Weekend Update! (Kinda)

Since September, a lot has been going on, which is one of the main reasons I haven’t blogged. My bad. Procrastination has been an issue, especially when it comes to updating people from home, which I’m not proud of. Again, sorry. So, post-Ghana, I spent a good deal of time at my site, having a few friends (other volunteers) visit from other villages, doing a few murals, and also doing a world map project at my site. World maps are great, fun things to do as small projects in your village because 1)it takes a handful of people to do so you don’t feel guilty hanging out with a bunch of Americans for 4 days straight 2) you get to revisit kindergarten and get all messy with paint  3) it’s a great educational tool for your village & the students at the school. We had tons of support from my village – my mayor paid to feed us while I had 5 other volunteers stay in my village, in the newly constructed library at the school, actually. It was fun to show some of my friends around my village & we had a good time camping out in tents in the library and cooking together. In early October, I went to Segou for my friend Miriam’s birthday celebration. Segou is similar to Sikasso in that it is a regional capitol, but far more touristy – about 5 hours from Sikasso. They have way more places to eat, including a nice hotel that has a ‘make your own pizza night’ every Friday for a flat price. It’s delicious & I plan on eating it as much as possible, finding random reasons to go to Segou. I’m glad I have friends in places with good food…

Also in October, I continued with my occasional radio shows in Sikasso, doing a few on moringa (a tree, whose leaves are used as a health supplement, especially for malnourished children) and nutrition. Long story short, I don’t do radio shows every week in Sikasso because the station requires air time to be purchased, just like in America, because it is a private station, so we made a deal to do shows whenever it is convenient (when I plan to be in town) and when there is open air time, instead of having a weekly show. So, I’ve done about 7-8 shows, but I want to do more now that I am back in the States and will have more time. When I’m not planning for an upcoming project, I help out at the health center. There are always vaccination campaigns going on and I’ve done several with the staff there – polio, etc. For Halloween, a region about 2 hours away from me (Bougouni) hosted the party, complete with costumes from Mario Party & Gaga, herself. Again, any festivity with other volunteers is a great escape from day-to-day Malian life. Thanksgiving is held in Sikasso, my regional capitol, every year, so with that came a lot of planning. The first weekend in November began the Tabaski celebration, which is 2-4 days, depending on the wealth of the village and that of individual families celebrating. Tabaski marks the end of Ramadan and is celebrated by killing animals to eat, dressing up in new, fancy clothes, spending time with friends and family, not working and just relaxing. There’s also lots of time at the mosque, in prayer, thanking Allah for the year, and blessing the village for the following year. If you’re on Facebook, feel free to look at my pictures from the Ramadan holiday; there’s one of me dressed up before going to mosque in Malian clothes & I look pretty fine, if I do say so myself. Real scandalous outfits. After the 4-day celebration in my village, I went to Segou again for another birthday celebration for 2 of my friends. Again, more good food & pool time, which was great. The rest of Thanksgiving, I was busy in my village doing a Meningitis vaccination campaign and also planning for Thanksgiving. I went into Sikasso early to help set up and also for a bar crawl for my friend Chelsea’s birthday. (Lots of birthday celebrations, I am aware.) Bar crawls in Mali are interesting, but doable. At one point, we bought 40s and shotgunned them in an alley. Classy, I know. We ended up having 90 volunteers come to Thanksgiving, staying for the 3-day celebration, that turned into more like 4-5, because a stomach bug infested our crew and hit us hard, like every gastrointestinal virus does in Mali. It was a great celebration, though, complete with a Club Night as well as Mexican Day at a pool in town. All in all, it was completely worth all the hard work and planning, and even better to spend an American holiday with who else, but other Americans. After Thanksgiving, it turned into crunch time, trying to get all my stuff together for a 2-day formation I was hosting at the school in my village. I used a family planning organization from Sikasso, but is also in all other regions in Mali, that promotes family planning to come and teach grades 6-9 on sexual and reproductive health. I had been working with them for months, planning for them to come to my village’s school to host what we in Peace Corps call a formation. I guess it would be the equivalent of a seminar, maybe? But as with everything with Malians – hands on. It took place Dec. 5 & 6, a little over a week before I headed into Bamako to get ready to go home for the holidays. There are some pictures on Facebook from the formation, which show the animators teaching everything from the male & female reproductive system to STDs to family planning to contraceptives and how to use them properly. It was very out of their comfort zone, but something that was vital for them to learn, especially with the staggering number of girls dropping out at 14 due to pregnancy. As with all projects in Peace Corps, we make sure that we have the community’s full support before implementing anything that has to be something that the community needs, can support, and sustain if it is on-going. It went very well and I think that the kids took a lot away from it, participating and asking good questions. I am currently putting together a report and a step-by-step guide on repeating the formation for other volunteers to copy. I might actually repeat it in another village that’s near me in a few months. Right before I left to come into Bamako, the new group of volunteers that began training in October went to visit their new sites. One was placed in the village just up the road from me where I go once a week for market and about a mile away from where I go to play in the waterfalls. (You may have seen pictures of waterfalls on my Facebook.)  I’m excited to have another volunteer near me, which will make life in village a little less lonely. I left to go into Bamako a few days later, went shopping in the artisan market for last minute gifts, then flew out for America on Dec. 20! America was wonderful – eating everything, spending time with friends & family, going on a few trips (Athens, the beach in Gulf Shores, Nashville, Birmingham), and just enjoying all that is America. I’m glad I got a break about midway through my service; I needed it. I loved catching up with people, sharing with them what exactly I do here and what it’s like in Mali. That’s another reason I’m here – to share my experiences and Malian culture with people back home – so I was glad to do it. I even made it back to McIntosh (the old stomping grounds) to speak to a Current Issues class and share a slideshow, in exchange for a vacation day, so that was definitely worth it. It was a little bit of an adjustment to be back and I know I will gradually get back into the groove, but all in all, this is where I’m supposed to be & I’m happy to be back. I’m getting another project underway now and am looking forward to the huge Segou Music Festival in mid-February. So that’s the update for now. 2 weeks from today will mark my training class’ 1 year anniversary of being in Mali, so cheers to that. And I literally want you to take a drink on February 2^nd & cheers to me. Much appreciation. 

