A couple of pictures

So, the results are in, I have amoebas and a bacterial infection! But, other than that, all is good.

My friend Matthew took some great pictures at our homestay, so I decided to post them here too. Here is a picture of the people at my homestay, from left to right on the bottom: me, Kristin, Matthew, John, Souleymane (Tomokan language instructor), and in the back: Diatrou (my Bambara language instructor), a bunch of kids from the village, and Jeremy. The only one who isn't in the picture is Nick, who took the picture. I'll just make a note that all of these people are really awesome people.



So, there is a bar about a half hour walk away from our homestay site, so we've met up there with the people from another homestay village a couple of times. Here's the first toast in Mali (around the table: Kristin, Justin, Andrew, John, Jeremy, Nick and me (Ali):

N be sho dun

Yup, that's right, I eat beans. I have been at my homestay site outside of Bamako for the last two weeks, and am now known as Aminata Traore. It turns out that the Traore's are known bean eaters. I'll have to explain more about this later when I know more about “joking cousins.” All I know is that it's a good thing I like beans, otherwise I might be taking more offense to people telling me how much I like beans. It's also a good thing I brought the bean game with me to Mali...once my Bambara is better I'll be able to teach the game to some Malians...what better way to celebrate how much I like beans.

It has been a really good couple of weeks at homestay. We have 4-6 hours of language classes a day, then go home to our Malian families and practice what we have learned. Most days have been very overwhelming because we are learning so much so fast. Since I am in a small village with 5 other volunteers, we try to meet up every once in a while to play cards and speak English. I am really lucky to have really great fellow volunteers at my site. I could probably talk for hours about the last two weeks in Mali, but I'll try not to be so verbose...instead I'll share some interesting bits, and then pictures!

-Malians generally think Americans are dirty because we use toilet paper. Americans generally think Malians are dirty because they use a salidaga instead of toilet paper.

-Malians think Americans are dirty because we only shower once a day. I now take 2-3 bucket baths a day, as they're a great way to cool down in the heat, and since I am constantly dripping sweat in Mali, I kind of need 2-3 bucket baths a day!

-I usually eat to ever night for dinner, and it is actually pretty good. I wasn't so sure about it to start, but I don't mind it now.

-Let's not talk about the intestinal difficulties that 90% of the trainees are having...

Now for pictures! I live with the Traore family (Tarawele), which consists of about 30 people total. My togoma (the woman I was named for) is the matriarch of the family...her four sons and their wives all live in the same compound, about 50 m x 50 m. There are somewhere around 20 kids running around, some are older and have families of their own, and the youngest was born just two weeks ago! Last week we had a baptism for the baby, one week after he was born. His name is Sidi. The baptism was a lot of fun because we got to dance around for 2 hours! Here is a picture of the beginning of the festivities, I'm the tall white person in a blue shirt, the woman in pink is my nextdoor neighbor Geisha, the woman in bright green is one of my mother's, Adja, and the white woman in a grey tshirt is Kristin, a fellow volunteer:

Here are some pictures of the family, this is Adja, one of my four host mothers, with her youngest child Karamogo, and Tia, one of my favorite sisters:

This is Oumou and her youngest child Salimata. Oumou knows some French, and I know some French, so we have been able to communicate a little bit when my Bambara fails (which is more often than not...). I usually hang out with her and her husband Secouba at night, drinking tea or powdered milk, depending on whether or not I need to sleep.

Here is the Bamba (this one is for you, Rolf!), or crocodile. The man who owns it is a griot that plays music for hunters, and a hunter gave this crocodile to him when it was a baby. The crocodile is now 17 or so, and eats frogs, or meat when the owner can afford to buy meat.

Here is the garden that we have been working on, we've planted lettuce, carrots, beans (of course!), tomatoes, eggplant, marigold, squash and cucumber so far. We've been learning a lot about composting and planting gardens in Mali.

Last but not least, here is a short video of a huge storm that came through yesterday afternoon. I don't think the intensity of the storm quite comes across in this video. The storms in Mali seem to come hard and fast. And, then they're over in 30 minutes or so. There is usually constant rumble of thunder, and lightning all around, and rivers running everywhere after the storms. Rainstorms usually make the trainees happy because they drop the temperature by 20 degrees or so. My host mom told me that it rains even more in August, so we'll see. NOTE 7.27.09: Due to internet problems, and the fact that videos take forever to upload...no video with this post, sorry!

That's all for now, I'll try to write again when I get back to the internet in a couple of weeks!

