Update: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year…

One challenge for all Peace Corps Volunteers is how to best spend the holiday season. It is easy to get nostalgic and homesick when Thanksgiving and Christmas come and go like any other day. Some volunteers travel home, but the rest of us make do and celebrate in other ways. While we can not substitute spending time with family and friends, we have had a surprisingly great time here in Mali, and we’d like to share a little of that with you.

 

First was Thanksgiving, which we spent with 80 other volunteers in the Malian city of Sikasso. The region is known for its agricultural diversity, so some volunteers organized a massive Turkey-day feast that included everything you could expect from the meal, including pumpkin and apple pie! With the exception of the turkey head I tried to eat, all of the food was delicious and spending the weekend with other volunteers made it very fun and memorable.

Of course, something we do not get in Mali is snow, which is really hard when you come from Michigan. However, our village did recently collect and sell this year’s harvest of cotton, which was almost the same thing. :)  Also, since Mali is in the northern hemisphere, the weather has gotten noticeably cooler, meaning that Malians wear cotton hats and puffy jacket while Joye and I can finally get some sleep at night. So far, the “cold” has been the equivalent of Michigan weather in August and September, which in our eyes is ideal. It has helped us work harder, and would be perfect for friends and family who wanted to travel to Mali but avoid some of the intense heat (wink wink nudge nudge).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being in a different climate also means that sometimes we get stuff that Americans don’t, including this year’s harvest of watermelon… in December! Not only is good watermelon almost non-existent in Michigan this time of year, but Malian watermelon is seriously the sweetest and freshest watermelon we have ever tasted. The day that these succulent fruits appeared in our market was the highlight of our month; we downed two full watermelons and have had plenty more since.

Another advantage to being somewhere else for the holidays is getting a unique perspective on Christmas. In Mali, there is no Black Friday, Santa Claus, or non-stop Xmas radio stations. Instead, in village, you are faced with surroundings much more similar to that in the Christmas story. People often travel by donkey. There is no room at the village inn since it’s only a one room mud hut. 10-year-old shepherd boys run their flock through your yard without cleaning up the droppings. In short, elements of story jump out at you in ways they never could because you can see (and smell) them right outside your house.

So this year we celebrate Christmas in the following ways. At Tubaniso (Peace Corps summer camp) we held a candle-light pre-emptive Christmas Eve service with 12 other volunteers. I even bought a $1 coniferous tree for the occasion at an agricultural research center. Then, just last night we opened our wonderful Christmas packages, baked a pizza, and watched a movie. And for Christmas Day, we will be at our village, celebrating with our local church and taking time for silent reflection. Certainly it is different than Christmases past, and we don’t deny that it will be difficult, but it has the potential to be a very lovely day indeed.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

-Jim (and Joye) Allen

Reflection: Packing List for Mali

Since another group of new volunteers will be coming in at the end of January, we thought it would be helpful to post a packing list for incoming volunteers.

Packing List: Its so hard to provide a general list because as you’ll find out, the things you have access to will greatly vary based on your placement. The other reason its difficult is that for the 1st 9 weeks, you live and eat all your meals with a host family, so you might not use a lot of your supplies until after swearing-in. However, when you get to that point, you’ll be SO happy you brought them.

Cooking Supplies: This is only if you plan to cook for yourself after swearing-in. Many volunteers eat all their meals with their host families. Can opener, cutting board, vegetable peeler, spatula, nicer medium sized knife, good saute pan. Everything else you can get here.

Clothes: You’ll get a lot of clothes made here so don’t bring too many. Girls-everything must go below the knee. 2-3 pants, 2-3 skirts, 5 solid color cotton Target t-shirts, 2 dressier tops,  lots of underwear and bras, shower flip-flops, nicer sandals, a pair of hiking boots, raincoat for rainy season, 1 light jacket/sweatshirt for cold season, pajamas appropriate for sleeping in more public places, bathing suit, towel. Shirts, pants, and skirts should not be super tight-fitting. Guys – 2-3 pants, 2-3 collared shirts, and a week’s worth of t-shirts and boxers. This is mainly to get you through training. Afterward, you can get soccer jerseys and fabric pants for dirt cheap. As for shorts, men only wear them when playing sports, so go easy.

