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

Culture: Bargaining

As we’ve recently been working on furnishing our house, buying paint supplies for Joye’s World Map mural, and garden supplies for our garden, making purchases has been an everyday part of life. However, unlike the United States where a vast economy organizes all of its items into specialized stores with competitive pricing, in Mali, you simply go to the market and bargain for the price you’re willing to pay—I know what you’re thinking, this is my mom’s dream.

However, bargaining in Mali isn’t as easy as it sounds. Firstly, bargaining is done in Bambara. And yes, while a nice decently paced conversation was easy enough to keep up with considering our language skills, bargaining is not usually a nice patient conversation.

But here’s where it gets interesting… the Malian unit of currency is the West African CFA (pronounced safe-uh). Though there is probably some bartering that goes on between friends and neighbors, almost all purchases are done using coins. The problem is that the majority of  Malians are illiterate and can not read the numbers on the coins. Instead, they just memorized what the coins look like. Now, the lowest unit is a 5 CFA coin. So Malians say the Bambara word for 1 (one) when they see this coin. Therefore, instead of saying the word for 20 CFA, they say 4, as in 4 units of 5.  This means whenever someone tells you a price, you not only have to understand what they’re saying in Bambara but you also have to multiply it by 5 to get the real price! Confused yet?

Example: in market, I ask a vendor “How much is that plastic bucket?” He replies “Eighty.” In my head, I think, “80 x 5 = 400, ok 400 cfa.” Im only willing to pay 300 CFA. “Take 2o off of your price and I’ll buy it",” I say, which means I want him to take 100 CFA off. 

The final difficulty with bargaining is what we call “the Tubab factor.” (Note: Tubab is the Malian name for a white person). To most Malians, the fact that we have white skin is synonymous with wearing a billboard that says “I’m rich and want to give you all my money.” Therefore, unless people know you, you can expect for vendors to tell you that the price is between 2-5 times the amount that they would charge another Malian.  For example, when bargaining for a traditional Malian outfit, we got frustrated with a vendor who vehemently insisted that his final price was a great deal at 12,000 CFA, (down from the original 15,000 CFA after we bargained for 15 minutes) and it took us walking out of the shop saying “Im sorry, we really only wanted to spend 6,000 CFA today” before he leaned in and mumbled, “ok, fine. 6,000? you can have it." Thus, having the language skills to bargain effectively (along with a little stubbornness) is the only sure way to make sure you aren’t getting completely ripped off.

You can probably imagine how mentally exhausting this was for us at the beginning of our stay here. Who knew how well my multiplication/division skills were going to strengthen by doing the Peace Corps :) We used to try to get in and out of market as fast as possible because it was so difficult to deal with language, the pushy vendors, and the math. However, now that we’ve figured it out, market day in Kongodugu is our favorite day of the week. We wander from stall to stall, greeting our favorite vendors, gathering fruits and veggies for the week, and bargaining on a few meters of cloth or a cooking pot. Its been encouraging to see how much we’ve improved over a few months and its always rewarding to see that surprised smile creep onto vendors’ faces when they realize “Here are 2 Tubabs who know how to bargain.”

Update: Happy Halloween!

Hello again friends,

Jim and I are back at the PC stage house for a few days of email access, banking, and shopping. Things are continuing to go well in village and you can look forward to a few posts in the next few days as we scramble to sum up all of our experiences into a few meaningful paragraphs. But for now, know that we’re safe and sound :)

Short anecdote: Yesterday, we did our best to celebrate Halloween by enjoying homemade pumpkin soup and sharing a box of Raisenets sent from home but somehow it just didn’t have that creepy crawly scare factor. That is, not until Jim killed a 3 inch scorpion by smashing it against the concrete wall of our kitchen with a hammer. Oh Mali…

~Joye (and Jim)