Come visit me, do a project!

Chrissy is handing out the t-shirts to the winners we picked, 18 in all. The rest of the 58 students received lollypops. 76- 4th graders. one classroom. one teacher.

Her school wanted to donate their school t-shirts, and I didn't want to just give them away, so we decided to do a little creative exercise on how to keep yourself healthy. We had them all draw pictures of things they could do. Some of the winners drew a bicycle (exercise), some drew fruits (eat healthy), and some drew watering can's for gardening (gardening- exercise and healthy eating!) It was a learning experience, but overall the kids were so happy to get their shirts and to draw!

I am helping Noeli with thoughts on what to draw here, drawing creativity is not developed here at all for the students, as they have no art classes, and no materials to do art with. Chrissy and I provided the paper and crayons for this exercise.

Here I am with the village mid-wife. Chrissy's students in the US provided sheets for the beds and cribs. They were so happy to receive these gifts, in return Chrissy got a chicken and peanuts as gifts. Chrissy also brought about 20 receiving blankets and 20 newborns outfits as gifts for the new mothers.

Brian, Chrissy, and I with a great view of a Dogon village. Dogon country is on the UNESCO world heritage site list. It was an amazing 3 day hike throughout some of the 146 villages

Brian, Chrissy, and I sitting in the Baobob tree.

This tree is a respected tree here in Mali. It's beautiful!

It's been a busy busy month and it's really not going to slow down for me until March. Both my brother and my college friend Chrissy have left, but I'm happy knowing they had an amazing time.

Chrissy is a pre-k teacher and she asked her students to bring in cloths and sheets for our maternity that doesn't have any. She got an amazing response and we were able to provide sheets for all the adult beds (6 in all), and sheets for the baby beds to accompany the adult beds. Again, the debate of just giving things away comes up in my mind. However, the whole idea of donating the sheets to the maternity came to me when my host parents were buying new plastic covers for the maternity beds. I asked where the money came from for them, and they said that every time women have babies they have to give money to the maternity. I found out there is a 'maternity commitee' and they are pretty organized! So, because they never rely on outside sources for income or support...even their own government....it was my (and chrissy's) pleasure to be able to give this small donation!

So, now both my brother and my very good friend of 10 years has seen a bit of how my life out here is. They both assured me they had an amazing time, and that one can't really understand my life out here, until you live it! I'm so happy to have been able to share this experience with them, and now I have my cousin Jodie and my best guy friend Kenny's visit to look forward to in January!

Brian is Here! And I'm Workin' Too!

17 Toubabo in Kamona for our 1st Annual Cotten Picken' Fete!

The villagers LOVED it. It was like the circus was in town!

Brian picking some cotton in my friends field.

He and I both picked 2 kilos each!

Not bad, but for 2 of us, 1 Malian picked the same amount! haha

Take Your FlipFlops Off!

Sign for our newly fixed pump at the school.

Our finished map of the world at the school.

I make Brian do good deeds on his vacation!

These girls have become my best friends out here, they are Awesome!

Hannah is missing from the photo.

Pictured: Terese, Jenn, Brian, Shelby, Me

Our finished shea storage facility.

The women of Kamona have wanted this for 3 years!

Brian finally made it out to Mali, and he's doing so well here! I put him through the toughest parts first, and now it's just vacation from now on...kind of. We spent 5 days in my village and during that time Brian was able to help us paint a world map at the school, and also pick cotton. Brian's trip coincided with my big Cotten Picken' party that I had scheduled for the volunteers. There were about 17 of us total in my village,and they couldn't have been more excited. I must say, I think Brian has been given the royal treatment since he arrived. The first night here in Segou, they had a lamb killed and we had a nice big family dinner, drinking homemade Lebanese Arak (it tastes like Sambuka). Then, once we arrived in Kamona, Brian was given 3 chickens as welcoming gifts. We also had a pig killed for the cotton party. The other volunteers were excited for this because pork is so rare to eat here, as Mali is a Muslim country.

Now, with all of this going on, I have SOOOO much work to do! We just finished our storage building, but I still need to do the closing paperwork for that, there is another pump in the village that needs to be repaired and the villagers already raised 1/3 of the money so now it's up to me to get the 2/3rds. My women would like pumps for their garden work, and gardening season is starting soon so that needs to be done. I am taking on another project by a volunteer that got medical separated from Mali, but it's really important that this project get done as it involves cotton spinning work. The time crunch is because I will be going home early Dec. for 1 month vacation, and this is just the season for work. I'll get it done. Inshallah!

Brian and I are off to Dogon Country this week (UNESCO World Heritage Site). I have my friend Chrissy thats on her way to meet up with us in Dogon, she will be spending Nov. here in Mali. So that adds to my already full schedule. It's ok, it's GREAT to have visitors. Time is flying by, and I know these next few months are going to FLY by!

Today is river day, so Brian will get to experience A Day on the Niger. Sundays are nice days here in Segou. Off to the pool! It's in the 90's here. Temps have cooled off! hahah, Brian was telling me about the cold in the US, and I am scared to go home now. It's so great for me to have my brother here. My life here is so different from home, and as he said "there's no way you can explain this to people Mon, you're life out here without really getting the meaning across" and so now, Brian is here. Eating with his hands, squatting over a hole to poo, greeting people in Bambara, meeting my friends, and experiencing life in Africa! It's great.

School Pump Fixed, 800+students have clean water!

