San mana keme bo....

Written in September 2010

My second Ramadan in Mali has come and gone by now. We celebrated “selifitini” last Thursday. I feel a little weird writing about Ramadan since I am not a Muslim. But, I realize that I probably know more about Islam than 90% of people who read my blog, so anything I can share might be helpful for creating a better environment for understanding, especially in the United States where Islam has tended to be represented in a negative manner as of late. So, with that said, here's my attempt to explain what I have come to understand from one year of living here. Ramadan, or “sunkalo,” is a month of abstaining from food, water and sex during the daytime hours for Muslim people. This fast represents a sacrifice for Allah, and a month of reflection on Allah and your relationship to him. I noticed that men in my village spent far more time praying during this month than I normally see.

I did not participate in the fast for various reasons – mostly the fact that I am training for a half-marathon, and on a normal basis can hardly make it through the heat of the day without a liter of water at lunch time. That's part of the sacrifice though, to do something in the name of God. My friend told me, “Fasting is more difficult that running...so you should fast.” Perhaps, but not being a Muslim myself, you could say my participation might demean the sacrifice that so many people around me were making.

My two host mothers were not participating (one is pregnant, and the other gave birth recently), and neither were their husbands. But, I did notice that our food was much better than usual (this, I think, is my opinion only...but they regularly made foods that we've rarely eaten during the rest of the year).

It is interesting that Sunkalo/Ramadan coincide with the rainy season this year and last. Rainy season is known as the hunger season in Mali because people's crops are in the ground, but have not yet matured. Last year's food stores are dwindling or gone. And money, which is mostly earned from farming and/or hot season labor, is running short. So, people have no money with which to supplement their food stores. Even if you have money, it's hard to get good food in village right now – for awhile the only vegetables available were leaves from the forest, hot peppers and a local eggplant variety.

Even with the hungry season in effect, we had delicious food to celebrate the end of Ramadan last week. Unfortunately, people did not know until 3 AM the morning of Selifitini that the celebration would take place. “Officials” in Bamako were waiting to see the moon (the phases of the moon are the basis of the calendar used here, and therefore determine when the month of fasting begins and ends); they did not see the moon until 3 AM. In fact, I had promised to fast the last day of the month, which everyone expected to be Thursday. When I showed up at my homologue's house at 4 AM to prepare for the fast, she looked at me and said, “Sunko banna, sun te ke bi. Taa k'i da.” (The fasting is over, there is no fast today, go back to bed). Because the moon wasn't seen until 3 AM, people complained they did not have enough time to prepare the feast well. At any rate, I thought my host family made the most delicious okra sauce we've had in awhile (some will be surprised that I just called any sort of okra sauce delicious), and they gave me more meat than I've had from them in my entire last year of meals with them combined! And, we ate that way for 2 days! In some ways, I think of that feast as a respite from hungry season. Everyone was able to eat vitamin-rich, protein-filled food for two days, hopefully adding to their health to help get them through rainy season.

After lunch, I walked around village greeting every person I know. Blessings for the long lives and health of our parents, brothers and sisters, children, hosts, etc. were exchanged. One of my favorite blessings is, “San mana keme bo, an ka je ka seli nogonfe.” When 100 years have passed, may we celebrate this day together again. Amiina.

Disclaimers: Lots of pictures from this day to come, ni ala sonna.

It's been a long time

Disclaimer: I know it's been awhile, but I did have blog entries written! Unfortunately, my computer caught a virus, and I just finished fixing it this morning (well, I hope I'm finished). And, the internet in Kita hasn't been working very well when I've been in town – even the internet cafes! Enough excuses, and at long last, a blog entry:

Written sometime in August, 2010

The last time I wrote, every farmer in my village was worried because the rains weren't coming. That seems so long ago now as we are now into the season where it rains everyday. It's hard to do work in the fields (or in my garden), because the ground is so soggy! I don't think the streets have dried out for at least a month now. Quite a change – sometimes nice because it's cool enough to sleep with sheets at night and running in the misty mornings is quite pleasant; sometimes not so nice when you find your clothes never dry and your house floods on a daily basis.

