Getting to Sevare from Bamako was quite the experience! All 18 PCTs going to the Mopti region traveled with our homologues by public bus. It was an adventure and a half. First, we blew a tire just outside of Bamako - right at my homestay village, actually. So after we fixed the tire, about 4 hours later we stopped in Segou for lunch...and the bus broke down. Initially we tried pushing the bus Little Miss Sunshine-style, but we failed. So we had to wait at Segou for about 2 hours while they found a replacement part and fixed it. The next nine hours to San and then Sevare were relatively uneventful, but forty-five minutes out of Sevare we literally hit a cow! We drove over it with one tire but then swerved so it avoided the back tire. Luckily the bus didn't flip. It was hardcore storming then too, so we could barely see in front of us. Headlights and windshield wipers are for wimps, haha. So funny though, we ran over a cow. Total travel time: 14 hours.
When we got to Sevare, the PCVs were waiting to greet us and took us to an awesome hotel. It's run by a former American missionary named Mac. For breakfast, he made us French toast, pancakes, yogurt, and fruit and granola - so yummy. The next day in Sevare we set up our banking accounts, went to the PC Bureau, and basically familiarized ourselves with the city. Finally, it was just me, Ali (the vol 1K from me - she's super nice, I'm so glad we're so close), and Katie, the PCV who was our site visit buddy. We biked the 9K to Ali's village, met with the mayor, and then we biked 1K to my village.
My village is beautiful! We don't have electricity, which is absolutely fine, because at night the stars are GORGEOUS. I have stairs to my roof too, so in the hot season I can sleep up there in my bug hut. Super excited about that! My nyegen is huge too - I'm going to put some rice sack gardens out there I think, so that way the goats won't eat my tomatoes, basil, lettuce, and onions. It's going to be awesome. When we got to my village, there was a wonderful celebration waiting for us. Representatives of the surrounding village's women's groups were there, and all the kids in my village, plus the amiiri (village chief). There was a tom-tom, and Katie, Ali, and I all danced with the villagers for a while. I'm sure it amused them, and it was a lot of fun.
My supervisor's name is Moussa, and he is super motivated and very excited to begin our reforestation work. I saw the tree plantations, and they're huge! After that, I planted an entire field of millet - quite the adventure. He also wants to plan an Earth Day-esque festival of sorts, where all the villagers will plant a tree and we'll hold sessions on environmental sensibilation and awareness - like why it's important to replace the trees that are cut down for firewood. My big project will be ecotourism though - it almost seems like more of a SED site than an environment one, so I'm going to have to do some fun reading on business/marketing/finance stuff. The women's association also wants to start a garden, and I'm very excited to work with them on it. The president of the women's association, Kumbari, is my host mom, and she is so hilarious. She's going to be fun to work with for the next two years.
On the whole, I really enjoyed site visit. We had been warned by current volunteers that it would be absolutely horrible - it's the first time that you are truly by yourself, without any other PC peeps around. But I had a lot of fun, and didn't feel alone or abandoned at all - probably because Ali was so close, but also because the people in my village were so welcoming and eager to talk to me. My Fulfulde is still a bit rough (and will be for at least the next year), but I was able to have some good conversations, and Kumbari understands my pronunciation and translates to everyone else what I'm trying to say. We had some good times together. So hooray for a good site visit, and only 2 1/2 weeks left in training!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
I know my site!
Today I learned my site placement for the next two years! I am in a small village of 400 people about 20 kilometers outside of Sevare, in the Mopti region of Mali. I will be living with a host family, though I will have my own house with two rooms and a veranda (that means shade! hooray!) I am 1 kilometer away from a village with a larger market, which is on the Niger. So lots of fresh veggies and fish! My banking town will probably be Sevare though, which is also where the Peace Corps stage house is for the Mopti region. That means that I will most likely have internet access about once every two weeks or so, which is great.
