Site Visit

Greetings,

 

I got back to Tubani So today, after 5 days in M'piedougou and it's been an interesting week to say the least.  We left Tubani So at 7:00 am last Sunday for the bus station in Bamako, quite a seedy place, and boarded the most pathetic vehicle I've ever seen. This bus, if you can call it that, looked as if it had been constructed from parts of 50 year old buses, 25 years ago.  Not only did it get me to my destination without breaking down, it was able to traverse the many miles of dried up river beds, which Malians call roads.  The bus took me as far as the town Kolondieba, my banking/market town. I had to bike the final 23 k's (14 miles) to M'piedougou.  I knew I'd be biking the last leg of the journey, but I wasn't aware it was 23 k's.  That wasn't the bad part though.  No, what sucked was biking 23 k's at 1:00 in the afternoon, in Africa, during hot season, with no water. By time I made it to my village, I was seeing spots of light in my peripheral vision.  Then to my great pleasure, I realized they don't sell bottled water in my town. Since I didn't have room to bring my water filtration system, I had to use the iodine tablets the Peace Corps provided me. And those take 1/2 hour to treat the water. Good times.  While I was counting down the 1800 seconds until I could drink water, I checked out my house.  It's a 2 room, mud-brick house. I wont have to worry about being alone though, because I have plenty of roommates... spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, various other insects, bats and rats.

 

All of the insects, I expected, because well, it's Africa.  The bats and the rats are a bit of an issue though. My counterpart, Sitafa told me he'd "take care" of it, so we'll see what comes of that. In case you're not aware of the counterpart concept, every volunteer serving in every country gets assigned a counterpart from his/her village. That person is supposed to serve as your partner in all endeavors over the 2 years of service. So my counterpart is Sitafa Sangere. He is 46, married to one (he's aiming to pick up a 2nd wife) and has 8 kids.  He's a farmer and an adult literacy agent.  One of the first thing I noticed in my house was the gigantic spiders on the walls.  I swatted one with my shoe and hit it directly. There was a big glob of spider guts on the wall, but I couldn't see what happened to the carcass. Finally, I realized  it was still on the wall but about 4 feet to the right. I wasn't sure how it got there, but at that point my water was ready so i lost interest in the spider.  I drank my water, came back to my room, and much to my chagrin, realized the spider had moved up the wall again. Yeah, the bastard was still alive after enduring a direct blow from my shoe.  Impressive to say the least. 

 

Not long after that battle, my counterpart served me dinner which was overcooked spaghetti with plenty of msg and vegetable oil.  Let me tell you, nothing's more appetizing after partial dehydration than overcooked, msg-laden noodles, drenched in oil.  As I said, my banking/market town, Kolondieba, is 23 k's away. Every Monday there's a bus to K-dieba. Any other time I have to bike 46 k's round trip if I want to buy anything. So I planned on going the next morning and buying myself some food for the week. Well, nobody told me the bus leaves at 7:30 am, so there was no market for me.  There are a couple little stores in M'piedougou but they sell cigarettes, matches, tea, sugar, salt, and sometimes stale bread.  Aside from that, there's nothing.  And since we're approaching the height of hot season, there's not much growing in the fields/gardens right now and the water table looks like it's about 30 meters below. 

 

Another issue was that they hadn't quite finished my outhouse yet.  They'd put a whole in the ground, so it was "functional" but only 3 of 4 walls were put up.  Eh, what can you do?  They did end up finishing the last wall by Thursday.  There's definitely some issues and aggravations I'll be dealing with over the next 2 years, but that's probably why I'm here.  My village is beautiful. It's like stepping 200 years into the past and there are a lot of areas in which I can work. Childhood malnutrition is a big problem throughout Mali and it's particularly bad in my region.  I'm going to try to focus a lot of my projects on food security and food education as well as environmental work. Some projects I hope to get started are working with the women's association to improve the community garden and to make sure that the village is actually getting some of the produce and they're not just selling it all.  I also want to work on storage methods because a stupid amount of food just spoils on the ground.  There's a tree called Moringa which grows very well in the Saheil and it's incredibly nutritious.  The leaves have something like 3Xs the vitamin C of oranges, twice the iron of spinach, and 4Xs the calcium of milk. The seeds are also edible and you can use them to filter water. The root is edible as well.  So, I want to start educating my village on the use of that tree. I told my boss, Yacouba Kone, I was interested in raising goats for milk, cheese, and meat. He was happy to hear that b/c he's wanted an environment volunteer to start a goat's milk project in my region for awhile.  Northern Malians use goat milk all the time, but the concept is pretty much unheard of down south.  Once again focusing on food security, goats milk is another continuous and sustainable source of nutrition year round.  I also plan on raising chickens, ducks, turkey, and guineafowl for my own personal use.  I never heard of guineafowl before coming here, but they're delicious.  Well, the internet que is building up so I'll leave it there for now. Hope everything is going well back home.