Adventures in Ghana

On Sept  17^th, a group of 12 other Peace Corps Mali Volunteers and myself left on a bus for Ghana for a much needed, but also to run in the annual marathon/half marathon that’s held every September in Accra, the capitol. But, let’s be real, I was also in search of Sidik look-alikes. Travelling through Burkina Faso into Ghana, the trip took us about 36 hours, including a 5-hour stop at one border so the drivers could sleep. The bus didn’t have air conditioning and did not have bathrooms on board (think Greyhound,) but looking back, the trip there wasn’t that bad. We had tons of snacks and were excited for vacay & to be around each other, so it went fairly quickly. We arrived in Kumasi, where we then travelled to Takurati to stay at the Green Turtle Lodge (BEACH!), an environmentally-friendly resort/lodge type deal where we stayed for 3 nights. The bus taxi we rented to get there had a little trouble on the ridiculously rocky road/path that was atleast 6k off the main road and broke down, but who better than 12 girls to push at 11pm? We found a 13 year-old kid to catch and cook us lobsters for what we figured was equivalent to 0.75 a lobster. The food was delicious at the Lodge – egg, sausage, & toast breakfasts with French press coffee, paninis for lunch. Did I mention there was a beautiful beach? We all got a lot of sun, but it felt good to sunbathe and swim in the ocean.  After the Green Turtle, we headed back to Kumasi to go to Kakum National Park, home to the tallest and largest series of rope bridges in the world. There are 4 like it in the world – 1 in Costa Rica and I can’t remember where the others are. The 7 rope bridges criss-crossed over the rainforest. After leaving, we went to the Oasis Resort in Cape Coast, which was probably my favorite place we went to in Ghana. The culture was Jamaica-rasta. All the locals wore Bob Marley tees and beanies baring Jamaican colors and would say things to us like ‘it’s nice to be nice’ or ‘we are all rich. We are only poor if we want to be.’ Ghanaians speak English, but they also have something like 40 local languages, one being Twee, which we picked up a few essential phrases. We discovered in Cape Coast that Ghanaian music is WAY better than Malian music. We came home and immediately downloaded the songs that became the anthems for our trip. The music was hip-hop meets pop meets Jamaica. They also listen to a lot of American hip-hop.  I wish we had more than just one night in Cape Coast, but we had to get to Accra to rest up for the marathon/half marathon, which was the whole purpose of our trip to Ghana. The people that weren’t running stayed behind in Cape Coast another day, while the runners (me?!) began our way to Accra, which turned into an all-day affair. A PCV from Ghana that we met in Cape Coast (super jealous) told us about a hostel/hotel outside of Accra that was opened by a previous Medical Officer for Peace Corps Niger, and gives priority to Peace Corps Volunteers and their families. The place was incredible and none of us wanted to leave. We cooked breakfast there & watched Harry Potter on the big screen tv and slept in air conditioned rooms with King sized beds. If you’re EVER in Ghana, you HAVE to stay at the Peace Inn outside Accra. The staff was so nice & it was just as inexpensive as all of the other hostels we stayed at during our trip. But, we didn’t leave luxury for long. One girl on our trip got us a sponsor for the race, who paid for 2 rooms for us to stay at the African Royal Beach Hotel in Accra, one of the nicest hotels in Ghana, which was like a five star hotel in America. We laid by the pool and ordered Hawaiian pizzas at the restaurant bar. (Pictures will be on Facebook very soon; check ‘em out.) We woke up at 4am to head to the race starting line, wearing our matching t-shirts we had made and American flags in our pony-tails. The race course started alongside the water, which was a beautiful, scenic route, but went on to go alongside the highway and through some towns, which didn’t have the best terrain. There was no roped-off course, so running through town, we would have to yell ‘Excuse me!’ to weave our way through people, at times, who were on their way to church or collecting water. By mile 9, my feet & legs were killing me. I more or less crawled the last 4 miles, with short spurts where I would jog a few hundred yards. There were people from all over running both