My Parent's Visit (2 of 2)

In Mali, as in most sub-Saharan African countries, the human being is more important than anything. When people meet, hands are shaken and held while talking to the person in front of you. A long string of life-giving greetings, wishes, questions and answers follow. They ask about health—our own, our respective fathers', mothers', families', villages' and even questions about the health of the United States. Wishes for a long life and many children and that Allah might be with us and protect us, guide us and allow us to live another day are exchanged. Billy is an expert at these customary greetings.

The Malians have the marvelous tradition of giving the foreigners they host native names. In this way, it is easy to enter this rich society that asks nothing more than to be discovered. It is an honor for them for a foreigner to have a Malian name. Billy’s original host family during his training gave Billy his name; Younoussa Samake . Billy’s host father gave Bill his first name; Mamadou and he gave me the first name Fanta. Later in our trip a tailor in the market in Kenieba gave Bill the same last name as Billy and gave me the last name Sy, since women are still called by their maiden names even after they are married. Yes, that means my Malian name is Fanta Sy.

The soil in Africa is clay that has been enriched with Iron and aluminum that has been developed over long periods of time by the heavy rainfalls and the intense heat. Sometimes the material is rock hard but when scuffed by vehicle wheels it becomes a choking red dust. The iron is the origin of the red color. The red dust is everywhere in Kenieba. It is a never-ending battle trying to keep the dust out of your things. It covers your house and the contents of your house and covers your body daily. It reminded me of the character Pig Pen in the Peanuts cartoons. You feel like you have a dust cloud surrounding you most of the time. Pig Pen referred to the cloud that surrounds him with pride as the dust of ancient civilizations. That is exactly how I felt.

Growing up my mother used to tell me not to eat with my hands. In Mali they only eat with their hands. They have a communal bowl and everyone uses their hands to scoop the food into their mouth. You only use your right hand; the left one is used strictly for personal hygiene. The food is usually rice and sauce and some sort or meat, fish and/or vegetable in the center. A particular favorite of mine was Yassa Chicken. It is chicken with a lemon onion sauce. After a meal they enjoy a small cup of very strong sweet tea. You see them everywhere in Mali, groups of men and boys grouped around a tiny kettle over a small fire stove brewing ataaya, a bittersweet strong tea that has a lot of sugar in it. It is a social ritual and it takes hours to brew the tea. It is served in small glasses. There is a froth that forms on the top of the tea. I found it too sweet and potent for my taste.

As you travel through Mali you notice that children, garbage, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, abandoned old cars and motorcycles are everywhere. Sadly, the garbage is thrown on the streets and in the streams. A very small percentage of rubbish in Africa (approximately 10 percent) makes it to dumps, with the rest left to rot in communities or burned in acrid bonfires. Plastic bags are truly the environmental scourge of the developing world. It is unbelievable how many landscapes have been trashed throughout Africa. Especially in nations that are more developed and thus can afford to throw out their plastic bags rather than re-use them. Along the garbage ridden streets there are often children playing, standing or walking. To my eye many of the children seem way too young to be out on the street unattended. Family sizes are very large, often there is extended family living in the same house. The young and old live together in the same household. One reason that women give birth to many offspring is because the infant mortality rate. More than one in ten babies will die. Many women understand the prevalence of infant mortality and give birth to many children, an average of 7 per Malian woman. It seems like most women had a baby on their back or a child at their side.

While we were in Africa Sargent Shriver died at the age of 95. Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps, was an inspiring figure who had a unique perspective on the world, getting to travel to so many remote places and inspiring young Americans to give up two years of their lives to live in these corners of the world. Thanks to his great leadership the US Peace Corps is a viable and sustainable organization. Billy has had an excellent experience as a PCV in Mali. He is learning to live outside his comfort zone and appreciate the mundane and simple things in life. He is committed to the mission of the Peace Corps which is to promote world peace and friendship. Through his work with the Shea Butter Women’s cooperative, the Women’s Investment club, the school gardening project and his daily interactions with the many vendors and native people, he is providing opportunities to people to make the world a better place to live. He is realizing that it’s not what you get out of life that counts, it's what you give and what is given to you from the heart. It was great to have the opportunity to venture beyond the more typical African tourist routes. People know a lot about South Africa and the African safari. But Africa is a very diverse continent. Our journey to West Africa showed us a slice of the “real Africa”, Billy’s home away from home for two years. We miss him very much but we are extremely proud of him and his dedication to making the world a better place to live and promoting world peace and harmony.

My Parent's Visit (1 of 2)

The following is the first of two posts about my parents' visit to Dakar and Kenieba, written by my mom. Enjoy!

Visit to West Africa, January 2011, to visit Billy, PCV in Kenieba, Mali

By Nancy Budd

Mali, the largest country in West Africa, is bordered by seven other states: Algeria lies to the north and northeast, Niger to the east, Burkina Faso to the southeast and the Ivory Coast, to the south. To the west are Senegal and Mauritania. We flew into Dakar, Senegal and spent a few days there. After exploring Dakar and visiting Gorée Island and the city markets we hired a driver to take us across Senegal. These photos are from our visit to Gorée Island.

It took a day and a half to make it to the border of Mali. We crossed the Falemé river from Senegal to Mali in a small dug out wooden boat.

Although Mali is today one of the poorest countries in the world it is known as a jewel in the crown of West Africa; it is culturally and historically rich, but economically poor. We were warmly welcomed, but I was surprised by the "Third World" infrastructure and conditions in the smaller towns.

Our introduction to the people of Kenieba started with Billy’s host family. They were amazing. Doh, Billy’s host father works at the gold mine and comes home every few weeks. We were able to visit him in the village at the mine.

Zakariyah, Billy host brother, is 12 and is very attached to Billy. He is a very smart young man who is curious and eager to learn. Billy is teaching him English and keyboarding. Zak loves to “hang out at Younoussa’s house”.

Tenin, Billy’s host sister, was very gracious and particularly enjoyed watching Bill try to eat with his hands. Mariam, best friends of Billy’s host family, is the mother figure who cooks and provides a stable home. Her son Levieux is a precocious and adorable four year old who loves to play the drum and smile. Here is a picture of Zak, Tenin and Levieux on the front porch of their house.

Unfortunately Billy’s host mom died in childbirth just weeks before we arrived. We were very sad that we did not get the chance to meet her; Billy could not say enough wonderful things about her. Billy’s PCV house is next door to his host family’s home. It is much larger than I thought it was going to be and he seems to have what he needs to live.

There are no toilets or running water. His African toilet (the photo above) is a hole in the ground with two cinderblocks and his “shower” is a bucket with water that he has heated on his gas burner and a cup to throw the water over his head. He does have a satellite dish that the Peace Corps installed a few weeks ago. I call it ET, so he can phone home.

