The trip was amazing. Lisa and Ally arrived on July 2^nd (with no problems, thank you Allah), we stayed in Bamako for one night at my friend’s house (Jean Harman, who is David Harman’s aunt, he was a friend from Lockheed Martin, it’s a small world I know).  And the first day we headed to the Artesian market. I wish I could take each and everyone to this market, I know PCV’s who cannot handle the stress of the market. I was so proud of both Ally and Lisa for bearing with it, even though, Lisa got hit by a pushcart and Allyson almost got hit by a taxi (sorry Mom!). But, we had a great time and they were able to see all of what Bamako’s artists can do!

This is the view outside the post office, entering the market

Artists at the market

 Inside the Market

More market…

 After the market we head up north to see Mopti and Bandiagara. Both places I hadn’t really been to either, so it was going to be a new journey for all of us. Since transportation in Mali is not the safest, I also decided to hire a driver. This was the best decision I made the entire trip. His name was Mohammad and he was amazing!!! He drove quite fast, which was great, but his personality added so much to the trip. And, he was able to call another PCVs homologue, Sekou, to come and be our tour guide. The two of the together was the perfect combo for us.

 Our tour guide, Sekou (top) and our driver, Mohammad (carrying)

First we went to Mopti, it was where we did quite a bit of shopping, but we also ate at Café Bissap (Café Hibiscus), it was delicious! And we had a great view of the Niger River. We got done eating and headed towards the water, had a slight detour to shop for a bit, then we went on a boat ride, stopping at small villages along the way! It was beautiful, but I couldn’t speak to any of the kids because they didn’t speak Bambara! Mopti is in a dogon area, so most people don’t speak Bambara.

(Pictures to come, Ally has these I need to get them from here, check her Facebook out, there all on there)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150235512437540.318454.549077539

After the boat ride, we headed back to Bandiagara and met up with some PCVs. This was Lisa and Ally’s first time meeting some of my friends, so it was exciting to mash up my two worlds: home and Mali (my new home). It was great introducing my friends to my family since a lot of them have become my family here.

The next day we packed up (with my friend Graham too) and got ready to go hiking for a couple days. I was very proud of us for packing light! Diercksen girls tend to over pack, but we did good, one small backpack and one medium one with all our stuff.  We started our trip at Djigubombo, Kani Kombole, Teli, Ende, and Benimato (the cliffs). We hiked between most of the villages and were able to see camels, but unfortunately we didn’t get to ride one! Maybe next time.

The start of trip – Djigubombo

Hiking to Kani Kombole

View off the cliffs

 The Dogon houses in the cliffs

Thanks Graham for coming with, your French came in handy and you always bring your special charm with Malian children too.

Graham terrifying another child

After the hike, we headed back to San and to my site. It was funny seeing my village interact with Lisa and Ally, they were so excited for them to come, they wanted them to stay for weeks, if not months. I said I agreed, but they needed to get back home. Right before we were leaving, the chief of my village gave them a chicken!! Ha! It was awesome, except we had to put it in the back of the car… so it kind smelled like chicken coop on the way back. But, we gave the chicken to our driver, and it was already time for Lisa and Ally to get ready for the trip back.

(again check out my little sister’s Facebook for more pictures)

We had one more nice dinner together at DeGuidos in Bamako with a couple gal pals. It’s great pizza/Italian restaurant off the beaten path, literally. The first time I couldn’t find it because it’s not on a main road at all. Then it was time to say goodbye the next morning. It seemed to take for forever for the trip to come and then it was over in a heartbeat. It was wonderful to have them here and I cannot wait to see them again in November! It was also great to get to show them the world that I live in now. It’s hard to explain it in words, but once seen, I feel people really understand. So, this open invitation for anyone else to come visit! Mi hut es tu hut!

Cheers everyone, I’m back to site this afternoon. Be back in a few weeks! Take care

So, for the first two weeks in August, I was med evacuated to Dakar, Senegal. Please know that I did not have a life threatening disease, but my stomach has been on the frits for some time now and I needed to have it checked out to make sure there was no long-term effects or issues with my organs.

In my mind, I thought for sure there had to be something wrong, a parasite, some worms, something that would be making me so sick (and incredibly gassy… that might be an over share). I told myself this cannot be your body’s doing, it has to be something else, something I can take a pill for and poof! I’m better just like magic.