the marathon and the half marathon, but there was also a team relay and a 10k. I don’t know how many hundreds of people competed, but the girl who won for the females was a Ghanaian (duh) and looked like she could run across Africa while doing a crossword puzzle. She wasn’t even winded when she finished. I think I collapsed. I got passed by Ghanaians doing the marathon, who started about an hour before we did, cars following alongside them with video cameras. But, all in all, I’m proud of myself for finishing, being a self-proclaimed non-runner and all. It was rough, though. I wish I would have clocked my time, but it was somewhere around 2.5 hours. No one knows exactly when we started and they didn’t give us our finishing times. I decided I will stick to 5ks and 10ks from now on. 13 miles is a little too much for me. After the race, we celebrated with orange slices, coconuts, and Ghanaian rice and chicken. We all got medals that say ‘Finisher’ on them - definitely going up on the mantel with my stocking when I come home for Christmas. For the rest of the day, we went to the spa at the hotel where we got free 30-minute massages, haircuts, and pedicures, laid by the pool and celebrated a birthday for a girl on our trip with a cake and daiquiris. The following day, we made it into town to shop and eat at the country’s first, brand new KFC in town. There wasn’t macaroni & cheese or mashed potatoes, but I’m pretty sure we were still in heaven. It was fried chicken!  After checking into the Salvation Army’s hostel, we shopped until late afternoon, and then a couple of us went to the NYU center in Accra, where my friend Meredith, an NYU grad, spoke at a hosted dinner on Peace Corps and her experiences thus far. Ghana’s Peace Corps Country Director also spoke on the Peace Corps and the application process. Afterwards, we mingled with NYU students who were in the Accra study abroad program over dinner, which was amazing & FREE! I also may have fallen in love with their Resident Director, who sat with me at dinner, a local Ghanaian who came with us afterwards to meet up with the rest of our group at a sushi place (Yes, sushi in Ghana!) I’ve never seen so many white people…well, in 8 months. After a delicious sushi dinner with cocktails, we went out in Accra with some people we had met who had just opened a bar nearby. Fun night of dancing and drinks & listening to our new favorite Ghanaian songs. Our bus ride the following day was by far the worst part of the trip and it sucked that we ended the trip with such a low, but it was an experience nonetheless, so much so that I recorded the timeline in a draft on my phone: Left the bus station at 11:15 am after running around the city, going to different bus stations until we found the right one. The bus was scheduled to leave at 10:00 am. The bus broke down only 50k outside of Accra at 2:20pm. Yes, that is 3 hours to travel 50k. To say that the bus was a piece of shit or that that road was horrible would be the understatement of the year. We sat by the side of the road until 7pm, after calling the bus company as well as the Safety & Security Officer for Ghana who promised us a free ride back to Accra if only we could get the bus company to give us our money back. Clearly, he didn’t. So, at 7pm, we headed towards Kumasi. We stopped an hour and a half later to fix the bus yet again – electrical problems, they kept saying, but refused to call the bus company to demand another bus. We didn’t leave that bus stop until about 11pm, but the drivers drove through the night to make up for lost time. The rest of the stops were for using the bathroom (almost always on the side of the road) or to eat. Thank God, we made it to the Ghana/Burkina Faso border before it closed the following day at 5pm. After hours of paperwork and ‘no, go stand over there’s, we made our way through Burkina without too much trouble, and made it to the Burkina/Mali border late that night at 1am, where we stopped to sleep – some on the ground outside of the bus along with the other Malian passengers, some inside of the bus, which didn’t provide much shut eye. I got off the bus after 49 grueling hours (kind of like Oregon Trail, yes) in Koutiala, after eating mostly bread & peanut butter, saying goodbye to the rest of the group who had another 6-8 hours or so to Bamako. All in all, it was rough. My last shower was Sunday. Count it: 4 full days without a shower. Who am I?