This is the schools Vergnet Pump, you step down on it to push the water out

This is one classroom for the 3rd grade. Approx. 80 students.....

This is grade 4-6 school rooms.

This is the first day of school so they are lined up for role call.

Ok, so because all of you wonderful people that read my blog and care about the people of Mali, I was able to fix our village school pump. Last July I sent out an email asking people to donate to my women's cotton spinning project. I only needed $500, and I ended up raising around $800! With this extra money I knew I needed to spend it on a project but wasn't quite sure which project to use this money for. So, because of another project that I am working on I had to go look at all of our town's pumps. We have 4 in all. 2/4 were broken. They headmaster of the school said their pump broke the year before and the children have about a 1 mile walk to the nearest clean water pump. I felt bad and said that we needed to work together to fix this.

Well, as most things go on in Mali, it took until 2 weeks ago to get this project rolling, as I was re-motivated to get their pump fixed because classes began Oct 1. Myself and the village water pump repairman had to travel to the closest city with was 2 hrs away to go buy the parts. It was $226 total to fix the pump! Not too bad by our standards, but for them a lot of money. Pump fixed! Clean drinking water for 800+students!

Now, a big argument in development work is gifting things vs. making people work a little bit for what they are getting. I am a firm believer in making the people work a bit, as I see first hand the effects of free handouts by the West. It creates a very unhealthy dependance. However I feel the students should not be punished for the adults inaction.

When I went to the school to check out the newly working pump, the headmaster told me there was a meeting with the chief of village the following friday as he wanted to formally thank me for fixing the pump and go over some other important business with myself and the water committee of the village (we have a water committee? and my neighbor is the president???? I though to myself). Anyway, my main point to bring home was that Yes, it made me very happy to be able to fix the pump, but I'm leaving next year and what will you do then when the pumps break again. So, that got them to think about starting to have everyone pay monthly to use the pumps, they understand the concept of monthly upkeeping, but always with the excuse of "we have no money." Now, this meeting was 20 men or so, and another part of my presentation was to map out our plan for fixing their other pump. I am to contribute 66%, the village 34% of cost per USAID rules for allocating funds. I told them if my women could raise $200 dollars to contribute towards building their Shea storage/workspace, then the men sure can raise $150 to fix their pump.

I believe I'm rambling now, but hope you get the point. I'm really proud and happy for this project and I couldn't have done it without the help of all my donors in the US! I hope to soon be able to fix their other pump. Clean drinking water is a major concern here, as well water is much more dirty, contains many diseases, and is a major cause for infant mortality here.

Oops, sorry!

Painting with the kids

My favorite Debora helping me bring snacks to the workers

Sorry it's been a while since I've last updated. I could give a various amount of excuses as to why I haven't written, but overall I think I've just been lazy and haven't had anything extraordinary to write about. In the last month and a half we've welcomed our new volunteers and said adios to the old ones. I had a little bout with malaria but on the bright side I lost some weight so I look pretty healthy now! Hey, I've always got to look on the bright side of things!

All of my international friends have returned from their August vacations and now things are back to the way I like them! I got some nice gifts from Lebanon, France, and Cuba!

Work wise things are going well. We are almost finished building our Shea storage facility, the cotton project is on a little pause right now. I am waiting for some machines to be built for us, and for my friend to get back to me about purchasing my womens string.

Well, yesterday I bought my ticket to come home to the US for the Christmas season. I'm with mixed feelings, but overall can't wait to see everyone and enjoy some luxurious American livin'! I just am thinking of the fact that I'm going to have to deal with the fact that my grandma won't be there to welcome me home and have a nice meal of ravioli's and meatballs waiting for me. C'est la vie.

Ok, so for now I will stop. I will have my friend Chrissy from ODU visiting me the end of the month and will hopefully end the trip in Ghana and the beach! Its weird for me to think Fall has started over in the US, and football season is so far away from my thoughts right now!

Hope all are doing well!

Ah, the KIDS!

entry orginally written on Aug 13th

Today was truly an “I live in Mali” day! I woke up thinking I was going to take a nice daylong bike ride to wherever the paths took me. It didn’t turn out that way. My host mother came to my house, as usual to say goodmorning to me and ask how everyone in my family is doing, and if I am ok. After the greetings were answered and asked in return she invited me to go out into the fields with her. They were going to the women’s field to plant sesame and some beans. Going to the fields is always an experience and I don’t always get specially invited so I decided to go….the bike ride could always wait. I got dressed and one hour later we were on our way. This time I said I was riding my bike, and not taking the donkey cart since last time I ended up walking the 5mile journey and couldn’t get back home because I would have gotten lost in the cornfields! So, off we went, I followed behind on my bike, myself and the baby donkey that didn’t want to leave his mother.
We arrived at our destination to find that field hadn’t been plowed yet! All that way for nothing. So, we sat, the ladies ate their lunch and then we chatted for a bit. They said the field couldn’t be plowed until it rains again. This is rainy season, but it hasn’t been raining too much here. So, back to Kamona for me. I came back home, and sat on my hammock to read. As I was reading I heard the laughter of little kids coming….’ugh’ I thought. I just wanted to relax and finish my book I was almost done with. Then I see legs, and 2 little girls sitting in the wheelbarrow! I couldn’t help but start laughing. How much fun they were having! Pushing each other in the wheelbarrow! Then I stopped to think how lucky these kids are! They have a rough childhood, no doubt, but they also have a childhood that I never had, or that I know my kids probably wont have. They have the freedom to walk around in their village knowing that they are safe and people are always looking out for them. They have the blessing of being able to play with their cousins 24/7. Family. Something that is so important to me. I remember as a child growing up I would love the time I spent with my cousins, which I was lucky that we were all the same age and girls! Poor Brian stuck with 5 screaming young girls when we all got together! Hahaha!
Well, later that afternoon I decided I should entertain the kids and myself and I brought out bubbles left over from Janels visit. They absolutely LOVE the bubbles! Both the adults and the kids think they are just the coolest things! I remember also as a kid enjoying bubbles the same way. We just had to pop all of the bubbles that came floating our way! I think we did this for about one hour! What fun!
That was my day more or less, or what is worth writing about at least. As I’ve said before, everyday in Mali- but especially in Kamona is a surprise and I never know what will happen.

