Seven Corners/After Corps Care: ABSOLUTE FAIL!!!!

I just wanted to take the opportunity to let people who are thinking about joining Peace Corps and/or expecially those who will be COS'ing soon to stay away from Aftercorps Care Insurance. They are absolutely horrible. I have had to fight tooth and nail, and spend countless hours on the phone being transfered to everyone and their moms stating my issues over and over again. And that is coming from a PCV who was never sick through out her service.

Using the 127c forms are relatively easy, so as long as you get those you are good. I'm talking about the option to pay for Seven Corners insurance on your own, that is a big waste of money! They always find a way or some loop hole to get out of paying. I feel like I could have taken my ridiculously priced premium and applied that to the medical services I had done and faired better if I had just paid out of pocket. Just a warning, so that others don't end up in the same boat I didn. If you are able to get on your parent's or school or lucky enough to get a job right away that offeres insurance... take that option!! If you can't afford these other options then just do without seriously Seven Corners insurance is NOT worth it!! They are causing me more medical problems related to stress!!!

Celebrate...Seliba, Thanksgiving, World AIDS Day... Akon!?

Holidays are in full swing again! As you can see by all the goats that are lined up and waiting to be slaughtered for Seliba!

Even in Africa I love this time of year! We just celebrated Seliba or Tabaski as we sometimes call it. This year was much more fun than last year because I actually semi understand what is going on. It’s like a Malians Christmas. I got a full comple made. (skirt, top and purse all made out of Malian fabric) Malians really like it, the crazier the fabric the better! The woman that I work the most closely with left town to spend the fete with her family in Segou and I stayed in Dioila and spread myself out between all of the families that invited me over. It was soooo hectic! I ate with 4 different families, and received 2 bags of raw meat…. YUM! All day long I went around with the families that I was celebrating with and greeted all of their family and friends in town, throwing out blessings until you think you couldn’t possibly say ‘Amina’ anymore and then some more! 

“I Sambe Sambe, Fa tiki allah, ba tiki allah, mussow tiki allah, denw tiki allah, wari tiki allah, allah ka san were diarrala, alla ka an bara nogon nuyman ke, Amina, amina, amina ere, amin, allah ka duomine”

 This is my landlord Boubou (who is also the prison ward), he is cutting a piece of meat for me from the goat his family killed this morning. "You can eat this tonight and even tomorrow!" he said smiling as he threw the hunk of meat into a pot and handed it to me.

For the kids its sort of a cross between thanksgiving and Halloween. They get all dressed up and go door to door and bless the home owners and in return they get candy and/or money, when they are done or their pockets are full they go home and eat more meat in one day than they usually eat in months. The whole candy aspect is great for kids but sucks for an adult! If you get caught by a slew of kids without candy, you gotta be ready to cough up some dough! I definitely learned after last year and made sure to have a bag of candy on me at all times…. Just in case!  Most of the wealthier families always slaughter a goat the day of Seliba and eat it multiple different ways. Its customary to share your meat with close friends and is considered an honor to receive meat from someone. Unfortunately I was so wrapped up driving around and stuffing my face that I forgot to take pictures! Which is so sad because I really would have loved to put up some pictures, its amazing at how dressed everyone gets… even the little kids of 4 yrs old will have a suit and tie with freshly shined shoes! I love it! 

 I am spending Thanksgiving in Bamako this year. I am going to be eating dinner at the American Ambassadors house again. Last year the food was sooo good, I almost forgot I was in Mali. Well, except for the fact that I would never be in a house that fancy in America!  But, needless to say I am really looking forward to grubbing and watching football, something I don’t take for granted anymore!