To me, the best adjective that describes Kenieba is colorful. It was one of the most colorful places I have ever visited, full of wonderful people, great varieties of cultures and languages, and strong traditions of art and music. The streets are filled with people in shimmering embroidered colorful garments. The flowing robes or grand boubou of the men and the long wraparound skirt or boubou and matching headscarf of the women make quite an impression. Most women carry things on their head and a baby on their back. The babies are carried piggyback style then wrapped in a cloth that is pulled around their mother’s body and knotted around her front. It creates a snug sling like seat for the child. From the front you can only see the child’s feet sticking out from its mothers sides.

We found music everywhere we went in Mali. The Sikoloton Shea Butter cooperative that Billy is working with gave us a festival with hours of singing, dancing, and playing traditional instruments. The women and the school children danced to the drummer’s music in their beautiful colored outfits. It was a site to behold. As with most celebrations some animal must give if its life, it was a sheep in this case. The sheep was presented to us as a gift and then taken, slaughtered and cooked for our lunch.

A Whirlwind January

Wow, it has been a busy month. I travelled twice to Bamako and twice to Dakar with a few days in Kenieba between each trip. That's more than 1600 miles on the road. All that travel was worth it though, because my parents came to visit!

I met my parents in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, which is located on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. They had just left a ton of snow behind in New York and I left the heat and dryness of Kenieba. I've decided that the best way to recover from jet and bus lag is spending lots of time on a lounge chair by the ocean. I didn't think I would miss the ocean as much as I have since I've been here. It's funny how you take something like that for granted, as I grew up and spent every summer on the shore. Just being back by the ocean, feeling the humid sea breeze, was really therapeutic.

We spent a couple of days in Dakar, recovering from our long trips and exploring the city. Our ultimate goal was to travel overland to Kenieba and spend a few days there, so we hired a 4x4 and driver to drive us across Senegal. It took a day and a half to get all the way to Kenieba. I have to say my parents were troopers, putting up with the long travel in such a foreign environment.

The three days we spent in Kenieba were action-packed and a lot of fun. The shea butter women's association put on a big show for us one morning, singing and dancing and acting out how they gather the shea nuts and turn them into butter. They gave a goat to my parents and cooked it up for lunch, which was a huge feast that we all enjoyed together. We walked around downtown Kenieba, greeting the mayor and visiting the postman and some of the business owners I've worked with and gotten to know over the 16 months I've lived in Kenieba. I invited my mom to add a post to the blog, so I'll post her recap of the trip sometime next week.

My trips to Bamako were to prepare for the next group of Peace Corps trainees who arrive this Wednesday, February 2. I was asked to be a technical trainer for the new batch of trainees, leading some of the sessions about the Malian economy and how businesses operate here. Though I was reluctant to accept since I am really busy with projects I'm working on in Kenieba, I thought it would be good to help train the new volunteers. I was in Bamako at the beginning of January for a training workshop, and now I'm back here doing prep work for PST, the same two month training I did in July and August 2009. I'm splitting the training duties with another volunteer, so I will be able to spend most of February in Kenieba and will lead the training sessions in March.

After that, I'll be heading home for a few weeks in April to attend my cousin's wedding. I can't wait to be home, though it will be pretty surreal to be back in the US after almost two years away. It's going to be a busy few months leading up to my trip home, but I'm glad to have some meaningful projects to work on as well as help out with training the next group of Peace Corps Mali volunteers.

October Musings

Rainy season was still going strong through mid-October this year. It rained at least once a day in August and September and the rain continued to fall a few times a week in October. It’s nice because even though there are some hot days, a rain storm will come through and cool things off for a few hours, or overnight if it hits at the right time. Some of the rains are really intense monsoon-like storms that flood the roads and make it hard to get anywhere. And Malians traditionally don't do anything inside their houses other than to sleep and make babies, so they are anxious for the storm to pass so they can continue their daily activities.

School started back up the first week of October. I think both kids and parents were more than ready for school to begin. Especially by the end of summer vacation, the kids are just bored with nothing to do. There are few toys to play with, and like any group of kids, they find mischief really easily.

My host family came back at the beginning of October in time for school. It was great to see them again and great to eat lunch with them every day! Though it was fun to cook lunches for myself during the summer, it was a lot of work. I definitely have more respect for Malian cooking now! My host mom didn’t come back with the kids though, and a friend’s wife is watching the kids cooking for us. I found out indirectly that my host mom is pregnant. Pregnancy is a hush-hush subject here. On November 3, the day before I left for my Senegal trip, my host dad announced that his wife had a baby; it’s a girl! I almost asked what her name was, but remembered that the baby isn’t named until the baptism, held about a week after birth. There’s a chance that mom and the new baby girl will be back in time for Tabaski, the big Muslim holiday that will take place the week before Thanksgiving.

Work is really picking up now, with projects starting up all over town. I’m going to be working on projects with the food security committee, artisans’ union and associations, high school, and one of the primary schools, as well as teaching some English vocabulary classes to interested Malians. I’ll write more about all of these topics in future blog posts.

Cinquantenaire

Mali celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence, the “cinquantenaire”, on the 22nd of September. There was a big military parade (like the Bastille Day parade down the Champs Elysees in France) and huge choreographed show in Bamako which was broadcast on the national TV station. Out in Kenieba, there was also a celebration but it was poorly planned and not nearly as exciting. The women in the shea butter association invited me to walk with them in the Independence Day “parade”. They had been talking about the parade since July, and how we would give the mayor, prefet and other town leaders some of their shea butter as a gift.

Me with some of the shea butter association members

One of the members holding some of the shea butter they made

When I hear that there’s going to be a parade, especially one on Independence Day, I think of groups of people walking down the main road wearing the national colors and spectators watching and cheering. The parade in Kenieba was more like a rally, and could be best described as chaotic. It took place in the big square in the center of town, where I at least a thousand people were crowded around the perimeter to watch some dignitaries speak. You couldn’t hear them over all the noise of the crowd, and definitely not over the extremely loud rifle shots that would randomly go off every few minutes. When it came time to line up for the “parade”, we walked outside the square and crammed together like sardines even though there was nobody behind us. When it finally became our turn to walk in the square, we walked at a brisk pace to the VIPs and then walked right past them. We only realized after we passed the VIP tent that we didn’t give them their gift! So some of us walked against the parade to deliver the shea butter to the VIPs.

Independence Day ceremony in Kenieba

The VIP tent

After the parade I had a delicious feast with one of my neighbors (fried rice with meat, sweet potatoes and other vegetables, and fried plantains), and then went up to watch a soccer game that was apparently the championship game of a tournament that had been going on between different teams in Kenieba. It was surprisingly well organized with each team sporting matching uniforms, and there were referees and linesmen officiating. The field is another story it’s all dirt, with some dried up drainage streams that make it uneven on one entire side of the field. So the game was mostly played on one side of the field. After 90 minutes the game was 0-0, but there were some good shots and it was pretty entertaining. The game took place at the end of the day and the sun was going down so they couldn't play overtime. They finished the game two days later.