Ah, the environment

I recently read a book called "The Challenge for Africa", by Wangaari Maathai. She started the Green Belt Movement, and is a Nobel Peace Prize winner. In her book, she is a strong advocate of the inclusion of the environment in development programs, and of restructuring many development programs. There was one quote that I particularly liked, discussing development in Kenya and the surrounding region:

"In these regions, concern for environmental issues is treated as a luxury. But it is not: protecting and restoring ecosystems, and slowing or reversing global warming, are matters of life and death. The equation is simple: Whatever we do, we impact the environment, if we destroy it, we will undermine our own ways of life and ultimately kill ourselves. This is why the environment needs to be at the center of domestic and international policy and practice. If it is not, we don't stand a chance of alleviating poverty in any significant way."


Today we had a 4 1/2 hour training session about the Peace Corps environmental program, and about part of what I will actually be doing for the next two years. In the past, natural resource management and agriculture were separated into two different Peace Corps sectors in Mali. Now, there is one overarching environmental program. Technically that means I am an environmental volunteer, rather than an agricultural volunteer like I first thought, but that is beside the point.

We learned a lot today about "Farmers Field Schools" (FFS), which we will probably be developing and working with once we learn the language and become integrated into our communities. The cool things about FFS is that you work together with farmers, use the knowledge that they already have, and test new ideas in small test plots. This is very different than the approach of going into a community and telling farmers that they are wrong, and should be doing things differently (as if they haven't been farming the same crops for generations). I like the FFS approach a lot better. I'll probably give more details about this in the future, so I won't go into more just yet.

Have a good week everyone!

i ni ce

We're only on day two here in Mali, but it feels like we've been here two weeks! I am at the training center with 65 other new volunteers, and we all leave for our homestay families on Wednesday. Our next 8 weeks or so will be with our homestay families, where we will be having intensive language classes and technical training.

I found out today that I will be learning Bambara, and probably not too much French. I would like to learn more French while I am here, but may not get any specific training in it...which is too bad. But, Bambara will be much more important for my job, so that's all good.

Here's what I've learned over the last few days: Mali means hippopotamus, Bamako means home of the crocodiles, Mali is the third poorest country in the world, sawdust can be used against sore throats, frogs can steal your soul, washing your hands with soap can wash away your fortune, I might be working in the Kayes region, I've gotten better at using the pit toilet, all of the other volunteers and our trainers seem like really great people.

I apologize for this quickly written entry, I am trying to respond to lots of emails before I leave email for the next week and a half or so.

Here it is!

Well, here is the blog you've all been waiting for! I am hoping to use this space to share my experiences in Mali as a Peace Corps volunteer with anyone who wants to learn more about the Peace Corps, Mali, or me.

After battling Poison Oak for the last month down in California (this is a battle I haven't won yet, unfortunately), I will leave next Tuesday for Philadelphia! After two days of meeting all of the other volunteers (around 80), we will travel as a group to Bamako, Mali via Paris. We will have approximately 2 months of language, culture, safety, health and technical training near Bamako, and then will travel out to our sites- where we will be working for the next two years. I won't know for a few more weeks where my site will be. Here's some Q & A:


What exactly will you be doing in Mali?

My official title is "agricultural extension volunteer." This means I will be working with the environmental side of the Peace Corps in Mali, and might be working with things like soil improvement and conservation, increasing and improving crop production in a sustainable manner, gardening, environmental education, agroforestry, irrigation, etc.


What language will you learn?

I don't actually know yet. While I have been practicing French with Rosetta Stone, I will most likely be learning a local language when I get to Mali. French will help me communicate with some people all around the country, but a local language will allow me to talk to most people at the site I will be working at for the next two years. I'll let you know what the language is when I find out.


Can I send you a letter?

Yes, please! I would love to receive mail, and will certainly write you back. Keep in mind that it can take a month or more for mail to arrive from the US, so be patient. I have heard that it is a good idea to write "air mail" on your letters/packages, and that if you send a postcard, you should put it in an envelope. If you want advice on sending packages, email me.

Here's my address for the next couple of months, I will have a new address when I move out to my site:

Ali Paulson, PCT
Corps de la Paix
BP 85
Bamako, Mali


Will you have internet access?

Yes, I'll have internet access, but I may not have it that often. I'll try to post on here once a month, but I can't promise anything. I should be able to check my email at least once a month as well. I'll know more when I find out where my site is.

How long will Ali be gone?

I leave on Tuesday July 7th, and will be in Mali until September 2011, 26 months total.


Where is that picture of the moon from?

I took that picture at the Festival au Desert (some cool videos here, click on the main one to get to some other YouTube videos) near Essakane, Mali in January 2009.


If you have any questions about Mali, the Peace Corps, or anything really, feel free to leave a comment and I will try to answer your questions in a future post! If you have trouble posting a comment, send me an email...there seems to be some quirkiness with the comment feature that I haven't figured out yet.

And now, to close out this first post...a cool Baobob tree that I took a picture of in Mali last January: