew that it was independence day. In talking to volunteers from other villages, it sounded like many of them celebrated the 22nd with town gatherings and more dancing or the delivery of speeches.

Hugs, kisses, and loves

Traveling

Hi all!

I’m back in San for the weekend; it was an adventure getting here yesterday. I had made plans to set out from Niasso early in the morning by bike so that I would not be riding in the hot sun. When I left my host family’s house, everything was running pretty smoothly. I took off down our dirt roads, saying hi to those that I passed, greeting everyone. As I approached the main road, I noticed my shadow looked a little off. I stopped my bike just in time to have all of my things fall off the back of it. Luckily, I was only just on the road, so I rearranged it all, re-bungeed it down and started up again. Not 5 minutes into my ride, with Adele’s “Right as Rain” playing in my ears, I heard a distinct and rhythmic flop, flop, flop. My back tire had gone flat. Not just a little flat but falling-off-of-the-rim flat. Of course I was traveling with my tool kits and my repair pieces, and normally I would have been also with a bike pump, but since the bike pumps that we received are gigantic, I had left mine at home. Oops! I decided that I would walk my bike in to San, still at least 19.8k from my destination, and hope that along the way a boshe (think over sized van for passenger and live stalk travel) might come by and stop for me. I was passed by many motos and a bunch of bicyclists, and one large truck, which I tried to flag down, but which did not stop. Finally, after about 20 minutes of walking, a man on a moto stopped to ask me if I needed help. Amazingly, he spoke English, small small, and we were able to get to an understanding that A) he did not have a pump with him; B) he was out working on the phone lines; C) I was planning on proceeding until a car stopped; D) and E) no I was not married, and unfortunately, no I did not have a telephone and there fore no number to give him.

Later, as I was talking to another passser-by on a moto, rescuing my load for the fourth time that morning, a small white vehicle approached. I successfully flagged them down. As the pulled up to me, weaving about the road way, I noticed it was an old Peugeot truck with a bed occupied by four other travelers. They were kind enough to take me, my bike, and my bags and I enjoyed a nice ride into San. The whole time we were riding in the back, enjoying the Malian scenes flying by, the truck was putting along, weaving slightly, wavering even more when it picked up too much speed. I was so very appreciative of the ride, but was crossing my fingers and holding on the whole time. So all in all, a journey that should have taken me an hour and 15 minutes by bike ended up taking me and hour by bike, foot, and Peugeot.

Moving in

This last Tuesday I moved into my new house. Peace Corps loaded up one of their cars with my stuff and another PCV's things and took us out to site. I was dropped off first and my host father and a few other neighbors were there to welcome me and help me unload my things.

Since then, I have spent my days visiting other people in the village and setting up my house. I am in town for right now and have picked up some fabric to make curtains for my multiple windows. The first night I was back in my house, we had a big storm. I was very nervous since the last time I was in my house, for site visit, my roof leaked and by the end of the storms, there would be standing water. But there was none of that this time. I think it is all fixed!

I biked into San for the first time yesterday. It took me about an hour or so and was actually quite a pleasant ride. It was very warm though, so I will be going back today later in the afternoon when the sun is not so hot.

Tomorrow is the first time I will be in my village during their market. I am excited to experience that. My village is small, only about 1500 people, but the place where they set up the market looks large. Plus, markets are always entertaining. I will probably go and meet up with my homologue and do some people watching.

Soon it will be the end of Ramadan and already my host dad has ensured me that there will be a BIG party. I believe that it is tomorrow, but it has been hard to pin down an actual date thus far. I am planning on bringing my camera with me, so hopefully I will end up with some awesome photos.

We are already in the planning for Halloween, since we hold fast to anything to look forward to in these first few months. The plan thus far is to travel to Segou, which is near by, for a costume dinner party. An added bonus: the hotel in Segou has a pool. We are lucky because Segou is the capital of our region, and therefore in our region, which means we can travel there in these first few months, when travel outside of our region is forbidden.

So if anyone has costume suggestions, send them my way. We have all kinds of "value village"-type vendors here, I am just drawing a blank. Hope everyone is doing well, enjoying the last few days of summer and going back to school. I miss you all!

Hugs, kisses, and loves

New joke!