Food: Granola bars, dried fruit, instant oatmeal, fruit snacks, and beef jerky will get you through the 9 weeks of training when you are adjusting to the food. We stuffed our bags with this stuff and it was SO worth it!

Toiletries: A 3 month supply of toothpaste, shampoo, soap, deodorant, sunscreen,etc. These are NOT supplied by Peace Corps, but are somewhat obtainable in Bamako and other larger cities after the 9 weeks of training.

Medicines: Peace Corps will give you a medical kit with tylenol, ibprofen, antacid, cough suppressant, antihistamine, bug repellant, mosquito net etc. on about day 2-3 after arriving in country. So bring enough for the first few days when things are still a bit overwhelming.

Camping Supplies: headlamp, REI bughut, Stainless steel water bottle, pocketknife (leatherman), light sheet, padlock for trunk

Electronics: Computer/Netbook, iPod, Portable &Rechargeable iPod Speakers, rechargeable batteries  (used batteries here end up on the ground), headphones, USB drive or external harddrive (for shared media), European plug adapter.

Books: Every regional house has a decent library, but all titles can’t be guaranteed. If you really want to read it, bring it. Otherwise, just bring enough for the first 9-weeks and then borrow for the regional houses afterward.

Note: Keep in mind that Amazon delivers to Mali (shipping for my last package was $15) and you can always request your family send you things later. Mail takes between 2-4 weeks. So if you get here and really regret not bringing something you can always have it sent. Peace Corps also provided things like buckets, brooms, lanterns, mat, mattress, bed, sheet,  and wool blanket for the first 9 weeks of training, so I would assume they are going to do this again for the next stage but things are constantly changing so I can’t guarantee it will be there.

Foods Available in Mali:  This was one topic I couldn’t find ANY info on before I came. However, after being here for 5 months, its still hard to put together a list because things change so quickly and are so dependent on region. One week, your market may be full of guava and orange vendors and the next week you cant find anything but sweet potatoes. Nevertheless, I’ve put these into rough categories to help you get an idea.

Very available: Onions, garlic, powdered milk, tomato paste, pasta, rice,  sugar, tea, instant coffee, dried fish, sweet potatoes, beans, okra/okra powder, millet, peanuts, corn, local leaves for sauces, hot pepper

Somewhat available: Eggs, bread, tomatoes, flour, Coca-Cola, peanut butter, fresh milk, bananas, oil for frying

Only in bigger cities:  butter, pasteurized milk, cans of tuna (all expensive), olive oil,basil, Nutella, popcorn, hot sauce, canned veggies,  potatoes, Pringles, Snickers, cold sodas, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, vache-qui-rit “cheese” which requires no refrigeration

Not available/Things we miss: Real cheese, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Good apples, Chocolate chips, American bacon (though there are Christians that eat pork here and there), some spices (Oregano, Curry, Cinnamon, Paprika), Tortilla chips/most chips, American Junk food, granola bars, sliced bread, American condiments (Ranch, honey mustard, etc), Cereal & cold milk, a personal refrigerator

Seasonal Fruits and Veggies are available depending on region (in Sikasso we get a lot more than other regions) : Lettuce, green peppers, squash, oranges, guava, watermelon, green beans, zucchini, eggplant, mangos, papaya, carrots, hibiscus, avocado.

We hope this is helpful, let us know if you have any questions!

~Joye and James

Culture: Market Day

Going to a village market in Mali is always an experience.  One of the first and biggest hurdles to overcome is bargaining (but there’s a whole other post on that if you’re interested).  In a large city, market can be quite overwhelming, but because our village is so small, we get to see it as a fun social activity. Aside from shopping for food, fabric, and other odds and ends, we make the rounds and greet our favorite vendors, like Amadou, Awa, or Jenaba. And if we miss a week, everybody knows and makes sure to ask us where we were – just like any small town anywhere in the world. :) See more description and pictures below:

As you can see, a market consists of a series of thatched stands where sellers come in from surrounding villages and set up their merchandise 1 day per week, similar to a flee market or farmers market in the US.  (Above) We often start off our shopping with fruits and vegetables for the week since this is the 1 day that we have access to all these things. And yes, that’s a watermelon that Joye is holding. Gotta love Cold Season!

