It’s been a while since my last post, so I’ll start with Thanksgiving. While it was hard not being with family, I didn’t spend it alone! All of the Sikasso volunteers got together to have a feast of turkey, pumpkin and apple pies, mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies. So it turned out to be a pretty typical Thanksgiving meal. The weekend after Thanksgiving, some of us went to nearby waterfalls outside of Sikasso. They were beautiful – there were three different sets of waterfalls, each with a nice swimming hole. We camped out next to one set and were able to hike up to the other two. It was so nice to go camping, swimming and hiking!
Christmas is my favorite time of year, so these last few weeks have been hard, as I knew they would be. However, I began listening to Christmas music the minute I got back to site after Thanksgiving, and have been listening to it pretty much non-stop ever since. To keep myself entertained after dinner one night, I came home and danced to the entire Nutcracker Suite by myself! And people sent me decorations so my house now contains a mini tree, wreath, angels and bows!
I continue to walk around town and greet on the mornings that I don’t do baby weighings. I fee like most people know me by now. I went to the onion fields on Friday for a little over an hour and helped women pull water and plant the onions, which take about three months to grow. It’s actually been cool enough several mornings that I have to wear my long-sleeved hoodie – I love it! As I mentioned in my last blog, since its cold season now, a lot of Malians complain all day about how cold it is. I always mention how hot I am, and say that it’s snowing in parts of America. Some people have seen snow on TV and some have no idea what it is. Cotton-pickin’ time is still here, so I can look outside my house occasionally and see big piles of what from a far looks like snow! So I guess I can say I am having a somewhat White Christmas!
This past week I only did one baby-weighing and so spent the rest of the week making Christmas cards, doing basic chores, and feeling completely useless. I’m still not quite used to the slow pace of life with no set schedule of things. And while my Bambara is improving, there are still a lot of frustrations. A lady told me the other day, “Kadia (the old volunteer) could speak and understand Bambara a lot. You can’t really”. I just have to remind people that she was here for two years and eventually I’ll be able to. On Wednesday, I went to market town; getting ready to go back to site, I was the one person on the whole bachee sitting directly under the blazing sun. And two people commented on how much I was sweating – Malians just love to tell things straight up!
Overall I really enjoy baby weighings. We went to a town last week where 140 babies came! Luckily there were women there to help, so all I did was record the info and offer advice. And I had about fifteen shots of the very sugary Malian tea so I was pretty hyper. I’m definitely getting my biking in (which is good since I’ve been a total slacker lately when it comes to running!). I went to a village 12 km away a few weeks ago, but on the way thought I’d missed a turn and ended up backtracking for about ten minutes. I had been right all along as it turned out, so I had to turn back around and eventually found the town. It’s nice to get to know people from surrounding areas, and I love babies! They are (most) so cute.
World AIDS day was December 1st, and one of the Sikasso volunteers put together an Awareness Day on the 2nd. Several volunteers came to help. There was a basketball tournament, free AIDS testing, and a couple of info booths. Another gal and I sat at one booth and had people play a little game on ways of HIV transmission. At first we gave away condoms for the participants, but then about fifty kids showed up wanting to play, even though they didn’t know what they were doing (they just wanted the free condoms to blow up as balloons). So we stopped giving out prizes, but there were still a decent number of people who came by and seemed genuinely interested. In Mali, the AIDS rate is very low compared to the rest of Africa; below two percent. However, it is still a problem and from what I’ve seen in my village, a lot of people either do not really understand it, or do not want to talk about it.
Last Tuesday night was exciting. I heard drums and so at dinner asked my Homologue what was going on. She said it was the funeral ceremony for an elderly Animist woman. I wanted to go watch, so her son and two girls who live at her house went with me (one of the girls is about sixteen years old and insisted on holding my hand the entire time, since at twenty-two years old, clearly I am incapable of walking by myself and not getting lost!). Basically there was a big group of people in a circle, with men dancing in the middle. There were about four younger guys wearing white skirts and no shirts, a couple of guys holding burning sticks, and a main guy with a big mask, who served as the fetish. The circle moved its way across a section of town. The men with the fire would charge towards the outskirts of the circle every so often, causing the spectators to scream and disperse (oddly enough the men with fire had the exact same effect with the villagers as I do with many children when I’m simply walking!). Eventually they reached the end of the line and everyone went home. It was pretty neat though and I definitely look forward to seeing and learning more about different ceremonies. Tabaski is this Thursday so everyone in my site will be very dressed up and have feasts (most people will kill a sheep for the occasion). I attended a Protestant Church here in Sikasso yesterday which was fun, although I couldn’t understand most of it. There was a lot of singing; some of the songs came from hymnals so I was allowed to participate. Even those to which I couldn’t sing along were still fun to listen to though. It was a worship service pretty much exactly the same as those in the US, only in Bambara not English, with a different style of music.
