Dear Friends....

If you recall the very first post on this Blog then you must know it is dedicated to Bess and Jared's Peace Corps experience in Mali, West Africa. It has been a tremendous two years and this blog has only succeeded in conveying a fraction of all our journey embodied... I am happy to say that Bess and I are once again living in the United States. We both miss our friends and family in Mali and intend to return as well as continuing ways to serve our neighbors abroad.

If you are just finding this Blog now... don't worry... it's not too late for you to enjoy what this blog has to offer... travel back through this Blog and enjoy it's amazing photography! Or, start at the beginning and travel chronologically through the blog to see and read about what two Peace Corps volunteers did during their two years abroad.

I also to encourage you to visit my new website full of Photography portfolios.

www.jaredphotography.com

Let The Good Times Roll

Hambori Sunrise

Hand of Fatma

Gossi Couple

Soulimon, Natalie's Brother

Bess Climbing Crux of "Traditional Marriage 5.10"

Bess on Sumit of Pamarie

Gossi Sun Rise

Jared Asleep

Jared in the Light

Jared in Meditation

Gossi Cows

Gossi Dude

Gossi Wedding

Toureg PDA (Very Rare!!!)

Hambori Moon Rise

Mohammed, teacher of Farmers Field School

Mohammed with Lettuce Nursery

Mohammed, Hamu Cisse (Chief of FFS), and Albana (FFS Worker) At the FFS Site

Gardner Resting after a Days Work in the Farmers Field School

(more pictures from the FFS coming!!!)

Bess and Jared at Peace Corps Gao Bureau on Christmas Eve

Woman at the Computer Place where local Gao Associations have learned to make Marketing Brochures for their Tourism Businesses

The Gossi Crew

Bess with our Gossi Family, Fatimatta & children - some of them

Family's Home

Bess, Zanabu, Natalie & Hadijatu

Gossi Trash

Boobacrine, Sidi, Bess cleaning up the Trash - dude watching in amazement!

Still Cleaning up the Trash

Still Cleaning

Still

Not Quite Sure What to Call This Guy?

Jared working up Pamarie

Working It!

Kevin on Pitch 2 of Traditional Marriage, with Brian from Colorado

Kevin on ORI (5.11) going up Suir Tondo, at the crux

Jared crossing Tyrollyen from Kaga Tondo to Pamarie

Atama, Kevin and Jared on Sumit of Suri Tondo

Brian repelling down Kaga Tondo

Kevin and Jared Happy to Be Alive!

Gossi Girl collecting every last bit of Charcoal so none gets wasted

Touching the Moon

On the Up-swing The Man at the end of the line is Mike Simsik, Country Director of Peace Corps Mali, he stopped in Gossi on his way up to Gao for Business. Bess and I entertained him with a special lunch and when we went to Mayors office to greet the chiefs, the Trash Collection crew decided to honor Peace Corps by dressing up in uniform and Thanking him. No one had asked them to do this, they surprised us all and really made us feel like they appreciated our presence in Gossi.

This is the Result of Bess' Trash Collection Project. These workers drive around Gossi twice a week and collect trash to be dumped outside the town. Thanks everyone who helped Bess fund this project, you gave Gossi the tools and they enjoy doing the work!!!

The Chiefs of Gossi

Local Friend with Chewy

Gossi at the end of Ramadan

Traditional Tuareg Hair to celebrate the end of Ramadan

This is Jared after receiving the funding $$$ that June brought over from the United States... eventually there will be a Blog Post portraying the results of this project - A Farmer's Field School / Community Garden in Gossi.

Gossi Boat

Bess

Mother June Rock Climbing in Hambori

Kevin Setting up the Slackline at Sunrise

Jared Rocking the Booboo

Low Flying Yellow-billed Kite

Yellow-billed Kite

Bess and Mother June at Hand of Fatma

Local Hambori Boy with Newborn Goat

Pictures from Jared's Walk-About in Southeast Mali

Bamako Host Family (with Mother June)

Manantali Dam

Manantali Lake

Jeff in a Tree, birdwatching

Bearded Barbet

Hydrax

Vervet Monkey

Jared Tracking Baboons

Baboon

Kenieba

School in Kenieba

Kenieba

Kenieba

Kassama, village

Taba-koto, village

Bourama (Boabob tree)

Chief of Kollony (center) & Chief of Bourama (white)

Kollony, Bafing

Kollony, Bafing

Fill-Kata the Lengendary Bafing Hunter

Chimpanzee Nest in Bafing

Transport from Dialafara to Kayes

Dialafara

The Shoots in Kayes

The Shoots in Kayes

Steve at the Shoots in Kayes

Bess' Narrative on her Gossi Trash Collection Project(see Pictures Below)

Thanks to all of the support from friends and family back home, the Gossi Trash Collection Project is now officially up and running! After the project received full funding in July, we began purchasing the tools. Group Imidiwan now owns two motorcycles, two carts, ten shovels and rakes, full uniforms including gloves, boots and breathing masks and 50 trash barrels that have been distributed to families in the four quarters of Gossi.

Three days ago, I got dressed in my finest Malian outfit, put on earrings and a necklace and headed to the Mayor’s Office for an official ceremony acknowledging Group Imidiwan as a legitimate service/business of Gossi supported by the governance of Gossi. Jared took pictures of Group Imidiwan in their uniforms, as well as the officials of Gossi who gave inspirational and encouraging speeches. It was a great ceremony and I felt really proud of all Group Imidiwan’s work, and thankful for the support of the Mayor and Chiefs of Gossi.

The same day as the ceremony, we invited the Group and some of the town officials to dine at our house for lunch. Our mom cooked a delicious lunch of couscous for everyone. We sat around for a good part of the afternoon chatting and drinking tea until most of the group fell asleep. Before sleep overtook everyone Jared demonstrated his full belly popping technique when one has had too much to eat, which they all cracked up over. Because the group is all men, and I’m a woman ( and women are second rate citizens here), it really helps that they all love Jared and think he’s the greatest white man to walk the earth.

The best “Peace Corps” moment concerning the trash collection service was when our new Country Director, Mike, came to visit Gossi a few weeks ago. It was his first time visiting the Gao region and he asked to stop in Gossi for lunch. Our mom, again, prepared a delicious lunch of doughy bread with sauce (Weegalla) and afterward we took Mike to the mayor’s office to meet some of the people we work with. I invited the chief of Group Imidiwan to come to the mayor’s office to meet Mike. We arrived at the office, met the people, but no Group Imidiwan. We were about to leave when who comes around the corner, but the entire group! All 14 of them! In their full uniforms! I hadn’t even yet seen them in their uniforms, so to see them all show up and present themselves to Mike, with a formal thank you, made me really happy (I actually got a little choked up). Mike also really enjoyed this and got his picture taken with the group.

The process has not been without its challenges to be sure. From being asked to launder project money to the “big men” in Gossi, to being reprimanded by the mayor, I’ve certainly learned a lot about politics, cultural taboo’s and the not so straightforward communication of Malian’s. But overall I feel confident that the project will succeed and that the people of Gossi will learn the importance of keeping their streets clean and free of trash. I’m also thankful that we are here for another year, to help Group Imidiwan during their first year providing service.

Group Imidiwan has said that they are most excited about cleaning up Gossi, making it a model town as far as trash collection is concerned and someday welcoming the American Ambassador to see their work. J

None of this would have been possible, had it not been for everyone’s support which we are so thankful for. We will keep you updated on the progress of the project with photos and blog updates.

Pictures of Gossi Trash Collection Project Gossi Sunset

Hadijitu and Mother

Group Elmidiwan (Your Friends) digging trash depot

Good Worker in Group Elmidiwan

Also Good Members of Group Elmidiwan

They have humor too

They work hard...

They like a good Photograph (Group Elmidiwan)

Sunset in Gossi

Bess pounding Millet with Tekiminet

Bess and Hadijitu

Natalie, Zeinabu and Bess walking to Trash Collection Project Ceremony

Trash Collection Project Ceremony at Mayors Office

Chief Rissa Making an Important Point

Photo from roof of our mud home

Curious Tuareg at Trash Collection Project Ceremony

Group Elmidiwan and the Equipment the Project Money provided for Collecting Trash

