The Real World: Peace Corps Mali, West Africa

This is the true story of 80 strangers, picked to live en brousse, have their every move watched by villagers who have never seen a Toubab (“rich white person”) before, and live without electricity for two years. This is what happens when people stop being polite, and start being real.

I feel like I’m living in a Real World MTV scenario, and I have to laugh to get through my culture shock. I could write down every detail of what I’ve seen and done in the past week, but unless you have been to Mali, lived in a stifling mud hut, been rained on in the middle of the night as you sleep, and killed spiders on the way to the “nyegen” (hole in the ground) during your midnight diareahh run, then you won’t understand. But, I will try, because even though this is not easy, it is awesome – I’m 24 and I’m in Mali!!! Wow. I don’t think that many people are afforded this opportunity!

So, we literally got dropped off on the side of a “highway” (paved road) in my home stay village of Banankoro and watched the Peace Corps van drive away. We had virtually no language skills, but I knew I would be okay when I was greeted by my host mom, Caramel Diarra, and her two sons, who carried my heavy bags all the way to the compound. She held my hand, smiled at me, and told me, “Caramel…mama” and I knew that I was in good hands.

We walked about 15 minutes to the compound, where I was greeted and shown my room. My room had a broken lock on the door and screen, and the door did not even close all of the way. This did not meet Peace Corps standards, so I reported it, and the lock was changed the next morning. However, that night (and for the next 5 nights), my roof leaked on me in my sleep… and I caught a bacterial infection that caused me to run to the nyegen approximately 10 times per day. So, being leaked on and shitting constantly was not a fun time for me, especially when I could not communicate anything more than greetings and goodbyes. I started repeating, “I can handle it” every day to myself and talking to people even when I wanted to hole up alone and cry, and it worked. I’ve started to develop relationships with my family here, and I even communicated that I liked chicken and ate chicken for lunch one day! Plus, they are starting to give me fruits and veggies, which is awesome. I feel like I am slowly making progress, and I feel pretty stable right now. I like it! It’s amazing how much I cherish cucumbers and Laughing Cow cheese like I used to love margaritas and happy hours. Oh, how priorities change in such a short amount of time!

Here is what my average day looks like:
6AM – Get woken up by my “terimuso” (female friend, and namesake, because my Malian name is Korotun Diarra).
6:15AM – Take a bucket bath – one of my favorite times of the day, bathing and watching the sun rise.
7AM – Eat breakfast (bread and peanut butter with sugar).
8AM – Arrive at Bambara language class (the local language spoken here).
12:30PM – Break for lunch to go home and eat macaroni and fish head (sometimes rice with fish head, sometimes potatoes with fish head, but always fish head. At least it’s protein!)
3PM – Resume language classes.
5PM – Go home for the night, and have little children high five me down the street and shout my name on the walk home… which, I’m not going to lie, is pretty awesome.
7PM- Take my second bucket bath of the day and watch the sun set.
7:30PM – Eat dinner, which is usually rice and some type of fish head or goat intentine (or eggs with French fries… which I will never be able to eat again in the US. Sorry, Vishwa...but nachos would be AWESOME. I can't wait for avocados to be in season).
9PM – Retreat to my bed for the night.

Usually, I sit outside, drink tea, talk with my family, and journal my thoughts before going to bed. My bed is really uncomfortable and there are a lot of bugs in my room, but I am starting to sleep better. There is so much to say about homestay but so much that only PC Mali Volunteers can understand! The children are always covered in dirt but adorable, everyone talks to everyone and knows exactly who you are, last names are important because they signify your joking cousins (or, the people who you call “bean eaters”, like a fart joke), women work SO HARD, ALL DAY LONG, with babies strapped to them (props to ALL the moms out there, especially Jean), the donkeys sound like they are dying when they make noise, and everyone knows what time it is based on when the donkeys and other animals make noise. It’s crazy. Every day, I laugh and think, “Wow, this is Africa.” I’ve started to find it endearing how the children run around naked, squat down, and pee everywhere, all while screaming my name, “Korotun! Korotun!” However, contrary to what many of you might think, it is not Lion King-esk here at all - I've only seen some malnourished cows, goats, sheep, and dogs.