Was at one of our last trainings the other day and heard this good description of peace corps service.

a man is building a well in his village when he realizes he is stuck. he is yelling for help, hoping to get the attention of anyone passing by.

along comes a missionary. "help me please, sir, i am stuck down here!"
the missionary throws the man down a bible and asks him to pray on his position. he then walks off.

an NGO worker approaches the same man in the same well. "help me please, sir, i am stuck down here!"
the NGO worker throws down a million dollars and walks off.

finally, a Peace Corps volunteer happens upon the same man stuck in the same well. "help me please, sir, i am stuck down here!"
the volunteer runs off. the man is obviously confused, until the volunteer comes running back with a tent and supplies and jumps down the well himself. (if you want to get sappy, we say that he has come to live with the man and his problems, to help him out of his well)

no hard feelings to anyone who falls into the other categories, it is only a joke. besides we are all here to do good work, maybe even together...

Its almost as if you were there! (words from swearing in ceremony)

The following is part of the speech givven by our country director at our swearing in ceremony. It was all in French, so this it the translation. Enjoy!

"I am delighted to welcome all of you here today for this time honored tradition: the swearing-in of Peace Corps Volunteers in Mali. That is to say, the dream continues. The international events of the last few years have not diminished their enthusiasm to go towards people of other cultures, for the purpose of cultural understanding and to share their know how.

The idea of creating the Peace Corps was presented nearly 50 years ago in October 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy, who was the Democratic party candidate for the U.S. Presidency, spoke to students at the University of Michigan. He challenged the students to commit two years of their lives to help people in countries of the developing world. Since then, 49 years have passed and nearly 200,000 Americans have answered the call to service made by Kennedy. Volunteers have served in nearly 100 countries around the world. Today, there are 8,000 Volunteers serving in 70 countries around the world, including in 25 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

These future Volunteers seated before you today are a manifestation of the ideals that helped to create the Peace Corps in 1961, and show that these ideals are still very much alive in the hearts of Americans today. These Americans come with the desire to work toward the noble causes of peace and development, as well as for the ideal of mutual understanding across cultures.
This event cannot pass without acknowledging that tomorrow is the 8th Anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001 on the United States. Since the passing of the horrific events of that day, Americans have been awoken to the dangers of the larger world around them. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, Americans understand the need for improved understanding across cultures and have continued to respond to President Kennedy’s call to service in record numbers.

The U.S. Peace Corps is here in Mali at the invitation of the Malian Government. For 38 years the Malian government, along with the Malian people, has warmly welcomed our Volunteers. During that time, nearly 3,000 Americans have served in Mali, where today, there are 110 Volunteers serving in five of eight administrative Regions throughout the country. Today, 64 more Volunteers will join them in a few moments.

I would like to sincerely thank the Malian government, as well as the Malian communities where are Volunteers work, represented respectively by the Ministers and Mayors present here today, for their support of the activities done by the Peace Corps in Mali. Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, on this happy occasion, to celebrate this newest group of Peace Corps Volunteers, and to acknowledge the exemplary nature of the cooperation that exists between the Peace Corps and Mali. Even the Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré expressed his gratitude and respect for the work that our Volunteers have done over the years in Mali, during a visit that he made to Peace Corps headquarters in Washington several years ago. He noted that they, “…live in the same villages as the Malian people, sleep on the same mats, eat the same food, and even get bitten by the same mosquitoes.”

The tasks that lie ahead for these soon-to-be volunteers is great, but will be facilitated to a large extent by the Malians in the host-families, organizations, and communities with whom they will be living and working. The Malians with whom our Volunteers collaborate have always proven to be more than willing to share their culture, wisdom, and know how with our Volunteers. For 38 years Peace Corps Volunteers in Mali have been welcomed by their Malian host-families and treated as they would a member of their own family. This is the best example of the fraternity that exists between the American and Malian people.

During the next two years these future Volunteers will have the opportunity to experience all aspects of what is a very rich and beautiful Malian culture. Here, in this country of ancient West African kingdoms and Empires lies a veritable kaleidoscope of diversity and cultures: united by the Malian values of teriya (friendship) and djatiguia (the ancient Malian tradition of hospitality, respect, and fair play), and co-existing in the amiable practice of sanankounya, or “joking cousins.” These qualities not only facilitate, but pretty much oblige the integration of our Volunteers into their Malian host families and communities, where hospitality has no limits. Our Volunteers respect Malian cultural norms, learn to speak the local language, and even adopt Malian names. Within this cultural context, these future Volunteers will be working in communities throughout the country.

