I just bought rat poison...

... and Peace Corps gets real! I had my first "oh shit" moment at site last week when I woke up to mouse droppings on top of my mosquito net. Meaning, that the mice have become so comfortable in my mud hut that they feel like they can literally walk all over me...at night...when I can't see them. Well, the mice better think again, because after I poison them tonight with "medicine" and peanut butter, I will hopefully not see them again. Or, at least I won't see them for a while.

So, as you can see, I am a real Peace Corps volunteer now! I keep getting a lot of questions about my site, the work I've done so far, and the 50th Anniversary of Independence celebration, so I will try to answer these questions in as few words as possible (to avoid the super long blog entries I've become accustomed to writing).

Site:
My site is in the Sikasso region of Mali, so it is in the South, near the borders of Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. I live in the bush in a village about 1K off the main road. It is beautiful and green and it has about 3,000 to 4,000 people, I think. I live on the same compound as the dugutigi, or the village chief. He has a huge family and I am slowly beginning to learn their names... but I will probably never get the kids' names right. The dugutigi, his mom, and his wives don't have a lot of teeth so it is hard to understand them when they speak, but we do make limited conversation every day. They are very, very nice to me, and if anything goes wrong, they are always over to check on me and my house. For example, after it rains (which is every day now, in the rainy season), they always come and make sure that my hut isn't leaking. It's not! (Knock on wood).

I live in a two room mud hut, and the outside of the hut has been plastered with cement. I have a thatched roof, so it stays cool - however, I do have a family of mice that live somewhere inside of the roof, between the thatch, mats, and layer of plastic that's been applied to the ceiling. I have no electricity, and I charge my appliances (cell phone, camera battery, computer) whenever I come into my market town once a week. I also have a large nyegen (AKA, hole in the ground) that I use for my bathroom, and it has a beautiful view of the sunrise and the sunset. I would describe my living situation as a slight step up from camping. I make most of my own food with my gas stove, or I eat with my family when they cook food that I like. This is definitely the definition of "living on my own."

Work:
Every day, my family wakes me up around 6AM, fills up my water buckets from the pump for me, and gives me porridge for breakfast. I walk around, greet my family, and then I make my way over the the Centre de Sante Communitaire (CSCOM), or health center. Mondays are exciting days because we give vaccinations to babies and pregnant women. I can't give vaccinations with a needle, but I give babies polio vaccination oral drops, and it is pretty cool. I work from about 8AM to 12PM, have lunch with the CSCOM staff, and then wander around my village, talking to random people and getting to know them all afternoon. They give me free food, afternoon tea, and help me with my Bambara and French (although my Bambara is much better than my French right now). I return home from wandering around by 6PM, take a bucket bath as the sun sets, and then hang out with my Malian friends at night. They talk to me so that I can understand their Bambara, and they give me free food, too. (And, if any of you know me at all, then you know that I absolutely love free food!) I haven't been gaining any weight, though, since I bike about 25K every few days to my market town for veggies. It's nice - I've lost about 10 pounds so far! Then, I wake up Tuesday through Friday and do the same thing. Except, we don't give vaccinations on any other days, so I just watch people get treated for malaria, make conversations with the villagers, and try to understand what each medicine is used for... in French. This is my life! It really is pretty awesome. Sometimes, I can't believe that just a few months ago, I was sitting in an air conditioned office, reading hundreds of documents every day, and spending lots of money on lunch and drinks. It's amazing how fast priorities change! These days, I love just reading a book, playing my uke, writing songs, and talking to people in my village. Life is hard, but easy at the same time.

Cinquantenaire:
Mali recently celebrated it's 50th Anniversary of Independence, and my village had a rockin' party. It started the night before (September 21st), and there was a HUGE, late night dance party. Being the only white girl there, they called my name and I danced in the circle, surrounded by Malians, drums, and guitars, directly under the full moon and plethora of stars. It was so surreal, and is by far one of the most awesome things that I have done so far. I made it to bed by 1:30AM and then woke up at 6AM the following day for the real celebration.

I was treated like a VIP, so I had a front row seat for all of the action: the Mayor's speech, the running race, the bicycle race, the bicycle tricks, the dance-offs, the sack races, and a weird twist of a pinata game that involved tying bags of toys on a clothes line, blindfolding kids, spinning them around, and then letting them wander away, hopefully in the direction of the prizes. It was like a field day in America, but with tons of happy Malians dancing and playing games. There was even a soccer game that I watched, and it was so intense!! I am starting to like soccer now. And, I'm beginning to get used to dancing in large circles of Malians... mostly because I try to sneak away, and then they call my name in the microphone and make me dance alone. But, it's great!

Wow - so much for not writing a long blog entry. If you want to see more pictures, then click on this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2105544&id=17605365&l=bff3ff9994

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