My life as a Peace Corps Volunteer...

My life as a Peace Corps Volunteer...

Friday, November 4, 2011

It's been a while...

I know that I’ve been slacking in the blog department and that you’ve all been dying to read the latest installment of “what disease does Jessica have now,” so I am sorry for the very long delay. Since I work best in short points (and find them to be the least boring to write), please bear with me as I attempt to sum up the past few months of my life in a few not-so-short paragraphs.

Diseases:
I am always sick in Mali for some reason, and these past few months have been no different. Don’t worry, I do not have malaria (again) or anything serious – I’ve just had another bladder infection, amoebic cysts, and a big toenail that is about to fall off. (I’ve been documenting my toenail in pictures, so if our Internet decides to upload the photos, then you can see the whole disgusting process). I feel absolutely fine, and now that the weather is getting cooler, I don’t even mind these sicknesses. I do have a cold, which is more annoying than painful, but that seems to be on its way out, as well. So, as of right now, I am healthy… keep your fingers crossed!

America!
I spent the month of September in America, courtesy of Jean and Lou Soja. It was great to just lay on my parents’ couch, eat copious amounts of burgers, cheeses, broccoli, and strawberries, and catch up with my family and friends. Even though it was amazing to be home, I really missed Mali while I was gone, and being home really reminded me of the reasons why I left in the first place. As much as I love America (and everyone speaking my language), the bothersome aspects of life in a developed country have not changed. Everyone still looks at their IPhone every five seconds, even if you are in the middle of a conversation, on the Metro in DC, for example; everyone still complains about EVERYTHING, especially waiting for only five minutes in an airport customs and border control line (and yells about how we need to privatize airports because waiting for five minutes is just unacceptable); and when people ask you how you’re doing, what they really mean to say is, “Let me go through the formality of asking how you’re doing so I can talk about myself and how awesome my new desk job is for twenty minutes instead.” Life has just gone on in America, and the only change is that now I don’t understand how to make a phone call on an IPhone because I’m not sure where the numbers are on the touch-screen. Don’t misunderstand me – I loved seeing all of my family and friends, because I love all of them and really missed them. But, I noticed how differently I really am beginning to see things. Why would you order a huge and expensive meal, finish a quarter of it, and throw it away, when I know kids who would fight another person just to have a chance to eat your scraps? Why would you have over 200 pairs of shoes, own only Seven brand jeans, and waste your money on nonsense like a 300 dollar handbag when I live with some great people who own only one outfit because that is all they can afford? Or, why would you complain about a long, ten minute wait at a laundromat, grocery store, restaurant or even Dunkin Donuts when some of my best friends here wake up at 5AM to heat water, start cooking, wash clothes, wash the children, wash the dishes, and then wait for three hours for a bus to take them to their market, where they will only find onions and cabbage because of the food crisis? I just don’t understand how some people can be so self-absorbed and focused on the latest “thing” to not take advantage of the great education system in America (compared to here) and not even know where I have been living for the past year, or even the name of my country. It is very frustrating. Even though I am a lot more laid back than I was when I left over a year ago, I think that coming back in September 2012 is going to be a tough adjustment. I didn’t feel at home when I stepped onto American soil at the Atlanta airport to be questioned, over and over again, about what I am doing in Mali, but when I came back to Bamako and talked to my Malian cab driver (who raved about the Peace Corps and how Americans are in Mali to learn the language and really try to help), I felt a sense of relief. Leaving Mali really helped me see how much I am learning here and how I really have found a new family.

New Village:
Maybe one reason why I am really enjoying Mali right now (besides the fact that I can have a conversation with someone without stopping to ask them to repeat themselves, slowly) is because my new village is simply amazing. Every day, my work partner comes to greet me and takes me to any meetings that the village might be having. My friends invite me to their dance parties in the fields during the harvesting season, and we work and dance together. If I happen to bring anyone the smallest present, even sugar, they are so thankful and give me many, many blessings. Everyone sits and talks with me for hours and plays cards with me, really making me feel at home and like I’m really part of the family. They offer me the first round of tea, even though I am a woman. When my chairs remain outside after I leave village, they look out for me by putting my chairs in their huts for safe-keeping until I return. They share their food with me at all times of the day, help me get water if I need help, and go with me to all of the nearby markets so that they can help me get good prices and find my way around. They never ask me for anything, and are just eager to learn about me, my American family, and American culture. This is what I wish my service had been from the beginning, and now I understand how volunteers stay in village for three weeks straight. I feel completely at home, and I love my new village. I may be farther away from the city and be more “en brousse,” but this is everything that I could have wanted – hard workers, great people, my own hut and concession, and quite simply, respect. My little puppy, Chicken, and I are very happy in our new home.

Projects:
One of the big lessons that I learned in my old village is that big, funded projects are not always successful, and that they sometimes lead villagers to think that a Peace Corps Volunteer is synonomous with a piggy bank. So, right now, I am just working on integrating and making friends in village. Now that the rain has stopped, my homologue (work partner) has agreed to help me make inexpensive hand washing stations, mud stoves, mud ovens, and take me along on vaccination campaigns to do animations. We have already made mosquito repellant and ameliorated porridge for many families, and soon, I will be heading into the first grade classroom to give health and sanitation animations over a three to four week time period to the kids. The teacher is really excited for me to come, and I am equally excited to talk to the kids about germs, handwashing, covering wells, and the evils of open air defecation. However, I think that my proudest moment in my new village was when I realized that my supervisor at the health center washes his hands with soap everyday before he eats lunch – he forces his family to do the same, even if I am not there eating with them. If one family has understood the importance of handwashing, then maybe I am helping a little! As they say here, dooni dooni, or “small small.”

Thanks for reading this very long blog, and thanks for caring about how I am doing in Mali! I will see you all in September 2012, and hopefully, I’ll be able to post a few more blogs before then. Thanks for your letters and care packages, and I will keep trying to send letters, even though they are frequently returned to me for no reason at all. Oh, Mali…

1 comment:

  1. so glad to read your update! i'm glad that you're feeling at home in Mali and making dooni dooni progress :-). When I returned to Gettysburg my senior year (after my wonderful semester at Rhodes Uni in South Africa), I felt the same frustrations that you describe and it really made my first semester back an unhappy one. I hope there are some resources (people/books/blogs etc) that will help you transition back when you re-enter our American lives in Sept 2012! Lots of love your way!

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