I just finished my Food Security conference in Bamako and my two villagers enjoyed a day in town before heading home to Sebanso on Sunday. I am staying in San until Monday so I can go to market day here due to my inability to go to my own market because our road floods each time the rain comes.
The conference was in Bambara entirely and thus the few volunteers there attended some alternative sessions and in our down time enjoyed the wire access we so rarely get to enjoy. A woman working for the CDC in Atlanta, Dr. Mary Alleman, came to speak to us on some of the most common preventable diseases present in Mali with particular emphasis on Polio. A large part of my job as a volunteer is to share my experiences with family and friends while in country in an attempt to raise awareness of our country of service, thus, I’m writing this email primarily to inform you all about some issues present in Mali.
Just a few years ago there were no cases of Polio in West Africa and today there are many spreading north/west from Nigeria. Several years ago rumors of female infertility caused by receiving the polio vaccine circulated through Nigeria, so today a significant proportion of the worlds cases of polio are found there (India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are the other endemic countries). The first case of reported polio in Senegal in many years occurred in January 2010 and Mali has had 2 new cases reported in both 2009 and 2010 and expected to grow quickly without immediate prevention and treatment intervention. Small Pox is the only disease to be completely eradicated in the world and polio was very close until recently. With these new cases surfacing the World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control, and Ministries of Health are all working hard to eliminate the disease and hoping to utilize PC volunteers to help spread the information and help ensure all the children are vaccinated. There are specific weekends were the local CSCOM (bruce doctors office) relays (kind of like a nurse) go door to door and vaccinate the children 5 and under in each house in their respective communes and use a permanent marker to color the child’s pinky nail as an identifier that they’ve received the vaccine. This is where we as volunteers can be particularly effective. We have developed a relationship with our communities and can find the kids without the marked pinky and have their parent’s get them vaccinated. These campaigns occur every few months since the first occurrence of polio in Mali in 2008 and during these campaigns the children receive the vaccine for free.
As our conference pertained to Food Security and the starting of committees and associations we have learned some interesting stats during our sessions. For starters, there are 1 billion hungry people in the world and in Sub-Saharan Africa one in every three people is chronically hungry. I’m hard pressed to find a more important issue facing Mali than Food Security. I can truly not imagine having to reduce my meals to one a day in an attempt to make it through hungry season or being in fear that I’m not going to have enough money to buy food for the week.
Food Security is a global problem and defined by a community’s accessibility of food in a community and for those people in the community to have adequate access to it. This includes quality of food and the nutritious value of that food. Nutritious food is difficult to come by even during cold season which is when most of the garden produce is available in market not to mention the other 10 months of the year when produce is exponentially more expensive and harder to find. When millet is the staple of your diet and the only regular sources of protein are in dried fish (one of the most horrid smells in market) you can imagine the difficulties in eating a balanced diet…scratch that, the impossibility of eating a balanced diet. I heard an interesting theory on one of the many reasons Mali and other West African countries continue to be unable to develop which essentially comes to the conclusion that sorghum is the only indigenous crop in Mali and all the millet, corn, beans, etc that are grown have been brought in from outside.
This is just the tip of the ice berg relating to Food Security and the possibilities and also the dangers of not addressing the problem. In theory, upon my return to site my villagers will have some ideas on how to protect the village in saving food and increasing production, etc. Hopefully I’ll have some positive updates for you in a few weeks.
Love,
Cait
June 22, 2010
June has proven to be exceptionally busy! I started the month going to what I like to refer to as an oasis in the desert aka a little village on the Bani River that served as a going away party of sorts for the 6 volunteers in the STAGE before mine. The village, Teriabougu (house of friends), was about 30 kilometers off the main road between San and Bla (a most unfortunate city name). It was more a little resort than a village as it was gated off and the hotel was the primary location of guests. There was a pool that was legitimately clean and lounge chairs that we took full advantage of. As a reward to surviving hot season we spent a great deal of time just sitting in the pool, getting out and jumping right back in. The village in and of itself is pretty fascinating. There is a tree nursery with thousands of trees being grown as well as an established beekeeping practice and they have a Jatropha seed press to make bio-diesel fuel. We splurged on the last night and all ate at the restaurant the hotel that was perhaps one of the best meals I’ve had in country (not saying too much when my diet is toh or on good days, rice and sauce).
I returned to sight for just a few days before heading north to Bandiagara for the start of the 2010 World Cup! It’s such an experience living in Africa for the first World Cup ever to be held in Africa. There is such pride through this continent as the African teams are being cheered on. While realistic expectations are not high for any of the African teams to make it to the second round, you wouldn’t know that based on the enthusiasm of the fans. I met up with Justin in Sevare and then went up farther north to Bandiagara. Bandiagara is a frequent starting point for the tours of Dogon country so there is a lot of western influenced food there and nice hotels for us to watch the games in. To celebrate my year in country coming up on July 10, 2010 I ordered a Dogon Bracelet to be made. They are region specific and the designer melts down coins then hammers them into shape. I’m getting my Malian name, Aramata, carved into the bracelet and so excited to see how it turns out. I’m getting to go back to Bandiagara briefly for my actual 1 year anniversary so I’ll get my bracelet then.
I again returned briefly to site for a busy two days. I met my newest host sister who is just 3 weeks old, she is yet to be named as Malian tradition goes there is a naming ceremony a week after the birth where the name is announced but being in a Christian village we do things a bit differently and they wait until the Dad decides on the appropriate name. I was taken to the fields and helped plant millet…kind of. Mostly I just watched as the fields were plowed then planted not even a full row of millet because the Malians were laughing hysterically at my pathetic attempt to be agile in my planting. I failed. It was a great experience none the less and really helped me experience a huge part of their lives that until know I’d just heard rumors of.
