Video: Homestay Duguville

This has been an exciting week at Tubaniso, our Peace Corps training facility that feels a lot like summer camp. In preparation for and celebration of swearing-in tomorrow (when we will become official Peace Corps Volunteers), we have had a schedule full of administrative lectures, logistical discussions, and fun events including a Malian rock concert and a special ceremonial dinner with our host-fathers at Tubaniso.

Another such event was a Talent Show on Tuesday night, in which Jim participated and actually won! He wrote a parody of Jimmy Buffet’s “Margarita Ville” that poked fun at the entire homestay training experience. We’ve posted a recording of this below. To someone not in our Peace Corps training class, it may be difficult to understand all of the jokes (since some are in Bambara), so an explanation of the lyrics is provided below as well. Enjoy!

Homestay-dugu Ville, by Jimmy Buffet, adapted by James Allen

Verse 1:

Nibblin’ on toh cake, Watchin’ my sauce bake, All of those dinners dripping with oil      Fanning the black flies, Meat I don’t recognize, Smell that tea thirty minutes its boiled

(Toh is a food base that tastes like a sponge; Malian tea is often severely overcooked)

Chorus 1:

Wasting away again in Homestay-dugu Ville, Searching for my lost 17 pounds,                       Some people say that there’s a Malian to blame, but I know, that it’s all France’s fault

(Dugu = Town; Mali was once a French colony; The Malian diet is better than Atkin’s)

Verse 2:

Can’t find a reason, I stayed all rainy season, With nothing to show but this brand-new muso Met her dad at the sugu, Only paid keme duru, Turns out she’s a Diarra and likes to eat sho

(These last two months have been the rainy season in Mali; Muso = wife, of which a man can have four under polygamy; Sugu = market; Keme duru = about $5 USD; Sho = beans)

Diarra be sho dun… (= Diarra eats beans; Insult to “joking cousin,” which we’ll explain later)

Chorus 2:

Wasting away again in Homestay-dugu Ville, Searching for my lost muso, Joye be min?    Some people say that there’s a Malian to blame, but I know, this one could be my fault

(Joye be min = Where is Joye?, what I yelled when I visited her for the first time at homestay)

Verse 3:

Called Tubabuni, Ankle deep in nyegenji, Mosque call at four, Rooster, donkey at five                  I walk about in fear, Cause children are wolves here, Everyday I pray that swear-in will arrive

(Tubabuni = Little French “white” person; Nyegenji = Toilet water [but worse]; The first Muslim call to prayer is loud and early; Donkeys bray violently; Children are my nightmare)

Diarra be sho dun…

Chorus 3:

Wasting away again in Homestay-dugu Ville, Searching for my pre-natal meds                       Some people say that there’s a Malian to blame, but I know, that its Peace Corps’ fault   Wasting away again in Homestay-dugu Ville, Searching for my lost sense-of-self                    Some people say that there’s a Malian to blame, but I know, that its Kennedy’s fault

(Our daily multi-vitamins are for pregnant women; J.F.K. started the Peace Corps)

 

Thanks for listening! Feel free to comment below!