The rest of my year is pretty packed with is great… I am starting to work with Helen Keller International, their headquarters is located here in my town (Dioila) and they have asked Peace Corps if I could formally work with them, which will be starting soon. This will allow me to continually go to my old village (Senou) and help collect data periodically, which makes me happy that I can still see them and still be a part of the study.  Also this week I will be turning in another funding proposal to build an incinerator at the Health Center in my old village (Senou). As of right now they have no safe way to dispose of their medical waste. Old needles, IV lines and broken used bottles are either saved in boxes until the main hospital (CesRef)  drives over an hour to come pick them up, then transports the waste back to Dioila to burn them in the incinerator about every 3-4 months, or they are thrown into a hole with no lid behind the health center. Either way I’m sure you can see how many hazards and health risks there are with both of these options… So, yeah… 

December 1^st Is World AIDS Day!!! I’m sure you all know this!? Haha… don’t feel bad! I didn’t either before I came here! This year as the president of the HIV/AIDS task force I kinda gotta do SOMETHING, so I am doing a series of radio shows with my counterpart Nakoria, to raise awareness and another volunteer Jessica Duncan (Shout out Alima!) is coming to my site to do some activities at a local private school. During the new stage’s 2 week Technical training, I along with another volunteer Veronique Porter (shout out Kidjiatu!) will be running HIV/AIDS sessions and teaching the new volunteers activities and games they can implement into the work they already do. 

December 18^th AKON is coming to Bamako!!! I am so excited! I saw Sean Paul last year and it was soo crazy but super fun… I can’t remember if I wrote about it or not? Just in case, I’ll sum it up real quick. Sean Paul basically ended up turning into a riot, the cops were being crazy and beating people for no reason, so the crowd started fighting back and throwing chairs, people were getting trampled and squished, luckily I made it up to the very front, side stage so I could watch the show up close and all the rioting was behind me. It did get pretty scary at the end though, when the cops started blocking off all of the exits and weren’t letting people leave, they were trying to make everyone pay bribes to get out. So, of course everyone started jumping over the fences and getting beat more for trying to run… it was madness actually. Sean Paul was yelling at the police and telling everyone to calm down, but it was no use, it had already escalated to the point of no return, so he walked off stage and got in his hummer and took off… Hmmmm, here is to hoping that the Akon concert is not as crazy! Wish me luck!

CINQUANTENAIRE!

The 50th Anniversary of Mali's Independence was yesterday... and the country has been crazy for the past few weeks preparing for the celebrations. I spent it in Village with my town, which was crazy but fun.

 This is Nakoria, the woman I work with who runs the orphanage. We just got back from opening a bank account for the association, and I decided it was a good photo op, with her standing in front of the Monument de Independence in Bamako. 

This is the Monument at night, when its lit up. This picture was taken a few days before the actual independence day so they weren't done "fixing" it yet. But you can also see to the left of it, as stage, where they completely blocked off one of the main roads in Bamako for 3 days to have a concert in the middle of the road! All of Mali's top artists were there to perform in this concert that started, in the rain at close to 1am and ended around 5am! 

 This picture was taken in Dioila, at our Cinquantenaire Celebration. This is the opening ceremony where the military officers raised the flag while the National Anthem played... I was surprised at how quiet everyone got... they definitely showed their Nations Pride!

 There were soooooooooo many people there, I think every person in the town was there! The police were all on a power trip and kept the crowd in random lines that they kept moving whenever they got bored it seemed like. I got to use my "white card" and sat with all the big names in Dioila. We each got a seat under a tent with prime view of everything, with guards standing by to whack anyone who tried to stand or sit in front of us. You see the kids on the wall trying to look in, it was like that everywhere!

Stilts! One of the villages obviously has talent! I don't remember which one it was, but each village surrounding Dioila got to march in the parade and showcase themselves somehow. This village chose to have 5 members walk and dance around on Stilts while they drummed and sang!

 One of the woman's association in Dioila. I was really impressed by their signs and coordinating outfits. 4 hours later the parade finally ended with, a bicycle race by a boy from each village, a rice sack race and a egg on a spoon with the spoon in your mouth race for the children.

