Funny things about my town: There are watermelons everywhere right now. Honestly they come in by the truckload. My town thinks I’m a weirdo whenever I go on runs…realized people don’t really need to exercise here because daily life is full of exercise anyway. Just started thinking how funny it is that we obsess so much about dieting in the US. Pretty sure if I told my host family or others in my town, they’d be completely confused about why people would try so hard not to eat. This is especially true here because a lot of times larger women are considered more beautiful than skinny women because they’re believed to be wealthier. People also wear skin lightening cream because they think it’s more beautiful. No need for fake tanner here!
In the last month I started going to sit in on some of the 7th, 8th and 9th form classes. They have four schools in my town and an English teacher I’ve gotten to know pretty well. Each student has one notebook and two pens, one red and one blue. Each grade has students of all ages, sometimes an age difference of 5 or more years. Guess this is because kids start school at different times and may have to drop out occasionally to work in the fields, or help out at home. There were close to 60 students in the younger classes and not a single student has a book. There is a book the teacher uses to teach and students must copy down all the lessons into their notebook. There are noticeably fewer people, and a lot fewer girls as the grades get higher. Had one disturbing day when this teenage boy came up to the front of the class near the teacher and I to say he was unable to do his homework. The teacher kind of mocked him and asked why not. The student’s excuse was that he had a problem at home. Still mocking, the teacher asked what was the family issue and they boy replied that his mother had died. The teacher looked to the class for confirmation before letting him return to his seat. What was especially difficult about this for me was that this didn’t seem like a big deal to them at all…when I asked the teacher after class if that was really what had happened he laughed at me when he saw how shocked I was.
Celebrated a major Muslim holiday this past month known as Seli Ba. It’s meant to commemorate Abraham’s faith for willing to sacrifice his son. In the end, God replaced his son with a goat. Every family, if they are able, purchase a goat to sacrifice. Festivities begin early in the morning, went to one of our town’s mosques with my host family. Then came back to their concession to take pictures with the goat before they performed the sacrifice (could NOT watch that one). Was a major point of pride for my family that they were able to purchase a pretty big goat. After the sacrifice, families go around offering different parts of the goat to other families while reciting a string of blessings. Everyone puts on their nicest outfits (most people get new, expensive outfits tailored). Children get dressed up as well and go house to house reciting the blessings and receiving small change or candies along with blessings in return. There was plenty of loud music and dancing, celebrating went on for three days. Felt nice to be included in such a special tradition.
Got to see Mali’s president! He paid a visit to a nearby village in order to draw attention to a new cow vaccination campaign.
Also I had a really wonderful Thanksgiving. All of the Peace Corps volunteers in the Koulikoro region were invited to dinner at the house of the US Ambassador in Bamako. She has a beautiful home and served us the most amazing, Thanksgiving meal with turkeys flown in from the US, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie…all the good stuff. Afterwards we went across the street to another expat’s home. He had a table full of delicious desserts and probably close to 100 expats just socializing, drinking, and eating. Peace Corps volunteers are really welcomed warmly here, the other expats (embassy employees, USAID workers, etc) seem to want to spoil us because they know how hard it can be for us. It’s a nice community to be a part of. As much as I enjoyed my holiday, was sad to be away from my family celebrating my grandma’s 90th birthday! You were all in my thoughts this past month especially you grandma! Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM and DAD!!! So wish I could be there to celebrate. Love you! I have the best family in the world no question.
So sorry it takes so long in between updates. Been especially frustrated with internet lately, it’s just constantly out. Only have access to internet about once a month, and even then it’s not always working. Now I’m in Bamako for two weeks of training with all 80 of the volunteers in my training class. Yesterday we had a woman come speak from Helen Keller International. She was a former Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea and now is heavily involved in HKI’s malnutrition program. Malnutrition is incredibly prevalent in my area, all over Mali really, so really appreciated hearing from her. Aside from that, just really excited for Christmas. Leaving in less than two weeks for Nigeria! Looking forward to a very sunny Christmas.