To the trainees, I would like to be the first to congratulate you on having successfully completed your training program, and being selected to serve here in Mali. I am truly impressed by the manner in which you committed yourselves to learning as much as you could, during these past nine weeks. I am also encouraged by how much you have already given of yourselves, and how amazingly positive you have remained throughout a demanding training program. I must say, this bodes very well for the coming two years.

The sectors to which you are about to devote two years of your best efforts, are key to the hopes and dreams that so many Malians have for themselves, and their families. All of the Malians with whom you will soon be working, have not been as lucky as you in having access to reliable health care, clean drinking water, nutritious and abundant quantities of food, quality education, or opportunities that encourage entrepreneurialism and creativity. Even as you may find yourself slowly growing accustomed to this sad injustice during the next two years, I encourage you to act upon your passion for equality and social justice to do good work. Also, do not forget that each of you will serve as a model to be imitated in the communities where you will be living and working.

In addition to acquiring language and cross-cultural skills to facilitate their integration into their future Malian communities, we have also instilled in the trainees the ten core values that they are expected to uphold and respect during their service as Volunteers. These are listed on the cover of today’s program. One important aspect of these values is mutual respect and empathy for others, as well as being open to others. Not only will Volunteers be teaching others, they will be learning a great deal about life and themselves. While they may be living and working with people lacking the same level of formal education as them, these future Volunteers will soon find out that in doing their work here, they will greatly benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of Malians who have “graduated” from what the renowned Malian writer and ethnographer, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, called “the great university of the spoken word taught in the shade of baobab trees." By the time they finish their two years of service in Mali, our Volunteers may feel a bit of guilt that they have learned more than they taught. However, they will then realize, in the words of Mr. Bâ, that they have come to “know what they do not know, and only then, will they know.”

To the trainees, I will be honest in saying that Peace Corps service in Mali is not necessarily going to be easy. However, to help you get through those tough moments, remember to push your limits, but also be patient; keep an open mind but don’t lose sight of the values that brought you here; adapt to the local culture, but never forget who you are and where you come from; embrace the seriousness of your mission, but be ready to laugh when things get really tough. Help each other in your work and protect the good reputation of the Peace Corps in Mali. And if you become overwhelmed by the seeming impossibility of what you are trying to do - reach out for assistance. We all want you to succeed, and to do significant and sustainable work here. To this end, the quote of cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead is poignant:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. - Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Trainees, I promise you will never forget your two years in Mali, and I promise as well that the Malians with whom you are going to be living and working, will never forget you.

To our entire staff, who have all assisted with some aspect of the training that has just been completed, I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done to help prepare our trainees for their service. You have worked long hours under difficult conditions to teach language, technical, and cultural adaptation skills to our trainees. Other staff have worked extensively and often, behind the scenes, to make sure the training was a success. From identifying Malian communities and host families suitable for training, to setting up the rooms where the trainees would be staying, and all the rest, they have done it all. To all of our staff, I would like to know that I am continually amazed by your deep sense of commitment to our mission, and the energy with which you so skillfully carry out the innumerable tasks that make up your work day. It is truly a pleasure and honor for me to work with you in helping us to achieve our common goals.
And to the officials representing the Malian government here today, I offer you these 64 future Volunteers who will serve for the coming two years to facilitate development in your country. Their work will be varied; including well construction, reforestation, food security, small business development, girls’ education, adult literacy, and infant and maternal nutrition.

I would like to thank Ambassador Milovanovic, for her endless support of our program as well as her deep appreciation of the work our Volunteers are doing here in Mali. We also appreciate the honor of having this ceremony in this lovely setting in front of this beautiful building that is the U.S. Embassy in Bamako. I would also like to thank all of our colleagues in the U.S. Mission here in Mali, who have always shown nothing short of enthusiastic support of our Volunteers and their work.

I join my Peace Corps colleagues in the excitement of seeing what you are going to achieve here in Mali – starting today. While your motivation and perseverance during training largely involved personal and individual efforts, and drew upon your personal strength, today they become a public promise. Thus, in a few minutes you will take the oath to become a Peace Corps Volunteer. You will promise before God, and these witnesses, that you will faithfully carry out your duty as a Peace Corps Volunteer. And what is that duty that you will be doing so faithfully? It is to fulfill the goals of the Peace Corps. That is your duty. You accept today to uphold an honorable tradition of volunteer service here in Mali.