Later that evening Eric, my new Dioila volunteer and I went to the soccer game. Which was a HUGE deal. It was Old Town Dioila VS. New Town Dioila. Eric and I both live in New Town so we had to represent... I have no idea who won because there were soooo many people there we couldn't see anything. People were sitting in trees, standing on whatever they could possibly find, it was madness! I'm glad I got to experience it though, It really was a pretty cool time to be in Mali! Who knows, I might be back in another 50 years to celebrate the 100th! Now that is going to be wild! lol I'll be 75... Damn!

2 weeks I have been back in Mali... geeze it seems like ages all over again!

I was really dreading coming back, but I know myself and had to have things lined up to come back to and keep my busy. I came back to meetings and presentations and swear in! Congrats to the new stage, Peace Corps Mali 2010-2012, Team America! Swear in was a good time as usual, and it was back to village.

It has been raining A LOT more this year than it did last year. When I got home I could definitely tell that my house had been sitting, unopened for a month in humid, humid Africa. It smelled gross! Most people like the smell after it rains... I have always hated it, so it was that smell mixed with a musky, mildewy smell! haha! I noticed that there is still two spots in my tin roof that leak after it being "fixed" twice and the rain basically just seeps in through the walls. Weird! I spend my first week back at site cleaning. For such a humid place there was so much friggin dust! I tuned fans on in all the rooms to dry them out, took all the linens and mattresses outside to dry/air out in the blazing hot sun and febreezed the heck out of everything else. It's all good, and smells clean now!

The damn rain has also brought many more transport issues, and it has been pretty rough. Today on my way into Bamako we actually had to get out of the bashe and walk because the road was way to bad to pass! All the men got out to help push the bus, that was spinning out of control, and almost hit a biker nearby. Little by little they would push the bus it would inch forward then slide deeper in the mud. It was sad to watch because all of our stuff was still in the the bus... my laptop included! Which I should have taken out of the car with me but I didn't know what was going on, the bus stopped and the driver told everyone to get out, so I along with everyone else just climbed out and began walking! Its funny how we humans just follow what everyone else is doing... I should probably work on that! After a while the car finally got through the mud and came back to pick us up, to continue on our way to Bamako.

This should be a short trip into town. I came to say a sad goodbye to an esteemed member of VADG... Daniella Allum :(

*PEACE OUT YELLA! MALI WILL MISS YOU!*

Mali is in a a whole 50th year celebration craze! Saturday there was a free concert in the middle of the street, the lanes were lined in blinking lights and there were hundreds of people standing around waiting for a concert that was supposed to start at 8pm... more like around 12:30am it started and apparently ran until after 4 am! Sunday there was a marathon, which was run throughout the city by Malians, which is great, except that all the roads were randomly blocked off and made for a hellish ride through town to the Formi. The actual celebration starts today and ends on Wednesday, which is the actual anniversary. I am going to try to get back to fight the traffic and head back to Dioila today... wish me luck!

1 Year and Counting

Already at the end of July! I pretty much can’t believe that I survived my first year in Mali! I know it sounds crazy, but those of you that I have spoken with on a regular basis know… there were plenty of times that I was ready to pack it up and head home. Thanks to all my amazing and supportive friends and family at home, as well as my new Risky Business friends that I have made along the way.

It’s now 1 week tomorrow, until I take a month vacation home! I’m so excited, but very busy trying to tie up all the loose ends over here before I go. Things in Dioila are going well, I just found out that I officially get to stay in my house and have begun to fix it up. We want to make it more “homey” feeling, (Owen is pretty good at this home décor business!) I also have corn growing in my yard! By the time I get home from vacation it should be just right to eat.

Working with Djiguiya womans association has been fun thus far, we went to the Peace Corps Cultural fair at our training facility Tubaniso and it went really well. Which is very encouraging for the women! We have been struggling a little bit to see eye to eye on everything, us coming from the American “time is money” and supply and demand stand point vs. the Malian, “Eh if we sell something cool, if not that’s cool to, we will just sit around and talk all day” stand point. After the cultural fair we were able to show the women and help them completely understand that it’s better to sell more products at a lower price than to sell a few things at a ridiculously high price. Now we are on the same page and I am happy to continue moving forward with the Bogolan.

