Sunday, September 19, 2010

Update: Settling-In

Moving-In : We’re finally settled in! About 2 weeks ago, we spent a few days in our “regional capital” where we were able to buy a table, bed, mattress, gas stove and other large supplies that don’t fit on the back of a bike. Then, a Peace Corps vehicle loaded all of our stuff on top and drove us straight to our house to officially “install” us. This was the only time Peace Corps will ever carry things directly to our site so it was a real blessing to be able to buy big furniture and not have to arrange for a donkey cart to carry it 5K down a dirt road later.

Peace Corps Staff dropped us off, had a quick meeting with our the mayor, prefect, village chief and homologues reiterating why we are here and then drove away…leaving us in the middle of this tiny village with no electricity and no translator and a quick “See you in 3 months at In-Service Training in Bamako!” And that was about the time when all of the busyness of the last 2 months of training came to this screeching halt and we realized that this was going to be our lives for the next 2 years! Exciting, intimidating, a bit overwhelming!

Cooking in Mali : So we have spent the last 2 weeks pretty much setting up shop here and settling in. One exciting thing is that we have been learning how to cook for ourselves in a developing country with limited resources. Its strange to experience what it is like to not have food available whenever we want it. It really makes me appreciate and marvel at American grocery stores where you can buy anything whether its in or out of season! Here in Mali, we have a market that comes to our town on Wednesdays, sometimes with veggies, sometimes without, and another market about 12 K away on Sundays. Some days the local “butigis” sell bread, sometimes they run out and you simply have to go with plan B. So we have been trying to find a balance of securing enough food to last us for 3-4 days but not rot/go bad since we have no refrigerator (and its been getting up to 85-90 everyday in Rainy Season). Now, please don’t worry about us getting fed! In Mali, you can literally show up at anyone’s house at meal time and it is expected that you will be eating there, in fact, here its an honor for a family to get to host us since we are the village guests! So we usually eat 1 meal/day with either our host family or Joye’s homologue and cook breakfast and dinner ourselves. It has simply given us a small window (small because, even on our meager Peace Corps budget we have much more money than the average Malian) into what it is like to live somewhere where food is scare and you constantly need to be planning ahead for meals. Despite the challenges, we have managed to make American Spaghetti, homemade French fries, vegetable stew, omelettes, and quesadillas! **Note: I may have mentioned this before, but cheese isn’t made here because of the lack of refrigeration. However, there is one type of imported French processed Cheese called “Laughing Cow” which doesn't require refrigeration and can be purchased in bigger towns. So we used this, Jim made flour tortillas, end result = the most amazing quesadillas ever!

A New Arrival: Our host family in village is a young couple only a few years older than us. When we came for site visit, a month ago, we realized that our host “mother” was very pregnant (In Mali, you never talk about pregnancy, its a superstition of sorts), and last Saturday, she gave birth to her first child, a beautiful baby girl! Then, a week later we were able to attend the baptism/naming ceremony.

Starting Work: This first month is about language and making connections. We spend a good part of each day, walking around the village, greeting people, learning names, chatting, and finding out who’s who in the community. This means identifying individuals that seem motivated and are well respected by their peers, so that later when we need their help, they will be willing to give it. We also are spending the next few months listening, discussing, and building people’s trust in us before we launch any big projects. Then, after relationships and language are established, we need to do a baseline survey, to discover what the community thinks its problems are and which ones it is motivated to change. Peace Corps is all about creating “sustainable” projects and therefore strongly encourages volunteers to start working on projects that already have community support, or they will not be sustainable after the volunteers leave. However, we do have a few small projects in mind for the coming months. For example, we are starting a small garden soon where we will be able to showcase some strategies for growing more nutritious food and can use it as a starting point for talking about general nutrition. Also, Joye is hoping to secure permission soon to start painting a world map mural near the school to promote geographic literacy. This will allow us to feel productive but not get in over our head in a big project when our language skills are still not where they need to be.

Lastly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Joyes brother Dave. His Bday is the same as Mali who will be turning 50 on September 22!

There is so much more we could write about, but we're trying to keep these blogs short and sweet! So please let us know if you have specific questions! We love you all and hope you’re doing well!