These photos of the soccer game were taken with my cell phone camera, so they're not the best quality:

In the end, it was nice to be a part of the 50^th anniversary celebration, which was certainly a moment of national pride. After all, celebrations like this only happen once every 50 years!

September Musings

After the trainees officially became Peace Corps volunteers at the beginning of September, I helped the new Kayes region volunteers buy stuff for their houses. I helped them navigate the labyrinth of the Kayes market and bargained for mattresses, kitchen supplies and other big items. It really put things into perspective realizing that I was in the new volunteers’ shoes this time last year, with everything being so new and foreign. Now that I’m so used to bargaining for just about everything I buy, it’ll be hard to transition back to shopping in stores when I get back to the states!

The new Kenieba volunteer and I headed down with Peace Corps transport for installation. It was a relatively quick trip down the long dirt road in the Peace Corps car, but the road was basically all mud since it was the middle of rainy season. The new PCV has been off to a great start, bonding with her host family and meeting her neighbors and potential work partners. She’s also working really hard to learn the language spoken in Kenieba, a mix of Bambara and Malinké. Both she and I learned Bambara during pre-service training, but it’s hard to keep using Bambara since it’s not the language spoken here. The structure is the same as Malinké but most words are pronounced differently. People can understand us when we speak Bambara, but they will respond to us in Malinké or the hybrid Kenieba language. It’s definitely not the easiest way to learn a new language! I’ve picked up key phrases in the time I’ve lived in Kenieba and can have basic conversations, but usually I resort to communicating with the men and some literate women using French.

There have been some issues with the new volunteer’s house, mainly the bats who moved in and don’t want to leave. Nobody lived in the house since June, so the bats made themselves at home. And they really are a nuisance, flying around inside and making noise in the middle of the night. A carpenter spent all day on the roof, closing up all the holes and making lots of noise which we thought would get the bats out. After the carpenter’s attempts were unsuccessful, a boy came in and killed some of the remaining bats. But there were still a few stubborn bats that just wouldn’t leave. Though it’s taken a while to persuade him, the landlord agreed to install wooden paneling to create a lowered ceiling. Right now, there is no ceiling, just the metal roof. Once the paneling is installed the bats may still get in, but they won’t be nearly as annoying if there’s a wooden barrier between them and the PCV!

The end of Ramadan was in the middle of September, and there was a big feast and sense of relief after having fasted during every day for 28 days in a row. I noticed this year that people who had fasted, the healthy adults, were noticeably thinner and weaker by the end of Ramadan. I can’t imagine that it can be healthy to fast every day for a month, but it is an important part of the Muslim religion.

Not much happened workwise in September outside of the usual chatting with artisans and other entrepreneurs in town. When I was in Bamako I bought plastic containers for the women to sell their shea butter in. We worked together on pricing and selling strategies for the 45 containers of butter. We decided that I had been keeping track of how much the women were spending each time they made shea butter, things like soap to wash the basins, the fee to use the grinder that turns the nuts into a paste, and firewood to heat the shea butter. We came to a consensus on how much to charge, which gave them a good profit on each container sold. It is more than traditional shea butter is sold for in Kenieba, but we all agreed that since this butter is high-quality, the higher price would be justified.

Tut tut, looks like rain

Rainy season is in full swing here in Mali. August is the wettest month of the year, and that was definitely the case in Kenieba this year. There’s a heavy downpour just about every day, and the road outside my house becomes a fast-flowing stream, at least until the sun comes out again. It’s been a challenge to keep my yard cleared of weeds and other fast-growing plants. I joked with my neighbors that I live in a forest, because I couldn't keep up with pulling out all the weeds! A bunch of kids helped me finally clear all of it out, but I still find myself weeding a few times a week. Another not-so-fun part of rainy season is the mosquitoes, which are a nuisance even in the middle of the day. Most of the year there are no mosquitoes in Kenieba, but they are out with a vengeance during rainy season.

The little footpaths around town are all grown in now… any open space has become a field of peanuts, corn or millet stalks. The cliffs around Kenieba are lush with vegetation, and there are even little waterfalls popping out from the cliff's edge. The weather is nice and comfortable most days, and I’ve even felt cold after a big monsoon comes through! I’ve gotten back in the habit of brewing tea in the morning, and even heat up some water for a nice warm bucket bath at the end of the day.

Eighty new Peace Corps Mali volunteers finished their training last week. There are a bunch of new volunteers in my region, including one who will be working in Kenieba. She had a great site visit in August, and I enjoyed showing her around, introducing her to my friends and work partners. Being her guide around Kenieba really put things into perspective for me, in terms of how well integrated I have become in the community, not only with the women's association and artisans I've done some work with, but my neighbors and other people I've gotten to know over the last year.

During the past few weeks most Malians have been celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. I'm sharing a link to The Big Picture blog again this year since it does a great job of illustrating how Ramadan is celebrated in different cultures all over the world. According to the Big Picture:

Muslim men and women across the world are currently observing Ramadan, a month long celebration of self-purification and restraint. During Ramadan, the Muslim community fast, abstaining from food, drink, smoking and sex between sunrise and sunset. Muslims break their fast after sunset with an evening meal called Iftar, where a date is the first thing eaten followed by a traditional meal. During this time, Muslims are also encouraged to read the entire Quran, to give freely to those in need, and strengthen their ties to God through prayer. The goal of the fast is to teach humility, patience and sacrifice, and to ask forgiveness, practice self-restraint, and pray for guidance in the future. This year, Ramadan will continue until Thursday, September 9th.

In Mali, people are awake before dawn to eat a big meal and drink enough water to last them through the day. Though they say they are used to fasting during the month of Ramadan every year, it’s still a struggle for some people to make it through the day. They become agitated and anxious in the late afternoon, when they begin the countdown to sunset, when the imam signals over the loudspeaker that they can break the fast. Typically their evening break-fast is a sweet porridge called ceri. Then they head to the mosque for a special Ramadan prayer, and eat a larger meal at around 11 PM. Since they’re up again at 5 AM, they’re not getting much sleep during Ramadan, which must add to the agitation and anxiety! But it is a yearly ritual that affirms their Muslim faith. It is humbling to observe the Malians who continue to work and go about their daily business during Ramadan, because I don’t think I could possibly keep working without food and water all day! I should also mention that kids, the elderly, and adults who are pregnant or sick do not fast during Ramadan. People are not forced to fast; it is a personal choice, a decision between you and Allah, so some adults will still sneak a snack or at least drink some water during the day.

I am headed back to Kenieba tomorrow, in time for the fête on Thursday. I’ll be celebrating the end of Ramadan by eating a big feast with my homologue’s family. My host family is still in Bamako as school doesn't start here until October. So, one more month of cooking lunches for myself as well!

