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!