~Joye

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Pictures: Swearing-In & Afterward

Because swearing-in was such a big deal, we decided to publish some photos of the occasion.

First, here are pictures of us with other ex-trainees that shared our respective homestay villages during our nine week training. Joye is on the left, and James is on the right. You’ll notice that everyone wore Malian regalia. It was a very formal and special event.

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Of course, we also got a picture together to show off our nearly matching Malian outfits. Joye is wearing a dress that she got tailored while James is sporting a traditional boubou.

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Afterward, we celebrated swearing-in along with our one-year anniversary at the Radisson, Bamako’s finest hotel. Check out the beautiful view from our chic room!

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While at the Radisson, we enjoyed lounging by its luxurious pool, and stuffing ourselves with the finest breakfast buffet in Mali. You can see from the picture just how much we ate! In particular, we built up of reserves of cheese, ham, milk, waffles, apple juice, and meatballs. :)

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Hope you enjoy the shots! Feel free to comment below!

 

-James

Update: Swearing-In

Drum Roll Please…..

We are officially Peace Corps Volunteers! Yay :) Now, this might not seem like a big deal to you all, but we have been working for 2 months and had to pass quite a few competency tests to finally get the ‘privilege’ of being able to call ourselves volunteers instead of trainees.

The official ceremony took place at the US embassy. All the Americans got dressed up in their best Malian outfits and the whole occasion was very formal and made us very proud of what we are doing. The US ambassador said a few words, we took an oath of service, and a few volunteers gave speeches in the local languages which were filmed and played on television that evening. Next we headed to the American club, where a feast of cheeseburgers, quesadillas, french fries, potato salad, fruit salad and chocolate mousse awaited us! When doing my research about Mali before coming, I remember being confused as to how excited everyone seemed about this meal, but after 2 months of toh or rice and sauce, this is a HUGE deal.

The rest of our training class organized a huge night out in Bamako to celebrate, but Jim and I decided to use this opportunity to celebrate our 1 year anniversary, a few days early, by spending 24 hours at the Radisson, Bamako’s nicest hotel. We got to enjoy lounging by the pool, air conditioning,' The Office’ in French, and an incredible breakfast buffet. It was such a treat to relax after such a stressful and challenging 2 months.

We are heading out tomorrow to our regional capital to buy furniture and supplies before officially moving to site, early in the week. We are very excited (though it WAS pretty hard to leave the Radisson :) ) to go to our new home. However, that means we wont have internet for about a month. Thanks again for reading along and we’ll try to post more pictures soon!

~Joye

Thursday, September 2, 2010

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!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Pictures: Jim’s Homestay Part 3

(Top Left) Jim and his homestay environment buddies with their LCF [Language and Cultural Facilitators] documenting all their fun times in language class. (Top Right) The community garden the environment volunteers worked on during homestay.

 

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(Bottom Left) Jim with part of his host family wearing their best outfits. His host father Mohammed is standing next to him. Do you like Jim’s boubou? (Bottom Right) The women in Jim’s host family gathered around the area where they pound millet or corn to make toh.

 

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(Above) The walk along the creek toward Jim’s concession, which is in the background with a red door and mango tree. 

(Below) Out for a stroll through some fields on our day off.  Training 012

Hope you enjoy the pictures and let us know if you are curious about anything! We LOVE hearing from you :)

Pictures: Joye’s Homestay Part 3

Training 010 (Above) All the Education volunteers got special education fabric that we made into outfits. This is Joye and some fellow PCTs from her homestay village. 

 

(Top Left) Joye with her immediate host family. (Top Right) Joye and Jakeri, the 2 year old in her family who liked to follow her around, smiling and repeating her Malian name for 30 minutes straight.

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(Bottom Left) Joye’s extended host family (minus the husbands who are gone working) If you look closely, you’ll notice that the kids have decorated their faces with stickers I gave them as a parting gift. (Bottom Right) Joye’s laundry hanging to dry in her homestay concession. Now I realize why Malians dont use towels, they’re SUCH a pain to wash by hand!

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(Above) The Mosque next to Joye’s house aka the bane of her existence. [ Now that its Ramadan the mosque call is at 3:30am and plays music 'til 4:30 am] I’m not going to miss that!