 

Peace and Love friends,

 

Rege

M'piebougoula

Greeetings all,

 

I'm off to visit my permanent site for the first time in about half hour. The name of my village is M'piedougou.  Don't bother trying to research it b/c the internet is unaware of its existance.  It's just a small farming village in the far south of Mali with a population of 700.  There's a slightly bigger town 2 k's down the road called Mena. M'piedougou is part of the Mena commune. That's where I can go to a market and buy some essentials. Finally, the nearest town with a bank is 23 k's away.  That is Kolondieba which is the main town in the Kolondieba Circle... Mali is broken down into 8 regions, each region has X amount of circles, each circle has X amount of communes, and each commune has X amount of villages. So my region is Sikasso,my circle is Kolondieba, my commune is Mena, and my village is M'piedougou. Here's a site and map about the Mena commune: http://travelingluck.com/Africa/Mali/Mali+%28general%29/_2453518_M%C3%A9na.html#local_map  I got to meet my counterpart... (every volunteer works with a counterpart from his/her village)  My counterpart's name is Sitapha Sangare. He's married with 8 kids and is a farmer and a literacy agent.  He does not speak any English and he will be my main point person for all the work I'll be doing over the next 2 years.  Obviously we can't communicate all that well just yet but he seems like a good guy with a genuine interest in improving his village.  I've been told that to begin with I should build a relation with the local women's association in M'piedougou and try to help them start a community garden as well as help them find secondary sources of income. Other environmenta projects that the village wants to work on are bee keeping, fish farming, and starting a Moringa tree nursery.  Moringa trees are incredible nutricious and have a wide range of uses.  Of course, none of that is set in stone and as I get to know my site better over the next coouple months I might end up doing completely different projects, so I'm excited to get started.  Well, that's all for now.  Talk to you soon.

 

 

Peace and Love

 

Rege 

I'm going to Sikasso... Africa is freaking hot!

Hey yinz guys,

 

It's been another splendid couple weeks in Mali and now I'm back at the training compound, Tubani So.  Things are still great with my host family and I'm finally able to effectively communicate with them. Unfortunately, I won't have much more time with them.  I do, however, have a lot of new and exciting news. I passed my mid pre-service training language exam this morning.  I am now intermdiate low in Bambara which means i can make basic conversation in the past, imperfect, present, and future tenses. I can haggle and negotiate prices at the market, talk about my family, daily activities, and job, and give/recieve directions amongst other things. Pretty amazing what a month of intense language immersion can do for you.

 

But the BIG news for today is that I found out where my permanent site will be.  I will be in the Sikasso region just south of a city called Bougouni (I'm sure that carries a lot of meaning, right?) So, Sikasso is comprised of the south central and south east of Mali bordering Cote D'Ivore to the south and Burkina Faso to the southeast.  This is exactly where I wanted to be as it recieves the most rainfall in Mali and I'll be able to grow a ton of shit in my garden, haha. The downside is that it's the muggiest and buggiest region of Mali, but such is life.  In other exciting news, we were told today that our swearing in ceremony will be hosted by the President of Mali at the Presidential Palace... they must have heard I was here.  This is the first time this has happened with Peace Corps Mali. 

 

I've been given a bit of info on my site... I'll have no electricity but a water pump will be near by. My house will have a minimum of 2 rooms and a brand new nygen (outhouse)  [mmmmm, fresh nygen... what a luxury!!] {haha, you think I jest} I will have a large concession/yard with plenty of room for a private garden, trees, and composting. My village has about 700 ppl and I'm 23 Ks from the main banking and market town. I can get there via donkey cart, hitch hiking, taxi, or my bike. And the nearest peace corps volunteer is 15 ks down the road.  All in all, I'm stoked.