In finishing, I would like to share with you a quote by President John F. Kennedy, during his inauguration speech in January 1961, during which he noted the numerous tasks that lie ahead of him and his administration. I think his words will ring true for our future Volunteers, as they think about the tasks ahead of them:

All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, not in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin,

Madame Ambassador, I invite you to swear-in these trainees, as new Peace Corps Volunteers in Mali."

Swear in

Hi all,

Big news: I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! We were sworn in on the morning of July 10 at the American Embassy. Most everything that was said was spoken in French, but a copy of the country director’s speech, in English, is below for you to read. Everyone was dressed in Malian attire for the ceremony. I got a lot of good picture, which I will try to load on here, but other people also got some really good ones that are surfacing on Facebook and other blogs. A lot of other volunteers are blogging, and many of them are very good, so if you are interested they are worth checking out.

The rest of swear in day was spent at the American club, eating good food and playing in and by the pool. Look Ma, no sunburns! In the evening, we were shuttled to the hotel we stayed at and got ready for the night out. I had a very nice dinner of pizza and champagne with some friends (my first pizza in Mali. They do get a few foods right.) and then we went out to a place called thee Pirate’s Club across the street. There was music and lots of dancing, everyone had a really good time. At around midnight, most of us jumped into another shuttle and were taken to another club called the No Stress. Both places were very fun and really quite similar to a bar or night club you would find in the states. They even played the same music. We were finally taken back to our hotel around 3:30am, where some people continued on to the pool.

Needless to say the next morning, we were all a little slow. But we didn’t have much planned for us back at Tubani So and were able to relax a little. And pack! Friday night, we had a dinner with family members from our host families where the families were congratulated on keeping us safe and sane and encouraged to host future volunteers. The representative of the host families said a few words, congratulating us on our progress and wishing us luck in the next few years. They said that they looked forward to our visits and would want to know when our service was up because they would want to know what we had done and how we were doing and what we thought of Mali. The families all received a certificate which they displayed proudly. In Mali, a certificate for ANYTHING is treasured and usually displayed the way we might display a diploma or degree from school.

Yesterday, we got on a bus and began the long trek to San. We had already loaded all of our big bulk luggage onto a luggage truck that would follow us, stopping at each bureau or stage house to drop off our things, so we only had to load minimal luggage onto the bus. Which was good because we also loaded live stalk on. Two different families gave their volunteers a goat and a sheep, both of which traveled the long journey to Mopti under our bus. We checked on them every time we stopped and could usually hear them making noise while we were driving. The drive itself actually went smoothly for the most part, unlike last time. We stopped in Segou to drop off some other volunteers and then to get lunch before getting back on the road. It rained while we were driving and that is how we discovered that the us leaked. But still, we were almost to San and could get to a shower soon, so we weren’t too fazed by it. When we did finally get to San though, we realized that the luggage truck was not behind us anymore. In fact the truck had gone about 100k in the wrong direction and headed towards another stage house. We waited for them to catch up, finally unloaded our things and watched them continue on the way up to Mopti with the last 18 volunteers.

Today we are going shopping for the things we will need in our homes. The current volunteers will take us to find the things we need, the things they said they definitely needed, around town. The lists include things like a bed and mattress, a stove, tables and chairs, pots, pans, utensils, etc. While we are shopping, we will also explore San and locate other important things like the internet café and places to get good food while we are in town. I am set to install in my village tomorrow afternoon. Peace Corps sends out one of the staff members, an APCD , to come help us move in to our house, help us make sure we are settled and such. (I actually can’t remember the actually meaning behind each letter here, but each sector has an APCD who is in charge of the learning and progress of the volunteers. The APCD that is helping our region is the SED APCD, but will also be in charge of helping our region when we need it.) They will be traveling by PC transport, which means that we will just load that vehicle with our stuff and be driven out to our site.

In the next week or so, I will be getting settled, meeting more people and doing some work at my CSCOM. I plan to meet one of my friends at the market between our towns on Thursday and then next week is the end of Ramadan and Tuesday is Malian independence day. The next few weeks should go by quickly.

