So, I really don't know where to begin....its been soo long since my last entry. But, I would like to say that I am finally back in the swing of things here after my adventure to America. (Its been what, almost 3 months?) Time flies. I am just going to post some pictures to begin with, and later I will write more about my work and what not.  

Nana ka konyo, drums, garden… and Malian children...what more could you possible want??

Since my last post, which hasn’t been too long ago. I have been pretty busy and have taken lots of photos…woohoo! I forgot how nice it was to have batteries for the camera.

I went to a wedding (konyo) last Thursday. My good friend Makasi’s daughter got married. Only 14 years only, which made me feel like an old woman, and not to mention to a 40 some year old man….. she married as his second wife and will be moving to Bamako soon. I will miss her.

There were 3 girls that got married together. And they all looked so beautiful. I had never seen such elegant/western wedding dresses here.

Everyone was dressed in their best for the occasion. I even wore Mali clothing…

Drums… I came across some kids playing the drums made out of cans and, of course, I gave it a try…. Its amazing how resourceful kids can be… check out these can drums…

Children….sitting on my porch I busted out my camera for some pictures of the kids. Mazaruna in my mom’s baby, she was born the beginning of December and Anya in maybe 3. I must confess, she is one of my favorites.

Howa and her friend too… and of course me.

Here are some pictures of the women’s garden… the garden (or what used to be the garden), the wells (which are dry at the moment) and the fence (that is a bit too short). This is one of my major projects during my service here.

more pictures later....

Just to let you know all know, there have been the first rains of the season. Just a handful and each very short, but the feeling of precipitation on the face after over half a year just can not be described. Danced in the rain and I have a feeling my villagers might have thought I was a bit crazies!

Overlooking the Niger in Segou around sunset. Just beautiful!

Since my last post I have started working in my village; finally. First, I took two women to a shea butter formation at another volunteers village. There were over seventy women there to learn good techniques to produce good shea butter. They also learned about establishing women’s associations and money making opportunities. It was amazing to see the women work together and make friends with each other. Usually women don’t get the opportunity to venture out of their villages and they especially don’t get the chance to learn. Their passion and enthusausim was unbeleiveable.

My mom, May, was so excited about going, about a week before, she asked me if she would get a notebook so she could take notes. I was like, yea, of course, you’ll get a notebook. (That was the least I could do was make sure she had a notebook and a pen.) It then it occurred to me, can she write? I had never seen her write before. But then again there isn’t much writing being done in village, there aren’t bills to pay or shopping lists to make.

Here are the two ladies from my village, Bintu (green) and my mom Marium and the baby Mazaruna... she is a little cute (Its a big joke that say that she is only alittle cute because my dad thinks shes not soo cute) and of course, Jeneba and I.

So a week

later at the formation, I made sure the two women I brought had notebooks and pens, and by golly, she could write in Arabic. Surprise! I asked her about it and she said she could write donni dooni, little little.

During this same time as the formation I had fat lips. Kid you not, it looked as though I had a collagen injections. I found out that I can’t eat mangoes and I have an allergic reaction to the peel. For an entire week, I had these fat lips. After popping numerous benedryl , I decided something had to be done. Coincidentally, my friend Jeneba’s (another volunteer) host father is traditional medicinal healer….so why not make a visit to him…..

So the visit went something like this….

We went and greeted him. And then asked him for some medicine after explaining the situation and him looking at my giant lips. Sure, I have medicine for you he said. So we went into his house and he pulled out this bad of black power. I was quite sure what I was expecting, but I don’t think it was that. So he starts rubbing this charcoal like substance on my lips, while at the same time telling Jeneba that this what the same stuff he has given to her to put on her cat’s eyes when it was injured. We started laughing so hard, we were almost in tears. I had no idea what was going on… We left the house laughing so hard, and the women outside starting laughing. They were like, Aminata cover your head so we did… I still don’t know if the medicine worked… I guess my lips aren’t fat anymore and I would like to think it worked….

After leaving the formation we went to Tubaniso (PC training center) for more technical training for a week and project planning strategies.