Rain, 40+miles, Bamako,and New Vols

A break in the storm on the Niger, Segou

Kids playing in the puddles, stopping to look at the white girl taking pictures!

Jenn, Hannah, and I before my 20mile bike ride back to my village.

Rainy season has finally come upon Mali. The extreme heat is supposed to be over, but it is now replaced with extreme humidity, to be then cooled off by the amazingly powerful rains. This is a welcomed season for Malians because the rain means planting, harvesting, and that there will be water in the wells. In my village they have started planting their corn, cotton, millet, peanuts, and beans. I myself have planted American Sweet Organic Corn, Organic Carrots (seeds kindly sent to me by my awesome Dad), celery, basil, and green beans. It took me 3 days to prepare my raised beds and to plant. I used my Malian style 'daba' to carve out my plot. The daba is an old school hand hoe. My body ached for about 4 days from my hard work!

The rains are so important here in Mali, they are necessary for the crops to grow. No rain, no crops, no money, no food. Majority of farmers have no irrigation systems, no watering mechanisms. Just faith that it will rain and provide water for their crops. So far, the rains have been coming to Kamona dooney dooney (little by little). I am told August is when the rains come into full swing and it should rain everyday. Its difficult for me to explain the power of the rains here, but when it rains, it really storms! It's wonderful to experience.

Next story:

A few weeks ago I told my friends Hannah and Jenn that I wanted to visit them in their villages. They are technically in a different region than me, but they aren't that far away, only 40k through the wilderness. What an experience! It took me 3 hours, 4 villages, and was truely one of the coolest things I've done in Mali! Since everyone is out in the fields, if I got lost I was easily able to ask for directions, and the people gave me blessings for a safe trip. And, as usual they got such a kick out of the white girl speaking their language! That always makes me happy, to see them so happy. I can only imagine what it must be like to see a while female, riding through their village on this nice American bike, saying hello to them in their language. I think it would be like if I was in Guilderland, and I saw a giraffe walking by that said hello to me in English and acted like he totally belonged there!

Anyway, it was so nice to visit my friends in their villages, and to meet their work counterparts and families. In their villages, they spoke a different language, but fortunately I was still able to communicate with them. So, total I think I rode my bike over 40 miles (due to me getting a little lost at times!) Next time they come to Kamona!

Story #3:

I'm in Bamako-the capital city. I came for two reasons: 1 being I wanted to spend the day with my boyfriend in the city before he took the plane to go to Lebanon for his month long vacation. We spent a wonderful day together, and had the most Amazing dinner at the best restaurant in the country. I felt like I was back in France! I had gaspacho, steak and steamed potatoes, and homemade ice cream. I really felt like a princess for a night! How wonderful! He's gone for the next month, and I'm left here...waiting for next year when I can hopefully visit Lebanon.

Reason 2: Since I've been in Mali for over a year now it was time for my yearly physical. My health has been great here, so I'm not too worried about anything. It's so nice to have 100% free health care for once!

Story #4:

The new volunteers are here. I am so excited for them to be here, to show them around and to let them know that it's not so bad here. In a few weeks I will be a 'buddy' for a new volunteer, acting as an interpreter and a guide for helping them when they go to their future home for their site visit. I am planing some activities for the new group that will be in Segou! Our welcoming last year wasn't so welcoming, so I'm happy to be able to give a good one to the new people.

Well, this was a long one. Sorry. I've always have so much to say! My Arabic lessons are coming along, my French lessons will officially start in September, and now I've got an Italian friend so I want to brush up my Italian again! I LOVE languages! I think August is going to be a fast month. I hope so, because Samer (the boyfriend) comes back at the end of it. Not only is Samer gone, but all my other friends have returned home for their vacations N.B. Europeans pretty much all take vacations in August, so it feels like the whole world is on vacation right now-except for me. Boohoo. I can't complain, I think the last 10 years have been one long vacation for me!

GOAL REACHED!

Just a quick note, I made the goal and we went over it!!! I can now use that money to do other small projects! Thank you all sooooo much for your support. It means so much to me but also so much to my Malian friends! You have helped out so much, and touched people that you will probably never meet. Thank you to those who donated. Your charity will not be forgotten! Once we buy the machines I will have more updates and pictures!

One Year Mark!!!!

Well, it's almost officially been one year since I left for Mali. This time last year, I went out with my brother and his good friends (who are like brothers to me) and my best friend Shauna for a 4th of July celebration. The next day my wonderful family gave me a great going away party and thankfully the rain stayed away, even though the forcast was calling for it. As I think back at my decision to come here, and how everyone thought I was crazy, I know that I am so happy right now.