Another fun part of Malian markets is shopping for fabric, which you will later take to the tailor to be made into an outfit. Aside from all the beautiful colors, fabrics also differ in quality and therefore price. So you always need to know what you are bargaining for in order not to get ripped off. One advantage to living in a small village is that at this point, we’re on a first name basis with most vendors so they always offer us good prices :)

Buying Meat: Recently, after discovering that our villagers thought we were vegetarians because we didn't buy goat meat at the market, we decided we should make a more active effort to promote protein consumption in Kongodugu. It really is funny how much people are paying attention even when we think we’re doing simple everyday things. However, last week, the butcher  killed a cow, so we decided to go ahead and make a beef stew for dinner.  Now Malians eat almost every part of the animal, so (above left) Jim first examined the intestines, liver, heart, etc before asking for a 1/2 kilo of more…eh… normal meat—oh and no bones please! “What? No bones?” said the butcher. He then proceeded to grab his machete, cut a leg from the hanging carcass (shown right). Placing the leg on the table, he hacked off the leg muscle with a machete. Bone and muscle pieces flying everywhere. Jim and I had both wiped pieces of cow off our faces and clothes by the time our meat was ready. Of course, the Malians standing around were not phased in anyway other than simple confusion as to what we found so funny. Fun Fact: If you look to Jim’s left, on the ground lays the head of the cow, brains and nerves all exposed. Yum. I think it must be an advertising technique.

So at the end of the day, they tied our meat to a small string, did not place it in any kind of bag, and handed it over. So walked home holding this raw cow meat in front of us, trying not to drip any more on our clothes. Above middle, Jim holds up our dinner for photo documentation. Finally, since there is no meat grinder in village, Joye cut up the fresh, somewhat bloody, meat into bite size pieces for a beef, onion, and tomato stew (which, though the meat is pretty tough here, was still delicious).  So sure, if we had grown up on a farm in the United States, some of this would not be so foreign to us, but we thought most Americans would find this interesting, especially since shopping is such a huge part of the Christmas season. Hope you enjoyed reading!

 

~Joye

Update: Technical In-Service Training

So our 1st 3 months at site are complete! This means the period of time where our travel is restricted and we are told not to do projects  is over! However, as we have explained, we have been busy greeting, integrating, and working on mini-projects (world map mural & garden). In fact, you can see the progress made on our mini-projects below:

 

   

(Joye is basically finished painting the World Map, with the exception of the Malian flag in the corner and will label the countries in French when she returns to village)

Additionally, we have been busy pushing paper for Peace Corps. Before coming to our December Technical In-Service Training (IST), we were required to conduct sector-appropriate needs assessments and complete 10 household food security surveys.  While challenging, this paperwork helped us to gain a comprehensive understanding of our villages needs, wants, and capabilities. For example, in Joye’s needs assessment, she learned that Kongodugu (the pseudonym for our village) wants to build a middle school, but needs an additional teacher, increased enrollment, and a well-functioning school board first. Similarly, James came to know many organizations in Suguba (the pseudonym for where he works) while interviewing people for the food security surveys, including a trash-pickup enterprise, a chicken-raising association, an NGO that works with biofuels, and a widow’s association that give out microloans to its members. So now we can say with confidence that we have a baseline understanding of our villages, which is critical to implementing sustainable work.

 

So now we’re back at Peace Corps summer camp for 2 weeks of technical sector specific training: so that’s Education for Joye and Environment for James. We’ll be learning things like how to train a village school board, how to start and/or manage a literacy center, school health activities and learning games, how to raise chickens, farm fish, graft trees, project planning, proposal writing, and how to get funding. So we’ll be busy! Hopefully, it’s not difficult to see how these trainings will enable us to address some of issues in our villages; this makes the sessions more interesting than they should be. Its also really nice to get back together with other volunteers to see how they creatively handled similar challenges at site.

