Thanksgiving at Mac's Refuge

Mac is an amazing fellow. He grew up in Sangha, in Pays Dogon, son of American missionaries and was educated in the US. He now runs a small hotel, Mac’s Refuge, in Sevaré. He has several staff, maybe 10, all locals that have been trained in-house. The rooms are simple but clean and cozy, decorated with local items. Each night he serves a family-style dinner, offering a different international cuisine each night of the week. French, Italian, Mexican, etc., always using only locally grown meat and produce. (Though I think he buys some spices in Bamako.) Breakfast is always a grand affair—pancakes and/or French toast, served with local syrups (ginger, hibiscus, tamarind) and jams (mango, guava), fruit salad, muesli, peanut butter, sometimes yogurt. Good coffee too.

So when I heard that Mac was serving Thanksgiving dinner, I made my reservation right away. We posted a sign-up sheet at the Peace Corps office, knowing that any Americans in town would be interested (and especially those malnourished PCVs!). More than 20 people signed up within a week!

my house

After all my complaining, all the suffering I’ve described in detail about my living arrangements, I thought I should post photos of my home. Here’s a link to the album.

Home in Bandiagara

It’s cute, isn’t it? Next week I’ll post photos of the critters that share my humble abode.

pizza night

Saturday night is pizza night. A local hotel serves pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven. It’s good—and it’s the only place, the only time, you can find pizza in Bandiagara. It’s also the only opportunity to eat cheese in Bandiagara. Word is that the owner travels to Ougadougou to get the cheese (that’s a four hour drive).

It’s a big event for us expats—as we say, it’s something to do. There’s not much to do here, so we make a lot out of a little thing.

the world bank group

Attended a workshop today presented by the World Bank to public sector officials, titled “The Tourism Sector in Mali: Possibilities for Development.” (Unfortunately, I missed the morning session, conducted for the private sector. The project never received an invitation, it was simply coincidence that the coordinator called a local official on Friday and he told us about the Monday workshop. I later learned that it was the prefet’s responsibility to delivery invitations. Even the hotel that hosted the workshop wasn’t informed until Saturday afternoon.) A group of approximately 10 men (plus me, the only woman, the only non-Malian), a group I’ve begun referring to as “the usual suspects,” attended. All of the informational sessions, business associations meetings and workshops I’ve attended are composed of the same individuals.

My impression is that the purpose was to build awareness among public officials of the importance of tourism as a tool for economic and human development. The discussions centered on obstacles to development of tourism in Mali—acknowledging first that they exist—and how to remove them or at least lessen the negative impact.

A highlight of the session for me was when the WB facilitator was talking about the difficulty of travel in Mali: visas, border crossings, roadblocks and delays. He gave the example of a recent event when a bus of 30 mayors, all in official dress, was stopped on the road and delayed for three hours without explanation. The discussion continued about difficulties tourists face when traveling in Mali, the police commissioner became agitated (he seemed to take personal offense and felt obligated to defend his position), and said, “they come here, used to being treated like kings, and expect us to treat them special.” I wanted to jump up and say, “That’s right! The client is king!” Le client est roi! It’s one of the major obstacles to tourism development in this region—the lack of an attitude of customer service—and will require much sensitization and training in order to develop staff for the hospitality industry.

At about 4pm, after the afternoon coffee break, the facilitator distributed the per diem to the attendees. 3000cfa per person, plus coffee and snacks, not bad for an afternoon. The workshop ended at about 5:30pm, but seemingly because it was time to end, not because any resolution had been reached. The WB facilitators were terrific, they did a good job of delivering their message. But I was disappointed that they didn’t demand more from the participants. No outline of an action plan, no responsibilities were assigned for next steps. But awareness was raised.

work

So—what am I actually DOING? After three months, I’ve identified two areas of focus: travel philanthropy and attracting investment to the region. For travel philanthropy, that means setting up a system to connect tourists and travel operators with local development projects. How to collect and disburse funds, how to measure and report results. Just starting to put that together, with support from staff in the US. It means meeting with local organizations, discussing their field projects, learning about their accounting systems, understanding their method of tracking results. Also identifying potential donors and communicating with them. Setting up the funds management is the sticky part, it’s what I’m trying to sort out right now.

For attracting investment—this will be fun. So far I’ve completed an analysis of the local business environment (and in a country that has essentially no statistical database, this was a neat trick) and composed an informational brief for potential investors. I went to two conferences in October (in Bamako, the capital city) and met a few prospects there. The big fish I’m targeting is a company that operates luxury lodges, five star properties, super de luxe. Hopefully I’ll met with them next month, they may do a field visit to scout sites for development.

I also spend a lot of time tagging along with the project coordinator—attending meetings of local associations, consulting with local hotel owners, trying to build awareness about the benefits of tourism while at the same time recognizing fundamental unmet needs and local constraints.

full moon

Last night I slept outside. It was a full moon, bright and round. Shining through the dusty hazy sky, rays of moonlight radiated from the glowing orb, diminishing toward the horizon and fading into the dark sky. It was nice and cool too, I used a blanket for the second time since I’ve been in Mali.

small successes

This morning I returned to the copy shop, still looking for someone to copy these surveys for me. Still no connection, but luckily this morning was staffed by a young man who quickly took the job and started working on it right away.

Savor the small successes.

small struggles

I needed copies of a survey we're conducting with hotel owners. So I went to the cybercafé/copy shop (yes, there's only one). There's always a group of young men out front, drinking tea and chatting. One of them calls the owner of the shop as he sees me walk up to the front door. "There's no connection," he says, knowing my daily question. "No, today I have a small job for you," I reply. "I need to have some copies made." "OK, come in, come in," he says. I walk in. The place is filthy, it couldn't be more of a mess if it had just been looted. There's trash all over the floor--crumpled office paper, sticks, dust, broken bits of chairs. He walks over to the table that serves as the manager's desk. "The guy who works the computer will be here in a few minutes," he tells me. I wait for a few minutes, then go back outside where it's cooler. After waiting 10 minutes, I leave. My friend was leaving for Mopti (60km away), where I could get internet access. No copies today.