Almost there!

I have officially passed all of my tests, including my language test, and will be sworn in tomorrow morning at the American Embassy! Volunteer status, here I come!!

In other news, I am gaining a reputation. For falling. A lot. Two Mondays ago, on my morning run, I took a spill into some very rocky ground. Luckily, I don't think anyone saw me, but my family was very concerned when I showed up back at our house with blood on my hands and knee.

As those wounds were finally healing, I did it again. This time, it was lat Sunday morning. I was running on a usual route that was a bit muddy. While I was trying to navigate the muddier areas, my foot slipped out from under me and I fell into the squishy mud right on my bum. I had mud all over my shoes, and pretty much from the middle of my back down to my knees. I called it quits and walked back home. The whole walk, Malians, children and adults, were giving me funny looks. They are famous for pointing out the obvious, so of course they kept telling me that I was dirty, that I had mud on me, that I should go home and wash.

The icing on the cake was yesterday when we went to visit a malnutrition center in Bamako. We were in a large van and I was one of the last people to unload since I was sitting in the back. As I try to step out, my foot misses not only the first step, but then the second and I went flying out of the vehicle. In front of not only my whole group, but all of the Malians who were at this center, which is, come to find out, a small part of a HUGE hospital. I got to have my first ER experience, cleaning out my wounds in a sink (with no soap!!) in the consultation office. The trip (no pun intended) ended with me smacking my head on the way back into the van.

Needless to say, I am trying to be more careful.

Homestay a bana!

Hi all!

Again, I am back at Tubani So. Homestay is over (a bana in Bambara) and while I am sad to leave my family, I couldn't be happier to be done with it. I am not only happy to be leaving the village I was in, but very happy to be getting ready to swear in and go to my site! Later today I will take my CORE test, which covers the sessions we had on safety and security, administrative issues, personal health and sector specific topics. Tomorrow I will have my final language test. I am a little bit nervous for that but I feel pretty prepared.

This last week, in our homestay village, we had a baby weighing session where we weighed a total of 135 babies. A lot of them were underweight and even severely malnourished. I was actually surprised at how many babies fell into the severely malnourished category. The next day, we made ameliorated porridge for those babies who were in the yellow (malnourished) and red (severely malnourished) categories. We had a HUGE pot full of porridge and ran out! We got to try some of the porridge, and it was really pretty good.

Later in the week we built a soak pit which is a catch all for run off from things like wash areas and negens. We made our soak pit at the CSCOM in our village. First we built a wash area, a concrete slab with a surrounding wall for the women to wash clothing at. Then we built a sump and laid the pipe for the run off, which went to the soak pit. Finally, we constructed the soak pit, a giant hole filled with giant rocks that will help the water and run off to seep into the ground AWAY from any drinking water sources.

Last Sunday, we went to the National Museum in Bamako. It was very interesting, seeing the artifacts that have been found in Mali. Or at least I think that is what I was seeing. I think you learn something new every day and that day I learned that I like museums better when I can understand what I am looking at. All of the labels and information about each exhibit were in French. Later we went to a restaurant called Broadway Cafe that served American-type food. Lots of good breakfast food, hamburgers, ice cream, milk shakes, pizza... I am sure I gained a good 10 pounds eating there. It was so good that we (I went with a group of about 5 people) had breakfast and coffee (the first mocha I have had in two months!) and then stayed for lunch. For breakfast, I had banana pancakes, which were AMAZING and then for lunch a turkey sandwich, which was so-so. The highlight though was that I split desert with my friend Brad. He ordered us a banana split and I ordered us a mint chocolate chip milk shake and we finished them both, every last bit.

I have still been running, but I have taken a couple of days off and gone bike riding instead. Te road is REALLY bumpy, but the scenery is great. The other day during my run, I took a spill onto the rocky ground. After I finished falling and skidding along the round, I got up and luckily no one was around. Or maybe they had all ducked behind the bushes so as to help me avoid the embarrassment. I have a couple of sweet bruises and scratches, but other than that, no biggie.

Time for a test! Wish me luck!

Hugs, Kisses and Loves,

Holly

Site visit

Hi all!