Well, low and behold, it’s just my colon. They said it was large and long and it’s the culprit. Jerk! And, so I need to change my diet, which is kind of hard, since there isn’t a lot of food here and the food that is here i.e. beans, rice, millet is very hard on my colon. So, I’m on some new meds that are helping a bit. It’s funny, this is the first time in my life, that I don’t feel invincible, that I don’t feel like my body and mind can do whatever I want. I don’t want to say it’s a sign of aging… ha!

But, on a serious note, it really makes you think about your health. This is probably the first time; I kind of want to be home in America. Where I can get the food that would help my stomach sort out. Where I can have privacy if I am sick (not be standing over an open hole in my latrine area, hoping no one can hear me!), it’s been nice to be in Dakar and Bamako these couple weeks. But, it’s disheartening to know that I am still not feeling better.

I’m off to site now for until next month when I come back in for a check up. I hope things have turned around and my system is cleared out (literally… ha! It’s hard not to joke about bowel movements, right?). And, that I’m back on the path to having a health system.  I just want to say to everyone back home, feel lucky that we have the food availability that we do, and the doctors and health care system we have. I know things are rough right now in the states, but there’s places that are a lot rougher. This is not lecture and I’m not trying to guilt anyone of you because Mali has there own issues as well when it comes to economics and development, but be happy you are where you are friends.

Miss you all and I hope things are cooling down for you (not that I feel that bad for you all, I know you have air conditioning and can show your knees whenever you want!), and shoot me an email or send me a letter. I love hearing from all of you.

Much love,

Lindsey

Here’s a few pictures that would download, more to come!

Here’s my window view… it felt so weird to leave Mali, first time in over a year

One of the best Bakeries I have every been to, loved ordering in French!

This is Casino, a huge grocery store in Dakar, it was like hitting the jackpot

(Ha! come on, that was funny right?)

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=688-358

I know it’s a tough time for many at home, but if you can help, every dollar counts!

Thank you all in advance for helping.

Also, on a sidenote, Ally and Lisa’s visit is going great! More on the trip to come, but we are having a great time.

Much love,
Lindsey

But, we are starting to get the fencing ready for our community garden project. I have written a PCPP (proposal), to put my project online for funding! So, you all can help my village by donating to the cause.

I believe my project should be online next week. All you have to do is go to the website below and search my name: Lindsey Diercksen

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate

I know times are tough, but a little can go a long way! I’ll be at a Tree Nursery Training with my host mother next week. So, I will definitely update you all more on the proposal and the work being done.

Below is my proposal questions I had to answer for the project:

Executive Summary:

Feeding the family is one of the most important issues for Malians everyday. Normally, their diet consists of millet-based dishes with leave-based sauces. There are occasions, when there are vegetables in season or the family has sold some of their crop and can buy more of a diversified, selection of food such as meat or milk. But, this is not normal or easy for most families.

The objectives are to teach the community about the different nutritional food groups and the seasonal calendar. So, they can plan each season’s food production and how to feed they families properly. Second, is to inform them on improved seeds and seed saving techniques, and lastly, to train them on how to use and make natural fertilizers to preserve the soil of the garden. Hopefully in the future, they will be able grow enough food for their family and to sell some as an income generating activity at the nearby market.

The community has donated one hectare of land for the project, which is about 100,000 CFA or $200.00 in US currency. Also, the men will be helping construct the base structure of the fencing and will be assisting the fencing laborers throughout the project. The women we be supplying all the meals and will also be helping with fencing preparations and cement making.

The community is asking for assistance with the metal parts of the fencing. Natural fencing has been used, but has been destroyed by cows roaming and goats. By using a modern fencing technique, the likelihood animals will get into the garden is greatly reduced.

Background Information:

Seribugu is part of the Koulandougou commune, the population is around 300 people, but is frequented by many passerbys from surrounding villages. The village is made up of Bambara and Fulani decent. Earlier in the year, I and my counterpart, went to each of the concession to do a baseline survey on people’s basic needs. Do they have latrines? Do they have soak pits? Do they know how they can catch malaria? What issues are they facing day to day? The answer was always concern with the lack of food and the availability. So, the water and sanitation committee and the women’s association are working together to try and start a community garden to help promote better nutrition and expand the resources in the community.

