Yesterday, my boss asked me what we were going to do for the day. I know in america your boss rairly asks you what you want to do and more tells you what to do but here i have a unique situation. I told Diarra, my boss, I have no idea and reminded him that he is the boss. This went on for a bit and finally i suggested that we go to the market and talk to women about finance.
So Diarra and i go over to one of the three markets in my town. I can tell that he wasn't very comfortable just walking up to people talking about our micro-credit institution so i started us off. I saw some lady sitting infront of a mountain of lettuce and hot peppers and i used my very limited local langue to strike up a conversation. I quickly ran out of things i knew how to say and thankfully Diarra took over and started promoting Miselini (the name of my work) and explaining how micro-credit works. Once he got the hang of it i started wondering around the market. I have learned to love markets, all the bright colors, piles of foods i've never seen and keep saying "I should try that" but rarely do. Once Diarra and I had talked to about six people he said we were done for the day and would return another day. I enjoyed walking around, making friends, and doing a little bit of work.
Then Diarra wanted to go and visit a friend at a radio station, so away we went. Surprisingly his friend was an english teacher too so he was very interested in what ever i had to say, as long as it was in english. I got shown around the station and even got to go on air for a hot second... yikes, me in french on the air. Someone there even told me I look like Alicia Keys with my hair braided. (Ha, last time i checked, i look nothing like her)
Next to the radio station is a bogalon cloth dyeing place that Diarra wanted to show me. Bogalon is using different types of mud from the rivers, bark and leafs from the trees to dye white cotton cloth. Its very traditional african. They explained some of the symbols and what gave the different colors and then we were given our own little square of cloth to africanize. I painted my yellow cloth with the mud and set it out in the sun to dry while i was given a tour of where they make the dyes and how they apply it. Very cool! By the time the tour was done my cloth was dry and it was time to leave since the sun was getting high in the sky and it was time for a nap!
With the heat it is impossible to do anything in the afternoon so i use that time for my daily mid-afternoon nap! Around 5 when it started cooling off a little more i dared to go out and find tea. When i say tea, its nothing like what you are picturing. Tea is a traditional past time that takes hours to prepare. It is very strong sugary green tea surved in a shot glass. I love it! Normally you share three glasses, however i only stayed for the first two and then i got hungery. I have fallen in love with "cho furu furu" which i guess is bean cake is how you would translate it. Maybe i've just been in Africa too long but i swear it tastes like hush puppies from Long John Silvers. So i get some of those with hot peppers and call it a day.
I know it doesn't sound like much, but overall this may have been one of the best days i've had in Mali.
Oh i also want to thank
-Grandma for the People's magazine i just got
-Aunt Mary for the nice letter and photos
Keep the letters and love a coming!
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