I've just returned from site visit and I couldn't be happier about my site. On Sunday, we loaded onto buses headed to our various villages and set out on our long journey. Of course, it rained all morning long and we left an hour and a half later than we had planned, but we were excited to be going. Twenty minutes into our drive, we stopped at the bus gar (bus depot) to change a tire. Then we went about three blocks for gas. Another 20 minutes and we stopped for food and bathrooms. Every time the bus stopped, the street vendors would storm the bus, standing outside the doors and some even getting on the bus to sell their goods. Finally, we were off. Sort of. Our ride included a few more of these types of stops including two maintenance stops. When someone on the bus wanted to be dropped off, we pulled over and let them out, stopping long enough for them to get their bags and the street vendors to get on and off the bus. On one stop the bus wouldn't start again and we had to make a rolling start. At another stop, the bus would not start at all and many Malians and PCT's had to get off the bus to push it!

Finally, after hours on the road, we reached our destination around 5 pm. The whole trip took us about 8 1/2 hours, but in total we spent about 10 hours on that bus. And there were other PCV's who had to go further north, making their trip an all day affair. We found out afterwards that the bus hit a cow on its way to drop them off!

Once we made it into San, we proceeded to our stage house (a house that is owned/rented by the peace corps for our use) and had some great Mexican food and met all of our new San buddies. I am so excited because everyone was so nice and friendly and all around fun to be around. On Monday, we went early to the bank to set up our accounts and then to the post office and also to the big San market. In the afternoon, we boarded transport with our site buddies, current PCV's who had volunteered to go to our sites with us and help us get settled, and went to site.

I got to meet the people of my village, those that work at the CSCOM, those that are part of the Mayor's office, people who own the boutiki's in town. I met the dugutigi (the chief of the village) and the doctor. And finally I met my host family. They are great. It is a mother and father with about 7 children (from what i can piece together so far) and my host dad is the head of the literacy campaign in the village and a teacher of Bambara. This is really great because he will also be my tutor while I am still learning. He says that right now, my Bambara may be dooni dooni (small small) but in one month, and then in two months, I will be singing in Bambara. I would love to believe that!

I got to stay in my house for a few days as well. My house is not in the same concession as my host family, it is a little ways down the road from them. I have my own concession (which means I have my own courtyard and my house and land is walled in) with a three room house (mud/concrete walls with thatched/mud/plastic/cement roof) and three trees. I also have my own negen (with an impossibly small hole) and room for a garden. It is strange to think that in my own way, I am now a home owner! And strange as well to think that this will be my house for the next two years. I have grand plans to make my house homey and can't wait to get started in just a few weeks!

Site information

Hi all!

Today I am back at Tubani So and just got done with a meeting where I found out where my site is. I will be just outside of San in the Segou region. I will live in my own concession that is 5k from a ENV volunteer that I am friends with and 3k from another volunteer I haven't met yet. I am not far at all from my banking town, wihich has a post office, internet access and anything else i might need. I am one of the lucky ones to have cell phone reception at my site. Everyone is very excited to know where they are going and what they will be doing. My counterpart is a woman who works at the CSCOM in my village (the CSCOM is the local health facility. it usually has a matrone, a vaccinator and either a nurse or a doctor. a matrone is like a midwife and doctor hybrid) The other volunteers that are in my region are great people. The first person I met after getting to Philly, Amanda, is located near me in our regional capital. We have already made plans to get together for ice cream on a regular basis.

I am feeling better today than I have in a few days. I got sick last Tuesday night (i jinxed myself saying i hadn't been sick yet) and went into the med office on Wednesday afternoon. The med office is not an emergency room! Its just an air conditioned building, with beds, a VCR and TV, and a running toilet (!) that the PCMO (peace corps medical officer) runs her business out of. I stayed there for three nights, got most of everything under control and got to try some Malian attempts at American food. The best thing I had was a pan au chocolat and ice cream one night. Really, neither was worth being sick, but made it a little better. I went back to my home stay site on Saturday morning and tried to catch up on what I missed.

Yesterday, we came back to Tubani So and then almost immediately reboarded the buses. Half of us went to the National Museum and the other half went to the American Club. Lucky for me, I was in the second group. The American Club is an exclusive club with a pool and American-esque food. We got to go swimming and have hamburgers and drink real diet coke (not the coke light i had the other day, which was not so yummy) It rained while we were there, but of course that didn't stop us. we were in the pool, in the wind and rain. it felt great! and at the end of it, I got to take a hot shower! The little things are so important!