Going Out to Collect the Trash

Sunset

After Ceremony Party at Bess' and my Shade Hanger

Local Family excited to have Trash Collected

Sunset

Near the beginning of my Peace Corps service, in a Blog Post entitled “A Day at Home Stay”, I expressed a little bit about the difficulty of being a volunteer and the hardship I was experiencing just trying to survive everyday activities. The truth is… life in Mali has only gotten easier for me; sure it is not ideal spending this much time away from family and friends, and indeed the overall “way of life” here in Mali is less luxurious as in the United States – and YES it is extremely difficult at times. For example… in a recent bus ride to Hambori my large backpacking bag (full of climbing gear & food) was placed in the bus’ lower compartment with a dozen goats (little did I know). Arriving in Hambori I was dropped off along the side of the road with my bag sopping wet, it had slid to back of the lower compartment along with all the urine of a dozen goats, drenched in goat urine it was, so there was really no better choice for me than to put on my wet bag (refrain from drinking from my Camelpak) and hike to where I was meeting my climbing buddies. The Malian boy who gave me my bag from the bus’ lower compartment thought nothing of my misfortune nor did he give me an explanation. Apology – I don’t think so - not for soaking my bag in urine. My Peace Corps climbing buddies, Kevin and Eric, enjoyed a good laugh when I explained to them why my bag, and by this time my entire upper body, was soaked in goat urine (have you ever smelled goat urine? Not Good!). But as the reality of life in Mali will have it… both Kevin and Eric have a dozen stories similar in outrageous and unfortunate tragedies such as this (unfortunate in an American mindset – not a Malian!), at the time when my goat urine and unfortunate tragedy tale was fresh, Kevin and Eric were even too exhausted themselves to give it all the humor it deserved… they had descended their own bus earlier that morning at 2am in the middle of a Sand/Monsoon Rain storm and were still recovering. The point here… is that life in Mali continues to be extremely difficult…not for me alone… but for all of us Peace Corps volunteers… just when it seems like the bar of unfortunate tragedy could not be raised any higher… it comes down altogether and clonks the us upon the face just as tours chins begin to elevate. But… but, but, but… just as the body can adapt to the temperature change of climbing into a hot hot bath… and as a person’s ears can adaptive to the background noise of hissing insects… or the smell of a smelly porter potty… so do we Peace Corps volunteers adapt to the hardships of life abroad. Has life in Mali gotten easier – No. Has it changed – Not a Chance. So why do I say that “The truth is… life in Mali has only gotten easier for me”. Well, I guess I don’t really know why I would say this… perhaps I have simply gone crazy and have started saying things of random nonsense… and/or… perhaps after begin beaten so many times… by my metaphorical “bar”… a certain numbness has developed… like when people are sentenced to jail… through time… their life in jail simply becomes… life… So… It is amazing… I guess… to see the poverty of Mali as, not just life, but as my everyday life… For me Now… after the young energetic, idealistic, excited and hopeful Peace Corps volunteer that arrived here… has well… integrated… and somehow died… it has… for me at least… become less a matter of condemning the poverty I see as wrong… seeing it as an unfortunate tragedy… or even believing that it is my living purpose and mission to make it all disappear… instantly!!! No no no no… after raising that bar and having it fall on my face a few thousand times… I have found it better to simply leave it on the ground. Poverty, yes, it is real… and it is living… even evolving…it can be described as lack of resources, technology or lack of education… it is a lack of many describable and namable things… but accepting it… for what it is… (the lives and worlds of many many people) …living amongst it… in it… requires something of the mind that does not try to name it, describe it, nor condemn it as an unfortunate tragedy… and miraculously… miraculously… when this happens… for me at least… I find myself living not in accordance to everything I learned through an expensive American education… but neglecting my own intelligence… and living according to the Way(s) of a people who’s education extends no further then what it requires for them to propagate in the only Way(s) of life they know… a life you and I might call impoverished…

More Pictures From Jared's Peace corps Gallery The two girls living next door, on either side of Bess and I

Gossi Garden, under a Mango Tree

Gossi Lake, leave for a paddel

How Gossi locals get around

Gossi Lake

Gossi, getting ready to grow rice

Gossi Boy

Bess' and my New Shade Hanger

Kevin at Belay Station in Hambori

Eric Climbing up to Kevin

Eric & Kevin at Belay

Jared walking the slackline atop a Finger of Fatma

Dead Scorpian found in Gossi home

Eric, Jared and Kevin atop a Finger of Fatma

Shepherd boy who watchs us climb and brings us milk everynight in Hambori

Eric Topping Out the Lead of the Century

A Few Good Pics from Gossi, Hambori and Gao How was this shot taken ???

Hambori

The Horse Man & Bess

The Horse Man in Streets of Gao

Entering a dance circle at a Wedding

Horse Dance at Wedding

Photo Shoot for Brochure Project

Bess' free Horse Ride with Horse Man

Horse man showing off the horse's footwork

Teens in the Gossi Lake

Children Spying under our Door

Hambori Sandstorm coming in

Hambori Sandstorm about to Hit!

Gossi Sandstorm about to hit

Gossi Sandstorm at 2pm

Gossi Sandstorm at 3pm

Niger River between Gao and Housse-Foulauna

Hambori after a Sandstorm

Petrol

Gossi

Bess in our concession with our children

Bess on a bike ride through Gao

Bee-eater

Jared Photographing himself in his Solar Panel

Bess and Jared belaying Peace Corps Friend Dave's brother in Hambori on his brother's visit to Mali. We Really Miss Everyone Back Home... Hope you are doing well, living in good health, and finding Peace daily!!!

Go to www.youtube.com on the Internet... Search reddenalden and you will get a list of all my videos... the video series entitled Mali Slideshow 1,2,3,4 are Music Videos I made with the best of my pictures... enjoy...

Sounds of Gossiby Bess Most people in Gossi live in mud houses or bogu’s (straw huts). But everyone really lives outside. Life takes place outside. There are walls to divide families’ concessions but it doesn’t really separate anyone from their neighbors. Because life takes place outside and people really only go into their houses to sleep during the cold season, the ebb and flow of life lifts above the entire community in a chorus that one can tune into at any time. As I lay down to sleep at night (Jared and I still sleep outside) I can hear a community getting ready to rest after a day of hard work. The gently hum of voices, dogs barking as they form into their wild packs, cows mooing as they find their way home from the gardens where they’ve been all day. It’s quiet late at night though when the sky is so big and the stars so bright. It’s like peoples’ voices and actions are hushed by the incredible stars and the deep blackness. Sometimes the roosters get a little confused and start cock-a-doodle-doo-ing at 3 or 4 in the morning. Of course when one starts, the others inevitably join in. The roosters alert the cows who alert the goats and sheep and pretty soon the animal kingdom of Gossi is singing welcome to the sun that won’t actually come up for another 3 hours. Often when the animals make this mistake they realize it and quiet down again. Most often though, they are right on time and when the sun shines it’s first rays of the day the animals’ chorus is replaced with clinking pots, children’s cries and voices and adult voices. This is about when I get up. I guess then I begin to make sounds too, that contribute to the chorus of Gossi. One of my favorite sounds happens during the day, usually late afternoon. The children gather outside our house on the street everyday to play soccer. They talk and laugh and play. The sound of their happy, young voices and laughter is a blessing everyday. Often I go out to watch and hold a really little one. All these sounds correspond to the life happening all around our village. I’ve wanted to share what life is like in Gossi, but there’s just so much! I started with this. Often we rely on our eyes to tell us what is going on around us. Try it sometime, to learn the sounds of your life and the life around you. It’s a beautiful song.

