Ghana!

Sooooooo, I finally took my first vacation out of country! 5 of us decided we needed a little beach vacation because hot season is just too hot. And what a shocker ghana was! So I knew that mali was the 3rd poorest country in the world, but never really understood just how underdeveloped it was (although i do have to say being in ghana has made me miss mali!). The cars, the clothes, the technology, the infrastructure, all of it was glaringly more developed. I suppose being on the coast and being a former british colony all play into ghana's development.

Annnyway, so we went to the beach, which was amazing to swim again and relax on the sand. Then we visited 2 old slave castles in Cape Coast and Elmina, both tours were done extremely well. We got to see the old slave dungeons and the living quarters of the soldiers and such. The castles themselves are beautiful, white stone and marble. And then we headed to Accra and I did a lot of shopping at the market there. hahaha. Tons of fabric, western clothes, shoes, you know, i cant escape my love of shopping.

The trip was fantastic. BUT i do have to say, I love mali and was itching to get home! I definately missed my friends and family in village, and really malians in general. I found that while ghanians were friendly and helpful, malians are so so helpful and amazing, go out of their way to help people, and really treat you like family. Ok, my mali is amazing rant is over. hahaha. I hope all is well in america!!!!

I've emerged...

Hahaha. Soooo sorry for the long absence, I've been without prolonged internet use for quite some time now, but we're back in action for a little. So, let's see, what have I been doing for the last 3 months? Hahaha. Well, I've been working on the previous volunteer's project, which now that the ball is re-rolling, is going excellently. Its a project to improve the water sanitation, I think i've explained it before. So far, we've re-cemented 3 pumps and a solar powered robinet, built walls around 3 pumps, built 2 clothes washing stations, built over 60 personal septic system-like things called soak pits for the outhouses, 3 large soak pits for the big pumps, and are in the process of building a wall around the robinet to keep cows out. And repaired several of the pumps in town that were broken. I basically act as the money holder and the legistics person. And i help with engineering and buying of supplies. Its been keeping me really busy and has presented a whole bunch of other project ideas that the town wants. So since rainy season begins in may, I am going to write up proposals for projects and funding and then we can begin after rainy season ends in august/september.

Also, on the health work front, I am helping with a malnutrition program launched by USAID to help mothers learn better nutrition for their children and to improve pregnant woman's health. I help weigh babies and write down their information to track growth. And the matron does an animation and we show them how to improve the nutrition of certain meals by adding in things like fruit, baobab leaves, moringa, bean powder, stuff like that. So thats every other friday.

As for social life, things are good in village! I feel like i have a hold on Bambara, which definately has helped me form friendships that are real instead of just talking about the weather. And malians are definately some hilarious, ridiculous people who have a dirty dirty sense of humor. hahaha. During the day when I'm not overseeing part of the project, I usually spend hanging out with people. I mostly go to the moto-repair garage that one of my best friends in village owns. Most of my friends who are not working at the moment go there to hang out, talk, drink tea, you know. And I still go to the health centers most mornings to hang out and talk to people.

Nothing really big has happened. March 8th was international women's day, which was a blast! One of my peace corps friends came and we had outfits made out of women's day fabric. The kids at the school put on a theater show, and there was a women's and men's soccer game. After there was a dance. It was altogether an excellent day.

And recently there was a large soccer tournament in my commune. 16 teams competed and my town made it to the finale, which sadly we lost. But the whole thing was great. Everyone would get all dressed up and go out and cheer. And they all get really into soccer so the fact that we made it to the finals was a big deal. They got money for 2nd place and bought new uniforms, which everyone was estatic about. hahaha.

Oh and my mom sent me an easter package with easter eggs and candy in it. So i put candy in the eggs and had the kids in my family do an easter egg hunt, which they loved. And i loved even more.

Ok, i will try to think of more updates and post. Plus my parents just sent a new camera, seeing as how mine broke, so i will have pictures!!!

Some pics!

Yes that is correct, I am cutting millet out in the fields with the men. They thought it was hilarious. And after about 30 minutes they made me sit down and rest hahaha.