I am going to start learning French! I know I should have already picked some up before, but I didn’t. I just stuck with Bambara,  but I figure…. Why not? I have enough Bambara to get by, and Peace Corps has an amazing language program, I might as well get a year of French in if I can huh? The last time I was in Bamako I had a funny experience, (typical experience actually, but I chose to write about this one) I went to a Vietnamese food stand which have delicious sandwiches and egg rolls. I usually don’t go to them by myself and realized as I walked up to the counter that I doubt they speak Bambara… I obviously don’t speak Vietnamese, or French… they don’t speak English… SHIT! Luckily I know my numbers in French so it was easy to just point and say a number, but the trouble happened when I needed more sauce and another package of veggies because I ordered two orders and they only gave me fixings for one order… Yeah that didn’t go over very well! Haha… we were both talking and nobody was listening, she was calling over everyone and their moms, it was sad. Finally a Malian man came over to translate for us. I told him what I needed in Bambara and he translated to her in French. SAD! This my friends, is one of the many reasons that I need to learn French… so I can order Vietnamese sandwiches in Africa!

I can’t wait to get back to America where everything is so “easy”! hahahaha…. See you soon Seattle!

Happenings

Life is actually good right now in this crazy place we call Africa! I have been keeping busy fixing up my new house, which is pretty awesome. Hopefully before Chris leaves we will do a film our Dioila cribs video... haha If we do I'll post it.

But really, its crazy having electricity, I never go to sleep before 10pm now, as opposed to village, I never stayed up past 8:30pm! We collaboratively bought a fridge for the house, its so funny how much easier it makes life, you can cook something and put leftovers in the fridge! I know, I know basic concept... well not so much here! I forgot how convenient a refrigerator is, not to mention being able to drink cold water, its a privileged not a right here. I also bought a multi-speed fan, and a 3 seat bamboo type couch. Between all the furniture Irina had, all the furniture I brought and the stuff Chris already had I now have a fully furnished 3 bedroom house. My land lord just pained both houses in my concession and is building my fence higher and putting spikes on top to make it more secure. They also pained a chalkboard on my wall outside. After talking with Peace Corps yesterday i found out that I need to write up a new lease, and that i get to keep both of the houses in my concession as the new Dioila Transit house for all the volunteers in the area, I get a guard to watch the house when I am not there and even when I am because I am a girl living alone... AAAANNNDDD We are working on getting internet at my house! I am almost living better here than I did in America!

Project wise things have been really moving and keeping me busy which is great! I don't feel like I am going crazy anymore staring at the wall. At the end of may we did our "Pedal Protected against HIV/AIDS" bike tour, which oddly enough turned out pretty well. We were able to reach over 1,000 villagers, with over 200 getting tested. There were 11 PCV's who rode about 70K to 7 different villages. All of the villages were pretty excited to see us and we had big dance parties in each village. There is definitely room for improvement with this project, but then again when is there not room for improvement?

We never cease to find hilarious shirts on villagers, This is one of my favorites from the Bike tour. "Kiss me before I sober up" is funny anyways, but when worn by a child in a non drinking, Muslim country it's even funnier!

Oh yea this was a good one to... I think its pretty clear why!

I am not sure who took this picture, but yep, that's me. I rode a bike about 70K! I don't think I have ridden a bike that much, ever... not even all bike rides in my whole life combined!

This is Me, Suzy and Veronique trying to teach the children the Thriller dance. The DJ insisted on playing it over and over... unfortunately we were all pretty rusty and just ended up making it up! Atleast everyone got a good laugh out of it, volunteers and villagers alike.

And these are the children in the village watching us do the Thriller dance! hahaha.... They are obviously entertained! A few of them did try to do it eventually... Really!