Gifts and Giving Perhaps the greatest opportunity given to Peace Corps volunteers… is the chance to awaken to the reality of how blessed one really is to have grown up strong and educated in a country screaming with wealth, freedom and prosperity… Imagine how many people in the United States will in one day complain about: not having enough of something, losing something tangible in which they were attached, or not being able to do something they wished they could do… but… woe… if they only could be given a broader perspective… of the reality in which most human beings inhabiting this plant live… daily… and throughout their entire lives on earth… freedom… yes and no… within and without… all people are free to accept and enjoy the life given them… but why so many people with so much wealth should struggle so immensely to find even the simplest enjoyments in even the most basic things… seems silly right… perhaps then it seems more silly that those with so little have smiles stretching across their faces… much of the time… like the smiles of people you may find on this blog… and for what reason… they live in a stick house… they have no car… no health insurance… no dental… they do the same simple task day in and day out without even a chance for promotion… perhaps they live life fully… perhaps they live freely… simply… because they can dive into each and every enjoyment of each passing moment knowing that they have nothing to loose… Jesus said “It is harder for the rich man to enter into heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle”… not so far removed from another thing Jesus said… “If you the wealthy wish to enter into heaven… give up all your possessions and follow me” – O.K. maybe these aren’t direct quotes from Jesus… I don’t personally want to claim to know the guy… but we can imagine Jesus saying something on these lines… so what about me and us… the rich and wealthy from the United States of America… I want to be happy too… yet I am rich… having wealth especially in opportunity beyond belief… and having seen the people of Gossi with so little natural “things”… and being bombarded by children, teenagers, adults, and elders, begging me… screaming out to me… to give them new clothes… give them a radio… buy a new battery for their cell phone… give them something to eat drink, or even smoke… or give them money - sometimes equivalent to a U.S. nickel… and all the while the beggar’s needs are asking me so much more natural wealth than I actually have to give… or am willing to give up… What?.. then… How is happiness to come my way… anyone interested in my spiritual journey… a journey not so unlike the spiritual path of others… Here is my reflection on Gifts and Giving… Today as a Peace Corps Vehicle was leaving the house in Gao… my heart opened up for a Malian man named Mosa… whom I noticed performing his work for Peace Corps with great excellence… Mosa had worn a brilliant smile throughout the past three days I observed his work… as a Peace Corps Vehicle Driver… as a Songri Man growing up in Timbuktu… he spoke a little Tamashek on about the same level as myself… through our communication… I knew that he was familiar with the Touareg customs and traditions… so after watching him load my newly purchased supplies on top of the Peace Corps vehicle: a wheelbarrow, two large bags of cement, a wooden mortar and pistol, and a box full of care-packag stuff from the United States… I began asking Mosa about his family in the home he was about to return… after dropping off the Peace Corps PCMO and her husband… upon hearing a little about Mosa’s lovely wife and five children I immediately wanted to follow some traditional Touareg custom and send a gift back with Mosa for his wife and children… the Touareg have names describing different types of gifts… this particular gift would be considered a “Tibadar”… so I ran inside and returned with six Ginger Hard Candies… which were gifts sent to me by a friend in the United States named Anna Woofenden. I wanted to give Mosa seven candies so he could have one himself, but only six were given… and upon giving… when I spoke the word “Tibadar” a Tamashek man working a donkey cart who had just dropped off some supplies for another PC volunteer… was just outside the door and saw me giving gifts and immediately approached and demanded his “Tibadar”… Yes this man I had never seen before… did this… Mosa tried explaining to the random Tamashek donkey cart man the specialty of the gift I was giving him but he couldn’t find the words in Tamashek… so I jumped in… explaining that Mosa was a friend… had worked very hard for me the past three days… lifting heavy things… and these little candies, of mine and my wife’s, were “Tibadar” for his family back in Bamako. But regardless of this specialty… the random Tamashek man demanded that he be given a gift too… Mosa then explained that there was just enough candy for his wife and children to each have one of their own… but this didn’t matter to the Tamashek man… like a wild shock to my system… Mosa then gave with laughter a piece of candy to man asking… with persuasion… so we all laughed at the ridiculousness of the efforts to keep the gift from being given… to him… so after this my heart opened up and I spoke the traditional Touareg blessings to the Tamashek man as he mounted his donkey cart and left – candy in hand. In Mali… everything is shared by the family… they do not have the same idea of individual possession of objects… “things”… in the same way that people in United States have objects… “things” aren’t really his or hers in Mali, sometimes, especially those adapting Western ways… but… really the “things” are things to be shared by friends and family… and they are in Gossi… when you make a pot of tea… you must have someone available to offer it too before having a cup for yourself… if no one is present… you take a cup of tea to someone next door… in the Touareg society… if you are seen with a nice new object, like new clothes, or a new motorcycle, or a new tool, friends and family will say… “Beautiful thing now give me money” and they really will expect you to give them money… because if you can afford to buy something new for yourself… then you ought to have enough money to give them something as well… and this really is the way they do it here… especially family… and perhaps this contributes to why most people in Gossi stay poor and happy… you see… people don’t work very hard throughout most of Mali… they do, but… many are not motivated to work all day everyday just to acquire money and objects… they work to supply themselves with the bare necessities, and when they don’t need to work, they definitely don’t… so I’ve observed… they sit and visit… play games… tell jokes… make fun of how ridiculous people are for certain ways of acting… and make tea for each other… many of the Nomadic Touareg people I’ve met don’t envy Westerners and having money… they find interest in the gadgets we have… they enjoy learning a gadget’s purpose and function… but usually they always end up smiling & laughing at its invention… as if it was a silly idea in the first place… sometimes they are really impressed… like my camelpack… an invention similar to their water sacks made of animal skin… but perfected with practicality… and even after appreciating the simplicity… most Touareg will walk away… back into the desert completely content with their nomadic lifestyle and the animals they depend on… some of these Touareg do treasure possessions… like cell phones… and they do enjoy seeing what’s on T.V., from time to time… but usually not with attachment… only a humorous curiosity… they don’t seem to be envious of those who own one… even though they don’t… if they want to watch T.V. they simply go to a person’s house who owns one… are welcomed by the household… and they watch… if no one owns a T.V.… and there is no T.V. to be watched… no one really cares because no one has something, possesses something, that everyone else does not… another words… the community sharing that goes on… keeps everyone from being envious… and even keeps them from wanting to attain something that has not been attained… like having a T.V…. so what about me… I am living in this community too… and thus I am expected to follow the social norms… right… sharing everything with my friends, family, and neighbors… but yet in all reality I am not completely integrated into their community, nor am I truly accepted as a member of their society, I am more seen as an alien pretending to be something I am not really… and the imagination in this pretending is important for me and the community because without it… why should I be accepted at all… or why be there… I am not one of them: linguistically, blood-related, even ethnically and religiously… truthfully… I do not fully understand their motives, reasons, and especially all the particular aspects that drive their society…. And yet… despite our imagination… and to complicate matters more… within just a couple months living in the Gossi community… I have acquired a larger house, a bigger more beautiful wardrobe (measured in how they value fabric), and more primitive as well as technological possessions then even some of the more wealthy members of society have in their household… for example… the woman I see everyday at the water pump has two… maybe three… sets of clothes… I have acquired more than this since arriving in Mali… Yes… people enter the mud house of Bess and I… and are shocked in disbelieve, mesmerized by all the possessions… “things”… as if they were conjugated out of thin air… so what to do??? How can I be a happy… being seen as a rich man… living amongst poverty in their perspective… and yet deprived of the luxuries I am accustomed to in the United States… and to make the struggle more difficult… I am constantly being asked for more than I could actually give… if I always gave when asked… O.K. I will tell you… the answer I have found to this riddle… I am going to live the impossible… possessing and conserving my “things” without any attachment… amongst the objects existing in my house… which… being the tools they are with a given purpose – a use… exploring only potential use. If I share in the traditional manor… they will be destroyed before understood and fulfilling purpose… the “things” that is… thus I must master what back home I learned as practicing Charity while exercising Discrimination… what does this mean… Charity with Discrimination… it means using good judgment… rational thinking… to conserve, share… and make use of my possessions so that they may serve the greatest potential with the best possible outcome… giving when needed, using when appropriate, and conserving when necessary… for me this means teaching those people who have a willingness and patience to learn the complications of a more sophisticated technology… and in the end… giving the beneficiaries of the “things” to those who actually need them… because like Jesus taught… heaven doesn’t come with the natural wealth and possession of “things”… which is why the people of Gossi were happy before I arrived, before “things” arrived centuries ago… simple because… everywhere life exists… things occur organically… thus… on my part… it would only be a shame for me to make them envious of the “things” they do not have… although I do not want the people of Gossi to exploit the “things” I have brought into their world… at the same time… gripping my “things” too tightly will make me covet the “things” I have brought, and in this way… making me loose connection to the community… and inevitably becoming miserable… So with a heart opening instead of closing… nothing will bring me more joy than seeing these useless and yet useful “things” bring about a practical means of useful service while teaching lessons that are invaluable to sustaining what is a Blissful Life. The other morning Bess and I woke up on our mattress outside in the concession of our home in Gossi only to find a man named Abraheem standing over our bed. Abraheem is somewhere in his late 60’s and still works manual labor all day for six days a week… Abraheem works for a man named Albana (My Gossi Host Father) and does whatever Albana instructs him to do, whereby Albana works for a man named Hamu Cisse and does whatever Hamu Cisse instructs him to do… and as far as the life of Abraheem goes… there is only one repetitive task that he does… anyway… the same task he has been doing since he was a teenager… Abraheem is one of the wood choppers in Gossi… he has an ax like thing called a “tootela” and each day he is told what to chop… and so he chops… and this is what he does to support is two wives and dozen children… Abraheem is at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Gossi… because he is poor and has two men above him… working labor… but I admire Abraheem more than anyone else in Gossi because he is the only person I know in Gossi who works hard, all day almost everyday, and he never complains, he never has a bad attitude… in fact… he is very positive most of the time and even keeps important the traditional Touareg greetings and blessings… Abraheem is one of the few adults in Gossi who has embraced me with equality, and has given me the much needed patience needed when learning a new and difficult language… Abraheem wears a Turban that is ripped, well worn, and faded with many years working under the hot Sub-Saharan Sun. Abraheem has arm muscles comparable to young guys in their twenties or thirties who work out every day in the U.S…. guys who pay money… drive distances… only to lift metal objects… (probably U.S. guys go to gyms to meet females and show off their bodies)… Abraheem’s arms look like that of a 25 year old… but the rest of him looks like 60 or even 70 in years under the sun… If a blind man were to shake the hands of Abraheem… the sensation would be that of shaking the hands of knight wearing armored gloves… his hands are thickly callused from his labor… my host father Albana once asked Abraheem to chop down a dead tree on the other side of the wall outside the home of Bess and I… I thought it sad that the old man be prompted to do this work and figured that I should help… to my amazement… the old man chopped and worked the strong dense tree wood with about 80 percent more efficiency then my effort… when a gigantic throne went through his bare feet… Bess screamed… but Abraheem didn’t flinch… he pulled it out like he was removing a fly and kept hauling the thorny branches away… I couldn’t understand what he was made of… or what had even made Abraheem… so on this morning… when Bess and I woke up with Abraheem peering down on us… we were not afraid in the least… only embarrassed to be caught still in bed under our covers at 8:30am… in Gossi… everyone rises with the sun (except maybe a few teenagers)… especially people like Abraheem… and usually at this time Bess would be on a run and I would be doing my morning readings… but because the cold season is surprisingly cold… and Bess and I had argued about pointless nonsense late into the night… we were still in bed under the covers… why Abraheem showed up… I still don’t know… haven’t asked… never will… he has never come so early in the morning before… but there he was… he told us in Tamashek, “People should rise with the sun each day, wake up and say Thank You God!!! Thank You God!!! (God is called Alla ((Arabic)) or Minsinarr ((Tamashek)) for Abraheem) and that it is not beautiful to wake up so late. I responded saying that he was right… and I felt very embarrassed… but happy that he had showed up and delivered his very important message… like an angel sent by the Lord… only Abraheem… so later that day when I was walking through the Gossi market with some fabulous brand new pink Touareg cloth I had purchased as a gift for a very special friend back home in the States… a friend who has given me priceless gifts… in which I would attempt to acknowledge with the fabric… so anyway… heading through the Gossi market with the cloth I had already turned away three people asking me for money, because they noticed my new cloth, when suddenly I bumped into Abraheem… whereby he asked me to buy him a new Turban because he also saw my new fabric… usually I don’t like to give to people when they demand to be given to… Like the random Tamashek man and the Ginger Hard Candies that were meant to be “Tibidar” but coming to know a little bit about the Touareg ways… there in the Gossi Market with Abraheem, randomly, on the day of his morning visit, I let my heart open more… in response to his… I felt the joy of giving… not wanting to buy something for Abraheem right after turning three other people down… I told Abraheem to tell me what color Turban he wanted and how many meters he wanted… he said “Light brown and 5 meters”… so I told him the next time I returned from Gao I will bring him exactly this gift as a “Tibidar”… he smiled, laughed, and said O.K., when I returned he would appear, but I still wonder if he really knows that I am actually doing it… because I bought it yesterday… and will return with it tomorrow… regardless… I know it will be a good gift… an act of Charity made with Discrimination… and knowing Abraheem… he deserves it because he is a real Touareg soldier… I am not… he owns one Turban worn to endangerment by his hard work… I have already acquired four turbans in Mali… barely weathered in my brief experience with the Touareg… Yes… I wish I could give to everyone like I will Abraheem… but I can’t… and if I could… and did… it wouldn’t feel right… somehow… so Gifts and Giving… it is the way of happiness… but only if it feels right to the giver’s discrimination… I am a happy Peace Corps Volunteer because of this… I don’t spend much of the U.S. Tax Dollar given to me in Mali… spending it on selfish ends… traveling away from my village to a larger city, buying drink, smoke, and food, or other simple pleasures that disappear with gratification… I am eating only when I am hungry, and often only what is available, I am not going great distances to get what I want or feel I need… I am realizing more and more what it really is I need in the End… my money and the great extend to which I travel is, for me, figuring out the best way to help the people I encounter… the other day I went to the post office in Gao… I was expecting a package with my rock climbing shoes from home… eagerly I wanted these “things”… but the package I got was not the one I wanted… at first… so at first I was sad to not have my climbing shoes… it would now be at least another month before I planned to return to Gao and maybe get the shoes I want… I want only to afterwards go expresses myself on the rock… a release of mine that does little for others… but something for me… littler did I know… but the package that was available to me… then… contained something invaluable… it was a package from an older friend named Anna Woofenden… after examining the “things” that came in the box I read the letter that came with… I was sad to hear that Anna had been down with a case of Lyme Disease… she said in the letter… the package was a pleasure to her… to think of Anna making the choice to give to someone as far away as me… even when in a state of ill feeling… reminded me of the power of giving… imagining how happy it must have made Anna to know that I would be glad to receive her gifts at a later unknown time… it made me happy knowing that she found the joy of giving despite her down condition… I prayered that she was uplifted… probably she has been… her letter spoke volumes… and little did Anna know that the little Ginger Hard Candies she threw in the box would later go to the wife and children of Mosa… and even to the random Tamshek Man… as well as my wife Bess who really enjoyed them because they helped her sore throat… perhaps Anna had such hopes in mind… and what coincidence that the night before Bess and I received Anna’s package we were both looking at some pictures of Anna and her family on our computer… pictures from her brother’s wedding we had not viewed in weeks… wedding of Louis and Kelly… so Yesterday… before I bought Abraheems “Tibidar”, Turban, I was eating a delicious meat sandwich by myself in a restaurant in Gao… It was about 10:00am and I hadn’t eaten anything all day… the sandwich was fabulous… and then… I noticed a street boy sneaking a peak at me through the screen of a street door… when I said to myself… my belly is full… I will not go hungry again between now and dinner… so I stood up… walked out of the restaurant and gave the last half of the sandwich to the boy… no one saw this… even better… the expression on boy’s face was one of pure fear… perhaps he was afraid of what was happening… probably he didn’t believe it… or expect it… he took the sandwich and ran away… I laughed inside because I knew how delicious the sandwich was… having been eating it my self right before giving it away… I knew that the sandwich would taste even more delicious to the boy… and I was happy… mostly because I could recognize in myself the joy that this boy was now feeling being given something so freely, spontaneously, unexpectedly… I knew because others have been doing the same to me… throughout my life… in many places… all I could think about was Gary… the man who brought a collapsible Kayak to me here in Mali. I remember a strange ecstasy overcoming me upon realizing that the Kayak was actually coming… what blessed me the most… was realizing how good people in this world may be… I may never get to know much more about Gary… we could never meet or chat again… and even if this was the case… I know I will always remember Gary because his gift, his generosity, has spoken volumes and touched me about as deep as anyone ever could… so please… for me… for you… think of someone who has touched you… think of something that has been given freely to you… think how happy receiving that “thing” was… and how it was really the giving that made it so truly awesome… now think of some person other than yourself who deserves for whatever reason… to feel that same joy… what could you do for them… buy them… make them… cook for them… I don't know... probably something fun and enjoyable...