I uploaded some new photos of Kenieba in the rainy season; you can view them by clicking the photo:

Tilefana tobi don o don

English translation: Cooking lunch every day

Since I moved to Kenieba last September, I have been eating lunch with my host family every day, enjoying some of the great food my host mom prepares. By Malian standards, she's a really good cook... most of the time we have white rice with a sauce (peanut sauce, leafy sauce, onion sauce) and cooked vegetables. At the beginning of July, my host mom, brother and sister left Kenieba to spend summer vacation in Bamako with relatives. They will be back in time for school at the end of September. So until then, I am cooking lunch for myself each day.

I was never much of a cook back in the states… I was a big fan of Trader Joe’s heat up and eat meals on the few occasions that I cooked for myself. Unfortunately there are no Trader Joe’s on the African continent, so I've been forced to teach myself how to cook. Cooking lunch every day for the past month or so has been an adventure. It has been fun to go down to the market and pick up some vegetables and other ingredients, then figure out what I can make with them. Unfortunately, since dry season just ended and the rains are starting up, it’s not the best time of the year to buy vegetables. Since Kenieba is so hard to get to, the only produce available is what is grown in the surrounding area. Some food products come from Bamako, but not easily perishable goods. For example, you can buy South African apples and Cote d’Ivoirian pineapples. We also get eggs, onions, garlic and potatoes from Bamako.

The vegetable that has been available in Kenieba recently is eggplant, so I use that with onions, garlic, various spices and tomato paste to make a decent vegetable marinara sauce. Combined with spaghetti that I get at the store next to my house, it makes for a good Italian meal. Thanks to sauce packets, I've also made some pesto with fresh basil. Basil is wild here and seems to sprout up everywhere, especially during rainy season. On some days you can buy lettuce and cucumbers, so I've made a decent salad with a balsamic vinaigrette (thanks to the balsamic vinegar sent over in a care package... thanks mom!) I've also bought green peppers in the market, and used onions and eggs to make a decent omelete.

When I tell people that I cook my own lunches, most everyone (especially men) can't believe that I cook for myself. Gender roles are very strict here. I have never seen a Malian man cooking meals, cleaning up a house, or doing other household chores. His role is to work in the fields, raising crops and bring in income for the family, essentially putting food on the table. It's great to tell them about how men and women share these duties in the US, how men sometimes cook and clean, and some women have important jobs and bring in money for their families.

Tout Seul

There has been a big change since my last blog post. The two other Peace Corps volunteers in Kenieba both decided to end their service early and return to the US. One of them had already left by the time I got back at the end of June, and the other came down on Fourth of July weekend to pack up his stuff and leave. I became the only American in Kenieba, which is already in an isolated area of Mali (the closest American to me went from being a 10 minute walk to a full day trip away). On top of that, my host family left to spend their summer vacation with relatives in Bamako. For the next few months, I am the only person living in the compound. I used to eat lunch with my host family every day; now I am cooking lunches for myself.

Obviously, I’m not tout seul (all alone), but it felt like that at first. I had to reevaluate my situation… am I crazy to stay here for another year? If it didn’t work out for the other guys, maybe this isn't for me either? Could I keep living here, being the only white person in a town of 12,000 people? Life is certainly hard… after three months of oppressive heat, it is rainy season now and the mosquitoes, crickets and other creepy crawlers have come back to life. As I've mentioned on here many times, public transportation to and from Kenieba is an ordeal.

I had some tough days, but I worked through it, forcing myself to reconnect with friends and work partners. What’s keeping me going is the friendships I’ve developed with Malians. I enjoy hearing their stories and sharing stories of life in the US with them over countless rounds of tea. It's humbling to witness everyday life here, especially the women who work seemingly nonstop to cook meals, do household chores, and earn money for their family during their precious free time.

The work I am involved in will hopefully bring a new source of income to some of the women and give new skills to some of the businesspeople in Kenieba. I feel I am becoming a stronger person, overcoming these challenges and accomplishing the work I came here to do.

Shea Butter Formation

I was very busy during the last few weeks in Kenieba, preparing for, organizing and running a shea butter formation for thirty-six women that took place on May 12, 13 and 14. (Quick French lesson… training = formation, female trainer = formatrice). My funding proposal was approved in mid-April and the money arrived in my account soon after. When I returned to Kenieba at the beginning of May, I met with the women’s association who worked with me to host the formation. There was still a lot of work to do, from buying the materials that were needed at the training, to planning food and drink needs, and making sure the women would contribute some of the necessary supplies. When I mentioned to my friends around town that I was holding this formation, they suggested that I invite women from rural villages to come. That was logical because the shea trees (where shea nuts come from to turn into shea butter) are all out in rural areas, and women in Kenieba will not be as interested in making shea butter because they have other things to do in a big town. So I handwrote four invitations that were delivered to four villages around Kenieba.

All of the preparations seemed to be going smoothly, as the funds had arrived in my account 10 days before the formation was scheduled to begin and the women who were helping me prepare completed the things I had asked them to do. I should have been more suspicious when everything was going so well, because two days before the trainer was scheduled to leave Bamako to come here, I received a call that the formatrice would not be coming out to Kenieba for the formation. She needed to fill in for another trainer at a shea butter formation near Bamako. I was shocked to hear that only four days before the training was to begin, I wouldn’t have a trainer to run the training! A miscommunication resulted in the formatrice thinking that the dates of my training had not been set, so she thought she could hold the training a few weeks later. I had already bought most of the supplies and sent out invitations to four villages, and booked a flight to Europe the last week in May, so postponing the formation by a few weeks was out of the question.

After a stressful 24 hours of trying to decide if I should cancel the training, hold a “conference” where the women could at least come together and discuss their experiences with shea butter, or maybe try to run a basic training myself, I received a call that someone could still come out to Kenieba to hold the training, but the formation had to be pushed back by a few days to accommodate her. Though I was relieved that the training was going to happen, I frantically tried to get the message about the changed dates out to the women in the rural villages, hoping they wouldn’t have to sit around doing nothing for two days! In the end, four of the women did come early, but they didn't mind sitting around. I'm sure it was a nice break from their usual hard work at home.

Anyway, the formation went really well, much better than I expected. All of the sixteen women that I invited from rural villages made it. Unlike practically every meeting in Mali, the shea butter training started on time every day. Even on the first day, the mayor showed up at 8 AM, and gave some opening remarks. The women dressed up in their nicest clothes, and I was happy to see that they took this training seriously. I also donned some nice Malian shirts that a tailor friend made for me.

Some of the women were literate and could speak some French, but most of the women could only speak Bambara, and most couldn’t read or write. Each day, the trainer had all of the women sign in using their fingerprint. The training was held in Bambara, so I couldn’t understand everything that the trainer was explaining, but I could catch some words here or there. Sometimes I would ask the formatrice what she had gone over. But it was obviously more important that the women could understand the formatrice and learn from her.

