Sunday, June 14, 2009

Abdoulaye Obama

I've had a lot of small, random experiences throughout the last month, some of which I'll describe now. First of all, the soak pit project is complete! We had enough money left to build a well soak pit, which is much more work than nyegen soak pits because the amount of water is so much greater. The pipe needs to be much longer, the pit itself needs to be about four times larger than nyegen pits, and a sediment basin needs to be dug in order to catch excess mud and keep it from filling the main pit too soon. The well soak pit was supposed to be completely constructed while I was at COS conference in Bamako, because as soon as rainy season begins, everyone will be in the fields all day every day and won't have time for other work. Unfortunately the concession where we were to build the pit took forever digging the hole and didn't finish getting rock to fill it until last Saturday, well into June. Last year, rainy season was already in full swing by the end of May, but it was late this year. We began constructing the pit last Sunday and finished Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday morning, the first big rains came and by Friday, farming had begun. We finished the soak pit just in the nick of time!

The school year is officially over. The sixth and ninth graders each have big exams at the end of the year, passing into 2nd cycle school and lycee, respectively. The sixth graders had their exam at the end of May. The week of their exam, I painted a large map of Mali on one of the school walls, across from last years World Map. Three other volunteers came to Kourouma to help, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Turns out that on the sixth grade exam, the students were presented with a blank map of Mali and had to fill in the major regions and rivers. I saw one of the teachers afterwards and he said that apparently, a couple of students were struggling on that section of the exam - so they walked outside, looked at the freshly painted Mali map, and returned to the test! I couldn't believe it. So glad that my work here is helping some Malian students cheat!

Speaking of the school, my teacher friend, Amadou Cisse, is now a father. His fiance just gave birth to a baby boy in Sikasso. Now, Amadou is the guy who is completely obsessed with President Obama. What is his son's full name? Abdoulaye Obama Cisse! When he first told me, I assumed that the Obama was an unofficial nick-name. But later Amadou came over to show me the official birth certificate. And sure enough, Abdoulaye Obama! I had heard that President Obama has lots of namesakes being born throughout Africa, but I hadn't seen it first-hand yet.

A few weeks ago, I returned home after dinner at my Homologue's house to find a black, lobster-sized scorpion in front of my front door. At first I thought it was just a plastic toy, set out as a cruel joke. Then I remembered that there is no Toys-R-Us in Kourouma where kids can stock up on the latest gag gifts. I hesitated for a moment, contemplating a course of action. I didn't want to try and kill it with my flimsy flip-flops, but the scorpion was blocking the entrance to my house where I could have gotten a sturdier smashing device. Finally I just decided to get my neighbors, who came over and beat it to death with a stick. They said that the big ones like that don't kill people or anything if they sting, it just hurts. Their reassurances unfortunately were not enough to keep me from fretting all night about scorpions getting under my mosquito net tent and stinging me to death!

While things have been going really well in Kourouma, there is never an absence of frustration. About a month ago, I went to visit little Oumou, the severely malnourished girl who never got breast milk because her mother is a student in Sikasso and after giving birth, left Oumou in the care of her grandmother. As I was talking with the grandmother, Fatima, she told me that Oumou's mother, Selimatou, recently had another baby! The father of this baby is different than Oumou's father, but is from Kourouma as well. Shortly before I spoke with Fatima, Selimatou had brought the new baby to Kourouma, left it with the father's family and returned to Sikasso. When I heard this, I was livid. The irresponsibility and immaturity of Selimatou (and both of the fathers) is dumb-founding. Now she will have not just one, but two daughters who could have but will not have received breast milk. I went to visit the new baby a few days after the conversation with Fatima, and while she's doing okay, the father is spending a lot of money on expensive milk powder. The father's mother, who is the primary caretaker, is very stressed out, having a newborn to care for all of a sudden. Oumou is now walking and has gotten a few teeth, but she isn't talking yet, is over two years old and pretty much refuses to be held by anyone but Fatima (she is absolutely terrified of me).

A few weeks ago, I was walking home in the late afternoon and passed Nyiere, a guy who works at the CSCOM. He asked if I was going to get water. I said yes and then asked if he wanted to help. He jokingly said, "oh yeah, bring two buckets and I'll carry one". So I did. When he saw me approaching with the extra bucket, he burst out laughing, but when I thrust it into his hands and made him walk to the pump, he became visibly more and more embarrassed. He did end up carrying the water all the way to my house (amid laughter by some kids playing soccer) and then quickly put it down and literally ran away so I wouldn't make him get more. Since then, when I've asked if he wants to help get water, he replies with a quick and firm "no". It was really funny, but also kind of sad. Men simply refuse to do simple chores here, because it's the woman's job, case closed. People still comment on my dad going to get water when he was in Kourouma, and that was almost a year ago!
Well, I guess that's about it. Good luck to Emma and Alex who are being sworn-in as Ukrainian Peace Corps volunteers on Thursday!
Awa