Currently I am back at Tubaniso, the training area where I was brought when I first arrived for PST and again in December for IST. Two members from my village are here, Tabita Demebly and Dabassy Coulibaly, for a food security conference. I technically do not need to be here but I think it meant a lot to my villagers that I came even though just a few other volunteers are here. Its working out well though as this morning I was able to meet with my boss, Macki Cisso, and discuss some project plans and generally just catch up. It can be really hard being so far from Bamako and easy to feel like you’re slipping between the cracks so it was nice to be greeted and asked about specific people in my village he had met months earlier. I suspect the rest of the week will pass quickly and I’m looking forward to Peace Corps transport back to San. I have to admit though; I have reached a whole new level of confidence when I managed to get from San to the Bamako bureau by myself. Never before had I had to negotiate with taxi drivers and navigate the insanity of Bamako traffic so I was really proud of myself when I actually reached my destination with minimal trouble.
Hopefully, I’ll be back to site on Sunday and spend at least a week there before heading up to Bandiagara. My friend Holly is flying home to Washington for a month and leaves on the 7th and there is a possibility that I could join her on her trip to Bamako for a day then head north with some friends who are coming from the other side of the country (Kayes) where they will be celebrating the 4th of July…but I detest transport and don’t know if I want to spend 9 hours on a hot bus just to turn around for 13 hours more the next day.
In papa’s words, “That’s all I’ve got to say”
Love,
Cait
I returned to sight for just a few days before heading north to Bandiagara for the start of the 2010 World Cup! It’s such an experience living in Africa for the first World Cup ever to be held in Africa. There is such pride through this continent as the African teams are being cheered on. While realistic expectations are not high for any of the African teams to make it to the second round, you wouldn’t know that based on the enthusiasm of the fans. I met up with Justin in Sevare and then went up farther north to Bandiagara. Bandiagara is a frequent starting point for the tours of Dogon country so there is a lot of western influenced food there and nice hotels for us to watch the games in. To celebrate my year in country coming up on July 10, 2010 I ordered a Dogon Bracelet to be made. They are region specific and the designer melts down coins then hammers them into shape. I’m getting my Malian name, Aramata, carved into the bracelet and so excited to see how it turns out. I’m getting to go back to Bandiagara briefly for my actual 1 year anniversary so I’ll get my bracelet then.
I again returned briefly to site for a busy two days. I met my newest host sister who is just 3 weeks old, she is yet to be named as Malian tradition goes there is a naming ceremony a week after the birth where the name is announced but being in a Christian village we do things a bit differently and they wait until the Dad decides on the appropriate name. I was taken to the fields and helped plant millet…kind of. Mostly I just watched as the fields were plowed then planted not even a full row of millet because the Malians were laughing hysterically at my pathetic attempt to be agile in my planting. I failed. It was a great experience none the less and really helped me experience a huge part of their lives that until know I’d just heard rumors of.
Currently I am back at Tubaniso, the training area where I was brought when I first arrived for PST and again in December for IST. Two members from my village are here, Tabita Demebly and Dabassy Coulibaly, for a food security conference. I technically do not need to be here but I think it meant a lot to my villagers that I came even though just a few other volunteers are here. Its working out well though as this morning I was able to meet with my boss, Macki Cisso, and discuss some project plans and generally just catch up. It can be really hard being so far from Bamako and easy to feel like you’re slipping between the cracks so it was nice to be greeted and asked about specific people in my village he had met months earlier. I suspect the rest of the week will pass quickly and I’m looking forward to Peace Corps transport back to San. I have to admit though; I have reached a whole new level of confidence when I managed to get from San to the Bamako bureau by myself. Never before had I had to negotiate with taxi drivers and navigate the insanity of Bamako traffic so I was really proud of myself when I actually reached my destination with minimal trouble.
Hopefully, I’ll be back to site on Sunday and spend at least a week there before heading up to Bandiagara. My friend Holly is flying home to Washington for a month and leaves on the 7th and there is a possibility that I could join her on her trip to Bamako for a day then head north with some friends who are coming from the other side of the country (Kayes) where they will be celebrating the 4th of July…but I detest transport and don’t know if I want to spend 9 hours on a hot bus just to turn around for 13 hours more the next day.
In papa’s words, “That’s all I’ve got to say”
Love,
Cait
June 3, 2010
Sorry for the lack of correspondence, I’ve been away at site for almost a month!! The STAGE before me is getting ready for their Close of Service Conference in Bamako in a few days so I’ve come into San for the day in preparation for our trip to Teriabougu…basically a village with a pool and a hotel that is up to American standards (well, there is a fan in the room and the pool water isn’t green…I’m not sure it qualifies for American standards but it’s a welcome sight for Peace Corps volunteers). It’s our good party for the 6 getting ready to go home in just a few months! I’m sad to see them go and cannot believe this will be in a year…God willing I survive another hot season.
The end of hot season is very near on the horizon, twice now, the rains have come and with them a welcome breeze. Thunder and lightning have been all but forgotten until this past week when I was almost mesmerized by the long lost sound. Though I have to admit, I had forgotten how much more challenging riding my bike on bruce roads is when you have to either create an alternative route through the trees and bushes (which have malicious thorns) or go swimming.
I ate my first bug last night. My host dad brought me a bowl of what looked like a combination of a dragon fly without wings (they burnt off when the bug was toasted) and a little caterpillar. I didn’t vomit as I threatened I would but it’s not something I want to repeat in my near future. Fortunately these bugs aren’t around long thus the novelty of them. Speaking of mutant creatures I learned there is such a thing as a scorpion tarantula mix bread of scariness! I knew I killed one a few months ago but nobody believed me until others have been spotted wandering around…I’m glad to be vindicated in being right but I’m torn because I would have been totally fine convincing myself it was a figment of my imagination.