It was so nice to get to see everyone. I hadn’t seen many of the other volunteers since training in January. At the same time it was a bitter-sweet feeling because it was our last formal training session all together, until our COS conference before we leave Mali next summer. So many of these folks, I might not see for a while, especially the ones real far away. Mali is huge and difficult to travel, if I haven’t mentioned this before. After training ended we spend a couple days in Bamako, amazing as always…. Its just eats your money though, and disappears as though it blows away in to the fierce wind… We ate good food and had good drinks…and of course a night of Bamako dancing….

I eventually went back to the bush, to my house in village. Everyone was overly excited to see me, as was I. I had been gone for a while and forgotten how much my village loved me and how much I loved them. While I was there I started doing some work. I went to the garden and found there was no garden. A banna. (Over, DONE) Animals has gotten in and eaten everything. I was practically in tears, and my heart cried. The women work so hard in this garden and everything was just destroyed. So I’m going to be spending the next year working on getting a fence for the garden and reestablishing the garden. The only problem is… the garden is huge 3.5 hectors, over 6 acres and will need to get approximately 1,155 meters of fence. That’s a lot of funding to find! I had womens meeting and starting discussing the plans, and 27 women showed up! YEA!!! (from the usual 8-10).

I haven't yet posted a picture of my house here, here are two... this is my Mali home! I like it, its cute and cozy.... and different than anywhere else I have ever lived! Don't strain your eyes looking for the light switch or refigerator....

This past week we celebrated cinco de mayo….good times as always…. Although I was sick with Mr. D, and spend most of the day in the nyegen. Must have eaten something bad... so it goes

Random Photos…..

One of our favorite (well at least my favorite thing to do is take jumping photos... I could post hundreds...) Its fun, if you've never tried it, you should give it a try.... you never know, you might like it as much as I do.

On the way back from our Cinco de Mayo trip we stopped and biked to my friend Mooch's village, and 20K bike ride from the main road.... and here are some pictures from the ride... it was hot and windy, and we could barely ride our bikes. It almost took us 4 hours..... and it actually occured to us... that we might not make it... ( it was a pretty day)

Until next time, love and peave…..

more random photos to leave you with

and lastly, the beautiful night sky at sunset opps... just tilt your head alittle

WAIST

West African Invitational Softball Tournament

On the road….

I just got back from my first “vacation” here in Mali. I went to Dakar, Senegal. Just beautiful. Peace Corps Volunteer, ex-pats, and many people gathered for a weekend of softball and fun. We spent most of the days at the American Club by the pool….

Dakar was just amazing. I had no idea such a city existed in West African. I now call it the New York City of West Africa. So much good food and drink and delicious ice-cream.

Us Mali volunteers had a softball team, and we did pretty well. We won our first two games and then lost to one of the international school teams…. Which was unfortunate being beat by middle schoolers. But in the end we represented well and had a great time.

We wore traditional Malian bogolan clothing that comes from Dogon Country where there are many funny looking hats.

When we weren’t at the American Club, we were at the beach in Dakar….wow! It has been a while since I’ve been to the ocean. Just as breath taking, relaxing and peaceful as it has always been.

Also, while in Dakar we toured the city. One day we went to the market, train station, and checking out the developed architecture that Mali lacks. I could write for days about what I saw and experienced, but this is the shortened version. Perhaps more will come later.

We also went to the museum which is supposed to be the best in West Africa. After leaving we had our doubts. Art here is different than expected. When I figure out what it means and its representations, I’ll make another post. It wasn’t quite as impressionable as I had anticipated.

Yes, I am standing with the statues. I had to suck it up. (For those who don’t know I am scared of statues.) There were some fascinating masks though.

There was also a modern art display which represented 8th grade art. The more and more I discover the art, the more I want to start an art club in my village. There is obviously something lacking, and perhaps its creativity and thinking outside of the box.

After the long weekend in Dakar we went to a beach house a couple hours away for the rest of the week. It was just as beautiful as Dakar but much more peaceful and relaxing. I spent 2 days in the ocean riding waves…and choking down mouthfuls of salt water.

I want to end on a good note and not mention that it took 62 hours to get from the beach back to Bamako… its I haven’t mentioned this before public transportation and roads sucks here. We were planning on riding the train, but it derailed the previous week... maybe next year!

My first taste of West African Music

Festival Sur Le Niger

The past month I have been everywhere but my village. The first week in February I went to the Festival Sur Le Niger, which was in Segou (on the Niger River)... Good music and great times… and a bit of crazy dancing….