Many people are stuck in jobs that they hate, maybe in relationships that they are not happy in, or just in general not happy with their life. I am fortunate to have a great parents that even though I may not follow the normal path that most people do, they still support me. I'm doing work that really satisfies me. I may be living in the third poorest country in the world, but the people I've met here are truely amazing and wonderful. Within this last year I've picked up French, Bambara, and now starting tomorrow will have my Arabic lessons. I still get to keep up with the Spanish because of my Cuban friends. I've learned about grafting trees, and gardening. I've learned survival skills that may one day safe my little life! I'm learning about the importance of the life we are given, how fragile it is, to really make every day count, and how being kind to people is easy and it does come back to you.

So, in general thanks to everyone for sending me care packages, letters, and emails. Support from back home is just great. So, one year down and one more to go. Who knows where I will be heading to after Mali.

Donation Time!!

Janet spinning the cotton

My first official project for my Peace Corps service has finally fermented.   I am really excited about it because the women of my village initiated it on their own.  I am just aiding them to improve their product!  Last November my host mother and work counterpart attended a training on how to spin cotton into string.  From there, she has taught 20 other women how to spin the cotton and they are now using it as additional income for themselves and to feed their families.  

Cotton is grown in my village and the surrounding towns (fun fact: Cotton is one of Mali's largest exports).  There is plenty of raw product, however the problem is the way they are spinning it...all by hand.  There is only one machine that the women have to make the process faster.  Now, when I say machine I mean a bicycle wheel frame that is operated by ones foot.  When I first saw it I immediately thought of our vacations to Colonial Williamsburg!  After the women spin the cotton into string, we then are able to sell the cotton for 4x's the price of what it is sold for when it is just the raw product.  In April, my women sold 32 kilos of strung cotton to an all women's bogolan co-op which makes artisan work with the natural products.

  

My need is this:  I am working with another NGO to get the wheels from, so this is a very straight forward project.  I just need to raise the $500 to pay for 6 machines and 6 paddles in which to brush the cotton so it is fine.  Now, I will be working with an American NGO-African Sky to get the money.  

Here is their website: http://africansky.org/  

This non-profit was started by a Peace Corps Volunteer here in Mali, and he just wanted to continue work here after his service.  

Please Please Please, I know the economy is horrible right now, but even if you can just send $10 it would be such a great help.  This is a project where 100% of your money will go directly to helping out these wonderful, self-motivated women.  I also need the money fairly quickly, so no haste!  

As for getting me the money, his website is still being updated, so the most difficult part of this process is that the money has to be sent by CHECK!  Yikes, sorry but we all must make some sacrifices and anything that is easy isn't always so rewarding! 

Directions on how to donate: 

Make your 'RE':

Monica Garcia Kamona Womens Cotton Project

this is very important so African Sky knows where the money has to go to and not to just any project, but MY project!

Address: 

African Sky 

PO Box 203 

Munroe Falls, OH 44262

Thank you to all who will be donating!  This is such a good deed and really really a great project for these women.  

Dogon Country and Tombouktu!

Sunset after the massive sand storm Janel and I got stuck in-Kamona

The 4 banditas in Timbuktu, about to ride off on our camel adventure!

Me on the roof of the manuscripts musuem, in front of the oldest mud mosque, or the biggest?

Trekking through the Sahara

Camel Riding!

Dogon houses- Day 1 of our 3 day hike

Alright, so now that I've got your attention, here is the explanation of why I haven't written in almost 1 whole month!  W'allahi! I've had my friend Janel visiting since late May.   It's great when having a visitor because I get to be a tourist in my current country of residence, and explore explore explore!  For attention span sake, I will be brief on what we did- as we really got to see and do many things here:

In Segou, Janel got to meet all of my wonderful friends.  We went boating, made Bogolan (malian art, using mud and all natural dyes to decorate all natural cotton).  We also did a lot of shopping for gifts and hanging by the pool.  The calm before the craziness!

From Segou, we bussed up to tour Dogon Country.  It's on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list (I always try to visit WHsites).  We met up with a fellow PCV-Hannah and her friend Kat that was visiting her.  It was a great 3 day hike through the villages.  Dogon villages are built in the cliffs and the people disappeared a long time ago, in short-due to deforestation and lack of food (they were hunters, not so much farmers). 

From Dogon, crazy Monica thought it was a good idea to go to Timbuktu.  My friend convinced us we should go up there to visit him.  Timbuktu.....why not!?  It took us 7hrs to get there in a 4x4 car-which that in itself was an experience.  It should have only taken 4hours.  Thats life here in Mali.  We got there, and I thought Mali was hot....but this place was SOO hot.  Like 120 degrees.  Thank God my friend has A/C in his house and we just got to relax on the 1st day there.  The second day we did some more shopping, and then started off on our camel ride.  The camel ride was fun, of course I got the 'special' camel.  First my saddle wasn't on correctly, then the camel kept tripping over it's feet (just like me!), then he just couldn't make it up the his and boom.  Down he went.  I'm alive and it's an entertaining story to tell.  No more camel rides for me though.  

Overall, it's been an amazing 3 weeks.  I now need to get focused on my work and get some things accomplished.  I'm sure I'm forgetting tons of things that I need to add, but I'll have internet access for a few more days.  

