Cold season is upon us now in Mali, and I’ve hit my 18-month mark here. (Say what?!) It’s really hard to believe how quickly time has passed, and I can only imagine how quickly the last 8-ish months of my service are going to fly by. I apologize to everyone for not having written here [...]
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Four doctors and a midwife are gathered around an examination table in the center of a bright pink examination room in the back of a community health center. While one has just finished carefully applying a vinegar-and-distilled water solution to the cervix of the 35-year old woman on the table, the others are waiting to [...]
Apart from the usual forays into Manantali for visits to the market and a few small PCV get togethers, I have been mostly holed up in village since late July. And for good reason: a lot is changing over here! A few months ago, the ASACO in my village (the managing committee of my health [...]
I’ve recently picked up running again (well, more like a vigorous jog; I certainly am no speed demon) and the first day I went out was a drainer: I went only about two kilometers, but a road full of rocks, dips and other hazards, in addition to less than desirable (read: not made for running) [...]
(Disclaimer: at the risk of perhaps being terribly predictable to those who have talked to me at any length in recent months, I’m writing about food again. Mali is making me see food in a whole new way. Okay, I’ll admit it: In America I wasn’t exactly the Whole Foods–shopping, farmers-market-seeking, vegetable garden growing type. [...]
Peace Corps volunteers are often told the ideal role we can play is that of “capacity building,” That is, rather than working our own butts off to change things, we should be motivating and inspiring others–Malians from our communities, and for health volunteers particularly health workers–to shake things up. This philosophy is great and makes [...]
At long last….I have my very own field! My host father finally found me a spot a little ways away from the village. I spent the better part of 2 days clearing out excess grass, and now with the help of my host brother and his donkey I’ve planted peanuts which should provide me with [...]
. We are in the heart of cultivation season now, and approaching my one-year anniversary of living in my village. While I’ve tried to keep my head and my hands busy (see post about my peanut field!), the year mark inevitably sparks certain existential questions. What have I accomplished here, really? What legacy am I [...]
Hamale’s sister Maryamu is the first to cry. She’s only nine and has none of the shame at tears that comes with age. Her soft, tentative sobs echo around the dead-silent compound much louder than they should, as the grown women gathered around the hut stare ahead, at anything, at nothing. And I know, in [...]
Very few Americans truly know hunger, and before coming to Mali I was no exception. Sure, I did the obligatory holiday food drives in elementary school, and my work as a counselor with homeless youth perhaps gave me a small glimpse into the harsh reality of worrying about your next meal. But, in general, it [...]
It’s been what I know seems like way too long since I’ve posted updates–sorry, faithful readers (that would be you, mom. ) Hot season is, at long last, ending; the rains have quenched the dusty earth and set my village awash in green at lightening speed, and in a few weeks I will have officially [...]
Aminata* is a young woman no different from most others in my village. In her early to mid twenties, she had a couple of children and is expecting her next child, in her 8th month. But, like the vast majority of women in my village, she did not seek medical attention throughout her pregnancy. Perhaps [...]
I’m here in Bamako now, and since I’m on medical hold (meaning I’m not allowed to leave until approved by the PC doctor), I have a lot of time on my hands. So…I thought this would be a good time for a quick update. Especially since I am having serious insomnia at the moment. I’ll [...]
The hot season is now officially in full swing, and while I couldn’t say that the oppressive heat has dampened my love affair with this country, it has certainly slowed down–sometimes even stopped–my usual movement around village. The very early mornings, until maybe an hour or two after sunrise, are still bearable, but by 9 [...]
Greetings to all in America suffering through the last of the February doldrums–honestly, with the thermometer inching up slowly as we approach the end of the cold season and the beginning of HELL, I can scarcely relate to complaints of anything below 70 degrees. While I brace myself for the onset of afternoons of 110 [...]
Recently I accompanied the vaccinator at my clinic on one of our routine polio campaigns, where we go from village to village and compound to compound administering the oral polio vaccine to all children under five. (I’m not allowed to give vaccination shots, but am allowed to assist with the oral vaccine and accompany the [...]
My host father, while a school teacher and very intelligent man, is older, and thus has long forgotten most of the English he picked up in secondary school. However, that doesn’t stop him from trying to use whatever bits and pieces he thinks he remembers with me–with sometimes interesting results. One day with lunch there [...]
I’ve gotten a lot of letters and emails from people, and one of the more frequent questions I get is about my diet in Mali; what I eat, how I eat it, how does it compare to the States. Since a lot of people have seemed interested in the food question, I thought I’d take [...]
(That’s a Bambara blessing for, “may God grant us a very joyous Christmas). I’m rounding off my 6th full month in Mali and just spent a couple of days in Manantali with a group of PCVs to celebrate Christmas. Although we could hardly have had a White Christmas, we did have fun making hot chocolate, [...]
I’ m currently in week 2 of Peace Corps in-service training, just outside of Bamako. IST is done after completing our first full three months in village, with the idea being that now that we have gotten to know our communities and strengthened our language skills, we are ready to start thinking about projects and [...]
….through the village while my host dad and I were eating our porridge yesterday morning. Absolute chaos ensued…adults screaming at children to move, children just screaming, and six or seven evil, sadistic donkeys making that awful braying noise that sounds like they are being beheaded as the gallop fearlessly and gallantly through the village, knocking [...]
I went into the CSCOM last week on the Saturday following Tabaski, since the holiday had completely interrupted the work week and the center had been closed for several days. I figured that not much would be going on on a Saturday, but decided to go anyway and at least chat with the staff for [...]
