Tabaski 2010

Tabaski is the Muslim holiday that celebrates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son to God, then at the last second God presented a ram instead to sacrifice.

In Mali they sacrifice sheep or goat after the morning prayer. I went to Marks village this year for the celebration. Early in the morning we got dressed up in our matching Malian outfits to go to the prayer in the open field in town. The men were able to pray in the shade while the women were in the direct sunlight.

After the prayers were over, Mark and I followed the parade of people leaving the prayer and marching threw village singing religious songs to the mosque in the center of town.

When we made it to the mosque we found out that Marks co-worker was the one in charge of leading the prayers which is a very respectable job.

Once all the prayers were done, it was time to kill the goat. I had no part in the killings or the cooking for that matter which is how i preferred it. It is not pretty work killing and cleaning a goat. However it sure was tasty. I ate so much meat, which is a luxury.

This was my first traditional village tabaski since i've been in Africa so i was happy i was able to share this experience in Marks village with his friends and mine.

Two years, Two countries

December 6th marked my two years in Africa. It is so hard to believe that two years ago I was setting off into an un-known world, not knowing what to expect. And its even more unbelievable how fast I adapted to life in Guinea.

When I set off for my two years in the Peace Corps i was sent to a small village where i didn't know the language, didn't understand the customs and cultures, didn't know where to turn or how to make a phone call. I even had to re-learn to eat. Everything about my life in Guinea i had to learn from the beginning. The first meal I shared with my host family, there was no spoon. I had to reach my hand into a hot bowl of rice and try to make a ball of rice and my hand fit into my mouth. I spilled rice all over myself. With each falling grain of rice I couldn't help but think, I’m spilling these peoples livelihood all over my lap. Sedda Sedda (small small) my Pular came along. I remember the first day I could go to a market and order all of my food in Pular. It was such a success to be able to have a conversation, no matter the content in the local language, and the first time I had to pull water from the well and thought I would loose my glasses down the well. I also remember the day that the children by my house stopped calling me Porto (outsider or white) and started calling me by my Guinean name, Oumou Kesso Barry. There were many days where I spent hanging out with a group of 7th graders under an avocado tree. I looked forward to my afternoon tea time with those kids everyday. I felt included and looked after hanging out with them. Despite the fact that we had nothing in common they were some of my best friends.

I also had to learn to be away from my family and how to build a new family. At first especially i had a hard time being away from everyone and everything i knew. I didn't have access to phones or internet and letters and packages only came once a month bringing special treats from loved ones. I had to accept my host family as my new family. The children helped me with everything and looked up to me like a big sister.

I was also able to share my experiences with the village. I helped at the village health center, weighing babies and encouraging mothers to feed their children more so they can become healthier and stronger. I shared information about hand washing and ways to prevent Malaria. I taught an English class where I encouraged students to continue with their education so they too can one day make a difference. I worked with a women’s group trying to promote the rights of women and helped them find some financial independence from their husbands. I worked on a polio campaign to give free vaccinations to children and inform families to the benefits of western medicine.

While doing all of those things I was fighting off sickness and political unrest. In my year in Guinea I had been so sick many different times. There are different standards of clean and sicknesses run wild. When I first arrived in Guinea the president Conate died leaving the presidential seat wanted by all. There was a bloodless coup d'etat that followed with military enforced curfews. It became very common to see AK-47's and traveling around the country became more difficult and dangerous.

In September 2009 the military open fired on a stadium of unarmed peaceful protesters. 157 reported dead and the capital city, Conakry was not the same. It became too hard to keep volunteers in Guinea and we were evacuated to Bamako, Mali.

After a month of limbo, the Guinea program was closed leaving 97 volunteers heartbroken and homeless. We had the choice to transfer countries, close our service or take a leave and wait for guinea to re-open. I ended up transferring to Mali because I felt that my service was incomplete and I would be able to experience a new place. There with nine other Guinea volunteers that transferred with me to Mali and could help share the feelings of having to start lost and out of place all over.

My new home in Mali is in Segou, a large regional capital with all of the amenities of a large African city. I was happy to accept a house with running water, electricity and I even have internet access everyday at the Peace Corps house.