Community Need:

If this project is not completed, the same cycle of poor nutrition will continue to pass on to each generation. The people in the community are starting some gardens planting hot pepper and a few other staple corps such as peanuts and gourds, but not enough to properly care for their families.

Community Initiation and Direction:

The women’s association is the one who started the conversation of a committee garden, but after doing a baseline survey, almost every family indicated that they wanted to learn more about improved farming techniques, seed saving, and gardening. The lack of food is a problem for every family in Seribougou. The head of the women’s association went to each women’s house and asked the women what project the wanted to start before we might with the men in the village. Even after meeting with the men, everyone was agreed that a community garden needed to be start my first year, so we could make sure to have plenty of time to learn about natural fertilizer, seed saving, and to dig the community well.

The garden will really benefit everyone in the community from small children to the older men and women in the village. Providing healthier food options and income generating activities will help the community in general health and wellness.

Community Contribution:

The community will be contributing all the unskilled labor and some of the materials such as sand, donkey carts, and small tools for mixing cement. They will also be hosting the skilled laborer in village and cooking them three meals a day, plus a two snacks. Also, one hectare of farming field, estimated at 250,000 CFA, $500 US currency, was donated by the community, to start the community garden. It is outside the village about 1/2km and has more room to be expanded if the people have the need for more space.

Project Implementation:

The community has already met several times with the chief of the village and have chosen a location for the community garden. The community has also already donated the land and indicated who will be working with the fencing laborers when we start construction of the fencing. The fencing contractor visited Seribougou and looked at the site and has agreed to do the work if we could raise the funding. A community well has already been started in the garden and both the Water and Sanitation Committee and the Women’s Association is helping with the project timeline.

With the budget finalized and signed off by the Chief of the village, the community, and the contractor we are left with scheduling the start date after the funds are raised. It will take one day to gather most of the supplies and 1 to 2 weeks for the fence construction.

After the construction is completed, the women will begin to dig up the garden and start planting as soon as possible since the rains are starting to come. The have already started choosing women to lead in the garden activities.

Project Sustainability

The community will be able to learn and obtain new skills on properly gardening techniques, learn about the different gardening season, how to properly space vegetables, plant rotation, natural fertilizing, and soil conservation. The community also wants to try new “American” plants in the garden and want to learn more about how the different food groups.

This project will give the women’s association in the village a chance to take initiative on planning a healthier diet for their families and also give them the opportunity for small income generating activities at the local market. It has even been asked if there is chance to start another smaller market closer to our village since the market is 12km away and not everyone is able to go to it every week.

The community already has most of the gardening tools, but is lacking a area to actually garden. By getting land for a community garden, more people can get involved and they have spoken about different ways to keep people responsible for their land. Such as buy-ins for each family. The community wants to the garden to succeed and is willing to put regulations on themselves to make sure that happens.

——————————–

I’m leaving you all with a couple blessings that my villages uses a lot….

Ala ka an deme, ala ka keneya di an ma. One is may Allah help us and the other, may Allah give us health. I wish this on to all of you.

——————————–

And lastly, here’s an interesting article I read on Aid in the NY Times. I would love to know what you all think, so shoot me back a message if you have time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/opinion/21brooks.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp

Much love everyone! Lisa and Allyson (my sisters) will be here on July 1st, so please keep them in mind and wish them safe travels!

Recently, I was in village sitting with my host family. We were talking and chatting about everyday type of things. What was needed at market, getting water to wash dishes, making dinner, me talking about why my mother should try and calculate how much money she spends and earns in a month (we are trying to figure out her budget for each month, I’m excited!), it was a very normal afternoon in village. Then out of nowhere we start hearing a truck coming down the road. Of course everyone in town (kids and adults), go to some where in the concession where they could see the road. Low and behold there are 7 big trucks coming down the road and a small truck leading the pack and the icing on top, it was a toubabu (white person, really a French person). Everyone started asking me if I knew his name because they think that all “white” people know each other in Mali. But, I hadn’t ever seen him before. I learned later it was another Aid organization putting a pump in a nearby village. Which is great, here’s the problem.