Passing on a Good Deed

Last February I attended a futbol match (soccer game) that was headed up by my village secondary school English teacher.  One Friday the girls play, the next Friday is the boys turn and they switch throughout the school year.  I thought it was great that they got to do this organized sport, but when saw them playing in bare feet, no nets, no cones or chalk to mark the boundaries, and no uniforms or markers for designating teams I felt bad.  I had an idea.  I wrote to my wonderful family members that are either teachers or have children in grade school and quickly (for Malian time) got a response from my great cousin Steve.  Well, he ended up sending 24 pinnes (above and beyond my request) for the students to use for the phys-ed class. 

Last Friday I was finally able to give them their gift.  The kids couldn’t be more excited!  It was great to see, and really I thought it was no big deal at all.  When I was growing up and going through the school system- both public and catholic schools-I took for granted having all the sports equipment available to me.  We even did rock climbing as an activity one time! 

So, here are the pictures of the kids with their new pinnes on.  It’s great to be able to give and to directly see the results of your work.  Thanks so much to the Westfall family for getting these jerseys out.  This small gesture made a town of 3000 people know you and send you many blessings for your generosity! 

 

On another note, I am told that I got over the worst, most difficult 110+ degrees of hot season. Now it will just be in the low 105’s.  My mom’s almost done with the chemo and hopefully Brian will be coming out here.  It's been 6 months since the passing of my grandma-I think I'm still in a bit of denial about it.  My friend from Phoenix will be coming out in 2 weeks for my first visitor!  I’m super excited and have a really fun time planned.  My languages of Bambara, French, and Arabic are coming along.  It’s great to be able to communicate and feel comfortable communicating in different languages.  You really get so much more out of relationships when you expand your horizons. 

 

One more short story.  Here in Mali, just chatting and spending time with people is super important.  I like doing this, but as an American it’s still a bit of a task to just show up at peoples houses to just ‘shoot the *ship’ with them.  Well, yaala yaala (bambara for taking a stroll) is great and it really makes me say to myself “wow, I’m really living in AFRICA!”  Some of my conversations included questions like:

How many cows will your dad get for you when you will get married?

Barack Obama only has 1 wife????

I’m going to go to America and farm and make a lot of money. 

Today you are a women! (N.B. This was the day I actually wore the traditional Malian long skirt-as opposed to the Capri pants I always wear)

*There are so many more instances of great cultural exchanges, I will write out a more detailed story some other time.  Ciao!

Camels and an Attempt to see Elephants

My first Malian vacation!  Myself, Megan, and Dies (a Dutch friend) went to the Mopti region of Mali.  It's towards the East.  We went to visit a fellow PCV-Dan Dayton.  It was a 2 day journey to get there, but we finally made it.  Dans village is absolutely beautiful; set between 2 huge rocks.  His village is a Fulani village, so communicating was a bit difficult for me because I do not speak their local language.  Luckily many people did speak Bambara so I was ok.  As soon as we arrived, we were whisked off in this pictured automobile for our elephant safari.  June is the migratory season for them, but Dan's counterpart said that they saw a pack yesterday.  After 5hrs of searching we didn't find any.  It's ok though, bc I saw some camels and just had a nice Malian time looking for elephants.  The next day we just chilled a bit, I got to talk to the locals and meet Dan's host family.  The next day we had the adventure of getting out of his village, the locals trying to charge us WAYYY to much for a ride to where we needed to go-reason being "you are white, you make money"  That reason didn't fly with us, so instead of working and making money, the bus drivers preferred to sit and drink tea. Nice.  Mali.  

So, we finally made it to our destination-5hours later.  The Hand of Fatima!  Oh it's a beautiful rock formation.  This place was so peaceful and majestic.  The rocks were a bright orangy/red, and gigantic.  I felt so small.  We did some fun things and camped out.  Met up with some Quebequois and had a great time with them.  Overall, my first Malian vacation was great!  It's good to explore ones country!  My next planned vacation is Senegal and The Gambia.  I want beaches and nice restaurants.  I don't want the typical African vacation because I'm living it!  June.  I can't wait!  It's so hot here, but I'm surviving.  

Easter in Mali

So, in a country that is 90% Muslim, I just happen to live in a little village that contains some of the 5% Christian population.  Last Sunday was Easter, here they actually celebrate Easter on Sunday and Monday.  What a great time.  The kids had 2 weeks off vacation from school, so we got a lot of coloring in-which if anyone wants to send crayons, I'd be more than happy to use them.  Anyway, Megan, my best pal in Segou came out to my village.  We had a great time.  She hard boiled eggs and we colored them with the kids.  They then ate them afterwords and got some protein.  

Tomorrow I am off to visit a fellow Peace Corps Vol up north.  His site has elephants there! I am so excited but it's a 11hr. drive to get there.  It's also super hot here right now-Sunday will be 108 degrees.  It's hot.  Really, uncomfortably hot.  Yuck

My Birthday Presents Bike Ride

This is how I got my birthday boxes back to my site. After a 6 mile bike ride in mid-afternoon, I made it back home. I got birthday boxes from my mom, dad, and Beckners! It was killing me to not open them up as soon as I got them at the post office, but I practiced the virture of patience and waited until I could relax on my hammock and bask in my joyfulness of opening packages and seeing American things!

