snakes in my house
Alright so it was only one snake, and my villagers told me that it was harmless, still I don't appreciate having any snakes in my house. When I am reaching down to fill my water bottle up and all of a sudden a snake darts out from under me, I get a little bothered. Of course, watching my guys freak out and start running to my house with sticks when I tell them that I have a snake in myhouse really makes the whole experience almost worth it. I was like that is right snake, you mess with me, you mess with my gang. Anyway, I know that it has been a while and i keep meaning to put a post up but frankly whenever I finally get into a city with a computer I get bored or forget everything that I was going to write and end up just well, not writing.
Okay, the past month or so has been pretty uneventful I would say. We had our April IST (service training) which went pretty well, except that I got ameobic dysentary...again ( I guess the third time is the charm?). It was pretty cool getting to see everyone again and all the homolgues were there too so tubani so was packed. Plus, you can't get enough good food. Its funny I remember first getting to Tubani So off the plane and being like oh, this food isn't that bad. Now I get to Tubani So and am like, YES FOOD!! Our main subjects at Tubani So was the farmers field school so we spent a lot of time discussing how to set up a farmers field school and how to examine the main problems Malian farmers face, striga, intercropping, compost building. Overall it was pretty good although I think the Malians got WAYYY more out of it than the volunteers did. The volunteers would present their section which would take like 30 minutes, after which the Malians would argue for 2 hours on how they specifically did it in their fields.
Back at site I have been pretty much keeping up with the usual. This month we built up my wall and are building a magasin too, my wall is huge, it almost looks like a prison, which I suppose is good because it will keep those goats out of my garden, plus it keeps the kids from being able to look in. (not that that stops them from coming in anyway) I would like to put up pictures of building the wall but honestly it takes almost an hour just to load up one picture on this blog so I am going to pass for now. It seems that this month is both the month of weddings and the month of deaths. I think a lot of it has to do with the hot season coming on pretty fierce and the older villagers having a hard time adjusting to the heat. So far about 4 people have died in my village including the president of my mens association, so it has been somewhat sad. However, the hot season is also the time of weddings and it was been pretty cool going to a few of them. In one way they are very similar to weddings in the states. A bunch of friends and family come, there is music, dancing, food, gifts,etc... On the other hand, it is totally different. Only the women do the dancing (in between the cooking and daily work that needs to get done) and the men sit around in little groups like they do every day drinking tea and talking about whatever. It is intersting here in that often for a whole year after a marriage the wife continues to live at home with her parents and after a year moves out to her husbands family concession. Funny story, I came home one day from a wedding around lunch time. I was sitting down, eating a nice big bowl of to with my family, when I noticed that a bunch of the kids were running around putting a line of mud on all the huts. It turns out, they were putting the mud on the huts to protect themselves from the bruce ghosts who come in the night. Needless to say I made them do my house too and told them that if any ghosts came I held them responsible. So far, no ghosts.
The presidential election in coming up in Mali April 29th and I have had some really good talks with my villagers about what they think about who is going to win and who they like. Our main conversation though has revolved around the aspect that two women are running for president. My guys told me one night that there is no way they will win. Here is a look at how the conversation went
Me: So what do they want to do?
Villager: She wants to become president.
Me: I understand that but what will she do if president?
Villager: I don't know, she is a woman she can't be president.
Me: Well you know, there are a lot of women in Mali, what if they vote another woman into office?
Villager: There will be war
Me: right, fantastic
It is also really funny that because of the low literacy rate in Mali the election ballots themselves have both the candidates written name and a picture of the candidate next to the name, just to make sure you know who you are voting for. I told my villagers I was going to vote for one of the woman and they looked at me like I was crazy, until they realized I was just kidding. (I can't vote)
Besides that everything has been pretty normal, I built a compost pit with my homologue the other day which was a lot of work, I have been helping my host family build a couple more negens to wash in. I have kept up with my daily soccer game which is always a good time and the highlight of the day. My market days are getting mroe and moer fun as I now know almost everyone there. I had this one woman follow me around the entire time one day. It was really wierd, she stayed three paces behind me all day and then suddenly was like well, I have to go now, as though we had gone to market together. I told her to have a good market. Besides that I am doing well, I hope everyone is taking care of themselves, I miss everyone a ton. Until next time...