This is me with my 2 little host brothers


And the women in my town dancing after Tabaski

And the next one is me with a blow up santa. See danny, santa does come to Mali.

The last picture is me on top of a cliff in Sikasso after thanksgiving. We went for a bit of a hike!

I forgot Tabaski!

So I completely forgot that I had not yet talked about tabaski. I don't even know where to begin. So the night before Tabaski officially began, I ended up hanging out with my host brother and his friends, who are all about my age and mostly speak french and of course, bambara. And we listened to music, drank tea, and usually I go to bed early, buttttt, I managed to stay up with them until like 4 in the morning. Malians don't sleep, I dont know how they do it, i get exhausted, but it was really fun. At like 3 am, they brought out macaroni and chicken and bread. So tabaski is like a three day thanksgiving feast. And everyone eats a lot of macaroni because its a fairly expensive grain so its a treat for them. Anyway, so the next morning, I got all dressed up in my matching skirt and top, had on some new jewelry, and of course my host sisters had braided my hair and done henna on my hands and feet. And we walked around, greeted people, I helped the women cook. They slaughter a ton of sheep, and everyone eats sheep at three meals for three days. Yes, that is correct, meat in the morning, noon, and night. By the end of the three days, I literally did not want to look at another piece of meat. My host family gave me a bunch of meat that I prepared in an american style, basically I grilled it! But they loved it! And then we danced, the women all got together and danced, with traditional drums going. And then, after a week, we had an end of tabaski party, with dancing, anddddd all the women got outfits made out of the same fabric, as a town fabric, so I, of course, once again, was styling in my outfit. Which, they thought was fantastic because I had the tailor make a westernized tank top.

So what I thought was going to be an overload of malian time turned out to be really fun. I think the fact that I can communicate a lot better now definitely helps. And I know that everyone in my town really appreciated my participation in their holiday.

On another topic...we had a picnic today for former peace corps volunteers living in mali. They were volunteers in countries around the world and their families all came. It was a ton of fun. But I have to say, for some reason, it was so so so bizarre to talk to young children in english. I didn't expect it to be, but it really threw me off. I guess i've spoken to other adults in english, but its been 6 months since i've talked to a kid in english. I found myself talking super slowly to like 8 year olds and then turning to people to talk about the kids in front of them, expecting them not to understand. hahaha. It was certainly a very odd moment.

Ok, that is all for now. I shall write more soon!

Post Christmas

So christmas and new years were a blast!!! I guess I should start from the top. So we went up to Manatali, which was so much fun! First, they just built this HUGE dam there. Apparently if it operates at full capacity it is large enough to power all of mali and much of west africa. And you can swim in the dam, so that was amazing to actually be around water again. One of my friends had a friend from america come visit, so she brought all of this food for us for christmas, including stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, marshmallows and graham crackers for smores, spices, brownie mix, cookie mix, pumpkin pie filling, mashed potato, and YOGURT COVERED RAISINS (my favorite, wink wink, hint hint, nudge nudge). And we had a sheep killed and several guinea fowl, all of which were absolutely amazing. And after we had a bonfire to make smores. All in all, an excellent christmas. Although I do have to say, I miss the snow. Annnnnd, there are monkeys in Manatali, and they will basically come up to you to see what you're up to. I also got to see a baboon. Luckily it was chained, because that thing looked pretty nasty and mad.

After that, we went to Bamako for New Years, which turned into an excellent evening. Malians celebrate new years, but they don't do the whole counting down and such, and don't really go out until like 1 AM. So we were the only ones at this bar, but we made them count down and then we sang auld lang syne. And then we stayed out dancing until the morning. Bamako has some amazing clubs and bars because of the large french and lebanese ex-pat population, so it turned out to be a rather westernized new years. Which was nice for a change! We met some embassy workers and NGO workers and such.

