Mom and Dad came to visit at the end of January and it was a rough road starting out (literally). It turns out the plane that I was going to take to meet them in the Gambia decided not to show so I had to be creative and find my own ride there. I got someone who worked at the airport to drive me down to the ferry that goes to Gambia. Two really nice guys but this whole thing made mom and dad very nervous. It was a bumpy ride to say the least but I eventually rolled up to the ferry that took me across to this beautiful land stuck in the middle of Senegal. We spent 5 lovely days relaxing on the beach, going horse back riding and eating great. I had a hunk of boneless meat the size of my fist with gravy – something I forgot existed in this world.
Meat and gravy with Mom and Dad
Mom and Dad in their new Malian outfits with Baber's first wife
After Gambia, we took what Mom and Dad called “the bus-ride-from-hell” (truthfully the nicest and most functional bus line in Mali) to Farakala (my village). Dad plugged his ears up by taping cotton balls on them and mom got bored of her Sudoku and asked me to keep her entertained so I bought her a hard boiled egg. In Farakala, the villagers threw my parents a welcome party, which they also called my “initiation”. They thanked my parents for lending me over for a couple years and then said some beautiful words in Senoufo about coming from all 4 corners of the world. After making us sip millet mush from a calabash bowl and handing mom and dad each their very own live chicken, they danced us out of the town hall with a water gong and Malian shakers. A warm and welcoming bunch that Farakala kaw (people of Farakala).
Passing the calabash of Millet Mush to host dad
Once the parents left, it was back to work for a few days before heading to Segou for music and Senegal for WAIST. I went back to Farakala for a few days to plan the literacy march that we were to start after my trip to Segou for the music festival and then Senegal.
Segou is a great little town (very clean and motto taxis flying all around) with a couple good restaurants and some nice river views. The main stage at the festival was a floating stage on the river that faced the audience sitting on the inclined beach. Something I’ve never seen before in a festival and didn’t expect to see for the first time in Mali. I got to hear a whole bunch of great kora and djembe and many more instruments known to West Africa. Some of my favorite artists: Atonga Zimba, Tinariwen, and Salif Keita (arguably the most famous Malian musician, an albino guitarist). Salif Keita ended the festival with a tribute to the albino population of Mali and invited nearly 60 albinos up on stage during the end of his last set. The whole experience was quite incredible and truly too good for these words here. Definitely going next year (good time to visit if any of you from home wanna make a trip out here!)
WAIST (West African International Softball Tournament) was a “back-to-college-life” escape to Dakar where we met up with the rest of PCVs in West Africa to get some salty-air time on the coast. To sum things up, we cheered on the softball teams, did daytime tequila downing (tequila was my new jaggerbomb this trip), went secret beach surfing and turns out did some serious sea urchin stomping. After an attempt at boogie boarding, I fought with about 27 waves before finally making it out of the water, my attached boogie board flailing in the air behind me, my hair plastered to my face and porcupine-like prickles of sea urchin particles sticking out of my toes. Looked like a real beach babe.
WAISTers
Back in Farakala things really got moving quickly. I talked to director of Peace Corps Mali and convinced him to give me temporary motto clearance so that I could do the literacy march/ campaign that we had planned. For the march, me, my counterpart and 3 people from the mayor’s office of Farakala went (by motto) to all 12 villages in my commune to educate them on the importance of literacy, motivate people to become literate, and ask each village to select one person to come to Farakala in March for a training on how to teach literacy and numeracy. I set up a 5-day training session in my village where someone who works for the branch of the government in charge of literacy programs will come to train these 12 villagers how to teach illiterate villagers how to read and write. After the training session, all the newly trained villagers will initiate and facilitate literacy circles in each one of their respective villages. While the literacy circles are going on (if all goes as planned) the construction of the literacy center we are building in Farakala will be getting underway. When the construction is finished, the most dedicated literacy students (those still regularly attending the literacy circles in their village) will come to Farakala and start an official 300-hour literacy program in the new building.
Another new and exciting part of my life in Farakala is my new dog, Sully, named after one of my favorite bluegrass songs “Ginseng Sullivan”. Sully is about 6 weeks old and loves his new home. Everyday when I come back home he greets me at the gate by sticking his little butt up in the air (like dogs do when they stretch) and then pouncing forward at me batting my skirt with his mini white paws. He’s already getting used to a routine with me: when I get in my hammock after coming home from dinner at night, he knows it’s “winding-down-time” so he jumps up and curls himself in my lap and we chill under the stars together. Sully’s obviously no Marley but he’s my perfect little Malian companion. (no Sully pictures yet but coming soon)
Hangin in my hammock with friends and neighbors