In other news, I attended a funeral in a neighboring village on Sunday. It must have been a really wealthy family because the woman was buried in a casket!! All funerals I’ve been too before the deceased have been wrapped in fabric only. The service was nice but a little long and I’m guessing about 600-700 people were there. It made for a long day but someone did give me a chicken!
My host mom just had a baby girl two nights ago. I’ve yet to see her but when I go back to village on Monday I’ll see her and take lots of pictures for the next email. Most women have their children in the morning and are back cooking dinner and watering the garden in the afternoon…these women are amazing. However, my village is pretty sophisticated and the women can stay at the Maternity for a few days to recover.
I spent a day at a friend’s site just 9 kilometers from me and we did a world map mural painting on the side of her millet cereal bank which was a welcome break and a lot of fun. During that trip we also did a Neeme cream formation. The Neeme tree is a most interesting tree whose leaves have a natural mosquito repellent, so we presented to the women’s association in Zana (the village) how to make the cream. They can either sell the cream at market or use for personal use as the rainy season approaches.
My men in my animal raising association are really working hard to get all their paper work together for the cooperation they are trying to start. I was excited because of the eight required people that have to have birth certificates five already have them. I wasn’t expecting any of them to have them and was worried about how we would find the money to pay for all of them, but now we only have to save for three which is much more feasible (15,000 cfa which is approximately $30…much better than the 40,000 cfa I was anticipating).
I’ll try to give another update soon when I return from Teriabugou or perhaps when I’m in Sevare the following week I can get an email out. I will be traveling a lot in the month of June eventually ending up in Bamako for a few days for a Food Security meeting at Tubaniso for a few days so expect better correspondence during this month!
Love,
Cait
The end of hot season is very near on the horizon, twice now, the rains have come and with them a welcome breeze. Thunder and lightning have been all but forgotten until this past week when I was almost mesmerized by the long lost sound. Though I have to admit, I had forgotten how much more challenging riding my bike on bruce roads is when you have to either create an alternative route through the trees and bushes (which have malicious thorns) or go swimming.
I ate my first bug last night. My host dad brought me a bowl of what looked like a combination of a dragon fly without wings (they burnt off when the bug was toasted) and a little caterpillar. I didn’t vomit as I threatened I would but it’s not something I want to repeat in my near future. Fortunately these bugs aren’t around long thus the novelty of them. Speaking of mutant creatures I learned there is such a thing as a scorpion tarantula mix bread of scariness! I knew I killed one a few months ago but nobody believed me until others have been spotted wandering around…I’m glad to be vindicated in being right but I’m torn because I would have been totally fine convincing myself it was a figment of my imagination.
In other news, I attended a funeral in a neighboring village on Sunday. It must have been a really wealthy family because the woman was buried in a casket!! All funerals I’ve been too before the deceased have been wrapped in fabric only. The service was nice but a little long and I’m guessing about 600-700 people were there. It made for a long day but someone did give me a chicken!
My host mom just had a baby girl two nights ago. I’ve yet to see her but when I go back to village on Monday I’ll see her and take lots of pictures for the next email. Most women have their children in the morning and are back cooking dinner and watering the garden in the afternoon…these women are amazing. However, my village is pretty sophisticated and the women can stay at the Maternity for a few days to recover.
I spent a day at a friend’s site just 9 kilometers from me and we did a world map mural painting on the side of her millet cereal bank which was a welcome break and a lot of fun. During that trip we also did a Neeme cream formation. The Neeme tree is a most interesting tree whose leaves have a natural mosquito repellent, so we presented to the women’s association in Zana (the village) how to make the cream. They can either sell the cream at market or use for personal use as the rainy season approaches.
My men in my animal raising association are really working hard to get all their paper work together for the cooperation they are trying to start. I was excited because of the eight required people that have to have birth certificates five already have them. I wasn’t expecting any of them to have them and was worried about how we would find the money to pay for all of them, but now we only have to save for three which is much more feasible (15,000 cfa which is approximately $30…much better than the 40,000 cfa I was anticipating).
I’ll try to give another update soon when I return from Teriabugou or perhaps when I’m in Sevare the following week I can get an email out. I will be traveling a lot in the month of June eventually ending up in Bamako for a few days for a Food Security meeting at Tubaniso for a few days so expect better correspondence during this month!
Love,
Cait
May 8, 2010
My trip into Bamako was successful in that I was able to watch the Kentucky Derby and while I didn’t pick the winner I had Super Saver in second so I was pleased. I also managed to eat 12 scoops of ice cream in three days…it was delightful! Malians tend to be some of the most passive aggressive people I’ve ever met and I experienced a classic case of this when trying to get transport home. We called the bus and reserved four spots to leave on the 4 o’clock bus. When we get to the station we learn that all the tickets are sold out so we go talk to customer service with the woman with whom we had made the reservations. She said to would find out what was going on, so we waited. We waited for 20 minutes and finally went to go find her because we hadn’t found out anything. She left. Apparently our seats had been sold and she didn’t want to tell us so she went home. Oh well. So we had to stay an extra night in Bamako before catching the more reliable 6am bus to San.
On Wednesday we had a spring cleaning of the stage house…much overdue. It was preparation for my birthday which was really fun despite being so far from home. We ended up having about 12 people in san for the festivities and ate a delicious cake to celebrate. I had saved my presents mom sent so was able to open them on the night of my birthday.