Everyone have a wonderful Holiday season!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Happy early Turkey day!
Happy Thanksgiving! I am in Sikasso to celebrate with other volunteers, although it sure is weird not to have a family Thanksgiving. Things in Kourouma continue to go well, although as always there are ups and downs. The biggest plus for the past few weeks is that I started baby weighings! I’ve done two weighings in Kourouma, which take place on Thursdays. This past Friday and Saturday along with the week before, I biked to other villages to do weighings, which coincide with vaccinations. The farthest village I’ve biked to was only 7 km away, although the road was horrible with big rocks all over the place. During rainy season, I may not be able to bike there at all. I enjoy baby weighings and the vaccinators, Bakary and Solika, are super nice. The women in the other villages are often very impatient, which is a bit frustrating and surprising considering how slow Malian culture generally is. I put the babies in a little pair of shorts which then hang from a scale. Afterwards, I give the mother a bit of advice if her baby is underweight. I’ve been peed on at least once every day, and sometimes the baby is kicking so much it takes three of us to get them into the shorts! This past Saturday I got peed on twice and literally came within an inch of being thrown up on. Needless to say, I’m always worn out after a morning of weighings!
While I don’t really feel like I have any good friends at site yet, I almost always have kids hanging out at my house and sometimes grown-ups come by. The Mayor comes by on Sunday mornings to chat. He is so sweet! He’s probably about 70 years old, but is missing his two front teeth. So when he smiles, it’s like a mixture of an old man and a first-grader! A few weeks ago, I was asking about his family. He didn’t know how many kids he had so we just settle on ‘a lot’. I was biking back to Kourouma last week and he passed me on his moto, wearing a heavy winter coat, even though it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and probably 90 degrees. It’s “cold” season right now, so Malians tend to bundle up. I meanwhile spend all day sweating like a pig.
I continue to be thankful each and every day for having been placed in the Sikasso region. When I go to Sikasso I can buy big avocados for the equivalent of 40 cents each (Mommy, I have made some delish avocado sandwiches). I can get onions and tomatoes at site, and bread, eggs and other veggies at market on Wednesdays. Dinner at my homologue’s house is always good. Lately we’ve been having manioc, which is kind’ve like potatoes, with an onion and tomato sauce. Two nights ago we had grits! A few weeks ago was the peak of the corn season so I went to my homologue’s house one day where a group of 40 women or so had gathered for a corn-shucking party. Cotton picking was last week – the problem is that a lot of people are needed, so school was closed last Thursday and Friday afternoon so that the kids could help out in the fields. Education is ranked second below agriculture. Right now is onion-growing season, so women are out in the fields from dawn to dusk, planting and watering their onions. I went to the fields yesterday morning to help plant for a handful of minutes – it’s not a hard job, but very tedious and I can imagine having major back pains after working in the fields year after year. A few weeks ago was also the arrival of peanuts. My kitchen was almost overflowing with them, and I felt like I was snacking on peanuts all day!
I’ve had some interesting gender role conversations with several men in the village, one of whom is one of the vaccinators, is very well educated and has lived in a big city. All of them seemed to very seriously think that men literally are unable to cook, get water, or wash clothes. They thought it was hilarious when I said that I think men are perfectly capable of doing those things. I was talking to my homologue’s kids and mentioned that there were places in Africa where a woman can have more than one husband – they were astounded!
Oh, I had an interesting mouse experience last week. I was making breakfast when a little mouse scurried across the floor. I had heard them and have swept up tons of droppings but it was the first time I’d actually seen one in my house. Anyway, my trunk was open and it ran inside! So I had to take all of the food out until I realized the mouse had gotten stuck under a bowl. I lifted the bowl and the mouse climbed out of the trunk and ran over my foot and across the floor, out of sight. I bought some mouse poison at market so soon I intend on beginning a full-scale battle!
Hope everyone's well. Send me letters, I want letters! Miss you all!
While I don’t really feel like I have any good friends at site yet, I almost always have kids hanging out at my house and sometimes grown-ups come by. The Mayor comes by on Sunday mornings to chat. He is so sweet! He’s probably about 70 years old, but is missing his two front teeth. So when he smiles, it’s like a mixture of an old man and a first-grader! A few weeks ago, I was asking about his family. He didn’t know how many kids he had so we just settle on ‘a lot’. I was biking back to Kourouma last week and he passed me on his moto, wearing a heavy winter coat, even though it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and probably 90 degrees. It’s “cold” season right now, so Malians tend to bundle up. I meanwhile spend all day sweating like a pig.