 

So... Africa is freaking hot. I told myself I new that coming into the Peace Corps... but naah, i didnt really know.  The best part is that i"m still in the beginning of hot season.  If you mention the month of May to a Malian, they'll just cringe in  sheer disgust, so there's something to look forward to.  It's all good though. FYI to those who plan on paying me a visit sometime over the next 2 years... come between october and january.  Here's another indication of the heat... I drink a bout 6 liters of water a day and only have to piss about once a day... yeah, sometimes I dont have to go at all.  Well, that's about all i got for now, hope you're not offended by my crudeness, haha. Gots to keep it real! 

 

Peace and Love friends,

 

Call me sometime...

Rege

12 days in the 3rd world

Greetings Friends,

 

So I had my first real taste of life in Mali over the last 12 days. I'm not going to count the first 5 days in the country since they were spent with the luxuries of native English speakers, running water, electricity, and the inter-web machine. Anyways, things are going quite well.  I spent nearly 2 weeks with my host family in a little village called Soundougouba Coura.  It was certainly stressful at times, especially considering my family doesn't speak English, but my Bambara is getting better everyday and although we struggle to communicate at times, my host family is great. 

My host father's name is Madou  Diarra and my host mother is Animata. They have 8 kids, ages ranging from 21 to 7 months old.  In case you're interested their names are Sita (female 21), Moma (female 18), Alieu (Male 16), Fatima (Female 15), Bafe (Male 13), Jemene (Female 10), Prinze(Male 4), Brahme (male 7months).  Moma has a child as well. Her name is Fanta (yes, like the soda) and she is 4 months. And yes, that means Fanta's uncle is Brahme and he is 3 months older than his niece.  As you might imagine the compound is rather lively. They also have 2 cows, a bunch of chickens, a dog and a cat.  The compound is roughly 40 yards by 30 yards enclosed on all sides by a mud brick wall. There are 3 mud brick structures on the compound and I have my own room. 

 

My average day goes as such... I'll wake up around 7am and they'll feed me breakfast which is usually bread with mayonnaise (amazingly it never goes bad), a rice based porridge called siri which is quite good, and hot tea. I walk to language class for 8am where I study Bambara, or Bamanankan as Malians call it. We (me and the 6 other volunteer trainees in this village) have class from 8 till 12 then return home for lunch.  I go back for class at 2:30 and it'll last until 5:30. I then return home and enjoy a nice cool bucket bath... no running water here. We usually eat dinner around 7 or 7:30.  Malian food isn't bad but they don't have much in the way of variety. they also love salt and MSG which has already started to get old, but oh well. I usually eat all my meals with my host brother, Alieu. After dinner, I'll sit with the family and try to work on my Bambara.  From time to time we have technical training sessions, but for the most part we're focused on the language during this stage. 

 

So my days are full but the routine is pretty simple. I've never had a language immersion like this and it's amazing how quickly I'm picking up an entirely foreign language with no ties to English. I'd say I learned more in 2 weeks here than I would have in an entire college semester, at the very least.  I did have my first bout with intestinal parasites which made for a couple interesting days, but I'm fully recovered and my system is that much more acclimated to Africa.

I returned to the training compound, Tubani So (which means house of doves by the way) yesterday and I'll be here till Wednesday morning. Then it will be another 12 days with my host family.  I'm still taking things one day at a time and looking forward to improving my Bambara as I'll be placed in my permanent village in early April... then the real fun begins.  Hope all is well in your lives.  Keep me posted on what's going on back home.

 

K'an ben kofe

 

Rege

I ni sogoma! I ka kene?

Greetings,

 

I ni sogoma! I ka kene? or Good morning and how are you? in Bambara. Today is already my fourth day in Mali and I've been kept very busy. We usually wake up around 7am and wash up a bit then go down for breakfast.  Breakfast here usually consists of tea, bread, peanut butter sauce and jam. At 8 we start our sessions and aside from an hour and a half lunch break we go till 5:30.  Some of the sessions we've had so far are Bambara lessons, cross cultural training, diversity training, safety and security, malaria training, bike repair training, and food and water preparation/diarrhea training... oh yeah, it's gonna happen.  I'm not gonna lie, training is definitely stressful at times but I'm loving the challenge. Tomorrow, we find out where are homestay (host family) will be and then Tuesday morning I'll get to meet them and pretty much get adopted by them. Odds are I'll be living with a big family including some extended family members like grandmothers. Malian men often take 2 or 3 wives so there will most likely be a lot of children as well.  It's still fairly cool here but I understand that hot season comes on strong in late February so I'm trying to prepare myself for that. While we stay with our host families for the next 2 and a half months we'll still have classes 8 hours out of the day. I'll be concentrated on learning bambara, environmental sector training, and cultural training. After about 9 weeks (and assuming the Peace Corps is satisfied with my cultural, technical, and language skills) My days of being a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) will end and I'll be sworn in as a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). Tomorrow will be the last day I have regular internet access for pretty much the next 27 months.  I do return here to Tubani So every 2 weeks throughout the 9 weeks of pre-service training. Once I'm a volunteer I'll get about 3 days a month where I can go to a regional Peace Corps house and have internet, real showers and some other western accommodations.  Point being, if you want to communicate anything with me you should try to do so by late Monday afternoon.