So, let’s recap all of the elements of my trip that were completely contradictory to who I’ve always considered myself to be: I got a massage & a haircut by a Ghanaian woman at the spa of a hotel. Yes, I let someone touch me. She also swore that the oils she insisted on rubbing into my hair would make it shine. No, it made me look like I came out of the movie Grease. I ran a half-marathon. Yes, I RAN. What the hell? I climbed a series of rope bridges hundreds of feet up in the air and I’m afraid of heights. I went 4 days without washing my body or my hair. So, if there was ever a time for an identity crisis, it’d be now. However, I’m pretty sure my OCD is dwindling, so that’s a bonus.

The trip was great and it was hard coming back, but also, it feels good to be ‘home.’ In 2 weeks, I’m going to visit a friend for her birthday, followed by a Halloween bash a couple hours away from my region, then Thanksgiving, which is held every year in Sikasso, the land of plenty. Thanksgiving is a huge affair every year – complete with a registration day, Feast Day on Thanksgiving, Mexican Day at our hotel's really nice pool, and a day at the waterfalls in Woroni. I’ll have a lot to write about after all of those events, so stay tuned. Oh, and in case you’re counting down with me: 79 days til I’m home!!!!! Let the diet begin…

The Village People

In going along with Goal 2 of Peace Corps, to exchange American culture with host country nationals, I decided my best contribution would be in the realm of fashion & pop culture, obviously. So after visiting the transit house, I collect old People or Glamour (they’re not ready for Cosmo yet) magazines that other volunteers have been sent from home and read, and give them to the teenage girls that live near me. Like teenage boys/men reading GQ, they’re not in it for the articles, not that they could read them anyways. It’s all about the pictures, which leads to discussions about different topics. It’s pretty interesting, though I wish my language was better to explain certain things. Also, I have two friends in my village who have given me their jump drives to put music and movies on for them. My guy friend, Salifu, who works at the mayor’s office in my town, who everyone thinks I’m dating (I’m not), loved Scarface and his responst to Avatar was, ' I do not understand.' Next up is Lord of the Rings: I'll keep you updated on his reaction. I don’t think they understand the movies, but I am trying to find ones that atleast have French subtitles. I haven’t yet given them any music, but I did ask Salifu what kind of music he liked and his response, roughly translated was, ‘whatever’s good for you is good for me.’ False. I highly doubt it. So, his examples, naturally, were Celine Dion & Bob Marley. Oh, they have so much to learn.

One of the craziest things I’ve seen here happened the other week when my friend Hannah came to my site for a few days to help me paint a mural at my health center. We had just finished eating dinner and were sitting around, eating corn with my host family, when we heard people screaming, calling people to come. We had no idea what was going on and couldn’t get anyone to tell us in the frenzy of them running around. We followed and noticed that everyone was running towards the pump with buckets, which is when we saw it: there was a hut on fire. It was, as the cliché goes, like watching a car wreck – you wanted so desperately to help, but realistically knew that there was nothing we could do. We guiltily wanted to take pictures, but how cruel would that have been? No one was hurt, as it was only a cooking hut, where no one lived. The entire roof, made of straw, ended up collapsing in and being suffocated, despite people’s  attempts to throw water on it. It seemed like my entire village was running back and forth to the pump, filling buckets with water to throw on the flames, but it wasn’t enough to smother the flames. Makes you thankful for the Fire Department in America, what with their speedy arrival and hoses and extension ladders and all that. Shout out to the PTCFD. Do your thing.

So, like I said, Hannah & I (honestly, just Hannah) painted a mural on nutrition on one of the outer walls of my health center. It shows the 3 recognized Malian food groups: Energy, Construction, and Protection foods, with pictures going along with each group showing the benefits of each, as most Malians in rural villages are illiterate. I think it turned out really well and as soon as my camera chord arrives from the U.S. of A, I will upload photos. I have taken a lot lately and haven’t been able to upload them, my most sincere of apologies.