I continue to be thankful each and every day for having been placed in the Sikasso region. When I go to Sikasso I can buy big avocados for the equivalent of 40 cents each (Mommy, I have made some delish avocado sandwiches). I can get onions and tomatoes at site, and bread, eggs and other veggies at market on Wednesdays. Dinner at my homologue’s house is always good. Lately we’ve been having manioc, which is kind’ve like potatoes, with an onion and tomato sauce. Two nights ago we had grits! A few weeks ago was the peak of the corn season so I went to my homologue’s house one day where a group of 40 women or so had gathered for a corn-shucking party. Cotton picking was last week – the problem is that a lot of people are needed, so school was closed last Thursday and Friday afternoon so that the kids could help out in the fields. Education is ranked second below agriculture. Right now is onion-growing season, so women are out in the fields from dawn to dusk, planting and watering their onions. I went to the fields yesterday morning to help plant for a handful of minutes – it’s not a hard job, but very tedious and I can imagine having major back pains after working in the fields year after year. A few weeks ago was also the arrival of peanuts. My kitchen was almost overflowing with them, and I felt like I was snacking on peanuts all day!
I’ve had some interesting gender role conversations with several men in the village, one of whom is one of the vaccinators, is very well educated and has lived in a big city. All of them seemed to very seriously think that men literally are unable to cook, get water, or wash clothes. They thought it was hilarious when I said that I think men are perfectly capable of doing those things. I was talking to my homologue’s kids and mentioned that there were places in Africa where a woman can have more than one husband – they were astounded!
Oh, I had an interesting mouse experience last week. I was making breakfast when a little mouse scurried across the floor. I had heard them and have swept up tons of droppings but it was the first time I’d actually seen one in my house. Anyway, my trunk was open and it ran inside! So I had to take all of the food out until I realized the mouse had gotten stuck under a bowl. I lifted the bowl and the mouse climbed out of the trunk and ran over my foot and across the floor, out of sight. I bought some mouse poison at market so soon I intend on beginning a full-scale battle!
Hope everyone's well. Send me letters, I want letters! Miss you all!
Friday, November 2, 2007
"What do you have?" "Malaria"
I have had this conversation with people more times that I can count. Almost any time I ask someone what’s wrong with them, they nonchalantly say that it’s malaria. Who knows whether it actually is or not. Other than that, things are going well in Kourouma. I still haven’t been able to start baby weighing unfortunately due to various reasons, but this coming Thursday for sure, they will begin! Since I haven’t been doing baby weighing, I either watch vaccinations or pre-natal consultations once a week. Watching pre-natal consultations is interesting – since there’s no computer system, all info is written in little notebooks. There are two rooms. One is to weigh the women (on a small bathroom scale), measure their height, and record basic info. The other room contains an old medical bed where women are briefly checked for eye and tongue discoloration, lumps in the breasts, edema in the legs, and the size of the baby. There are no ultrasounds; the heartbeat is listened to with a little hollow metal tube, no stethoscopes. Ideally, women start coming in for PNC’s at 3 months and continue to come once a month, but some women don’t show up at all until they are already 7 months pregnant.
When I got back to Kourouma after my last visit to Sikasso, we had a balafone (xylophone) party to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Probably a couple hundred people showed up and formed a big circle, into which about 10 people would dance for each song. The songs were all really long, starting out slow where the people in the center would basically just be walking, and then ending super fast. I danced for a few songs, but I really hate that style of dancing where most people are on the outside watching!
I’ve gotten A TON of reading done. Since I’ve been back, I’ve read The Red Tent, The Nanny Diaries, and Barack Obama’s, Dreams from My Father. The Nanny Diaries was especially funny having been in Africa for over 3 months. The mom in the book has a looong list of rules for her son, including “he can’t pick anything off the ground”, and “no nakedness except while bathing”. Here, I watch kids literally pick up and chew on old balloons, used batteries, or dirt. And kids are naked half the time, and not just babies!
Last week, I ran pretty frequently. A boy who lives in my homologue’s concession said that he wanted to run with me. I said OK, but when I went to his house that evening, it turns out he hadn’t been serious. Well I convinced him to come on, so he ran inside to put on his jelly sandals and off we went, for about a mile and a half altogether. The next day, my homologue’s 10 year old son went with us, and on the way back, about six other kids joined us as well (some probably as young as 6 years old). I kind’ve felt like Forest Gump, with all the random kids joining in to run (although less than a mile total, not a 4 time trip across the US!). The next day I ran with my neighbor who’s 13, and several other kids have expressed interest. So maybe I actually can get a little Kourouma running club started!
In order to feel somewhat productive, I’ve started surveying people on health issues, which has had some interesting results. I’ve only surveyed people in five concessions so far, but it’s already apparent that variety in diet and malaria prevention are two big topics that will need to be addressed. These are all issues that I know the previous volunteer did A LOT of work with, which just makes it clear how things don’t necessarily stick with people after just two years. Also, almost no one had heard of AIDS, or at least said they haven’t, so that is another topic that I’d really like to work with, although I have a feeling that the issue of STD’s will be hard to get people interested in. We’ll see! Anyway, it has been helpful doing the brief surveys, because it lets me know which topics I’ll need to focus on once I start animations.
