What I know about Mali

Boarder Countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal.

The 8 regions of Mali are Gao, Kayes, Kidal, Koulikoro, Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, and Tombouctoucotton,

Agricultural products are millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats.

Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with 65% of its land area desert or semidesert and with a highly unequal distribution of income. Economic activity is largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the population is nomadic and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export, along with gold. The government has continued its successful implementation of an IMF-recommended structural adjustment program that is helping the economy grow, diversify, and attract foreign investment. Mali's adherence to economic reform and the 50% devaluation of the CFA franc in January 1994 have pushed up economic growth to a 5% average in 1996-2007. Worker remittances and external trade routes for the landlocked country have been jeopardized by continued unrest in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire.

Political History the Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, what formerly made up the Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship was brought to a close in 1991 by a military coup - led by the current president Amadou TOURE - enabling Mali's emergence as one of the strongest democracies on the continent. President Alpha KONARE won Mali's first democratic presidential election in 1992 and was reelected in 1997. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, KONARE stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou TOURE, who was subsequently elected to a second term in 2007. The elections were widely judged to be free and fair.

Major Infectious Diseases that are high risk: food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne disease: malaria water contact disease: schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis (2008)

Life expectancy in Mali is 49.94 years per the CIA and 57 years per the UN.
(I am 58)

Status of homosexuality: legal age of consent:laws covering homosexual activity: Relevant sections of the Penal Code are as follows;

Mali 1981: Article 179 - Sexual Offence, Public Indecency: Three months to two years of prison and a fine of 20 000 to 200 000 francs.

As it is written it would appear that same-sex acts are not illigal in themselves.

National Geographic recently had an article on the Sahel region in Africa that extends from the Atlantic coast at Dakar Senegal to the Red Sea at Eritrea. In Mali the Sahel is the area just north of Bamako the capital city to just north of Timbuktu. The Sahel is the transition zone at the edge of the Sahara Desert, earth’s largest desert. Sahel is defined by climate. This climate is on the margin between the high rainfall areas of the west African coast - southern Nigeria, for example - and the arid zone of the Sahara. In this zone rainfall is variable. As climate changes the borders of the Sahel move significantly as it has between 1960 and 1997 because of four major droughts in the region.

It has been reported by National Geographic that U.S. Forces are stationed around Timbuktu. This is due to rebel activity reported to be al Qaeda’s North African Wing. The US having learned a lesson in Afghanistan and is taking action sooner rather then later.

There have also been news reports of al Qaeda activity in Mali’s neighboring country of Mauritania. Many Peace Corps volunteers in Mauritania reported this in their blogs.

Because of these reported al Qaeda activities in Mauritania, Mali and other regions of West Africa, the US has taken a renewed interest in Muslim black Africa.

Resources for these facts include the Behind the Mask, (Behind The Mask – a non-profit media organisation publishing a news website intended for gay and lesbian affairs in Africa, was launched on 8 May 2000. This project operated under the Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa until 1 January 2003. Since that day Behind The Mask has been operating as an NGO-trust, registered with the South African Department of Welfare.) CIA, United Nations, and National Geographic.

Departure Date July 6, 2008

My service departure date is July 6th, 2008 and even though that’s three months away I think about Mali and what the Peace Corps service will be like. When the orientation packet came for Mali the most interesting section was the one on diversity. The diversities addressed were seniors, people of color, gays and lesbians and religions. Because I am 58 years old, a lesbian and don’t consider myself a Christian this was good news to me.

The other minority that was not mentioned was someone who does not drink alcohol. Now I don’t drink not because of religion it’s just that I am an alcoholic. I have been sober for over twenty-five years. So the vision I have of me in Mali is during training, we get a night off and everyone wants to go to the bar for a beer. I can say in French “I would like a beer or some wine.” I can ask you if you would like a beer or some wine. Picturing me at a bar in Mali, I just don’t see it. Even in Vietnam when I bicycled through the country going to a bar never crossed my mind.

As for being a Lesbian, that is just a part of me and a part of my culture that will be in the back ground. The fact that I lived in the Gay Ghettos for most of my adult life and raised children both mine and foster kids both gay and straight will for at least a couple of years be a memory. My daughter may visit me, but maybe not too. She is proud of me joining the Peace Corps and I will miss her. On the Peace Corps application they ask if you’re married not if you have a domestic partner. There maybe a difference with straight people whether you’re married or in a domestic partner situation but for gays and lesbians there is no difference.

What I am looking forward to is learning French and a local language, being a part of the community, learning about the Islam religion, and working outside the box of the 9 to 5 world. Training and working with other Peace Corps volunteers, what an experience to share. I also need to open my heart to people who are different from me.

The internet site http://www.peacecorpsjournals.com/ has a directory of blogs written by Peace Corps volunteers all over the world. Most of the volunteers are white, straight, and under 25 years of age. I have learned a lot from reading all the blogs, written by people in Jordan, Kenya, Mali and beyond. I hope that this blog helps someone.

Recently I read that a baby boomer described themselves by writing that when they were young they tried to change the world, then they had kids, then they were middle age and now they were looking forward to retirement. Me, I am ready to start changing the world again like when I was in my twenties. At twenty-three I was one of the founders of a Food Coop, a Woman’s Clinic, and worked in a collective called Alternative Finance where we would go around and help collectives set up accounting systems. In my thirties I wrote and took pictures for different gay newspapers around the country. My family of kids were always active in the community.

Looking forward to the serving; Until next time.