Heat, Toto, Donkey Carts

I just looked up the weather for Bamako for the next 10 days. I stopped reading after the first 5 days said temps in the 100’s. Brian said NYC has a high of 49 degrees today. What a difference! I always say I would rather take the heat over the cold weather anytime. Now, more than ever am I being tested in my sentiments. It’s hot. I am living without air conditioning. There is little breeze, and when the wind does decide to pick up a bit it blows nothing but dust, getting one all dirty and muddy (sand mixed with your sweat).
How do I fight this heat? Well, one way is to not move too much. I can do things very early in the morning or around dusk. That leaves the whole day to sit under someone’s gwa (hanger made from old corn/millet canes). The next move is a hard one for me; to sleep outside in my REI bug hut tent! Here’s the big story. Its normal for both Malians and the American PCV’s to sleep outside during hot season. The roof on my house is tin so during the day it literally feels like an oven inside. It doesn’t cool off at night. Well a few nights ago I finally got enough courage to sleep outside on my porch. P.S. I don’t even like sleeping in a house by myself in the US, so it’s a fear without prejudices! Anyway. I was so excited to sleep outside under the beautiful, starry sky. As I was almost ready to sleep I heard a noise. I looked up to see something the size of a chicken but with a tail that was about 12inches long. It was the biggest rat I’ve EVER seen in my entire life. A Malian Rat! Ugh. I made a little noise (as I was protected in my tent-yeah right) and he scuttled away. About 2 minutes after I saw the huge rat, the lightening started. I decided it was time to move indoors.

As soon as I started to open the door to my house, the downpour came! Rains here in Mali are amazing. They come out of nowhere and it’s like they have something to prove! It’s the hardest rains I have ever seen. It’s amazing. I ran inside, and did quick rescue missions to save my stuff that I had left outside. I was drenched! As I hid in my house, these strong winds came and started lifting my roof! I thought ‘great, if I don’t get eaten by that rat, I will be killed by a piece of my roof!’ Ah, Malian living. I survived both. The rain and winds finally stopped around 1am and it really cooled down the air.
The next morning, it looked like a mini hurricane had gone through my village. As I greeted my old man neighbor, making note of the horrible rains last night, all he could say was ‘yes, it rained a little’ HA! ‘A little’ I think to myself…I’m scared for when it rains A LOT here! I then went to my host family to say good morning and to tell them about my night. As I was explaining about the rat, they 1st: laughed. It wasn’t a laugh to mock me, but in disbelief that I had never seen such a creature that big. 2nd: “Oh, you mean ‘toto,’ yes your neighbor said that they saw it in your compound before, we will kill it while you are gone.” Bada bing. Problem solved. People will eat that thing too! Funny thing is that it’s called toto in Bambara, because I think that he was really about the size of Dorothy’s Toto dog from the Wizard of Oz.

Ok, so other than this I am doing well. Works kicking off with a Malian bang (meaning it’s going slowly), and it’s really hot! Still doing well, still happy. I’m biking a lot, staying in really good shape for my 28years I must say!
Sorry this was a long one! Oh, and my donkey cart hours have increased…check out the tally!

My Birthday!

I had a wonderful day yesterday! Both my mom and dad called me, I got to eat ice cream, sit by the pool, and catch up on emails. My great friend treated me to lunch, then we had le grande fete at night. We had lamb and couscous! It was delicious. A whole lamb was bought and sacrificed for myself and Nicole (my French friend that shares a birthday with me). Megan made brownies, and my friend Mario provided the birthday cake. Happy Birthday Monika, and Joyeux Anniversaire Nicole! I finished the night dancing salsa. I also got a crazy amount of 'happy birthdays' on Facebook. It was truely a great day, and hopefully a sign of a wonderful year to come! Thanks for all the well-wishes! I'm off to Kamona, and maybe to Timbuktu!

Today is my BIRTHDAY!

Today is my birthday! 28 years of life. I was told by a friend that it is said in some cultures that I have just completed 1 cycle of my life; my learning cycle. Now, for the next 28 years I am supposed to live out my mission in life. I think it’s sort of fitting that I am here in Mali, doing the work that I am doing. We shall see! A nice big ‘mega fête’ has been planned for myself and a fellow friend whom has the same birthday as me! It’s my version of a UN birthday as we will have people from many nations (Europe, Americas, and Africa) represented. My kind of party!

It’s been an extremely eventful time since I last wrote. As I thought about which story was the most exciting to write about, I really couldn’t decide. So, I wrote down a list of key things that has happened to me:

-I helped vaccinate around 250 Malian children against Polio! I think that is my favorite highlight. Now, when I say ‘helped’ I mean that I colored their pinky finger with a permanent black marker so we knew he was vaccinated. The gov’t has a national program of going door-to-door vaccinating all children under the age of 5. It was a great way for me to meet everyone in the community as well! As you can tell, no records are kept of vaccinations-the system is just too basic for that.

-I visited a 2^nd year volunteer in her village. She’s totally inspiring, and such a great role model and source of information for myself in helping me be successful in my job here. They are planting 600+ trees. This is a project I plan on working on next season.

-One afternoon I was just laying in my hammock, reading and my little friend Mari came by to greet me on her way to school. School is about a 1.5 mile walk from where we live. I decided to give her a lift (she rode on the back of my bicycle-a very common thing here). As we rode through town, we picked up more kids that were on their way to school. They ran side by side with the bike. Then, a girl tripped and fell. She cut her toe. Mari said I should give her the ride instead (again, lessons learned by a child). By the time we made it to the school I think I had about 20kids that had run with us to school. I also realized there would be no school nurse to take care of this poor girls cut toe, and I did not have my medical supplies on me that I usually carry on me to clean this girls wound.