The other day was fun but tiring. I went with my homologue’s kids to the fields to help pick corn. Almost everyone in village goes to the fields every day (right now is the time for corn, peanut, and cotton pickin’), so I’ve wanted to go for a while. We picked corn for a couple of hours and then loaded it and ourselves onto the back of a donkey cart for the ride home (I even sat on a donkey for about 5 seconds!!!). Later in the day, I went to a concession to watch a group of women make shea oil. I’ve helped a lot shelling shea nuts, but that’s the easy part I realized. Next, the women pound and beat the shea nuts until a pasty texture forms (the strength of Malian women absolutely astounds me). Then they cook the shea paste over a fire until an oil-like texture is formed. They can then use the oil for cooking just about any food, along with rubbing on skin or in hair for cosmetic purposes.
I think rainy season is officially over, so I’m going to have some men in my village build a chicken coop in my concession, and then I’m gonna buy some chickens (so I can eat eggs each and every day)! I basically already have chickens and roosters though because those belonging to neighbors wander into my concession all the time (along with sheep and sometimes even a donkey or two). So if I’m at home, half the time I’m running around with a stick, chasing away animals. Not much other news, so I’ll end here, but miss you all and hope you’re well!
When I got back to Kourouma after my last visit to Sikasso, we had a balafone (xylophone) party to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Probably a couple hundred people showed up and formed a big circle, into which about 10 people would dance for each song. The songs were all really long, starting out slow where the people in the center would basically just be walking, and then ending super fast. I danced for a few songs, but I really hate that style of dancing where most people are on the outside watching!
I’ve gotten A TON of reading done. Since I’ve been back, I’ve read The Red Tent, The Nanny Diaries, and Barack Obama’s, Dreams from My Father. The Nanny Diaries was especially funny having been in Africa for over 3 months. The mom in the book has a looong list of rules for her son, including “he can’t pick anything off the ground”, and “no nakedness except while bathing”. Here, I watch kids literally pick up and chew on old balloons, used batteries, or dirt. And kids are naked half the time, and not just babies!
Last week, I ran pretty frequently. A boy who lives in my homologue’s concession said that he wanted to run with me. I said OK, but when I went to his house that evening, it turns out he hadn’t been serious. Well I convinced him to come on, so he ran inside to put on his jelly sandals and off we went, for about a mile and a half altogether. The next day, my homologue’s 10 year old son went with us, and on the way back, about six other kids joined us as well (some probably as young as 6 years old). I kind’ve felt like Forest Gump, with all the random kids joining in to run (although less than a mile total, not a 4 time trip across the US!). The next day I ran with my neighbor who’s 13, and several other kids have expressed interest. So maybe I actually can get a little Kourouma running club started!
In order to feel somewhat productive, I’ve started surveying people on health issues, which has had some interesting results. I’ve only surveyed people in five concessions so far, but it’s already apparent that variety in diet and malaria prevention are two big topics that will need to be addressed. These are all issues that I know the previous volunteer did A LOT of work with, which just makes it clear how things don’t necessarily stick with people after just two years. Also, almost no one had heard of AIDS, or at least said they haven’t, so that is another topic that I’d really like to work with, although I have a feeling that the issue of STD’s will be hard to get people interested in. We’ll see! Anyway, it has been helpful doing the brief surveys, because it lets me know which topics I’ll need to focus on once I start animations.
The other day was fun but tiring. I went with my homologue’s kids to the fields to help pick corn. Almost everyone in village goes to the fields every day (right now is the time for corn, peanut, and cotton pickin’), so I’ve wanted to go for a while. We picked corn for a couple of hours and then loaded it and ourselves onto the back of a donkey cart for the ride home (I even sat on a donkey for about 5 seconds!!!). Later in the day, I went to a concession to watch a group of women make shea oil. I’ve helped a lot shelling shea nuts, but that’s the easy part I realized. Next, the women pound and beat the shea nuts until a pasty texture forms (the strength of Malian women absolutely astounds me). Then they cook the shea paste over a fire until an oil-like texture is formed. They can then use the oil for cooking just about any food, along with rubbing on skin or in hair for cosmetic purposes.
I think rainy season is officially over, so I’m going to have some men in my village build a chicken coop in my concession, and then I’m gonna buy some chickens (so I can eat eggs each and every day)! I basically already have chickens and roosters though because those belonging to neighbors wander into my concession all the time (along with sheep and sometimes even a donkey or two). So if I’m at home, half the time I’m running around with a stick, chasing away animals. Not much other news, so I’ll end here, but miss you all and hope you’re well!