I wasn’t sure what to expect. But for a slight moment I though I was back in America. The stage was a real stage with real lights. It brought in lots of musicians, tourists and people from all over West Africa…

I wasn't familiar with much of the music, but found there was more talent than I had originally thought. Now, I know who to check out for next year.

I met lots of people and had the opportunity to play the jembe (drums). And after the shows each night saw some of the performers play at a private party. Which rocked! It was a great culture experience, being part of the music and attempting to be an malianmuso. Although I couldn’t sing along or understand the lyrics. But I sure did dance... what great fun....

I have just now realized that I haven't had a post for quite some time...and that its 2008 and half way through January.... I don't know where the time has gone. It just seems like yesterday I got here and it has been almost 6 months......

Thanksgiving.... Christmas.... New Years.... were all spent with other Peace Corps Volunteers.

For T-day about 60 of us came together for fabulous turkey, pie, mashed potatoes, salad, stuffing... and all the works. Just incredible. I have never been so thankful for good food (not the normal Malian cuisine) and friends. I ended up eating way more than I should have and had to lay in the floor for about an hour after dinner.

Christmas..... A bunch of us went to Bamako for the Holidays... and had a great time... lots of good food, live music, and dancing... no Christmas trees or stockings... just ice cream and wine and cheese....

Live music...... a bit of jazz

Christmas Eve Wine and Cheese News Years....was spent on the Niger in Segou. It began with a boat ride after sunset and ended after a visit to the egg shack after sunrise the following morning...what a night... and great way to begin a new year....Just before Christmas, I celebrated my first Seliba (Tabaski) in my village which is the big feast of the year. Usually, every family kills an animal and shares the meat... and its eaten for the next couple days (not quite the ideal holiday for those who don't eat or like much meat). The day before the fete, I bought lots of spaghetti for the my family, onions, the largest watermelon I could find, tea, sugar, and candy (bon bons) for the kids... as a gift.... as I had no intentions of buying a goat, sheep or any other animal to be killed.The entire feast lasted for about 4 days... The first morning after the men prayed the sheep of our family was killed. I made myself watch, as they slit the throat and cut its head off as the rest of the legs were still kicking... I felt sick afterwards.... and I don't know if was from watching of eating the meat later. I was truly a Malianmuso (woman) and all dressed up, had my head covered and henna on my feet. My village was just estatic. It was a good time.

Cute baby.....

Here are some recovered photos from my broken camera.... During homestay these boys were my buddies, we played cards and hungout. They loved taking pictures.

Me and the girls, yes....I am brushing my teeth with a stick. Dont worry, I still have a tooth brush.

Carry a baby on your back..... and get peed on......

Once, again I don’t know where to begin. Everyday is a new adventure and I learn something new, meet different people and see things I have never seen before. It is beautiful. Although there are also some not so pretty things, the trash, sick kids and people who are hungry….I just read I book (Confessions of An Economic Hit Man), which I read lots of book now and found there are 24,000 people who die each day in this world due to lack of food and nutrition, and that doesn’t even include the thousands who die from diseases. While I say all of this, I think about here in Mali but in just America there are 12 million people who don’t know whether they will get their next meal…. About two-thirds of the world lives like I do here as the other third have the luxuries as those in the U.S.

I just recently found out that my village doesn’t have enough food for the next year. With the change in weather patterns, the rains came too late and when they came they came too much and flooded the crops. So as part of my work I will find them and myself food. I’m planning on eventually starting a cereal bank where food can be stored to prevent future problems like this.

As I said, everyday is different but I have adapted somewhat of a daily routine. And it goes something like this….

6:30-8:00am rise and shine

(Tracy Chapman blaring out side, and yes I just went out and rocked out to Fast Car. I was really excited coming here for a musical experience, and as much as I don’t want to admit and realize its going to be one with Celion Dion, Mariah Carrey, Michael Jackson (Just heard Heal the World during lunch), Phil Collins, and other randoms that bring your back to the 5th grade and Middle School dances. The Malian music that is played isn’t the best, although on a good day there might be some decent reggae which I don’t think is even Malian. )

Mornings are nice, I have yet to have to wake with an alarm, one day however, my mom came… “Aminata Aminata Aminata Wuli, wuli, wuli…!!! (amy…get up) I got up thinking what on earth is going on. She never comes to get be in the morning. I put on a skirt and go out side. My eyes barely open and filled with eye bugers (not exactly in the best mood, because I am not a morning person and I don’t like being woken up). I go to see what’s going on. It was a blast from the past of every morning when my mom got me up for elementary school. There were about 10 women standing outside, ready for a women’s meeting. At 6:53, they come to my house for a women’s meeting. So I greet them, put down the mats on my porch, and we have a meeting. I will tell you more about this meeting later.

Anyway, what time I wake up depends on how loud it is. There are the donkies, which I don’t know if any of you know what they sounds like, I cant even describe it but perhaps like a blind man being raped, we have women pounding millet (no susu), there are babies screaming, children running around, the prayer call, cows, goats, chickens, birds….. and an occasional moto (motorcycles, I don’t think there is even a single car in my village) in the distance.

At some point in the hour after I wake I go and get water from the well for my bath. Lately, it has been getting later and later each day because it is cooling off at night and I don’t wake drenched in sweat and I’m actually a bit chilly and sometimes put on a long sleeved t-shirt. It’s nice. And then I read. My breakfast is brought to me and its moni, everyday. Which is ground milled formed into little balls, with water, and some citrus-ish fruit juice.( I climbed at tree one day during home stay to collect it.) It looks like pea pods and somewhat tastes like apple juice. Later I make tea or coffee.

Between 9-12 am, I do household chores, like cleaning my house, sweeping the floors, washing clothes, washing dishes. It’s a lot of work to keep a mud house clean. Once a week I do an intense cleaning and get down the spider webs, knock down the termite mounds and make sure there are no scorpions inside (they are scary looking) and I found some under my mattress once. Just about gave me a heart attack.

Lunch comes during this time, and its to and na, which is to (more millet and sauce). I don’t eat the sauce, there are usually fish in it and they put this green dried leaf in it that makes it slimey.

Afternoons, I yalayala, which is “wondering” in Bambera, and it’s my favorite word. I

Walk or bike around the village and chat, sometime drinking tea and eating peanuts. Usually I chat with the men and they usually want me to marry them. So it’s interesting, usually just tell the men I don’t cook or clean and that usually works. One day I cut millet, another day I picked peanuts with a crazy woman. Everyday there is something different.

One of the craziest things are the massive amounts of animals. Every time I got for a bike ride i get stopped..... and usually count them (and lose count)

I have been in my village for exactly a month and like it a lot. Its much larger than my homestay village. There are about 2.000 people. Its about 15K from the Niger River and that's where my market town is. I have to ride my bike there to pretty much get whatever i need.... bread, eggs, a coke, telephone service and i have recently heard there is Dial up Internet at the radio station. I love riding my bike and i try to ride everyday. I wish I would have biked at the beach for practice before coming here. I at least fall in the sand every time i go for a ride. Its difficult. Some days I will bike to the river and spend the day watching the kids swim and fish. I will read or write. Its very relaxing... even though i am the only white person and always draw a crowd. I must be some freak show or something. Its okay, I am slowly getting used to it.

My village is a very strict Muslim community that is full of rice and millet farmers and animal herders. It seems as though the women and children carry the work load in the community while the men sit in the shade and drink tea. The women are just amazing, they cook, garden, wash clothes with dirty water that somehow are cleaner than those from the washing machine, wash dishes, sweep the sand (at first I didn't quite understand) but it gets dirty and i find myself sweeping my concession daily and they do all of this along with taking care of a djabillion kids, with babies on their backs and water on their heads. Its beautiful!

I have my own house. Its really exciting because I have never had my own house. Its little but really cute. I am making curtains this week for my windows (yea, i sew now... never thought that would happen). Anyway, i have a two room mud house (hut). The first room is my "living room" its pretty much my bedroom and the other room is my storage and kitchen. I have a gas stove in which i attempt to cook on. For the first 2 weeks or so I didn't know how to light it, i would turn on the gas and wonder why it wasn't getting hot. Good thing I have good peace corps friends that help me out.

I have a really nice cement porch that i lay on daily. Sometimes women come over to chat in the afternoons and we all nap there. I just got a hammock but haven't hung it yet. Its been so hot lately, but "cold season", which I'm still wondering if its cold., will be here soon so it wont be as hot and i can use my hammock.

