My life as a Peace Corps Volunteer...

My life as a Peace Corps Volunteer...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Noeli Feti Ke!

Here I sit in Sikasso, having just made three different types of Christmas cookies, onion and cinnamon raisin bagels, and having just eaten a delicious pineapple upside down cake. Temperatures may reach 90 degrees during the day and 60 degrees at night, and my village might giggle at my home-made Santa hat (for me and my dog) and Christmas decorations, but I am on Christmas vacation right now and I could not be happier! Tomorrow, we are heading north to Bandiagara and continuing on to start a three day hike through Dogon Country. With the help of a guide, we will be trekking through cliffs and cave dwellings, and hopefully seeing some masked dancers and Dogon parties along the way. I am really looking forward to having a relaxing holiday with some friends that I have not seen in a while.

I've spent the whole month of December in village, and things there have been going really well. I've read two books, started a third (a long book with small words, so it should take me a while), and have even started cooking to pass the time - we've made sweet potato curry, corn chowder, and some delicious tuna melts with fresh bread that I've helped bake. It may seem like I've had a lot of free time between the cooking, reading, and running (have I mentioned that I've taken up running to pass the time, as well?) but I've actually been really busy with small projects and one large project.

When I moved to my new village, I told myself that I did not want to apply for any large grants for projects, given the many problems that I had in my old village... namely, everyone viewing me as a piggy bank and not respecting me as an intelligent woman capable of helping them become self-sustainable. However, after moving to my new village, I realized that I really wanted to help my new family of 2702 people in any way that I could. They share their food with me, we cook together, we talk about real issues like gender roles and homosexuality without judgment and with tolerance, and we spend our free time together - they helped me integrate, and I decided to help them by finding them money. Let me give some background information: I work at a health center that is not financed by the Malian government. We do not serve enough people to have the government cover the costs of salaries and supplies, so my village works extra hard throughout the year in order to pay the salaries of the doctor, vaccinator, and the guardian, in addition to buying all of the necessary supplies, like cotton, bleach, soap, etc. The money for these things comes from the cotton cooperative, and in addition, that cotton cooperative also gives money to the village to fund all of their projects and to pay all of the teachers. Essentially, all of the money from the cotton cooperative goes directly back into the village, just breaking even, not making any money and not saving any money. While this may seem generous and hard working of them, it is actually an example of poor management, considering that my village ran out of money four months ago. So, the doctor, vaccinator, guardian, and all of the teachers have not been paid in four months, nor have any village projects been finished due to lack of funding. I thought, “What can I do to help?”

I explained the "American economic idea" of taxing for services, and together, my village and I decided to tax all residents over the age of seven 50 CFA (10 cents) each month - half of this money will go into the village fund, and half will go into the health center fund. If all people over the age of 7 are taxed and actually pay (because at age 7, children begin school), then we will have enough money to not only pay everyone that needs to be paid, but to also start up new village projects and small income generating activities for women. So, together, we started a tax fund and micro loan group.

Thanks to a $1,000 grant from my local Rotary Club in Plainfield, CT, this tax fund is really happening! We just had a meeting, and we decided that I will go to Bamako to meet with their Rotary Clubs to discuss wire transfer options in the beginning of January – in the meantime, my village will form a tax committee and begin the taxing in the end of January. This project has been long in the making – since September, we have been formulating ideas and postulating about how to make a tax system work in rural Mali. I have very, very high hopes for this project, especially because it is completely sustainable after I leave… so, cross your fingers for me!

I’ve also been venturing into the first grade classrooms to teach them about water and sanitation. I started by reading them a story about a “big mean elephant” and how a germ was able to jump in his uncovered well and kill him. It was a success because the kids understood, on a basic level, what a germ was – an invisible thing that gives you sickness and eventually kills you. The following week, I went back into the classrooms and did a handwashing formation. I rubbed hot pepper all over the kids’ hands and had them wash with only water, representing how you can’t get rid of the invisible germs with only water (because the hot pepper juice is invisible, too). They licked their hands to show that the water alone did not wash away the hot pepper. Then, we washed our hands with soap and water, and the hot pepper (and the representative germs!) were washed away. They understood this as well, and because the school director liked my presentation so much, I will be going back into the school in 2012 to do more health and sanitation animations for all of the grades. I’m glad to be keeping busy!

So, despite the hiccups that November gave me (my dog got hit by a car and died, I saw a mouse, rat, bat, and snake in my hut, and my water pump broke as I was pumping water), December turned out much better. I’m also really looking forward to 2012… and coming home in September! Please keep the support coming, and I look forward to hearing from you all in 2012!

Happy Holidays! Ala ka Noeli Feti Ke Diya!