Dear Friends and Family, I wish to apologize for taking so long to add another post to what started out as a more descriptive Blog... so now… what’s been happing with Bess and Jared in Mali ??? A quick summary… After Swear in we had a very challenging first month at site... at the end of each day… our heads would hurt from trying so hard to speak Tamashek, or just get around, and even though hours of each days were spent lying motionlessness in the shade - due to intense heat... I measured 47 degrees Celsius during that first month... the season Malians call the Semi-Hot season... the Hot season is coming up this March.... Oh Boy !!! We went into Gao three times... for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas... each time we joined our lovely family of Peace Corps friends from the Gao region and indeed... we had too much candy for Halloween, eat too much Turkey for Thanksgiving, and opened our Christmas packages under a Christmas Tree... Thanks Everyone for Christmas Cheer… We have a great group of people here in Gao... and it has been fun to watch everyone offer various skills and talents while celebrating Holidays away from home... in other words… the girls in Gao can cook… so Our time in Gao has been enjoyable, a good break from site, but Not site. I miss Gossi.... Bess and I left Gossi right before the New Year... and already... not even a month later... Gossi feels like a long lost dream... a too good to be true sort of thing... as if something exists threatening to take it all away... and Yet I know... Gossi is not my home forever... but it is Home to people that will be buried deep in my heart forever... Bess and I spend the New Years in Sevare with some Peace Corps friends... once we got to Sevare our Tamashek became useless... few Tamashek are found in southern Mali... even as North as Sevare… which makes getting around very difficult for me... Bess has done an amazing job learning to speak French along with Tamashek... other PCVs who studied French in High School, College, and have lived in France for some time are confirming how good she has become... Speaking of my Awesome Wife... I love her more and more throughout this Peace Corps experience... some think Peace Corps tears couples apart... but this has not been our experience at all... most this experience... is well... something I found difficult to write about... this is why I have not posted for a while... Bess has been promising to write something for this Blog… so be patient… stay tuned… she will post soon enough… for now… I have good ideas to report... exciting ideas... ideas waiting to become actualities… the ideas are the projects Bess and I wish to work on in Gossi... Projects our Goal 2 of our Peace Corps Mission... Goal 1 is just cultural integration through learning the language and developing healthy relationships with people at site... So the Projects... Where to begin? The Mayor of Gossi is already searching for the right place to establish the first Official Gossi Dump... which is a key step in Bess’ public trash collection project – idea – which Bess and Natalie initiated along with people of Gossi (This was even before IST training), right now people in Gossi burn or burry their trash... often in the streets... some nights in Gossi… I have been forced to sleep wearing a mask because dangerous fumes were coming from random burn piles… the fumes were terrible and caused nausea, couching, etc… Bess and Natalie want to clean up the streets and dump all trash in a designated area... fortunately the people of gossip are excited about doing this... they really like the idea of making Gossi more beautiful… unfortunately the chickens will need to look elsewhere for places to scrounge, lay eggs, etc... Yes… chickens in Gossi have adapted to living in trash piles… the teenagers helping with the trash collection project want T-shirts letting the world know who they are as an organized group in Gossi... I want to help them get these T-shirts (Side Project for us All) and will try raising money in United States to help make the purchase (Peace Corps doesn’t fund things like T-shirts, but trust me, T-shirts are very important to Malian people – especially teenagers). Bess is also working on establishing, in Gossi’s market, public bathrooms for the many people who come to buy things... right now everyone poops and peeps down by the lake or down an empty street... so this is another Bess project… during IST Bess learned a lot about constructing Wells, Pumps, and Cisterns - cement masonry work – something she never thought she would be so good at. Bess will help me make a cistern to feed one of my projects – a dip irrigation system (Moving on to Me). I hope to work with an engineering group like EWB (Engineers Without Boarders) to establish a Clean-Energy method of pumping water out of the lake for irrigation... right now people in gossip irrigate by hand (bucketing water down mud trenches) or by gas-powered pumps (which is not always economically sustainable for the farmers). Another project is for me to run a test-plot of Sorgum and Millet (major grains of the Timbuktu region) for an international agricultural research organization called ICRISAT. The idea is to test several different genetically engineered varieties of Sorgum and Millet and if one variety does significantly better than the rest in the climatic conditions – Use It !!! Another Project I hope to accomplish… is helping a Toureg Group outside of Gao advertise their annual Camel Race to Tourists…. The idea is to help them make a Brochure with their information and my pictures – possibly internet advertisement too. Natalie’s major project is to get a tree nursery going in Gossi... eventually she will start various grafting and tree planting techniques (like PLASA method).... another of Natalie’s is a Community Center... (Library, Computers, and more)... she might need help from people in the United States… providing various supplies… all in all... Bess, Natalie and I are conjuring up many realistic project ideas... we each plan to do several (whatever we can actually accomplish for the locals) projects during our service... and we are all-hands-in for a Gossi team effort… meaning… we are helping each other with these projects... we are collaborating so well… it’s getting difficult to determine who’s projects these our... in essence... they are being carried out by the Gossi Trio and many local people from the Gossi community... which is key to sustainable development – the ultimate aspect of Goal 2. When Bess and I got to Bamako, before IST training, after New Years in Sevare, there was a man named Gary who met us in the Bamako Peace Corps Bureau... here… Gary gave me a nice gift… a Collapsible Kayak… so a fabulous gift… a Kayak from the United States... to make a long story short... picture… the Nicest Man On Earth Ever.... reads this Blog... sends me a short e-mail letting me know he was coming to Mali with his family and friends – asked me if I needed anything brought... I asked for a Kayak... and he brought it.... no expense or work on my part… Brilliant !!! Later I hope to post a more detailed Special Thanks to Gary on this Blog… A post dedicated to his great act of Charity and my gratitude... I’ll show pictures of the boat... Check it Out Now at www.pakboats.com it’s the Puffin 12.... the people at Pakboats even lowered their price to help accommodate Gary’s kindness… so Thanks Pakboats !!! So Yeah Puffin 12, a Kayak that folds up into a duffel bag I can lift with two fingers... Great Christmas Gift Gary !!! Now I hope to do some Bird Research out in the middle of Gossi Lake. So... after the boat excitement Bess and I went into Toubaniso for two weeks of IST training, my favorite classes were... 1. Traditional Medicine with a Malian Dr. who got his M.D. in China... he spoke great English even though it was his forth language (Bambera, French, and Chinese came before), FACT – a Traditional Healer in Mali must be recognized by the community as a healer... In Mali… when it comes to Traditional Medicine… they don’t care about pieces of paper saying whether or not you’ve studied medicine – the community must recognize you as having the knowledge/wisdom. 2. PLASA Method of Tree Planting... a Malian method of planting Trees during the Hot season so that the tree will live as long as it is watered every 45 days... Wow!!! Now we still need to test this method for ourselves over time at site in Gossi, but the method is amazing (I photographed all the steps of the PLASA method). 3. An eye opening presentation by a former Peace Corps Mali Volunteer currently working in Mali on a Fulbright Scholarship... he is working as an apprentice to a Malian Master Magician (Fetish Maker) in Bamako, the Master receives various common but mostly exotic animals parts from Mali and neighboring countries... the Fetish Master then makes various charms out of the raw animal parts and people in Mali actually believe that the Fetish charms have special powers... Yes… people really do where these fetish charms all around Mali (they look like leather wads on string and they contain combinations of animal parts and other things – such as White Man’s Hair)... many Malian men claim to be Fetish Masters... but this Fulbright Scholar claims his master is the best at identifying animal parts from the plethora of animal species that arrive in Bamako (not always in one piece)... apparently... many of the animals thought to be extremely endangered or even extinct in Mali... are coming dead to Bamako (killed by poachers) from the Bafin (Southwest Mali) and other areas on a weekly basis – so the Scholar is saying that the animals are not REALLY extinct... anyway... I don’t have the time to explain how interesting this Fetish business is... but his Fulbright Scholar blew us away with his work... and his pictures… His work is not just research but also supplying the international community with data concerning the animal species being sold on the fetish market (in Bamako), animals such as Lion, Boa, Hippo, Monkey, Leopard... so yeah... apparently Mali has more wildlife than I originally thought. So... IST training was very useful and educational... after IST training... seven of us PCVs (including Bess and I) went to a place called Sibi for a couple days of rock climbing... it was amazing... I have never really watched African people rock climb before and this first experience was Great !!! Pictures will be posted later... Well... Back to Site for now... must launch these project ideas and as well as this new Kayak... Bess and I will make a short visit to the United States this coming spring April/May... to see family, see friends and even watch a few get married. When back in the United States… Bess and I will be looking for ways to share our experience… and in doing so help Americans learn more about life in Mali. By the time we return… we will have a better map of our various projects… and we will be encouraging people to perhaps contribute funds to the projects… NOTE… projects done by Peace Corps Volunteers are ONLY done if the local people (in our case the people of Gossi) are willing to contribute money/labor from their own pockets (often as much as 40, 50%, even 100%); this ensures that the local people actually want the project and have an interest in the project… in other words… PCVs don’t just do their own ideas… ANY project we execute… will be executed with Malian participation… and to an extent Malian Funding… in some cases like Solar Powered or Wind Powered Pump for Irrigation… a larger portion of the funding would be non-Malian… but as the PCV it is our job to incorporate as much Malian funding and participation as humanly possible. To top off what I hope has been an exciting Post… I will add that just before leaving Gossi at the end of December… Bess, Natalie, and I began teaching at one of Gossi’s Middle Schools – so teaching on this level will hopefully continue to be a part of our Piece Corps Experience. Last Bit of Good News… today I purchased a Solar Panel for our home in Gossi… I also bought a fan… so now… in our little mud house… we will be able to power our computer, phones, camera, lights, and fan !!! Life is getting better… P.S. the best way to view my videos is by visiting www.youtube.com and searching reddenalden – you will find all my uploaded videos – Enjoy !!!