Soon villagers are running up to me asking me why I cannot get trucks of stuff out here so we can dig our wells. I say, well I don’t have money to get those people to come here and do the work for us. This is responded with, “but you are a whiter person, you have money in America.” Hmm… how do I explain this to them, that no all white people are rich and while we do have more money in the states, I would not have enough money to hire all those people to come and do the work in the village, and that’s not the point why I’m here, I point out to the man. He said but don’t you want to give us clean water. Well, of course I do, but I want you to learn how to do it on you own, how to make it sustainable. To dig more wells when I leave, to treat your wells, to understand why your children are getting sick from the wells. Why standing water breeds mosquitoes, why you need to sleep under mosquito nets.

I’m not saying what this organization was doing for the nearby village was great. They needed a pump, they needed the help. But, their mission and Peace Corps mission are not quite the same, and it’s hard for the villagers to understand what the difference between our development work and the work of other organizations. The organization will install a pump and leave. Great, so why will the villagers want to use the pump instead of the well? Where’s the education about treating water still, just because it comes from a pump doesn’t guarantee it’s disease free (believe me, things can still contaminate the water), and if the well breaks down, hopefully, they have taught someone how to do the maintenance. In my village, the pump was broken for nine months before they got someone to come fix it.

All in all, development work is hard. You want to get these people the resources they need, but we need to teach them how to sustain it, we need to let them do most of the work, so they have the buy in to the project and support it. Too often things are given to the people and they do nothing with them. You hear about schools being built, but not used (a Bambara school was built in town, it has not been open since I have been here, not sure if it’s because of lack of interest, or what), but if you can get people to understand they need to wash their hands with soap, think of the impact you have on them and the future generations of the family. And that costs nothing, but your time educating the people in village, teaching about health and sanitation. Living in the country with it’s people for two years.

Okay off my soapbox for today. Wish me luck, I hope my tools are ready and I can get back to site!

“Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day; teach the man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.”

- Peace Corps token quote for development and sustainability

Take care and much love all!

So, here’s the skinny. My village and I had several meetings on what main projects they wanted to do. Starting a community garden and fixing the current wells in village were the top priorities of the community. I agreed whole-heartedly because in my well I have found frogs (caught one in my well bag), weird larger than life bugs that sting, beetles, termites, random tree branches…. I know what you are thinking, do you drink that water. No, I don’t there is a pump, but I do bath in it, that’s still frightens me. But, the kids and many people in the village do drink the well water, so doing top well repairs, covering the wells, and teaching the people to bleach the wells seemed like a great idea.

Yes, those are bats hiding in the well

Low and behold, USAid also agreed with our assessment and granted the money (well some of it, my community was contributing some of the labor, materials, etc). Ah, I was so excited to tell my village and they were excited money was coming (who doesn’t like money, it’s so many different colors here too, so pretty). So, I call on my counterpart, and he says we have to meet again. I think it is with our community since we have to start work, when need to get volunteers, but oops, wrong again. It’s at the dugutigi’s house (chief of the village’s house). And low and behold new people (not on the WatSan committee) come and we start discussing the project again. At this point, I’m kind of speechless. I just assumed (yes yes… I know I’m the ass) that we are trying to start. Nope still discussing

This was a thought I had during the meeting at the chief’s hut:

“If you push too hard, they will pull away harder. Not out of meanness, but out of being scared of the unknown. This is a culture of knowns and traditions of everyday. Change can happen, but very very slowly (dooni dooni as the Malians say, literally small small).

So, I waited and listened and restated things again. Told them why the wells had to be dug now (it’s hot season, so the water table is at the lowest point, if we dug now the wells shouldn’t go dry). But, in the end we decide we will start making brick on May 4^th or 5^th! Yes, go village. A solid date. I thought my homologue and I discussed starting the 2^nd, so I was good with a couple day delay.

But Ala ka ma son, (allah did not agree in Bamabara), and sadly three people passed away in village in a matter of a week and a half. So no one did any work for two weeks. Materials were left at market towns, people forgot about the projects. At this time my stomach is turning, I don’t know what to do. I decided to go to my homologue again. He came to my concession with our preacher (my village is half Christian, not a common thing but I have a pig running in my yard, quite the sight to see in Mali). We started talking about the well projects and how Malians like to work. Here’s how the preacher explained it (surprise, surprise he is good at using a story to show what he means):

“So in Mali, if we were building a chair, they first would take a day to get the wood, then another day to cut it and crave it, then another day to tie the top part, and maybe it will take another week or month to get more leather (because they would have to wait for a cow to be killed) and then the Malian might have to go farm, so the chair could be sitting for months before it would be finally completed.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle because it was the holy truth, it could take that long for the Malian to finish a bigger project like that.

