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!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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
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....
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....
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