This past week also marked the end of Ramadan and the beginning of their celebrations known as Seli fitini, which will be followed by Seli ba in a few weeks. There was a 3-day celebration/feast, where no one worked, but there was a lot of going around, blessing neighbors to have a good year. Kids were all dressed up in new, fresh outfits, girls wore awful makeup. I even went to the mosque on day with my whole village, with everyone all dressed up, and went through the traditional prayer with them:  going through the motions, placing my forehead to the ground. I had an overwhelming sense of community and loved that I did that with them on the holiday, but obviously am not converting to Islam. The whole celebration was like Halloween meets Easter meets Christmas, African village-style. Little kids would go around, home to home, chanting blessings, and adults would give them change.

A few days ago, I had one of my first tangible successes: I built my first working ‘Tippy Tap.’ It’s a structure we learned to build during our last training a couple months ago made of wood, meant to help people without running water to wash their hands more effectively. I built it in the village I go to weekly to do different animations and they were all super excited and proud to show it off to people. I almost cried, no lie. I’ll have to put up pictures showing what it looks like, but the idea is that you step on a foot pedal made of wood that’s attached to a 4L jug of water with a whole in the side, connected by a piece of string, that tips over and water comes out. There’s also a bar of soap on a string, hanging as well, to encourage hand washing WITH SOAP. It’s fairly simple, but it’s also combatting a huge problem here, which is behavior change. They aren’t accustomed to washing their hands after they go to the bathroom and when they do wash their hands before they eat, it isn’t with soap. So, this will hopefully encourage them to do so. It’s also sustainable (something we preach here) because I did not build it myself, I only oversaw and instructed the building of it, so a Malian knows how it’s built as well as how to fix it if it breaks. Also, the soap that is hanging came from the women who actually make soap in the village, so it’s not something that I purchased for them and when it’s gone, it can’t be replaced. If the projects we do cannot be replicated or continued after we’re gone, there’s no point in doing them. That’s why sustainability is so important. So, I feel like it was a great success, albeit initial. I'm planning on building 2 more in my own village in the next couple days, so hopefully the outcome is just as good.

Most recently: my host brothers are obsessed with the glow in the dark stars I gave them that I brought from America (because yes, I am afraid of the dark and I bought a pack of 100 of them before I came) and think it’s crazy that they have to be placed in front of artificial light to ‘charge’ them before they will glow.

GHANA IN 9 DAYS! AHHHHH! More on that after I return. Wish me luck. A half marathon, really? Who am I, a runner?

I Ni Fama (It's Been A While)

8/3/11: Day 3 of Ramadan

My 2^nd day of fasting in village. I didn’t participate yesterday (because I wanted to run & knew I wouldn’t have any energy) & it’s been such the talk of the town. I wanted to try it so I could say I gave it a shot & like most things I do in my community, I was aiming to earn their respect. Fasting is yet another thing they can say that I did to be more like them. I’m proud to be doing it, to have a better picture of what their life is like. I woke up at 4am this morning to eat a literal ‘break.fast’, or rather a last meal before the fast – the typical rice & sauce & the breakfast porridge that I don’t really like. I felt even more a part of my community, fasting with them, being able to say, “yes, I’m fasting today” and seeing them nod with approval. I haven’t even snuck food in my house yet! Though I know I could. But I’m doing this for me as well, so I want to do it right. Fasting is really a mind game. Your mind saying, “You’re hungry!” though your stomach still growls. We’ll see how many more days I do this before the month is over. I’m going to Sikasso tomorrow so God knows I’ll be eating there. Friday, I’m heading to Koutiala for my friend’s birthday party – more feasting. I also need to be running daily so I can’t fast too much; the half marathon in Ghana is steadily approaching & to say that I’m out of shape is an extreme understatement. For those of you who thought I would lose weight while I was here: false. Malians get their fill of carbs, that’s for sure.

So yesterday was the 6^th month mark and I would like to share some of what I’ve learned thus far:

1.       Donald Trump is not the only man who can pull off a comb-over. Benefits of weekly anti-malaria meds: hair loss. Thank you, Mali.

2.       I will never take for granted or get used to how beautiful the sky is all the time: sunrise, sunset, before a storm, in the middle of a storm, a starry night.

3.       Beer bellies also come in the form of rice bellies.

4.       Insects make the best & worst roommates: they’re quiet, but not too quiet. They listen, but don’t judge. They’re always around, yet they’re always lurking.   

5.       Phone credit is the best way to spend my monthly allowance, hands down. I would not survive this experience without blowing large amounts of money on Malitel phone credit. Thank you sweet baby Jesus.

6.       Peace Corps Volunteers get just as excited for Harry Potter premiers and new seasons of Jersey Shore as anyone else I know.