My transition into Malian life was cushioned by the amenities but I still miss my Guinea village and think of them often. My lifestyle between my village in Guinea and my life in Segou is almost incomparable. In Segou, I live alone inside a family compound and have very little interaction with them. I go to work every morning and socialize with Americans on a daily basis. Also, I started dating Mark in December and have enjoyed splitting my time between his village and my city. This has allowed me to have the village interactions I was missing from Guinea and Mark and I can share the hardship of being ripped from one country and installed in another since he was one of the nine that came from guinea.

I have spent the last year working specifically with a micro-finance institution called Miselini. I set up a marketing campaign so they could reach out and grow their clientele however hit a wall after giving out 12.000.000 CFA or $60,000 to 24 women’s groups and had to turn down women who needed credit to grow their business and help their family. I worked along side the president of Miselini to apply for a partnership between Miselini and Kiva International. I felt that Kiva would be a good fit because it is a no-interest loan from American’s. Please check out the Kiva website to find out more ways that you can change lives. http://www.kiva.org/

Over the last two years I have learned to make Africa my home. I have been exposed to so many new cultures and customs that I would never have been able to understand from America. I have meet some of the poorest people in the world and been able to break bread with them and travel to some of the most naturally beautiful places. I will never take for granted running water again. The project I am working on will not be done by my original COS date, therefore I just submitted my extension until August 2011. I am looking forward to the next nine months that I have left in Mali despite the hot season where temperatures can raise over 120 degrees.

I would like to specifically thank certain family members that have sent me countless packages that help keep me sane and full of tasty American food.
-Mom and Dad: almost every month I get at least one package from you with things that keep me in touch with America and with what is going on with the family while I’m away.
-Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan and all the Curley’s: I don’t even know how to thank you for all of the food you have sent me. You have made me very popular among the volunteers when I share my food with them. And all of those jelly beans were devoured by my work and Marks village.
-Grandma: I love the letters you send on a regular basis. I know I’m not good at sitting down and writing you back but I enjoy reading what you are up to and whenever you send the grandma crackers or homemade cookies its like I had just been to your house in Tennessee.
-Uncle Tim: I love the music, books and brownies you send
-Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Wes, and Kyle: Thanks so much for everything you send

And a huge thank you to everyone else who has sent me cards, letters and packages. I know how expensive things are to send here and I truly appreciate everything.

The Bamako Zoo

While I was in Bamako the last time some of us went to the zoo. When I first got to Mali I was really surprised there was a zoo, and then when i found out it was only $.10 to enter i had to go.


When you walk in, you are greated with shreaking monkeys. People had brought in peanuts to threw to the animals so we watched the monkeys catch and fight over peanuts for a bit. Then we found some donkeys in cages. The irony of donkeys in a zoo here is funny because donkeys are in every village as work animals. It would be almost the equivalent of golden labs in a zoo in America.

We also found a baby elephant. The elephant also loved when people feed it peanuts and was standing at the gate entertaning people for food. I almost had my camera eaten by the elephant while trying to take photos. All of us had a chance to pet the elephants truck. I guess i never really thought about what an elephant would feel like but they are corse and hairy. Not plesent to pet at all.

We also saw a pumba (wharthog), a lion, several panthers, hyenas, turtles, and wolves. The bamako zoo isn't really compairable to american zoo's because the cages are tiny and most of them are just concrete slabs with bars. There are not the fun, themed exhibits. So there is a general feeling of depression coming from the animals.

I however really enjoyed the zoo. Despite the fact that the animal cages are small you were allowed to get right up there and pet the animals. Even the panther cage i could have stuck my hand in, if i wanted. But this gave a real chance to see the animals. A lot of time in American zoos you search for the animal and only get to see it from far away.

Thanksgiving 2010

Now some of you may remember last year I helped cook the traditional family style thanksgiving, and i almost lost a leg in the proses. So this year I happily took the invite to go to Sikasso (the southern region of Mali) where a group dinner is prepared.

Thursday
Around four in the afternoon about 60 of my closest Mali volunteer friends got together inside the civil center of Sikasso to sit down for thanksgiving dinner. There was a cooler of salad, a tub of green beans, a bucket of mashed potatoes and five turkeys! Now if that wasn't enough (and it was enough but it's thanksgiving) so there were apple pies and pumpkin pies!!! Now i'm sure most people wouldn't think this is possible for 60 people to finish all that food, but we sure tried and came close to finishing.