Thanks to Chris Romero (shout out) I have also gotten involved with the Djigyiua Woman's Association in Dioila. Nakoria Doumbia is the founder, president and the person that i hang out with most in village. She is a very rare breed of Malian woman who has drive and ambition. She has started her own NGO which takes in orphans whose parent's have died from HIV/AIDS. We have begun working on an income generating activity to raise money for the organization. The women are going to start a bogolan (earth cloth) business from the ground up. The exciting part is that I really believe this can work, each of the women has more of a vested interest in this business working. Most businesses want to make money solely for their own benefit, but in this case the profit is for the benefit of the orphans. 45% of all money earned will go towards food security. The organization will buy grains and other food items in bulk and distribute them between all the women to ensure that each orphan has adequate food. 40% of all money earned goes to the education of the orphans, because public education here in Mali isn't free. The money earned will pay for the enrollment fees of each orphan as well as buy school supplies. The last 15% will go back into the business, like to buy more supplies or for whatever is needed. This project is coming through Peace Corps as a donation only project, when it is approved I will attach the link to my blog so that people can donate!

This is Nakoria the founder of this NGO, and another man (I forgot his name) who is helping the women learn to freehand mud drawings. 

 

Unnamed man again... I feel like its Moussa, showing more women how to use stencils for adding prints onto the cloth.

 This is the wall art that I designed for my grandparents, in stage 2. The plain cotton cloth is dyed yellow from special leaves soaked in water over night, then put out in the sun to dry. When they are completely dry, the first layer of mud is added, the black color. All other colors and designs are added in stages to make a final product with different shades of grey, browns, yellows and white. 

 
Other than those two projects I have been busy saying good bye to friends! It is COS season (close of service) I cant believe that in about a week it will be 1 yr in Mali for me... I am going to be spending the 4th of July in Manatali, which is in the Kayes region. It is supposed to be very cool, and I hear they have hippos and monkeys up there. I'm sure it will be fun!

Happy 4th of July from Africa!!

movin on uuuup....

After all of my contemplating and worrying about what the right thing to do was, the decision was taken out of my hands and made for me. I met with my Country Director and expressed my concern about my transportation situation. I had heard rumors that PC might be able to give volunteer satellite phones to use if they have absolutely no cell reception in case of emergency. After listening to my argument as to why Owen my site mate and I needed a satellite phone my (which was a very good one at that) I was denied! My Country director calmly sat back in his chair and said “frankly Gloria, I don’t see communication as being the problem, it’s your transportation that is the issue and we are going to move you.” That was it! I don’t really think anyone person is to blame in this situation, My village or course eager to get a volunteer may have told PC what they wanted to hear and may have suggested that we have transport in and out of the village more than we really do , in order to comply with PC standards. Then there is PC staff who go out and do site visits, they take PC transport and have drivers, they don’t have to ride on public transport so they have no way of knowing what the actual transport is like and how often it runs.
After my accident I will honestly say I was scared to leave and/or return to site. I don’t have the greatest luck when it comes to transport in general, Africa or the US for that matter so I was very worried! So, that being said, a HUGE weight was lifted off my shoulders but I still felt really guilty about leaving my village. I moved to my banking town Dioila which is 47K North of my old village and on the main road. My mode of transportation now is a big charter bus that goes back and forth between here and Bamako daily… WORLDS BETTER! There is an French NGO working here in Dioila so rode with them once to visit my village already and hope to get the chance to go back a few times a month.
Even as I am getting settled in my new home and working on getting my work in order, I still think about whether this move was the right decision or not… it wasn’t until two days ago that my moving was confirmed as a GREAT idea. I was at the family of my village counterpart (Adama, the matron at the hospital), when they told me that on Saturday the bus from Dioila to Senou (my old village) crashed on its way injuring 22 people and killing 1 or 2. They were a little fuzzy on the details, since Senou doesn’t get cell reception; Adama sent word to her family that she wasn’t going to be able to come into town because the hospital was full of patients. I thank my lucky stars that the last accident wasn’t very bad and I came out unscathed. I really hope that this new accident will alert somebody that there is a problem on this road and with this transportation, so that hopefully more people don’t have to get hurt. I also thank everyone who says they have prayed for me while I have been here… God or Allah, or whoever you pray to had definitely heard your prayers!