7.       When internet access is available, you don’t sleep.

8.       Feeling attractive is relative.

9.       Every child in my village of over 12,000 knows where I am at any given moment.

10.   “What’s this?” is a question that never gets old, yet is becoming harder and harder to answer tactfully. Picture this: You’re a 6 year-old Malian child & you have never left your village. What would you think a tampon was? Protein powder? Face wash? Toilet paper?

11.   Getting on Facebook only makes you sad.

12.   Behavior change is a lofty, lofty goal.

13.   Being on the radio makes you a celebrity. Introducing DJ Kadja Dumbia.

14.   The word ‘hot’ has a whole, new meaning.

15.   Diarrhea is now the most common topic of conversation & way less taboo than I ever thought it would be.

16.   I swat flies in my sleep, reading outside, and while I’m in the nyegen trying to use the bathroom or shower, all like it’s second nature.

17.   MacGyver’s got nothing on PCVs; we’re resourceful like you wouldn’t believe.

18.   Being out of the loop with American entertainment – celebrity news, the latest music, box office movies, has only made me appreciate how great America is.

More to come…

Mah & More

5/19/11: So yesterday, this woman came to the CSCOM, who my docs told me was named Kadja as well. She's your togoma! Your 'namesake,' they said. You have to go visit her in Mah. You're going to go. When? Tomorrow? 8am. Her husband, Madu, will come tomorrow morning to your house to get you on his bike and you two will bike back to Mah together. You'll do an animation with the women in the village. You'll cook lunch w/ Kadja. So, it's settled. Tomorrow. 8am.
...Really? Yes. Just like that? Yes. And so, in a matter of minutes, I had an obligation that I didn't sign up for. When an opportunity arises, I guess...
And so it was written, so it was done. Madu showed up at my house just after 8am; I, of course, was running late. We took off for Mah together, me, on my Trek 10-speed, him, on his rinkety Malian bike 1-speed: pedal hard. We took the dirt road that first passed by the CSCOM. He had a cigarette, while I said my "Good Morning"s and "How did you sleep?"s to my coworkers. Taking the last few drags on his cigarette as we rode out of town, Madu proceeded to make conversation as we, one behind the other, made our way to Mah. Being in the rear, I was hit in the face with Madu's intense B.O., which was only intensified by the wind blowing in my direction. We had to get off and walk a few times because the road was, at parts, more or less a dried-up river bed. Mah is only 6k (on paper) away, but the trip wasn't easy due to the terrain. Upon arrival, I was greeted by Kadja and her neighbors, who were preparing lunch, naturally, as it was already 9am. Mah is a village of only a couple hundred people, so word had spread that the white girl was coming to town. Kadja had me peel potatoes (everyone stared) and served me warm cow's milk (I thought I was going to get sick, since I have only had pasteurized milk, but I didn't. Score!) The animation went well, though I was tired after a long day of greeting people around the village. I found a carpenter who is going to make me a lounge chair out of bamboo for really cheap. Hopefully it'll be done soon, but probably not; it's Mali, afterall. Madu had to translate what I was saying so that the women would understand my Bambara. (I found out he's a health relay in the community, proud certificate bearer and all.) I would pause every paragraph or so, so that he could literally repeat what I had just said in more colloquial and decipherable Bambara. Baby steps, I guess. And so, I'll be back next week for another round of cooking demonstrations and a health talk on diarrhea & Oral Rehydration Solution, complete with a 'how-to' to prepare it when someone gets dehydrated. GET EXCITED!

So I've been back to Mah 2 more times since this innitial trip to do different animations and to eat lunch with Kadja, Madu, and the clan. They're extremely nice and I'm so grateful for them for letting me come be a surrogate volunteer in their village. I have an open-ended weekly reservation in Mah. See pictures in my most recent Facebook album for pictures of Mah.

I'm currently in Bamako, where I've been since last Friday, when i came in with a positive test for Malaria. Don't worry, I'm all better. I started taking the anti-malarial meds immediately after the rapid malaria test came up positive when I was in my village on Thursday, and by Sunday, my bloodwork came back negative for malaria. However, afterwards, I developed symptoms relating to malaria as well as some sort of a viral infection, and I've been fighting off pretty bad headaches that might have been migraines for about 5-6 days, so the worst is definitely over. Thanks for your concern, everyone. We have our training class' IST (In-Service Training) in Bamako starting Monday through the 25th of June, so I've just been hanging out in Bamako until we have to report on Sunday. The first week, we have sessions on continued language practice, but mainly, we're here to discuss ideas for projects after spending a bit of time in village, surveying the needs and resources available. The second week, our homologues come for what Malians call a "formation." It's basically a workshop or a seminar, except we pay them to come. Strange, right? After IST is over, the majority of our class is travelling up to Monatale for the 4th of July, where a bunch of Peace Corps Volunteers go every year for an Independence Day "Get-Together," if you will...
And I will.