I am so excited for my site though! The Mopti region is where Dogon country is - it's the part of Mali that most tourists go to because the Dogon people are famous for their masks, dancing, and art. They live on cliffs in these really neat houses. I'm glad I'm so close - it's supposed to be a great place to hike. My homologue is a 19 year old woman. I get to meet her tonight, and I'm so excited to have someone close to my age to work with.
Most of my work will involve reforestation and gardening. My homologue works for Planete Verte, a French NGO, so we will be implementing some of their programs in addition to my own ideas. As a secondary project, I have the opportunity to work with a women's association which makes leather products. They want to improve their product and then improve their business skills - expand into new markets and such. I don't know a lot about leather, but I'm excited to learn - what a cool skill that will be to have! And I'm glad I get to incorporate gender and development (GAD) and SED ideas into my service - it sounds pretty ideal for me. I'm traveling to Mopti for a site visit on Sunday for one week, so I will have a better idea of what my life will be like after that. I'm so ready to see it and finally know for certain! This whole moving every 12 days is getting a bit rough - I'm fine living almost anywhere in the world, as long as I can settle there and not move constantly. But I am so happy about my site - it's close enough to a big city that I'll have fairly regular internet access but en brousse enough that I'll still have the village experience. And I can't wait to start planting trees!
Currently listening to: Feist, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Other Lives
Currently reading: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
I am so excited for my site though! The Mopti region is where Dogon country is - it's the part of Mali that most tourists go to because the Dogon people are famous for their masks, dancing, and art. They live on cliffs in these really neat houses. I'm glad I'm so close - it's supposed to be a great place to hike. My homologue is a 19 year old woman. I get to meet her tonight, and I'm so excited to have someone close to my age to work with.
Most of my work will involve reforestation and gardening. My homologue works for Planete Verte, a French NGO, so we will be implementing some of their programs in addition to my own ideas. As a secondary project, I have the opportunity to work with a women's association which makes leather products. They want to improve their product and then improve their business skills - expand into new markets and such. I don't know a lot about leather, but I'm excited to learn - what a cool skill that will be to have! And I'm glad I get to incorporate gender and development (GAD) and SED ideas into my service - it sounds pretty ideal for me. I'm traveling to Mopti for a site visit on Sunday for one week, so I will have a better idea of what my life will be like after that. I'm so ready to see it and finally know for certain! This whole moving every 12 days is getting a bit rough - I'm fine living almost anywhere in the world, as long as I can settle there and not move constantly. But I am so happy about my site - it's close enough to a big city that I'll have fairly regular internet access but en brousse enough that I'll still have the village experience. And I can't wait to start planting trees!
Currently listening to: Feist, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Other Lives
Currently reading: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
Mexican food!!!
August 7, 2009
So last night, the group of eight of us in my village made the best tubab (foreigner) meal in the history of the world. Ever. We made Mexican food, and it tasted like real, legit Mexican food! Epic success of the century. So this is going to be a lot of detail, but this was such an accomplishment that I need to capture it. Everyone can either just ignore this or be amazed at our wonderfulness.
So the goal was to make burritos. We started cooking the meal at 11am. First, we seared the goat meat (cow wasn't available), and then we braised it for the next 5 or 6 hours in a mixture of water, tomatoes, tomato paste, cucumbers, garlic, onions, limes, maggi seasoning, salt and pepper, and one scotch bonnet hot pepper. While the meat was slowly cooking, we sorted and cleaned the beans and rice (technically class was happening during this time period. Obviously we learned a lot - haha). We cooked the beans with onion and garlic, and then made legit Mexican rice using tomato paste and some seasoning.
Now, for the best part: the pseudo-salsa. And I'm not just saying that because it's what I helped with. We mashed tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions together with a little bit of lime juice, sugar, salt and pepper, and garlic. Then, we added the only avocado we could find in the entire market. It was so delicious. Words cannot describe the fabulousness of fresh veggies in salsa form.
