Two Days til Swear-In!!!

We will all officially be Peace Corps Volunteers in less than 48 hours! We are all very excited about it here at Tubani-So. There may be some discussion as to whether people are looking forward to the actual swear-in at the American embassy, or the massive, non-stop party following that. I leave it to you to decide.

Anyway, we have been here since Sunday, mostly in meetings (per usual here) but taking a few exams to prove we are actually ready to graduate. I had a half-hour conversation with a language trainer yesterday in Bambara, 5 minutes of which were spent explaining that I was actually born in Mexico, and no, thats Mexico the country and not New Mexico (this is the general reaction I get among Malians. I think I may be telling people I am born and raised in the US from now on. Sorry, guys). Anyway, I passed the exam after promising I would study hard and practice more, as if I had a choice. Then we had a written exam about general things involving Mali and our specific tech sectors and staying healthy in general; overall, I'm pretty sure that as a group we failed, mostly because of faulty writing on the test and poor information sessions. Most of us figure we'll pick it up as we go along; again, like we have another choice. There are more sessions today and tomorrow, but generally we are just drifting through until Friday. I will be wearing a beautiful Malian complet for the ceremony; wait for pictures. Saturday is my last day at Tubani So, and on Sunday morning I depart early with the rest of Team Kita for the Peace Corps stage house. We will be traveling public transportation, but, thank goodness, the Peace Corps is taking all of our luggage ahead for us, because I could definitely not handle 2 bags, a trunk, a mat and a couple buckets on my own. And yes, I've only been here 2 months. Monday is spent shopping for my compound, because right now it consists of 3 empty mud huts and I will be the very first person installed Tuesday morning. After that, the little Peace Corps SUV will drive off without me and I'll be left alone in my little village. If that sounds scary, well, welcome to my world. I am looking forward to getting to site, but also starting to get intimidated at the thought of being out on my own with little language skills, no direction and zero cell reception. However, I'll be back in Kita every few weeks, where I'll see my fellow volunteers and get in touch with the rest of the world, and that'll suffice. I will try to post again with all the details about the swear-in sometime this weekend though.

Homestay Update!

That’s what we are all excited about over here, anyway. And after that its another week before our swearing-in party, where we promise to defend and uphold the United States Constitution, and then go actually party. Don’t get me wrong, I will miss my home-stay family, because they have been great with me and we have finally reached that point where we all feel comfortable together. I’ve also finally gotten all the little kids to stop being afraid and to play with me instead, a challenge I’m sad to have to start over again at site. And I will especially miss my home-stay brother, who’s become my best friend here and who’s helped me out more than words can describe. I will definitely work hard to keep that relationship alive, despite the relative isolation I’m going into for the next couple of months. However, all of us volunteers feel ready (as ready as you can get, anyway) to move on to the next stage and start the real part of Peace Corps service.

I think most of us have retained our sanity pretty well, speaking of which… yes, I did lose it one day when we had to practice stabbing ourselves with a needle to make malaria blood smear kits (to check whether you have malaria) but otherwise, everyone is holding up fairly well. The schedule of our lives every day is starting to wear everyone’s patience thin, but it helps that we have been able to go into Bamako on our day off every week and play a little. Last Sunday I was able to get some good Lebanese food and go fabric shopping in the main market (Malians buy fabric and then take it to their local tailor to have it custom made into an outfit. Pretty neat). This past Sunday, Peace Corps actually took us to a hotel to go swimming (yes, I wore a bikini) and then into town again for a food binge. Let me tell you, it is amazing how much one can eat when one mostly eats rice and beans all week. Which brings us back to the last six days here before heading back to Tubani So this Sunday.

Safe and Sound again!.... more or less

I am back at homestay once again! I bet a bunch of you thought I was dead, huh? Or at least lost somewhere in the Malian wilderness… And you wouldn’t be too far off.