In responding to people's questions about my new village and beginning work here, it's tricky explaining that as new volunteers you literally do nothing your first few months at site. The idea is to first get to know your village and the community's needs before you can help them in any way. It's not a matter of what projects you would like to accomplish, but what resources they have and what is feasible. Thankfully, we have a lot of resources to help us accomplish that: this daunting chore no one wants to start called the baseline survey. <Insert Beethoven's 5th symphony here.> To me, it's so ironic, because we're a group of 61 go-getters who are here because we want to get shit done, make moves, and we're told that for 2 months we should be greeting people, talking to them, and observing, which goes against what we're programmed by nature to do. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but sitting around day after day gets boring. We have been and will continue to do a lot of thinking, reading, researching for future projects we'd like to start in our respective villages. My village has told me they think malaria is one of their biggest problems and after a lot of time at my CSCOM (health center), I agree with them. So, I'll help them tackle that the best way I'm equipped, which is through educational tools. I'll give health talks called animations incorporating visual aids, etc. to drive my point across. I actually gave my first animation on malaria this past Friday and overall, I think it went pretty well. More likely than not, the women who attended were probably just showing up to watch the toubab try to talk in Bambara. Hey, if anything sunk in, I guess that's a bonus. As well, I've decided I want to focus on dental health education. Most Malians do not brush their teeth, but they use a stick from a certain tree that supposedly has natural fluoride in it and they use it to scrape their teeth. Regardless, a lot of health problems stem from poor hygiene in general and dental health would be a great place to start. I've been researching dental health and companies like Colgate-Palmolive and the worldwide programs they have to educate people on dental health. Another interest I have is in radio, which is a very popular and widely used medium of information in Mali. Because few families have televisions (mine being the exception), Malians love to listen to the radio and tune in to their favorite shows daily. In Sikasso, the large town 18k away from my village, there are a few radio stations. Another volunteer and myself visited one of them last week and talked to one of the DJs who said he'd love to have us on his radio show once a week (or so I inferred from the smile on his face and what few words in Bambara he said that I understood...). I'm sure it'll take a while to get that started, but Inshallah, in a few months, a couple volunteers in my region and I will rotate doing a radio show talking about different topics ranging from health to business to agriculture. Radio's a great way to reach a larger audience in a short period of time.
Aside from my future projects, most of my days consist of me going to my CSCOM and observing the doctors and matrone and helping out in little ways- paperwork, eye drops, holding things while they work. I know I'm not needed their in that aspect but I think it's more of the fact that I come every day that matters to them. They see that I'm interested and I care. I study and write scripts for future animations also, which I hope to do on a weekly basis in different places in my village- schools, women's groups, and informal settings as well. I really like the people I work with- 1 male pharmacist, 1 male office aid, 3 female doctors, 1 female matrone. Lucienne, a 28 year-old doctor who lives across from the CSCOM, and I have become pretty good friends. She's got great fashion sense and looks like such a baller riding in from Sikasso on her moto, headphones in ears, bedazzled shades on, freshly braided hair tied up in a bun on her head. She's a great cook too, so I eat with her from time to time. My homologue, Mariam, (appointed to me from the Peace Corps to be my work partner) laughs at me on a regular basis and thinks I make strange facial expressions. I think I probably do. She loves to mimic me. Overall, I'm pretty lucky with my work situation and the people I will be working with. They're all very nice and fun to be around. If I could just get the female doctors to stop trying to set me up with any semi-attractive male they come in contact with, that'd be great. Last Sunday, I was invited to go to the Protestant church in the next town over with a guy who works at the mayor's office in my village. The following day, word had spread like wildfire that we were together. Hmm...
They might not have Facebook, Twitter, or TMZ, but gossip spreads in an African village like you wouldn't believe. The toubab was spotted dancing, listening to her radio while she did laundry last Thursday, says the guy who owns 1 of the 2 small general stores in village. Awesome.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me letters, gifts, or packages. I appreciate every single letter. Lugash Family, the necklace you sent me is absolutely beautiful. You guys are too sweet.

I know I haven't put up pictures in a while, but not to worry, I have been taking pictures. The internet connection in Sikasso, while it does exist at the Peace Corps house and I use it whenever I come into town, is not strong enough to upload an album on Facebook. I'll have to wait to do that when I go back to Bamako for our IST training in June. Patience, loved ones. 

Why Are You Here?