It wasn't the same as being at Aunt Bettys house with family but it was really nice to see some old faces and meet tons of new ones. Not having gone threw training in Mali, i'm not as close with some of the volunteers but being able to spend a major holiday weekend with them sure was nice.

Friday
Friday afternoon we had rented out a pool and got to enjoy the fun in the sun. No black friday shopping for me. (Well i think i went and bought an avocado in the market but there was no pushing or sales so i don't think that counts.) The pool was a funny color so few people went in, but i enjoyed sitting in the sun.

There were also donkey races. Two volunteers at a time would race donkeys. Sounds easy but from what i saw, not the case. I didn't race but people were struggling to make the donkey go in the right direction or even go at all.

For dinner the volunteers of Sikasso cooked up burritos! There was rice and beans and guac and everything. So taisty.

Now needless to say, I eat well those two days!

Saturday

Saturday morning a group of about 14 of us meet up to go out to the water falls just outside of Sikasso. We filled two taxis and left. Most of the trip was on a nice paved road but the last 3 miles was on a dirt trail barley wide enough for the car. Then the path got too narrow for the car. We had to get out and walk maybe the last mile. There were dirt cliffs we had to climb down, and otherones we had to climb up. And worst of all there was a bamboo bridge we had to cross. It wasn't high at all but to keep your balance with a back pack can be tricky. But we all made it across just fine. Once we finally got to the falls it was increadable.

This was one of the prettiest places i've seen, so instead of me trying to explain it, i'll just put up some photos.


After playing around in the falls a group of us climbed up to the top part of the falls. The climb was a bit interesting. There is no path up so we just went in the general direction. Climbed over rocks and forged threw sholder high grass. The climb was well worth it because on top of the falls was even prettier than below. There were also pools you could swim in, Mark and I made tree leafs into boats and tried to race them over the falls and then just relaxed in the sun.


We were spending the night out there so before the sun set we had to climb down and set up camp, make a fire and make dinner. Another car of volunteers ended up showing up so there were a lot of us spending the night. There were pop up bug nets everywhere. I didn't have a sleeping pad so i had to sleep inside my bug net on the rocks. Between the rocks and the rushing sound of the falls i had a hard night sleeping. But watching the sun rise over the falls was breathtaking.

My house

While I was back home in June/July 2010 a lot of people asked me what my house was like here in Mali. It never really occurred to me to take photos, but i finally did so you can see how i live. Its not as ruff-ing it as you would think.


My "little kitchen" including a food trunk, a fridge, and a gas stove top.


The place where I keep my dishes, water filter (large white thing) and all of my plastic trash bags.


My living room furniture, on the table is my books and my dogon book holders (olo couple), and my oh so important fan. Now mind you that all of the "kitchen" and "living room" are in the same room.


My king size bed, my closet, and my folding chair


So this is my bathroom. My toilet, shower head and there is a sink off to the right of the photo that you can't see.


And this is my mango tree. I live on the second floor, so there are three mango trees, with all of their fruit right at eye level, just there for the taking. Mmm!

Dogon Photos

This is the 8:00am photo right as the three of us (Myself, Mark and Dorian) and our Guide Adjoro were heading off on our three day hike


Here is a photo of me inside one of the ancient villages on the dogon hike. Most of the structures, like the one behind me are not houses but grain storage. After the yearly harvest men would fill their graineries and pray to their many Gods that the harvest will last until next the harvest.





A sacrificial rock is where families would bring up millet beer along with goats to sacrifice. When a baby was born they would poor out the millet beer and slater a goat so that the child would take on the personalities and longevity of someones ancestors








At the end of the hike there is a cave of artist who sell their touristy things. Now each object has a very interesting story, I bought an Olo couple. An Olo is the oldest man in a village. It is a highly respected person who holds a lot of power within each village. The couple represents long lives, strength and wisdom.


You can find more photos from my Dogon trip (and more) by clicking on this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2214085&id=39500264&l=1f2ed3a834

Dogon Country

Dogon Country is a small, isolated section of Mali about 10 hours away from where I live. It is famous for its dramatic cliff faces, resilient people and hiking trips. This is a place where people come from around the world to hike these paths and see "how they live".

Now, I will be the first person to admit that I am not a hiker but when the opportunity presented itself to take a three day hike i couldn't turn it down. The ten hour journey there turned out to take three days but when Mark, Dorian (a good Peace Corps friend from Guinea and Mali) and I got to Sanga (the village where we would start and end the hike) we were ready to start on the hike and stretch our legs after three days in buses and vans crammed in like clowns.

