Daily Life of a Peace Corps Tranee

Many have asked about my daily routine and what I eat. Since arriving in Philadelphia for “Staging” or orientation if you don’t know Peace Corps jargon we have had training from 8 AM till 5 PM Monday through Saturday with a litany of homework projects for Sunday.

Once here in Mali we were at Tubaniso for four days with trainings in Cross Cultural, Safety and Security, Language, Health, and last but lest our sector training, which for me is Small Enterprise Development.

Now that we have been at home stay most of our class time is taken up with language, I am learning French. I wish I was learning Bambara because that is the language most Malians speak where I will be living. Malians speak Bambara in their homes, at the market and at their work place. They say French is spoken at formal meetings and it is true most educated Malians speak French but only in formal settings.

As for the food it can be summed up in two words RICE, SAUCE!!! Or sometimes I get millet and sauce or To (pronounced toe, a thick millet pudding not sweet) and sauce. I get this for every lunch and every dinner. The women and children gather around a huge stainless steel bowl and we eat with our hands, only our right hand unless you’re the two year old in training but he has gotten better. The number changes around the bowl depending on what family members are present and right now Ramadan has just started so for lunch it was me and the kids. There are three nieces staying here and the oldest married daughter and her two kids along with a niece that lives here regularly. This is on top of the three daughters and two sons that live here.

For a treat we get fried plantains or french fries and Sunday night we got onions and liver, I happen to like liver. As for protein there just never seems like enough. There is little meat in the sauce at meals. The oldest at the bowl doles out the meat to different parts of the bowl and I have been told never eat anywhere in the bowl but right in front of you. So each person gets about two small pieces of meat on lean days and more on other days. At my house we don’t get beans a lot but I have seen black eyed peas and white beans in the markets. They say don’t drink milk unless it has been processed. I know for a fact my host mom buys raw milk from the herder that wonders around Moribabougou. You can find yogurt but here in Moribabougou it is very sweet. I had some in Sagou and it was not as sweet and really good. That about sums up the protein options.

There are street venders that sell mostly fried foods. There is a doughnut like pastry made from millet flour that is not real sweet but taste good, they sell beef skewers marinated usually with mustard these are good if you can chew them. We get the beef skewers and french fries at the only restaurant we have found in Moribabougou, Clean Air. As for going to a restaurant even the toboob (slang for white person here in Mali) restaurants there is no guarantee that you will get your order so we have learned never to pay for our food until it arrives.

Rationing the energy bars I brought has been a good thing. I like the Odwalla ones the best but they all are a good source of protein and vitamins. There are days at meal time when just coming to the bowl and looking at the rice and sauce I loose my appetite. I have been sick twice. Once I had amebas and the other they never did figure out the problem. After being sick I avoided the rice and sauce for several days by going to the medical unit and finding places in Bamako to eat once I felt like eating. One of my best finds was a market that sold cashews. They are a good source of protein and they are grown in Mali but you can’t find them in most food places.

Gardens of corn, okra, beans and squash are every where and being the rainy season they are growing fast and are about to harvest the corn

So that’s the food situation here in Mali, I can hardly wait to get to my site where hopefully I will have a two burner gas stove and maybe even a refrigerator. There are some vegetables and they say the rainy season food is scarcer than any other time of the year because this is the growing season and what is grown now is for the whole year.

Koutiala The Cotton Capital of Mali

Koutiala is the town I have been assigned to and where I will be living for the next two years. My work will be with the Union Association of Artisans of Koutiala. This is an umbrella organization for all associations of entrepreneurs and their associations.

Koutiala is about 400 kilometers (6 hours) from Bamako, the capitol city of Mali. It is located in the region of Sidasso and its population is about 110,000. The market is the largest market within a 60-kilometer radius and happens on on Thursday. It has the biggest cotton mill in Mali; cotton is Mali's biggest export. Also it is half way between Mopti and the town of Sikasso and it is not a tourist town. I will be living in a three bedroom house in a family concession. The town is good size and I will be working with artisan organizations.

At Tuboniso we had one day of training with our Malian counterparts “Homologues.” My homologue was not present. When the time came to travel out to Koutiala I was on my own. Everyone in Mali has cell phones but me; that will change. When I arrived in Koutiala I had a boutique owner phone the person who said they would come and pick me up at the Bus Gare.