Next, we made tortillas from scratch using flour, water, and a teensy bit of oil. We made them as we needed them, so they were fresh and warm when we were eating. And voila! the final product...a burrito made with a fresh tortilla, fabulously seasoned goat meat (it tasted like pulled pork), rice and beans, fresh lettuce, hot peppers, our salsa concoction, and lime juice! Wonderful.
I haven't been away from the States long enough to forget that most of you reading this have access to burritos almost 24/7, and thus might not understand the pure joy garnered from this meal. So just imagine that you've gone without your absolute favorite food for four weeks, and are at the point where you're having vivid dreams about it - a side effect of the antimalarial prophylaxis. Then, you have the opportunity to make it, but things rarely if ever go as planned here. So you have incredibly low expecations but are still secretly harboring a hope that you will succeed...and then you succeed in such an epic way that it's beyond amazing! Gassi sanne! (very good) What a great night, with such great friends. I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Fabulous. :)
So last night, the group of eight of us in my village made the best tubab (foreigner) meal in the history of the world. Ever. We made Mexican food, and it tasted like real, legit Mexican food! Epic success of the century. So this is going to be a lot of detail, but this was such an accomplishment that I need to capture it. Everyone can either just ignore this or be amazed at our wonderfulness.
So the goal was to make burritos. We started cooking the meal at 11am. First, we seared the goat meat (cow wasn't available), and then we braised it for the next 5 or 6 hours in a mixture of water, tomatoes, tomato paste, cucumbers, garlic, onions, limes, maggi seasoning, salt and pepper, and one scotch bonnet hot pepper. While the meat was slowly cooking, we sorted and cleaned the beans and rice (technically class was happening during this time period. Obviously we learned a lot - haha). We cooked the beans with onion and garlic, and then made legit Mexican rice using tomato paste and some seasoning.
Now, for the best part: the pseudo-salsa. And I'm not just saying that because it's what I helped with. We mashed tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions together with a little bit of lime juice, sugar, salt and pepper, and garlic. Then, we added the only avocado we could find in the entire market. It was so delicious. Words cannot describe the fabulousness of fresh veggies in salsa form.
Next, we made tortillas from scratch using flour, water, and a teensy bit of oil. We made them as we needed them, so they were fresh and warm when we were eating. And voila! the final product...a burrito made with a fresh tortilla, fabulously seasoned goat meat (it tasted like pulled pork), rice and beans, fresh lettuce, hot peppers, our salsa concoction, and lime juice! Wonderful.
I haven't been away from the States long enough to forget that most of you reading this have access to burritos almost 24/7, and thus might not understand the pure joy garnered from this meal. So just imagine that you've gone without your absolute favorite food for four weeks, and are at the point where you're having vivid dreams about it - a side effect of the antimalarial prophylaxis. Then, you have the opportunity to make it, but things rarely if ever go as planned here. So you have incredibly low expecations but are still secretly harboring a hope that you will succeed...and then you succeed in such an epic way that it's beyond amazing! Gassi sanne! (very good) What a great night, with such great friends. I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Fabulous. :)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Bisimila!
August 2, 2009
Wow, today was such a high-low day! I started off the day with a bad case of stomach cramps, but Pepto saved the day. What a great medicine. But THEN Eliza and I went to lunch with one of her professors from SIT. He is originally from Mali, but has worked in the US for a while. We ate at his brother's house in Bamako, which was nice by Western standards. It was made of stone, 4 stories tall, air-conditioned, no flies, super nice furniture, and a real toilet!! It was incredible. Lunch was delicious. We had fried rice, fish from the Niger, eggplant, onion, cabbage, and potatoes. For dessert there were mangoes - oh, so good! After the meal, he let us relax on the couches for a bit. He was so kind. It is rare to meet a Malian who understands the culture shock and adjustment, and he did perfectly.