The last part of my house is the negen. And that's the shitter. I'm not going to go into much detail, but simply, it is a hole in the ground.

I don't have electricity or running water. I am up with the sun (but usually just lay in bed until 7 or 7:30 or even later if i don't feel like going to get water to bathe) and i go to bed around 9 or 10 (and that is a late night). After the sun goes down I will sit outside by my kerosene lamp reading or writing until the mosquitoes eat me and then i move inside. I usually go to the pump at least 4-6 times a day, depending on if i am washing clothes or dishes. I have become quite domestic. I also bathe with a bucket and i love it. Some days when its really hot i will just stand in my negen naked and and pour water over me every so often and stay in the for about an hour. Ive never thought about taking a chair in there until now... i think tomorrow I am going to give it a try.

I don't exactly live with a family. I have my own concession but its pretty much connected with my host family's concession. My jitigi (host father) who is the person in the community I work with has a fantastic papinier. I'm learning how to graft trees. Hes working on grafting a mango tree that will produce fruit in 6 years, i think it takes about 20 on a regular tree. He has many wife's, 6 i believe, I am too afraid to ask because Muslims should only have 4 at the most. One of his wife's Me, is one of better friends and shes pregnant now. So it will be exciting to have a new addition to the family soon. There are a handful of kids that hang out daily. I have a ball and frisbee so we play a lot. They are fun. and keep me entertained. Anya, my favorite, is about 2 and shes just started talking. Shes always running around Aminata....Aminata... its going to be fun see her grow up in the coming years.

As for work, I spend the next 3 months "analyzing the community". I pretty much hang out, get to know the people, find whats the problems are and start considering project ideas. It just so happen that the village I am in the part of the UNDP Millennium Development project. I am just learning about but its going to be amazing opportunity to work with this group.

I'm starting a garden in the women's garden soon... i will be doing a lot of work with the women and the garden. The women also want to dye fabric... tie-dying in Mali.....

The most difficult part other than missing the food in America driving around in my car listening to music has been the language barrier. I am learning though. I just speak as though I am a 4 year old.

I just celebrated my 24th birthday. I would have to say it was like no other birthday I have ever had. Two of my buddies came and we ate beans and played scrabble......

I guess there is no better time to begin than now, I've been contemplating how to open this blog, which ridiculous story or adventure to tell. But, there is one that stands out... and I will get to the soon. First I am going to cap the first 3 months... which does not even seem possible that i have been here that long. It seems like only yesterday when mama and papa g dropped me off at the airport...

The first two months were spent training. A few days after arriving in Mali, we moved to our homestay sites. Me along with 4 others went to a small village of about 400 people, which seemed like 300 children and 100 adults. I had fallen asleep on the ride there and had woken up to all of these people singing and dancing. I wasn't quite sure what to think, so i got out and followed the others and before I knew it there was crazy Malian music and dancing completely surrounding up, children staring, adults smiling and talking. At that moment I realized that I was not in America and instantly thought what am i doing here? I'm crazy. Shortly following the gracious welcoming and me stumbling over my feet to the Malian beat, they took us to our houses. I put my bag inside and turned around and realized half of the village had followed me. Only then did it occur that i can not communicate with them... at all... so i am just standing there smiling.... and they are just staring at me. Awkward moment. Dinner. Even more awkward. Not only could I not speak with them, but I was sitting on the ground around a bowl eating with my right hand. The next day classes started (I am learning Bambera) and language started to pick up, dooni dooni, small small.

I had the most amazing host family. My mom, who was only a bit older then me, became my best friend. Just writing this today makes me realize how lucky i was to have them. They were an nontraditional Malian family also. The were just like my family in America, a mom, a dad and a younger brother. Usually Malian men have anywhere between 2-4 wives and too many children to count on 2 hands. I'm not going to lie, I cried leaving them. Even more than leaving my parents at home (sorry mom and dad, you know i love you)! I could tell stories for days about homestay. We also did Natural Resource Management technical training and there will be more about that later.

On September 21, I became a Volunteer, which was pretty exciting. We all got to dress up in out Malian clothing, went to the American Ambassadors house and had a night of fun out in Bamako. I wish I had pictures, but I broke my camera.