My host family in Koutiala is very well off and own sthe Donni Donne Restaurant at the Bus Gare. If someone had told me I would come to Mali and hang out at a restaurant at the bus station I would have thought they were crazy. Madam Fanta Diallo is the president of the Association Des Restauratices De Koutiala.

On Friday they found me a homologue. Three metal workers from the Metal Workers Association came to meet me and gave me a tour of their shops. This is my homologue Tiemoko Diarra demonstrating a water pump that pumps water out of a well and connects to a hose to water gardens. The shop here builds them and school desks. Tiemoko builds metal shutters for windows and metal doors. All homes in Mali have metal window shutters and metal doors partly for security and partly to keep water out when the storms come suddenly with the hardest rain I have ever seen which comes after thunder and lighting followed by strong winds then the hard rain falls.

Small Enterprise Development

Seydou Coulibaly in the Picture is the Program Director for the Peace Corps Mali's Small Enterprise Development sector which is the one I am working with.

We attended a panel with four businesses a Veterinary Supply Store, a Cosmetic boutique, an electric supply retailer and a street fruit vender. These bussiness people were from the community where my home stary is. On the way home we ran into the girl who runs the Cosmetic boutique.

The questions asked inquired on how they funded setting up their business, whether they were licensed, paid taxes and it they had an accounting system, and how they maintained their inventory..


Here in Mali most people set up businesses with money borrowed from there families. There are in formal lending groups called Tantes where people from a village get together and give the tante some monty every month and a member gets to borrow on that monthy. There are also microfinance institutions. Two of these are in my community but not many people seem to know of them. There is not a major bank in my community.

We also visited a business called Mali Chic that exports crafts they have even gotten several orders from Hallmark. The business was started by an ex-PCV and currently is a partnership of Malian artisans. A current Peace Corps volunteer is working with them and trying to help them get some accounting in place.

Tomorrow I go out to my site that will be my home for two years. My home will be in the city of Koutiala is 400 km from Bamako the capital of Mali. Here is the capital of Mali's white gold, cotton. People call it a truck stop which means it will have a high percentage of peopleinfected with AIDS/HIV. Population 110,00; there is an array of Mali minority groups; it is the home of Mali's biggest cotton factory; the people are 90% muslim; there is a x-pat community; the market is on Thursday.

My appartment has all the amenity, running water, flush toilet, and is located near the bus station.
Here are all the SED volunteers and their Malian counterparts they are going to be working with at a session on expectations.

My work will be with Union Association of Artisan's of Koutiala and Chamber of Professionals. They are asking me to go to the office six days a week and both the Peace Corps and the groups I will be working with are excited about my bookeeping skills.

So even though I joined the Peace Corps to get out of the office and do something besides bookkeeping and didn't want to live in an apartment here I am going to work six days a week with a good possibility of training people in bookkeeping. Actually I have enjoyed meeting the small business owners and the idea of learning how to train illiterates to do bookkeeping intrigues me and living in an apartment right near the bus station in the third largest city in Mali.

Home Stay

The full of Africa shines through my window. In the morning I heard the call for pray for the first since coming to Morabougou a suburb of Bamako, Mali. This was Sunday after being here for a week. We had Six straight days of French classes

Here is our class room under a mango tree

My homestay parents are professionals. My mom has worked for C.A.R.E. for twenty years and my father works in Senalgal as a railroad engineer. They have six children, two of the older girls are not living at home presently. One is married and the other is studying at school. A niece lives here and as in Malian cultural she is completely integrated into family life. The house has two, not one but two bathrooms with flush toilets and showers. I am truly living in luxury here in Africa at least for now. There is a nagan (outhouse) in the court yard.

The oldest boy lives in a three room structure within the courthouse. He doesn’t eat with us because he seems to be self sufficient. He is studying physics and math at University.
One of the girls that live here is at University, one is in high school and the niece is in technical school for accounting. The youngest boy is eleven.

When I first arrived the mother and I would eat in the living room off of plates with spoons. When the father came home from Sengal for a vacation several days later; I found my self sitting on the other side of the living room eating by self off a plate with a spoon. After dinner on the second night I went out into the court yard to find the women. They were all gathered around their a traditional Malian bowl eating just outside the kitchen building in the court yard. With my broken French and the mother's broken English I told her I wanted to eat with them outside. After this I did eat with the women. Sometimes we ate out by the kitchen and sometimes we ate on the front porch of the house that is covered and tiled. The father’s sister visited strengthening the feeling of camaraderie among the women. While the father was home the men were on one side of the living room and the women on the other side.

Three days later the father was called back to Sengal for work and the mother and I ate a table and chairs with plates and spoons for the first time. The women took over the living room again. The next night we were back to eating out side eating around the bowl with everyone else..We get sauce every meal. Sauce over rice, over rice, over rice and sometimes over macaroni or over millet. One night we had spegetti without too much sauce on it, it was a relief. The Malians have a dish called Toe not sure of the Bambera but it is millet mush thick mush with the best sauce so far.

A big pass time here is watching soap opras on TV. Every Peace Corps trainee in my area has a TV in the house and the whole family watches soap opras. People who know more than me say that several of the soap opras are Brizilian soap opras dubbed in French. I have seen House and Miami CSI dubbed in French.


I love my walk to school. The children line now waiting to shake my hand. They all know Ca Va as a French greeting. I see cows being milked, sheep herded, donkey carts with men on their way to the daily task, people on motor skooters going to work, There are two possible routes, one the main road with boutiqueies and street venders or the back way along a dirt path/road that is quieter and more relaxing.

WE HAVE ARRIVED

We made to Bamako. It's been a long road for many of us with many challenges and ups and downs. Language will be my biggest challenge. Staging in Philadelphia was a meet and greet afair with flip charts and ideas being thrown around. We did skits, sang songs and started to get to know each other. The Peace Corps staff kept saying your starting to bound with each other, these people will be your best friends and your best support system while in the Peace Corps. We loaded onto the Air France plane taking most of the seats. In Paris many of us took naps and dreamed of a moment of free time sometime in the future.

Since arriving in Mali we haven't left Tubanisu Peace Corps training center. We have had cross-cultural training, Language training and testing, diversity training, met the Peace Corps Country Director with hardly a moment of free time. We learned the Emergency Action Plan we have eaten out of bowl had a cultural festival.

This is a picture of the Main Hanger. The floor is sand the roof grass and chairs are old folding chairs when we got a chance we sat in the chairs that were strung with plastic. The first the Malian training staff were in front all sitting it these chairs and now we know why.

The medical team has given shots, educationals on treating water, received our medical kit, learned how to prevent malaria. We learned about Mr. "D" and Mrs "C" and how to prevent them and treat them. My blood pressure was up a little and they took our temperatures too. Our medical kit looks like a small suit case with every kind of non-prescription and prescription drugs. The kit also included some herbal mosquito repellent by mistake. They handed some stronger stuff the first day. The Medical Officer suggested using the herbal stuff as a air fresher. We also received a mosquito net for our home stay today.

LEAVING TOMORROW

I am not going to pack or repack one more time. Every time I do my suitcase gets heavier and right now it is maxed out on the 80 lbs. not counting my carry on backpack and personal bag which is not petite.

Here is my address for now;

Maridee BonaDea
Peace Corps
B.P. 85 Bamako
Mali

Here is the final packing list.

Clothing (Vetements)
Four Skirts (one dressy)
Four pairs of paints (two Capris)
Dress for sleeping
One fleece
On pair of sweatpants
Four tank tops
Four t-shirts
Two long sleeve shirts with collars
One short sleeve shirt with collar
Six pairs of shocks
Ten pairs of underwear
Seven bras
Bathing suit
Shaw for dressy times
One brim hat
One baseball hat
Sun glasses
Jewelry
Three bandanas
Light weight rain jacket

Toilettes
Toilettes small traveling bag (soap, tooth brush, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant)
Two mosquito repellents
Bar of Soup
Lotion
Tooth brush
Tooth paste
Shampoo
Floss
Razors
Sunscreen
Brush/comb
Chap-stick with sunscreen
Three months of medications
Toilettes carryon baggy (in a quart bag travel size, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, sunscreen, etc)
Hair ties
Towel quick dry
Hand sanitizer
Deodorant

Electronics
Wrist Watch
iPod
iPod speakers
iPod alternative power sources
Solar charger
Batteries AA AAA (galore) etc.
Lap Top
Jump drive
Instamatic Digital Camera
Two memory sticks for camera
Card reader for camera
Three camera batteries
Calculator
Binoculars
Alarm Clock
Windup short wave radio (solar charges too)
Windup flash light
Two Battery flash lights
Head light
Pin plug adaptor (French)