The women respected the formatrice and listened intently to what she had to say. She split them up into two groups and had them write down the ways that they traditionally make shea butter. After comparing the groups’ steps, the formatrice explained that to make high quality shea butter that can be sold to bigger markets (and sold for more money), they need to make shea butter a different way. She wrote down the steps, explained them numerous times, and even had the women repeat the steps to make sure they remembered and understood them. She would call on someone and ask her to recite the whole process of making shea butter. I could tell some of the women were nervous about doing that. It was like being called out in class and the teacher asking you to recite something you just learned… not easy! Also, if she caught any of the women falling asleep, she would call on them and ask what she had just said, basically embarrassing them! There were men who came to observe the formation, and when some of them were falling asleep, she even asked them to leave! That’s not typical here either, a woman telling a man to do something. But the formatrice had some status as she was a professional trainer who came all the way from Bamako.

As the formation continued into the second and third day, I noticed that the women from both Kenieba and from the rural villages were really interested in this new process for making shea butter, and seemed motivated to actually use it in the next cultivating season. It inspired me to help them during the rest of my time here. If they become well organized and take the proper steps to form a cooperative, they could sell large quantities of pure shea butter to buyers in big markets, and generate income for themselves. Although there is a long way to go between the end of this training and the first sale of shea butter to an exporter, I think the women have the potential to make a lot of money doing this, if they are really motivated and interested in doing it. I’d like to help them form a cooperative, get each women’s association the supplies they need to make good shea butter, and help them find initial buyers.

It was great to see these women so interested in a new way to bring in money for their families. I plan to gather all of the women’s association presidents together when I am back in June so we can discuss the next steps. If they are still motivated, and want to put the hard work in to creating this high quality shea butter, I want to work to help these women improve their lives and find a new source of income, other than subsistence farming and dangerous gold mining. Forming and developing this women’s shea butter cooperative will likely become my primary project for the rest of my time here, and I’m excited to help them get started.

Surviving the Hot Season, One Mango at a Time

The hot season is in full force here in Mali, meaning the temperature reaches at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit every day. A friend of mine explained the weather here perfectly: it literally feels like you’re in a blow dryer. It's really hot, dry air. It is still cooling off at night, at least, so I am able to sleep comfortably in my bug hut (mosquito net tent) on the patio outside my house. Since the days are getting longer, I have been waking up earlier. It's nice to be up early though, so I can take advantage of the cooler weather in the morning before it gets uncomfortably hot!

I changed my daily routine a bit to avoid being out in the heat of the day. After breakfast, I ride my bike to the center of town, chat with various artisans, shop for produce in the market and run any other errands I might have to do. Then I head home in the late morning, take a bucket bath to cool off, and wait for my host family to call me over for lunch. After lunch, we all sit under their big tree and socialize while we make some tea. They showed me how to brew tea so I've been the tea maker recently. It is a long process of steeping the leaves, adding the right amount of sugar (though everyone has a different opinion on how much to add), and serving in little tea glasses. There are three rounds of tea, and each successive round is sweeter and not as strong. It is a pastime for Malians to brew and drink tea, often a few times a day. After lunch and tea, I spend the rest of the afternoon in my hammock, reading and taking a nap, and waiting for the sun to start setting. Then I'll take another bucket bath, and enjoy the breeze from my floor fan when the electricity kicks on at around 5 PM. The hot season has been difficult, but not unbearable. I have found ways to stay cool and keep myself distracted from thinking about the heat too much.

One positive thing about hot season is that it is also mango season. Literally millions of mangoes are ripening all over Mali, and everyone is enjoying the mango harvest. I have been invited to pick mangoes with my friends in Kenieba. It is a fun time, picking the low hanging fruits and trying to pick the mangoes high up in the trees. Each time I've come home with a ton of mangoes that I share with my host family. They are so sweet and juicy... I'm eating 2 or 3 mangoes a day. I'm a happy PCV :)

I have been planning a big project the past few weeks, a shea butter and soap training for 30 women in Kenieba the second week in May. My sitemate Jim and I submitted a proposal to Peace Corps, to pay for a trainer to come from Bamako and teach the women how to produce high quality shea butter, and also teach them how to make soap using shea butter and other locally available ingredients. Mali is one of the only countries in the world where shea trees grow, and shea butter is in high demand in cosmetic products all over the world. Unfortunately Mali has a reputation for making bad quality shea butter in the past, but one of the Peace Corps' big initiatives in Mali is to change that reputation and empower women with income generating activities, or IGAs. Once the international road is finished next year, the women in Kenieba will have the opportunity to sell their good quality shea butter to buyers in Bamako and Dakar. I have been planning this training for a while now, meeting with the women, searching for prices for the various supplies and materials and organizing the logistics for the trainer's trip out to Kenieba. There is still a lot of work to do, but hopefully the funding will come in time and it will all go well.

After the training, I am headed to France to visit friends, and then meeting my family in Switzerland. I am looking forward to a few weeks in the developed world, out of the extreme heat, and can’t wait for the adventures to come! The rainy season normally starts at the end of May, cooling things off and making the countryside green again. So by the time I am back from Europe in June, it should be more comfortable again in Mali!

January Recap

Another month has gone by, and with each progressive month, I am becoming more productive and more integrated in my community. I have been making it a habit to visit different artisans during the week, drinking tea with them and socializing. Sometimes the conversation turns to work, but most of the time we talk about lighter topics, typically cultural differences between Mali and the US. It has been great to build these relationships with the various artisans in town. This is definitely a good first step towards doing some beneficial projects together in the future.

The transport out of my site is difficult any time of the year. It took us 12 hours this time to travel 150 miles. Yep, an average of 12 miles an hour, crawling up a rough dirt road in an old rickety coach bus, stopping occasionally to repair flat tires and other mechanical issues. It's an exhausting trip. I got in on Monday and have been recovering, getting some work done and getting ready for a fun weekend in Dakar, Senegal. The West African Invitational Softball Tournament is held every President's Day weekend in Dakar, and Peace Corps Mali will be fielding three teams this year. I had an old baseball glove sent over, so hopefully I will get to play! There are fun events planned each night as well. Afterwards, I'm looking forward to some time on the beach and hanging out with friends before heading back to Kenieba. I'm also looking forward to escaping the heat that's creeping into Mali. It has been over 100 degrees here every day, and it's only getting warmer.

The Africa Cup ended a couple weeks ago, and unfortunately Mali had a pretty poor showing, despite that surprise comeback in the opening match against Angola. When Mali was still in the tournament, Kenieba was fired up on game days. I came across a little parade through the market one morning, with guys dressed up in funny big hats and flag capes, playing their drums and getting the crowd fired up for the game. There were little Mali flags hanging like banners across the main street, like we have at home on Fourth of July. It seems as if there is more national pride when the Mali national team is playing a big game than on their Independence Day! Unfortunately Mali did not play well in its other two games and was out of the tournament after the first round. But we continued to watch the Africa Cup until the final match at the end of January. The electricity in town would turn on an hour early, at 4 PM, so that people could watch the games. They definitely love soccer here!