Biking to the Water Pump in Gossi People are different here in Mali… I still find myself surprised by the way people respond to various happenings…. Once… three boys (around age 10) were with me in my concession… they were play-fighting but some of their punches were pretty hard… to join in on the game… I started throwing some of my own punches (not too hard of course), the children responded by picking up sticks… after a while of fighting with sick weapons… I decided it was a good time to Show Off my Big Dagger from the United States… when I came out of my mud house with the Dagger… the three boys… whom I know better than most people in Gossi – ran away in complete FEAR. I really didn’t do anything threatening with the Dagger… I just thought that since they liked to fight… why not check out my weapon… so anyway… on one of the last days in Gossi… before Bess and I left for IST (end of December) their were children accumulating outside our concession door because… well… they really like Bess and I… and because these children can be very overwhelming at times… we usually try to keep them out of our concession as much as possible… which was also the case on this particular afternoon… but low and behold I had to make a trip to the water pump to get some water… which means riding my bike with two plastic water-jugs, waiting in a tedious line for the jugs to get filled, and then shuttling the jugs one-at-a-time, back to the house… when I was saddling up on my bike… the children gathered around me and grabbed the back-bike-rack (a common occurrence for me in Gossi). You see… the children like to hold on to the back-rack of the bike and run behind the bike as I peddle… which is often annoying because I can’t go very fast this way… and if I do… the children may take a face-plant – which has happened before… so on this particular day… the entire metal rack was covered with the little fingers of say eight children… while other children were grabbing the backs and shirts of these elite eight… I tried asking them to let go… but they just would not… so I took a deep breath and began peddling slowly… and a funny thing happened… they started pushing me along so that I has doing no work… I was surprised because some of them were four-years-old and with so many in such tight awkward quarters it’s surprising they didn’t trample each other… and once we really go going… all the children began screaming, laughing, chanting, and suddenly a larger mob of children formed behind the bike… Boy Oh Boy did we become a scene… conservative Muslim men stood and started in shock as I was pushed down the road on my bike… children Screaming!!!! Any Malian man would have just beat the child if they didn’t let go of the bike… and the woman accumulated at the well… also stood and stared in shock as the mob of children approached… while waiting at the well for my jugs to fill… a 12 year-old-boy asked me if I knew Karati (Martial Arts)… I said yes… even though I’ve never officially taken a class… only seen a lot of movies of this kind…. The boy then asked me to demonstrate a move… so I asked him to gently lift his foot up to his need to form the figure four possition… upon doing so… I kicked my foot through his figure four and wrapped my ankle around his…. He then fell into the Indian Death Lock… a very painful move whereby the victim lies back-of-the-shoulders-on-the-ground, tided up by his own feet around one of my legs (Yeah- you must see it to believe it) – it works. Anyway… the boy, usually cocky as ALL-that, begins fighting within himself to hide his pain… I then asked him politely, slowly, if wanted to take my Bike for ride (because this particularly cocky boy always harassed me at the pump wanting to take my Bike for a ride), and he says gasping “No”, when I asked him a second time… he screamed “No!!! No, No No…” which quickly evolved into absolute begging for Mercy…. After I released the boy, lifted him to his feet, and said a prayer in Tamashek, he lifted his foot back to the figure four position and started at me wondering how I did what I did… by this time the children were flocked around my bike… maybe 12 children total… all with vise-like little hand grips on my bike… just waiting in the ready position so when I returned home… they would have the honor of being one of the lucky Hands-On screaming children… my problem was… I couldn’t ride with a full water jug and so many children… so I figured I might as well work on Ditching the kids as I waited for my jugs to get their turn… so I walked up to my bike… told all the kids to let go for a second… when they did… I ran with bike… jumped on… and road off… with a herd of children screaming and following… this immediately evolved into a game… Chase the White-Guy on the Mountain Bike… so I would go slow… let them catch up… then loose them… after breaking up the mob of them… they dispersed so that about four children existed on each street… now Gossi is a maze of sandy streets and mud houses… and there I was riding circles around the pump, turning through various street allies but never getting a break because there was always at least one child spotting me, screaming at me, and sounding the alarm for the others to follow… it was like run from the street gang of children game… eventually I weaved through a group of five children and did a quick drive up pick up of the first water jug… I rode it back home and then had to peel fingers off my bike as I gained momentum to go back for the second, by the time I got back to the pump the children were waiting and screaming on my return…. The scene got so loud I began to get worried about being disrespectful, you know… because Muslims in Gossi never cause this type of childish commotion… at least I’d never seen it… so I rode up to the pump trying to be serious and ordering the children the quite… but the mob didn’t obey… I threatened to squash their fingers with the water-jug and when they let go I was off peddling again… but wasn’t headed in the direction of home… so I took a round-about way and, UNEXPETEDLY, I turned down an alley where a wedding ceremony was going on… so the wedding was going on… and suddenly this white guy comes flying around the corner on a Mountain Bike balancing a water-jug with one hand as it rested on the back-rack of the bike… and then a mob of fifteen screaming children came running around the corner chasing the guy on the Bike - screaming… Keep in mind that the roads in Gossi are sandy, riding with one-hand carrying a water jug is very difficult… I am sure my facial expression was one of true fear… I was afraid one of the older boys would actually catch up, or maybe I would wipe out… but anyway… I am so embarrassed for disrupting the adults of the town, especially during the wedding ceremony… when I finally got back to the house… I didn’t even have time to put my bike away before the mob busted through our concession door… now there were at least 20 children in my concession… still screaming and chanting… I was happy to see that some of the Blind children had made their way in… so with encouragement I began feeding their energy by picking them up one by one… throwing them up into the air… then catching them on their way down… Once I began feeding their energy things got completely out of control and one of the younger children (2 years old) got trampled… this was when I knew I needed to do something to STOP the commotion and break up the mob… so… what did I do… I ran into the mud hut… and came back out holding my Dagger in one hand and my Machete in the other… I held the blades high above my head, waved them around, and yelled in my best Tamashek “Finished, Go Home Now, Thanks” and suddenly, miraculously, the mob of screaming children stopped, and fled… I have never seen the faces of children switch from crazed happiness to absolute fear as quickly as this… many of them started balling and whaling… It was terrible on my part… but you know what… life is too crazy here in Mali for me to pass any judgment… I can never decide who’s scale to use, a Malian scale, or an American scale… both produce very different results… I guess I will not be too hard on myself for this… I once saw a Toureg man grab the wrist of a small street child… the Toureg put the wrist of the boy on the wooden meat table in the Market… the Toureg then pulled out his Sword and threatened to chop off the kid’s hand… the Boy was full of Absolute Fear… but nothing happened… fortunately… for me… when it comes to children in Mali… they are so innocent… they see a white person and immediate great them in their local language… or French if they are educated… the children in Mali will often run up to you and hold out their hands, stretching them outward, beckoning you to just hold on for a second, for at least a brief moment of contact, sometimes they sneak up behind you and just take your hand in theirs, if you actually embrace these little filthy hands… you can easily watch what seems to me to be the most magical experience in Mali… the face of a small child as it lights up during a moment of mutual embrace.

