Training the Newbies

Sorry for the long gap between blog posts... I have actually been really busy the past few months! I was invited to be a technical trainer for the new batch of Peace Corps volunteers, who arrived at the beginning of February. After my parents left, I travelled to Bamako to prepare for the new volunteers' arrival and finish planning the training sessions. It was hard to be away from Kenieba for a long time, especially since I'm working on many different projects there now, but it was great to be a part of training the next group of volunteers. It really put my Peace Corps service into perspective, after working and living here for almost two years now. All of a sudden I became the expert on small business and commerce in Mali!

At the end of February I organized a project for the small enterprise development (SED) trainees for them to learn about income generating activities in Mali. They worked in small groups and partnered with Malian entrepreneurs. Each group learned about the entrepreneur's business and then actually made and sold a product themselves. One group learned how to make mango juice, another made purses with a tailor, and others made popcorn and bean cakes. It was a great learning experience for them, especially when it came time to sell their product in the market! It was a really busy time for me, a full week of going around and checking on each group, but it was cool to see the trainees learning firsthand about starting and operating a small business in Mali. Though not all of the groups made a profit, they had a lot of fun with the project and gained a lot of knowledge and experience from it.

This group sold popcorn to schoolkids during their mid-morning break. They sold 40 bags of popcorn in less than 10 minutes!

End of Homestay & Ramadan

My pre-service training is quickly coming to an end. In four days, I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! We packed up our things and said goodbye to our host families this morning. It was an emotional goodbye... they really enjoyed hosting me and I felt like I was a member of their family. I hope to visit them again during my service. We are back at Tubaniso for the week and have a packed schedule... we head out to our sites to begin our service next weekend!

There was a farewell ceremony with the community yesterday morning. Because it is Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, there was no music and entertainment like we had for the welcoming ceremony. Different representatives of the village gave speeches, and they were very poignant. They said things like: don't forget us... remember your time here... now that you have lived here, keep us in mind for future development projects... we would love to host Peace Corps volunteers again... we were worried that you wouldn't like eating our food or living like us, but we were really happy that you became members of our families... you are welcome back in our community anytime.

I meant to share this link before I left for homestay but didn't get a chance. The Big Picture is a fascinating blog from the Boston Globe, a photo essay on different news-related subjects. There was one about Ramadan around the world: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/08/ramadan_2009.html. It starts with a great description of Ramadan:

In Muslim nations and regions around the globe, this is the first week of the holy month of Ramadan, a time for followers to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual activity during the day, breaking their fast each sunset, with traditional meals and sweets. 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 Saturday, September 19th.

We returned to homestay during the first week of Ramadan. My host family is participating, but they understood that I would not be fasting and my host mom had lunch ready for me every day. I felt guilty having her cook food for me when she couldn't eat all day! People who are sick, the elderly, kids and pregnant women do not fast either, so it wasn't so bad. My host family asked me if I wanted to fast. I told them that if I didn't have any food or water all day long, I would pass out! I also figured that if I fasted, all I would think about is how hungry and thirsty I was, and wouldn't be able to study any Bambara!

As soon as the sun set, my host family would eat some sweetened porridge to break their fast. Then my host brother went to the mosque to pray, except when it rained really hard and the ground was uneven. Since there are many more people praying during the holy month, they have to pray outside the mosque.

Ramadan ends during our first weekend at site. Families get together and put on a big feast to celebrate the end of the month of fasting. Definitely something to look forward to!

Photos are up from the last couple of weeks: http://picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/Homestay3#

Shea Butter Field Trip

We went on a field trip today to a women's cooperative that makes shea butter. I uploaded some photos to Picasa, the link is: http://picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/SheaButterFieldTrip#

There is a big effort in Peace Corps Mali to help women improve the quality of the shea butter they produce so that they can earn more money from their labor, and so that more Malian shea butter can be exported.

If you're interested, here are two more links about shea butter in Mali.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ktkxQuCjI - a Peace Corps Volunteer produced this video
• http://www.maisondukarite.org/eindex.html - the web site of the women's association we visited. The English translation is pretty bad, but you can get the gist of what they're saying.

Our last stint at homestay starts tomorrow. It is hard to believe that pre-service training is almost over... only three weeks left until swear-in!

Site Visit Photos

I was pretty tired all day today, still recovering from the long trip to and from Kenieba. I tallied up all the travel... the round trip took more than 32 hours. Too much travel in one week! Tonight's dinner made up for a tiring day... the kitchen staff at Tubaniso cooked up some tacos with cheese, guacamole, beans, ground beef, lettuce and tomatoes. It was awesome.

