note

FYI, I've added new posts below, with photos taken during the past two months.

it's a beautiful morning

I can truthfully say that it's a beautiful day this morning in Mali. It's breezy, sunny and cooler (under 30C, or around 80F). I'm staying at the Hotel Ambedjele in Sevare for a day, in order to profit from their wifi, take a swim in the pool and just relax. It's lovely here, a large swimming pool surrounded by a tropical garden. And breakfast was a treat: fresh papaya juice, yogurt, croissant and coffee. These four things just don't exist in Bandiagara, only 65 km away. The juice was heavenly. Fruit is my favorite food in the whole wide world.

reminder/disclaimer

I’m hot. I don’t hate Mali but I don’t love it either. But I’m hot and sticky and it makes me cranky. These notes are sometimes complaints but are always intended as observations and stories about my personal experience.

marshmallow

I’ve never been as white as I am in Africa. For one thing, cultural norms require that women cover their shoulders and knees (Yeah, I know, it sounds weird to me too, I don’t know why but dresses and trousers must cover your knees.) For another, it’s a small town and I’m the new arrival here, so everyone knows who I am but I (so far) only know a few locals. All “les blancs” (aka “toubabs”) really stand out. And I’m getting softer every day. I try to do yoga regularly, so my body gets some kind of movement, but it’s too darn hot to run or bicycle (not to mention the cultural requirement that shoulders and knees be covered) or even to go for a walk. Maybe I’ll order a jumprope. And wake up before dawn.

too darn hot

It’s so hot here in the afternoon that no one moves if they don’t have to. (No one except us crazy expats, who feel like there’s just so much work to be done and we’re only here for a short time and all of my activities are behind schedule there’s so much to plan so I’d better rush work quick there’s so much to do!) After lunch I walked back to the office and saw maybe five people—max, in total. (In the morning and evening, there are many many people in the street. This time of day, everyone is hiding out indoors or in the river or whatever less-hot place they can find.) And they were all in the shade, lying on mats on the ground, limbs sprawled, like corpses awaiting the homicide team’s chalk. When I first arrived, I was startled, I thought to myself, “omigod, everyone is just lying around, they’re not doing anything!” Now I realize that this is all anyone can do in the mid-afternoon. It’s just too darn hot to move, to work, to think. I wonder if there’s any evidence demonstrating that the brain functions less effectively at high ambient temperatures?

back home (away from home)

I was worried that I was becoming cynical and sarcastic, losing touch with my bright-eyed world view. But now that I’m back in B’gara, I realize that it’s the heat that makes me cranky. Good lord, my brain can’t function! And my body can’t either. Bring on the cold season (when it goes down to 30C)!

"toubab"

I actually spent an entire week without hearing the word “toubab” – what a delight. On the drive back from Bamako to Bandiagara, we stopped for gas. In less than 15 seconds, a child demanded “toubab, donne-moi un cadeau!” I could feel a small part of me harden inside. One more tiny piece of armor constructed.

banking

Banking is always an adventure. Don’t ever go to the bank on Monday or Friday—market days. This is a cash economy, and there is only one bank in town, so there’s not much choice. ATM? Sure, there’s one in Sevare, 60km away, and I’ve heard that it takes about a year to get a card. Checks? Those’ll take six months to arrive. This is a poor region in a poor country, but there’s money here—not a lot, but some people do make a profit somewhere. Yesterday I saw a man at the bank deposit CFA11 million. (How did I see t hat? Easy. There’s no privacy in Mali. Everyone in the waiting room at the bank can hear you when you tell the agent how much you want to deposit or withdraw.) That’s about US20,000. That’s not chump change here or anywhere (well maybe Moscow?).

hospitality training

Photos are from the training sessions, it was a trip. Yup, that's me (scary, huh? but I'm laughing!)
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In the second photo you can see a breakout group working on an exercise, and in the background are pointy thatched roofs of Dogon granaries. (As someone said to me, "It’s the 10th century meeting the 21st century.") It was a rewarding experience. The participants were all excited about learning and very engaged in the program. Those guys (and it was guys—108 guys and 2 women) just have no resources to work with—-but can we change that? This project is bringing them information, not computers or even flipcharts. We’re trying to teach them how to change their circumstances for themselves, but they’re really starting from less than zero, and the only support they get is from aid projects. No government support, no private enterprise support: it’s hard. I just finished reading Jared Diamond’s “Collapse,” and Mali seems like another society on the verge of collapse. Everyone is fighting for survival—or so accustomed to fighting for survival that they don’t want anyone to know that they have any bit of surplus.

catching up

Returned to Bgara on Sunday, after being out of town for most of the past three weeks. (The few days I was back in town, the internet connection was down.) Eight days “en brousse” (in the field), two days at a local conference, one week at international conferences in Bamako. The week in Bamako was a welcome respite—a retreat from the dust and heat and noise of Mali. It was clean and everything smelled nice. I took full advantage of my Radisson mini-vacation, extended my stay by two days and lived in dust-free, AC bliss for a week. Room service too. I even drank a capirinha. And got ice cream, once. Sadly, the one club (the one club that we knew about) in the city that showcases live music had changed owners and closed its doors. Too bad my little holiday ended with malaria. Good thing I had already bought the emergency anti-malaria drugs.