Pictures From a Climb up Hombori Tondo

Reupellious Griffon

Yellow-billed Kite

Reupellious Griffon

Yellow-billed Kite

Pictures From Around Gossi Lake

Receading Shoreline

House

Notmadic Tent

Sorgum (like Millet)

Three Camel

Catfish

The Rock in Hambori

Climber Finishes a Top-roped climb

Fox Kestrel sitting by a Climbing Anchor

Steel Escape Cables atop a Finger of Fadima

A Finger of Fadima

A Finger of Fadima

Climber in Action

Climber

Approach to Fingers of Fadima

Two Fingers of Fadima

One Finger of Fadima

A Few Birds in Gossi and Hambori

King Fisher

Night Heron

Cattle Egret

Peregrine Falcon

Fox Kestrel

Yellow-billed Kite

First Month in Gossi, Pictures

Sunrise

Gossi by the Main Road to Gao and Hambori

Gossi Lake from a boat

Next Door Neighbors

Bess and Neighborhood girls in our house

Neighbors

Boat in Gossi Lake

Where the meat comes from

Bess with end of Ramadon henna

One of three glasses of Tea right before bed

Two Boys in the Bush

Bike in Bush

Next Door Neighbors

Host Father, Albana, Host Mother, Fadimatta, and family friend

When Ramadon ends, everyone (almost everyone) puts on their best clothes and walk around the neihborhood greeting one another, it's like halloween but everyone wears their best clothes and people only ask for a smiles at the door... these are some girls making their festive rounds...

Some stayed home the day Ramadon ended... the boys...

Fadimatta and her children... they are one of Albana's two families... this night Albana eats with the other family... more children (non-family members) join this family at meal time... they eat anything and everything Bess and I give them... so we try to give them a lot...

Tamashek Swear In Speach

When I first arrived at homestay, I was very curious but also a little frightened by the mysterious man behind the blue turban, sitting across from me. He would soon be introduced to me as my Tamasheq father and I wondered why he was covering his face. It wasn’t until 3 days later when he finally unwrapped his turban, revealing his face, that I began to realize what a mysterious and fascinating culture I was becoming a part of.

This is the first time in Peace Corps history that volunteers have been invited to live and work with the semi-nomadic Touaregs of the Sahara and speak the Tamasheq language. We feel very lucky to be a part of this historic event and we hope to give as much to the Tamasheq people as they have already given to us.

The four of us, Natalie, Jared, Bess and Susmita, now known as Aysha, Iknet, Nezzar, and Sadie, were blessed to have been placed with the Tamasheq community in Bamako for our Pre-service Training. Our homestay families have embraced us as their own, including us in weddings, baptisms, naming ceremonies, and spontaneous dance parties. We have also witnessed and participated in some unusual customs. Jared, for example, was introduced to a little-known Touareg practice one day when an elder in his family slapped his inner thigh and beckoned for a massage.

All of our preparation didn’t come without having to stretch our personal boundaries. From maribou visits, to building up a tolerance to tea, to dealing with a constant barrage of marriage proposals, to the early morning wake-up calls from the nearby mosque, we have adapted in ways we never thought we would.

Our LCFs, Abdullah and El-mehdi, along with our families, have given us both the tools to survive in Mali, and the ability to appreciate a culture so different from our own. Amidst all the challenges of learning a foreign language and adjusting to a new lifestyle, we have had an amazing network of support without which we would not be ready for what lies ahead.

It has been our greatest pleasure to integrate into our families, and we can’t express enough gratitude for the way in which they have reached out to us. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our host families, and above all, our LCFs, whose passion and dedication, were truly an inspiration to all of us.

Ij ik yalla dihad kay-arhan iman-nak d-imarhan-nak wadden dihad kay-arhan imiksanam-nak. (May you go where people that love you want you to be and not where your enemies want you to be).

