Rural and Urban

There are many Peace Corps experiences.  The stereotype may be mud huts and total isolation, but even in Mali many volunteers find themselves working in towns and cities.  When we first arrived in Mali and had not been assigned a community yet we were asked if we would prefer a rural life or an urban one.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both.  My life (after a whole two weeks of service at site) fits the Peace Corps stereotype well.  My village is small, everyone knows my name, lives in a mud hut, has no electricity, fetches their water and carries it back on their head.  It sucks sometimes (mostly because there is no good food or beer), but the I have certain advantages the city volunteers do not have.

City volunteers enjoy amenities that are lacking in the villages.  Food is available to buy in stores or markets any day of the week in larger towns.  This provides for tastier healthier diets than rural areas.   Water is easier to access as well for city volunteers as pumps and wells are readily available.  Some may even have running water.  Electricity and cell phone reception are other perks.  Some volunteers (not so much in Mali) even have toilets and internet.  These individuals are known as 'Poshcorps' volunteers.

I can't say I don't wish I had these luxuries.  Since the harvest is not for another two months my village is running low on food supplies and I find myself hungry.  I can eat millet as much as I want but I never get full.  I just eat until I get bored of eating. For water I can go either to a spring next to the village or to a well a mile away.  My house is dark and sometimes I feel isolated.  Sometimes I do not like that everyone knows me and crave that anonymity that exists only in cities.

But there are ways to get around these obstacles...  markets exist nearby and as soon as I figure out bus schedules and what villages have market on what days my diet will improve.  I give kids or villagers soap and they will do my laundry or fetch water for me.  I have a solar charger to charge a lamp and cell phone, and have discovered that by hiking around I can find patches of cell reception.

There are the perks of rural life that urban volunteers do not have.  With only 500 people in my village in will be easier to organize meetings and get the community behind the projects.  Community needs will be easier to assess.  I feel like a celebrity in a good way sometimes.  And it is beautiful: simple and clean with a breath taking landscaping that rivals Montana!

Below is a Dogon village (not mine) and Mopti a major Malian city where a couple of Peace Corps volunteers serve.  You can tell that there would be perks and disadvantages to both styles of Peace Corps.

I don't mean to say that I am getting a better Peace Corps experience than urban volunteers.  It is just a way of showing the two sides of Peace Corps.  Development is needed everywhere and no matter where you end up it will be a challenging experience.  I just thought it was important to point out that the Peace Corps experience varies greatly from one volunteer to the next, and the mud hut small village stereotype does not always hold true.

'Good Fellas'

Something I never considered before becoming a part of Peace Corps Mali is that there were many volunteers already serving here and that my group who I met in DC and have trained with for the last two months may not necessarily be the Americans who I spend my time with during the next two years.  In fact, only two other volunteers from my group will be in my region.  Zach (my Tomokan classmate) will live a bike ride away, but other than him it is unlikely that I spend much time with anyone else from my group. 

Currently there are four sets of Peace Corps volunteers in Mali.  Each group arrived together and did their training together.  They elected individuals to perform certain duties to make training run smoother.  They went to class together.  They worked on projects together.  They shared the wild experience of assimilating together.  They swore in as official volunteers together and had a swear in party.  Then they started their Peace Corps service in different villages.

These sets of people who arrived in Mali at the same times are known as 'stages' here in Peace Corps Mali.  Each 'stage' receives a stage name at their swear in party (picked by other volunteers who are helping them during training).  'Risky Business' arrived two years ago and have started one by one to go back to America as their service is coming to an end.  One year ago 'Team America' arrived in Mali.  'The Kennedys' arrived in Mali six months ago and are four months into their their official service.  Yesterday my group officially swore and then spent the day (and all night) celebrating.  Our trainers (four from Team America and one from Risky business) announced our stage name: 'Good Fellas.'  It is tough to entirely understand the reasons for the names of the four stages, but they are nice to have since whenever you meet a fellow volunteer the first thing I ask is "what stage are you?"

We, the 'Good Fellas,' are now official and it is wild to think about how much has happened during our training.  I guess I feel proud.  I mean really really proud!  I am just so damn happy for all of us and so excited to meet other volunteers and tell them "I'm a Good Fella."

We elected my friend Lyle to be in charge of designing a shirt.  The word 'tubab' in Mali is used to refer to a white foriegner.  The idea of Tubab Shakur was funny and turned into the t shirt design.  I think his hand is suppose to be an "M" for Mali. 

I was showing off to other members of 'Good Fellas' my really really awesome talent of drawing a map of U.S. by memory right before we held elections (I think the elections happened the first week I was here!).  I didn't realize that one of the spots up for election would be called 'Map Tigi' (map leader),  so I got stuck with the responsibility of organizing the painting of a world map in a library.  We have worked on the map off and on over the last month.  The map looks alright now, but I still haven't labeled the countries and cities so I guess I need to do that tonight since it will be my last chance before I leave the Capital area for three months.

Part of the end of closing of training included having a member from our host family come visit the Peace Corps training center.  They ate dinner with us (pretty funny watching them use silverware) and they each received certificates thanking them for hosting us.  My host dad was sick so my brother came.  He is the one in the green squatting down.  It was funny to see him be shy and out of his element... I guess it must have been a bit of a culture shock for him to come to such an American place.