My site is going excellently. My host family has literally become like my family. We fight like brothers and sisters. Hahaha. My mom sent pictures of the family doing karate, and my family went NUTS. They made me show everyone who came into our compound. And my host brother keeps making me promise that if (when) my parents come to visit they will teach them karate. And my mom also sent a giant blow up globe, which was FANTASTIC. I showed them where NJ was in comparison to mali. And, even more importantly, that the world was round. And the kids of course loved that it was a giant blow up toy. hahaha. Annnnd, i just received light up socks from my mom, and I cant wait to show my family. Ok, thats all for now, I shall write more soon b/c i'll have internet for a while!!

Thanksgiving!!

Sooo, I hope everyone's thanksgivings were good! It was weird to be in the African heat! It was my first thanksgiving without cold weather! But anyway, about 40 people came out to Sikasso and we cooked a giant meal! Complete with turkey, stuffing, eggplant, green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce (from a can, my favorite), pumpkin pie and apple pie! It was really amazing, especially after eating village food for so long! And the next night we did a mexican night with tortillas and such. On saturday a couple of my friends and I biked out to these caves that are about 15 km outside sikasso. We climbed up to the top of the rock formations, which made for an ammmmmmazing view. It was really gorgeous. And good to bike after two huge meals!!

Everyone is gearing up for Tabaski, which is THE big holiday for muslims here. Surprisingly though, mali is much less conservative than I originally thought it would be, its much like America in its religiosity. Anyway, i digress, so Tabaski is on december 8th or 9th depending on the moon, and everyone sacrifices sheep and eats a ton of meat, and dances and stays up all night for 3 days. I have 2 malian complets to wear, which the people in my town will love because they are obsessed with when I dress malian. hahaha. And i'm buying some chickens for my family to kill too. Its going to be an intense three days, but I'm excited. And then after that my friend gemma is going to come out to my site for a couple of days. I went to her site last week, and it was really fun to see someone else's village. Plus its fun when people visit because you can joke around a lot more and feed off of each other.

Anyway, those are all my updates for now. I heard hillary is going to be secretary of state, go her, love the girl. And that plaxico burress shot himself in the thigh, really? Reallly plaxico? I thought mrs. plaxico taught you better than that.

Post election life at site

So, I got back to site after the election and everyone was so so so excited about Barack Obama. The Borne Foundation, a Danish NGO that has an office in my town had set up a tv set to a French station for everyone to watch, so they got to see the results. So if nothing else, at least Obama’s election restores some faith in the States and hopefully that will translate into better foreign relations in the future!!!

The other day I went into the fields with my family to beat rice. So Malians farm rice, which is still beyond me because rice is such a water-intensive crop, and Mali is a pretty damn arid place. But, alas, they have a rice variety that grows, it still requires much more water than other crops but grows pretty well. It tastes like rice pilaf in the States does, I actually really like it. But I digress. So after they cut it down they have to beat the stalks to get the rice off. So they dry it out and then put it on tarps, and take big sticks and literally beat the rice stalks until the rice grains fall off. So I went out to help my family, it was a great way to get out stress. Haha. It was HARD WORK!!! They made me take my camera and so I captured some excellent photos including my host brother took a couple of pictures of me. The whole town knew by the end of the day that I had gone out into the fields and they all thought it was hilarious. And my family let me sleep after an afternoon snack. After that I helped my host mom cook. And man, is she a lady after my own heart. (My mom would love her). She is the only Malian woman I have ever seen to eat while she is cooking. She tasted everything and of course, let me taste everything as we went along. We snacked the whole time and she basically let me do the equivalent of licking the bowel when we were done. It was fantastic. Most women just do their cooking, put in the correct amount of ingredients and wait for the men until they eat anything. Not my host mom!!! She is my favorite of my three mothers, even before our cooking episode.

Annnnnnd, my host brother put up half of a massive hangar that is going over mine and his house. It is amaaaazing. He put up my half first, so now I have this huge shaded area right outside my house. It’s a great place to sit and chat with my family and stuff. My family likes to hang out there now, which is fun because I like having everyone around talking and playing and making fun of each other. And my two younger brothers who are probably about 2 have recently learned both my name and “ça va”. So now every morning I get a “Sanaba, ça va?”. Haha.

