Quick summary of the past 3 months

Jodie, Kenny and I atop the Falise in Dogon country

(UNESCO WH site)

Sorry it's been a while since I last updated. I was able to go to the US for one month for the Christmas/New Year holiday, then when I returned I had the wonderful honor of hosting my cousin Jodie and my best friend Kenny out here in Mali. We did the big tour of Mali, went to my village, and spent some nice poolside time in Segou- which was more rewarding than usual because it was so horribly cold in Philly that we ALL couldn't wait to just sit in the sun and soak up some good 'ole vitamin D!

It's 2010 now, the last year of my Peace Corps service. I feel that I've accomplished a lot while here, but I still have a few projects to start and complete by June. I am hoping to at least flow $10,000 into projects here and right now I'm about up to $6,000. I have 2 more projects to do SO I can easily get reach my goal. Now, a goal of Peace Corps isn't to see how many projects you can accomplish while here, but my village is really motivated to work, and so am I so I'm taking advantage of my good situation!

I am continuing other projects that I've started and now I am working on repairing a second pump that will hopefully provide approx. 500 people with clean water. Another project is that the women of my village will be hosting a shea butter training. They've wanted to be the hostesses for a while, and this year we are finally able to hold it. There is a lot of prep work to go into this workshop, but it will be worth it. The women will learn how to properly extract the shea oil from the fruit/nut. As a result of this the women will have a healthier oil to cook with (as opposed to extracting the oil with dirt/dust and chickens around, unclean hands, and maybe dirty children all mixing in with their product which is typical here in Mali). With a cleaner oil they will also be able to sell their oil at a higher price, leading to many benefits for themselves, their children and the community as a whole.

Some highlights of the past 3 months:

*I ate American Fast Food and gained pounds while in the US

*I saw my Dad

*I saw almost my whole extended family and attended many wonderful parties which will leave me with many wonderful memories to reflect on when I get homesick

*I attended the Segou Music Festival and saw 2 awesome groups, and made it on the jumbotron 2 nights in a row for being an awesome dancer!!!

*Jodie and Kenny did awesome here in Mali- especially proud of Jodie for really never leaving the US before!

*My birthday is in 2 weeks and I'm planning a really fun party! I can't wait!

*I am really happy to be back in Mali. I missed my boyfriend and life in general here.

*I have finished updating my resume and have already begun sending it out. I'm planning on staying here for a few more years.

I like it here, I love my boyfriend and friends, and I like my work. So, I'll stay.

I now promise to write regularly again!

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!