-Work has really begun for me. I am now teaching English to a Malian. He happens to speak Spanish, so that is our median language for communication. Soon I will be giving lessons on how to use a computer to some of the teachers at our school. I am also starting to help construct a building for the women of my village for their work with shea nuts. This will be a big project, but I know the women have wanted this for at least the last 3 years. I also have little projects going on, it really makes the time fly when you have something to do!

-I finally started wearing sun block daily on my face! This is Africa after all!

-I may speak up to 4 languages in 1 day to communicate! Bambara, English, Spanish, and French! I’m starting to really pick up on the French now as many of my friends here speak it. I hope to be fluent by the time my service is up.

*N.B. Mali has 25 recognized languages!

-Another afternoon when I was reading in my hammock, the girls stopped by to greet me on their way to school. Mari had her school books and pencil box with her. I asked to see them. The children here still write with chalk/slate boards. Mari had a tiny tiny piece of chalk; I don’t know how she even wrote with it. Well, I went inside the house and brought out 8 pieces of chalk- 2 for each girl. They were so excited. It was great to see their smiles! Such small gifts are so appreciated here, it’s great.

-Every Thursday is market day in Bla. That means that people from the surrounding villages go there to get their produce, or whatever else one needs. Bla is around 6 miles from Kamona. On a normal day it will take me 40mins to bike to Bla. Market day it can take up to 1hour because I have to greet so many people on the way to Bla! Women and men in their donkey carts heading to the weekly market! It’s a real experience! Strangers get a real kick out of the white girl that can speak their language! I really feel like I’ve stepped back into the Middle Ages on Market Day. Here, we can’t just go to the supermarket to get whatever we need. I can only by things when they are in season.

-My wonderful father sent me The Economist for my birthday. One night I brought the magazine to my host families so they could look at the pictures; see the world. It’s really amazing to see their reactions to our Western way of living. My family has a radio, so they are actually really in up to date on current events, but they never get visuals. I showed them a picture of Sarkozy, Obama, Merkel (a woman head of state!), and Castro to name a few. They also love looking at the adverts; there was an ad for steak. I was told ‘American are rich, you eat meat every day’ -something I took for granted, but here, meat is a luxury usually reserved for special occasions.

-Guinea-Bissau’s president was just murdered. Since arriving in Mali, there has been: A coup d’etat in Mauritania, Guinea 'president' died, Ghana had elections go wrong, and this is just in the countries surrounding Mali. This continent is very alive. I really do feel safe here in Mali though.

Well this really is just a blurb of some of the great things that have been going on here. Yesterday I went on a boat ride on the Niger River with my friends. It was great to be on the water. I have many other stories to tell, but will sign off for now. Of course not everything is perfect here, I think of my grandmother daily. I miss her immensely. Will my mourning ever end? She was my best friend and I really miss just sharing our days with each other like we used to. My mom will be getting chemo, and I won’t be there for that. One has to make such hard choices in life. I have made mine to stay here and do my work in Mali. Sacrifices.

It’s February!  I’ve been back in Mali for about a month and a half.  I was so excited to go back to my village, unpack all of the fun American things I brought back with me to make my living a bit more comfortable, and to hand out my gifts that I had brought back.  This baggage weighed about 50lbs.  Not bad when one has a car and can easily transport it from airport to home.  Not I.  My transportation from the city to my village is myself, and my bike.  6 miles on an uneven dirt road, under the strong African midday sun that I had not seen in 2 months. 

My story I will try to keep short, but I feel the need to tell it…

On my 1^st bike ride back to village after being away for nearly 3 months, I had a rough time.  It was hot, I had very little water, and I was carrying a very heavy load on the back of my bike.  Stupidity.  My bag kept falling off the back of my bike because I was trying to balance my big travel bag!  5 min. into my ride I started praying to please please get me to Kamona safely.  Rode again to my midpoint, sat under the Baobab for about a 20min. break so I could recover from the sun.  I was running out of water, and only half way.  Again, started pleading to get me to Kamona safely.  Around the 5^th break I took, a nice young girl- Cita biked up to me.  She was also going to Kamona.  Well, she was my little angel!  She stayed with me for the whole ride.  Stopping with me when I told her I needed to stop because I was tired, stopping with me when my seat kept falling down, and stopping with me when I needed to fix my bag because it was falling off!  Her mere prescience helped me to get back to the village.  I had run out of water 3/4ths of the way there.  The ride that normally takes me 40min. took me 1.5hrs.  Double the time.  I felt like I could have passed out at any moment during the whole bike ride due to the heat and lack of water.  Cita saved me. 

This story is not only about my own little survival, but also of Malian culture.  You see, here, when they see someone in trouble, they don’t think twice about stopping to help.  Cita could see that I was really having a hard time with my bags and the heat.  She accompanied me until she knew I was safely in the village.  A Malian, someone that I had never met before cared for me.  I wish it were more like that in the US.  Life would be a whole lot more enjoyable if we did.  Also, ask and ye shall receive.  Here is a first hand example of my prayers being answered.

 

 

I am heading back to my site tomorrow.  I have a lot of ideas of what I can be doing to help my village.  Unfortunately with me being in the states for 2 months my Bambara has taken a bit of a step back.  I have so many stories to tell of my adventures here, but this one I really wanted to pass on.  I truly believe that Cita was sent to me…without her coming I think I really would have passed-out in that heat, and who knows what could have happened after that. The hospital systems here aren’t very modern.   There is no 911 service.

