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 1st 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 18th 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!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading!! I do have limited internet time so definately do leave comments if you wish, but please keep them short. Thank you!