 

Once we return to site, our next step will be meeting with community leaders to share the results of our baseline surveys, formally identify community development priorities, and start planning projects. These things inevitably will take much longer than they would in the States, but we’re already excited and anxious about commencing our work.

 

~James and Joye

Pictures: Our Malian Home

Hello All, We’ve received a couple requests for pictures of the inside of our house since a big part of Peace Corps is the living conditions. We’ll continue making improvements throughout our service (i.e. Joye has plans to paint soon) but for now, the basics are pretty much in place. Firstly, we live in a 2 room mudbrick house with cemented inner walls and floors and a tin roof. Though we don’t have electricity or running water, I think many of you would be surprised at how quickly you adapt to a new routine and standard of living.

 

 

Our Kitchen : Complete with a propane stove and lots of plastic Tupperware/buckets to keep the bugs away from our food. Note our card and picture wall where we hang all our notes from home :) The kitchen and “living room” together make up 1 of the 2 rooms in our house.

 

 

 

 

Our “Living Room”: Though we cleaned it up a bit and moved some chairs outside for the picture, its currently a bit crowded with painting and gardening supplies. We’re hoping to have a 3rd small storage room built soon to free up some space.  All of our furniture was built by our village carpenter. Oh, and we’ve written a few encouraging Bible verses on the walls in chalk to help us through some of our more challenging days.

 

Our Bedroom: Mosquito net covered bed and our PC issued bikes. On the right, Jim models a shirt that just got finished at our local village tailor. One really nice thing about our house is the big screened windows Peace Corps had put in. These mudbrick houses heat up in the Malian sun and its nice to get a breeze going through every once in a while.

 

Our Bathroom: The picture to the right is actually not our personal bathroom but a picture of a nicer than average nyegen (Malian latrine). A picture of our personal nyegen is coming soon.  Ours is very similar to the picture, four 7 ft tall cement walls with a cemented floor and covered hole for going to the bathroom, no roof. We bathe off to the side using a large bucket filled with water and a small cup to pour water over our heads.

 

 

So that pretty much covers it! Hope you enjoy and let us know if you have any questions!

~Joye

Culture: Malian Food and the Dining experience

I’m sure you all are busy with Thanksgiving preparations at the moment, so in the spirit of this great American holiday, we thought we’d share a little bit more about Malian delicacies.

Everyday, we cook our own breakfast and dinner (for our own personal sanity and health). But we do eat lunch with a “host family” aka our next door neighbors every day. Now, when we sit down to lunch with our host family, we now know to expect the following:

First, we will be passed an large old tomato paste can filled with water and (only due to our insistence) a  bar of soap to wash our hands.  Next, our “host mom” will place  2 large covered bowls on a stool or the ground, 1 bowl for sauce and 1 for toh (see description below), rice, or couscous. We recently realized that our host mom has figured out that we prefer pretty much anything to toh, because of the inaudible disappointed sigh which escapes us every time she removes the cover to reveal toh underneath. After combining the 2 ingredients,  we eat together out of 1 bowl, and only with our right hand (since they use the left hand to clean themselves after going to the bathroom).  Sauce is usually plentiful, but meat and veggies are expensive; therefore, a few pieces are placed in the center of the bowl and everyone gets a bite or two. Though its communal eating, everyone keeps to the food directly in front of them and it is considered rude to reach across and eat out of the other side of the bowl. Malians generally do not talk over meals, but simply eat their fill, wash their hands in that same tomato paste can, give thanks to God, back their chair away from the food and wait for everyone to finish eating before starting up more conversation. The last person eating always leaves a bit of food in the bowl to show the host that they didn’t leave hungry. But no matter how much you eat, as a guest, Malians are NEVER convinced that you ate enough! Therefore, the only polite way to turn down food is to very very firmly state that you are so full that if you eat any more food you will explode.

 

 

 

 

Eating some papaya for desert. We only had to bike 40 kilometers round trip to get it from a neighboring town since its not in season yet!