I met this guy in my town that calls me “his sister” in an accent that sounds like a Jamaican Rastafarian man. I had never actually talked to him so I went to sit down to tea with him and he was fascinating!! He’s from Timbuktu and is probably about 50. He’s the president of the refugee camp and has been working with different NGOs to start dialogues about development and why Mali is so much less developed than the countries surrounding it. He is working with a Swiss NGO to open a cultural center in Bamako where he hopes to bring in speakers, like the minister of education and different ambassadors to talk to young people about developmental issues. Which I think is a great idea. He was really interested in what I had to say about the school system, women’s rights, and all sorts of things. And so I think I’m going to start working with him on some projects, which will be great.

So that was my week! Next week we are going out to Sikasso for a huge thanksgiving celebration! We have a bunch of turkeys, are making mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, and all sorts of desserts (and of course some beverages to go along with that). I am very excited! And then we are going camping by water falls. So all in all, while it won’t compare with the Whiteley family thanksgivings which always end up being highly amusing (and I expect reports on all the gossip that goes down danny, tanna, and travis), it will be fun. And it will be nice to be with a bunch of my friends and to see people I haven’t seen in a while.

Oh, and I tried to post on the comments but not sure if it went through. Yes, Emily, I can wear pants. The Malians LOVE LOVE LOVE when I wear Malians clothes. They always tell me how good the skirts make my butt look, hahaha. But I wear pants a lot actually. And Yeh-von, nice to see you!!! Thanks for checking in! I guess I’ll allow tanna to keep you for a while longer, and I won’t take a flight back to America just to kick you in the shin. Too bad, because let’s not lie to ourselves, that would be pretty funny if I just showed up at your apartment all the way from Africa to kick you in the shin and run away. Don’t put it past me.

Election Day!

Happy Election day everybody!! Its been a while since my last post, internet access isn't always the easiest around here. So I'm in Bamako for the election, a bunch of peace corps volunteers came in to watch the tv and fight over politics. Hahaha. The Malians are all very excited too, although most of them are already calling Barack our new President. The election will be happening late over here, especially since daylight savings started so we're 5 hours ahead now, but I think its worth the wait. haha. I didn't get to vote, sadly, because somebody (called the state of NJ) failed to send out my absentee ballot. Next election...

Life around here has been pretty, well, hot... Its mini hot season, fun fun. But the nights are getting cooler and soon apparently the days will be cool enough to wear long sleeves. I hear it snowed on my birthday in NJ!! I'm jealous. Speaking of my birthday, it was a lot of fun! My friends made me banana bread pudding and sang for me. And I got ice cream, which was definately a treat. So overall, it was a good 23. I got some cards from my parents, and my sis, good work tanns. And travis finally emailed me, little punk.

I've gotten some good updates about the record of the Giants. I always knew eli would pull through for me. I'm sure we'll do something for the super bowl, so Eli better keep up this record.

Right now i'm gearing up to finish the project that the guy before me started. The money is coming through, and I have a plan of action for all the supplies I have to buy. So that will keep me busy through January. And then we have in service training for basically the entire month of January, which will be a long break from site. My language is going really well, I can actually participate in most conversations! And of course, there is french, which I speak a lottttt. Most of my friends are people who speak french because I can have legit conversations with them. But, I'm getting pretty good at figuring out Bambara, its a fairly easy language to learn, which is nice, since most of the gossip around the town is spoken in bambara. And we all know how much I love the gossip. hahaha. Just kiddddinggg.

And for a little story. The other day my host family came home with a lizard, that I swear was the size of a komodo dragon. And they thought it was hilarious that I was scared of it, so they pretended to have it walk towards me and bite me. haha. After we tossed it on a fire and ate it. I have to say, it was actually quite delicious. Ok that is all for now. Hope everyone is voting!!!