Paperwork
Peace Corps paperwork
Civilian passport
West African Map
20 passport photos

Misc.
Recorder
Recorder sheet music
Eyeglass repair kit
Three pairs of reading glasses
Leatherman
Pocket knife
Bike tools
Duck tape
Four 4X6 sketch pads
One Journal
Stationary & Envelopes
Photo book
Color pencils
Medium size backpack for carryon
Day backpack
Travel money belt
Fanny pack
Travel sheets
Mosquitonet tent
Pens
Scissors
Two combination locks
Pillow
Sewing kit
Two water bottles
Snack Foods
Sharp knife
Energy bars

Gifts
Small tools
Crayons
Shopping bags
Frisbees
Color books

Kitchen (cuisine)

Frying pan
Mexican spices
Italian spices
Curry spices
Spatula
Serving spoon for stick-free pan
Potato peeler
Ziploc bags
Plastic containers
Garden Seeds

Send Off with Family and Friends

THE DAY WAS PERFECT

We rented the Grange so that people from off island could come over without their cars since ferry fare is about $18 round trip. The reality that I am leaving is just now setting in with me and my family and friends. (Here today gone to Mali). I want to thank everyone who helped with the party it was a great success. There was a Mali table and West African map along with the Peace Corps welcome book for Mali so that everyone could get their questions answered. Many questions seemed to answered when you say that Timbuktu is in Mali. In my love of the photo image I setup a photo shoot area and placed disposable cameras around. Many memories and a great group of family and friends came together and visited.


My daughter came over came over early and helped setup for the party. We have planned other times around her studying to spend time together before I leave. I am so proud of her in all her endeavours. We talked about how I felt when she went off to Central America with no return date and no real plan except to attend Spanish School in Nicaragua.

She is doing amazing work in math and science in college now. Hopefully she will come visit me in a year and we can travel West Africa together like we have explored many other parts of the world.

The bicycle group "Rainbow Riders" that I have been riding with once a month for many years now sponsored a ride here on Vashon Island. We had seventeen riders with many Vashon women joining us for the first time. Some stayed for the party and some road to the ferry. Here is the group at the party. We missed several members who were not present.
There are many great memories with the Rainbow riders and know they are all routing for me and my new adventure. You all will be missed, RIDE ON!

My sister came from Bremerton with her husband. They have been married for about 29 years and lived near me and my daughter for 23 years. My Sister is one of my best friends. She told me when we found out I was going to Africa that she didn't see why anyone would want to go to Africa. She defiantly did not get the adventure gene. We raised out kids together and did many fun things like camping at least once a year and every holiday. I appreciate all her support even when she doesn't understand. I hope it goes two ways. Laura my friend of 24 years and partner of 14, has been a great support to me in fulfilling my dreams. Thank you. She's taking care of my dogs and all my affairs. We are blessed to live on Vashon Island a fifteen minute ferry ride from Seattle Washington. There have been there ups and downs but some how we have come to place to let each other to not just dream to do go after those dreams and make them come true.
My friends Kristi and Kristen win the price for best commute to the party. They came from Marysville about forty miles away. They took a bus to Seattle rode to the water taxi they took them from the Seattle waterfront to West Seattle. From there they bicycled to Fauntleroy and hopped the Vashon/Fauntleroy ferry to Vashon. Luckily for me they spent the night which mean they helped clean up after the party and got up and had coffee with me in the morning. We talked about bicycle projects in Africa and we all hoped I would have some opportunity to pull one off. Here they are on the Water Taxi with Seattle in the background.



Here's my friend Cheryl, she won the hat as one of the door prices. Cheryl rides with the Rainbow riders. The hat came from Madagascar and the weave is only found in the village that I visited with Habitat. Afterwards a friend said she really liked the door prices there was a story behind each one. Like the Seattle Reign hat in which we drew Beverly's name and she wasn't there. We had said that you had to be present to win but with this we made an exception because Beverly gave Laura and me our first Women's basketball tickets to a Reign game and we were hooked after that. I am sending Beverly the hat.

As you can see fun was had by all what a great send off.



My oldest friend Beverly and her partner Maggie came over from Seattle.















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