 

 

But WHAT exactly are we eating every day? Well, every malian dish has a base of carbohydrates. This usually is toh, which we’ve described as a cross between playdoh, mash potatoes, and a sponge. It is made out of millet, sorghum, or corn (in ascending order of taste). Rice is more expensive and therefore less common, and occasionally, we eat homemade millet, sorghum, or corn couscous. However, no matter the base, what really sets one meal apart from another is the sauce. 

 

Here are some examples of some classic Malian dishes (keep in mind, food in every region of Mali is different!)

1.) Toh and green okra sauce: Malians love their okra. There are some families who literally eat this 3 meals a day almost every day of the week. Now, If you’ve ever eaten okra, you may be familiar with the slimy muscus-like texture if retains after it has been cooked. The taste is fine but it was a little bit of a challenge to get over the texture of this dish.   However, about 4 months in to Peace Corps service, we’ve finally gotten used to this and are startled to find our selves even enjoying it from time to time.

2.) Rice and Tigedegena: This is one of my favorite dishes. Tigedegena is a spicy malian  peanut butter sauce cooked with tomatoes,  dried fish (remember landlocked country), and hot peppers. In Short, it is delicious and probably one of the few foods I’ll really miss when I leave Mali.

3.) Zame (zah-may): For special occasions, we have the Malian equivalent of Ris au Gras. This is rice dripping in oil, spices, and mixed with hot peppers. We ate quite a bit of this for Tabaski (the muslim thanksgiving) along with lamb or goat meat and a few vegetables.

 

4.) Toh and Onion Fish Sauce with Leaf Sauce: think vegetable soup broth  minus most of the veggies with a few dried fish (heads included). Not bad tasting at all, its just hard to convince people, that if everyone gets a tablespoon of eggplant, that this is NOT a complete serving of vegetables. Its also hard to explain why Americans don’t like fish heads (or goat intestine, etc) Directly before eating, the fish sauce is poured into the leaf sauce bowl and the toh is dipped into mixed sauces. This means you REALLY need to make sure everyone washed their hands with soap before dinner!

5.) Monni/Siri : Millet, sorghum or corn powder + powdered milk + a little sugar  + water =malian breakfast porridge. We don’t eat this as much any more since we make breakfast for ourselves every morning. It tastes fine, its just not very nutritious.  So one of my side projects is to have conversations with people about adding peanut powder to give some much needed protein to their kids who show severe signs of malnutrition.

So in summation, while we enjoy Malian food for 1 meal a day, we have decided to cook dinners for ourselves in order to get enough vegetables, protein, and variety to keep us happy and healthy. We’re also looking forward to our own American Thanksgiving feast with other volunteers. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

 

~Joye (and Jim)

Update: Thanks for a good November!

We’ve had a great November! Unlike the slow moving October, we’ve been busy completing needs assessment surveys, starting a garden, and painting the world map.  Here’s a picture summary of our progress. Enjoy :)

 

  

 

First, after endless sweat, toil, and tears, our garden is up and running! We’ve now planted Watermelon, Honeydew, Tomatoes, Carrots, Green Peppers, Lettuce, Corn, Eggplant, and Winter Squash. A little of everything since we’re not sure what will grow well in Malian soil.  (Bottom Left) Joye’s mom sent a little Christmas tree which we planted next to our house. We’ll see… (Bottom Right) Jim imitates Grant Wood's Farmer and pitchfork painting.

 

 

Joye’s made a lot of progress on the world map (with Jim’s occasional help) and is hoping to finish before In-service training starts in December. Its been fun to start teaching villagers (many of whom are illiterate) what exactly a map is. Its a great conversation starter to explain why education is important. The location is right outside of the school where a lot of people walk on their way into town so this should be a cool addition to the community.

 

(Left) Jim cooking up some squash pancakes on our gas camping stove. Dee-licious (Right) Joye biting into a BLT-in Africa! Long story short, a friend graciously gave us some camping bacon that was sent in a package. Therefore, we rode 40 kilometers round trip to a big market nearby in the hope that just maybe there would be lettuce! We found fresh bread, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise packets. Seriously Amazing dinner. Especially after a long day of biking!

