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!!