Well, here we are in the last stretch of training. It has been a crazy couple of weeks since I last wrote, so this is going to be a long one. After training day at Tubani So, I actually stayed behind an extra day with some other volunteers who will be in the Kayes region with me and we hung out in Bamako. I actually got a pizza (!) and ice cream, which was amazing. And the next day we headed out, boarded an antiquey Greyhound-like bus, and headed to Kita. The scenery was actually really beautiful, all green hills and little villages along the way. I am also pretty lucky in that the trip is only 3-4 hours long, so we got to the city mid-day and not too tired. Also lucky for us is the fact that there is a stage house in Kita, owned by Peace Corps and run by volunteers. Its honestly like a little piece of America, and I love it to death already. There is an actual bathroom with flush toilet and a shower, a tv with a VCR and an some kind of old-school game console, a kitchen with a fridge and stove, and some other general amenities that we take for granted in the US. Its official purpose is to be used as a stopping place for volunteers when they are traveling between site and other places, as well somewhere the Kita volunteers can stay when they come in every once in a while to pick up mail and money. I think its going to be used a lot by us, because everyone was really relieved to be able to cook some familiar food and watch some familiar American movies (I totally sang along to Beauty and the Beast) and we are just going to need a break, both mentally and physically, from our villages once in a while. Well, after getting to know the current Kita volunteers and hanging out at the house, we all left the next day for our villages. There is a large dirt road connecting the larger villages to each other; my village happens to be the furthest. However, we did not know that my village WAS on the road, and myself and a current volunteer biked about 5 miles to get there. And I lied before… I’m not that close to a large city; actually, I’m in Guinea. Noooo, but really, I am- I’m only 25k away from the border, and so might be heading over there to escape as much as heading into town. I am actually pretty amused, although there is the problem that there is no cellphone reception where I am, and pretty much in the whole area south of Kita. So, I am rather unable to contact my other volunteers at all. A little worrisome, but I’ll figure it out.

Well, got into village and was welcomed handsomely (even got a chicken for dinner) and was led to my OWN little concession, consisting of 3 little mud and thatch huts and a nyegen (bathroom), all surrounded by a little wood-stick wall. And its all brand new, just for me. They are really happy to have me, which makes me very happy, and a lot more motivated. I’m also extremely happy that the other volunteer was with me, because my Bambara is clearly not far enough along to make myself understood, and so needed a lot of help translating stuff. Sadly, she left the next day, so I was turned over to my new host-family’s care. Now this is where the language immersion comes in, because my new family speaks NO French, so the conversations mostly consisted of them speaking to me, and me going, “Yes. No. I don’t understand. Repeat again?” We can only hope that I will eventually pick up the language.

I was in village for 3 days, which I mostly spent at the village clinic hanging out with the doctor and other health workers. My counterpart never came back while I was there (still training in Kita) which was very sad, but I really enjoyed getting to know my colleagues. The clinic is brand new, so its pretty well stocked and is actually run fairly efficiently, which sounds mean but can be a huge problem here in Mali. The doctor and head of staff is rather young, too, only 30 and the rest of the staff (except for my counterpart) are men, so it should be interesting working with all men on a regular basis. I did get to see a few interesting incidents; unfortunately, the message that I am a health EDUCATOR and NOT a doctor was not passed along, because they were asking me to vaccinate children and deliver babies while I was there. Definitely not happening. Eventually we got that all cleared up and I plan on trying to stay away from certain activities in the future. But I am really excited again to become fluent in Bambara and do all kinds of awesome health activities for the next two years.

So on my fourth day I boarded the little bachee that is public transport between villages here, to head back to Kita. Have I explained public transport yet? Basically, a bachee is an old, old, old minivan that is kinda falling apart, has some seats stuck in the back and painted green. Really, its hard to give you an idea of the antiquity of these things, but they are old, and they are crazy. For the most part, however, they work. I say for the most part because they do tend to break down a lot, which is what happened to me on my way back. I was hoping to meet up with other volunteers living farther down the road and closer to Kita, but I guess there are more bachees coming and going then I thought, and I made the journey by myself. Halfway through, my little transport broke down and we had to stop for a little while while they took out the engine or some similar part and put it back in again. Well, it took a while (nearly 5 hours) but I made it to Kita safe and sound, only to realize my bike had broken when it was tied to the top of the bus, and I needed to find someone to repair it. Which I found someone to do, eventually… Well, long story short I finally made it back to the Kita stage house, to the great relief of my fellow volunteers, who really did think I was dead.

After another day or so at the stage house, where I watched numerous movies and even got to eat a Malian version of tortillas, us trainees, along with a few other volunteers, headed back into Bamako (where I had more ice cream) and back to Tubani So. And back to homestay, where we will be for the next few weeks, trying to complete language training and retain our sanity (I still have, approximately, 85% of mine). And so ends the little adventure that was site visit, and a taste of the next two years. Be warned that I will be able to check email and such every few days until mid-September, and after that it’ll be every few weeks… so if you would like letters instead, send me your mailing address! I think I’m going to have lots of free time.

The next step begins...

