I just returned to San for a day before heading home to site but had to come to the internet café to see pictures of my new niece!! I’ve been breezing through phone credit with regular phone calls home to find out when she was born and I was oh so excited to hear on Sunday that mom and baby were healthy. Well worth the expense. Congratulations to the new grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles and of course, mom and dad.
I was at site for the fourth of July which was significantly less anticlimactic than last year when I was preparing for my last days in America, but I left on the 7th for San and then up north to celebrate our 1 year in country anniversary on July 10. When I was in Bandiagara we watched the finale of the World Cup and I was torn if I wanted a bunch of euphoric Netherland fans roaming the streets of Johannesburg post game or distraught fans…
I went to Justin’s site for a night and was fascinated at how different each person’s experience is. We are both in the same country but that is just about where the similarities end. Of course he speaks a minority language, Donoso, while I speak Bambara so that was an adjustment not being able to communicate with the same ease that I’ve developed at my site. The actual physical contrasts between our villages are what really made me realize just how huge this country is. His village is situated on the rocks and absolutely gorgeous. While mine is simple and quaint with mud houses and fences, all the buildings in his village are made of rock. I think I would be in significantly better shape if I lived in Dogon country because to go anywhere in village you essentially have to rock climb. I was there less than 24 hours and my legs were sore for days after…and these people carry buckets of water on their heads and carry heavy loads up these cliffs multiple times a day, it’s incredible. The beauty comes at a significant price though in that water so close to the dessert and in that rocky of a terrain is exceptionally hard to come by and clean water even more so. Thus Justin, as a water and sanitation volunteer has his work cut out for him trying to educate his village on basic sanitation practices. A primary source of dirty water comes from the lack of bathroom facilities. The Malian bathroom, a negen, is hard to dig and build in Dogon due to the rocks so the villagers defecate on the rocks. This is the root cause of much of the water contamination because as the rains come it washes everything right down the cliffs and into the drinking water…
The tenth came as quite a surprise, how could it have already been a year? So much has happened I can’t imagine that I have another year to go. People are already asking my plans about what I want to do when I get home and I can’t believe how fast the time is passing. The one year in country mark is traditionally the hardest time for a volunteer and I’m happy to say that the overwhelming gloom that consumes many volunteers hasn’t hit me and hopefully won’t. I have a strong and stable support group both at home and in country which has proven to keep me grounded. Before I left, I was hoping to learn a thing or two about myself being able to spend a significant amount of time alone at my site, but I’ve come to learn that I need other people in my life to learn about me. It’s been a year full of changes.
I hope everyone is doing well and know that I miss you all like crazy. Time is passing quickly but that doesn’t go to say that it’s not incredibly difficult at times to be so far from home for so long. I love you all and think of you often,
Love always,
Cait
