Hopefully I won’t have to keep apologizing for it being so long since I’ve last update all you folks on my comings and goings, there is so much to cover but here goes…
I am back at the PC training facility near Bamako finishing up the last few sessions and making the final preparations before swearing-in this Friday the 29th. Everything I have been working towards with my language, cross-cultural, safety & security, health and Small Enterprise Development (SED) specific tech training is mostly over and the mood here at Tubaniso is much more relaxed if not anxious. I left my homestay village on Sunday morning and had a tearful goodbye from my host-mother as I walked away from my concession. She broke down in tears and couldn’t turned back while the rest of my family accompanied me on my slow walk across town to where we were all getting picked up. I walked with my togoma, little Djine Moussa, holding his hand the twenty or so minute walk down the road. The Doumbia family in Sanankoroba will always be my first Malian family and I will never forget all the time I spent with them, their wonderful hospitality and all that they taught me during that time.
After swear-in, all of us from the training group currently dubbed the “Mega Stage” will depart to our various sites spread out all over Mali. I am headed for the regional capital of Segou to work with the Ministry of Tourism. I visited Segou for about days three weeks ago to get a feel for where I was going to be living and meet who I was going to be working with. Segou, by reputation, is a pretty nice place. I originally came here expecting to be living out in the bush of Africa with very little amenities like electricity, running water, plumbing etc. I didn’t expect to have any access to internet and possibly no phone lines let alone cell phone coverage. Segou is not “the bush” and is quite different from the little villages some volunteers will be going to. It has a population of nearly 200,000 and is considered the ‘second Malian city’ being next largest after Bamako. It is referred to as all the amenities and good things about Bamako without all the people and trash. I wouldn’t consider it the cleanest city I have every seen by any means, but it is pretty nice. I am quite lucky to have been placed there. Segou is about a 2 ½ - 3 hour bus ride from Bamako and is seated just on the edge of the Niger River. There are a few hotels in town that are actually pretty nice (meaning yes you should come visit!) and being the Regional Capital, it has a huge market day on Mondays where I’ll be able to get a small assortment of fruits and vegetables. Although there are a few nice amenities in Segou, I can’t really afford them my PC salary of less than five dollars a day ([cough], [cough] – care packages are thus still greatly appreciated [cough] [cough] ;-)
Well I don’t have plumbing (no shower or toilet) meaning I use a bucket to take cold showers and have a Negen (Malian version of an outhouse); I do have electricity and a fan above my bed. Something most other volunteers can only dream about. Some volunteers have no public transportation to their town and either have to ride their bike when they need to get somewhere or take a donkey cart up to 20 km to the nearest road. Donkey carts don’t go fast – that would take almost an entire day. My place is pretty far from the center of town and takes almost half an hour to bike into the main ‘downtown-esk’ area. I am a little bit closer to where I’ll be going to work. I stayed at another trainees house most of the time I was on my site visit since the landlord had to do some work on my place before I could move it. For instance, there was a giant hole in the wall to my Negen facing directly onto the street right above the hole. I would have been flashing the neighborhood every time I went to pop a squat and go to the bathroom. Kathy and I ate out most meals since we didn’t have anything to cook with but the one meal we did make was a vinegar cucumber and tomato salad with bread… doesn’t sound all that interesting but it was our first homemade meal in Segou.
I am doing what is called “opening a site” meaning that I am not replacing a volunteer and am starting from scratch. My place is completely unfurnished and no PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) has ever worked with my counterpart organization (my “service” – said with a French accent). My homologue (colleague in my service) is really nice and even used to be a French high school teacher. I am hoping he will be a great resource for me in improving my French. I know it has already improved a lot since coming here but as all my language classes thus far have focused on Bambara, it still could use some help. My homologue is also the Chief of the Quartier of a main area of the city so will also have a lot of opportunities to help in secondary areas other than tourism. Women’s and children’s groups, mobile banks, literacy needs, AIDS education, etc. all are possibilities for projects.
PCVs talk about how they spend a lot of time sitting around having little to do. While this probably will be the case when looking directly at my service, having the opportunities through my homologue will open up an ample number of possibilities and hopefully keep me quite busy. Being in a city does have its advantages because I will have greater access to resources and a greater potential to get accomplish goals and make a lasting impact on my community. Part of the reason I wanted to be placed in a small community was so that I could integrate and become a true member of that community. I wanted to feel at home and create personal relationships – something I have felt lacking my previous travels.
Besides all my various travels around the world where I am always traveling through and do not really spend any significant amount of time in one place, I studied in Australia for a semester and took a semester off to live in Francophone Europe. In both of those cases, for whatever reason, I don’t feel I was able to make that connection with the community I was living in. In Australia I spent time with Aussies but mostly was surrounded in my classes and my social life by other Americans and other foreign exchange students. I almost feel that I spent more time with Aussies back in the States living and working the service industry in Aspen. I had originally planned to minor in French at university but after various scheduling conflicts, I would have had to spend an entire year in school after finishing all the requirements for my major. Instead, I decided to spend that money and less time living somewhere that spoke the language. My idea for my semester off in Europe was to perfect my French by living and working in France. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a work visa and thus had to change everything I had planned during that semester. Since I had already withdrawn from school, bought my plane ticket, and made every other preparation to leave – I went anyway hoping things would work out. I ended up spending about equal time in Belgium, France and Switzerland alternating between various extended family and friends in those countries stay on average a week in one place. It was a great experience but did not allow me to truly feel at home anywhere I went since I was always on the move. Coming here to Mali was the chance I was hoping for to finally accomplish that goal I’ve been seeking for so long.
When I found out I was going to a large city I was a little bit upset since I felt I would have a better opportunity to integrate in a smaller community. However, after meeting my Homologue with his connections and reflecting on other aspects about my service, I am optimistic and will try to make the best of the situation. I may look to move to another house closer into where I’ll be working and most likely spending most of my time since where I currently am is so far out. I have become great friends with another person from my stage and will working a lot with her. Knowing I have someone else that I get along with so well is a great comfort as were are going through this all together. Kathy is also a SED sector volunteer and will be working with artisans in Segou so we’ll have many chances to work on projects since a lot of my tourism work will involve artisans. Additionally, every February, Segou hosts Le Festival sur le Niger a giant multi-day music and arts festival on the edge of the river. In fact, they build a huge stage directly on the water where the musicians perform. As I haven’t gotten to my site yet and I don’t know all that much, but from what I’ve been told, it is going to be a large focus of my tourism work on that festival.
Again I’m sorry it has been so long since I’ve updated my blog but now that I’ll have fairly frequent internet access I hope to keep things more up to date. I’m thinking I’ll get online about every other week or once a week if I can afford it. Please stay in touch and I really love the letters I’ve been receiving so thank you to all that have sent them (I’ve actually only received one from Julia but have been told there are others en route – it takes about 5-6 weeks for things to get here). If I get a cell phone incoming calls are free and can give you the number if you ask me for it – it is astronomically expensive to call from here so I’m going to have to rely on you all to call me! I’ll buy you a drink when I get back when I am making more the $5 a day…
Hope everyone is well out there! I hope you all enjoyed the update and thanks for checking up on me!
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