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.