At the end of January, a friend from high school came to visit. He is a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and his site is not far from mine. It’s a funny coincidence to grow up in the same town in the states, and end up so close to each other in remote West Africa! It was fun to show him around Kenieba and learn about how his Peace Corps experience has been. It was also interesting to compare daily life in Mali and Senegal. For example, there are lots of warthogs and bushbuck (african deer) roaming around the Senegalese plains, but there are none in Mali as far as I've seen. It seems like most wild animals have been hunted out in Mali (including lions that used to roam through Kenieba years ago!). They are protected in national parks in Senegal, so they thrive there. Senegal also benefits from the tourism; since the animals are there, foreigners pay big money to go on a safari and see these animals in the wild. I am planning to visit my friend on my way back from Dakar, so I will get to see his site before he finishes his Peace Corps service this spring.

I’m off to pack and get ready for this big weekend in Dakar. Though I’m longing for winter and the snow at home, I’m looking forward to a fun weekend and relaxing on the beach for a few days.

Kalo

I inherited a cat when I moved into my house. His name is Kalo, which means moon in Bambara. The PCV who used to live in my house originally had two cats, Kalo and Tile (moon and sun). Tile never came back one night (before I moved here), so now it’s just Kalo. She got them only about a year ago when they were kittens, so Kalo is a young cat. I hope that explains some of his antics…

I have never had a cat as a pet before so I didn’t know what to expect. As far as I could tell, at first this cat was a royal pain in the ass. He used to meow incessantly to get what he wanted (and still does from time to time). He was not happy when I fixed the screen on the door so he couldn’t go outside and come back inside whenever he wanted. So the first few nights, in the middle of the night, he would meow and meow and meow until I got out of bed and let him out or in. Sometimes it would happen multiple times in one night! I got pretty fed up with this, to say the least, and gave Kalo some “Malian feedback”, essentially a good whack, so he would learn. He’s much better now, and won't bother me until I get up in the morning.

The old PCV used to give Kalo real cat food to eat, but you can only get this in Bamako. I haven't been to Bamako since pre-service training and didn’t bring cat food with me before moving out here. So he has been eating what I eat every day for lunch, usually white rice and sauce. Sometimes he likes it, but sometimes he doesn’t, and just won’t eat. If he is still hungry, he lets me know! Cue the incessant meowing.

But things are better now; he understands that rice and sauce is what he’s going to get, more often than not. It has taken a while, but we have warmed up to each other. He comes and cuddles on me if I’m lying in bed. If anything, it is great to have a cat around to keep the (other) pests out!

Tabaski

Made it to Kayes today after a long, uncomfortable bus ride from Kenieba. It's hard to put into words how unpleasant the trip was, but basically we were crammed in there. There were 7 people to a row, (6 small seats and someone standing or sitting on a water jug in the aisle) all bouncing around as the bus crawled down the dirt road. Needless to say, I'm relieved to be here and enjoying all the room to stretch out!

Anyway, here's the first entry, about the big holiday last weekend.

Tabaski is one of the biggest holidays in Mali. The tradition is for each family to sacrifice a goat and enjoy a big feast. There was a lot of preparation leading up to the big fête… the elementary schools had Thursday and Friday off. Women were getting their hair done a few days before. Friday, the day before Tabaski, was like a huge shopping spree. Matt and Jim had to take out money at the bank, and they said the scene reminded them of a commodities trading floor in the US, people pushing into the office to take out money for the holiday. The market was packed… hundreds of people buying their supplies for the big feast. I bought 2 kilograms of potatoes for my host family as a gift for the fête.

I woke up on Saturday morning, the day of the big feast, to the sound of roosters, motos speeding down my road, and sheep baa-ing. When I was leaving my concession to buy some bread for breakfast, I told my host dad that I was surprised to see the sheep had not been sacrificed yet. He explained that they first go to a big prayer session (I found out later that over 2,000 people were there), and when they get back, it's time to sacrifice the sheep.

So I got ready for the big day, and walked next door to get a front row seat for the butchering of the sheep. I can’t say I have witnessed something like this before, but it was less gruesome than I thought it would be (I conveniently missed the actual slaying). My host dad did a good job taking the insides out and cutting out the good stuff for us to cook and eat. At around noon we ate an awesome meal of tender meat, fried potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, onions, and a delicious mustard/vinegar/oil sauce to top it all off. It was really good.

I figured that this meal was our lunch for the day, so I asked if I could bring some of the leftover food back for Kalo, since that’s what I usually do after lunch every day. My host mom, Fanta, gave me a strange look and reluctantly put some in a bowl for the cat. Little did I know, “lunch” would be coming at 3 PM! Go figure. It was another delicious meal of meat and bashi, a couscous like food made from corn.

Like at the end of Ramadan, kids from the neighborhood came around to wish my host family and me a happy Tabaski and that I will have as prosperous a celebration next year. Lots of family friends came by as well to say hello and say the various benedictions.

Late in the day, as the sun was setting, I went around the neighborhood and took photos of my host family and my neighbors. They were all really excited about it, as they had their best clothes on for the big fête. All in all, a fun day!

I put up a photo album from the holiday... be warned though, the first few pictures are of the sheep getting cut up, so if you want to skip that, click the first link:
Tabaski 2009 Photo Album (without butchering)
Tabaski 2009 Photo Album (with butchering)

I also put up more photos from a big hike that Matt and I went on in November.

The Seasons are Changing

It has been a busy month in Kenieba. My landlord hired a painter to come and paint all of the walls in my house, inside and out. He finished a few days ago. The house looks really good, and since I had to move all the furniture around, it feels kind of like I moved into a new house! I have also been meeting with more artisans and other Malians who have ideas for community projects.

The rainy season ended in October (we haven’t had any significant rain in a few weeks), and the “cold season” has begun. It is still hot in the middle of the day, but at night the temperature drops into the 60s. Most Malians don their heaviest clothes when the sun sets… big winter jackets, wool sweaters and big hats. I thought about taking out the one sweatshirt I brought from home, but it has been so nice to bask in the cool weather! Admittedly, even I have felt chilly when I am outside at night, but the inside of my house stays warm after baking in the sun all day. It has been great sleeping weather!

This time of the year is also "burn your trash" season. Every family has been burning their trash. I have been reluctant to ignite my trash pile, but someone comes and takes my trash every once in a while so it is probably just burned with someone else’s trash. There have also been brush fires on the outskirts of town. I'm not sure if the brush fires were set on purpose or if a trash fire spread to the brush, but all of this burning has caused a big haze to set in over Kenieba. Also, since all the roads are dirt, the dust has really picked up. My host mom told me to close all the windows because otherwise everything will be covered in dust. So, the smoke and dust has been something to deal with as the dry season sets in.

Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Mali, but an important Muslim holiday, Tabaski, happens to fall on the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year. Since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, Islamic holidays fall on a different day every year. The tradition here in Mali is to sacrifice a sheep and prepare a big feast for the holiday. It should be a fun day!

Matt, Jim and I are at one of the big gold mines this evening, getting our Internet fix and hanging out with some of the workers. It's a nice facility up here... I'm freezing right now in the air conditioning! Fortunately, since the mine isn't too far from Kenieba, I will be able to update this blog more often than I have been the past few months.

We are heading up to Kayes the first week in December and then on to Bamako for a Peace Corps training session. So I will be in Kenieba for Thanksgiving. Happy Turkey Day to everyone back home!

Back to Site

I uploaded the second batch of photos to Picasa, from my classroom visit on the first day of school and my second hike on top of the cliffs. This time, instead of writing the stories behind the photos in a blog post, I typed them into the captions under the photos. Here's the link.

Also, I added a new box to the right side of the blog called Twitter Updates. I found out from another PCV that you can "tweet" from your cell phone here... meaning I can send short text messages and they will be posted to my Twitter account. Since I don't have Internet access in Kenieba, I thought that sending an occasional Twitter update would be a fun and easy way to update the blog. I am not yet sure if it will work, or if I will have anything interesting to tweet about, but I figured it would be a good experiment.

It has been a good week in Kayes, but I am looking forward to getting back to Kenieba. The next time I plan to be back here will be the week of Thanksgiving... I can't believe it's only a month away!

Picture Post – First Hike, End of Ramadan Fête, Dance Party

I just uploaded the first batch of photos. Before I share the link, here are the stories behind the photos:

The First Hike: I talked about it in yesterday’s post… before she left, a former PCV who served in Kenieba guided us on a hike up the escarpment to the top of the ridge. It was a beautiful hike; enjoy the photos!

End of Ramadan Fête: The end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, is a big holiday in Mali. Families gather together to celebrate with a big feast, kind of like our Thanksgiving. People were preparing for “fête day” at least a few days ahead of time, getting their hair done, having nice clothes made, and slaughtering goats and preparing other food for the big day. Since there was so much preparation for this big day, I had pretty high expectations for the big feast.

Hakim invited me to spend the afternoon with his family, so one of his sons picked me up and we walked to his house. It was a subdued atmosphere when I arrived, just lots of people around the concession still preparing for the fête. So much for a day-long party! The women were still doing each other’s hair, and most of the family members were not dressed up yet. I came over in my Malian complet, a collared shirt and matching pants, and ironically I felt pretty out of place! Hakim and I ate lunch, nothing extraordinary, and then we just lounged around as the women prepared for the feast. The food they were making looked really good, so I thought maybe it would be served for dinner. Since Hakim wasn't doing much of anything and I was getting pretty bored, I asked if I could take photos of the kids. They were really excited to see their photos on my camera. As you’ll see, some of the kids were in nice outfits!

Once the kids were dressed, they went out to greet other families in the neighborhood. Hakim explained to me that they give blessings for a good fête and that they will have as plentiful of a fête again next year. It was fun to see the kids come by all dressed up and recite their blessings. The other “event” of the afternoon was the griots. Griots are essentially Malian storytellers who walk from house to house, giving lots of blessings and telling stories about how great your ancestors were. Each last name has a different family tradition and story, for example the Samakés were traditionally hunters so the stories are about the great hunts. Then they expect to be paid at the end. We were told during our cross-cultural training that in general, Malians love the griots and are happy to pay the griots a considerable amount. Then the griots leave and do the same thing at the next family. I had seen griots before at the weddings I went to in Baguineda, but I didn’t know they also come around during holidays. Quite a way to make a living!

I spent about 3 hours at Hakim’s house, and the party never really started, as far as I could tell. There were no signs that it would start anytime soon, so I headed home and told them I would come by for dinner at the usual time, 7 PM. Since the women were cooking a lot of food in the afternoon, I was ready to eat a big dinner. Well, I arrived back at Hakim’s house, and everyone is huddled around the TV watching a Malian soccer team play a Nigerian team. At halftime, we sat around the bowl and get ready to eat what I figured would be some amazing food… and it turns out to be spaghetti and pieces of meat. Though it was better than the average Malian dinner, this was the only course we ate. So much for all that food the women were making all day! I’m not sure if I had missed something, but something must have been lost in translation. Oh well, at least it was the end of Ramadan; everyone would be in happier spirits from then on, since they were not fasting all day anymore! The Malians lost the soccer game, by the way.

Dance Party: Jim and I were sitting in my house one afternoon, and all of a sudden we hear a really loud siren, and all these sounds that in the US you would associate with an emergency, an air raid, like the world is coming to an end. Well here, apparently those noises mean that the DJ has just set up his system right outside your house and is preparing for a huge dance party. Literally, he had set up the speakers and dance venue at the intersection right outside my house. Jim and I peeked our heads out the window, and there was not much of anything happening, except for really loud Malian dance music and some energetic kids dancing in the street. A few hours later, at least 100 people were crowded around the dance venue, having a good time. You could imagine that it was pretty loud in my house… there’s nothing I could do about it, so we played some games with the kids and kept ourselves busy. When I went out to take pictures of the party, someone grabbed my hand and tried to pull me out onto the dance floor. I said “kofé!”, later! With the hopes that she might just forget… well she definitely did not.

After dinner, we were in the playing cards with some of the kids in the neighborhood. The same girl came up to my door and pretty much forced me to come out and dance. So I went… I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous… I said in the best Bambara and French I knew that there better be a lot of people dancing out there with me! Well there were 8 other women and me dancing in a sort of line dance, kind of like how it looks in the photos. As soon as I got out there, of course people were laughing at the white person trying to dance… but I just went with it, and by the end of the song was having a good time. But I can’t say I would volunteer to do that again! Surprisingly, the party ended around midnight (I had heard these dance parties can go until 2 in the morning), so I could still get a decent night’s sleep. I asked my host family the next day how often these parties happen, and they said twice a year… this one was to celebrate the end of “summer vacation” as school was starting up the next week. The next one is in November or December. As long as they are only twice a year, I can put up with a really loud dance party and maybe even join in the fun right outside my door!

Photos are up at: http://picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/FirstMonthAtSite#

First Month at Site

Overall, it was a good first month at site. I am happy to finally be settled in, and have all of my things unpacked for the first time since I arrived in Mali. It has been fun to explore my new home and start to have a daily routine.