Photos are up from site visit...
picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/SiteVisit and picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/Kayes

My new address in Kenieba is listed in the right column. Any mail that is sent from now on should be sent to Kenieba. I will still get mail at Bamako, but not for a few months.

Thanks for all your comments and e-mails, it's great to hear that you enjoy reading the blog and hearing news from home.

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 Visit, Part 1 - Kayes

I'm blogging from the Peace Corps house in Kayes, the regional capital in western Mali. Kayes was the French colonial capital in the late 19th Century, and it remains an important commercial center. It is on the main route from Bamako to Dakar, the capitals of Mali and Senegal. The bridge is out across the Senegal River, so there are trucks on both sides of the main road for miles waiting for a ferry to cross the river. Kayes is also the halfway point from Bamako to Kenieba, as it takes a full day to travel from Bamako to Kayes and from Kayes to Kenieba. So Kayes will be my closest major city, and the Peace Corps house will be a place to come to meet other volunteers from the region and take a break from work.

The road from Bamako to Kayes is in great shape, paved and pothole-free almost the entire way. Eight of us made the trip here in a Peace Corps car last Sunday... it was a little cramped but the smooth road made for a comfortable trip. After driving ten hours to get to Kayes, we had to wait another two hours for a ferry to take us across the river. A Peace Corps volunteer, Andrew, welcomed us to the Peace Corps house. He cooked up a great Mexican meal, complete with steak, veggies, rice, beans, and soft tacos. The perfect ending to a long travel day!

The Peace Corps house in Kayes is really nice... it has a full kitchen, a few bedrooms, a TV and DVD player with a ton of movies, a library, and a computer with high-speed internet. The bathrooms have flush toilets and showers! It will be nice to come up here every few months for a mini-vacation.

We are back in Kayes now after four days in Kenieba. We will be venturing out soon to explore the city and get our bus tickets for the trip back to Bamako tomorrow morning. More on Kenieba in the next blog post!

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!

Second Stint at Homestay

It has been a good two weeks at my homestay site, especially since I am amoeba-free! I am making pretty good progress at learning Bambara... I have the greetings down, and can have a basic conversation with someone. The language class continues to be taught at a really fast pace, and it has been a lot of work to keep up. But with more practice and forcing myself to use Bambara (and not French) whenever possible, I think that I will have a good knowledge of the language by the end of training.

There was a wedding in my family last weekend, which made for an eventful week. My host sister came from Bamako to stay with us and brought her little kids, who were a lot of fun to have around. They were really entertaining and a good distraction for everyone (away from staring at me all the time!).

My cousin married a woman in the same village, and each family had a big ceremony, so it was a big day in my village. A Malian wedding is a lengthy occasion, with multiple ceremonies and celebrations. The ceremony that I attended started at 9 AM, when the bride and groom left for the mayor's office to sign the legal papers and officially become married. I stayed under the tent and waited with Baba and others for them to come back. The kids were really entertaining and I took a ton of photos of them while we waited for the bride and groom to return. They got back at around 10, with a huge parade of motorcycles and cars escorting them. Then the couple went to greet the elders and get their picture taken, which was a chaotic scene. Not long after that, the couple went into the house and then left. My host brother told me they went to the bride's family's ceremony. It's interesting how impersonal the ceremony was, with the couple nowhere in sight, but it was a fun time. The music was great and fun to listen to. We ate some delicious fried rice, meat and goyo (a bitter vegetable) for lunch. After some more dancing and great music, I went back to my house at around 2 PM. The ceremony continued through the evening and into the early morning. My host brother told me that the women have their celebration during the day, and the men celebrate at night. Overall it was really fun to attend the ceremony, and I'm glad I could be a part of the family's big day!

My host family had a shirt made for me to wear, which fit pretty well considering they didn't take any measurements! I really like it and have worn it numerous times since. I haven't had time to have clothes made, but look forward to doing that when I get settled in at site. On the clothing note... at the wedding, I noticed that the women kept changing their outfits. I found out later that they wear a lot of outfits to show that they are wealthy and can afford all these clothes.

In other news... I taught Go Fish (Taa Jégéminé) to my host siblings and their friends, and they loved it! They would ask to play after dinner almost every night. It was also great practice for me to ask questions in Bambara, as well as listen to their conversations and pick up on the numbers.