 

Oh, and I have been issued my cell phone and you can contact me from the States if you'd like.  There are 2 main cell carriers in Mali, Malitel and Orange. As such, I have a phone number for both. So, if you're going to call, the first thing you want to do is get a calling card. I understand the best rate you can get is from callingcards.com  The website is very easy to use. There's a box that will prompt you to pick what country your calling from. obviously that's America, (unless your name is Finian) When you go to pick your calling destination, make sure you click Mali Cellular. Then you can buy the card online and they'll email you the pin number or whatever. The going rate is 0.17/minute. So you have to dial the numbers the phone card says, then  011 to dail out of the U.S. then 223 to dial Mali. then my number: 77286460(Orange) or 64654547 (Malitel). Different regions get better or worse coverage with either carrier. For the time being only use Orange. If I go to an area where malitel is better, I'll let you know So... to clarify, follow the directions on your calling card, then 011 223 77286460.  Like I said, I wont have regular internet access after tomorrow so it'll be hard to make prearranged calls so just try to remember that i'm 5 hours ahead of you. Between 4 and 5pm eastern standard time would probably be best for me. Well, i've been hogging this computer for awhile so I gotta run.

 

Ka tile here caya, May you have a good day

 

Rege

My 2nd (Full) Day in Mali

Greetings all,

I'm sure you're all wandering what it's like where I'm at and what I'm doing
so I'll try to give you a base description.  I'm staying at a training
compound called Tubani So. It's 7 hectares of land which is a little over 17
acres. All 60+ volunteers as well as a training staff of about 30 are
staying here. Most of the Training staff are Malian and they are incredibly
warm and welcoming hosts. We're all staying in huts while we're at this
compound. They are made of cement and have thatched roofs. I'd say they have
a diameter of 15 feet and the thatched roof goes up in a cone shape so there
is plenty of room to stand.  We sleep 3 to a hut and there's just about
enough room for 3 cots and a little table. The compound and the huts have
electricity. There's also a large brick building where we come for meals
(and internet) as well as numerous outdoor "hangars" where we have our
classes and training sessions. We will be here until Tuesday and then we
will go to our host families. All the host families will be concentrated in
9 different villages or neighborhoods in and around the Bamako area, so
there will be somewhere between 5 and 8 volunteers very near by. After
Tuesday we'll spend most of our time with the host families but we will come
back to Tubani So every week or 2. Yesterday, we did a lot of sessions on
basic safety, security, and personal health.  All in all it was pretty
easy.  Today, however, things start to kick into high gear. Most of the next
4 days will be spent learning Bambara, the most prevelant language spoken
here, as well as cultural training.  We do have running well water here and
you can take a shower. The toilets however, are... shall we say interesting,
haha. Imagine an outhouse with a hole in the middle of the floor and nothing
else save a bucket of water... I'll just leave it at that.  The weather has
been beautiful here the last couple days and I actually needed a blanket
last night. It's a fleeting luxury though as the cool dry season will soon
be ending and the hot season will soon begin.  I heard that last year they
had 40 straight days of 120+ degrees...so, that should be interesting to say
the least.  During the hot season, people generally work till 9 or 9:30 am
and then find a tree to sit under until 4 or 5.  I haven't seen too many
animals yet, just some birds and some frogs. You do hear exotic bird calls
constantly and they say there are monkeys that live in this area as well as
scorpions and snakes. I guess they live further in the bush and don't come
out too much. I haven't seen them yet anyways.  Well, breakfast is about to
begin and I have a long day ahead of me so I'll leave it there for now.


Peace and Love

Rege