My time at site before I left was brief but pretty productive. My homologue, Bah, took me around to several associations to see how the work and try to figure out some ways that I can help them. We met with two of the women’s associations, the road building association, animal raising association and the millet saving association. I spend at least a day each week at the second cycle school and have a date set in mid May to work with 20 of the girls about decision making and like skills. The female English teacher has proven to be extremely helpful in helping me work with these girls. She helped me pick the 20 girls she thought would get the most out of it and be willing to open up. It’s kind of taboo for women to speak openly here so I wanted some strong young girls for these first sessions. If this goes well then I hope to have these sessions each month.
Bah has officially finished his house and had a “welcome home” party of sorts. They made a huge dinner and had about 25 of his closest friends come over. It was a fun party but I stayed up until 11:30…a record for me at site where I’m normally sound asleep by 10pm. The donkeys have been walking through my concession at night keeping me up and creating some hostility in how I feel about them, but other than that, I’ve adapted really quite well to sleeping outside.
Love,
Cait
On Wednesday we had a spring cleaning of the stage house…much overdue. It was preparation for my birthday which was really fun despite being so far from home. We ended up having about 12 people in san for the festivities and ate a delicious cake to celebrate. I had saved my presents mom sent so was able to open them on the night of my birthday.
My time at site before I left was brief but pretty productive. My homologue, Bah, took me around to several associations to see how the work and try to figure out some ways that I can help them. We met with two of the women’s associations, the road building association, animal raising association and the millet saving association. I spend at least a day each week at the second cycle school and have a date set in mid May to work with 20 of the girls about decision making and like skills. The female English teacher has proven to be extremely helpful in helping me work with these girls. She helped me pick the 20 girls she thought would get the most out of it and be willing to open up. It’s kind of taboo for women to speak openly here so I wanted some strong young girls for these first sessions. If this goes well then I hope to have these sessions each month.
Bah has officially finished his house and had a “welcome home” party of sorts. They made a huge dinner and had about 25 of his closest friends come over. It was a fun party but I stayed up until 11:30…a record for me at site where I’m normally sound asleep by 10pm. The donkeys have been walking through my concession at night keeping me up and creating some hostility in how I feel about them, but other than that, I’ve adapted really quite well to sleeping outside.
Love,
Cait
April 21, 2010
The past few weeks have been super crazy. Upon my return from regional IST in Segou I barely made it back to site in time for Easter. I was able however to return to the little village who doctored up my bike on my day of Murphy’s Law and pay Solomon Coulibaly the 250 cfa (approximately 50 cents).
Easter was celebrated much like any other event in my village, dancing and eating. We killed a couple of pigs (huge because in a Muslim country you don’t eat pork…fortunately, Christians do!) and danced all night before Easter and then again all night Monday. The actual festivities on Easter consisted on a Sunday morning service immediately followed by singing and dancing (all the village married men, all the older women, all the married women, all the young adults and all the kids danced in respective order). I made a dress of Malian fabric and delighted my village with my new outfit…normally I wear exclusively American clothes which still confuses some people to see a women in pants but I like to push the boundaries a bit.
The heat is something I continue to write about not to bore you, but because it’s hard not to live in Mali without mentioning the heat. It’s getting to such a degree where it barely cools off into the 90’s at night thus you never really get the chance to stop sweating even sleeping outside. Heat rash has taken over my body but unfortunately there’s not too much you can do to stop/prevent it when you live in this environment (unless perhaps I install AC in my hut???). Suggestions from fellow volunteers include taking my bucket bath with my clothes on so they can cool me off as they’re drying…I dried out in about 20 minutes then started sweating again. Others sleep on their roofs to try to get more wind flow but have to wake up by 5 when the sun rises and other keep buckets of water next to them so when they wake up (most can sleep for 15-30 minute intervals) douse themselves the fall asleep again for a bit.
By some divine reason I truly can’t explain I decided to call my mom the Wednesday after Easter…highly unusual for me to call let alone so shortly after I talked to her on Easter because it’s extremely expensive but for whatever reason I called and found that my grandma had passed away just hours before. I have never been one to cope well with death and found that I was grateful to have a bit to time to myself in my hut, not only to cry but to reminisce. I also became increasingly grateful for my dad’s foresight to take me to Lawrenceville last June where I had a chance to find some closure in saying, as it goes, my final goodbye. I was able to hug and kiss the Grandma whom I remember from my childhood and that memory has proven to be a huge comfort and eased the pain of my mourning. Having a good friend to support me also eased the pain of loss of my grandma and I can’t be more grateful for what he did for me.
I’ve been busy at site taking Food Security Survey’s. Food Security is severely under addressed in most developing countries and as a result countries like Niger are facing massive famines and unimaginable deaths from starvation. I interviewed 10 farmers in my village about the kinds of grains they grow, income generating activities, garden products, how to deal with running out of food, etc. I was struck by a couple of the questions and results. (1) when asked how many kids are in the family there is always a minimum age of 5 before the children are actually taken into account by the government because the chance of death before 5 is so high. (2) Every single farmer I interviewed ran out of food as early as August and definitely by September…I knew hungry season was a problem, but its extent still continues to impress upon me how dire the situation is. (3) Every single farmer I interviewed admitted they were regularly worried their children did not get enough food and often they would eat only once a day in attempt to prolong the duration of their food. (4) Each farmer had a least one of their children die in their life. (My homologue for example is relatively well off and still, two of his children died from malnutrition and disease). Last year was a terrible harvest and I fear that hungry season will be particularly cruel this year in Mali.