Okay, the past month or so has been pretty uneventful I would say. We had our April IST (service training) which went pretty well, except that I got ameobic dysentary...again ( I guess the third time is the charm?). It was pretty cool getting to see everyone again and all the homolgues were there too so tubani so was packed. Plus, you can't get enough good food. Its funny I remember first getting to Tubani So off the plane and being like oh, this food isn't that bad. Now I get to Tubani So and am like, YES FOOD!! Our main subjects at Tubani So was the farmers field school so we spent a lot of time discussing how to set up a farmers field school and how to examine the main problems Malian farmers face, striga, intercropping, compost building. Overall it was pretty good although I think the Malians got WAYYY more out of it than the volunteers did. The volunteers would present their section which would take like 30 minutes, after which the Malians would argue for 2 hours on how they specifically did it in their fields.
Back at site I have been pretty much keeping up with the usual. This month we built up my wall and are building a magasin too, my wall is huge, it almost looks like a prison, which I suppose is good because it will keep those goats out of my garden, plus it keeps the kids from being able to look in. (not that that stops them from coming in anyway) I would like to put up pictures of building the wall but honestly it takes almost an hour just to load up one picture on this blog so I am going to pass for now. It seems that this month is both the month of weddings and the month of deaths. I think a lot of it has to do with the hot season coming on pretty fierce and the older villagers having a hard time adjusting to the heat. So far about 4 people have died in my village including the president of my mens association, so it has been somewhat sad. However, the hot season is also the time of weddings and it was been pretty cool going to a few of them. In one way they are very similar to weddings in the states. A bunch of friends and family come, there is music, dancing, food, gifts,etc... On the other hand, it is totally different. Only the women do the dancing (in between the cooking and daily work that needs to get done) and the men sit around in little groups like they do every day drinking tea and talking about whatever. It is intersting here in that often for a whole year after a marriage the wife continues to live at home with her parents and after a year moves out to her husbands family concession. Funny story, I came home one day from a wedding around lunch time. I was sitting down, eating a nice big bowl of to with my family, when I noticed that a bunch of the kids were running around putting a line of mud on all the huts. It turns out, they were putting the mud on the huts to protect themselves from the bruce ghosts who come in the night. Needless to say I made them do my house too and told them that if any ghosts came I held them responsible. So far, no ghosts.
The presidential election in coming up in Mali April 29th and I have had some really good talks with my villagers about what they think about who is going to win and who they like. Our main conversation though has revolved around the aspect that two women are running for president. My guys told me one night that there is no way they will win. Here is a look at how the conversation went
Me: So what do they want to do?
Villager: She wants to become president.
Me: I understand that but what will she do if president?
Villager: I don't know, she is a woman she can't be president.
Me: Well you know, there are a lot of women in Mali, what if they vote another woman into office?
Villager: There will be war
Me: right, fantastic
It is also really funny that because of the low literacy rate in Mali the election ballots themselves have both the candidates written name and a picture of the candidate next to the name, just to make sure you know who you are voting for. I told my villagers I was going to vote for one of the woman and they looked at me like I was crazy, until they realized I was just kidding. (I can't vote)
Besides that everything has been pretty normal, I built a compost pit with my homologue the other day which was a lot of work, I have been helping my host family build a couple more negens to wash in. I have kept up with my daily soccer game which is always a good time and the highlight of the day. My market days are getting mroe and moer fun as I now know almost everyone there. I had this one woman follow me around the entire time one day. It was really wierd, she stayed three paces behind me all day and then suddenly was like well, I have to go now, as though we had gone to market together. I told her to have a good market. Besides that I am doing well, I hope everyone is taking care of themselves, I miss everyone a ton. Until next time...
posted by Daniel Marsh at 8:40 AM
3 Comments:
Hi Dan,
This is just a test
Hi Daniel,
So I had written a very long response to your blog, only to find that I could not send it because I did not have the correct password! So I have now reset my password so I can respond to your blogs.
I have to say, you write about your day to day existence as if it is sort of hum drum. I am in awe of your life there, I admire the way you talk about the villagers as "your people," and that you are experiencing the way people live in some of the very worst of conditions. Most of us have never had that experience.
I wish I could somehow take all of our modern developments and transport them all to Africa! Yet I know that would all be too drastic. Anyway, I am sure we will have this among many discussions,and you will be able to give us a different perspective of what you have encountered in Mali when you are home.
As always, I love you and miss you very much. Stay away from that amoebic dysentery!
Abrazos, (sorry, Spanish),
Mamacita
P.S. As far as the snakes in the house are concerned,I totally agree with you. I hate it when that happens!
Hi Dan,
Well here in Rainy Maine reading about you in Mali. Keep up the good work and stay healthy. I will tell David about your blog when he gets back from Montana next week.
Jim Prendergast
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