I can't believe we are halfway through Pre-Service Training already! It's incredible to think that I have only been in Mali for a month. The training has certainly been hectic and stressing at times, but I know that this pace will really slow down when training ends in September.

That's it for now... all the trainees are back at Tubaniso for the week as we prepare for our site visits. I will post in a few days about my site assignment, where I will be working for the next two years.

Photos are up at http://picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/Homestay2

Younoussa Samaké

That's my Malian name, Younoussa Samaké! It took a little getting used to, but I'm warming up to it. My clue to help me remember it was to say UNICEF, without the F.

I figured I would approach this blog post with some sort of structure... a day in the life.

I wake up at 6:15 AM, usually to the sound of pigeons landing walking on my metal roof. If not, there's a rooster or loud donkey not soon after. I usually set my alarm clock anyway, just in case. At around 6:30, my host sister will knock on my door to get my bucket so she can fill it up with water and bring it to the nyegen. She comes back a few minutes later and says "ji sigi na", the water is ready. Then I head to the nyeggin with my towel, soap and shampoo and take a nice warm bucket bath. It's not a bath in a bucket, by the way... more like pouring water over my head with a cup. It's more comfortable and relaxing than it sounds. Then I head back to my room to get dressed.

At around 7 AM, I have breakfast with my host brother, Baba. I leave a teabag out for him to make the tea, and buys some bread to eat in the morning. I usually eat 3/4 of a baguette with butter, tea, and some ceri, which is kind of like oatmeal. Both the tea and oatmeal have a ton of sugar in them... Malians love their sugar!

At 7:40 I get ready for class, and leave at around 7:50. It takes about 5 minutes to get to class, but I leave early because I need to greet practically everyone I encounter on the way there. A Malian greeting is not a simple Good morning! either... more like Good morning! How was your night? How is your family? your father? your mother? How were their nights?. Malians can go through the entire greeting in 10 seconds or so, but I'm still hesitating with each question/response, so it takes a bit longer.

At 8 AM we all assemble in the LCF's (language and culture facilitator) commission, say our morning greetings and socialize. By the way, a commission is like the footprint of a family's house... the rooms are all around it and pretty much all social activity takes place there. It's basically the equivalent of a family room/dining room/living room/playroom. There are photos of my commission on Picasa. We then have language class until around 10, a half-hour break, then language class until 12:30.

We have a two hour break for lunch. By this time it's usually pretty hot outside, and if I'm not breaking a sweat already, I definitely am now. Lunch is typically fish with a vegetable called goyo in an oily sauce of some sort, eaten with my hands, of course. Usually my host brother is not home for lunch, so lately I have been bringing out my radio and listening to Radio France International on FM to try to figure out what's going on in the world. I haven't had any luck picking up the BBC on shortwave and I found Voice of America once, but it was just a country music show and the broadcast was cut at the end of the show!

Language class continues at 2:30 until around 4, when we either have a break or move to one of the trainee's commissions, where we have a cross cultural session. We have covered topics like respect for elders (there is a lot of respect for elders, not only your relatives but strangers too. In queues at a bank, government office, etc. they get to go right up to the front of the line), social ceremonies, and ethnic groups. The time that the afternoon class varies, but we usually have an hour or two to just relax. I might walk around town with some of the other trainees, hang out at a friend's house, or just head home and get started on homework.

Dinnertime varies, but it's normally sometime between 7 and 8:30. I take another bucket bath before dinner, as the sun is going down, which feels great. Some dinner meals have been couscous, rice, beans, and spaghetti, sometimes with fatty meat or fish. For the most part, I've enjoyed eating the food, though I don't love eating with my hands.

After dinner, I may join my host siblings in a game of cards. They love to play a variation of Crazy Eights... my family plays with just a 32-card deck, which makes for some quick rounds. I brought Uno with me, which was easy to teach them since it's so much like their game. They liked it! Thanks for the idea Daina!

I usually get ready for bed around 10, and I am trying to fall asleep by 11. Unless it has rained during the day, which luckily this time of the year is more likely than not, it is hard to fall asleep. The window that's literally 1x1.5 feet, and the metal door that's closed at night for safety and security reasons, makes for a hot room. Most of the time though, I can fall asleep after fanning myself for a while.

...then it all starts again! We have language class six days a week, with Sunday off. Last Sunday there was a wedding in my village which was fun to observe. I added a bunch of photos from the wedding to Picasa.