On a happier note, I took a mini vacation up to Sevare then onto a village about 5 hours north called Hombori. Mt Hombori is the highest point in Mali and my friend Justin and I climbed it…sort of. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done but really exciting and so rewarding. When we neared the summit and could look out over what felt like all of Mali the view was intoxicating. Carefully looking in the distance you could see the sand dunes of the Sahara just before the horizon. Fortunately Justin grew up with mountains and was able to navigate the cliffs but talk about an adrenaline rush! Going down the mountain was essentially me scooting down the mountain on my butt…but we made it in one piece with only a few bumps and bruises…and a lot of sore muscles.
Getting back to the “hotel” we took delightfully cold showers and continued to hydrate (we each drank about 7 liters of water on the hike and were still so thirsty when we reached town). We didn’t rest long however as we decided to go see the elephants before they crossed over to Burkina Faso. We hired a guide and driver and set off into the African wilderness. We drove about two hours deep into the heart of Mali until we came upon one of the last watering holes that still had water. We didn’t have to wait long before we saw three gorgeous elephants drinking and bathing at the hole; a female, yearling and the Chief male. At one point the male was probably 30 yards from us. I’ve seen an elephant in zoos before but to be out in the wild with nothing between you and this beast of an animal was extremely exciting and awe inspiring. These animals are totally free, roaming as they please without any fences to confine them. After about 30 minutes of admiring the elephants at the hole we headed out into the brush and saw a dozen more eating and foraging. Beautiful is too cliché a word but it’s impossible to articulate what exactly I felt. All I know is that in less than 24 hours I was humbled twice with just how small I am and how huge this world is.
I’ll wrap it up now because I’ve written too much already. I’ll be at site for about 10 days then I’m headed to Bamako for Derby Day and then back to San to celebrate my birthday with some friends so look forward to more updates in two weeks!
Love,
Cait
Easter was celebrated much like any other event in my village, dancing and eating. We killed a couple of pigs (huge because in a Muslim country you don’t eat pork…fortunately, Christians do!) and danced all night before Easter and then again all night Monday. The actual festivities on Easter consisted on a Sunday morning service immediately followed by singing and dancing (all the village married men, all the older women, all the married women, all the young adults and all the kids danced in respective order). I made a dress of Malian fabric and delighted my village with my new outfit…normally I wear exclusively American clothes which still confuses some people to see a women in pants but I like to push the boundaries a bit.
The heat is something I continue to write about not to bore you, but because it’s hard not to live in Mali without mentioning the heat. It’s getting to such a degree where it barely cools off into the 90’s at night thus you never really get the chance to stop sweating even sleeping outside. Heat rash has taken over my body but unfortunately there’s not too much you can do to stop/prevent it when you live in this environment (unless perhaps I install AC in my hut???). Suggestions from fellow volunteers include taking my bucket bath with my clothes on so they can cool me off as they’re drying…I dried out in about 20 minutes then started sweating again. Others sleep on their roofs to try to get more wind flow but have to wake up by 5 when the sun rises and other keep buckets of water next to them so when they wake up (most can sleep for 15-30 minute intervals) douse themselves the fall asleep again for a bit.
By some divine reason I truly can’t explain I decided to call my mom the Wednesday after Easter…highly unusual for me to call let alone so shortly after I talked to her on Easter because it’s extremely expensive but for whatever reason I called and found that my grandma had passed away just hours before. I have never been one to cope well with death and found that I was grateful to have a bit to time to myself in my hut, not only to cry but to reminisce. I also became increasingly grateful for my dad’s foresight to take me to Lawrenceville last June where I had a chance to find some closure in saying, as it goes, my final goodbye. I was able to hug and kiss the Grandma whom I remember from my childhood and that memory has proven to be a huge comfort and eased the pain of my mourning. Having a good friend to support me also eased the pain of loss of my grandma and I can’t be more grateful for what he did for me.
I’ve been busy at site taking Food Security Survey’s. Food Security is severely under addressed in most developing countries and as a result countries like Niger are facing massive famines and unimaginable deaths from starvation. I interviewed 10 farmers in my village about the kinds of grains they grow, income generating activities, garden products, how to deal with running out of food, etc. I was struck by a couple of the questions and results. (1) when asked how many kids are in the family there is always a minimum age of 5 before the children are actually taken into account by the government because the chance of death before 5 is so high. (2) Every single farmer I interviewed ran out of food as early as August and definitely by September…I knew hungry season was a problem, but its extent still continues to impress upon me how dire the situation is. (3) Every single farmer I interviewed admitted they were regularly worried their children did not get enough food and often they would eat only once a day in attempt to prolong the duration of their food. (4) Each farmer had a least one of their children die in their life. (My homologue for example is relatively well off and still, two of his children died from malnutrition and disease). Last year was a terrible harvest and I fear that hungry season will be particularly cruel this year in Mali.
On a happier note, I took a mini vacation up to Sevare then onto a village about 5 hours north called Hombori. Mt Hombori is the highest point in Mali and my friend Justin and I climbed it…sort of. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done but really exciting and so rewarding. When we neared the summit and could look out over what felt like all of Mali the view was intoxicating. Carefully looking in the distance you could see the sand dunes of the Sahara just before the horizon. Fortunately Justin grew up with mountains and was able to navigate the cliffs but talk about an adrenaline rush! Going down the mountain was essentially me scooting down the mountain on my butt…but we made it in one piece with only a few bumps and bruises…and a lot of sore muscles.
Getting back to the “hotel” we took delightfully cold showers and continued to hydrate (we each drank about 7 liters of water on the hike and were still so thirsty when we reached town). We didn’t rest long however as we decided to go see the elephants before they crossed over to Burkina Faso. We hired a guide and driver and set off into the African wilderness. We drove about two hours deep into the heart of Mali until we came upon one of the last watering holes that still had water. We didn’t have to wait long before we saw three gorgeous elephants drinking and bathing at the hole; a female, yearling and the Chief male. At one point the male was probably 30 yards from us. I’ve seen an elephant in zoos before but to be out in the wild with nothing between you and this beast of an animal was extremely exciting and awe inspiring. These animals are totally free, roaming as they please without any fences to confine them. After about 30 minutes of admiring the elephants at the hole we headed out into the brush and saw a dozen more eating and foraging. Beautiful is too cliché a word but it’s impossible to articulate what exactly I felt. All I know is that in less than 24 hours I was humbled twice with just how small I am and how huge this world is.