The Dogs in Gossi

One of the first evenings in Gossi Bess and I went for a walk around the gardens. We shared the sandy trail for some time with a young adolescent carrying a sharpened stick - about spear length. So after a little while… up ahead on the trail there was a collarless dog frozen in motion – staring us down. The dog dropped it’s head and walked off as if ashamed… but now it seems to me more likely that he was really strategically removing herself from potential danger. Because… spontaneously… the dog accelerated into a run and tried passing us as far from our path as possible… the dog moved pass us hugging the thorny garden fence on our left, about 20 feet away… still accelerating into what back home in BA we might call a Bookit!!! And to Bess’ and my surprise, the young Gossi boy threw his spear at the dog – as if to kill or seriously wound… Bess then screamed out “War Ahooskat!!! Which means… in Tamashek… Not Beautiful… and life in Gossi went on as if nothing had changed. And ten seconds after the boy walked over to the spot where the missed spear was… some very little children appeared on the horizon of our path with a beautiful puppy. Bess then practiced the best of her Tamashek with the children and this lead to an after dinner discussion of “Maybe we should buy a puppy” - for literally 1 USD. So what for a man like me to do? Well – I’ll tell you what happened… around 3 weeks later… the day before Bess’ birthday… a time when I still didn’t have a gift to give her… which was also a time after three nights of discussing a puppy – a discussion which resulted with me coming to terms with my inner anger – so anyway… on the day before Bess’ birthday… Jared was way over on the far side of the garden with a donkey cart and two small boys, picking up a small load of tree posts and saplings for a shade hanger improvement… when I couldn’t help but notice a small puppy tied to a post. What particularly struck me about this puppy was how many ticks were covering the dogs the body… and looking at the poor helpless thing after three weeks of observing the way people and dogs interact in Gossi… I decided absolutely, that I knew a woman and a place where the dog might find a healthier, more loving environment. But what I didn’t know… was if the family who owned the dog would want to part with their puppy. So in my best Tamashek… I addressed the family. Now take one minute to understand this family… they live in a small domed stick hut in the woods… most of everything they owned was right out of the woods… but for some odd reason they were very enthusiastic about receiving my money… so when I asked the chief woman of the family if she would sell the dog, she laughed as if it was the most ridiculous thing she ever heard. And when she finally realized that I was serious, she looked at me as if confused… but because I was very enthusiastic about buying the dog… she ordered one of the larger children to go fetch the boy who had claim on the puppy I wanted. Fifteen minutes later… this young spitfire Tamashek boy comes crashing out of the woods and runs directly over to meet me, and says in his best Tamashek “Nakk Arher Iyyan Efad” which means “I want ten USD”. And I, still in squat position stroking the puppy softly and encouragingly with a crowd of the boy’s family and neighbors around me… looked at the boy and wanted to give him just that… but because it was more money than the donkey cart and lumber added up, I said in my best Tamashek… “Albarka” which means “Lower Your Price”… and the boy said very hopefully… “Iyyan Timad or 2 USD” and I said… “Ajim Nakk ad-akfar Assin Timad i- annan-nak i- eddi” which means… How about I give 4 U.S. dollars to your mother”… and the boy said “Imminda” which means Finished. CHEWY… If you had seen the initial smile on Bess’ face when she realized that the puppy arriving on her doorstep with the children and my lumber – was hers to help, train, and love – you would know… as I have come to know… that purchasing the dog was a good thing… for Bess… she took immediate compassion on the dog she named Chewy, which she named just as immediately as she took compassion. So together… Bess and I took turns holding Chewy down… and pulling off ticks… in which Chewy cried the entire time we took some fifteen ticks out of a single ear… and so… do you think we lived happily ever after… well… I can tell you a few things… since Chewy arrived at our home… we’ve learned that the puppy’s name given by Bess is a little too fitting for comfort… chewy not only chews everything… but she has a very bad biting problem… very bad biting problem… you see… dogs in Gossi are not like domestic dogs in the U.S.A. - they are more like the dogs Tom Brown describes in his book The Tracker. My host father, Albanna, has a dog… it lies everyday in the same lonely shady spot in the far corner of the greater concession, if anyone comes close the dog with threaten with a growl and getting too close means a definite bite. At night I lie in bed watching the stars in my concession and often find myself listening to the dogs fighting and forming packs in the gardens… there are many dogs in Gossi, and they all seem to be wild… children raise puppies here on a leash at all times, often tied to the post, the children hit the puppies, and even throw rocks at them, the puppies lean to lash out… to bite bite bite… and eventually they are let loose to be wild…. Once an elderly man in fully Toureg dress came into the concession of Bess and I to see if I could help fix his cell phone… while sitting in my shade hanger… chewy decided to come meet the stranger… the second Chewy appeared the man’s reaction was to kick Chewy away… dogs are indeed treated differenlyt here in Gossi… Bess and I have not given up yet… we took Chewy for a two and half hour bus ride to Gao… Chewy threw up on me three times in the back of the bus… here in Gao… Chewy is learning a lot and receiving a lot of love from the all the PCVs here… James the guy who lives at the house in Gao, has a nice mature female dog named Regan… and together… we are guiding Chewy toward a path more harmonious with human life – without lashing out. My fear is this… sometimes I see in Chewy what Tom Brown saw in the wild dogs of the Pine Barrens… they just lash out… wild… and hopeless… but Bess and I are willing to parent the dog through childhood and then see if the dogs wants to share two years together…the future for this pup is indeed unknown… but if the dog is truly wild… we won’t stop it from being free… already I’ve been forced to kick chewy out of our concession for causing too much havock… but minuets latter old little Chewy came back in the home through the wash hole, with a loud Yelp because Chewy was getting hit by one of the rocks being thrown by the many street children pursuing her.

**** O.K. All of the above was written about four weeks ago… it is now Thanksgiving and so here is an update on the dog situation… Chewy is in Gao with us for a second time… Chewy and I got a ride here about a week ago with Bess’ APCD (Head of Water Sanitation in Peace Corps Mali) in a Peace Corps Vehicle… Chewy only threw up once in the Peace Corps Vehicle but unfortunately pooped three times… we didn’t know when the vehicle was coming through and it just happened to come after Chewy’s meal… In Gossi… Chewy still acts like a puppy with reckless abandon… not so much wild and dangerous… but more understandable puppy behavior… the children and even adults are of course still afraid of her… and she causes problems for Bess and I such as digging up our tomato garden… chasing the neighbor’s chickens… and knocking over little children at the well… too much havoc for now… so Chewy is in Gao for a semi-permanent residence, through puppyhood, and will mello out living here with Regan and will hopefully return to Gao in two months… this will give Bess and I time to build fences around our gardens and time for Chewy to develop without the influence of Gossi.

So… how are the Dog’s in Gossi… about a two weeks ago I was walking through Gossi alone at about ten-o-clock at night… as a truck passed me on the sandy road… I saw a pack of 20 to 30 dogs gathered on the road up ahead… the dogs were barking… growling… lashing out… and fighting with one another… the truck shed just enough light on the situation for me to grow incredibly scared… and in a flash of a second… the light of the truck was gone and I was left in the dark in the sounds of the angry Dog Mob… the Mob dissipated a little from the disturbance of the truck so that they held both side of the road I was walking down… which meant I was walking between the Mob… I could hear the Alpha Dog barking at me from the left side of the road…a strong warning for sure and I was not knowing whether to call the bluff or not… walking admits the mob of barking dogs I started rehearsing in my head what I would do if 20 dogs attacked me… I started picturing myself whipping out Jet Li moves… but then I decided to just clear my mind all together… and walk on… fortunately the dogs only made some threatening charges that stopped about ten feet from my line… it was my first glimpse of the wild dogs I had been listening to night after night… indeed… they look as scary as they sound… Oh well… I guess Chewy is in line for a different fate… attached is a picture I took of Chewy in the Peace Corps Vehicle… about five minuets before she threw up and started pooping…

Hello Family... Bess and I have a new mailing address… it is now posted in the “Contact Bess and Jared” section of my blog… any mail and packages sent to this address will be delivered to the post office in Gao. We plan on making the trip from Gossi to Gao monthly, or Bi-monthly for mail, money, internet, and supplies. I will also post this new address at the bottom of this letter. You may still send letters and packages to the old address in Bamako, but we will only receive them when we visit Bamako or when Peace Corps divers deliver them to us at site. Probably it is best to use our Gao address… there is a girl from training in our Gao group, Kelly, who is opening two packages she just received in Gao from family in the U.S. – so the address works. Yesterday, 9/27/2007, I wasted away the heat of the day working hard on a long letter that I was going to e-mail to family and then post on my blog… I wrote during the intense heat of midday… it was around 115 degrees F outside… and 98 degrees F inside the Peace Corps Gao Bureau where I typed on Natalie’s laptop. As I typed… I tried hard to explain to everyone back home… anyone who might care… how hot it really is here in Gao… and to explain how hard it really is to function here… or do anything active at all. Indeed… as I typed that long letter, yesterday, I was sweating profusely… like a sweat lodge… it beaded out of me… while everyone else in the Peace Corps Gao Bureau was either asleep… napping… or had passed out watching a movie… Indeed… as I typed and looked around the Bureau… I really wanted to convey to people back home… that performing work is hard here in Gao… doing anything is hard here in Gao… when it is so hot… people like us just can’t move any more… and any effort that one makes… goes into replenishing one’s food and water supply… some of the Gao volunteers who have lived here for over a year have adapted by becoming more or less nocturnal. But last night… it was still 96 degrees F outside. I am interested to see how we all adapt to the Sahara Desert. Anyway… after I typed a very long letter, yesterday, I then rode my bike through the sandy roads of Gao… looking for an Internet Café. Eventually I found it… but the Internet was down… so biked into market… bought some cold juice… and returned to the Bureau. Today, I woke up still eager to mail my long letter… so I biked back across the city of Gao to the Internet Café… so I would be there when it opened at 8:00am… after sitting outside the Internet Café for one hour in the heat of the rising sun… someone finally showed up and opened the Internet Cafe at 9:00am. Unfortunately, the computers all operate in French… so when I tried to “open” my letter in Microsoft Word, I actually saved a blank document over my long letter… because I wasn’t really “opening” I was “saving as”… so I completely lost my very long letter… as a result… I spent some time posting a few pictures on my blog… uploaded some videos onto Youtube which I then connected to my blog… and then I biked all the way back to the Peace Corps Gao Bureau where I am once again typing on Natalie’s laptop. So… the moral of all this story… is the very thing I wanted to convey in my long letter yesterday… Everything is Made Difficult for us here in Northern Mali. Bess and JaredPeace Corps Volunteers B.P. 119Gao, MaliWest Africa