Wow, today was such a high-low day! I started off the day with a bad case of stomach cramps, but Pepto saved the day. What a great medicine. But THEN Eliza and I went to lunch with one of her professors from SIT. He is originally from Mali, but has worked in the US for a while. We ate at his brother's house in Bamako, which was nice by Western standards. It was made of stone, 4 stories tall, air-conditioned, no flies, super nice furniture, and a real toilet!! It was incredible. Lunch was delicious. We had fried rice, fish from the Niger, eggplant, onion, cabbage, and potatoes. For dessert there were mangoes - oh, so good! After the meal, he let us relax on the couches for a bit. He was so kind. It is rare to meet a Malian who understands the culture shock and adjustment, and he did perfectly.
On the way to lunch, he gave us a bit of a mini-tour of Bamako. The University is on one of the hills, and is called the Hill of Knowledge. ATT's (the President) house is directly across from it on another hill, the Hill of Power. Protests often happen at one of those two hills, which he said are traditionally in conflict with each other. Makes sense, n'est pas? I had a great conversation with him about women and power in West Africa, which he is co-writing a book on right now. After lunch, we saw part of an amiiri (village chief) inauguration. It was so interesting - they had a 21-gun salute, lots of dancing, and I think we may have ended up on Malian TV. We also met one of his friends, who taught at IU for a while! He knew was Noblesville was! It was so funny to meet someone that knew I was from (well, almost). What a small world moment.
I was completely overwhelmed by the hospitality shown to us by Eliza's professor, though. It is true what they say about Malians - that they are the most hospitable people in the world. By the end of the day he told us we were family. This sense of hospitality just doesn't exist in the US. Or perhaps more accurately, it exists, but it is very rare for it to be genuine. In Mali, though, it's the norm. Everyone is so warm and welcoming.
As for the low of the day - when we were driving back to my homestay village, we passed a boy who had just been hit by a car. He was maybe 10 years old, and completely unconscious, just lying on the road. We saw a man pull him up by his right arm, and there was absolutely no response. If he wasn't dead before, he certainly would have been soon because of how that man picked him up. So sad. But no one could have called an ambulance. It was too late. I know I will see death a lot more frequently here than in the States, as 20% of children die before age 18. But it is still hard to see.
Despite that though, when I got back home, it turned out that there was a wedding while I was gone! (Language barrier: 1 million points. Jenny: 0 points.) I got there just as the bride was being carried out the room, completely covered in black fabric, and then thrown into a car to be driven to wherever her "wedding night" is taking place. So funny to see--lots of shouting and dancing and running around! Weddings are a big deal here, so my entire extended family was in for the night. We had lot of fun talking and chatting after dinner.
Transition what what
July 31, 2009
I talked to some people from home today, and for whatever reason, their lifestyles just seemed so foreign to me. Things like going out on the weekend, grabbing a couple drinks with friends, living maybe a bit excessively in general - I just feel so far removed from that lifestyle. It's just so incredibly different from what I am experiencing day-to-day. And the weird thing is, I know that I would be living that same lifestyle if I was in the US. Or I would want to be living that lifestyle, at least. It seems like a part of the past to me. But it's a lot of my friends' present. The transition and culture shock I went through in the past month has been rough at times, but I can tell that transitioning back to life in the States is going to be so much harder.
I talked to some people from home today, and for whatever reason, their lifestyles just seemed so foreign to me. Things like going out on the weekend, grabbing a couple drinks with friends, living maybe a bit excessively in general - I just feel so far removed from that lifestyle. It's just so incredibly different from what I am experiencing day-to-day. And the weird thing is, I know that I would be living that same lifestyle if I was in the US. Or I would want to be living that lifestyle, at least. It seems like a part of the past to me. But it's a lot of my friends' present. The transition and culture shock I went through in the past month has been rough at times, but I can tell that transitioning back to life in the States is going to be so much harder.
There is just an overall change in what brings me joy. It's odd to think that in just one month in Mali, I'm questioning things that once made me happy. Something as simple as sharing a joke with my host family, or having a good discussion with my host brother in French, now makes my day. A good rain makes me smile for the rest of the day. I've always valued the simple things in life, but after living with the rural poor of Mali for a month, I feel that they have even more meaning.
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