 

  

Some business first...

I need to apologize for my last blog.  It was very poorly executed.  I wanted to get a blog posted before I left for my site.  That is my result.  I will leave it up, but I’m not happy with it.

Another note of business:  My 28^th anniversary of life is coming up March 10^th!  In order for birthday cards to get to me on time, they must be sent by Feb. 20^th or so.  It’s 90cents to send a cardJ   Not much at all, right? 

My address:

Monica Garcia PCV

Corps de la Paix

Bla, Mali

West Africa

A Malian Adventure

Since I came back to Mali in January I have been at the Peace Corps training center in Bamako.  I am surrounded by other PCVol's.  Monday we went on a field trip!  I have always loved field trips!  We went to a village about 40k from our training site.  In the US frame of mind, one would think 40k is not very far- that it should only be about a 20min. car ride.  Well, I'm in Mali.  That 20minutes turned into 1 whole hour of sand hills, bouncing, cramped conditions, and sun.  The road was not paved.  It was sand.  It reminded me of the roads in Philly after a “snow storm”...horrible.  I could say at points the sand was about 4inches deep.  Enough complaining.  I basically got to go 4x4ing!  My stomach is paying the price right now.

On to my main event.  There were about 20 white people in my party, accompanied by 1 person each from our respective villages that are here for 1 week of training.  Upon our 2 hour late arrival there were drummers, dancing, and singing.  It was a grande celebration!  We went this village observe a shea nut formation.  Mali is the 2^nd largest grower of shea nuts. The shea nut can be used for many different things.  

To get back to my African moment;  after our festive greeting, we had to walk to the village chief’s house.  We gave our thanks and respect for letting us come to his village, and from there we paraded through the town.   We proceeded to the shaded mango grove to where the formation was to be held.  It was quite the experience, and sometime in the future I will write about Malian gatherings.  Goodnight for now.

This picture posted is how the Malian woman carries her baby.  They can do everything with the baby on their backs.  I admire Malian women for their strength.

Inauguration and Updates

We have a new president!! I have a new boss!  I couldn't be more happy about it!  65 excited PCV's went to the American club in Bamako to watch the swearing in ceremony.  I was really excited about the whole process, wondering where our international camera crew was.  Instead they just kept showing shots of cute little kids in Jakarta watching the event.  Come on, 100+ Americans in Mali (3rd poorest country in the world) piled into one small room to watch this event on the AFN?  I think we deserved one.  

Anyway, the event was going very nicely until the one full minute of Arlington Cemetery was showcased.  14 days after we buried my grandma, I just was not ready to see the graveyard.  I started crying on the spot.  I held myself together long enough to see Obama sworn in, but that was it.  I had to leave.  I called my best cousin, Mary and just lost it.  It felt good, and it helped.  I was depressed for the rest of what should have been such a fun night.  

Overall, things here have been good.  I've been practicing my Bambara for 1-2hours everyday and hopefully this coming week I will start on my French lessons.  I'm learning more about shea butter productions, how to graft trees so we can start planting more (and bare fruit faster), I've learned about better and more efficient farming techniques, how to make mud stoves en brousse,  as well as the importance of sustainability in our work.  We also went to a local school and taught them about irrigation systems.  They were freezing, it's in the 70's during the day. 

I am back in the habit of taking bucket baths, wiping dirt off my feet before I get into bed, having oatmeal for breakfast every morning, squatting over a hole in the ground to go to the bathroom, waiting to hear back from people at home, sleeping with a mosquito net around me, and always caring toilet paper with me wherever I go because there is 99% chance of there not being TP where I happen to squat.  I have 1 more week here in Bamako, my homolouge (person in  my village that looks after me) will be coming tomorrow to get side by side training with me.  I am really anxious to get back 'home.'  It will be about 3 months since I've been there.  I miss my hammock, my 20k bike rides, my morning tea, and the slowness of life.  I also miss sitting under the stars and dreaming.  

Our highlight of the day today was the Snake Guy!  Look for yourself, as I really don't want to know specifics, but Mali has a lot of different types of snakes.  Some even may be poisonous and deadly.... Today he showed them to us, caged up.  He had his little boys with him that were not afraid at all of them.  I was.  I hate snakes.  In Mali, we have vipers, cobras, and various others.  If I happen to see a snake this is what I do:  don't move.  If I get bit by one I am to not panic, don't try to suck the venom out, and don't drink coffee or alcohol.  I'm ready!  I must say Phoenix has their share of snakes.   Unfortunately Mali does not have the 911 service or ambulances, so getting bit is not a good option.  On the bright side we were told only 20 people a year die of snake bites, Africa wide! I think I'll be ok!

I've rambled enough.  If you get anything from this blog, know that:  I miss my grandma terribly, it's warmer here than where you are, I get to wear flip flops to work, the president of Mali is Amadou Toumani Troure (ATT)- hey, Malians all over were watching the inaug. of our Pres, I feel it's my duty to inform the masses.

My Favorite Malin Pics

Just a few pictures I thought I would post.  

Visiting a fellow PCV in her village, we came across a wedding! This little boy kept making faces at the camera!  Kids are kids everywhere in the world!

Shea nuts and Moringa leaves, two resources I will be working with here in Mali

Dnumba with the world in her hands, sweetest little girl ever

Limes and peppers in the market

My host lil'bro-cutest little Malian