Pictures - some b/c I'm impatient

1 month into site

Ok, so a longer post, as promised!! I’ve been at my site for a month now! The time has gone both slow and fast, if you know what I mean. I just got a bunch of letters from everyone at Karate Camp!!!! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!! I loved reading them, I read them and re-read them! They are adorable. I told my host family that I do karate and that my parents are karate teachers and showed them a picture of danny and travis sparring and they LOVED IT. Malians are obsessed with karate, they watch kung fu movies constantly and are always doing mock karate moves. My host brother made me promise that I would show him some moves. And tanna, thank you for the birthday card!! (travis and danny where are my emails??? Huh?) It was perfect, and yes, I do need some pink in my hut, it is seriously lacking in that department. (Its also lacking in electricity, internet, plumbing, cell phone service, and air conditioning, but one step at a time).
I’ve been making some friends, well, sitting around drinking overly sweetened tea speaking in partial bambara partial French and sitting in silence a lot. But still, it’s a start. Haha. I’ve read a bunch of books, oh including the Red Tent, which my mom has been wanting me to read FOREVER. And now I understand why. It was a great book.
It was just Selitini – the Fete of Ramadan. After Ramadan is over there is a big party, its not as big as Tabaski (seliba) which is in December, but it was still pretty fun. Its like thanksgiving mixed with Halloween. The children all go around door to door and ask for change and money, and everyone else eats a ton and walks around to greet each other and bless each other. Kia (my pseudo host mom, I don’t remember if I explained this, but I eat lunch at the previous volunteer’s host family, and hang out there a lot too) so anyway, she dressed me up in one of her outfits (which she then gave to me!!!) And we walked around, and my host sisters painted henna on my hands and feet. Everyone was more than excited to see me in Malian garb. Hahaha. They all loved it, and made me promise I would do it again for Tabaski.
Sometimes I feel like I am in some random town in the States, and sometimes I look around and I’m like, oh man, I’m in Africa. I think the oh my god I’m in Africa moments come at weird times, like the other day, I was sitting in the refugee camp in my town, sipping on hot whole milk (if you drink milk here you have to boil it then drink it immediately so it doesn’t grow bacteria, and its fresh so its completely whole), munching on raw peanuts straight out of the ground, and listening to Celine Dion blast in the background, and the family I was chatting with asked me if I wanted to borrow the Celine Dion cassette tape because I was singing along. And it hit me that I wasn’t in America anymore (although I bet you could find a similar scene to this somewhere in the south). Another time it hit me was when my host brother asked me if I knew what “I ni gwa” meant, and I said thanks for the food, and he said, no, thank you for preparing the food. So I replied with “c’est la meme chose, Hitler”, which made me laugh for a while. It’s the little things, I guess. I do have to say, there are some things that I love about Mali that cant be found in the states. My favorite thing is the smell of tea when it hits the hot coals its heated on. It smells like burnt marshmallows, but better. And right before the rain storms roll in, it gets really windy and black. Annnnd, there is a fruit for basically every season. Right now its guava and banana season, and the guavas are absolutely amazing. Soon its watermelons, then the famed mango season. For which I cannot wait. And the rainy season is wrapping up now, which means mini hot season, but soon it will be cold season, which will be really nice. Because hot season is supposed to be brutal!!!
This morning was probably about 75 degrees, I, of course, wore a tank top and a wrap skirt, and I was sitting for a bus and everyone was bundled up. I mean bundled. Like winter coats, like legit parkas, pants, sneakers socks, hats, long sleeves. And everyone was like aren’t you cold? And I said that this weather felt amaaaaazing. They thought I was crazy. Although, I think they already think I’m crazy most of the time, so its nothing really new. Hahaha.
Oh, and there are times when I forget I’m in Mali, which I know may be hard to believe. But its things like how all children, everywhere in the world, spin around in circles and then try to run in a straight line only to fall down, get up, and do it again. Or watching a basketball game and everyone is cheering on the sidelines, the women dressed to impress the athletes and chatting not even watching the game. Or someone coming up behind you and tapping you on the opposite shoulder and pretending that they didn’t do it. And, on the fete of Ramadan, they had potato sack races and the race where you put an egg on a spoon and put the spoon in your mouth and do a relay race. And of course, watching soccer matches is exciting no matter where you are, and the kids here are genuinely really good. They play every Thursday in my town against another town, and the games are really fun to watch!
Alright, that’s all for now. Miss everyone!! I want to hear gossip from the states!!!