Monday, October 15, 2007
First weeks at site
I know it’s been a while since I’ve last written, and so much has happened these last three weeks I have almost no idea where to begin. I guess I’ll start by saying that these last weeks have been the hardest by far for me. Someone told me before I came that the first six months at site would be hell, and at this point I can believe it. Everyday though has incredible ups and downs. Overall, I really like my site, most everyone is super friendly, and I’m improving my Bambara each and every day. There are three main frustrations. The main one is that I’m replacing someone. A lot of people seem to forget that she wasn’t fluent in Bambara when she got to site. Another part of Malian culture is that people compare you with other people right to your face, and they aren’t meaning to be rude. Every day I’m told how much everyone misses her and how good she was at Bambara. I just try not to take it personally, although I occasionally have to remind people that we’re two different people and that she lived here for two years. A major plus came last week when I was walking around town. A group of little kids saw me from a distance and started yelling “Awa” – MY Malian name, not the name of the previous volunteer. It lifted my spirits a ton. Language in general is another major but obvious frustration, although the other day a lady told me she thought I could speak Bambara, which made my day! In my village, Senofu is also the main language, so while most everyone understands and speaks Bambara, a lot of times they’ll have conversations in Senofu which I obviously can’t understand. I do know how to greet in Senofu though which everyone likes! The third frustration is that I have felt completely unproductive – but I get to start baby weighing in two weeks which I am super excited about.
So I thought I’d write about a typical day in the life of a Kourouma volunteer thus far. I get up around 6 or 6:30. I’ve gotten up and run a little bit which I really enjoy because I can watch the sun rise which is absolutely beautiful. After exercising, I take my bucket bath and then eat breakfast of fruit or eggs. I also have a little short wave radio so I can listen to BBC news in the morning (I’m so upset about the Marian Jones deal by the way). My language tutor comes around 8 and we talk for a while, although I feel like he doesn’t help that much so I’m probably going to tell him to come only twice a week from now on. Then, I go to the CSCOM to greet the doctor, nurses, my homologue who is a matron at the CSCOM and who I will go to with work issues, the pharmacist, and anyone else who is there. Then I have been picking out a part of town and just walking around, greeting people. While Kourouma isn’t too big (around 2500 people), it is very spread out and the compounds are huge with maybe 50 or more people in a compound. Unfortunately, people go to the fields very early and are there all day, but I always find some women and lots of children to greet. I greet for about an hour and a half and then go home and study until lunch. I’ve started making lunch for myself, and then I go to my homologues house to hang out for a few hours. There are always lots of people at her house, and a lot of times I help the women to shell shea nuts. Mid-afternoon, I go back home to read, sweep, wash clothes, do dishes, get water from the pump, etc. Then I usually read until someone’s gets me for dinner, which I eat at my homologues house as well. After dinner we listen to music, watch TV, or just hang out. Then I come home, read some more, and go to bed. I spend the entire day outside. I have a wonderful front porch and only go inside to sleep at night. This also means that kids often stop by my house which can be really annoying, but I don’t feel bad about telling them to leave if I want to be alone. So the pace of life is very slow and laid back and you can probably see why I’m itching to start actual work. Oh, on Wednesday’s I have been biking the 12 km to the main road and catching a bus to a neighbouring market town, where other volunteers in the area also go. They are all really nice and it is an opportunity to buy fresh produce that I can’t find in my village, along with cold drinks. Plus, it has been a wonderful opportunity to speak in English!
My village is mostly an Animist and Muslim community, which has produced some interesting stories thus far. Every once in a while, fetishes come out at night. I don’t really know what fetishes are, but if a woman sees one, she will die. Fetishes have come out 4 times since I’ve been at site, and so far, every night I’ve been scared to death. The night that fetishes come out, everyone tells me that I have to go home, close and lock all my windows and doors, and go to bed as soon as possible so I won’t see a fetish. One night, I woke up periodically and heard drums and men singing somewhere for the entire night. The next morning I got up to go running. The sun had come up some but not all the way. I saw two old women who basically made me turn around because if I had kept running the way I was going, I might see a fetish and die. So I turned around until the women were out of eyesight and then turned around again and kept going.
I also have an interesting story about the previous volunteers cat. His name was Motobo and I had told her during site visit that I didn’t want a cat. She found someone to take him, but he just kept coming back to my compound. I told my language tutor about the problem, so he brought one of his friends to come get Motobo. The friend turned out to be a fetish creator. He came to my compound with a burlap sac into which he stuffed the cat, and walked off. A few days later I asked my tutor if he’d seen Motobo and he started laughing because apparently the fetish creator had taken Motobo to kill and eat. So Motobo is no more, but I told the previous volunteer about it and she actually had wanted someone to take the cat to eat. So it all worked out in the end!
