I have a Malian name. From now, I shall be known as Aminata Coulibaly….actually please just Call me Alice, I think I prefer it. At work, I think they are adopting my Malian name which is going to get confusing. This week we got to start our project, maybe start is not quite the right word as we haven’t really got anywhere. On Tuesday, we went out to our rural project location at Baguineda. The bumpy road had gotten bumpier as it has been raining; it was a bit like skiing moguls but in a car. The project director had asked us to come and help with the registration process. Whilst this was just an administrative task and mostly carried out in Bambara which was incomprehensible, it was nonetheless nice to have been given a task. I was able to fill in the French correspondence. This gave us insight into the range of people on the program as well as another tour of the centre. We were shown our potential accommodation which resembled a yurt, whilst this is exciting I think in the long term practicality may rule and we will have to stay in town as there is no food and no hospital (and no bathroom.)
A little bit about Baguineda. It’s a training centre which gives young people a vocational education in agriculture, poultry farming, rabbit farming, fish farming or metal work. Alongside this , students get training in aspects of setting up their own micro finance enterprises. This part of the project is encouraging. At the moment the project hasn’t started so much of our role is administrative and based around market research. We have also been offered another role working with Artisans which is definitely more me and I’m looking forward to starting it soon. We are going to be compiling a promotional catalogue for 40 artisans. This means visiting them all, interviewing and photographing them. Lots of them make clothes and jewellery so I’m really looking forward to it!
When registering students at the training centre it was interesting to find out a little more about them. Nearly all the students we registered hadn’t been to school yet were so motivated to begin the project seeing it as a chance to learn practical skills. I think this was the first time I realized the importance of the project when a 20 year old girl shakily tried to write out her phone number but couldn’t really write the numbers (or say them), but then happily expressed how grateful she was to be offered the chance to get a better education. I probably shouldn’t have found that bit heart-breaking but for some reason I did. I guess we take for granted school and for her it was a privilege to be offered a second chance.
As well as the farm, we had the chance to visit AJA’s other projects. Yesterday we went to an educational training centre for 9-14 year old uneducated street children and school drop-outs. The children at the school were taught numeracy and literacy in French and Bambara which is a rarity as most children only speak Bambara making conversation difficult. This training centre also gave vocational classes in dressmaking for girls and metal work and woodwork for boys (slightly unfair stereotypes there I think.). The quality of the products made was incredible and the woodwork students were hired to make toys for a local shop. The final centre is the one where we will be based when we are not at the farm. Here we will be assisting with the administrational and marketing work. The charity seems to work really well and what we have seen so far highlights why it is the biggest NGO in Mali. Despite this, it is a little bit difficult to get involved and we were told in a meeting that we weren’t what they had expected as we didn’t have the right skills for the work. Getting used to Mali time is so difficult and makes it look like no work ever gets done. Yesterday, we had a meeting at 9, at half 10 we were still waiting and then the meeting was in Bambara so I just sat and looked a bit lost. I guess it’s just important to remember that we are not going to make a massive difference, I just hope that we can make a difference at all. Im sure as the project picks up we will, it just seems at the moment I am spending a lot of time on Facebook and not doing a lot else. A project meeting has however, finally confirmed our objectives on all three projects so hopefully we can start putting them in place next week!
Away from work I have not done much except eat. Food is seemingly a bit of an issue here and my brilliantly balanced diet consists of bread, chips and biscuits, and the occasional goat. Whilst the local food is nice, it is quite difficult to track down and also slightly scary. Yesterday I had some really nice Yassa which is a sauce made from onions and chicken. This one also had goat in, anything here that they say is “meat” is potentially anything. I had goat steak another day, I actually think I quite like it. I’m missing vegetables so much, we were told not to eat anything like salad or fruit without skin so I seem to live solely off bananas. I have found an amazing Algerian patisserie round the corner from the flat which has coffee and croissants which is like being in Strasbourg all over again and perfect for Saturday morning blogging. In other stories, the little children in the street are still fascinated by us and yesterday managed to realise I was ticklish. Cue me screeching nearly rolling around on the floor and the kids tickling me even more. We seem to have done a lot of sitting around recently and no exploring but apparently I can go out on my own now so hopefully braving the market and museum at the weekend. I am going to go and choose my fabric so I can find a tailor to make me an African dress. The women here always look so elegant in their bright coloured clothes and I want one too, even though I will probably look very out of place.
Finally last night we had the opportunity to let our hair down which was fun. I was surprised to find that yesterday was my Malian birthday, organised by one of the girls in the group. It was such a nice day (and surprise- I was very confused to get happy birthday messages from my family? Surely they definitely knew when I was born!) Anyway last night we celebrated it with burgers and beer and dancing. We went to a salsa club in a courtyard. The dancing was really fun but nothing like the salsa I had done before; I just shuffled around a bit. All the people at the salsa club were very well off and you could tell by the detailing on their dresses. It was fun though and it was a very good excuse for a second birthday. On a less good note, despite not actually turning a year older on this birthday I seem to have managed a hangover that worsens with age. (I blame the heat and the anti-malarials, or just the beer!) It was a really good night and fun to go out and see Mali at night. Everyone parties really late here, and the walk home was the first time it had not been about 30 degrees. Happy days.
Before I go here are a few more observations from this week:
- 1. I still want a Donkey
- 2. After a number of very dodgy taxi rides donkeys are probably the most effective mode of transport
- 3. People in Mali are very well dressed
- 4. Mali time is EVEN slower than I imagined
- 5. Orange dust does not wash out of clothes easily
- 6. I quite like goat.
- 7. I miss hot water despite it being 38 degrees
- 8. People say Bonsoir after 2pm which still confuses me.
- 9. Washing your clothes in a bucket of cold water is not very effective.
Until next time,
Alice x
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