Here we are again, and I am slowly making progress. The group is back at Camp PC once more, and starting the next step of this crazy process, better known here as visiting our permanent sites. We found out last week where we will all be going and what (sort of) we will be doing for the next two years, and now we go off our separate ways to actually see our new homes. I will be going to the westernmost region in Mali, the Kayes region, to a small village south of Kita. I doubt the village is on any maps, being as it has only 2000 inhabitants, but I am close enough to a large city that I hope not to get cabin fever too badly. When I stop to think about it I find it crazy that I will be living in a tiny village after living in huge cities all my life, but hey, this is what I signed up for. As a health volunteer, I am partnered with one of the local midwives (often there are no actual doctors in rural Mali, but midwives take care of the process of pregnancy, birth, etc.) working in the local clinic. Technically, I am not a trained health professional, so I will not be doing all the stuff you think of when you think of medical personnel. Instead, my purpose there for the next two years will be more informational, i.e. pushing good habits and changing the way some things are done. A lot of my job will involve working with pregnant women and babies, which I am thrilled about. Being as how Mali has an extremely high child mortality rate (1 in 10 infant mortality, roughly one third of children do not make it to their 5th birthday) the Peace Corps health sector focuses a great deal on fighting these statistics. More immediately, I will be helping my local clinic with pre-natal consultations, baby weighings (i.e. making sure that children are not severely malnourished, a big problem here), pushing vaccinations and good cooking and hygiene habits with mothers. However, a lot of my work will probably not start for a while seeing as how I am still working on the language skills. That, and babies tend to cry when they first see me.

I will be the first PC volunteer this village has ever had, so it should be a bit of a shock for everyone involved when the toubab (that is Bambara for foreigner) shows up in town wanting to learn the language and make friends. I’m also unsure of what my housing situation is like, so I’m not sure if I will be living with another family like my current situation or living in my own housing next to a family that will be taking care of me from afar. I am kinda hoping for the former, because however much I do love my homestay family right now, I am definitely someone who needs more private space. So we will see how that works out after this week. Another good thing about my site is the number of other volunteers in my group that will be within 50km of me, all of whom I like and would love to know better. I doubt I will be getting out that much in the first few months, just because we are supposed to be working on integrating and learning the language and figuring out what are the biggest needs in our community, but it is nice to know that they are there if I need someone.

Otherwise, I am doing really well so far. No major sicknesses, which is a slight miracle, and no mental breakdowns. At the very least, I am not ready to throw in the towel just yet J I can also not believe that it has already been one month since I arrived in Philadelphia, and in a little less than five weeks we will (hopefully) be Peace Corps volunteers, and not just trainees.

The Honeymoon is definitely over...

I am back at Camp Peace Corps again! I was a little worried for a while because apparently a few days ago lighting hit the server, and knocked out the internet? So no blog, no emails, no nothing. But the good people here have fixed it and I am writing again.

I guess there is so much to report that I don’t even know where to start. The “honeymoon” part of our cultural adaptation is definitely over, and people are starting to struggle a little bit (including myself). I actually don’t have much to really complain about, although I feel more than a little lost. I mean, the culture is very different, the language is completely unlike the ones I know and I am hardly an expert in my field. But I am trying to keep a very positive outlook on it all, and remind myself every day of the small victories. At least the mangoes are really good. If nothing else, I have to stay until mango season next year, when apparently there are just hundreds falling off the trees.

I will go a little more in-depth into my home stay family and how it works. I am with five other people in a small village, not too far from other villages with other volunteers but definitely far from Tubani So. I, like every other volunteer here, have been given a Malian name that may or may not change when I move to site permanently: Mamine Sangare. I think it has a nice roll to it; I hope I keep my first name at least. So to Malians I am now Mamine. I have my own room in my family’s house, which is really nice by Malian standards. I eat pretty well, and don’t have much complaints about the food (at the very least, it is not making me sick). The Malian family structure, on the other hand, is kicking my ass. For starters, Malian families are very large and therefore complex; Muslim men here can take up to four wives, and children often don’t live with their parents but with other relatives, for a variety of reasons. My host father has three wives, but only one of which (I think) lives with us; the other two live in other villages. And he has ten children, of which only half live with us also. There is also the oldest son and his family living in the compound with us, as well as my host father’s brother and his family. So there are lots of kids running around, and I am really just very confused about it all. I am mostly watched over and taken care of by my 19 year old host brother, who is the only one who really speaks French. My days are mostly taken up by meals and school, with free time in the afternoon and evenings where I get to hang out with my fellow volunteers or play with my family. It’s sort of strange in a way because I don’t feel like I’m progressing very much, but I know that I must be learning a great deal about Mali subconsciously. But donni-donni, as they say. Everything very slowly.

I don’t think I’ve had a lot of “culture shock” as they keep telling us. Again, perhaps the coming from a developing country helps? It is a little like those articles and documentaries you see on National Geographic, with dirt roads and corn fields, women with babies on their backs, more naked babies running around, and plenty of donkeys and chickens running circles around everyone. Of course its not EXACTLY like that either. I think I will have to take lots of pictures to show, because its hard to explain without going into tons and tons of detail. So I hope I shall have that for you all soon. Anyways, keep the emails coming and I promise I will try to write back to you all shortly!

Reporting from homestay...

