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.

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.

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