Hike, Day One

At 8:00 am the three of us set off with our guide, Adjoro, with a change of cloths, three liters of water, cameras, and enough bug repellent to last us a week. Sanga is at the top of an amazing cliff, overlooking the encroaching desert, a river and what little farm land there is.

Our first stop took us to an ancient (+3000 year old) village inside of the cliffs. The people who first settled here chose to live inside of the cliffs because it was the safest places. Water was available about six months a year within the cliffs and then women would have to go down into the valleys to get water the remaining six months. No-one knows exactly why theses people moved out of this particular cliff but its assumed to find water would be a key reason.

We continued to walk down hill and threw peoples millet fields until noon. Even though it was not hot season, in the direct sun between the hours of 12-3 can still reach well over 100 degrees, so every day we took our naps, eat lunch, and rested the feet. After already walking about 8 miles that day we get to a cliff and Adjoro points up and says "We will be sleeping up there in the cliffs that night" AHH!!! My feet were already killing me, i felt like i was going to die, walking on flat land, now i have to hike up another hour STRAIGHT UP!!! Thank God Adjoro found me a local Malian man who helped pull me up and he took my heavy bag. Now when I say that this man, also named Adjoro, pulled me I literally mean he pulled me up. We walked hand in hand, him about a pace or two in front of me and he would pull my arm. But we made it to the campsite and there was warm water to bath and mattresses to sleep on and food was on the fire! I wish i could say i slept well that night but the truth was that there was a lot of "commotion" going on in the village. There was signing and dancing, along with loud clapping of the hands. Normally I probably wouldn't have even noticed this but for some reason i kept thinking that the village was doing human sacrifices (the Dogon people are more traditional animists as opposed to the rest of Mali which is Muslum). Oh course there was no human sacrifices going on and in the morning I found out that the local teenagers, after all the daily chores are finished have dance parties around villages to encourage kids from doing drugs.

Hike, Day Two

After a terribles night sleep i was refreshed and ready to start the next days hike. I knew we were going up the rest of the mountain and then back down. I was dreading the up, but very much looking forward to the down part of the day. I was also relieved to see Adjoro, my porter, waiting to help me up. On the way up its just steps of wobbly rocks and having an extra person (who is highly skilled at balancing these rocks) saved my knees from meeting those cold hard rocks several times.

At the top, there was a breathtaking view of the valley that we walked the day before. It gave a true sense of accomplishment. However the sun was rising and we had a long day ahead of us still so we had to keep moving. Now this day was really going to show me what I was made of. I never thought i had a fear of heights but on day two i think a fear was born. While on the top of the mountain there are endlessly deep crevasses in which you have to cross a bridge made out of sticks and rocks (I KID YOU NOT). In order to continue i had to have Adjoro, the porter, and Mark take my hands and push/pull me arcoss. I say a fear was born because if i fell I was at LEAST 17 hours from a hospital which here, means curtain death. (Sorry Mom) Needless to say, I can only write this seeing as I survived, so lets not focus on that.

After going up and over the mountain it was time for the going down, this is the part that I always thought was the easiest. Boy was i wrong! Remember how i was saying there are countless crevasses, well now i had to climb down one! Now mind you, I'm a girl from Ohio, we don't do this kind of thing... EVER! And my two California friends who did this kind of thing every weekend I was with thought I was hilarious. But the only way to move was forward, so Adjoro and Adjoro helped guide me into the crevass and down a very narrow rickety handmade latter. Now remember I survived!

Inside the crevasse there was a man made dame that gathered rain water so a local village would be able to get water 10 months a year and the other two months a year the women and girls would take a 5 1/2 gallon bucket painstakingly down the cliffs to the well and carry these buckets back up to their homes without spilling a drop.

I had to say goodbye to Adjoro, my porter at lunch. I thanked him profusely for his services, and making sure i stayed alive. I paid him the equivalent of $3.00 and he merrily went back up and over the mountain to his house.

Hike, Day Three

On the start of the third and final day i was more rested but my body felt like it was dying. Within two days we had walked over 20 miles in triple digit heat up and down mountains.