While there are a lot of annoying people who like to compare me to the previous volunteer all the time, I have also met some incredibly generous folks as well. I love my neighbours. There is a dad with one wife and four kids. The kids come hang out at my house a lot, including 3-year old Adia who is adorable. Since I’ve come to site, they’ve brought me an appetizer-type dish almost every night, from french fries to porridge. There is also a really nice lady who sells fried dough balls and sweet potatoes outside the doctor’s office every day. I always greet her and she often gives me free food as well. On Friday, which was Seli, the day after Ramadan when fast ended, the doctor and his family brought me an entire plateful of couscous with chicken and fried veggies. Needless to say I have definitely not been in lack of food.
I’m getting pretty good at carrying water on my head (using both arms of course). The first few days at site were incredibly rough. I went to get water one afternoon and ended up spilling a lot all over myself. Everyone was laughing at me and I laughed too but then got back to my house and just cried for 30 minutes straight. Since then though I fill the bucket a little bit less full and have been getting water later in the afternoon when not many people are out!
Oh, I also discovered the alcoholic part of town a few weeks ago. I was walking and greeting people when I ran into a guy who asked me if I knew what millet beer was. I didn’t know the word in Bambara so I said no. He told me he’d show me and led me to another compound where I saw a huge cauldron full of the beer. This was at 9:30 in the morning and I could tell they’d already started drinking. Anyway, it was pretty funny and now I know where to go if things get too rough in Kourouma (j/k)! In other random news, I have killed about a hundred spiders since I got to site and even killed a scorpion that was in my bedroom! It’s the only one I’ve seen since I got installed but it was still pretty exciting.
These last few days have been great in Sikasso. I have gotten to meet up with a lot of other volunteers and we spend time eating good cold food, going to a nearby pool, and hanging out at a bar at night. While I do like my site, I truly look forward to the times when I can see the other volunteers. Okay, goodness. I’ve rambled on enough. As always, hope everyone’s well, I miss you all. It’ll probably be a couple more weeks until I get to write again but still send me emails with lots of news that I’ll have waiting for me!
So I thought I’d write about a typical day in the life of a Kourouma volunteer thus far. I get up around 6 or 6:30. I’ve gotten up and run a little bit which I really enjoy because I can watch the sun rise which is absolutely beautiful. After exercising, I take my bucket bath and then eat breakfast of fruit or eggs. I also have a little short wave radio so I can listen to BBC news in the morning (I’m so upset about the Marian Jones deal by the way). My language tutor comes around 8 and we talk for a while, although I feel like he doesn’t help that much so I’m probably going to tell him to come only twice a week from now on. Then, I go to the CSCOM to greet the doctor, nurses, my homologue who is a matron at the CSCOM and who I will go to with work issues, the pharmacist, and anyone else who is there. Then I have been picking out a part of town and just walking around, greeting people. While Kourouma isn’t too big (around 2500 people), it is very spread out and the compounds are huge with maybe 50 or more people in a compound. Unfortunately, people go to the fields very early and are there all day, but I always find some women and lots of children to greet. I greet for about an hour and a half and then go home and study until lunch. I’ve started making lunch for myself, and then I go to my homologues house to hang out for a few hours. There are always lots of people at her house, and a lot of times I help the women to shell shea nuts. Mid-afternoon, I go back home to read, sweep, wash clothes, do dishes, get water from the pump, etc. Then I usually read until someone’s gets me for dinner, which I eat at my homologues house as well. After dinner we listen to music, watch TV, or just hang out. Then I come home, read some more, and go to bed. I spend the entire day outside. I have a wonderful front porch and only go inside to sleep at night. This also means that kids often stop by my house which can be really annoying, but I don’t feel bad about telling them to leave if I want to be alone. So the pace of life is very slow and laid back and you can probably see why I’m itching to start actual work. Oh, on Wednesday’s I have been biking the 12 km to the main road and catching a bus to a neighbouring market town, where other volunteers in the area also go. They are all really nice and it is an opportunity to buy fresh produce that I can’t find in my village, along with cold drinks. Plus, it has been a wonderful opportunity to speak in English!
My village is mostly an Animist and Muslim community, which has produced some interesting stories thus far. Every once in a while, fetishes come out at night. I don’t really know what fetishes are, but if a woman sees one, she will die. Fetishes have come out 4 times since I’ve been at site, and so far, every night I’ve been scared to death. The night that fetishes come out, everyone tells me that I have to go home, close and lock all my windows and doors, and go to bed as soon as possible so I won’t see a fetish. One night, I woke up periodically and heard drums and men singing somewhere for the entire night. The next morning I got up to go running. The sun had come up some but not all the way. I saw two old women who basically made me turn around because if I had kept running the way I was going, I might see a fetish and die. So I turned around until the women were out of eyesight and then turned around again and kept going.