The Final Days Before Gossi All the Peace Corps trainees were back at Toubaniso the week before Swear In. We had finished our language training but still had some various classes in our sectors, such as Agriculture for me and Water Sanitation for Bess. Mostly… we volunteers were ready for free time… relaxing and having fun… during the week before Swear In. My friend Kevin and I set up the slack line… but as appealing as the slack line is… it couldn’t complete with going out to the “bar” – the one down the dirty country road from Toubaniso… but anyway… one night when people came back from the bar… Kevin and I introduced some of them to the slack line… and they loved it. Many people got hurt trying to walk the line for the first time while under the influence of alcohol… but despite the pain the line left an impression on several people… A trainee named Westin went to bed that night and dreamed about the slack line all night long… the next morning he came back to the line determined to walk it… he tried hard… very hard… and there is a video on my blog of Westin crossing the line… I promised anyone who walked both (two were set up making two connecting segments) lines consecutively what I’ve been calling high quality American candy bars, simply… Snickers or Twix. I called them high quality because these candy bars are vastly superior to Malian candy bars – and consequently much more expensive. Bess and Kevin were the only ones who achieved this reward… Westin did awesome nonetheless… it was amazing how many people here had seen slack lining in the United States… but never gave it a try until they came to Mali… Kevin is ordering a slack line form the United States… this is a good thing… During the final days in Toubaniso… we had an excellent crash course in the native snakes of Mali… a really experienced snake expert came to Toubaniso and showed us live snakes… many of them poisonous… and they were all snakes he caught… the man had spend of great deal of life traveling the world catching and studying snakes… especially in West Africa… he had been bitten by sorts of venomous snakes… and had all sorts of anti-venom stories and described firsthand what it was like… We all felt very educated and informed after getting his advice on what to do in Mali… when it comes to snakes. At one point in the snake presentation… I was out on the floor trying to get close to a non-poisonous snake for a good picture… the snake charged me almost as if it were springing an attacked… the man (snake guy) reacted out with his hand as quickly as snake had launched and grabbing the snake by the tail and pulled it backward so it just fell short of reaching me… although this would have been an excellent picture… I missed the shot because I was falling backwards in pure fright as everyone else laughed at me. After the snake session… Kevin and I sat under the tree where the weavers (birds) nest… I have put some of my snake and bird pictures on the blog… Swear In was awesome… short… condensed… and I had special role… wearing the Toureg costume and giving a speech in Tamashek… everyone loved it… I was on Malian T.V. and had many photos taken of me… or at least of my eyes… a man from the U.S. embassy, a language specialist, came up to me afterwards and expressed his desire to collect my Tamashek notes – for those of you who knew me back in Bryn Athyn – how funny is this – a language specialist wanted something fom “Jawit” – ha ha. Anyway… Swear In was followed by a delicious lunch at the U.S. ambassador’s fabulous house… all I could think about was Bess’ and my uncle Eric Rohtla… someone who has been able to meet many ambassadors in his line of work… and now Bess and I were meeting one too. The U.S. ambassador himself even reminded Bess and I of our uncle Eric Rohtla. After lunch we went back to Toubaniso for a picnic… and Kevin poked my eye during an intense game of basketball. One pupil became very small, the other became very big, it was so creepy to look at, and the nurses had never seen it before. I tried to get a good picture of it but I couldn’t because – well – my eyes and brain were not working very well. Someone got a good picture… maybe I can post it later. Anyway… that night all of us Peace Corps Volunteers spent the night partying in downtown Bamako where we all stayed in a hotel with a pool – this may have been fun but everything looked very dark behind the sunglasses I used to cover up my hideously wounded eye. All I could think… was Thank God I hurt my eye after Swear In… because my eyes were all people could see of me during the speech. It took a solid day of doing nothing other than sitting, swimming, eating and drinking for most people to recover from Swear In night… and it has taken me about four solid days to recover from my eye injury… nevertheless… Peace Corps Mali always moves forward… so two days after Swear In… we new Peace Corps Volunteers were ready to head off to our sites… regardless of our condition… all of us going North of Bamako, a good forty of us, were relived to find out that Peace Corps rented us our own Public Bus to take us Northward… this was great in that it guaranteed a little more personal space and a lot less stoppage. However… I have yet to travel through Mali without conflict… a couple hours north of Bamako and our Bus driver swerved off the road to avoid colliding with a car… he then swerved backed onto the road to avoid a large sewer ditch that would have been the death of us… and the final result of all this swerving was taking out a man on a motorcycle, whereby the motorcycle man escaped catastrophe with a heroic leap - leaving his bike trapped under our bus… it took several hours for another bus to come (another bus from Bamako that was just for us Peace Corps Volunteers) and it took some time for all our luggage to be transferred onto the new bus. Everyone was O.K – including the motorcycle man. Some of the PCV’s cried and verbally expressed that they had decided that they actually did love their family’s back home, that they did want to see them again, and that they didn’t want to die in Africa. One third of the PCV’s going north of Bamako got off the bus in Segou, a second third in Sevare, and the last third of us, the Gao group, bused from Bamako to Gao (Look at that distance on the map – Wow Baby). At least we had an entire bus to ourselves… and I probably would have even enjoyed it but I got food poisoning from lunch in Segou… at least I was able to hang out of the bus door and throw up…and that’s what I was still doing when the bus arrived outside the Peace Corps Gao Bureau – I was throwing up out of the door of the moving bus. We left Bamako at 6:30am Sunday 9/23/07 and arrived at the Peace Corps Bureau in Gao around 6:00am the next day. Today is Thursday 9/27/07, so we have only been in Gao living at the Bureau for four days… and although this doesn’t seem like much… it really is… because life is hard here in Gao… and we’ve spent too much time in the market exposed to the sun. Since the city of Gao will be a significant aspect of being placed in Gossi, I will take some time to describe it. Gao is a large city on the edge of Niger river, some 40,000 people live here, this is amazing because aside form the river - there is nothing here but sand and some semi-arid pastoral land. There are several paved roads in Gao but most of roads are made of sand… there is some electricity in Gao but not everyone has it and it doesn’t always work… there is some running water but not everyone has it and it doesn’t always work – people still draw water from wells. A PCV can find restaurants and even cold drinks in Gao… but refrigeration is a rarity and eating out brings up sanitary issues. The only swimming pool in the entire city is found in the Mayors home – so no swimming for us. Tourists, especially from France, do make their way as far Northwest in Mali as Gao, so the city does provide accommodations for these adventuresome souls – but I really haven’t seen anything in Gao that would make the long trek here supper worth it – there isn’t much you could put on a brochure. Kidal, way up north of Gao, is even more remote and would actual fulfill a tourist’s desire to see huge rolling sand dunes… but that far north is not considered safe for travel. The Market in Gao is quite impressive and open everyday unlike the smaller cities and towns. The market consists of a plethora of people speaking various languages: Tamashek, Songri, Fullani, Bambera, French, and more. Shopping in the market can be quite an adventure… with Toureg eyes following you through their turbans, street children crowding around you and staring with beggar’s eyes, and all these eyes amongst a large mob of people overflowing the streets with activity and creating a ruckus chorus that never changes tune – shopping changes when fixed prices disappear. Life at the Peace Corps Bureau in Gao is a little more quite… with high standing walls around the complex we create our own little American world. In here, amongst ourselves, speaking English and talking like Americans about people, food, and things back in America – we often forget what really exists on the outside of the Bureau walls. Then we hop on a bike to go buy bread and peddling down the sandy street we ask ourselves “I am really here… is this really happening”. And so it all… reality that is… becomes quite apparent to us when we realize how deprived we really are from American luxury… and how much we treasure care package items… Hint Hint !!! Anyway… as deprived as we are… we try… we have a refrigerator that sometimes works… electricity powering outlets, lights, a computer (soon to have dial up internet), and a ceiling fan… that all… sometimes work… and when the electricity is on… and the water is running… and everything is working… I might even be able to convince you that I lived in the ghetto of Philadelphia… but all in all… no one here will complain about a thing… life is pretty good in the Peace Corps Gao Bureau… because we Volunteers have each other… and we are sharing something unique… something we all chose for ourselves and for different reasons… so we all share something different and something in common… and so each night… when the sun goes down… we all climb to the stairs to the roof of the Bureau… lay our mats on the cement rooftop… and fall asleep in the city of Gao… This where Bess and I will return… the city of Gao… this is where all of the PCV’s in the Gao region will return… the city of Gao… but tomorrow… it’s time to go to site… to Gossi… So… I won’t be able to update my bog as frequently as I have been doing… Gossi doesn’t have the means… so when I am back in Gao… no latter than a month from now… I’ll try posting again… something about site… something about Gossi… Tahuladtanin – “Say Hi to the People you meet from me”

More Pictures...

Host Mother (Fadimatta), Host Father (Amano), Iknet and Nezzar atthe United States Embassy in Mali(unknown baby in Fadimatta's arms)

Elmedhi and Iknet (Jared), two buddies... one becoming American... the other becoming Toureg

Peace Corps Volunteers, Swear In, 2007

Bess at U.S. Ambassadors House Bess' new haircut... she says it's an important thing to be on our blogJared, after battle with Kevin on the basketball court...also an important aspect of the blog