At one point Adjoro, the guide, pointed out a village in the mountain, barley noticeable and was explaining that now the more remote cliff villages are used as burial grounds. If looking in the exact spot you can see the sun-bleached bones of the dead overflowing from long ago abandoned houses. Men scale up the cliff attaching ropes and pull the dead bodies into place. This may sound morbid, but when you live on rock... you can't bury.

After lunch we had to climb the 1,000 steps back up to Sanga where we started the hike two and a half days earlier. We are back on the climbing wobbly steps and this time i was more tired and didn't have Adjoro my porter to help me. Mark was so nice and took my hand and walked with me up the steps. To my surprise it only took about an hour and a half to make it up with several small breaks

This three day hike was one of the hardest yet most rewarding experiences of my life. I struggled, fighting off fatigue and dehydration but for me, this was only a three-day mini-weekend. The villages that we walked threw live these lives day in and day out, living in one of the host in-hospitable environments i have ever seen.

Photos from the 50th Parade

Cencen helping me study for the GRE... we are going to ace it!


Traditional Dogon dancers in the Parade


The "Meat Cutters Association" in the Parade

Some photos from Eid ul-Fitr

Mark and I with the Imam of Madiama (Marks village) and some of Fakoro's family members


Myself and Mark (in our matching Eid ul-Fitr outfits) and Fakoro, Marks co-worker


A traditional Fulani woman selling fresh cows milk from a gord on top of her head inside of Marks compound

Eid ul-Fitr (end of Ramadan)

This year for the large holiday of the End of Ramadan I went out to Marks village to celebrate. Most Islamic (if not all) are lunar based so you don’t know when Ramadan is ending until the night before.

I cheated and looked up on line when the experts were speculating and used that to determine when to go out to Marks. Since I didn’t know a lot about Ramadan before living in an Islamic country let me give you some key notes.

-Fast from sun up to sun down (4:30 wake up to eat and drink water, and break fast around 6:45pm)
-Give thanks to Allah for another year of life
-If you miss a day of fasting you have to make it up before the next year
-Breastfeeding/pregnant women, children under 14 and people who are sick do not fast
-The month of fasting is about 28 days

The first morning I was there Marks Malian co-worker comes over early and tells us today is the grand celebration, we need to hurry and go to the mosque. Once we finished scarfing down our breakfast of peanut butter and plantain sandwiches we got dressed and went over to the mosque.

I was always told that in my Guinea village because I was a women I couldn’t enter the mosque and because I am Christian I am not allowed in the compound. I always respected that and sat outside for the large religious ceremonies waiting for everyone to finish and I would greet them as they came out. So to my surprise when Mark and I got to the mosque we were invited in. We asked if it was ok since we both aren’t Muslim and I’m female. They said to go in. We stood in the far back courtyard with our backs on the mud wall. It was so awkward. I was the ONLY woman inside or so I initially thought. After a while I heard a cough from behind and saw a small door and peeked in to my delight found women! I felt better but still awkward. I was also holding a giant bag of jelly bean to hand out to the kids after prayer too. (Thanks Aunt Betty)

Once prayer was over and all of the men started to leave the mosque we meet up with Fakoro, Marks co-worker again he helped us find our shoes and navigate over to the Imams house for more blessings. Once we were blessed again the three of us started to walk around a great people in the village. Each one wanted us to eat too. The kids were going crazy over the jelly beans. They all wanted to know what flavor it was going to be.

Around mid afternoon it started to look like rain so the three of us went back to Marks house and made tea over charcoal in this living room. The rain didn’t let up until late which is when we had to start making dinner.

The festivities were cut short by the rain but it was a good day. I have always wanted to go into a mud mosque and I finally got my chance.

The Cinquant Anni Celebration

The Cinquantetheure Celebration

On September 22, 2010, Mali celebrated its 50th anniversary as a country. Back in 1960 while America was all about free love and worshiping the Beatles (MOM!), Mali was transitioning from the French colonialist power to become an independent nation.

Over the past 50 years Mali has had three presidents, paved several road spanning large parts of the country, and had the Chinese donate several hydro electric dams providing electricity 24/7 ish for several of its largest towns. However, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. Children suffer from malnutrition, clean water is hard if not impossible to find in most villages, and diseases go un-treated because medication is too expensive. Now I don’t mean to sound like a Debby Downer here because Malians are some of the over all happiest people I’ve ever meet. You will never hear someone complaining about having to walk across town to get water from the pump or women slumped over a charcoal fire preparing food for four hours a day. The kids will run around with their swollen bellies playing games in their free time. And the men at the end of the day will sit under trees making tea and talking about just about anything.