I also have an interesting story about the previous volunteers cat. His name was Motobo and I had told her during site visit that I didn’t want a cat. She found someone to take him, but he just kept coming back to my compound. I told my language tutor about the problem, so he brought one of his friends to come get Motobo. The friend turned out to be a fetish creator. He came to my compound with a burlap sac into which he stuffed the cat, and walked off. A few days later I asked my tutor if he’d seen Motobo and he started laughing because apparently the fetish creator had taken Motobo to kill and eat. So Motobo is no more, but I told the previous volunteer about it and she actually had wanted someone to take the cat to eat. So it all worked out in the end!
While there are a lot of annoying people who like to compare me to the previous volunteer all the time, I have also met some incredibly generous folks as well. I love my neighbours. There is a dad with one wife and four kids. The kids come hang out at my house a lot, including 3-year old Adia who is adorable. Since I’ve come to site, they’ve brought me an appetizer-type dish almost every night, from french fries to porridge. There is also a really nice lady who sells fried dough balls and sweet potatoes outside the doctor’s office every day. I always greet her and she often gives me free food as well. On Friday, which was Seli, the day after Ramadan when fast ended, the doctor and his family brought me an entire plateful of couscous with chicken and fried veggies. Needless to say I have definitely not been in lack of food.
I’m getting pretty good at carrying water on my head (using both arms of course). The first few days at site were incredibly rough. I went to get water one afternoon and ended up spilling a lot all over myself. Everyone was laughing at me and I laughed too but then got back to my house and just cried for 30 minutes straight. Since then though I fill the bucket a little bit less full and have been getting water later in the afternoon when not many people are out!
Oh, I also discovered the alcoholic part of town a few weeks ago. I was walking and greeting people when I ran into a guy who asked me if I knew what millet beer was. I didn’t know the word in Bambara so I said no. He told me he’d show me and led me to another compound where I saw a huge cauldron full of the beer. This was at 9:30 in the morning and I could tell they’d already started drinking. Anyway, it was pretty funny and now I know where to go if things get too rough in Kourouma (j/k)! In other random news, I have killed about a hundred spiders since I got to site and even killed a scorpion that was in my bedroom! It’s the only one I’ve seen since I got installed but it was still pretty exciting.
These last few days have been great in Sikasso. I have gotten to meet up with a lot of other volunteers and we spend time eating good cold food, going to a nearby pool, and hanging out at a bar at night. While I do like my site, I truly look forward to the times when I can see the other volunteers. Okay, goodness. I’ve rambled on enough. As always, hope everyone’s well, I miss you all. It’ll probably be a couple more weeks until I get to write again but still send me emails with lots of news that I’ll have waiting for me!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Banankoro bana
Homestay is officially over and we're all back in Tubaniso 'til next Sunday when we depart for site! Swear-in is Friday - I am getting increasingly nervous about being dropped off at my site, although very excited as well. This last week has been fairly eventful. Wednesday night we hosted a dance for Banankoro. On Thursday we got together with some women and children and demonstrated making oral re hydration salts, which is good practice for site. Thursday also, I went to the one restaurant in Banankoro to eat lunch with some other trainees. We had to wait two hours for our food because they had to go out of town to get the ingredients, but it was totally worth it. We had cous-cous with an onion and pepper sauce and chicken. It was delicious and I ate every single bit of meat on the bone (M&D it reminded me of Shonda A. eating at our house that one time!).
Ramadan started on Thursday, so many members of my family and all over Mali will be fasting from dawn to dusk for the next month. Fasting is different than say the 30-hour famine because no food or drink (not even water) are allowed. Gum chewing and even smoking are not allowed. My family kept asking me if I was going to fast and so on Friday I did! For the whole day! I woke up at 4:15 to eat rice, bread and coffee with my sisters and then went back to my room and drank a ton of water before going back to bed for a few hours. It was tough not being able to drink water, but I did it and I think my host family was really proud of me. As soon as fast was over I chugged a liter of water and got to eat not only macaroni for dinner, but porridge and coconut as well, a nice bonus. My family thought it was really funny that I was only fasting for one day but I told them that next year I'd do it for two! On Saturday the PCT's and our professors cooked our own dinner at the school and each invited a couple members of our family to come. I invited my two sisters who I always eat with. We made a wonderful feast (including ketchup bought from Bamako) although I kind of felt bad because my sisters saw me eat about 20 pieces of meat whereas at home I avoid it altogether or only eat one or two pieces. Oh well! Afterwards my sisters took me to a photographer on the main road and we got our picture taken in front of a corny scenic background. Yesterday morning I gave gifts of rice and fabric to my parents and a deck of cards to the kids (although I think they lost half the deck within 10 minutes). Most of the kids walked me to my professors' house to say goodbye. When they left, Salimata lagged behind and kept turning around to look at me. Even though she's driven me absolutely crazy the last two months, I'll definitely miss her along with a couple others. So that's it until I go back to Banankoro in January to visit. As always, miss you all and hope everyone's well!!!