I’ll wrap it up now because I’ve written too much already. I’ll be at site for about 10 days then I’m headed to Bamako for Derby Day and then back to San to celebrate my birthday with some friends so look forward to more updates in two weeks!
Love,
Cait
Murphys Law
So, as a request from my mom I’m writing about my worst day in Africa…which I have to admit is kind of funny now that I can look back on it.
March 27, 2010. The wind when biking to San from my village is extremely strong, thus, I decided to leave my house at 6am to ideally get to San before 8am and meet my friend Holly on the way (her village is about 45 minutes from me). So I get up early and bike to the road and start biking to meet Holly when I feel my bike kind of deflate. I look back and my back tire is totally flat. I get my phone out to call Holly to tell her I will be late and guess what, my phone is dead (I was expecting a call the night before so I fell asleep with my phone on which effectively killed the battery). I had just enough to call Holly to tell her to go on without me and then it died for good. I walked to a neighboring village and they pumped up my tire. I hopped back on and continued along my merry way for about 20 minutes before the tire was totally deflated again. I wasn’t particularly close to a village so I was going to try to catch a ride with a passing truck/car so I took a seat on the side of the road under a tree (aka: bush) for as much shade as possible. 1 hour passes and no cars pass only moto’s. Finally, I get frustrated and start walking. Unfortunately I decided to wear my Teva sandals (endurance/trekking sandals) because I wanted to break them in before rainy season when blisters never heal and are easily infected. I hadn’t been walking more than 10 minutes before my feet were massacred with blisters. After about 8 kilometers (still no passing trucks or cars) a man on a moto finally helps me find a village where I can get my bike fixed. While on the mission to find a local village I get the chance to chat with the man who was extremely helpful and friendly…much needed after such a long morning. We find a village a few kilometers off the road and the people were extremely helpful and repaired my broken bike. I go to grab my money and realize I’ve left it at home because I brought my backpack to go to Segou instead of my purse (which ironically also had my bike repair kit in it). I apologize profusely and promise to return the following Saturday on my return from Segou IST and feel absolutely terrible. I finally get back to the road and start biking. It’s now about 10:30 and the wind is fierce. I stopped to take a drink and found that I had only one sip left because over the course of the morning I drank most all the water (usually I never have to stop to drink when I leave at 6am because it’s cool enough). I start biking again and am about 10 kilometers outside of San. I vividly recall looking to my right and seeing a tree, peddle several times, looking to my right and seeing the same tree…it hadn’t moved. I was exhausted and thirsty and it was hot and this stupid tree wasn’t moving. I started to cry. You do NOT cry in front of Malians, it is a huge faux pas. Thus I pulled off again and sat on the side of the rode in attempt to compose myself. After a few minutes I get on my bike yet again and am on my way. I’m totally parched at this point and quite literally can’t talk. When I passed some kids they naturally greeted me enthusiastically and I go to greet them in return and find that I have no voice. Perhaps the most insulting thing you can do in Mali is not return a greeting. As I passed unable to greet I heard them say approximately “the white person didn’t greet let’s get her!!!!” and so the take off running after me. Totally exhausted and against the wind I had no energy left so they caught up pretty easily and started throwing things at me (I know at least one rock because it hit me in the back and did not feel good). Any other day I could have retaliated but this day from Hell I was almost expecting it. They stopped after a few seconds and I was able to finish the last 3 kilometers to San in relative peace. The wind creates a bit of dust and my tear stained face was a dust magnet so by the time I arrived at our house in San at 11:45 (almost 6 hours later on a 2 hour trip) I looked just about as bad as I felt. I ran into the house and broke into tears again this time in the presence of other Peace Corps members who were able to help hydrate and comfort me. After a cold shower and some alone time to recover I was able to return to the outside world.
So, after Africa broke me, I realized some things:
I am incredibly lucky to have extremely supportive friends in San. I can honestly say that I am genuinely happy to see any of the 7 other volunteers in the San area which is very challenging to achieve when 8 strangers are thrown together in extreme conditions. I will never again ride my bike without my phone, money, air pump, repair kit, hand fan, extra water…haha. Mali won this day, but I’m definitely winning overall. Brownies are a great remedy to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. You can make a new friend in the most unlikely of places. The generosity of strangers reminds us of the best parts of life, especially when we feel like it’s one of the worst parts of ours. I am one lucky girl.
