For those who have asked, yes Mali is still there and I am still healthy and happy. The cold season is on it’s final legs. The markets are full of garden vegetables while bananas and oranges seem to be the only fruits around. The harmattan is still making sure as much wind as possible slaps me in the face on my way to work in the morning. Everyone is realizing that the New Year and Tabaski festivals are over and normal life with normal work week’s has resumed. It feels as though people are really settling in for the long haul of the real dry season. All the crops are harvested, most of the vegetable gardens are finished and a lot of people are left with not much to do. It’s like the beginning of a long unwanted vacation. People still have work like construction for the men and food processing for the women. However the most necessary activities are done and the wait is on for the rains to come again in about five months.
At my compound there was a little excitement recently. Before going on a trip I did a little house cleaning and as per usual put my garbage in our little bin. This leads to a wonderful event where all the kids in the compound rush to see what I’ve thrown out. This time I threw out my garbage as I was going out the door so I wasn’t around for their little game. Lucien, Luc’s 4 year old grand son, found himself a matchbox and a couple matches. Being a good curious four year he decided to light a match and throw it into the donkey’s hay pile. This started a wonderful fire that burnt all our peanut leaves and hay. It apparently attracted the whole neighbourhood and took the efforts of everyone around to put out the flames. I’m sure the donkey nearly had a heart attack. No one was hurt and Luc now thinks the whole fiasco is pretty funny.
Our new donkey, the one who probably had a heart attack, got traded in. He made too much noise. You know that terrible donkey yelping noise? I asked around and apparently the donkeys make the noise to tell the world they are feeling comfortable and great. They make it especially when no one is bothering them and they’re just hanging out eating some hay. In French I was told « Ah! Ils font ce bruit parce que ils sont a laisse. Personne les derangent, ils ont de l’herbe, ils sont dans l’hombre, vraiment il se sent cinq cinq. »
Mamu my neighbour, who I wrote about earlier, has got a little money thanks to all her hard work. She has hired a bonne (maid). In Mali a bonne doesn’t cost much money. They are usually young girls from the rural areas who come to the city trying to earn enough money to pay for some clothes or to go to school. They eat and sleep with the family and then will get an extra $10-15 per month. Mamu’s bonne is about 10 years old and has come from 150 km away. I’m not too excited about the new change. Her children no longer have to cook and work so hard, letting them play more and be what Canadians would call normal kids. However it feels very evil step sisteresque with this new child bearing the all the burden. Not only does she work hard all day, last night she was talking beans to the mill at nine pm, but she is very young and so far from her family. I wait for the day her fairy god mother arrives, but I think it may take a generation or two.
I personally don’t have much to report. I’ve been told I’m skinnier than usual so I’m making an effort to eat a little higher class. Since I’ve been on an unsuccessful weight gain program for the last 8 years I doubt I’ll have any success. My knee is in a wavering state of non functionality making me pretty physically inactive. I’m still in the running for the Guinness book of world records for longest time spent without going on a date. Lawn chairs and the African Cup of Nations football matches on a black and white TV fill my evenings. Go Ghana! Via the wonder of books I also spend time hanging out with Adam Smith.
Work has just slowed down a bit after a couple month flurry of action with long days and no weekends. There is still work to do it’s just that there is so much that we appear to be having trouble getting organized.
I’ve been spending a lot of time at home lately. I mostly sit and chat with Luc or the two teachers in my compound Diallo and Kone. We have rowdy debates about Mali’s path of development and how to make agriculture work. The evolution of emotions and feelings keeps on going. I’ve spent enough time in Sevare that it feels like home, actually I’ve spent more time here than any other city in the last four years. On the note of feeling at home I’ll wish you all a happy and healthy home until I write again.
Keep doing it for Dorothy.
levi