I go back to my homestay for three weeks on Wednesday, before coming back to the wonderful world of Internet in August sometime. Then, we are here for a few days, off to our actual sites for a week (the place where I will be living for two years), and then back here to hit up homestay one last time, pass the language test, and get sworn in! It’s going to be a crazy blur. Please send me letters and emails because I love to know about any and all updates (especially news… sometimes I can find BBC on my radio and it’s amazing)! Whenever I feel a little down, re-reading letters or emails saved on my IPod cheer me up. So, send away! (But, no pressure).

I have some phone numbers that you can call from Skype for 27 cents per minute, if you want to talk while I’m at homestay on Wednesday and for the next three weeks following. This is the number to use until Wednesday: 01122370010933. This number will work after Wednesday for the three weeks that I am at homestay: 01122366346367. My address is listed on my blog, as well.

So, all is well over here, and I will post something more in another few weeks after I come back from homestay!

I ni su! K’an ben!!
Koro

We are here!

We made it to Mali safe and sound! I work best in bullet points, so read on:

- Orientation in Philly was pretty awesome, except that I had to take out my nose ring (bummer) and that our train from DC was stalled for a bit due to "road obstructions." We got to the hotel, did some icebreakers to get orientated, and went out to have some cheese steaks and beers before my no drinking kicks in, Africa style. (Yes, everyone, I am going to go two whole years without drinking. It is not culturally appropriate for women to drink or smoke, and it is not worth the risk of being asked to leave in ANY WAY).

- Our flight out of JFK (yes, we drove from Philly to NYC on buses... yay, government!) went smoothly, but we were stuck at Charles de Gaulle in Paris for a few hours. We finally made it to Mali after nearly a whole day in transit!

- The airport pick up in Bamako went really smoothly, and out of our entire group of 80 (yes, we have a HUGE group), only 2 bags were lost. I think that's pretty awesome. We came back to the Peace Corps training center outside of Bamako, and we've been here ever since!

- Initial impressions: Africa is AWESOME. The weather is like DC but much cooler at night, and there are more bugs. But, I actually don't mind them because they are cool to look at (red in color with a million little legs) and because I am safe inside of my bug net where nothing can hurt me. I haven't even had any diarreah yet!! (Knock on wood...I will probably shit my pants soon enough).

- I feel like I'm in international girl scout camp. We start learning our languages tomorrow (Bambara and French), we get cultural training starting tomorrow, and we start at our Homestay on Thursday. That means that on Thursday, we move in with a family in a village on and off for two months for training, before we are actually sworn in as volunteers - here, we get the primary training and learn to integrate ourselves into the community. It will get us ready for our actual villages! (Which, I am actually excited about because they take "family situations" into account and made note that I need to be in communication with my immediate family if the need be... awesome! And, my APCD (boss) says congrats to Jean Soja! :) )

- So, for about the next two months (AFTER THURSDAY), I will be off the grid at Homestay. I do have a cell phone if you want to call me, but I will try to email around the number once I get it. WARNING - it will be expensive to call me, and I don't have the cash to call you. So, please send me letters and include some non-lick envelopes so that I can write you back!!! I can buy stamps here, but maybe no envelopes. And, I would love to hear from you! The address is on the main page of my blog, and remember to WRAP AND TAPE UP EVERYTHING YOU SEND TO ME!!

- We also had a great 4th of July! We went to the "American House" where we had volleyball, tug of war, hot dogs, burgers, cake, and American music. We also go to mix and mingle with all of the Americans in Mali - there are a lot! It was fun.

- Finally, here is a SHOUT OUT to ALL of my WONDERFUL friends and family who have sent emails to me!!!!! I read them and smile and it is amazing. When I miss you guys at my Homestay, I will be able to look back on the emails I have downloaded to my phone (HOLLER, IPOD TOUCH) and read them when I feel like I will never integrate or learn a language.

Overall... I am very content with my decision to come here. I'm sure my "Honeymoon" phase will be over soon, but I'm going to revel in the cold showers, electricity, and good food while I have it...it will be nice to remember when I'm taking bucket baths and trying to impress my host family with my uke skills at Homestay. :)

Peace and Love!