I was recently reflecting on the state of development here in Mali, it is years ahead of Guinea but that’s not saying a lot in the grand scheme of things. The thing that really got me thinking was how the Malian government spent some obscene amount on the celebration for Bamako (the capital). There were parades, marathon runs, jet fly overs and parachuter’s jumping out of planes. Also you can’t forget all the repairs that the city did trying to snazzy things up so the city looked good for the celebration. Now I’m all for cleaning up the streets but I find it ironic that this country is suffering from countless poverty stricken problems and can justify sending fighter jets all around the country to celebrate their independence.

All of this said, I did have a great time at the Segou parade. Everyone and their brother was there by ten in the morning to watch every single association walk down the street. There were groups of farmers holding corn/millet stalks, bakers with break, butchers with meat hanging off a truck (I couldn’t even make this up if I tried), and school children with matching t-shirts. And the grand finally of the parade there was the jet fly over. It was a dramatic ending to the parade indeed.

A very special thanks to:
-Mom and Dad
-Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan
-Grandma and Gramps
-Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Wes, and Kyle
-Aunt Mary and Uncle John

For all the birthday wishes and gifts. Thank you so much!

I bought a Refrigerator

Well everyone, i finally broke down and bought a refrigerator. Its amazing. I hadn't bough one at first since they are expensive but i saved my money and got it.

Also a big motivator was the mini-hot season coming up again where the temperatures will raise again and ice cold water at my becking call was just worth forking over some cash.

So the good news is you can now send me "Refrigerate After Opening" stuff, like cheeses, or well anything that requires refrigeration.

Its a mini-fridge about waist hight with a freezer on top, i'm so looking forward to filling it with tons of goodies!!

I got my wallet stolen

Three days ago, i was sitting at the bus station waiting for Marks bus to arrive/leave when i noticed my wallet was missing out of my purse. I had my purse sitting next to me and when Marks bus arrived i checked my bag and realized it was missing!

Generally Mali is a very safe country and petty theft isn't a problem but its Ramadon and money is short all around... It happens I guess. I had about 15,000 CFA ($30), my ID card, and my bank card in my wallet so i was more concerned about those. I went and talked to the staff of the bus company while Mark called Peace Corps asking what we should do. The bus staff wasn't helpful at all and just said there were too many people to do anything and that i should just go to the police in town. Basically that is what the Peace Corps staff said too.

On the walk out we looked all over for my wallet with the thought that someone would have just taken the money and thrown the rest out. But we found nothing...

At the police station we had to declare my wallet stolen and write out a report... in french. When we were done writing out the report then we had to take it to the secretary who was supposed to do something with it. Well the secretary said she didn't need anything and we were done with her and we should go over to the bank to tell them my card was lost.

So we taxi down to the bank and find someone to report my card missing to. He asks if we had went to the police and i show him the paper we got for declaring my wallet missing. He tells me its not the right paper and we need to go back to the police and get something else. I ask if there is anything he can do now and he just looked up my account info and told me to finish with the police and come back the next day.

So we get back in a taxi, oh i forgot to mention it was POURing down rain during most of this, and go back to the police station. The secretary now is saying that we need to go to the Treasury office to get a stamp, come back and let her sign something.

We leave, get in another taxi, and try to find the treasury office. After searching for a while we find the office and it looks closed. But as we are walking up a window flys open and a nice malien man says he is happy to stay and help us. So i tell him what i need and he is telling us all about the Malien hospitality. Then he asks why i need this stamp and i tell him my wallet was stolen and i need to declare my bank card missing. He was shocked and apologized.

So then we walked back to the police station and waited for the secretary to fill out and sign a paper, put the stamp on and charge us a $2 fee. By this time it was past 5 and since its Ramadon the bank was already closed. So at this point we called it a day.

We were tired, frustrated, and soaking wet.

The next day we got up and went to the bank. Sat there for several hours waiting for a new card to be issued and was able to take out money.

So everything work out fine and everything is now settled. Now please don't think that Mali is a bad place or anything... Remember, this could have happened anywhere!

Some old photos

So here are some old photos that i haven't posted that I thought you guys would enjoy seeing!