Some highlights from the past month:

A PCV who worked in Kenieba for two years finished her service and moved back to the US at the end of September. We overlapped in Kenieba for about a week, and she was really helpful in getting us oriented. We met with two community groups that she had been working with, a women’s gardening association and chicken raising group. It’s great to have the opportunity to continue working with these groups, as both projects will hopefully become income generating activities.

I arranged a “meal plan” to eat lunch every day with my host family next door. For dinner, I eat four nights a week with my counterpart’s family. My counterpart, Hakim, is a metalworker and a member of the artisans union I will eventually be working with. It has been fun getting to know both families and comparing family life in Kenieba to my first Malian host family in Baguineda. One big difference is having electricity at night; Hakim has a TV and satellite dish, so we watch European football matches and news from the French stations TV5 and France 24. Like my first host family, Hakim has a complex family structure. Some of his brothers have died, and their widows and kids live with Hakim’s family. He and his older brother, whose family also lives in the concession, support the entire family. It makes for a lot going on around the house!

I had another case of dysentery (aka bad diarrhea) in September… bacterial this time, so it was less severe but lasted longer than the amoebas that were wreaking havoc in my intestines in July. I also had a fever for two nights from the dysentery, which was not fun. Since then, things have checked out all right in the health department! I’m hoping it will stay that way for a while…

Some of the best days were spent exploring the area around Kenieba. It is a beautiful region of Mali, very lush and green (especially now, at the end of the rainy season) with a chain of cliffs (escarpments) to the south and east of town. We were guided on a path up one of the escarpments to a village on the top of the ridge, with a beautiful view of the valley. Matt and I have done some more exploring since, and found more great walking paths and small villages “en brousse” (in the bush). We also did a good amount of biking, and made it to the Faleme River which separates Mali and Senegal.

We are in Kayes for about a week to regroup and reconnect. I plan to post a few blog entries while we’re here, so stay tuned for more. Photos are coming soon too!

Site Visit, Part 2 - Kenieba

Kenieba is a town of about 20,000 people in far western Mali, close to the borders of Senegal and Guinea. It is difficult to travel there overland, as the main road from Kayes is all dirt. The trip from Kayes to Kenieba, about 250 km/150 miles, took us almost 7 hours in a Land Cruiser. The road is even worse in rainy season; we had to drive through huge puddles and cross some streams. The drive down is really pretty though... rolling hills, lush vegetation, and escarpments that rise hundreds of feet up and continue all the way to Kenieba. I'm excited to explore the surrounding area on my mountain bike and hike to the top of the escarpments.

The major commercial activity in Kenieba is gold mining, and the biggest mine is owned by a South African company. A large part of the labor force in Kenieba is employed by the gold mine. There is also traditional mining done on the hillsides, and there is a gold rush mentality in town. People are less focused on the subsistence agriculture that dominates the economy in other parts of Mali, because they can earn a lot of money from the gold they find.

So this presents a unique situation for development work in Kenieba, as people can earn money and support their families just from the income from gold. But there is always room for community development, especially in capacity building. A Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) who has been working in Kenieba for two years, Vanessa, hosted us for the few days we were there. She has worked on many projects in Kenieba, including HIV/AIDS education, a tree nursery, chicken raising, and a community garden. I will be moving into her house in September.

Because it takes two full days to travel to Kenieba, we only had a few days at site before we had to turn around and head back to Bamako. I did not have time to meet with the artisans, but I did meet my Malian counterpart and had dinner with his family. He works with metal to make things like tin roofs and doors. We didn't have much time to talk business, but I told him I want to meet with each of the artisan associations in Kenieba when I return in September.

Even though Kenieba is so difficult to get to, there are lots of amenities here. There are 15 hours of electricity each day, strong cell phone service, a big market, a post office, a bank, and lots of shops and street food. There are no Internet cafes in town, but you can get a USB key that gives basic Internet access through the cell phone system here.

Overall, I really like Kenieba and see myself working on many different projects. It is a beautiful region of Mali, and it will be fun to explore the surrounding area. The bad condition of the road and distance from Bamako worries me, but having these amenities and three PCVs close by will make it a lot easier.

Site Assignment!

It has been a very busy week here at Tubaniso, as we have been preparing for our site visit next week. The site announcements were really fun. They called out our assignments by region and put a post-it note with our name on the big map of Mali. It was cool to see where we will all be, spread out across Mali from Kayes to Mopti!

I will be working in Kenieba (pronounced kenya-bah), a circle capital (the equivalent of the biggest town in a county in the US) in the Kayes region of Mali (Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kéniéba). It is one of the furthest Peace Corps sites from Bamako, the capital. It will take us two days to get there! We will have to stay overnight at the Peace Corps transit house in Kayes. I was worried at first about how remote Kenieba is, but two trainees in the environment and education sectors are moving up there with me, and an environment volunteer has lived there for two years and will be there for a third year. I'm looking forward to working with them on secondary projects.

My primary project will be to work with an artisan's union to build their business capacities. The union is composed of different trade associations, including tailors, carpenters, auto and bike mechanics, radio technicians, welders, and blacksmiths. The union requested a SED Peace Corps volunteer to work with them for the past three years, but it has been difficult to get to Kenieba until recently. Apparently the road has been reconstructed and the road is now passable in the rainy season.

My job description is pretty vague, and it sounds like I will have a lot of work ahead of me to figure out what skills they currently have, what they want to learn, and what I can offer them. During the first three months, I will be conducting a need assessment and developing strategies to help the artisans build their business capacities. The ideas they came up with for me to work with them include: identifying the right training to improve their managerial and operational capacities; introduce illiterate accounting; conduct adult literacy and numeracy training; teach literate artisans how to use the computer and Word/Excel; train them in product development and differentiation. It will be interesting to see how motivated they are to learn all of these new skills. Also, it will be a long time before we get any formal training done; the first three months at site are focused on building relationships with community members and conducting the need assessment. But overall, it sounds like a good assignment for me and something I can certainly keep working on for 24 months.

Our homologues (Malian counterparts who we will be working with, especially in the first few months at site) arrived at Tubaniso a few days ago. My homologue is a woodworker and seems very nice. I have not been able to understand his French very well so conversations have been difficult thus far, but I hope that this improves as I learn more Bambara.

We leave for Kenieba on Sunday morning and will hopefully arrive sometime on Monday. We will be back in Tubaniso at the end of next week, so I will post my first impressions (and some photos!) of Kenieba then.

PS I added a little box on the right side of the blog that lists things I would love to receive in a care package. You don't have to send a package, letters/postcards are great too! Hopefully I will get a PO box in Kenieba since they have a post office there, but for now use the Bamako address. I can still get mail there even after I move out to Kenieba.

My address is:
William Budd, PCT

Corps de la Paix

BP 85

Bamako, Mali

If you're just sending little things, write zero value on the customs form (you can still put a description). It helps avoid hassle on this end when receiving the package. Thanks!