 

The final reason this month has been amazing is that cold season has officially started! This means that although it briefly gets up to 90-95 at mid-day, it stays at a comfortable 85-90 the rest of the time. Nights even get down to a chilly 70 F. Its pretty amazing how your body adjusts to the heat. We wear long sleeve shirts to bed sometimes now! But the cooler weather makes up more energetic, happier, and excited about the possibility of finally getting to start projects in January!

 

Lastly, have a Happy Thanksgiving! This experience has really made us thankful for how blessed we are in general, but especially with amazing friends and family, all over the world. Thanks for reading!

~Joye (and Jim, who’s busy working on his independent study right now)

Update: Pizza makes the world go round…

Well, its back to site for us! We had a great time catching up with family and friends, watching my mom get an outstanding number of votes for state rep (Congrats on all the hard work, Mom!), finishing independent study assignments, watching a movie, and even baking a pizza using pepperoni Joye’s parents sent while at the PC stage house. So now all our batteries are recharged (figuratively and literally) and we’ll be back in village til Thanksgiving. Hope you all are having a great time preparing for the holidays back in good ol’ America :) Thanks again for all your prayers, letters, and support.

 

~Joye and Jim

Culture: How to Start a Garden

A simple reality of Malian life that we have had difficulty expressing to our blog readers is how long it can take to get things done. Yes, this is because we are still developing our language skills, but let’s just say that Malian culture – for better or worse – is less “efficient” than what we are used to. For example, starting a small garden in the United States (prior to planting) can be done with some effort over the weekend. But here, it has taken two months…

 

Task 1) Attain the desired seeds and gardening tools

Step 1. Ask mom for vegetables seeds and gardening gloves from America

Step 2. Bike 20 miles round-trip to buy a metal shovel and machete

Step 3. Take bus to big city to buy watering can and some Malian seeds

Step 4. Pick up care package, thank mom and Gruler’s of Petoskey, MI for donating the seeds

Step 5. Order “dabas” (Malian hoe) from blacksmith at site

Step 6. Wait and pick up dabas two weeks later

 

Task 2) Construct a compost pile since enriched soil is not available

Step 1. Start collecting kitchen scraps in a smelly plastic bucket

Step 2. Find out a nearby location where cows like to poop

Step 3. Use the shovel to dig a shallow meter-by-meter hole

Step 4. Periodically pile food scraps, cow crap, and dirt into the hole

Step 5. Watch as melon seeds accidently take root and start to grow

Step 6. Watch as children accidently trample melon one week later

Step 7. After some time, turn the entire pile and add more cow poop

Step 8. Wait for decomposition

 

Task 3) Find a convenient location for your garden

Step 1. Scout the area for good soil close to a reliable water source

Step 2. Set up a meeting with the village chief to ask permission

Step 3. Wait a week until that meeting

Step 4. Get approval to use that land for gardening

Step 5. Find out that your location is actually some guy’s poorly-tended peanut field

Step 6. Wait weeks for the peanuts to be harvested

Step 7. Watch others harvest their peanuts, but not this guy

Step 8. Wonder if this guy is mad at you for getting permission to take his land

Step 9. Consider asking the village chief for different land, but figure it will take too long

Step 10. Measure off your garden with a meter stick

 

Task 4) Construct a fence to protect your garden from free-grazing animals

Step 1. Decide to buy an expensive metal-fence instead of building a wooden one

Step 2. Travel to a large city and ask a half dozen shopkeepers about their fencing

Step 3. Bargain a great deal for 25 meters of fencing

Step 4. Have Peace Corps drive fencing out to site, since it’s crazy heavy

Step 5. Go out into the bush with machete and a friendly farmer to cut trees

Step 6. Watch capable farmer cut down eleven trees without your help

Step 7. Load trees onto a donkey cart

Step 8. Save the donkey’s life after cart tips over and nearly chokes it to death

Step 9. Reload trees, transport, and unload them by garden plot

Step 10. Prepare to dig eleven holes with a shovel in order to set up tree perimeter

Step 11. Get angry when condescendingly told you have to dig holes with a machete