Have to go now, more trainings and meetings. I will be here with internet access for the next week or so, so I will let you know more later. Miss you all, love you lots! Mom, you can call around 10am, I will be available then.

love, hugs and kisses,

Holly

I'm here!

The views and comments contained in this blog are mine and only mine and in no way represent those of the Peace Corps or any 0ther agency.

Hi all! Sorry it has taken me a few days to get this out to you, but I have officially arrived in Mali! We arrived via Airfrance (great flight food with out the extra charges) on Friday July 10. We were transported to Tubani So (Bambara for dove house) which is about a half hour outside of Bamako. Since arriving I have been in multiple trainings on health topics (my health as well as Malian health), language, cross culture, language, safety and security, language and Mr. D! (aka #3) The language I am learning is Bambara which is spoken in almost every part of Mali.

Four days after arriving, we split off into our home stay villages. I am in a village called Buguineda Camp (I am told you can find us on google earth) that is about a hour from Tubani So. There are 11 volunteers training in my village; 6 health education volunteers (HED), 3 small enterprise development volunteers (SED), one environment (ENV) and one water sanitation (WatSan). We all live in separate families, but we all come together every day for small language classes. My language class consists of three volunteers and one language/cultural facilitator (LCF). It is in these groups (11 volunteers and 4 LCF's) that we have x-cultural exchanges, learning about traditional ceremonies, customs, foods, and feux pas.

There are two other villages near us that house other volunteers, Buguineda Village and Sounduguba (my spelling is prob way off, but the Bambarain language is all phonetic) and we travel between those villages to hang out with the other volunteers on days off, like last Sunday. Each village is about 2 KM from ours, with our village between them. In the mornings when I run, I can make it them and back in less than 20 minutes. We have travelled to B.Village for trainings on gardening and composting with the ENV volunteers.

It is very very very hot and we get some relief when it rains. The Malians think we are crazy because we welcome the storms, some times even standing outside in the downpour. The children call us Tubabu or Tubabs (white people) while every one else is very curious about us. The Malian culture puts great emphasis on greetings and departures so my conversation skills are tested over and over again on my 7 minute walk between home and school. Their abbreviated greeting lasts at least 5-7 lines each, requiring very precise responses.

The wildlife so far has consisted of farm animals on the loose, cows (misi), sheep (saga), goats (ba), and donkeys (fali). There are also lots of chickens (ce), cats (jacuma) and dogs (wulu). The family I am living with doesn't have goats, cows, chicken or donkeys, but they have everything else. I also found out the other night that they have a scorpion! I went to the negen (the pit toilet, sounds like nyaygen) in the evening after the sun had gone down for a bucket bath (which feels amazing, by the way) with my head lamp. While i was scanning the wall, I came across the usual termites and cockroaches. I passed him right over before realizing what I was looking at. A small scorpion, the size of a Ritz cracker (which sounds so good right now!) was cowered in the corner of the wall about two feet up from the ground. I was thinking I should squash him before he got away, but unsure how best to kill him, I called one of my host sisters. Aissata (she's 18, one of my twin sisters, who speaks awesome french and a little English) came to find me and saw what I was looking at. "OOOOOOOOOO!" She called Samata, my other host sister, her twin, who came in and had the same reaction. They both called my host brother, Fassirima (who is 15) who came in and cut it in half with the edge of the dust pan. Needless to say, I have not taken a bucket bath after dark again.

We have been with our families for about 12 days, back here at the training facility for 4 and are heading back out to out host villages tomorrow for another 12 days. Time is flying by now; when we come back next time, it will be to prep for our week long site visits! I still do not know yet where I will be, although some people seem to.

So far, my health has been great. I cannot say the same for many of the other volunteers as a lot of people have gotten Mr D or are sick with colds. I am crossing my fingers to be one of the 15% of volunteers who make it through training with no sickness.

I hope you are all doing well! I do not have as many of the email addresses as I thought I did, so please feel free to forward this to whom ever asks. I will not be able to check it again right away, but I will write as soon as I can. There are other volunteers that are doing blogs and some are really good at keeping up with them.

Missing you lots!

Hugs, kisses, and love,

Holly (aka Awa Sacko) <<< its my Malian name....