4/5/11

It’s a loaded question with an even heavier answer, to be quite honest, but I felt like it needed some clarification. When people would ask me what drove me to go into the Peace Corps or even when fellow volunteers ask what my story is, I usually give a Cliff Notes version, or depending on the situation and who’s around at the time, I might make light of it all, playing it down to a desire to travel and see another part of the world, which I don’t deny as truth. However, for whatever reason, cowardliness, you might call it, I never fully explain my convictions. It’s much easier for me to  write them down; furthermore, to extend these personal emotions from the security of continents separation, hiding behind a computer screen. I’m sorry for withholding that honesty from everyone, for fear that I might be judged, God forbid.

For as long as I can remember, when a commercial would come on tv for an aid organization or a post-disaster relief fund, I got a lump in my throat. The same lump I force down when I’m afraid to cry & give myself a brief, internal prep talk to ‘man up.’ It’s like this: when I’m faced with the opportunity to lend a humanitarian hand, I envision a tiny thread of string tied around my heart with a force, God maybe, at the other end tugging gently, consistently, but not constantly; enough for me to notice a pattern. The voice in my head would say “you’re able,” or just “can,” sometimes the clichéd “to whom much is given…” and I always knew something, some organization, some career, some ___ was in store for my future that involved being a part of something bigger than myself. That something appeared to me in the form of the Peace Corps. Now, do I think Peace Corps is the cookie cutter answer for anyone with a desire to help people? No. Do I think it was the only answer for my life post-college? No, but it fits. I’m sure I could have found another organization that fit all of my requirements, but something about Peace Corps, its prestige, connections, and platform all appealed to me. Which brings me to why we, as an organization, a part of the U.S. government, are here, serving in so many countries all over the world. The Peace Corps’ 3 goals, as proposed by JFK in a speech to college students 50 years ago, urging them to serve, are: to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served, and to help Americans have a better understanding of other countries' peoples.      

I’ve been semi-frustrated with people who don’t understand the Peace Corps’ purpose or intentions, or simply why I’m here, specifically. My answer is this: 2 of the 3 goals are merely about cultural exchange. That’s it. Simply put, we want to learn about other cultures so that we can share that information with Americans back at home and we want people from other countries to have a better idea of what America is like, other than what they see on tv, which, often times, is the only exposure these host country nationals have to what Americans or the U.S. is all about. We aim to share that, to learn about each other. The other goal is what most people think we’re all about: our actual “jobs” here. For Health Education Volunteers (me!), it’s educating people, sensitizing them on better practices to help them and their children live longer and healthier lives and hopefully educating them well enough so that they can educate others, the generations that follow. Now, I’m not saying we, single-handedly are going to put an end to malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, and sickness here in Mali. Hell, I can try, but realistically, it's one person at a time. I could go on forever, but I won’t bore you or myself with that. We have other sectors as well: Small Enterprise Development, doing things like promoting she butter production, teaching marketing strategies, helping businesses apply for and follow up with loans; Environment Volunteers, planting and educating people on the benefits of the meringue tree (packed full of great nutrients), proper soil fertilization, erosion techniques; Water and Sanitation Volunteers who work with wells, pumps, latrines – construction, and maintenance. We’re just trying to educate people who haven’t the resources to educate themselves, but so deserve that help. And all of us are just trying to get people to wash their hands for crying out loud. Try explaining a germ to an illiterate person in their mid-40s who has never heard of one before. Now, this is all just me rambling from memory, but what I’m trying to convey here is that we’ve got a lot to offer with a lot of people from all different backgrounds who know their shit, and if they don’t, we’ve been in training for almost 3 months on all of this jazz with very well qualified trainers, staff, and previous volunteers teaching us how to do what we’re about to do and how to do it well.

To sum things up and play a little defense for a minute, Peace Corps exists in countries who have specifically asked for us to be there, submitted requests for specific volunteers and who prepare for years for us to live with them and teach them for 2 years at a time, so that they might develop and learn to sustain themselves. Whew. Okay. I don’t know what it is with me; maybe I feel criticized, maybe I’m still trying to justify being here, leaving my family and friends, who didn’t exactly push me on the plane to come here. I guess it was my Dad telling me a few months before I left, “I don’t want you to change” that secured my decision. Because I wanted to and I wanted him to see that the change could be for the better. Thank you for saying that to me, really.

All of these opinions could change, but for the time being, this is how I feel and it may seem like I’m standing on a soap box right now, but from talking to friends and family alone, I know there was a lot I had been holding back. Thanks for listening. In my future life, I’ll be more short-winded. Cross your fingers.  

P.S. - apparently the U.S. government is shutting down today temporarily? Awesome.