Step 12. Insist that you know how and it is better to use a shovel

Step 13. After one hole, dig ten more holes with machete

Step 14. Place eleven trees in holes and fill in tightly with rocks and sand

Step 15. Unroll metal fence to discover that its only 14 meters… not 25

Step 16. Take a deep breath

Step 17. Answer Malian’s questions about why your fence is too short

Step 18. Prepare to travel back to large city after a week

Step 19. Tie gigantic fence to bike rack and precariously take it 3 miles to the road

Step 20. Throw it on top of a bus and buy a ticket to ride

Step 21. Return to shopkeeper and lose temper in foreign language

Step 22. Get money back

Step 23. Find another shopkeeper and make him measure fence first

Step 24. Bargain a price and return to village… somehow

 

Task 5) Prepare the garden bed (I have yet to do this, mind you)

Step 1. Use daba to weed and aerate the soil

Step 2. Water with watering can and wait for a few days

Step 3. Use shovel to overturn soil with double-digging method

Step 4. Mix the compost into soil

Step 5. Form the vegetable beds sunken, since rainy season is almost over

Step 6. Make a seed nursery with sticks and cover (for select vegetables only)

Step 7. Plant the seeds with proper spacing… finally

Step 8. Keep in mind that, in reality, more steps are probably necessary

 

So, as you can see, work here in Mali is a little bit different. :) Thanks for reading!

 

~Jim

Reflection: Homesickness

I have had the privilege of travelling to many places, but I think the only time I’ve diagnosed myself as “homesick” was after I discovered that this was how other kids got to ride in golf cart at Camp Daggett. Until now. After four months in Mali, I must admit that I have recently come down with this very curious illness known as “homesickness,” which develops when people feel they could be valued more “at home” than where they are. In brief, its a form of discontentment, where the desired alternative is familiarity and what-once-was.

So what about this month has made us discontent? Here’s a quick list.

• INITAL ENTHUSIASM HAS WEENED, as we have become more accustomed to the everyday realities of site. This applies to villagers as well, as we have seen that occasionally they can be frustrated or crabby, just like us. On one hand, seeing people’s real emotions is necessary for integration, but even so, we were hoping the honeymoon period would last a bit longer (but then again, so was Obama).
• OUR LANGUAGE IS STILL STRUGGLING, so that we are adults trapped in the vocabulary of a small child. This means we are unconsciously left out of conversations and have to spoken to in a paternalistic manner that few have been able to do without sounding degrading. We are also asked “y’a faamu?” (understand?) at least 50 times a day.
• ITS BEEN CRAZY HOT; three hours everyday it approaches 100 degrees. Not only does this heat make you uncontrollably lazy, but it also makes you miss the crisp air and cool apple cider of a Michigan autumn. Moreover, it lingers at night and makes it work to sleep.
• WE HAVE HAD LITTLE TO DO, because we can’t start projects yet and, this month, our villagers have spent every cotton-pickin’ minute picking cotton. We would help, but we’ve been told our hands are too soft, which I didn’t believe until I saw the calluses and the sores. We have started some smaller projects though (see other posts), and this has helped.

Upon reflecting on this list, I find that the biggest contributor to our nostalgic condition is not that Mali has been “mean” to us. Rather, the culprit is that, this month, we have been isolated with a lot of time on our hands. We have used this to read books and reflect on the future, but it has also given us the opportunity to reminisce times-gone-by and idealize luxuries we had in America. Here’s the run-down on what we have missed most:

• FOOD: At least in our discussions, this is #1 (sorry loved ones).  We have sudden cravings from random foods every hour, including those we didn’t even buy in the States! For example, I dreamed last week of eating a spicy chicken sandwich at McDonald’s, even though 1) the spicy chicken sandwich comes from Wendy’s, and 2) I hate the Golden Arches. But mainly we fantasize about refrigerated beverages (7-11 Slurpees), overly processed snack foods (Sun Chips & Doritos) , and our favorite mom-cooked meals.
• PEOPLE: What makes us miss people so much is that communication abilities are so limited. One day, many of you were a major part of our lives, and then all at once, we got cut off, and we no longer get daily updates of how your lives are progressing.
• PLACES: Our time spent growing-up, at college, and during our first year of marriage were blessed and wonderful times, and so its easy to long for Harbor Springs, Trenton, Alma, and East Lansing and the restaurants, stores, and public venues that made them great.

