Month One
7 August 2008
The temperature is a perfect 75 degrees, but the crickets, music, and Malians peering over my shoulders make it difficult to put my thoughts into writing. It is also hard to take my eyes of the light show that has just replaced the setting sun after dropping some rain on Marako, my host village. The combined effect of cell phones and a lifestyle out of the 10th century present here makes for an interesting atmosphere. Goats, chickens, and cows wander aimlessly through the smoke from cooking fires and time is kept by the call to prayer while 50 Cent blasts from car battery powered boom-boxes. My host family takes good care of me: cooking, cleaning, washing my clothes, and ensuring I make it to school. I was warned countless times about how tough things would be here; I must be missing something. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet that I will be living here for more than the next two years, but I have had no trouble adjusting thus far. I actually like it!
It seems to me Mali is like the overgrown sandbox in the corner of the playground that everyone forgot exists, one of the few places kids can put on their happy face and play nice together, perhaps because nobody seems to notice. Mali has a stable government and very good diplomatic relations with wealthier nations, so lots of kids come to play. They build schools, hospitals, hotels, pumps, and monuments leaving no doubt as to who paid for it. It is like a friendly competition that fills this country with a lot more cultural diversity than I would have guessed. So much of the globe is well represented: France, Germany, Japan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, and naturally, Ameriki. This atmosphere means that a bilingual Malian has little chance of playing the International Aid Game. Our staff is almost entirely Malian. One Bambara teacher speaks eight languages; the average for our language instructors seems to be around 4 or 5.
Over the course of the next week all 75 trainees will distribute across Mali to visit the places they are to live for the next two years. This will cause a significant number to head back to the states. It is weird to think that 30-40% will leave for various reasons before their time is up. Two have gone already. I am really excited (and a little nervous) to see my site! I will be living 20 km north of Bougouni in the Sikasso region: southern Mali, right between the Sahel and the tropics. I will spill the details in the next update.
Things I Have Learned…
1) Nobody is left-handed in Mali.
2) Polygamy is a viable alternative to divorce.
3) Animals are food, not pets.
4) Shorts do not make good diapers.
