During my parents' recent visit to Mali, one of the things they couldn't help but notice was the presence of Libya and China in Mali. While driving through the capital of Bamako we passed by the new parliamentary building and hotel financed by Muammar Gaddafi and on our way to the city of Segou we noticed several Chinese engineers surveying for a new paved road to be financed by China. So you may

"Big Mac...and supersize it!" Saying those words felt so gratifying and American at the same time. I just wanted to shout Ameri-CUHHH at the top of my lungs like in the theme song from the movie Team America: World Police. I had walked out of customs and was greeted by a large flash from my mom's camera. It had been a whole year since I had seen my family, but my nephew, Ben, picked up right

Over the past week and a half I came back to the training center for a shea formation and a regional training. My hostmom, Sayon, and another women from my village womens association attended the shea training. We discussed how to create a regional shea network in order to create more selling power and to find a better buyer. We also traveled to commune of Siby, which among other things has a

Both ponds are dug! The two 10m x 4m ponds will be stocked with catfish and talapia.Me and the Fishermen's Group after we finished digging the first pond.We worked 8 hours for 6 days in the sweltering heat! Some of the men would break up the ground with pickaxes and then me and the rest of the group would dig out the dirt by flinging it over our heads.I submitted my SPA proposal yesterday, so I

Recently I went for a 2 week trip to Senegal for the West African International Softball Tournament (WAIST). The tournament is held every year in Dakar by Peace Corps Senegal and volunteers from many other West African countries attend. PC Mali put forth 3 teams. The A team was our best and played some great games, but didn't quite make it to the semi final (next year!). My team (the B team) won

I knew it was coming. The dugutigi (chief of the village) was bedridden for several weeks. And then a few weeks ago I woke up to find five women sweeping outside my hut (which is next to the chief's compound). As I tied my running shoes I stopped and asked one of the women why she was sweeping the ground. I already knew and dreaded the answer that she gave me.During my first few weeks at site I

So many of you have been wondering what I do other than drinking tea and avoiding the sun. Now that In Service Training (IST) is over, I am able to submit project proposals. I am very excited to be working on two large projects: building a fish farm and restoring the village water tower and water fountain system.When I asked the community what they had the most difficulty with in village, the

So as a way to help women in village generate more income for their families I taught my host mom, Sayon, to make traditional soap and sugar-coated peanuts. The hope is that I can then have her teach the women’s association and other women in village these activities. Here are the recipes... Traditional Shea Butter Soap (Kabakaruni)Women in village already buy this soap in Bamako in order to

My host family and I dressed up in our Tabaski clothesThe Festival of Tabaski The festival of Tabaski (Seli Ba in bambara) is a Muslim holiday that commemorates when God spared Abraham from killing his only son and sacrificed a ram instead. It takes place right around the time of the American holiday, Thanksgiving. Tabaski is similar to Thanksgiving because Malians give sheep meat to their

So it has been almost two months at site. So much has happened: I started a garden with my homologue, I worked in the peanut and rice fields, the women's association reopened their shea house, Lucy had 3 kittens, I met a Malian in my village who speaks english with a New York accent ("Eyyy how ya doooin Drissa!"), I went to a halloween party in Bamako, I got peed on by a goat on the bosche, and

I am sitting here at the PC Bureau typing this after enjoying some American-style food and speaking english for the first time in almost 3 weeks since moving to site. A few of the volunteers and I sent Lindsay, the last volunteer at my site, off with a blast.A typical day at site starts off with waking up to the sound of goats, roosters, susuing (when the women in village pound grain with a

Newly sworn-in PCVs, The U. Embassador (left), and the Peace Corps Country Director (right)The environment sector, looking pretty stylish I must say!

So I am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer. My stage was sworn in at the U.S. embassy this past Thursday. All 64 of us passed our language test or were close enough. We had a few new volunteers join us from Mauritania (the program was shut down recently) and sadly one volunteer from my stage had to leave for medical reasons.We all celebrated the milestone by hanging out at the American Club in

So...alot has happened in the past few weeks. There has been electronics issues (I lost my cellphone at some point 2 weeks ago, and my computer decited to go on the fritz). That's what I get for buying a used computer off of e-bay I guess. But the good news is that I now have a new phone and I can use the computers at Tuabiniso and the Peace Corps Bureau in Bamako for now.I also finished my

A shot of Baguineda Village from the rocks.My host father Dramanne and part of his family shell peanuts.Me and the other PCTs posing on the rocks.A lot has happened in the past few weeks without email access. I was assigned a homestay site with 6 other male environment sector trainees in Baguineda Village. Instead of having trainees train in an isolated bubble outside of everyday Malian life and

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So finally the day has come. I will be leaving for Peace Corps orientation tomorrow morning. I almost have all my bags packed and I think I will just make the 80 lb check-in and 11 lb carry-on wight limit.***UPS delivery man saves the day and delivers my prescription sunglasses that I had overnighted just in time!***So here is the final list. I cannot believe that it all will fit in my bags, but

When the local newspaper in my hometown of Litchfield, CT folded last year do to the economic downturn, a new town blog was created to take its place. Check out the article, written by Litchfield.bz reporter Susan Pearsall, about my invitation into the Peace Corps. "LHS Grad Joins Peace Corps in Africa"For those that are counting, there are 5 days left until I fly to Philadelphia for training. I

Toumani Diabate and Bela Fleck perform at the Other Tent on Friday at Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN. Toumani took a break to show his harp-like kora to the crowd. The kora is a 21-stringed West African instrument made from half of a calabash gourd covered with cow hide. It is played using only the thumb and index fingers of both hands.The duo played "Dueling Banjos" and songs from their newly

For those readers interested in applying to the Peace Corps here is a rough timeline of my application process. Keep in mind that the time between application submission and orientation departure is different for each applicant, although the Peace Corps website says that it takes an average of 9 months. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and the Peace Corps website suggests applying 9-

I was invited to serve in the Peace Corps on February 27, 2009. I will train, live, and work in Mali, West Africa as an Agriculture Extension and Community Development Agent for a total of 27 months. I called the Peace Corps Mali Country Desk the following Monday to accept. I leave in a little over a month from now on July 7. Here is a description of the work I will be doing..."As an agriculture