Oh heeeeey!
Greetings from Texas! Jk, I’m still in Mali.
I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the new crisp fall air of October. This is truly one of my favorite times of the year in the States and I am sad to miss it. The other day while I was bucket bathing outside the air felt like and smelled like fall (specifically Halloween), and I got all nostalgic for home. I’ve been very nostalgic for home lately actually. Random memories pop into my head from all times of my life and from all places I’ve been. Memories that I haven’t thought about in years. Something about being here so completely out of my element stirs them up at the strangest of times.
This past week has had its ups and downs. I think the Malaria medication I am on gets me a little out of sorts for a few days after I take it. That combined with awkward social situations in which I don’t quite know how to handle myself and the language barrier offer some unique frustrations. But for every rough time there are 10 happy times of playing with the kids in my compound, understanding a new phrase that I didn’t know before, having my host grandmother tell me that my work is good, or feeling the cool wind on my face and arms as is blows in my window during a lightning storm at night. There are great moments that happen every day and remind me why I’m here.
Since my last post I have been to two funerals and one baby welcoming ceremony. These are important ceremonies for me to attend to gain the trust and respect of the people of my village. If I don’t go to these types of events people will talk about me and say that I don’t care about people, or don’t consider people.
The two deaths were both very old women who were revered and respected throughout the community. Hundreds of people came to these events to give blessings and money to the family of the deceased, and to sit around and socialize and eat good food. The ladies of my compound were busy cooking at the first ceremony so I sat with some other women who took me under their wing. I hung out with them at the second ceremony too, and now we’re best buds. Malian people are so warm and welcoming like that. You meet someone one time and then you’re friends from then on. It makes me think of sometimes in the states when you see an acquaintance on the street and both of you pretend not to see each other (ok I don’t know if you guys do that, but I totally have). It’s not like that here. I am even buds with people by association because the last volunteer in my village and in the village next to mine were buds with them.
Here are some silly things that you should know about:
1.) Women’s breasts. – when I was first learning about Mali and the culture before arriving here I assumed that since it is a predominantly Muslim country there would be tight cultural restrictions on women’s clothing, and to some degree that is true of the bottom half of the picture, but women’s breasts are EVERYWHERE here. You may notice this in some of my facebook pictures as some of the women were breastfeeding when thy asked for me to take their pictures. I mention this because one of my favorite experiences in Mali so far happened yesterday at the baby welcoming ceremony and it involves breasts. Three musokoroba (old women) got into the middle of a circle of people (like at any dance party), took of their tops and head wraps, danced wildly, screamed, threw water over their heads, and sang as we all stood around and clapped and laughing. These are women probably in their 70’s who had the energy and agility of women in their 20’s. It was such an interesting place to be, standing at the edge of the circle looking on. It was a powerful experience and I am not poetic enough of a writer to do it justice. Some of the ladies on the outside of the circle told me to take pictures. I didn’t have my camera on me at that time, but I probably would have felt pretty strange taking topless pictures of old ladies. I did take some later of the three ladies holding the two new babies if you want to check that out…
2.) The Malian independence day was last week and the teenage- 20-something boys in the village held a soccer match in celebration. I played with them for a little bit and kicked the ball around a few times. One of the guys even said to me in English “very very good!” – I felt pretty cool. Brought me back to the AYSO days… but there were no juice boxes or snacks after the game. J All of the children and young girls came out to watch the game too. I want to buy a soccer ball while I am in Bamako and start playing soccer with the girls since they are a little shy to play, but I know they want to.
3.) Badenni, the baby goat that I love, is growing up just nicely. It is good to see him putting on weight and thriving, even without his mother, but it is also sad because I know that the bigger he grows, the closer he is to becoming the centerpiece of a funeral or baby welcoming ceremony. Once in a while I pet him and scratch his ears. It makes me miss my cat Pumpkin back home in Minnesota. My Malian family thinks this is so weird and they just laugh and shake their heads and say “Eeeh, Assetou!!”. The other night when I walked into the second room of my house Badenni was standing at the door, about to walk in but he got scared and ran away.
4.) Speaking of goats- yesterday at the baby party there was a goat skin spread out on the ground with the goats head and chopped off legs on top of it. The children were playing with the head and shoving the goats hooved foot into its own mouth. It was pretty disturbing to me, but that’s just life here! Later I had to politely refuse that same goat’s meat as I sat eating with several women who were holding out chunks for me to eat. “N fara tew! A barika” –I said. “I’m completely full. Thank you.”
5.) It is corn harvest time in my village. This means a lot of delicious hot grilled corn on the cob, and time spent shucking corn which is nice to do with the ladies of my compound and chat. This also means it is the beginning of the end of hungry season which occurred before the harvest when food from the previous year’s harvest may have run out for some families. This is good news since a lot of kids in my village are looking dangerously thin. I am going to try to work on some food security initiatives in my village soon.
6.) This really isn’t anything important, but it’s the little things that make me happy nowadays – I finally found nailpolish remover in this country! I hadn’t brought any with me and couldn’t find any – it was driving me crazy, and now I can relax.
7.) School starts this week – 4 of the older boys in my compound left today to continue their studies in bigger cities. I will miss them. They were really welcoming and helpful during my initial adjustment here and I think we grew to be good friends. They’ll all be gone for the next 8 months. This also means the kids will start going to the school in my village. I’ll be able to see first-hand some of the issues my school has such as space, teacher quality, and so on.
8.) A lady at the funeral this week grabbed my boobs, People do this to each other a lot… but I don’t think I want to get used to it. I ran away from her and said “ A manye” which means “bad”. If my villagers want to think I’m weird because I don’t let people touch my boobs, then I’m okay with that!
9.) If you were thinking about sending me a package, don’t! Instead, save that money you would have spent for when I inevitably ask you to donate to help with a big project. My village wants to build an addition onto the school since the classrooms are severely overcrowded (like 80 kids in a class), and if I take on that project I will probably need to do a little fundraising. I know it is annoying when people ask you for money, and I hate doing it… but I see it as this is a great way to 100% know that the money you are donating is going to exactly what is intended for and not being siphoned away into people’s pockets which happens all the time with foreign aid. Example on a small scale: used clothing that is sent over to be given away is sold in every market in Mali. That clothing got into the hands of people who sell it for profit. Even Mali’s government has issues with corruption – with stories of little money reaching its final destination for education or sanitation because it has been lining the pockets of people on the way down. If you donate when I put the word out, you will know where your money is going, and be able to see tangible results. BAM!
10.) Read 9 again… and start saving your pennies!
I hope this post finds you all well and healthy. Shoot an email my way with the details of your life. Extra points go to emails about really good food you ate so I can live vicariously through you. The greatest thing I have eaten in Mali I ate today – it was a delicious sandwich on French bread with sweet potato fries, and onion sauce, salt, and a hardboiled egg. Dee-lish. Malian street food at its finest in my opinion. I was so incredibly hot and sweaty while I was eating it walking up a hill to go to my friend Mary’s house, and Malians were looking at me like I was a crazy Toubob, but it was so good that I couldn’t stop eating it and I just let the sweat pour down my face. Good visual, I know.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I appreciate all of your love and support throughout this journey. I couldn’t do it without you guys! Know that if I accomplish any good thing here you have contributed to it in some way!
Love and miss you all
Jamie (Assetou) Casterton (Diarra) – that’s a mouthful!
