What exactly am I doing here you ask?

I’m finally typing this entry from my house instead of the internet café, thanks to the newly installed battery in my computer! With a little luck, my laptop may actually make it through two years here!
This past week (as well as the week coming up) was pretty eventful. Although we do not have to start any real work or projects for the first three months, there is only so much wandering around and talking to people I can do before I get antsy. I was also getting a little tired of the people in village asking me what I am going to do here for two years. Thus, I did my first animation at the clinic in my old village (which I have still been going to once a week). I talked to a pretty big group of women actually about how to make a rehydration drink that they can give to their kids if they have diarrhea (the drink is really just water with sugar and salt). This may not sound riveting, but it actually is a pretty important topic because many babies and young children die from dehydration caused by diarrhea, which they get all the time. This is partly because they don’t like to wash their hands with soap (which I think will be the topic of my next chat). I taught them how to make it with the help of my homologue, and then I let all of the kids (babies mostly) taste it. It was pretty funny to watch their reactions because some of them cried and spit it out and some of them absolutely loved it! It was also nice to see that almost all the moringa trees I planted a few weeks ago have sprouted! Aside from getting a flat tire on my way home (luckily close enough that I just walked the last little bit as I of course forgot the pump at home) it was a really good trip to the village. Soon the water will have receded enough for me to take the shortcut, but this also means that I will be even more covered in red dust by the time I get there. Between the dryness and the wind, my feet and legs are usually completely red by the time I get to the village! This only adds to the amusement of the health workers at the clinic who already think it’s quite hilarious to see a toubab riding a mountain bike wearing a helmet, backpack, and pants, and now covered in dust. I’m sure if I saw myself like this I would laugh too, but thankfully there are no mirrors at the CSCom, so I can pretend I don’t look completely ridiculous.
This week I am going to paint a mural with another volunteer close by so that when I start weigh babies (which is mainly to check for malnutrition) I can show the moms on a chart on the wall where their child falls and they can see how they are growing. Not a very major project, but at least something to keep me busy, and people really seem to like murals here (we also painted one in our homestay village which everyone loved). After that, I’m off to see some other volunteers for Halloween and then we are having an election watch party here in Djenne! I’m really excited to be able to actually watch the results come in on TV, even though it will be probably 2 or 3am here. Sadly, my absentee ballot never made its way to Mali (not that surprising coming from Florida I suppose) so I didn’t get to vote, but at least I will be able to watch!


PS: I’ve had several people ask me about good things to send, so if you are feeling generous, I’m going to post a list shortly of things I can pretty much always use (or always want!). The best bet so far seems to be the flat rate boxes, because then it doesn’t matter how much it weighs, but for just a few things, envelopes work two because sometimes the post office here will just put them in my box instead of labeling it as a package which I have to ask about and sometimes pay for (not a lot luckily!). Thank you to everyone that has already since something!

Good thing there's a shower in Sevare

In hopes of filling out my absentee ballot this weekend, I came to Sevare, but alas, no ballots to be found. It's still always nice to use the internet and eat good food though, and coming into town worked out especially well for another reason. At my new house, I share a yard with three other families, and in the middle of our yard is the faucet we all use to get water. The payment system for said faucet usually just rotates, so one family pays this month, another the next, and so on. I had noticed that there seemed to be something going on between the families because there was more yelling at night and people seemed to be angry, but of course, with my limited Bambara I pretty much had no idea what was going on. On my way to get water this morning I found out. Apparently, whoever was supposed to have paid the bill this month (I'm assuming not me because no one ever presented me with any sort of bill or mentioned anything about water) decided that it was way to high and something must be wrong, but instead of doing something about it, the decision was made to simply not pay it at all. So this morning, when I went to get water, there was a little box with a lock over the faucet. Thankfully I was planning to shower upon arrival in Sevare (public transport is usually a sweaty, dusty process) so it wasn't that big of a deal, but I do hope it gets turned on by the time I get back! I'm not all that optimistic though because when I was leaving I noticed some of the people in my concession waiting in line to get water from a public faucet where you just pay 25CFA to get water. I hope they aren't just planning on doing this indefinitely, but it wouldn't really surprise me. Soon I too may be waiting in line to get my bucket bath water. At least the public fountain is right outside the door to my yard!
I've adjusted pretty well to life in the city, and I think I am really going to like living there, despite the children constantly asking for my water bottle. Peace Corps sent a tutor to do a week of language training in French so that it would be easier for me to work with my local tutor, and I think I've really improved a lot. Learning two languages at once is a little confusing, but I think it will work out because I'll probably be speaking more French in my work, but I practice Bambara a lot with my host family as well. As for work, I am still going to help out in my old village once a week, and I hope to paint a mural there next week, which I think will help prove to them that I am not totally abandoning them! Things with the Mission Culturelle are also starting to get underway, so that should keep me busy for a while and help me practice French. The Mission Culturelle recently received a grant from the US Embassy, because of the World Heritage Site, to try and promote education about the importance of protecting the city's heritage as well as stopping pillaging. There is an architectural site right outside the city that has lost a lot of interesting artifacts due to pillaging, so hopefully this project will help explain why people should protect these areas instead of stealing things and selling them. I think most of our work (Kate and Elizabeth and I are working together on it) will be with the schools and potentially going to different villages to talk about it. It's not exactly health related, but definitely very interesting, so it should be fun!
In other news, we are all anxiously awaiting election day! I've been listening to the BBC world news most mornings, so we get some updates about the debates and such, but it would be really nice to actually watch the results come in on TV! There are a couple of potential watch-party sites, so hopefully we will be able to work something out, even though it will probably have to be a sleep over because the results won't be in until 3 or 4am here! That's a little past my usual 9pm bed time, but worth it I think!

Movin on Up

Warning: This post is being typed on a French keyboard, so I apologize in advance for the grammar and/or spelling mistakes! After much thought and discussion with my boss in Peace Corps, I have decided to move from the village I was placed in to a bigger town nearby. We are not supposed to say exactly where we live, but lets just say that now I have electricity and a water source that isnt 2k away! There were a lot of factors in my decision to move, but the main problem was language. It turns out that the people in village dont speak as much Bambara as we were told, and as it is not a written language, it would be difficult for me to even learn it. On top of that, I wasnt really thrilled that I would then be trying to learn three new languages at the same time! I am still going to do some work in this village (I will probably ride my bike out once a week or so) but the rest of my time will be spent on projects here in the city. I am really looking forwrd to it because it seems like there will be a lot for me to get involved with here. Im running out of internet time, but I just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know about the move, and hopefully next week I will be able to post more about what Ive been up to!