I added a box on the right side of the page called Friends' Blogs. I figured you might want a different perspective on life as a PCT in Mali, so for those of you who are interested, check it out. I added Daina and Sarah's blogs there too. Daina is currently a PCT in Nicaragua, and Sarah is an entrepreneurship fellow in India. They are good friends of mine from Babson.

I have an interesting story or two to share, so I will try to post them before I head back to my homestay village on Wednesday. I hope everyone is doing well back home, or wherever you may be reading this blog from! Thanks for leaving comments; it is great to hear that you enjoy reading my posts.

First 12 Days at Homestay

Well, the last twelve days have been quite an experience. If you'd like to see the photos first, the link is at the bottom of the post.

My host family is really nice, and my host brother has been taking care of me. He speaks French pretty well, so I have been able to speak with him and a little bit with some of my other siblings. My mom is also really nice but only speaks Bambara... I can say things like "Good morning", "I'm full, thank you for the meal", and "Have a good day/night". My Bambara is improving every day... we have covered how to greet people, ask What is this?, numbers, days of the week, describing family, and how to bargain in the market. It is a really fast learning pace, but I am doing my best to keep up and keep speaking Bambara whenever possible.

I took a ton of photos of the village, including the welcoming ceremony, my house and family, and at a wedding that took place in my village. The kids are really cute (some are pretty annoying though, saying "Toubabou", or white person, nonstop!) and it's fun to practice our Bambara with them. The link to the album is: http://picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/Homestay1.

I plan to post again in a day or two with more detail about what I have been up to.

Training and Homestay Preview

It has been a busy few days here at Tubani So, the Peace Corps training center. We have been busy learning about Malian culture and customs, and how to keep ourselves healthy and safe. We move out to our homestay villages tomorrow morning! I just found out my homestay assignment, in a pretty big town of about 30,000 people. There are 11 of us in the village, all with different host families. My host father's name is Yaya! I will be learning Bambara, the lingua franca in Mali; the majority of the population speaks Bambara, so it will be easy for me to travel around Mali when the time comes.

The Peace Corps has a unique approach to language training, and based on the past experiences of volunteers here, it works. I will be taking language classes six days a week in the village with a Language and Culture Facilitator (LCF) and only a few other trainees. We will not be taking written notes at all during the lesson; it will strictly be learning by sight, context, and lots of conversation. Then we will return to our homestays at night, where we will practice interacting with our host familys in Bambara and completing small assignments by asking them questions. It will be a complete immersion, from the time we wake up, to walking around our village, to attending class, to eating meals with our family. This community-based training will be a great way to learn a new language, in my opinion. If all goes well, I will be a Bambara speaker in just a few weeks!

During one of our cross-cultural sessions late this morning, some big intimidating clouds appeared above the trees. The class continued as usual for a few minutes, but when it was apparent that it was going to pour, some of the trainees ran back to their huts to grab their laundry off the clothesline. I stayed in the hangar (a thatched hut with screens as walls, about 30 x 30 feet) and watched the storm blow through. It was a huge rain storm with some big winds... we got pretty wet, but it cooled everything off and the rest of the day was very comfortable. It was interesting to see how the weather dictates life here in Mali; a passing rain storm can change the course of a day.

Malian families eat their meals around a large metal bowl with the meal inside, scoop up a bite in their right hands, and with fingers out, bring it up to their mouths, and slide it into their mouths. To prepare for our homestays, we practiced eating with our hands at lunch yesterday and today. It is forbidden to use your left hand when eating, or doing just about anything. This is because Malians use their left hand to wipe themselves after using the "nyeggi", or pit latrine. So it makes sense not to put their left hands in the food bowl!! As many of you know, I am left handed, and was worried when I first arrived that it would be difficult for me to eat. But it worked out fine... I used my right hand to pick up the food without thinking about it. So I should eat well at my homestay! The food has been great at Tubani So: lots of potatoes, vegetables, meat and yummy sauces. It will be interesting to see what I will eat at the homestay... probably less meat and more grains.

The blog will be dormant for the next two weeks while I am at the homestay village. I can't wait to be immersed in Bambara and Malian culture! Thanks for all the comments by the way, it is great to know that you are reading my blog and enjoying it.

PS A new Peace Corps director was just nominated by Obama today, Aaron Williams, a RPCV from the Dominican Republic. He seems like a great choice to lead the Peace Corps. It will be interesting to see the direction he takes this great organization. More information about him: http://tiny.cc/n2lv0

PPS Unfortunately no photos with this blog post... I brought my camera to take photos of eating with our hands, but left the film in my computer! I will definitely have some from my homestay village to share.