I’ve successfully managed to survive another two weeks at site. I was surprised last Saturday when my LCF (Malian teacher during pre-service training) Salifou Bengaly showed up at my house two days early for a week of intensive one-on-one language training. Not only did it prove to assist in my language level, but it also gave me some credibility among the village people because they would come sit in on my lessons and hear that I can in-fact speak Bambara just slowly and very directly. Since Salifou left a few days ago I’ve inherited a whole village of teachers who speak to me very slowly and enunciate absolutely everything (for some reason they think they can talk about anything and I’ll understand if they just speak slowly enough) so it’s been pretty entertaining.
My homologue has discovered my love of soccer so when Mali plays he gears up his tv and about 30 men huddle around the tv to watch the game and then there’s me…the lone girl. I’ve tried to enlist my host sisters to come watch with me but they get nervous being on the same level as the men in village so they won’t stay for more than a few minutes. I guess that’s one more thing I can work on during the next two years. Most of the women are painfully subservient and inferior to the men, so I’m doing my best to encourage my girls to stay in school and not get married when they're 16.
I’ve had a little success already in my village. My homologue is the head of the mens association and they want to improve their animal raising. One of their problems was that there was no one to take care of the animals during the day while the men were in the fields and the women are working in the house except for the children. School started last week and I noticed that everyday one of the kids didn’t go, so salif explained to me that the kids would rotate the days they took care of the animals so we suggested to my homologue that they hire an older boy who had either finished or already dropped out of school. This way the kids get to go to school and we’ve created a job for someone who wouldn’t otherwise have one.
I love nights here! Because there's no electricity people chat and everyone is welcome in everyone's house so the whole community is very tightly knit. Plus the sky isn’t tainted by lights so the stars are very crisp and clear and shooting stars are absolutely everywhere. Friday nights, the choir at church meets at the church for rehersal and dance and sing along with the drums and guitars and that has quickly become one of my favorite weekly routines. This past Sunday the church gave me a hymnal so I can sing along even if I can’t understand what I’m singing and that makes the village people pretty excited.
I just passed my three month anniversary in country (10-10-09) which is pretty crazy because it has absolutely flown by…well, most days have flown by, and others have been so painfully slow that I’ve had to check to make sure that my watch was working. I’ve noticed that time is a very loose term here; it’s like an electrician when they say they’ll be at your house between 8 am and 5pm…great, really helpful.
The rainy season is winding down thus harvest season has started and fortunately the hungry season is also winding down. Watermelon just started and while the interior of the watermelon is a shade of pink that could pass as white, it’s still delicious and a nice change. My diet is regrettable in that protein and fiber are hard to come by. Peace Corps makes us take iron daily and I’ve taken to cooking my own breakfasts and lunches because I can’t stomach some of their foods and I’d rather cook for myself then force down food that has literally gagged me.
Love,
Cait