(Your one and only plowing a millet field)


(Myself in front of a GIANT termite mound on a walk into the bush)


(Zame or Riz au Gras, my all time favorite African dish)


(A bone yard... like in Lion King... outside of Marks village where all of the large animals are sent to die)

Flight over Segou

Another part of my amazing birthday was going up in a little plane and flying around over Segou. I have a German military friend who lives here in Segou that owns a private little plane that he will take people up for a small fee. So i contacted him a few weeks ago and set up to fly on my birthday weekend.

It is a private airstrip... he and one other guy are the only ones how know how to fly a plane in all of segou and he owns the only plane in the entire city of Segou. So Gerhard, the German guy picks Mark and I up and takes us out there, checks all of the things and I load in for my flight.

It was a really small, two seater plane. I really don't know how to explain how amazing it was so here are some of my photos.


(Me getting ready)


(Take off)


(The Niger River)


(Downtown Segou where women go to do their laundry in the river and dry in on the river banks)


(Segou!)

An amazing birthday in Mali

Happy 24th birthday to me!

Mark came into town on my birthday. On the morning of the 19th we got up, made breakfast burritos (Mmmmm!), went and made a cheesecake (from a Pilsbury box), and went to the pool. My birthday was a surprisingly sunny day so the water felt so good and it didn't even rain. At the pool some other peace corps people meet us for a beer and slish splashed in the pool with us.


(The pool we swim at)

Around 5:30 Mark and I started to clean up because we wanted to go and watch the sun set at the Italian restaurant right on the river. Because it was a picture perfect day, the sunset was incredible but too short.


(Sunset on the Niger River)

And then, there was no gas for the restaurant to cook so all they could make was salads. I didn't want salad so the two of us went over to the "Shack" a local "upscale" malien restaurant that i love and had a nice dinner there and taxied back home and ate the cheesecake we had prepared that morning.

Overall it was an amazing birthday... but it got better (please read Flight over Segou)

Bless the rains down in Africa

My favorite time of year in Africa has arrived. The rains have come, allowing people to start their rainy season harvests, the markets are filled with good veggies now and most importantly, IT HAS COOLED OFF!

Typically here in Mali the rains are not as frequent as they were in Guinea but we are still getting rain about two to three times a week where in guinea it was two or three times a day.


(Main national highway completely washed out by an over flooded highway)
When the rains come, the streets turn to rivers and city life practicly stops until the rivers become roads again.



Biking has become interesting... I'm always muddy and have to do laundry more than ever. But the sun shine is so unpredictable it is near impossible. One day i looked outside and saw blue skys for miles, started laundry and when i was about halfway finished it was pouring for the rest of the day...

Also, I'm lucky enough to live in a concrete house but many people (Maliens as well as Peace Corps Volunteers) live in mud houses. When the rains come so heavily so often, without time for the mud to dry out, the mud becomes weak. And yes the houses will crumble. Along the older section of Segou, where there is the highest concentration of mud housing, walls and roofs have been falling left and right. There has also been a PC Volunteer who had his house fall with the rains.

But i will take the african rains over the sweltering heat any day!

Surprise… Here’s a cat!

Surprise… Here’s a cat!

While I was out at Mark’s house one morning we woke up, started making breakfast and when his neighbor came over to greet the day to us he pointed out four baby kittens in Marks compound. Someone knew that mark had a cat that he took care of well and thought he would like four more to take care of.



Of course Mark doesn’t want four kittens plus his cat so we gave them some milk and started looking for some homes. We found two people who said they would take one cat each which left two kittens. One kitten is very small, definitely the runt of the litter and is too small to give away and the other was so cute and so playful that I just had to take him. So I now am a cat owner. Who would have thought? I always thought of myself as a dog person, but we will test out the cat thing for a while.



So this is Cεncεn, as best as I can tell it’s a boy. Maybe about 8-9 weeks old. Don’t worry when he gets a little older I will have the vet come out to get his rabies shot. Also there is a huge sand pile in front of my house that I steal/barrow a handful and use as cat litter. Now, Cεncεn eats smoked, dried fish and milk. The fish is a new thing so he is still getting used to it.

Also, Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the package. I loved the birthday card, and of course GRANDMA CRACKERS!!!!!!! And Aunt Mary & Uncle John thank you for the birthday card. I opened it early but enjoyed the card.