Ramadan started on Thursday, so many members of my family and all over Mali will be fasting from dawn to dusk for the next month. Fasting is different than say the 30-hour famine because no food or drink (not even water) are allowed. Gum chewing and even smoking are not allowed. My family kept asking me if I was going to fast and so on Friday I did! For the whole day! I woke up at 4:15 to eat rice, bread and coffee with my sisters and then went back to my room and drank a ton of water before going back to bed for a few hours. It was tough not being able to drink water, but I did it and I think my host family was really proud of me. As soon as fast was over I chugged a liter of water and got to eat not only macaroni for dinner, but porridge and coconut as well, a nice bonus. My family thought it was really funny that I was only fasting for one day but I told them that next year I'd do it for two! On Saturday the PCT's and our professors cooked our own dinner at the school and each invited a couple members of our family to come. I invited my two sisters who I always eat with. We made a wonderful feast (including ketchup bought from Bamako) although I kind of felt bad because my sisters saw me eat about 20 pieces of meat whereas at home I avoid it altogether or only eat one or two pieces. Oh well! Afterwards my sisters took me to a photographer on the main road and we got our picture taken in front of a corny scenic background. Yesterday morning I gave gifts of rice and fabric to my parents and a deck of cards to the kids (although I think they lost half the deck within 10 minutes). Most of the kids walked me to my professors' house to say goodbye. When they left, Salimata lagged behind and kept turning around to look at me. Even though she's driven me absolutely crazy the last two months, I'll definitely miss her along with a couple others. So that's it until I go back to Banankoro in January to visit. As always, miss you all and hope everyone's well!!!
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Den kundi (Baby naming ceremony)
Hi everyone! Hopefully you can see some of the pictures that I’ve put up – they take forever to download! So, I finished Harry Potter (of course). Luckily, another trainee had already read it so I immediately had someone with whom I could talk about it. However; if anyone wants to talk about it further with me, let me know.
The last week in Banankoro has gone very well. We’re at Tubaniso until tomorrow and then we’re only in our home stay sites for one more week! I’m not really going to be sad to leave, just because I’m so ready to live on my own and cook my own food – I will miss some members of my family and will most of all miss having other trainees right there. For health education practice, we got to hold a porridge-making session and baby weighing this past week, both of which turned out well. A lot of women and their babies came to each event, and we got to practice doing everything in Bambara. The most exciting news from my site was that two sisters (whom I hadn’t yet met but live on the same street as me) both had babies within a few days of each other. The baby naming ceremony for one was all day Wednesday, in my concession. Tuesday night, I was trying to sleep but there was a sheep outside that kept me up half the night. I was so confused because there isn’t usually a sheep that lives in my concession. Then I remembered that the baby naming ceremony was to be held the next day and sure enough, I woke up the next morning and the sheep’s skin was lying right outside my door. So, I got to eat some nice lamb for lunch on Wednesday. Then, yesterday morning, I went to greet my dad and he was eating something. I asked him what it was and he replied that it was sheep’s head, and then asked me if I wanted any. I said I was full. The baby naming ceremony was fun. I missed most of the dancing because I was in class, but still got to dance a little bit. I also wore one of my new Malian outfits which everyone loved. That’s it for now. As always, I hope you all are well!
The last week in Banankoro has gone very well. We’re at Tubaniso until tomorrow and then we’re only in our home stay sites for one more week! I’m not really going to be sad to leave, just because I’m so ready to live on my own and cook my own food – I will miss some members of my family and will most of all miss having other trainees right there. For health education practice, we got to hold a porridge-making session and baby weighing this past week, both of which turned out well. A lot of women and their babies came to each event, and we got to practice doing everything in Bambara. The most exciting news from my site was that two sisters (whom I hadn’t yet met but live on the same street as me) both had babies within a few days of each other. The baby naming ceremony for one was all day Wednesday, in my concession. Tuesday night, I was trying to sleep but there was a sheep outside that kept me up half the night. I was so confused because there isn’t usually a sheep that lives in my concession. Then I remembered that the baby naming ceremony was to be held the next day and sure enough, I woke up the next morning and the sheep’s skin was lying right outside my door. So, I got to eat some nice lamb for lunch on Wednesday. Then, yesterday morning, I went to greet my dad and he was eating something. I asked him what it was and he replied that it was sheep’s head, and then asked me if I wanted any. I said I was full. The baby naming ceremony was fun. I missed most of the dancing because I was in class, but still got to dance a little bit. I also wore one of my new Malian outfits which everyone loved. That’s it for now. As always, I hope you all are well!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Harry Potter
I just wanted to write that I am the happiest trainee in the world right now because I am holding my own copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in my hand. I love you Emma, you're the best sister in the world! Thank you thank you thank you!
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