I am writing this blog from my Grandma’s house since I
returned to the United States on Tuesday, November 27th. My last
month in Mali was very busy especially the last two weeks having to say goodbye
to everyone. In the last month I was finishing a lot of surveys for my research
on handwashing, shea butter, and food security. Also was busy with projects
that Zeala will be continuing after I leave courtesy of African Sky (a small
NGO created by a previous Mali-PCV who is not a university professor in
anthropology) which include a Cereal Bank and Literacy Project and potentially
a new school. Details on each are described below:
CEREAL BANK
The cooperative will start with a pilot cereal bank by buying
three tons of grain and storing it to sell in the hungry season at a reduced
market price. This is to help with problems of food security since many
families run out of grain for various reasons (poor harvest, early selling of
their grain stocks, etc.) in the months of May and June right at the beginning
of the intense farming season where they need the most energy. A cereal bank in
the village will ensure that the grain in village will stay in village and that
they will have easy access to buy grain instead of having to find and pay
transport in the neighboring markets. The president of the cooperative offered
a house of his and we already cemented the floors and walls to prevent rodents
and other pests. The plan is if the pilot is successful to eventually build a
nicer building.
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| This picture is in Zeala where they are preparing the house where the grain will be stored. Mixing concrete for the floors to prevent pests from destroying the grain. |
LITERACY PROJECT
African Sky is also helping to fund literacy classes for
women in Zeala since only three women out of over 300 can read and write in
village which makes many tasks difficult (running associations, selling in the
market, even using a phone, etc.). My homologue’s wife, Elizabeth, will be the
literacy teacher. African Sky already funded her to attend a month long
certification in Bamako. Since then we have had 30 women sign up for classes
but will probably have upwards to 40 which will be divided into two classes:
beginners and intermediate for those that have had some schooling or literacy
classes before. We have already purchased all the materials: blackboard,
benches, notebooks, pencils, erasers, etc. Classes are to start in January
after the harvest and end in May before the cultivation period.
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| A picture of Elizabeth and I with her certificate. She is now a certified literacy teacher in the main local language in Mali. |
NEW SCHOOL
African Sky hopes to build ten schools in Mali made of
compressed mud bricks (see this awesome website about the technology by the
architect kinijalan). Zeala is planned to be the third construction site. The
last week I was in Mali, Elizabeth and I visited Markala just north of Segou
where the first school was close to completion. The bricks are beautiful even
to the eye of non-engineers or masons. A press was imported from India and the
bricks are made with clay and a small amount of concrete. Certainly preferable
to concrete bricks since they are both cheaper and better for the environment
(concrete is very energy intensive and contributes the equivalent amount of CO2
for each kilogram of concrete produced).
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| The primary school in Markala (near Segou) made of compressed mud bricks. The compressor used to make the bricks is imported from India (the red machine under the tarp in the front). |
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| Compressed mud bricks made with clay like soil and a small amount of concrete. |
MARKALA VISIT
The rest of the Markala visit, though only two days, was
very inspiring and a great way to spend part of my last week in Mali. We
visited two women’s associations that are conducting literacy classes thanks to
African Sky to learn from their experiences before we start are own. The Malian
project coordinator in Marakala, also a former PC homologue, was a simply
amazing, dedicated and hard working man. He also is fluent in English and
teaches English in the local High School. I visited his class and got a chance
to talk to his students in English. We mostly just did a question and answer
session. I was blown away by some of the students English levels. They also
asked very sort of Taboo questions for Mali such as: What does a girl do in
America if she gets pregnant while she is in school? Is there discrimination in
America? Is it true that there are homosexuals in America? Of course there were
the usual questions of: Is it easy to go to America? Are you married? Do you
have any kids? (A 26 year old unmarried woman with out any kids is very rare)
For once I didn’t feel afraid to answer the questions frankly and honestly
since I usually have a fear of being culturally inappropriate but both I had
come to realize that Mali isn’t as conservative a muslim country as others
would have them seem and I knew that I would not be coming back to Markala in
the near future. At the end of the two hour class that just flew by, we had the
customary photo shoot and all the students wanted to take a picture with me on
their phones.