I’ve commented in previous entries about how much work Malian women do and how much more subject they are to harassment, violence and mistreatment. Life for women is hard. This fact continues to strike me every day and I’m here, and it’s easy to get a little down about women’s status in Mali. But every [...]
It’s a rare day in village when people case aside their financial concerns and everyday worries and have an all-out good time. The festival of Tabaski, a three-day annual Muslim celebration, is one of those few times each year when villagers really splurge to enjoy themselves, and I had the pleasure of spending my first [...]
September 30, 2010 My host dad’s wives have been asking me for the past week to go to the fields with them, but between my language lessons, time at the health center and other things, I haven’t had a full day to devote to being out in the fields. Today, with my language lesson cancelled [...]
Mid-September 2010 So I made it through training, and earned my “official” title of US Peace Corps Volunteer. And amidst all the hoopla and fancy bazan and parties that was Swear-in Weekend, it was hard to fully process what was awaiting me: my real raison d’etre, my two years of service in my small Malian [...]
September 22, 2010 Today is the 50th anniversary of Malian’s independence from France, and an enormous fete is planned for the occasion. I wake up at the usual time, glancing outside to see a great orange ball rising rapidly in the morning sky. No rain today, for sure. I put on the dress I had [...]
Anyone who knows me knows I’m not exactly a creepy-crawler type of girl. I’m the one who makes my friends kill a daddy longlegs because I’m too scared, Of course I knew that at some point during my two year service in Africa I would have too face my fear head on. Last night I [...]
I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer now! I swore in this past Friday morning at the American Embassy. It was raining so hard that the streets of Bamako turned into rivers and all the festivities had to be moved inside, but the ceremony was still a moving way to remind us of our purpose here in Mali, and [...]
Living in a place like Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, as an American from the richest country in the world, certain nagging questions are just unavoidable. Something I’ve struggled with, and all volunteers must grapple with, is the extent to which we actually live somewhat above the level of the people [...]
The last stint in homestay officially ended today. We packed up our bikes, suitcases, and Peace Corps-issued metal trunks, layered with 8 weeks worth of dust, and headed back to Tubaniso for our last week before swearing in as Peace Corps volunteers and moving to our sites. Although I have to admit I did breathe [...]
…for a quick interlude of the adorable-ness of my host siblings. If they don’t make you smile, nothing will enjoy!
I just returned today from a hectic week of visiting the village that will soon be my home. The craziness began extremely early last Wednesday–around 4am, to be exact–because that day also happened to be the start of Ramadan, and breakfast was at 4 to accommodate those who were fasting during the day (Peace Corps [...]
For everyone who’s been waiting on some pictures…here are a few of my new home, a small village in Western Mali! I have two huts, my own nyegen (latrine) and a nice courtyard with a shade structure (‘ga’) in the middle. I am a very short walk from the local health center and schools. The [...]
This afternoon, after making us wait an agonizing 90 minutes, Peace Corps finally gave us the news we’ve all been waiting for: our site assignments! Though there was no shortage of speculation and flat-out rumor as far as placement, nothing could have really prepared us for the results, and none of the “theories” we developed [...]
Today we took a nearly two hour trek from the village, past Bamako, down the road towards the city of Segou, to visit an HIV/AIDS service organization as well as a radio station in Fana, a larger town northeast of Bamako. I picked up some bits of information that are interesting and relevant to what [...]
The daily routine of a woman in Mali is hard. It starts early, it ends late, and it’s grueling. I’ve had the chance to get a sense of my family’s daily life and routines in the past few weeks, and one thing that strikes me time and time again is that women hold up everything, [...]
In a small village of 500 people, entertainment can be hard to come by. There are no dance clubs, bars or establishments open past dusk. By 10pm on an average night, all but teenage boys are generally in their compounds or in their houses. There is little to be found in the way of excitement. [...]
(my name is Awa Diallo, and I’m studying Bambara here in Mali) I’ve just returned to T-so from my first 9-day homestay period in a tiny village in Mali (population: 500). It’s nearly impossible to believe that today is only the two week mark of my time here. Such a dramatic and sudden cultural immersion [...]
We’ve spent less than five whole days at Tubani So, the Peace Corps training center in Mali, but it seems like we’ve been here forever. We had lessons from the moment we stepped off the plane into the humid, post-downpour rainy season air from our two-hours-delayed Air France flight, tired but wide-eyed. Peace Corps staff [...]
The past few days have been an absolute whirlwind, so for the benefit of interested parties back home (and for the sake of my own memories), I’m taking time while waiting at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport to try to recollect the staging and flight process. I arrived in Philly at around 10AM on Thursday. [...]
I totally forgot that I had planned to post my aspiration statement once it was finished. After a lot of editing, I submitted it to the PC Mali desk last week. The aspiration statement basically requires answering a series of questions about the skills I bring to my assignment, my hopes and expectations, and my [...]
Inside the glorious blue portfolio that is the Peace Corps Invitation Kit is a whole lot of paper–that’s a whole lot of blanks that need to be filled out and a whole host of issues to be taken care of–loans. insurance. Passport/visa. Aspiration Statement and Resume. Staging registration. Press release for hometown newspapers…..Now I was [...]
I’m going to be a health education specialist, and my staging is July 1.
This hardly seems real!
Despite my complete lack of blogging over the past three months since medical clearance, I’ve been anxiously (as anybody who has talked to me at any length over the past few weeks knows) awaiting any word at all from the Peace Corps.
Today, I talked to a placement officer on the phone and had a final [...]
So I’m new to the whole blogging thing…we’ll see how this goes. I wanted a place to chronicle my experience becoming–and hopefully serving–as a Peace Corps volunteer. Before I applied to the PC I always used to think it was weird that so many applicants kept blogs before they even started their service. [...]
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