Then I explained, in America it would take one day to get all the materials and another day to put it together. A banna (literally finished). The Malians started laughing, they said that would not happen in Mali. And that’s why Americans and Malians are different. I almost took this as a queue to say well…. But held back knowing it would not win them over by trying to convenience them my way could be better. So, here we are now at the end of May, and I’m sad to say that not much work has been completed. They are trying and things are getting better. But we still have no well diggers (the ones that were promised to come never came) and the rain is coming. I might have to chalk this one up and wait another year to finish the project. It’s hard to know that I have not accomplished my goal for this hot season, but we did get the land for the community garden (100m x 100m), and we are buying fencing so they can start gardening no matter what during rainy season, just not easily during cold and hot season. And we have made bricks and will keep learning how to make more bricks. This week two people from outside the village might come and help us (they are people PC knows do good work). Hopefully, Ala ka sonna and things will work out, but no matter what, this has been quite the learning experience and I’m better prepared for next time around.

Malians love love love love to have their picture taken and soon people were showing up everywhere. This man in village teaches people how to read and write in Bambara, a lot of the women have worked and learned from him. They call him karamogo (teacher). It was fun to see him interact with the women in the village and see how happy he was to play along with not wanting his picture taken (Malians like their pictures taken, but they also like to get dressed for the occasion, they often need a moment to change quickly).

Cheers and I hope you get a small smile out of the series and also, see the kindness in their hearts and eyes.

Camera Shy… Maybe a little push will help?

Maybe an extra tug?

Look at the boy, he’s got it!

There are those pearly whites! A banna (it’s over)

It’s a battle everyday, and everyday I ask myself,  “Was this the best choice for me?” And there are some days I think, yes, I am a crazy person from leaving my family, my friend, my job, my home, and America’s luxuries. But, then I have the moments where I feel like this is the only place I belong, that I was meant to be here for two years, not just to try and educate and help the people of Mali, but for these people to help me open my eyes and have more understanding of people of where they come from and the challenges they face. I guess when you are trying to open your eyes to other things it has to be hard and you have to question your motives to make sure you are here for the correct reasons, and if you cannot justify being here anymore, then it might be time to go home. I think it’s the struggle many Peace Corps volunteers go through.

I might never be able to describe the feelings I have for these people or say how this experience has affected me (mind and body), but I know right now, this is where I should be and I will continue going back to the reasons why I’m here, and if there is a time that I don’t feel like I should be here, I’ll go home. And be happy that I was here and did what I was meant to do.

So, we were sitting inside one of the mud huts because of the wind and sand, eating mangoes (because it is Mango Season, the best season!) and my homologue’s daughter comes in with a note written from my homologue. It still pains we a bit to think about it, but in a nutshell it said that I was a bad volunteer and not like the last one. That I need to stop taking pictures and that right now my work was bad. Ouch… it was like someone putting their foot out and tripping you, you aren’t physically hurt, but you are surprised and  your pride is bruised. I was closed to tears when my host mother looked at the note. She promised me that is not how anyone else felt and not to worry. But, being me, of course I was worried. But, I had things to do that day, and I thought, when in Mali… you have to just keep going and moving on.

Sometime in the afternoon, I decided that I should go over to my homologue’s house and talk to him about the letter. I had cooled down and I thought maybe he had as well. Oops, I was wrong, we got in a bit of quarrel (still at this time, I was confused to what was happening, not understanding why he was so mad). I left crying to my host mother’s house, I wanted help understanding what was going on with the pictures and Daouda (my homologue). What I got was a trip to the chief’s house in village, not necessarily what I wanted (I wanted to run back to my hut, pack my bags and leave to America). But when there is conflict, the chief is the one who decides what will come of it. I was in a manic state, I had never been yelled at by a Malian (Malians, they can yell, oh man can they yell, but this is part of the culture. They yell and it’s over or a bana as they same in Bambara) and this was my homologue. As I sat at the dugutigi’s house (chief’s house) I was tuning out everything out. But, they said come back later and I said ok and left.

That night we met and I found out that the boys were fighting over the pictures and my homologue said if the other parents would have been there, there would have been a fight between families. I was thinking, over a picture, this is all over a picture. I never even thought about them fighting over it. I guess I was being ignorant of that possibility. At the meeting, I was able to explain to my homologue that I do like it here and I am working (that was also part of it, he said I only took pictures, etc. etc.) and he agreed, apologized, and promised he wouldn’t react that way again. Now, we are fine again. We worked on a hand washing station together and I feel like the fighting is a bana (over).

This experience (and of course many others) has enlightened me on my on misconceptions. Of course everyone will love the pictures. But, I need to think about my actions and the reactions of others and how it will affect my community. I thought I was conscience of that, but in reality not as much as I should be. Lesson learned, hopefully there will not be a next time with this issue or ones like it. I want to also say that my homologue is a great and we do not always see eye to eye, but I don’t think it is a bad thing. We are still learning from one another and he is still learning how to work with me because I am a woman, the last volunteer was a man. Gender roles are very defined here and it can get awkward when you do not fall directly in line with their defined roles. They say PCV women is like a third sex . We aren’t treated like a man or a woman, but something in between. Which creates some controversy and conflict between you and the men, and you and the women.  It’s an interesting position and one that let’s you see more into the cultural then some of the PCV men.

Here’s a recap from December to now (March 2011). Yes yes, I know I’m just so on top of this blogging. Who would have know it would be so timely?

Let’s go back to December 6, 2010 – In-Service Training (Location: Tubaniso/Bamako)

So, after three months of being at site (and being on travel ban, which was so weird to not be able to go where I wanted for three months, still at 26 I was under house arrest!), I went back to Tubaniso (training facility) to meet up with the other 80 volunteers in country to have a two week technical training. It was great getting to see everyone, there were some people I hadn’t seen since we swore in. Everyone looked great and was happy to be back in the land of English speakers. The first week of training was just volunteers working in their different sectors, doing different technical trainings. As Water Sanitation Engineers we worked on top well repairs, irrigations, well construction, pump construction, water related issues. I was also able to attend a fish pond session because my village is looking to start fish farming! After the first week, our counterparts came and hung out with us for a week. We worked on project management techniques (called PACA). All and all, it was a great trip… and I ATE and ATE and ATE so much. I think they had to roll me out of Bamako when I went back to site. It was great having food so readily available for a while.

Top well repair: Will and Mary Claire with some of our Malian Trainers (Keita and Kone)

Kyle actually doing some work in the well… everyone has their day!

Snake Training… oh yes, I am holding a badass snake!

After IST, I went and spent Christmas in our Regional Capital San, and then head to Sikasso (another region in the South) for a small break to go look at the waterfalls (which are AMAZING), but look only did I do because there is a disease called schistosomiasis that you can get (it isn’t pretty, blood in urine will happen… sorry but I thought you should know the truth!) if you get into the water. Just another thing that we American don’t ever have to think about or worry about when we step into a lake or river. But, it was still amazing to be close to cool water and it was a beautiful to look at as the sun went down. Also while we were in town, there were having a regional festival, where each region would dance, sing and act against one another. I was there to see Koulikoro region before. It was amazing to see their native dancing. The acting was a little hard to understand (all in French), but it was interesting to see how different it is from the United States.

Christmas in San – Mural provided by Brad Woody

The Waterfalls in Sikasso

For New Years, a ton of people met in the regional Capital of Segou… we definitely had a great time and rang in the New Year American style!! Holla atcha 2011… how the time had flown by.

Some of my favorite gals in Peace Corps!

And of course, January 25, 2011 rolled in so quickly. I couldn’t believe I was going to be 27 and in Mali. Can I really be in my late 20’s? I should have lied to people and said I was 22, I think I could have passed it off okay. Haha… But, it was a great birthday and we had a small get together at our regional house. It was too much fun! I felt very loved by everyone here and at home that day! Thank you all for being so great, you know who you are. You guys made me feel like so special that day. The only thing that would have it better would to have my twin sister Lisa  and family here to celebrate with me, but I’m sure Lisa had a good time in the states.

