"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!