March 27, 2010. The wind when biking to San from my village is extremely strong, thus, I decided to leave my house at 6am to ideally get to San before 8am and meet my friend Holly on the way (her village is about 45 minutes from me). So I get up early and bike to the road and start biking to meet Holly when I feel my bike kind of deflate. I look back and my back tire is totally flat. I get my phone out to call Holly to tell her I will be late and guess what, my phone is dead (I was expecting a call the night before so I fell asleep with my phone on which effectively killed the battery). I had just enough to call Holly to tell her to go on without me and then it died for good. I walked to a neighboring village and they pumped up my tire. I hopped back on and continued along my merry way for about 20 minutes before the tire was totally deflated again. I wasn’t particularly close to a village so I was going to try to catch a ride with a passing truck/car so I took a seat on the side of the road under a tree (aka: bush) for as much shade as possible. 1 hour passes and no cars pass only moto’s. Finally, I get frustrated and start walking. Unfortunately I decided to wear my Teva sandals (endurance/trekking sandals) because I wanted to break them in before rainy season when blisters never heal and are easily infected. I hadn’t been walking more than 10 minutes before my feet were massacred with blisters. After about 8 kilometers (still no passing trucks or cars) a man on a moto finally helps me find a village where I can get my bike fixed. While on the mission to find a local village I get the chance to chat with the man who was extremely helpful and friendly…much needed after such a long morning. We find a village a few kilometers off the road and the people were extremely helpful and repaired my broken bike. I go to grab my money and realize I’ve left it at home because I brought my backpack to go to Segou instead of my purse (which ironically also had my bike repair kit in it). I apologize profusely and promise to return the following Saturday on my return from Segou IST and feel absolutely terrible. I finally get back to the road and start biking. It’s now about 10:30 and the wind is fierce. I stopped to take a drink and found that I had only one sip left because over the course of the morning I drank most all the water (usually I never have to stop to drink when I leave at 6am because it’s cool enough). I start biking again and am about 10 kilometers outside of San. I vividly recall looking to my right and seeing a tree, peddle several times, looking to my right and seeing the same tree…it hadn’t moved. I was exhausted and thirsty and it was hot and this stupid tree wasn’t moving. I started to cry. You do NOT cry in front of Malians, it is a huge faux pas. Thus I pulled off again and sat on the side of the rode in attempt to compose myself. After a few minutes I get on my bike yet again and am on my way. I’m totally parched at this point and quite literally can’t talk. When I passed some kids they naturally greeted me enthusiastically and I go to greet them in return and find that I have no voice. Perhaps the most insulting thing you can do in Mali is not return a greeting. As I passed unable to greet I heard them say approximately “the white person didn’t greet let’s get her!!!!” and so the take off running after me. Totally exhausted and against the wind I had no energy left so they caught up pretty easily and started throwing things at me (I know at least one rock because it hit me in the back and did not feel good). Any other day I could have retaliated but this day from Hell I was almost expecting it. They stopped after a few seconds and I was able to finish the last 3 kilometers to San in relative peace. The wind creates a bit of dust and my tear stained face was a dust magnet so by the time I arrived at our house in San at 11:45 (almost 6 hours later on a 2 hour trip) I looked just about as bad as I felt. I ran into the house and broke into tears again this time in the presence of other Peace Corps members who were able to help hydrate and comfort me. After a cold shower and some alone time to recover I was able to return to the outside world.
So, after Africa broke me, I realized some things:
I am incredibly lucky to have extremely supportive friends in San. I can honestly say that I am genuinely happy to see any of the 7 other volunteers in the San area which is very challenging to achieve when 8 strangers are thrown together in extreme conditions. I will never again ride my bike without my phone, money, air pump, repair kit, hand fan, extra water…haha. Mali won this day, but I’m definitely winning overall. Brownies are a great remedy to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. You can make a new friend in the most unlikely of places. The generosity of strangers reminds us of the best parts of life, especially when we feel like it’s one of the worst parts of ours. I am one lucky girl.
March 27, 2010
March is absolutely flying by and I can’t believe it’s almost April. I have a regional IST for a few days in Segou from the 28-3 then I’m heading back to site for Easter. I celebrated St Patrick’s Day in San with a bunch of friends where we started a new tradition with a new name, dubbed San Patrick’s Day. It was a great success and there were about 20 people here. We killed a pig and had the butcher cook it then we made yummy BBQ sauce and Cole slaw and salad…No green beer but we all rocked out green clothes. Hosting an event can be exhausting and I apologize for not getting an update out around the 17th but I knew I’d be back soon so I hope this will suffice.
As painful as hot season is, it’s more the dust storms that’s really getting to me. Sometimes when I’m walking through village and I see a tornado of dust come barreling towards me and I just put my head down in a fairly futile attempt to inhale as little dust as possible. Regardless, when I return home I have to brush my teeth to get the grime out of my mouth and shake out my clothes after my bucket bath. While my village is very dry, I have an all new respect for northern Mali and any dessert residents…it can be downright difficult to breathe in this environment. One of my friends from up north has been forced to wear his turban all day just to breathe.
My bike ride in today was anything but pleasant but I won’t bore you with the details, except that I left my house at 6am and arrived in San (should be 1:45 minutes later) at 11:15am…
On the other hand, I’ve had a great week at site. There was a wedding I returned just in time for from San Patrick’s Day. It was someone somehow related to my host family (the groom that is to say) and for days in advance extended family was arriving from Bamako. I’m not sure exactly how many sheep and goats and cows were killed for the festivities but needless to say I ate really well for a few days. The evening before the wedding there was a sort of rehearsal dinner were essentially everyone gathered at the host house and ate and danced till late into the night. In the morning it was super busy. The bride and groom went to mayors office to sign the marriage papers and all the men and women were eating and drinking tea all dressed in their best at the host families house. I found out the families tended to wear the same fabrics. For example, all the “bridal party” was in one of two fabric designs. All the Bamako women on the grooms side were in a fabric and another fabric for the Sebanso women on grooms side, etc. It was fascinating to watch. This was my first Christian wedding and I can’t get over some of the similarities. The bride wore a beautiful white dress and the groom a nice suit. There was a maid of honor and a best man that sat with the bride and groom for the THREE hour service. That was a little excessive and I have to admit that I fell asleep more than once. The singing was incredible though. Three choirs came (two in addition to Sebanso’s) and you couldn’t help but get totally caught up in their music. Several ministers led worship and there were some friends who did readings, there were vows made and I do’s said and rings exchanged. It was truly bizarre. Afterwords there was of course dancing and eating for the rest of the day and again late into the night.