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| A picture of me with an English class in Markala. |
The class left me feeling optimistic for the future of Mali
with all the intelligent and curious students. It also left me a little sad
since it would be great to work with those students as a volunteer to improve
their English and expand their world view but it was time for me to leave. It
was a sort of sadness/remorse I felt throughout my last several months in Mali.
I was finally comfortable enough in the local language and culture to really do
anything I wanted such as Life Skills clubs for girls talking about sensitive
topics such as teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDs, and general sexual education. I was
finally able to overhear and understand most all conversations between Malians
which before I could only pick out some words and phrases. This advance in
language I think was helped by the fact that I was on my own and without PC as
well as the ethnographic interviews I had to conduct and transcribe word for
word. Since I didn’t have other volunteers to call, text, and hang out with in
Bamako I never really spoke English and spent a lot more time with Malians.
Two years and even three are too short to enact real change
or to adapt to a new culture and language. It should be a partnership that
lasts a lifetime. That is why I am so thankful with this partnership with
African Sky that I will be able to continue working in Zeala and helping them
develop. I have so many ideas beyond the school including a library, rainwater
catchment, a water system, etc. I am hoping this can be a lifelong partnership
and learning experience. I would like to make Zeala more of a grassroots, small
scale Millennium Development Village; a center for development research.
COFESFA
One of the hardest parts of my last days in Mali was leaving
the women at the cooperative where I had felt like their collective, adopted daughter.
Though we were not able to complete our work together, I was always welcome
back to their office and I stayed with a woman at her house the week before I
left. They are amazing women and their cooperative and NGO are examples of what
Malian development should look like; created, run, and operated by educated
Malians (in this case, all women!). On the Friday before I left they put together
an amazing lunch for me with special Malian dishes (cucumber salad, fried
potatoes and plantains, fish, and water melon). They also gave me a leather
purse engraved with my name and tons of jewelry. I really didn’t know what to
say. In the end one of the women and my homologue
from Zeala drove me to the airport for one last good bye. Through all this I
did not find myself crying since I know I will be coming back.
FEELINGS ON BEING HOME
So after only two days of being home, everything has been
going very well, no reverse culture shock depression yet. I am sure I am in the
honeymoon stage of being back home and being with my family again. Though I do
just have this surreal feeling where I don’t really believe I am back and, for
that matter, for a significant amount of time yet. It hasn’t sunk in. Mostly I
just see everything in a new, shiny light: the paved streets, all the nice
cars, the cleanliness of everything, the size of the houses, the food, etc. All
the things I took for granted before and probably will again after I have
adjusted, though I don’t want to. I have this nagging feeling that I should be
doing something. In Mali I wake up at 6AM and the day goes through 9 or 10PM
where I am constantly moving or doing something. It is hard for me to relax, I
feel guilty.
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| A picture of me and my Mom at National Coney Island in the first several days that I was home. |
THE WAY FORWARD
So many people have been asking me, what’s next? I will be
returning to University of South Florida to finish the coursework for my
doctorate which will take me at least until May 2014 if not longer. I may
return to Mali for some data collection this next June 2013 but depends on what
my adviser says and the security situation there. I am excited to go back to
school again and take classes. Before I was a little burned out but now I am refreshed and ready to go back though
I know the first semester will be an adjustment after three years of not really
working my brain in that way.
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| The new house I am renting with two other Civil Engineering PhD students in Tampa. |
I hope to still post on this blog about my experiences being
back in the state, analyze my research, write my dissertation, and as I move
forward with the African Sky projects in my village (I hope to return in Mali this
summer for 1-2 months to see their progress first hand and collect more data
for my research).
