All of my villagers are farmers, and now is harvest season, which means for most of the day most of my villagers are out in the fields. What are they farming?, you ask? Out here, people farm: peanuts (so many!), millet, corn, sorghum, beans, and some rice. It's all farming by hand here, of course, and accordingly, it's exhausting! I've gone out with my villagers a few times to try farming, but they won't let me do more than a little work. Even that has been hard on me! Hunched over, in full view of the beating sun, dropping seeds into the earth or hacking away weeds- the life of so many on this earth.
My village is small, and I feel like I know most everyone's names. I have a journal where I write down people's names and what they do, or special characteristics about them. Sample entry: "M. Dembele, 25, dances well, want to go to America to do farming." This is especially usefully to me as I look for motivated villagers with whom I can perhaps do some projects with. Most of our work here is done together with Malian counterparts, for a variety of reasons. Our counterparts can help to translate across the borders of Language and Culture as we work on projects to help people make better choices.
The kids here are great! Sometime I think I learn so much language from chatting with them, because I'm not afraid to sound silly in front of them. Kids are very curious about me, of course, being the only foreigner here in village. Many babies and toddlers still wail at the sight of me, and their parents explain that "They've never seen a white person before!" I'm looking forward to school starting so I can do some good work at the 1 primary school in my village.
Food is rough out here, I gotta say. It's mostly cereals like rice or millet porridge with basic leaf sauces. No meat, no fruits, no vegetables. Occasionally there are eggs. Many of the kids here are malnourished. It gets me down, of course.
As for me, I am doing well! Using my solar charger to power my Ipod, going crazy in a flurry of movement at village dance parties of which there are many, reading lots of poetry, writing a lot in my journals, just spending time with my villagers to see how they live, biking through rough trails to a Market, climbing a large hill to get cell phone reception, eating millet porridge and leaf sauce with my hands, building hand-washing stations, being tutored in Bambara and Malinke, and STAYING HEALTHY! I have been so healthy here, knock on wood, which has been wonderful. After Niger I no longer take being healthy for granted.
Oh yeah, there was a snake. A SNAKE! One night, sitting and making tea with my host brothers, we heard a Commotion. Curious, we got up and went over, cautiously. And there it was! A 3-foot long, black snake, and one my villagers trying to kill it with a stick! And kill it he did. That snake was pretty huge though. Freaky!
Well, that's all for now. Be well all! Know that you are all in my heart and mind, and sometimes the distance is hard, but I know it is good and right that I am here now, and I know someday again I will be home. But for now I am in a small village in Mali fighting the good fight against the Universe's entropy and decay! Wish me well!