During the last 2 months, my time as a PCV has come full circle. Well, half circle really, sine I'm only half way done. Yesterday, my village celebrated selifitini, or the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. It was on that day last year that I arrived to be officially “installed” in my home for 2 years. I have spent the last two months with frequent trips (more frequent than I would like) to Bamako to help train the new group of volunteers about our PC Mali Food Security Program. It has been so fun to meet with some of the new volunteers as their enthusiasm is infections. Could I have possibly been that enthusiastic and full of ideas when I arrived here a year ago? Quite possibly. I think I came with 100 ideas of how I could help my village take a step away from “poverty.” Now, I struggle on a daily basis to determine whether project ideas are worthwhile and sustainable. PC funding is not much, though it is enough to do some substantial projects. I lean more towards knowledge-giving. I would rather build the capacity of the people in my community to help themselves, rather than giving them something just for the purpose of being able to say “I did that, I gave them X.” I would much rather hear the President of the Women's Association say, “Look what we accomplished, and how much we can continue to accomplish in the future,” rather than to hear her say, “Aminata, if you build us a magasin [storage house/work, area for shea processing], we'll remember you forever – even after you've left to America and found a husband.” She doesn't understand that doesn't mean anything to me, because I won't have truly succeeded in what I came here to do. At the same time, does simple “knowledge-giving” achieve what I came here to do?

Now, with that said, the difficulty becomes determining what the best path for capacity development within my village is. I have some ideas, but my work partner says yes to any suggestion I give... “Of course, if you're going to give us something, we want it.” So, I haven't really given anything, at least I've tried not to.

It can also be difficult when you are trying to complete community assessment with a group, and they say to you, “Why are you asking us what we have in our village? We don't need to go over this, we can telly you exactly what we need...build us X.” But in reality, X is something that they want, not what they necessarily need. Where can an outsider draw the line though, even after one year of working with these groups?

Today I was told by my neighbor that the money-making machine is in America, that's why we're so rich. She also said that's why we should give Malians a lot of money. She blamed some of Mali's poverty on the fact that there's no money-making machine in Bamako. I tried to explain that the presence of a money machine doesn't make one rich, and that if you print too much money you'll likely become poor. You can be sure I was not understood.

The most exciting event over the last couple of months was the arrival of new volunteers in the Kita area, and going with one of them to visit their new site. It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to Ryan, Joelle and Jackie – our steady 2nd-year volunteers who were always around for vent sessions, advice and getting together to make delicious food. But, with 6 new volunteers, I think Kita Kaw (the Kita family) will be fine. I traveled with a volunteer named Matt, and spent 2 days with him at his new site. It was so much fun to see a different village – far different than mine, being only 300 people, much farther from Kita, and no electricity at all. My village has 4,000+ people, is 20 km from Kita, and we have electricity 3 hours per night (and apparently might get cell phone service this month). The people in Matt's village were so friendly and excited to have someone there to help them. It was like a whole other world compared to my village. What was really great about this visit is that his homologue's brother works for an NGO in my village – I had met him before, but we hadn't talked much. Since traveling to Matt's village, I have had the opportunity to eat and chat with him and his wife many times, which has been a treat. They speak Bambara very clearly for me and are as eager to ask questions of my culture as I am of theirs. I look forward to developing this friendship!

I may have mentioned this previously (don't have internet access to check...)...I am currently working with 10 men and 10 women to test new seed varieties in small plots in their fields. 10 men received sorghum seeds and 10 women received peanuts seeds. In the majority of the men's fields, there is a clear difference between seed varieties, and most have found that at least 2 varieties are better than their own seeds (so far). Very good news! Because I have been in Bamako so much, I haven't made it out to all of the farmer's fields, but I hope to get to everyone's fields soon. The harvest will occur in another couple of months, and it will be exciting to see whether or not these new crop varieties can be of use to these and other farmers in the future.

On a personal note, I have been training for a half-marathon every day since early July and will be running a half-marathon in Ghana in 2 weeks (ni ala sonna)! This is something I never thought I would do because, honestly, I don't like running very much. I would much rather row (can't do that here) or ride a bike (I do that frequently here, but hard to get a good workout on the rough roads). The opportunity to go to Ghana for this marathon presented itself, and it seemed like a great idea. I think the running has had great side effects on my health – I've hardly been sick these last 2 months! Knock on wood that continues. After running the marathon, I hope to travel around Ghana for a few weeks, we'll see how that pans out.

In an effort to keep my blog readable, I'll stop myself here and do a couple of separate entries.

Other disclaimer: I have so many pictures, but there is only one internet connection in the house right now and others need to use it, and I want to get back to site. So, I promise lots of pictures in the next month! As long as I can get to the internet!