We rarely miss just one thing at a time. Typically, our homesickness is reinforced by memories, which incorporate an integrated mix of various things in these categories (including many of you readers). So many of our conversations start with “Hey, remember that time…,” and end with “Yeah, that was great…” and then a donkey brays, the breeze stops, or a fly lands on your face, and we are brought back to a less amusing reality.

However, we are in no way are considering calling it quits. That would be like dropping out of college after a stressful week of homework. “Suck it up, nancy,” I remind myself in my dad’s voice. “You’re the one who wanted to do this.” Homesickness is not a deal-breaker, but rather a problem in need of a solution. So, after some reflection, I have come up with three truths that will help us overcome this bought of nostalgia.

• THIS WAS EXPECTED, even before we came to Mali. In fact, Peace Corps has already spent hours talking to us about mental health, and how these first few months at site are characterized by homesickness by almost all volunteers. What we are experiencing is normal, and its departure will come with time and further integration in our village.
• OUR MEMORIES ARE ONE-SIDED, and tend to over-exaggerate the realities of life back home. For example, I wrote to my brother about how he’s lucky to still be at Alma College, and he swiftly replied that he would rather put aside the studies in order to start a garden and riding his bike everyday. Funny, when I wrote to him I had forgotten about the stiff necks and sore hands caused by hours of draining studying; I had only remembered the good times. When you’re discontented, the grass is always greener yonder.
• WE ARE NOT ALONE, and on the contrary, have a huge support network. This includes fellow Peace Corps volunteers, friends and family, and blog readers like yourself (though many of you may fit into the former categories). More importantly, we also have each other, a truth that I am genuinely thankful for every hour of every day. And most important, we have God, who has even put a little church in our village for us to attend.

So, to end a lengthy reflection: Yes, we have been homesick, but we shall persevere. And we thank you to all of those who have already helped us by listening to us vent, praying for our village, and writing comments, emails, letters updating us on your lives. Some of you have even sent packages – shipping parts of America to Mali – and these are greatly appreciated.

Again, thank you so much for all your love and continual support. Have a blessed week.

~James (and Joye) Allen

P.S. Here is an example of how homesick we are. This actually happened to Joye last week…

Pictures: Planting Seeds

Though we are not supposed to start any official projects until January, we’ve needed to do a few things just to keep us sane and motivated while our language skills improve and while we complete an initial needs assessment of our village. Since we come from such a different culture, many Malians are wary of the advice and skills that we have to offer. Others need convincing that we are even worth their time. So these activities are helping us build confidence and trust within our community so that we can complete effective and sustainable projects later in our service. So here’s what we’ve been up to:

 

 

Joye has started her World Map Mural on a wall near the school. If you look very closely you can see she has already drawn South America and Africa in pencil. Hopefully she’ll have this completed by December and will be able to use it as a visual to explain just how far away America is!

  

The only “Public transportation” in and out of our village listed on the initial village report provided to us by Peace Corps. After we showed Peace Corps this picture, they told us we are prohibited from taking this. We weren't too disappointed. 

 

 

(Left) Jim and our “host dad” who came to check on Jim’s progress in setting up stakes for our garden. (Right) A job well done! Malians were very impressed to see a Tubab successfully complete any sort of hard physical labor.

 

 

Aside from interviewing community members and beginning to write our initial assessment reports, Jim has also been working on composting for the garden (the dirt pile in the bottom left of this picture). Furthermore, we’ve tried to deepen some relationships with villagers by having them over for tea sessions under our impressive mango tree.

 

 

Lastly, Jim enjoys some Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with tuna and peas courtesy of Jim’s mom. So delicious :) And Joye kneels next to a baby goat shivering outside our house after it could not find its mom in an afternoon rainstorm. I swear those things are cuter than puppies. 

 

~ Joye