Christmas is coming!

Just a quick update...I am at a big Peace Corps training right now, which thankfully is almost done. Then I am headed back to my regional capital to spend Christmas-since it falls on a Friday I will be doing a special holiday broadcast of my radio show, which will include but not be limited to the complete Hanson Christmas album.

THEN the day after Christmas I will be going to Senegal to meet my mom and my aunt in Dakar! We are going to spend a week traveling in Senegal and then a week in Mali. This glorious event has been the only thing on my mind for roughly the past two months; it has been a year and a half since I have seen either of them, so needless to say I am very excited!

Merry Christmas!

So you want to learn English.

Here, word for word, is a dialogue from my host brother’s English class; a compelling contrast of English language and Malian sensibilities:

TEXTE: Koffi’s Report

KOFFI: Oh it’s nice to be home.
DAVID: Was the bus full?
KOFFI: Yes it was. There were lots of people on it. I was between two very fat women.
DAVID: What about your exams? Were you top of your class?
KOFFI: We had them last week. They aren’t easy.
DAVID: Were you top of your class.
KOFFI: Well no I wasn’t top…I had a stomache-ache.
KALY: Have you got your report.
KOFFI: Emmm, no…dad has got it.
KALY: Here’s dad now. He looks angry.
FATHER: Look at your report Koffi. You’re 15 in English, 6 on French and nought in Maths. David bring me my big stick.
KOFFI: Oh no dad I’m sorry dad I was ill. My teachers don’t like me oh no dad no!

Yet another gigantic snake they found in the fields surrounding the house where I sleep

Imagine walking like this for 2 kilometers and you will get some idea of the life of a Malian woman

My host-sister's Tabaski hairdo!

Main Street Gumbanko

My counterpart and two of his children

Harvesting millet

On the radio

This morning was a momentous occasion-I did my first ever radio broadcast! One of the radio stations in Kita, my regional capital, allots a one-hour spot to Peace Corps every week, so the volunteer in Kita and myself are going to do a radio show every Friday morning. This mornings broadcast was amateur at best; I spent most of my airtime greeting people back in my village to whom I had promised shout-outs. I think there is great potential for our show, though, both as a way to do lessons and public service announcements and as a way to improve my Bambara.

Other than that things have been fine. My biggest frustration here is still language, followed by work. The cold season is approaching, which is lovely. There is a rumor that we are getting internet at our regional house, so I may be able to post more pictures soon.

Old habits die hard

Coming to Mali from America requires a number of cultural adjustments. Who would have guessed, however, that coming to Mali from Mauritania would require some significant adjustments as well? Some examples:

I was called out by a man in my village for only extending my hand to women when I greet people. In Mauritania, it was highly inappropriate for a women to try to shake a man’s hand (and vice versa), and I could probably produce a complete list of the men who shook my hand during the year I spent there. As a result, and without even realizing it, I never try to shake men’s hands. Here, though, all men will shake my hand. So I am trying to change my behavior, although I am still a little nervous every time I shake a man’s hand that he will just look at me in disgust.

Reflecting the desert culture, Mauritanians (and Moors in particular) don’t bathe all too often. I bathed about every four days there, just because it was appropriate and there wasn’t very much water. In Mali, people expect me to bathe every day, and will remind me if I “forget.” The most common conversation that I have with my host-mother here goes like this:
“Have you bathed this evening?”
“What? Oh yeah, I’m going to.”
“Now?”
“Yes…”
“Good, good, good.”

In Mauritania, the ungodly heat causes people to take cover for most of the afternoon. Walking the streets at 3 pm, you would have thought that you had entered a ghost town. I realized after a few weeks here that the four hour nap is no longer appropriate, and that work can indeed be done between noon and 5 pm.

One afternoon...

A snake wandered into our compound. It was promptly killed.

My brothers skinned it. Unfortunately there is no picture of the mouse they pulled out of its stomach.

This is the part we ate for dinner.

This is the part my brother plans to make into a belt. The joke is on you, snake!

Off to site

I am leaving this afternoon to go to my new site. It is a small village called Goumbanko, located outside of Kita in the southwest part of the country. I have never seen it before, but I do know that I have my own compound with two huts and an outhouse with a giant painting of Obama on it (the work of the previous volunteer). I am looking forward to going; I am banking on the assumption that this will be easier the second time around...

Some Mali pictures

My whirlwind training in Mali is almost over-the swear-in is tomorrow and then we all leave for site on Saturday. It has been an interesting past few weeks but I will be happy to be done with this stage. It has been weird being so new to Mali but having a year of Peace Corps experience already finished-it is like I am neither here nor there. Unfortunately there is very little internet in the region I am going to, but I hope to be able to continue updating this at least once a month, so stay tuned! I did about 10 days of homestay-this is a picture of me, the other trainees, and our language teachers.

This is a hike we went on during a field trip to learn about shea butter.

First post from Mali

So now I have been in Mali for about 4 days. I arrived here Thursday morning and started learning Bambara Thursday afternoon, so needless to say it has been overwhelming the past few days. Mali is nice though-it is very green here right now and definitely more liberal than Mauritania. The trainees here are cool too, although comments like "I am going to have to sleep for a whole month on a cot until my bed is ready!" and "They are out of crepes!" makes it hard to respect them 100%. Haha. Overall, however, I think Mali will be a good place to spend a year.

Last post before Mali

Dakar has emptied out; most volunteers from Mauritania have either gone home or to their new countries by now. One of my former sitemates left for Guinea this afternoon. I am leaving early tomorrow morning, which leaves just enough time to watch Dolly Parton: Revealed tonight on CNN (I am the last person left in my hotel).

Please note the clever name change to this blog. The link, however, has not changed.

News

Now I am going to Mali on Thursday. Meanwhile, here is some depressing news from the region:

Al-Qaeda in Africa:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125030117348933737.html

This one is about Peace Corps:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8205532.stm

Episode IV: A New Hope

Just an update-I am transferring to Mali for my second year. I will be living in a small village outside of Kita, which is in the southwestern part of the country. I am leaving Wednesday for Bamako. I will let you know more as I know more!

The end

Two weeks ago all of the volunteers in Mauritania were consolidated to Senegal, and after a long wait we were finally informed yesterday that the program in Mauritania has been suspended. This means that Peace Corps in Mauritania is on hold until further notice-none of us will be allowed to return and we are now waiting in Dakar to go home or receive new assignments.

This may come as a surprise to many of you, but it has been a long time coming. Mauritania has been experiencing random terrorist activity for a couple of years now, and it has intensified in the last year. Earlier this summer, an American teacher in the capital was murdered during a failed kidnapping attempt, and just last week a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the French embassy. In both cases, al Qaeda claimed responsibility. A security team came in from Washington to do an evaluation, and deemed Mauritania unsafe for service. Thus, we find ourselves here, considering the next step.

The most difficult part of all of this is that in our everyday lives in Mauritania, there was no danger. Waking up to the sound of my host sister snoring, going to the elementary school to have tea with teachers, buying tomatos from the market, there was no sign that the country was changing or that our situation as foreign volunteers was in any way compromised. The danger is a fringe element that targets foreigners. We left Mauritania two weeks ago not knowing whether we would return, and there are so many goodbyes that were left unsaid. The people I knew and loved, who lived their lives with so much sincerity and kindness, are now people I will never see again.

I am not sure about my next step at this point: I am going to try to transfer to another program in West Africa. I will keep you all posted!

Eco-Health Camp Kankossa

Earlier this month was Eco-Health Camp, an annual project that Peace Corps does for girls in Mauritania. Volunteers from around the country each bring two girls to the camp, which this year was at my site, to learn about health and environmental issues like malaria, AIDS and STD's, hygiene, deforestation, and water conservation. For most of the girls, it was the farthest that they had ever traveled from home. The camp was a huge success-it girwas so fun to see groups interacting who usually wouldn't and girls doing things that they normally don't get to do, like games, sports, and silly songs.There were three different ethnic groups represented, so we did lessons in 3 languages during the day and then did group activities during breaks and in the evening. This picture is from the final activity on the last day of the camp.

Relay races
We tried out duck duck goose on a whim during the evening sports, and it was a hit!


Working on the camp poster
We planted a tree.
Long jump during the camp Olympics
The winning long jumper!

A trip up north

School ended officially on May 28th, so that very evening I took off for the north to visit my friend Aly. Northern Mauritania is the more "touristy" part of the country-people like to do camel treks in the Sahara and visit the ruins of the ancient caravan towns. As for me, I went to Atar to partake of the tourist amenities such as ice cream, Orangina, and chicken. During my stay, we also found time to do a camping trip at an oasis about 12 km outside of Atar. This village was the starting point of our hike.
Shortly after we arrived at the pool. We planned the hike in poorly; we began at 10:30 in the morning and arrived at 2 in the afternoon, which is the hottest part of the day. In this picture we are happy and relieved because a) there is water and b) the 125 degree heat has not killed us.
Where we swam. We also discovered freshwater jellyfish!A hanging garden.
The canyon we hiked in through.