Friends enjoying some birthday fun

Then I was back at site! It was great to be back for awhile and speak Bambara…. After speaking English for so long, my Bambara was slipping, but I got back into things quickly. On returning home, my host mother told me we were going to a church thing in a nearby town. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about at all, I actually thought it was a double funeral at first because two people had recently passed away. But, it was an after Christmas Church Party! All the surrounding towns came together to sing and dance and eat (always a good thing)! It was awesome, I was sitting waiting for lunch when the mayor of the commune came up to me and ask me why I wasn’t eating. I was like, umm… because I’m waiting for my host mother. So, he snapped his fingers (literally, that’s what people do to get attention here), and this guy came over. And, he told him that I should have lunch with all the officials and like that there was food and soda and front of me and my host mom. I felt famous…

After lunch, we went back and cooked with the other ladies in our village. They were prepping dinner for everyone that had came from our village. The kids were so cute that day. And it was just overall a very good event to be at and to participate in with my host family. The teenage girls even sang at and dance, and my host bother played the drums with the band that was there.  I video taped it and we watch it over and over every week. They love it!

These are the girls who sang for our village, they did a great job! And a few other little boys

Also, I had a neem cream formation (a natural bug repellant session) and malaria session. We first talked about how people get malaria (so so in bambara a.k.a MOSQUITOES) and why they are so many, because of ji nogo (dirty water). It was interesting to see that the majority of people didn’t know that mosquitoes were transporting malaria to each other.  They knew most of the symptoms, but the symptoms are so samiliar to the flu that they didn’t really know the difference. But, there is a man in village that helps distribute medicine to villagers’ children under five, but no real prevention (some use mosquito nets) against malaria. So, we made neem cream, which is a natural bug repellant made for neem leaves (a tree in Mali), shea butter, soap and water. It turned out great! The women loved it and I hope we make another batch when it becomes raining season (right now the bugs are under control, which means you only get bit a ten or so times a day, not a hundred! Ouchie).

Two of my host sisters, Sitan and Wariti, with the Neem Cream

The newbies are here. Can anyone believe that our stage has been here for seven months? I cannot believe it either. I feel like it was just yesterday I was getting on a plane to Mali, Africa. There are 66 new volunteers in three different sectors: Environment, Health Education, and Small Enterprise Business. I was lucky enough to go and meet them at the airport. For some reason, I was so nervous. Would I be able to answer their questions? How will I be able to help them, I cannot even help myself? I’m still asking questions, I’m still training, I’m still a NEWBIE! I have been helping with some training for Gender and Development since I am the new Training Coordinator (yes, it is scary, there are so many of them and I’m still kind of clueless as usual).

Do they look scared? This them right off the plane?

I have been meeting with my homologue and we have been working with the community to decide what we should do in village. We had a meeting with the chief of the village and we came to the decision that the village wanted to build and fix wells during this hot season (scary, high are in the 120s). But, the people are really excited about it. Both the men and women voted! And of course they disagreed at first, but came to a good compromise to fix and build wells (women wanted wells for a community garden, men wanted to fix existing wells). I have just finished the proposal, so fingers crossed it everything goes through and we get to start in April!!!

But to stay busy, two friends came and visited and we worked on a world map at the nearest school to my village (about 1-2k away). It was so much fun to paint! I loved it and it turned out great. It is a small project that a lot of education volunteers do in their service, but I loved it so much I wanted to test it out for myself.  Two other volunteers in my area came, there names were Megan and Caitlin. Both amazing artist (they we had a guide book to help us grid out the map and draw it), I couldn’t have done it without them for sure. It was a couple of days of too much fun. And, my village loved them! My host mother couldn’t get enough of them. Earlier in the month, my friend Graham also came and visited. All the girls in the village still ask about him, he was so dreamy to them!

World Map with the beautiful Megan showcasing it wonderfulness!

Graham in my market (12k away from my village)

My village kids and I chilling at a soccer game between my village and a nearby village… we lost 3-0, but it was still fun!

Cait and I eating some  yummy papaya!

So, I hope you enjoyed all the new stories! I’ll try to update more often and shorter blogs so you don’t have to nap and come back to finish reading! There are more pictures on facebook (sorry for those that don’t have an account, but let’s be real, you know you know somebody who does!).

Take care friends, much love,

Lindsey (Mariam Dembele – as I am known in village)