Success! It took a while but I have found (or rather my teammates did) an internet cafe about an hour or so from my house. Things are going well here in my little village; Im with 5 other people learning Bambara and about life in Mali. I like my homestay family and I think they like me; they feed me well at least. And except for a short bout of sickness the first day no major problems whatsoever, although the mosquitoes are eating me alive. Anyway just writing to prove Im still alive and I will try to respond to everyones emails soon! Miss you all

Homestay Day!

So today we are off to stay with our homestay families, where we will mostly be living the next two months. I don't know what the internet situation is like out there, so I might not be on for the next 2 weeks (just so you all know). HOWEVER, I have gotten a cellphone. In all honesty, I have no money yet to buy credit, so I can't call anyone, and I'm not sure how much it costs to call me. Furthermore, I probably won't answer most of the time because we have lessons from early in the morning til early evening, whereas I then have dinner and spend time with my host family, so the only time to talk is probably nighttime for me. Anyway, keeping all that in mind... to call me you dial 011-223-478-0069. I think thats right (at least the last 7 digits). We are 4 hours ahead of the East Coast and 7 from the West. Thats the latest update, hope to hear or read from some of you soon!

I ni su from Mali!

Don't get too many expectations from the frequent postings, please; after the next two months this blog will be updated very infrequently. With that in mind.... Things are looking very good here in Mali land! I am enjoying nearly everything so far: the people, the food, the living. The only thing that really bothered me today was our "diversity and cultural stereotypes" training. Now I don't know about all of you (and I especially mean you Oxy alum out there) but I am tired of the cultural diversity workshops, no matter that they take place in Mali. But other than that, and LOTS of flies everywhere, I am enjoying everything. Even the going over a little hole (and you wouldn't BELIEVE how many flies are in there).

I've also started learning the major language here, Bambara. So far its not too hard. It doesn't have a complicated accent like French does, but rather a nice rolling off the tongue feeling. Right now it's mostly about repetition and memorization, which I am rather failing at. However, I do practice with whom ever I can: security guards, the cooks, the teachers, etc. Its actually really encouraging that they all get very happy and supportive every time you try to speak to them in Bambara, no matter that I can't get past the simple "Good day, how are you, how is your family, what is your name?" bit. I have high hopes for myself though. I practice a little French when I can too, although I am unsure as to whether I will be getting a great deal of French education because my main language will most likely be Bambara. Certain readers will be glad to know thatI still make up French words using my Spanish whenever I don't know the real French words. So far no one has called me on it.

What else... although it is the rainy season, supposedly, it is still pretty hot. It poured two nights ago, and then nothing much has happened since. I was rather hoping it would be like the rainy season back at home, but it appears that rainfall is much more sporadic here. Which makes smelling bad an issue, which makes water scarcity an issue. I don't think any of us smell too badly yet, but it'll come.

I guess there are a million things I could go on about, but it would take forever and I'd rather hear what you want to know about.... so send me an email or make a comment here on the blog, and I will try to oblige. Much love from Mali!

First Day....

So here I am in Mali, as you all know by now. I really like it so far- there are about 77 volunteers serving altogether, and all living together for now in the training center. I haven't met everyone yet but people I have seem to be very intelligent, very cool... I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone over the next two years. In a way it seems almost like summer camp: everyone gets up all together, has breakfast in the dining hall, has classes, lunch, classes, dinner, fun evening activities. However, this is the first day, after all, and I'm pretty sure it's going to get a lot more stressful.

About the country though... I like it (the 24 hours I've been here). In some ways it reminds me of Mexico, which is good and bad, I guess. The people are very friendly, which is great. I am sharing a little hut with two other women, which makes it a little crowded, but we all move to temporary host families next week. Right now the worst thing we have to fear is diarrhea... ah well. No crazy animals yet, which makes me very sad. So far I don't know where I will be put permanently, but I will keep you all updated!

Philadelphia!!

It's finally happened! All that planning and packing and over-packing and saying good-bye has led up to this point, sorta: orientation in Philly! So I have just finished my first day here, and it has gone pretty well. I have met lots of cool people already and have learned that orientation workshops everywhere are really, really boring, no matter where you're going. But, I am starting to get excited again, and am looking forward to really bonding with my fellow Volunteers and fly over to Mali and begin this little adventure.

There isn't really that much to tell (its only the first day) but I will say this: its a really, really small world we live in. I had found out that a girl I'd known from studying abroad in Belgium together was going to Niger the same time as me; we've already met up today and caught up a little on what we've been up to the last two years. But even crazier than that was this guy in my group coming up to me and asking me if I had been at the American Middle School in Mexico City! Turns out that he and I had been in the same class in middle school, before he left after 8th grade. We have not seen or heard about each other in ten years, but, somehow, someway, we end up together in the same Peace Corps group heading out to Mali. Now I really do feel like singing the Its A Small World theme song.