In and around Kankossa

My site-mate's goofy host family.

Earth Day, Ecole 5

I held a drawing contest at this school to celebrate Earth Day. The top three drawings from 3rd and 4th year were awarded tree saplings.
Kids in 3rd year working on their drawings.

Finished!

Earth Day, Ecole 2

To celebrate Earth Day at one of my schools, we planted moringa trees from our school tree nursery.
Here, the director waters trees that are ready to be out-planted.

I am still alive

Sorry to have been so lax with both emails and blog updates. I am still here, but Internet access has been less certain lately. Not much new; I am working on some projects and it is becoming hotter every day. More later when I am on a better computer!

I am getting ready right now to go to WAIST, which stands for West African Invitational Softball Tournament. It is held in Dakar each year, and a lot of Peace Corps countries in West Africa send teams. Mauritania sends three (A,B, and C); I am not actually playing though; hopefully just cheering and exploring Dakar.

Things are going well back in Kankossa-I was back for just three weeks after three weeks away for Christmas, which was an awkward amount of time. The biggest change in the past three weeks was that I moved. Typically I save major complaints for personal emails and my weekly chat with my mom, but I was extremely unhappy with the family I was living with for the past 5 months. I finally moved and found a room with a really nice woman and her two kids. I have only been living with them a week but already I am so much happier.

It was also strange coming back to Kankossa after three weeks away because I feel like it had modernized before my eyes. The town is three hours from a paved road, but recently got electricity. When I arrived 5 months ago it was on 4 hours a day, and now it is on from noon to midnight. The Education Inspection office just got two computers, so I have been giving them informal lessons on how to change their desktop backgrounds and not download viruses. I also came back to find that two of my neighbors had bought TV’s, which people here run off of electricity, gas generators, or car batteries. It changes the atmosphere so much. Instead of talking, people watch TV all day. I hesitate to pass judgment on this since a) it is still nothing compared to the sedentary habits of people in the U.S and b) it is not my place to tell people in a third world country that they should maintain a “traditional” lifestyle and forgo luxuries previously limited to wealthier nations. Still, it is interesting to see. The novelty has not worn off yet, although the consequences are beginning to show. One of the grade schools had a meeting last week with the APE (the parent-teacher association here) about how grades are dropping because the students watch TV all night instead of studying. Mauritania has not become the United States yet, though; a teacher in a tiny village 10 kilometers away told me they have a similar problem with kids not studying, but it is because they form drum circles into the wee hours of the morning instead of doing their homework.

There and Back Again

I just finished up three weeks of traveling in Mauritania and Senegal, including 12 hours in a taxi brousse today. Some highlights of the vacation:

Nouakchott: The city itself isn’t that nice, but we got to stay in hotels with both hot water and television. I have become used to bucket baths during the last few months in my village and had started to convince myself that I might even continue them when I got back to the U.S. One drop of hot shower water, however, was enough to make me realize my foolishness. I showered every day! I also got really into a Turkish soap opera dubbed in Arabic: there is a rich girl who plays the piano and the janitor at her high school is secretly in love with her. He also plays the piano. If anyone knows what this show is called, please tell me, because another post-Peace Corps plan is to order it on DVD, preferably dubbed in English.

Saint-Louis: This city is beautiful! Being there made me want to spend the rest of my life in West Africa. It was strange being somewhere that geographically was so close to Mauritania and yet so different in so many respects. Even though Senegal is about 90% Muslim (compared with ~100% in Mauritania) it is much more liberal; many women wear pants and don’t cover their heads, pork and alcohol are available, and the music is actually danceable. To be fair, I was in a larger and more touristy (by West African standards) area. Still, it felt like a true vacation. I saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, made sangria for breakfast, and stayed up to watch the sunrise on New Years Day.

Food: My stomach did not always like it, but this entire vacation was basically an excuse to eat ten meals a day. (Sub)highlights: Chinese food, Vietnamese food, grapefruit Fanta, egg sandwiches, popcorn, beer, margaritas, pizza, chicken, avocados, cheese, chocolate, ham, Ben & Jerry’s (so expensive!), candy, coffee, jujubes, and oranges.

Saint-Louis

The French Embassy, where I wish I could live...