One of my favorite moments since I last wrote actually took place during the socials at night. A lot of the young men and women my age all returned for the wedding and I was able to chat with them increasingly more. People who used to speak and I would stare at dumbly I could now have a semi intelligent conversation with. It was incredibly exciting and when I went to market on Thursday I had a similar experience. I was sitting with my friend Enice who was making and selling little cakes and I was playing with her son Kardi (almost a year old and so darn cute…I ‘ve sent pictures of him before). We were chatting and of course when people walk by and see a white person speaking Bambara they freak out and come joke with me. I’m definitely getting better at my communication (though I have so much to still learn) and it was the first time I really understood just how far I’ve come in the past nine months. I know have a new appreciation for why Peace Corps is a 27 month service…your first year is simply trying to survive. On the other hand, I had my first run in with a really mad Malian at market and I definitely could not keep up with his angry words (I have a feeling Peace Corps didn’t teach the kind of language he was using). From what I could gather it was a dispute about the price of something but these two guys decided to duke it out while we were biking home…My homologue's friend with whom I always ride to and from market with was the so called third party used to keep disputes under control and thus I spent much of the ride stopping and going trying to keep up yet not get caught in the middle of weaving bikes and angry fists. It was a bit of an adrenaline rush and made the 45 minute trip home fly by.
I’ll be leaving in the morning for Segou for a regional In Service Training with all the volunteers in the Segou region and I’ll return next Saturday and try to get another email out for the Easter holiday! March has been a whirlwind and I apologize that I couldn’t get to San more often. I’ll be in San briefly mid April before heading up north for a few days and I’ll be leaving for Bamako on the 30th of April for a Kentucky Derby party at the pool in Bamako. In the middle of hot season, I can think of nothing better (though there’s not really much worse than the transport to get down there…oh well).
Love,
Cait
As painful as hot season is, it’s more the dust storms that’s really getting to me. Sometimes when I’m walking through village and I see a tornado of dust come barreling towards me and I just put my head down in a fairly futile attempt to inhale as little dust as possible. Regardless, when I return home I have to brush my teeth to get the grime out of my mouth and shake out my clothes after my bucket bath. While my village is very dry, I have an all new respect for northern Mali and any dessert residents…it can be downright difficult to breathe in this environment. One of my friends from up north has been forced to wear his turban all day just to breathe.
My bike ride in today was anything but pleasant but I won’t bore you with the details, except that I left my house at 6am and arrived in San (should be 1:45 minutes later) at 11:15am…
On the other hand, I’ve had a great week at site. There was a wedding I returned just in time for from San Patrick’s Day. It was someone somehow related to my host family (the groom that is to say) and for days in advance extended family was arriving from Bamako. I’m not sure exactly how many sheep and goats and cows were killed for the festivities but needless to say I ate really well for a few days. The evening before the wedding there was a sort of rehearsal dinner were essentially everyone gathered at the host house and ate and danced till late into the night. In the morning it was super busy. The bride and groom went to mayors office to sign the marriage papers and all the men and women were eating and drinking tea all dressed in their best at the host families house. I found out the families tended to wear the same fabrics. For example, all the “bridal party” was in one of two fabric designs. All the Bamako women on the grooms side were in a fabric and another fabric for the Sebanso women on grooms side, etc. It was fascinating to watch. This was my first Christian wedding and I can’t get over some of the similarities. The bride wore a beautiful white dress and the groom a nice suit. There was a maid of honor and a best man that sat with the bride and groom for the THREE hour service. That was a little excessive and I have to admit that I fell asleep more than once. The singing was incredible though. Three choirs came (two in addition to Sebanso’s) and you couldn’t help but get totally caught up in their music. Several ministers led worship and there were some friends who did readings, there were vows made and I do’s said and rings exchanged. It was truly bizarre. Afterwords there was of course dancing and eating for the rest of the day and again late into the night.
One of my favorite moments since I last wrote actually took place during the socials at night. A lot of the young men and women my age all returned for the wedding and I was able to chat with them increasingly more. People who used to speak and I would stare at dumbly I could now have a semi intelligent conversation with. It was incredibly exciting and when I went to market on Thursday I had a similar experience. I was sitting with my friend Enice who was making and selling little cakes and I was playing with her son Kardi (almost a year old and so darn cute…I ‘ve sent pictures of him before). We were chatting and of course when people walk by and see a white person speaking Bambara they freak out and come joke with me. I’m definitely getting better at my communication (though I have so much to still learn) and it was the first time I really understood just how far I’ve come in the past nine months. I know have a new appreciation for why Peace Corps is a 27 month service…your first year is simply trying to survive. On the other hand, I had my first run in with a really mad Malian at market and I definitely could not keep up with his angry words (I have a feeling Peace Corps didn’t teach the kind of language he was using). From what I could gather it was a dispute about the price of something but these two guys decided to duke it out while we were biking home…My homologue's friend with whom I always ride to and from market with was the so called third party used to keep disputes under control and thus I spent much of the ride stopping and going trying to keep up yet not get caught in the middle of weaving bikes and angry fists. It was a bit of an adrenaline rush and made the 45 minute trip home fly by.
I’ll be leaving in the morning for Segou for a regional In Service Training with all the volunteers in the Segou region and I’ll return next Saturday and try to get another email out for the Easter holiday! March has been a whirlwind and I apologize that I couldn’t get to San more often. I’ll be in San briefly mid April before heading up north for a few days and I’ll be leaving for Bamako on the 30th of April for a Kentucky Derby party at the pool in Bamako. In the middle of hot season, I can think of nothing better (though there’s not really much worse than the transport to get down there…oh well).
Love,
Cait
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